Christmas in Winter Blog Hop with the Inklings!

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Amy Anderson's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 15 team members’ fantastic blogs.


Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Clare and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 15 handmade items plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

 I made a simple card for Christmas as you will always need to make more than one!  The colours I used were Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke.  I punched out some circles and put them through the Big Shot machine to get the polka dot and lattice texure.  I inked the sides to give them some depth.

Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is my lovely upline,

Michelle Dyson. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.


If for any reason you find a missing link on the blog hop head back here to find links to all the members taking part. After the blog hop is over, I'll pop back in here to convert these to permalinks to the actual Blog Hop posts, so you will be able to do it all over again for inspiration later on!


1. Clare http://www.crafty-cow.com
2. Janice http://www.janicespencer.blogspot.com
3. Christie http://www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com
4. Kari http://www.karigail.wordpress.com
5. Joanna http://www.joannawassens.com
6. Michelle http://stampinground.wordpress.com
7. Alana http://www.alanagalagher.blogspot.com
8. Carol http://www.inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com
9. Cath http://cathdeanpapercraft.blogspot.com
10. Amy http://amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com
11. Vanessa http://stampness.blogspot.com
12. Michelle D http://stampinkpaper.blogspot.com
13. Ryn http://rynscraps.blogspot.com
14. Fiona B http://fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
15. Liz Halbisch http://lizhalbisch.blogspot.com

Two-Step Stamping

I wanted to have a play with a Two Step stamp.  We have quite a few of these in our current catalogue.  You stamp the first image (in this case I used Always Artichoke) and then you stamp the second stamp (which looks like a water colour version of the image) over the top of it.  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig really helps with this.  The Stamp-a-ma-jig is this great little tool to help you line up your image correctly, so, if you want to do a continuous pattern or stamp exactly in a certain place, then the Stamp-a-ma-jig is your tool!  It's $22.95 well spent. I am really happy with the effect it gives.  As you can see, I made a few versions of this card as it can be used for different purposes.

The background is from the Designer Paper range called Newsprint.  The stamp is from a Hostess Gift called Fast & Fabulous.  It is a set of 6 stamps and is free to the hostess when she hosts a party and the sales are over $600 (also, she would get $60 to spend too!).

Ness

Strength & Hope

I made this card for my friend Vicki's birthday.  She used to stamp and has still got all the gear but hasn't done it for years now.  I hope this inspires her and we can have a fun competition trying to out do eachother with stamped cards!

I used the Strength and Hope Stamp Set from the Autumn/Winter Mini.  The butterfly is so detailed and pretty.  The anntenna was too hard to cut out so I decided to stamp it twice and attach the second image without the anntenna and fold it so it appears that the butterfly has just landed on the page. I stamped the florish from Vintage Vogue and then added glitter to the ends for a bit of sparkle.

The greeting is from the set Sincere Salutations, punched out with Curly Label large.  I hadn't used the crimper before, so I've used it for the white strip instead of ribbon.

Ness

Still Love Punch Potpurri

I made this card with the Hostess Gift of Punch Potpurri Stamp Set.  This is a great set as it matches the punches that we have:  the heart, the bird (not shown) and the little flowers.  You stamp the image and then turn the punch upside down so you can see what you are doing.  I used the little jewellry tag punch to punch out the tag that says love.

Ness

Another Artistic Etchings birthday

My friend is turning forty and is going to Paris to celebrate (lucky girl!).  Perfect, I thought to myself as I whipped out the Artistic Etchings set again.  I used the faux mosaic tile look for this one.  I cut them into one inch squares and stuck them down.  It is quite a tricky card, particulary when you are not used to inches and all of your equipment is in centimetres (as it has been since 1966!!!)

Quick embarrassing story from Melbourne:  I used my sister's navy blue BMW to drive to an appointment I had and parked in a 2 hour zone.  Went back to the car and for the life of me could not open the doors when I pressed the alarm button.  The key wouldn't even fit.  I rang my brother-in- law and he said he could come and get me but he would be over an hour.  Had to leave a note on the car so I wouldn't get a ticket.  I get back to the car and the note had gone and the car was unlocked.  It ended up that I had been trying to unlock someone else's navy blue BMW that was parked in front of mine!

Ness

Cupcake Punch

Last Sunday a did a 12 year olds party for a good friend of mine.  There were 8 girls and they each made a gorgeous mini pizza box as well as a mini card.  They made the mini cards using the cupcake punch and they were all gorgeous.  I find it very satisfying when you present an idea to someone and the use that as a springboard for their own creation.

This inspired me to use the cupcake punch to make a card for a girl that I tutor.  Very easy card.  No instruction needed!  Happy Birthday, Amelia!

Ness

Lovely as a Tree

I made this card for my male work colleague (I only have one guy that I work with).  To create this I used a stamp set called Lovely as a Tree, which is a beautiful set with very intricate images of -you guessed it- trees!  I also used one of my favourite techniques called distressing, which roughs up the edges to give it a worn look.  I also tried my hand at using Glimmer mist.  It is a spritz that gives it a vintage look too.  The risk you take is that you add it as the last step, so if you over spray, it just looks like you've spilt something over the card.  As usual I managed to whack some staples on there too.

I have seen this stamp set used as a Christmas stamp, by using a glue pen, putting dots of glue on the tree and then sprinkling glitter over it.  You tap it and the glitter attaches itself like tiny baubles- can't wait to try that!

Ness