Pages

Friday 2 November 2012

Decking the halls with CAS holly

What a lot of exciting news there was yesterday! I've managed to calm myself down though and am back to making Christmas cards.

There's a fabulous new sketch over at CAS(e) this sketch and I used it to make a card for the final St Lukes Charity Challenge. Tara, the founder, has worked tirelessly for nearly two years to raise money for the St Lukes hospice but has now made the difficult decision to close the challenge. Do visit the site to applaud her efforts and to join in with her just-for-fun last challenge: 'Make a Christmas card using a traditional festive image'. Come and see what I made:


Holly is one of my favourite traditional festive images and I love the gorgeous red berries against the glossy leaves. I've made my leaves with my oval punch, nibbling round them with my 1/2" circle punch.


Since the holly is the focus of my card I gave it a bit of extra interest by using two colours of card stock and embossing the leaves with my Lattice embossing folder. Real Red brads make lovely, touchable red berries! The beautifully pared back sentiment is a favourite of mine from For My Family.

This is the sketch I was working with today - the fourth one at the challenge. I have loved them all! It's good to hear that DT members on the east coast of the US have all got through the hurricane ok. My heart really does go out to those that weren't so lucky.

Here's what you'll need to make today's card
Stamps: For My Family
Ink: Real Red
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Other: Large oval punch, 1/2" circle punch, Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, Real Red brads, stamp-a-majig
I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK, France, Deutschland, Nederland or Osterreich. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on +44 (0) 1280 820593. Check out current special offers here.

Yesterday my husband showed me an email he'd received from a hotel that we've never even stayed at, apologising 'most profusely for the extremely unfortunate situation yesterday evening' and offering a free stay in recompense! "Good grief!" said my husband. "That was quite a night out we had there!" I giggled (but frankly I would've been quite willing to have put up with whatever ghastliness had taken place - we could have done with a nice weekend away!) We've been amusing each other ever since by making up stories about what might have happened.

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you very soon,

24 comments:

  1. Cute idea and a perfect card for the holidays! Love the way you did the leaves.
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  2. This card is destined to be copied by me. I love the textured holly and so clever. The oval and the circle punch; I have them.
    Thanks once again Vicky

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a clever way to make your holly leaves! And the embossing really adds something special to them. Great take on the sketch!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perfect CAS, Vicky. Love it!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Absolutely gorgeous Vicky! So clever the way you made the leaves too. Happy Friday! Di xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brilliant CAS Card Vicky, love the idea of nibbling to make the holly leaves:) The mind boggles at what the extremely unfortunate situation was!!
    Val x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Super CAS card. They don't come much CAS-er than that! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love those holly leaves. Are you going to take up the offer of the free night away? Go on, be naughty! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Terrific CAS Christmas card Vicky! So glad you played along with us in this week's CAS(E) this Sketch!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Now you've got us all wondering!! The holly leaves fab and love that sentiment font. x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Vicky - absolutely love your card! A perfect CAS design. I had the exact same idea for the CTS challenge :) Should have been quicker! You do realise that the brad berries means your card works for this week's DYSU challenge too! Thanks for playing along with our challenge at St Luke's this month!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi vicky
    Another clever card.... How do you do it...... Gorgeous.....
    Thanks for supporting St.Lukes over the last few months.....
    Hugs Sylvie xxx

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love that you've seen three holly leaves in this sketch - and I really love the texture! So glad to see you at CAS(E) this Sketch!

    ReplyDelete
  14. A beautiful and stunning card Vicky.
    luv
    irene
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fabulous Vicky. Traditional and CaS well done ;-)
    Thank you so much for your continued support over the last 18 months at St Lukes.
    Lynne xxx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great idea making the holly. Beautiful card.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You are a great artist you say so much with your simple cards this is gorgeous
    love Shirley,

    ReplyDelete
  18. Haha - what a crazy email to have received. Glad you are having fun with it ha ha. Your card is wonderful - I never thought of making my own holly leaves. Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your technique.
    Cheers, Karen

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is such a simple yet striking card Vicky-i love it! The texture on the holly makes all the difference-and the brad "berries" look fabby !!I laughed about your imaginary Hotel experience tee hee !! :) xx

    ReplyDelete
  20. A beautiful CAS card. The holly is fabulous

    ReplyDelete
  21. This card is going to the top of my faves binder! What a lot of clever ideas you've passed on with this one. My mouth is a gape that you thought to make the beautiful holly leaves (a favorite of mine, too) out of an oval punch and then used your circle punch to hollyize! Who needs a holly die? Now I have to look in my Die Box and see if I was dumb enough to buy one! Sigh.

    Lastly, please, oh, please can I help make up stories!!!! How fun! You didn't mention, but I'm sure you thought of this, that the people who experience the unfortunate incident are hopping mad that they haven't gotten a written apology from the hotel!! Everything is layers on layers!

    Now that the seed is planted, hope you get a weekend away very soon!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fabulous Christmas card! Thanks for playing this week at CAS(E) this Sketch!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love holly! And this card! :) Thanks for playing along at CAS(E) this Sketch!

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to know what you think. Do leave me a comment - it always makes my day! Vicky x


(In line with new Data Protection legislation (GDPR) you comment in the knowledge that your name & comment are visible to all who visit this blog and consent to the use of that personal information for that specific purpose.)