Post Pals: Mrs Claus

I'm mainly sharing this little creation to inspire. You may have heard of a wonderful little charity called Post Pals? They send post to seriously ill children (pals) and their siblings all year round. At Christmas time, they ensure their pals get extra post, from Santa's Elves, Santa's Reindeer, and Mrs Claus herself! I couldn't resist signing up to be a Mrs Claus this year. I love the magic of Christmas, and had so many ideas to share with children!

I began by finding a free letterhead on Google, which I printed out on some lovely thick sketchbook paper, before hand writing my letter. I also found a free printable for a recipe card, which I printed out and handwrote a recipe for Gingerbread Playdough on. (The pal I was assigned to cannot eat, so I thought this would be a nice festive alternative.) I also printed out some free printable Christmas designs on to card, and put them through my Cricut to create these cute stocking decorations. I found the SVG for these free over at Fleece Fun.

I had a lot of fun decorating the envelope! The internet has lots of "elf mail" free printables which I was able to use to make the envelope seem like it had traveled all the way from the North Pole!

I sealed it with my wax seal. I'd love to grow my collection of wax and seals, but this is all I have for now and it gave that special touch. It was fun to use too, though I did cause a bit of a splatter!

And then, as happens in the North Pole, Rudolph had to add his mark. The hoof print is made with acrylic paint, and applied with lots of texture so it really seems muddy!

It may be too late to send a pal something for Christmas, but January can be a very slow time for post after the craziness of Christmas. If you could send a pal a simple card or letter, a drawing, or even a small gift, it will put a smile on a seriously ill child's face. It might be the thing that makes them smile after hours of chemotherapy or ending up in hospital again.

Birthday Wishes and Sheepy Kisses (& using up scraps!)

Whenever I'm stamping, and I have my inkpads, embossing powders and heat gun out, I always try and do a few extra images. Not only does this mean that I have extras if something goes wrong (!) but also that I have a stash of leftovers which I can grab from when I want to make a quick card - such as this! The turquoise card was also a scrap leftover from another project, mounted on some beautiful sparkly grey corrugated card. I did get a stamp out to add "Birthday Wishes", but this was still a quick but lovely card to make :) I love how happy this sheep is!

Flower Pot Card

This Flowerpot Stamp is another I received in last years huge stash inheritance. It's a lovely stamp, with so many possibilities for both decorating the pot and the colours of the flowers. This time I went for a simple terracotta pot and some daisies, primarily painted in watercolour with a touch of Whispers Strokes pens. I added Liquid Pearls to the centre flower, as I like a card to have a bit of shimmer! I mounted the image on some hammered ivory paper and some green polka dot paper from a craft paper bundle with Craftseller magazine. I thought it made for a nice cheerful spring card :)

"Gorjuss" Nature Stamped Cards

As I mentioned in my recent Gorjuss stamped cards post, the set of stamps I received came with some cute nature themed stamps, including a hedgehog, a mushroom and a fox.

These stamps are pretty small, but they come together nicely to make a card. I stamped them on watercolour paper for more texture, before layering them. I added some bronze colour to the mushroom with a gel pen, and added some more mini gems which I also mentioned in the last post - they really are tiny! I love that I've been able to create a more masculine (and autumnal!) card from a very girly stamp set :)

"Gorjuss" Stamped Cards

I was recently gifted a delightful set of rubber stamps from the Gorjuss range - I love them! The set included several variations of this lovely girl, as well as some little nature stamps which I will share with you soon!

I knew I wanted to add some colour to the images, but didn't have time to be creating detailed painting, so just swiped some watercolour paints across the white card before stamping! I really love the effect, it almost makes the image feel ghostly... Is she a floating zombie girl?!

I layered the stamped images on some other coloured cards - I recently received some lovely new colours from my Dad, including some slightly sparkly corrugated grey - beautiful! I added mini gems for a bit of sparkle in the hair. I got this set for Christmas from CCrafts, eight little corked glass jars, each with a different colour and shape gem in. They are great for adding some sparkle whilst still fitting through the post!

I ended up making quite a few of these cards, as it is a busy time of year! And I look forward to experimenting further with the others in the set.