Winner of Six Cards on the 6th!

Hello everyone! Jennifer here. Sorry it has taken me a little while to post the winner of the Six on the 6th Card Series that we held for the last five months of 2013. I am currently packing to move house and am feeling overwhelmed by boxes and junk (but very much looking forward to moving on Friday!).

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in with the series. It was so fabulous to see everyone's cards and I know I'll be checking back for inspiration when I start planning my 2014 Christmas cards! 

Without further adeiu, the winner of a pizza box stuffed with stash was...

Nanny Jane!

Congratulations Jane! Please email Sarah at sarah(at)sjpapercrafts(dot)co(dot)uk telling her your mailing address so she can send the prize out to you!

Here's some of my favourite cards that were linked up during the series:

From left to right, starting top left, these cards were created by: Becky, Frances, Jenny, Jacky, Jane, Ruth, Nikki, Louise, and Lisa-Jane.

Thank you so much ladies! Lots of wonderful ideas and different styles to see!

Look out for some new exciting things that will be happening during 2014 here on the SJ Crafts blog! Along with our usual fabulous DT inspiration of course!

If you need inspiration for some everyday cards for this year then make sure you check out Louise's posts Part One and Part Two, which are full of gorgeous cards along common themes to get her through the year!

Jennifer x

December's Six Cards On The 6th!

Hello and welcome to December's Six Card's on the 6th!

This is the last post in our series that's all about getting those Christmas cards made in time. You can link up your own cards at any time throughout the month, and at the end of the series one link-up from all the posts will win a pizza box stuffed full with scrapbook stash! 

 As you may have made most of your Christmas cards by now, this month we'd love you to link up even if you just have one or two cards to show us - or maybe you've made a few tags for Christmas presents? Let us see!

Today we have inspiration from Louise and Lisa-Jane, who have put some festive 6x6 pads to good use!

Louise:

The countdown has commenced and I have a long list of things that I need to do before the big day. Thankfully my Christmas card making has been under way for a while now which has all been down to the 6 on the 6th challenge. I have really enjoyed making a few cards each month!  

The cards I am going to share today have been made using the Teresa Collins Santas List 6x6 pad and stickers sheet. A perfect Christmas collection!

 I've already made cards with Christmas trees, snowflakes and holly, so this time I wanted to use stars.

To start I cut a silver glitter circle and a slightly smaller vellum circle for each of the six cards. These were layered and placed onto a background patterned paper. 

Then on top of each vellum circle I wrapped a circle of either tinsel, wire or twine. These were adhered with Glossy Accents.

Using a die cutting machine I cut six stars... or you could use a template and cut them out by hand.

To make them 3D I scored from the tip of each point across to the other side. By creasing the score lines to create peaks and valleys the star comes to life!

As I wanted the star to appear as though it is hanging...I threaded some cotton through one of the points and a silver bead. The cotton was fixed to the back of the background paper to hold it in place.



Here are some close up photos so you can see a little more of the detail:

Oh.....Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year!

Lisa-Jane:

I've recently been using the Bo Bunny Elf Magic 6x6 Pad to create some really colourful cards. The beauty of this collection is that the designs are so bright that you don't need to add much more to make a striking card.  Also there are some more traditional designs too for a more subtle feel.

I made 2 ranges of cards and chose 3 of each to show you here. 

The top row were made by cutting 5x5" squares of paper a third of the way down, and then swapping two pieces over to make 6 cards out of the 3 original squares. I covered the join with some glitzy trim and added a few sequins (inspired by Jennifer!) and a little arrangement of punched shapes with a pre-made topper:

The second row were made by matting 5x5" white card with slightly smaller papers from the pad. I then attached a strip of coordinating paper and some festive trim. I coloured some stamped images and matted them on coordinating paper before adhering them over the trim with pop dots. 

You can see what a range of looks you get in the Elf Magic collection, especially when you change up the embellishments too!

I also made some cards from the inch that I trimmed off by layering the strips up in a tree shape - even the children helped!

I've loved doing this series because I have a lovely little pile of cards that I otherwise wouldn't have had.

Merry Christmas!

Didn't Louise and Lisa-Jane make some fabulous cards! Do you have a Christmassy 6x6 pad that you could use on a couple of cards or some tags? How about trying Louise's idea to make some 3D stars, or Lisa-Jane's tip to hide paper-joins with glitzy trim? 

Now it's your turn! Link up your cards below for a chance to win the pizza box full of stash (prize will go out in early January). We can't wait to see what you create! Jennifer x 

November's Six Cards on the 6th!

Hello and welcome to November's Six Card's on the 6th! Are you feeling festive yet? I'm starting to dream of decking the halls and roasting a turkey... ooh I love the anticipation!

This series is all about inspiring you to get those Christmas cards made in time. You can link up your own cards at any time throughout the month, and at the end of the series one link-up from all the posts will win a pizza box stuffed full with scrapbook stash!

Today we have cards by me (Jennifer) and Jenny to make you feel festive! We encourage you to think of how you can make the six cards quickly, and before you know it you'll have a set of cards ready to go!

I'm up first...

Jennifer:

I pulled together a kit for my cards:

It includes the Crate Paper Bundled Up 6x6" Pad and Ephemera, 6x6" Square Kraft Blanks, sequins, a white pearl pen, a sentment stamp, a stack of pigment inks, and some Studio Calico Tiny Stars Wood Veneers. After I took this photo I also pulled out some cream card, wide ledger print washi tape, white glitter tape, and clear embossing powder (plus tools and adhesives!).

Here's the six cards I created:

You can see I followed the same format for all the cards, even though the varied colours and ephemera makes them look a bit different!

Now for Jenny's set of cards...

Jenny:

I've gone for a red and silver theme this month! I've used a background stamp with versa mark ink and silver embossing powder to create a background and then inked over it with Festive Berries distress ink.

Aren't Jenny's cards jolly? I love the ones with jingle bells on - I know my kids would keep shaking them to hear the bells ring!

Have we inspired you to get crafting? If you join in with the series we'd love you to copy this button into your post or sidebar! Just select all the text in the box below the image, and copy that either into a html gadget (or text widget) in your sidebar, or into the html on a blog post. Then the button will appear and will be linked back to the series - your button won't have a box underneath!

<a href="http://www.sjpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/six%20on%20the%206th"><img src="http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab280/Jennifergrace_photos/Sixon6thbutton180pix_zps321d7a53.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Sixon6thbutton200pix_zps673fb713.jpg" /></a><br>

Link up your cards below for a chance to win the pizza box full of stash (prize will go out in early January). Have fun and be merry! 

Jennifer x

October's Six Cards on the 6th!

Hello and welcome to October's Six Card's on the 6th! Do you know it's only 80 days until Christmas?! Sorry to scare you, but it's time to get crafting for the festive season!

This series is all about inspiring you to get those Christmas cards made in time. You can link up your own cards at any time throughout the month, and at the end of the series one link-up from all the posts will win a pizza box stuffed full with scrapbook stash!

If you join in with the series we'd love you to copy this button into your post or sidebar! Just select all the text in the box below the image, and copy that either into a html gadget (or text widget) in your sidebar, or into the html on a blog post. Then the button will appear and will be linked back to the series - your button won't have a box underneath!

<a href="http://www.sjpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/six%20on%20the%206th"><img src="http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab280/Jennifergrace_photos/Sixon6thbutton180pix_zps321d7a53.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Sixon6thbutton200pix_zps673fb713.jpg" /></a><br>

Today we have cards by Lisa-Jane and Sarah to make you feel festive!

First up is Lisa-Jane:

I was working with some supplies from the fun new Simple Stories "December Documented" collection:

  This pack included some transparent overlays, which gave me the idea to make some shaker cards! I used the cut apart sheets and stickers to make different backgrounds and foregrounds for my glittery creations. For some finishing touches I added sparkly ribbons and trims and a few snowflake brads from my stash:

Next up is Sarah:

I opted for a red and grey colour scheme this month, using Echo Park's "Reflections Christmas" and Glitz "Hello December" papers. I also added a paper doily to four of the cards - they all have a nice vintage feel: 

Didn't Lisa-Jane and Sarah make some gorgeous cards? It's really not hard to make six cards if you use a common idea for the set. If you are struggling to come up with a 'kit' to make six cards you can always think of a theme like 'vintage' or 'sparkly' to work out what items to pull together!

Now it's your turn! Link up your cards below for a chance to win the pizza box full of stash (prize will go out in early January). We can't wait to see what you create!

Jennifer x

September's Six Cards on the 6th! Prize added!

Hello and welcome to the September edition of 'Six Cards on the 6th'! This series encourages you (and us!) to get some Christmas cards made in advance of the festive season - this year we will be prepared!

On the 6th of each month from now until December, there will be a post filled with Christmas card inspiration for you. You will be able to link up your own cards at any time throughout the month, and at the end of the series one link up from all the posts will win a prize (more details on that at the end of this post)! 

If you join in with the series at any time, or if you just want to help us spread the word, it would be fantastic if you can copy this button into your post or sidebar! You just need to select all the text in the box below the image, and copy that either into a html gadget (or text widget) in your sidebar, or into the html on a blog post. Then the button will appear and will be linked back to the series - your button won't have a box underneath!

<a href="http://www.sjpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/six%20on%20the%206th"><img src="http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab280/Jennifergrace_photos/Sixon6thbutton180pix_zps321d7a53.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Sixon6thbutton200pix_zps673fb713.jpg" /></a><br>

Today we have cards by Jenny and Louise to inspire you to get started!

First up is Jenny:

 Last month it was mentioned that making up a kit might speed up the creative process. I'll admit starting off a cardmaking session with a kit is not something I would normally do, so I decided to just pull out some basics to start me off! My kit consisted of a MME 6x6 Mistletoe Magic paper pad, some sheets of cardstock and some Christmas stamps.

As I got stuck in to my creative session I also used diamond, gold & silver stickles, scalloped lace border punch, zig zag border punch, tag punch, gems, ribbon, Memento black ink pad , promarkers , various spellbinder dies and six scalloped 6 x 6 square card blanks.

Here's the six cards I made:

Jenny x

Next is Louise:

 Jennifer and Sarah shared photos of the Christmas kits they pulled together last month. Taking the lead from them I did the same, and then discovered the Teresa Collins 6x6 Santas List paper pad had all the elements I needed to make my cards! The only touches I ended up adding were the snowflakes and twine:

Louise x

Didn't they both do a great job? I love how the cards in each set all go together, but each have their own distinctive charm too! 

So what are you waiting for? Jenny and Louise have both shown you can just grab a 6x6 pad and a few extra details and get stuck in... and you have the added incentive that joining in with the series could win you a prize:

One person who links up to the Six Cards on the 6th series will receive a prize - a Christmas present with a mix of old and new scrapbooking goodies for you to unwrap and enjoy! It will be a pizza box nicely stuffed with goodies. Each time you link up a set of six cards you'll earn an extra entry into the draw, so join in each month for more chances to win! Last month's entries will be included in the draw too. (NB: the prize will go out in early January to the lucky winner, to allow for late December link-ups).

I hope to see your cards soon! Jennifer x

Introducing Six Cards On The 6th!

Hello! It's Jennifer here, and today I am very excited to be able to introduce to you a new series here on the blog: 'Six Cards on the 6th'!

Now, I know it's only the start of August and the sun is shining, but in the craft world we usually start to mention and think about the "C" word about this time of year!! Yes ... I do mean CHRISTMAS!

Each year, I vow to make ALL my cards and despite my best intentions and my efforts, each year I fail. I start off well and get organised and make a few cards in the summer and then have a last minute rush early December. Each year it's the same. This year will be different!

To encourage myself, and you, to get cards made in advance, we're holding this blog series. Each month from now until December, on the 6th of the month, there will be a post filled with Christmas card inspiration for you! 

You will be able to link up your own cards at the end of the post, you can do this anytime throughout the month, and we'll come and take a look to get more inspiration from you!

If you join in with the series at any time, or if you just want to help us spread the word, it would be fantastic if you can copy this button into your post or sidebar! You just need to select all the text in the box below the image, and copy that either into a html gadget (or text widget) in your sidebar, or into the html on a blog post. Then the button will appear and will be linked back to the series - your button won't have a box underneath!


<a href="http://www.sjpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/six%20on%20the%206th"><img src="http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab280/Jennifergrace_photos/Sixon6thbutton180pix_zps321d7a53.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Sixon6thbutton200pix_zps673fb713.jpg" /></a><br>

So, to start us off, here's some inspiration from me - and there's some cards by Sarah further on in the post too.

I pulled together this kit to work from. We encourage you to pull together a kit to help you make six quick cards - it really cuts down on decision-making time, and makes things easier for you! I used lots of scraps and leftover from last year's collections, even some that were negatives of shapes I'd cut or punched last year:

All I added to it were the card blanks (mostly A6, with one 6x6" square), a couple of scraps of white card to stamp sentiments on, and a few gems!

Here's the six cards I made:

Having the kit together in front of me made it easy to piece together the scraps to fill up the card blanks, and by using at least one piece of ribbon and at least one wood veneer on each card it meant they all had a variety of texture to keep them interesting!

Here's Sarah's set of six cards:

Gorgeous aren't they?

There's more details over on Sarah's blog.

What are you waiting for? Go and pull together a kit of a few papers and embellishments, and make 6 quick Christmas cards. I promise getting them started so far ahead will make you feel better! Once you've finished them, put them on your blog, or take a group photo of the set and upload it to a photo gallery, and leave a link below so we can come and check them out!

I hope you'll join us on the 6th of each month now until December and make 6 cards each month - you'll have a lovely pile of hand made cards all ready to write and send at Christmas.