Very Best Wishes for Christmas

Good morning and the best of wishes for Christmas and the New Year to anyone who reads my blog - very many thanks for all of your encouraging comments throughout the year.  I'm hoping to get back to my regular blogging once this very cold snap has passed as my craft room is somewhat chilly and I've not been spending as much time in there as I would like.  Stay safe and warm 'see' you all again soon.  This is my last Christmas card for a while until the ladies at Bah Humbug start up their wonderful challenge again in  January - do watch out for it because if you take part you will have a good selection of cards ready for next Christmas with no last minute rush. 

Silver Tree

Another very cold day here and quite dark this morning with more snow forecast - ugh!!  A Christmas card today made using a free embossing folder from Papermania with some background paper from the same company and a snowflake cut using a Spellbinders die. The embossing was done on silver mirri card and then sanded off to show the white core but the scan is showing it as blue although it is actually a monochrome card.

Parchment Christmas Tree

Well we've had another fall of snow overnight here in the south west and although it looks pretty at the moment it is causing major disruption at this busy time of the year.  I'm staying firmly indoors as there is no necessity for me to be out and about so best leave the roads to those who really MUST go out.  My friend Anne has received the parchment card I sent her so it is OK to post it here now.  I'm so glad I posted my cards off in good time  otherwise lots of folks would probably not have received one in time this year. Glitter backing paper and jewelled brads are from Papermania and the snowflakes made with an X-cut punch.

Quirky New Home

I just love Polkadoodle images and recently bought a set of stamps with quirky buildings on them.  This one has been made into a new home card; background paper is from my stash; image coloured with Copics; computer sentiment on SU punched shapes, swirls were from a Marianne die with flowers from my stash.  Afraid I've not been posting regularly - trouble with the weather, seasonal jobs to do and so on all getting in the way of crafting.  Roll on the New year.

Cheery Sunflowers

I came across these die cut sunflowers by Papermania when I was searching for something else in my stash and thought they would make a nice cheerful card for these dark days although actually today the sun is shining in a pale blue sky - still quite chilly though. Background paper is My Minds Eye and flowers were layered up using Pinflair glue gel.  Punched corners using SU and EK success punches and a Spellbinders border strip.

Parchment Bookmark

The recent very cold weather has had me searching for crafty things to do on a lap tray in front of the fire instead of spending so much time in my chilly craftroom with the health and safety issue of tripping over strategically placed fan heaters.  I realised that I'd not done any parchment craft for absolutely ages so spent a quiet time looking through some of my magazines and  old newsletters from Parchment Express which is where I came across the pattern for this clever corner bookmark designed by Pauline Loweth.  I'd forgotten how small the holes are in the fine perforating grid and this is far from perfect but I thoughd I'd show you anyway - and I will keep practising to improve my technique.  I popped the corner over a piece of card to scan it and it is like a large photo corner and handy for keeping your place when reading a book.

Forever Friends

A Forever Friends birthday card today.  The image has been layered also the flowers and leaves were cut out and layered for a bit of dimension.  No snow around now but it is still very cold with freezing fog decorating all the bare branches - very picturesque but I'd rather it wasn't quite as chilly.  Take care everyone who has to venture out into the snowy conditions.

Windmill

This windmill stamp is from Polkadoodles and the image was coloured using Copics. Background paper is from Funky Hand and the flowers and swirl were cut using Sizzix dies. A computer sentiment has been popped onto shapes using SU punches.

Tall Trees

The lovely people at Graphicus were forced to call off their planned open days this weekend due to the snowy weather but Glenda and Adrian have been giving us an online party instead with some great bargains from the shop as well as freebies and spot prizes. One of the give aways was some papers designed by Lesley and we were challenged to use either that one or some alternative snowflake paper from Glenda to make a card.  I opted to use Lesley's designs along with stamps from Elusive Images Tall Trees stamp set to make this simple card - I thought the warm colours might be good to use in this very chilly weather. It was a shame that the planned days couldn't go ahead but it has meant that those of us who live too far away to attend have had an opportunity to take part - there's always a silver lining even if sometimes it takes some finding!!  Pop over to their blog using the link to see these great freebies and  the special offers available from their shop.

Tizzy Get Well

All the components on this card were printed from a Tumble Ted and Tizzy CD by Doolicraft, apart from the embossed Nesties circles.  The bear and 'hottie' were cut out and decoupaged. Cutting out decoupage is a thing which can be done on a lap tray in front of a nice warm fire - comforting in this very cold weather.

Thinking of You

I thought this elaborate die cut by Marianne only really needed a simple sentiment to make it into a card.  Background paper is by Artylicious and the flower was made from the pages of a paperback book which was falling to pieces. The layers of the flower were cut using a Nestabilities die and then coloured using distress inks and some Glimmerz paint - a brad was popped through the centre and the whole thing was scrunched up and left to dry.  The swirls under the flower were in the same set of dies as the main shape.

Christmas Cat

Well winter has officially reached the south west - we awoke to snow this morning but of course nothing like as much as there has been further north.  It all looks very pretty but causes such disruption and I opted to stay indoors.  What else to do but make a Christmas card - this is one of my favourite seasonal stamps which I received in a goody bag of unmounted stamps many years ago.  I've always found it very versatile because it can be a cat of various colours and is large enough to work on shrink plastic for a different look.  The background paper is from Papermania and is double sided which always causes me a dilemma of which side to use but decided on the option with a very large poinsettia.  It has been  edged with a gold pen and I didn't want to cover up too much of it so just added a die cut poinsettia.

Tabitha

I went to a workshop at the weekend and made this little rag doll.  I got the hair wrong to start with and had a play yesterday to see if I could do better and I think this is a better result than what I did originally. I enjoyed making her as it was something a bit different.

Card for a Friend

I made this card recently for a friend but couldn't post it until today which is her birthday and I know she has now seen it.  Stamps used were from the Vintage Vogue set by Stampin Up. I used a Martha Stewart punch, some dotted background paper which goes with the SU dotted ribbon - I added a little pearl slider and some pearls on the flowers.  The 'F' and some of the flowers were cut out and layered for a bit of dimension.

Bah Humbug challenge 46

This is the last Bah Humbug challenge for this current year and quite appropriately they have called it 'feeling the blues'.  I dithered between making two different cards and as I just couldn't decide I thought I would post both for this final week (until next year that is - goody).

This one uses the really cute penguin from Polkadoodles which appears in several forms on their various CDs and I also used a little matching border. As he is wearing a Santa hat I thought the Ho, Ho, Ho sentimet was good  here.

The second one is a twisted pyramage from a Popcorn the Bear CD with some snowflakes and Cuttlebug embossing.  Both cards are on blue backgrounds from my blue oddments box - yes most of them are colour coded!! (well sort of anyway).

Busy Time

I've not had anything much to post for a few days but haven't been idle.  I've been going through my stash of larger beads this time and sorting them out, finding that I have quite a few 'orphans' and have used some of them on handbag charms, luckily some of them were twin 'orphans' and could be made into earrings.  Here is  a selection of what I've been making.  All this activity has meant no time for stamping or making cards - if only one could acquire a few more hours in each day.

Bah Humbug Challenge 45

This  week's challenge at Bah Humbug is 'lovely in lilac' and now there is only one more week of these challenges for this year - sad but at least they are coming back in the New year with some more so that is good news.  My card uses background paper from Papermania from a couple of years ago when lilac seemed to be very popular for seasonal cards.  The little stockings were stamped onto coloured paper using a stamp from a free set given away with a recent magazine (why do I always fall for them). Snowflakes were Spellbinders dies and I added some Cuttlebug embossing and a bit of Stickles.

Another Reindeer

It was such a wet miserable day yesterday that I treated myself to a day in the craft room with a few breaks to sit by the fire with warming cuppas.  I made a Christmas card and realised that it fits the Bah Humbug challenge so that will be two cards for that one this week.  Image was stamped and coloured with Copics using a stamp which came with a bargain grab bag many years ago and the poinsettia was die cut using a Marianne die set which I only bought on Monday.  Background papers are from Papermania, ticket came from Cuddly Buddly and the poinsettia was overpainted with champagne shimmer paint.

Embossed Tree

Another brownish card today - well it is a tree!!  The tree was embossed using a Crafts Too embossing folder, butterflies were die cut from gold card using Joy Craft dies, background paper is by My Minds Eye.  A few pearls were added along with a greeting on stampin Up punched shapes.  The tree was embossed onto Core-dinations  card and then sanded to show the lighter inner core of this particular cardstock.  Unfortunately my local shop doesn't seem to be stocking it now which is a pain as it gives great effects used in this way and came in a good range of colours. I am aiming to get away from the brown phase so a Christmas card might well be the next thing - have to do something cheerful today as it is dark, very wet and very windy.

Studio Sketches

This set of stamps was a Stampin Up Hostess gift and I realised that I'd not actually used them yet - probably another sign of an over-abundance of stamps!!  Stamped onto kraft card and coloured with Copic pens, mounted up on Nellies diecuts.  Background paper is from Papermania Hampstead range and some green card embossed with a Tim Holtz folder - I just added a stamped message and a punched tab with some card candy to finish this off. I know this still has a brown look but there is quite a lot of green and I thought it  maybe a good for a man

Cameo

This cameo  - a Quickcutz diecut - has been sitting in one of my many bits boxes for absolutely ages so I decided it was about time I used up some of these bits and pieces.  It has been mounted onto a Marianne doily diecut and the background papers are from the Hampstead range by Papermania.  The flowers are also Marianne dies and the sentiment is a computer one using SU punches.

Looking at this and yesterday's post it appears I am in a brown mode!

Vintage Vogue

It is inevitable when one has lots of stamps as I have that some (or many in my case) get neglected from time to time so I decided to dig out this Vintage Vogue set from Stampin Up and make a card. Background paper is also theirs and for the sentiment and corners  I used  SU punches. I masked an area with the cut out waste from a Nestabilities label before overstamping and adding the flowers. I stamped some extra flowers while I had the stamps out on my desk and these will need to be cut out at some time and used up (not left lying in a box unused!!).

Bah Humbug challenge 44

I think so far I have managed to take part in all of the Bah Humbug challenges so with this week I must have made at least 44 seasonal cards which is great. A little while ago one of the magazines gave away some Christmas templates to draw around and cut out and I made one of these reindeer which has been sitting in my box just waiting to be used.  I have popped him onto Nestabilities and used some bits and pieces of background paper from my oddments box, corners were cut using scraps with an EK success punch and the greeting was stamped and cut out with stampin Up punches. The holly is from Polkadoodles.
                                     

Birdy Birthday

I came across this birdy image when going through a box of bits and pieces and have made it into a card. Background paper is by Papermania with scraps also from the box. I made the flowers using new quilling dies from X-cut and the leaves were a couple of odd ones left over from another project and were printed from a Polkadoodles CD and cut out.  I've always hankered after one of the little machines for cutting the fringing needed to make these flowers but they are quite expensive and I've always resorted to cutting them with scissors before which is effective but quite time consuming so as soon as I spotted these dies I knew I had to have them.

Bah Humbug Challenge 43

The challenge at Bah Humbug this week is fancy folds and one of the DT used the very first idea which came into my head as I read it so had to have a rethink.  I decided on some Tea Bag folding and made this seasonal wreath to which I added a gold ribbon bow and some jewels.  It is mounted on a Nestabilities circle which has been embossed with Cuttlebug snowflakes and backed with gold mirri which of course doesn't show up well in the scan. Background paper is from Dovecraft and squares were cut from the same design to make the wreath.  A simple card but it does feature folds.

A Quick Hello

Just saying a quick hello this morning - I've been busy demonstrating beading for a couple of days so lots of catching up to do on emails, blogs and so on not to mention the dreaded h****work!!  I hope to be back later with my card for this week's Bah Humbug challenge.

Lonely Earring

Last week I bought an amazing beading book by Laura McCabe and have been having a play with some of the techniques.  This earring is the result of one of my play sessions using delica beads and size 15 seed beads (tiny) - hopefully this lonely one will be joined by a matching item during an upcoming bead demonstration at the weekend.  Of course if I get too busy chatting the second one may not be an exact match but we will see...  I have trouble beading and chatting at the same time so it could be fun!!

Woodland Friends

There is a give away on the latest Docraft Creativity magazine of a small set of stamps from the Woodland friends range.  This badger looks cute and friendly - more than can be said for the ones which excavate my front lawn on a regular basis so they aren't my favourite animals.  Background paper is from My Minds Eye and the leaf was made using a Spellbinders die

Die Cut Owl

This owl was cut and layered up using a new die from the Papermania Woodland Folk range - so far I've only succumbed to buying the die but there are some  great  stamps, papers and other animals in the range so I could be tempted!!  Background papers are from My Minds Eye and I've just added a flower and a computer greeting.

Bah Humbug Challenge 42

Well I'm back but I've not been at the bead shop all this time - just had an incredibly busy end of week.  I had a lovely time at Stitch'n'Craft where they have an amazing selection of beads and I've bought some VERY small sizes which I've not  used before Czech charlottes which are even smaller than size 15s) so they could be a challenge.  I met some lovely people at the beading workshop yesterday and we had a good time making some beaded beads and I hope they went away with some ideas of what might be achieved using Peyote stitch as well as the beads they made - thanks Jill for posting the picture so quickly!!

Anyway back to the topic for today's post - the Bah Humbug challenge this week is presents and I thought this Forever Friends decoupage would meeet the topic nicely.  Background paper and greeting is also FF (Docrafts) and I've just used a Nestabilities die and Sizzix embossing folder, then added a tiny tag using a Stampin Up punch and stamp. Final touch was a little bit of fairy dust here and there.

A quick Post

A quick post this morning as a kind friend has offered me a trip to a bead shop - I often order online but it so much nicer to actually see the beads and colours and so tempting!!  Today's card is a floral one using a rose stamp from a Papermania set, stamped twice and layered.  Backing papers  and sentimant are from Papermania also.

Bah Humbug Challenge 41

The latest challenge from the team at Bah Humbug is Elegance which required a bit of thought and I'm sure people have many differebnt ideas as to what is elegant.  Anyway I've come up with this decoupaged poinsettia with gold and red papers from Papermania and the greeting used a Crafts Too embossing folder.

Lovebirds

I thought this digi image of lovebirds would make a good anniversary card (sorry I can't recall where I got the image). Background paper is by Papermania and behind the image I used a Sizzix die which is actually quite long so was cut down to fit. Sentiment printed on the computer, punched out and popped onto a small Nestability shape - a couple of punched daisies and corners were added.

Owl

This owl is from Craftwork Cards and has just had a touch of colour added using Copic pens.  Background paper is from Papermania with some pieces from stampin Up edged with a Martha Stewart punch.  Flowers with card candy centres are also from Craftwork Cards.  A Sizzix swirl and computer sentiment complete this card.

Happy Fisherman

I was going through some of my boxes yesterday (having a bit of a tidy up - again!) and came across this image which I'd stamped and water coloured but not actually used.  The stamp is from Tanda Stamps and background papers from Funky Hand.  The sentiment is from a set of See-d's stamps by Docraft and I added some Cuttlebug embossing, raffia and a button to finish the card off.

Floral Pin

I have a wonderful book of beaded flowers and projects and interestingly they are graded by their 'fiddly factor' rather than by degree of difficulty.  Fiddly is how I found this pin - the flowers themselves took a bit of time and then actually putting them onto the pin with other beads, leaves and tendrils was quite a task because as you can imagine there were so many places where the threads could get caught up and so many stray threads to tie off and sew in.  It wasn't the easiest thing to photograph and on reflection I think it actually needs a few more smaller flowers or something but maybe when I'm wearing it no-one will come close enough to notice the spaces.

Seraphina

I cannot believe that I've not actually used any of the images from this CD because it was ages ago that I bought it (Seraphina and Friends by Doolicraft).  In this image Seraphina is obviously about to be let into a birthday party. Background papers are also from the CD, swirl is a Sizzix die with a punched and embossed flower.  The sentiment is stamped onto a Tim Holtz die cut ticket and I finally added a couple of corners and a scrap of ribbon.

Stickers

My friend Anne has been using some Penny Black stickers on her cards recently and this reminded me that I had a sheet of them lurking somewhere in my stash. The background paper is from My Minds eye with oddments from my box, I added some gems and punched butterflies which were glittered with Glamour dust.

Bah Humbug Challenge 40

As it is simply ages since I did any actual parchment craft I decided to dust off the tools and make this tree for the Bah Humbug challenge this week which is to use vellum.  The design is from My Craft Studio and is a very simple one but even so it took quite a while to make - I meant to have a go at this as soon as I saw it some weeks ago and now I have a tree which won't drop needles all over the carpet!!

Handbag Charm

I made a beaded bead to try out different colours and types of bead to see how they worked together and then decided I would make this one into a little handbag charm.  The bead is made using sizes 11 and 8 seed beads and some magatama drops and to make it into a charm I needed a very short length of chain, an eye pin, a couple of metallic cone shaped beads and a few more drop beads attached with jump rings to the chain. Not the best of light today for a photograph - sorry.

Missing for a Few Days

Apologies for my lack of blogging this week but I've been busy sorting through my bead stash to make up some kits for an upcoming bead workshop.  Until I actually gathered all my seed beads together I'd not realised quite how many I've amassed over the years but I do love seeing them all together and working out which colours go well with each other and deciding if I need to buy any colours which are maybe missing.  The jury is out on that one at the moment!!  I think I've more or less got it sorted so hopefully I will get back to making some more cards in the very near future.

Another Christmas Cutie

The Bah Humbug challenge this week has prompted me to make another cutie Christmas card - this time using Popcorn decoupage, Papermania background paper and sentiment.  I added a Nellies die cut layer and a couple of card candies.

Busy Day

Well I've had a really busy day today at a book making workshop with Chris Hicks where were kept hard at it all day making quite a few different styles of books from simple pamphlet stitched ones through to Japanese stitched and then finished off by taking a ready-made notebook apart then recovering and re-binding it.  Attending this class has given me lots of ideas to try out and who knows some of them might appear on here in the near future.

Bah Humbug Challenge 39

Well I think I might be psychic - the Bah Humbug challenge this week is 'cuties' and I've just made this card which fits the bill, using a Forever Friends peel-off from a sheet which came in my recent goody bag purchase. I put the peel-off onto some white card, cut out around the outside and coloured him with Copic pens.  He has been popped onto a Nestabilities shape which was run through the Swiss Dots embossing folder.   Background papers are from Papermania Classic Christmas  pack and the greeting is a Crafts Too embossing folder; the fur on his hat has been covered with dimensional glitter 'snow'.

Flower and Bee with Text

The flower and bee on this card are from the Blooming with Beauty set by stampin Up.  Background paper is from Artylicious Essence of Nature and one piece has been stamped with a large text stamp also from SU.  Colouring was done with pencils and a touch of Glamour Dust was added to the wings of the bee. I also used Nestabilities and a Martha Stewart punch.

Simply Trees

This card uses one of the stamps from Stampin Up's Lovely as a Tree set and the sentiment is from their Trendy Trees set on a window punched shape.  I masked off the top and bottom of a piece of white silk finish card and using a shaving brush swooshed (technical term!)  some Distress inks in a narrow band, then removed the masking and stamped the trees  in black Versafine.  Sometimes less is more so I kept the whole card simple and just added some gems and the sentiment. The mark which shows up on the bottom corner of the black card is a reflection from the inside of my scanner - this happens sometimes with certain colours of card and seems to be unavoidable but I have made a note to clean the scanner glass which I now realise also needs doing - sorry!!

In a Flap!

No, it's not me in a flap - it's this cute cat.  He is Magnum from Ladybug Crafts ink and I bought him a while ago so thought he should be used (yet another stamp I couldn't resist).  Colouring was done with Copics and coloured pencils. Background papers are from Funky Hand and the sentiment was computer generated.

Baubles

Well I did say 'watch this space' for something using bits from my goody bag.  A template was included for various baubles and I stuck some decorative paper onto thin card, drew around the templates and cut out these baubles. Background paper was left over from last year and although I rarely use peel-offs nowadays I made an exception as there were some included in the bag along with lots of other things which I have yet to use.  I will probably still have bits and pieces left over for next year!!  The gems  and sticky ribbon were also from the pack but the gold satin ribbon was a scrap found in my ribbon box.

Marching Hedgehogs

I had a chance meeting yesterday with my friend Jill at our local craft shop where we watched a Docraft demonstration and felt we must buy the current goody bag which of course is Christmas themed in mainly red and green.  The only odd inclusion was a pack of pink and purple flowers so here for Jill are some of them on this card - incidentally I know she likes hedgehogs too!!  Watch this space for something using the Christmas goodies.

The stamp is from Little Claire Designs, coloured with pencils; background paper is by Papermania as are the pink and purple flowers.  The sentiment is a stamp from another set of clear stamps.

Fancy Folding

The challenge this week at Polkadoodles is fancy folding and there is a link to a tutorial on the blog. I decided to have a go at this pocket card which will be handy for giving tokens or vouchers and prettier than the plain envelopes they come in when you buy them.  Background paper and the bear image which has been cut out and decoupaged are both from Polkadoodles Sundae of Seasons. The tiny tag  in the bear's hand is a Stampin Up punched shape.

Bah Humbug challenge 38

I can hardly believe it is time for the next Bah Humbug challenge - doesn't time fly when you're having fun!! This time the theme is 'across the miles' and I've chosen a fairy/angel image from Polkadoodles Sundae of Seasons winter section, cut the image out and popped it onto Nestabilities wonky squares, one of which has been embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.  The background papers are from a Papermania Christmas goody bag; the holly sprig is from the CD and the sentiment was printed on the computer and cut out with Nestabilities.  A bit of glitter on the wings and glossy accents on the holly berries and that is one more card to add to my ever growing pile - thanks to the team at Bah Humbug.

Tickets

I was tempted to buy the Tim Holtz 'tickets strip' Sizzix die then had to think about how I was actually going to make them look like tickets.  I'm not sure I've cracked it yet but have used them anyway on this card for the sentiments.  The background was sponged with Distress ink and stamped with Eastern Grasses stamps by elusive Images.  The main image is Agapanthus Cluster by Stampendous stamped  in black on a piece of distressed kraft card. The butterflies are stamped and cut out and a few matching pearls have been added here and there.