Happy New Year

Just a quick message to say Happy New Year to everyone.

I'm trying to get back into the swing of making cards but really I should put away all the christmassy bits and pieces which are littering my work space - maybe tomorrow ...  The background paper on this card is from Chocolate Baroque Essence of Nature CD and the image used their teeny tiny tree stamps.  The embossed panel using a Cuttlebug folder was sponged with matching ink to show up the texture.  I added a flower made using matching papers,  the word and brackets were  cut out using a Slice machine.

Season's Greetings

Very best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful, Prosperous and Healthy New Year to my followers and everyone who has been kind enough to take time to leave comments on my blog during the year.  I really enjoy taking part in the various challenges so thanks to the people who organise these as well - it must take up quite a time I imagine.  It is also great to follow other blogs and to keep in touch with what is happening in the crafting world - here's hoping Santa brings you all you wished for.

Make My Monday Week 29

The last challenge of the year at Make My Monday is to make a seasonal tag - I've gone along with another of the techniques from Tim Holtz.  This time it is a kind of image transfer using clear packing tape,  a clear acrylic accent piece and some self adhesive foil tape.  The background was stamped with some music and little scraps of text, sponged with distress inks and overstamped using some holly stamps from Christmas Reflections by Chocolate Baroque - fairly quick to make once I'd mastered the image transfer technique.  Hopefully this really is the last seasonal thing I make for quite a while and it will be good to get back to something different.

Jolly Snowmen

A friend sent me a photograph of some snowman ear rings she had seen and asked if I could work out how they were made.  It was such a dark and dismal day yesterday and pouring with rain so I thought I needed to rise to the challenge and make something bright and jolly.  Hers had arms and a long scarf but I only had a very small quantity of the red beads so this one is a variation; also I've not added the ear wires yet.  I worked out they must have been made using brick stitch and I used Delica beads.

A Colour Challenge

The challenge at Simply Stampin' this week is to use these colours from the Stampin Up range so I thought I'd have a go to see what I could come up with

 

 The background paper is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby range which I thought went well with them and I've used stamps from Notably Ornate and Vintage Vogue.  The ornate label and the sentiment were from the first set and the flowers from the second (stamped and cut out). Also used was a Spellbinder die to cut a decorative square and a Marianne die for the leaves.   Being mainly red and green I suppose these colours said 'Christmas' but I am trying to get away from endless seasonal cards now that mine are posted - at least most of them unless there are any I've forgotten which does happen!!

Forgotten Friday 42

I really needed a break from seasonal projects so was glad of the opportunity to look through my stamps (it took a while) to find something neglected to use for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  I enjoy this challenge because it really does make me use items which have lain sadly neglected and this time it wis this lovely bird stamp from Crafty Individuals - can't remember when it was last used.  It was stamped with black archival inkk, then the sections were cut apart and sponged with Wild Honey distress ink; these sections were then adhered to a Spellbinders die cut and in turn onto to smaller die cuts in green to match the background paper which was printed from Chocolate Baroque Essence of Nature CD.  I thought this would be a handy card to have on hand for any occasion so I left it without a greeting.  If you have time in this busy run up to 'the day' take a look at some of Judiths beautiful work.

Another Tag

This is the other tag and this was made using the reflection technique from Tim Holtz.  A tag was cut out in acetate and coloured using alcohol inks, I then used stamps from Chocolate Baroque Christmas reflections on the inked side using black archival ink which was then removed leaving a clear impression in the colour - clever or what??  The acetate tag was then adhered to another one cut in white card. I added an embossed border together with a pine branch (Marianne die) textured with a Sizzix embossing folder - the bird was one which I'd stamped and gold embossed a while ago and not used so I simply turned him into a robin with a little bit of red Copic pen.  I have enjoyed following the progress of his 12 tags which he has done for several years now but I think this is the first time I've ever had a go.

Make My Monday week 28

I can now show you another of my tags which I made for a Guest Designer spot which I was kindly offered from the team at Make My Monday - thanks for the opportunity folks.  The theme is still seasonal and this week it was 'anything goes' with the added touch of some red ribbon.  I decided to make a tag based on  Tim Holtz resist techniques so the tree from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas set was stamped using Versamark and clear embossed before inking the tag with fired brick Distress ink, spattered with water drops and then some overstamping using the same colour. The panel at the bottom was embossed using a Cuttlebug gears folder onto adhesive foil tape from the DIY shop, coloured using alcohol ink.  The poinsettia flower is also from the same stamp set as the tree and the swirl is grunge board coloured and brushed with Distress stickles.  Finally the required red ribbon (and some green) were coloured using the same Distress inks to match the colours used on the background and flower.
Do go and take a look at their blog to see some more great red ribbon inspiration from the regular design team members.

Christmas Tags

Like many other people I've been following the progress of Tim's (Holtz) 12 tags of Christmas with the intention of making each one or something like it day by day but somehow time has been running away from me as usual.  I have however made three (two of which you might see another day) all based loosely on some of his techniques.  Needless to say despite the huge number of dies and other things I have there are items he's used which I don't have - yet!!  The background on this one is his 'rusty' embossed look but I used a brocade stamp from Chocolate Baroque.  I don't have his fab pine cone die so I used a rose die to make flowers, leaves used a Marianne die and the border is a Tim Holtz die.  The lamp post is also a Marianne die and the letters were cut out using X-cut dies so as I said this is very loosely based on more than one of his 12 tags but it was fun to make.

White Christmas Challenge

There is a White Christmas challenge at Chocolate Baroque with a prize - a voucher to spend on some of their gorgeous goodies.  I decided to go with something fairly simple because some people don't really like cards to be too elaborate.  The background was printed from their Seasons Greetings CD with the text added on the computer.  The image is from a CB stamp set, stamped with distress ink and the colour pulled into the roof area using a water brush.  This was then glittered to look wintry, cut out using a Nestability label die and a little Distress ink brushed around the edges.  The little glittered wooden reindeer was a lucky find recently.

Make My Monday Challenge 27

I've not done much by way of making cards for a few days - other things do get in the way sometimes and I have to say I struggled this morning to come up with an idea for the Make My Monday challenge where they are asking for a seasonal project with added glitter.  Several attempts later I've eventually come up with these trees which are from Chocolate Baroque Fat Robin stamp set, stamped in Versamark onto dark blue pearlescent card and embossed using WOW platinum glitter powder. The blue panel was mounted onto a gltter layer as was the little sentiment. Background paper is from my stash and I added some glittery silver ribbon.

Bah Humbug Challenge 47

Well this week's challenge at Bah Humbug is the last one for 2011 which means I have at least 47 cards in my box ready for the festive season - thanks so much to the team and the guest designers for organising this and for showing us so much brilliant inspiration during the year.  This final week the theme is 'cute critters' and I've chosen to use an image from Docrafts From Me to You CD with Tatty Teddy posting his letter to Santa.  Background papers, border and greeting are all from the CD, as is the holly embellishment which I printed, cut out and layered adding some glitter along the way of course.

St Lukes Charity Challenge

Well that's another month gone by, it's the first of December and I've just realised that there are no chocolates in my Advent calendar yet - maybe just as well because I ought not to eat them anyway!!  Being December means also that it is the start of another challenge for St Luke's charity blog and the theme this time is 'Let it Snow' and I really hope the snow stays firmly on Christmas cards only and doesn't fall on us like it did last year. My card this time is in the LIM style with just a small strip of snowflake backing paper, an image stamped using Lovely as a Tree by Stampin Up and I added a reindeer in the foreground using a free stamp which arrived with Craft Stamper magazine.  I used the whole stamp for the greeting and masked off the circular part so that the reindeer stood in front of the trees.  Plenty of glitter was added for the snow on the ground but I'm not sure it shows up too well on the scanned image.

Make My Monday week 26

The last challenge for November on Make My Monday is still on the Christmas theme but this week we were asked to produce a box, either a decorated ready-made one, one we'd made or one we'd altered.  As I seem to be having quite a busy week I've gone for a fairly quick one - using a die cut box and decorating it with Trees which I've made using stamps and a punch from Stampin Up, I added a tiny tag and some gold thread to tie and that's it for this week.  I had several quite elaborate ideas in my head but sadly time was against me this week so it just had to be quick and easy - the most difficult part was getting a decent picture because the day has turned very grey again!!

Bah Humbug Challenge 46

The lovely people at Bah Humbug are asking for fabric this week for their challenge and as I recently discovered Kanzashi flowers I hope that this brooch which I made will be acceptable - it would make a lovely Christmas gift for someone.  This type of flower was used traditionally as hair ornament by Japanese women and were made in fine silk. This one was made using some scraps of batik patchwork fabric which I just happened to have and it is about 3 inches across - they are relatively simple to make with not much stitching involved.

At the weekend I attended a workshop to learn how to make jewellery using chain maille techniques and promised a friend that I would post a picture.  Basically chain mail was originally a type of fabric made from metal links to protect the body from arrows and the like so maybe this will count as fabric too for the challenge??  At the workshop the aim was to teach us some different ways of linking jump rings to form various patterns so I came away with some short lengths of patterned chain which will eventually be made into bracelets (if I can remember the intricate way they were linked).  However we did get to make a pair of ear rings and here they are.

Forgotten Friday 41

Well Friday has come around and gone past yet again but I do have a card for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  This time I'm using stamps from a set which I was lucky enough to win in a raffle way back in July at a brilliant Stampin Up day but to my shame this week is the first time I've used any of them.  The set is called Fast and Fabulous and they are two-step stamps.  Background paper is from a pad which I've yad for ages and as usual has lost the cover.  The sentiment uses another SU stamp with matching punch.

Funky Hand Again

The Link Gizmo would only let me add one phot so I'm doing a second post with the other one so that I can link that as well

Funky Hand Monthly challenge

The challenge on Funky Hand this month is a double - they want a Christmas project made using traditional colours (red/green) and a non-seasonal project using their seasonal papers.  I've chosen to make a pillow box and a birthday card using papers from Twelve Crafters Crafting.  The box was printed onto card using a template from their programme and the Santa label was made up using images from the digi section and cut out using a sizzix die.  The card used a star background paper and a textured plain one from the same CD - stars were cut using a Sizzix die with sentiment and numbers added to make a quick and simple birthday card.

Sympathy Card

I always like to keep a few cards on hand for various occasions and realised that I had no sympathy cards so made a couple (I really hope I don't need either of these).  For this one I used a little flower stamp from Stampin Up and the 'vase' was made using their Christmas bauble punch embossed and with a slice chopped off the bottom.  Image was cut out with Nestabilities dies.  Background paper is also SU and I stamped a simple message - I always feel such cards need to be fairly simple.

Make My Monday challenge 25

The challenge this week on Make My Monday is to use flowers, foliage or snowflakes and I reckon I have all three on this card.  There is also plenty of inspiration from the Design Team if you take a look at their blog.
The image is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque fat robin set coloured with Polychromos pencils.  Backing paper is from my stash so not sure where it came from, the flowers were made using three sizes of Marianne dies and the pine foliage is also one of theirs. A Spellbinders die has also been used along with lace, ribbon and a little stamped sentiment from a set of free stamps (Papermania).

St Luke's Charity Challenge

I was reminded on my friend Anne's blog that I'd not yet made a card for the St Luke's Charity challenge which this month is 'Deck The Halls' so a Christmas card I guess.  When I saw Anne's mid month motivation card I was sure I had a similar stamp in my collection and once I dug it out I realised it was exactly the same (a very old wooden stamp by PSX which I've had forever).  I've made a quick card using it and also using up some seasonal papers from my stash from last Christmas - I really am trying to use things I already have in an effort to clear some space but I have to say using this small amount of paper hasn't made much difference to the heap!!  The stamp was coloured using Copic pens; background papers and greeting are from Papermania and a nice red ribbon finishes off the card.

Forgotten Friday 40

It is thanks to Miranda that I dug these stamps out to use this week and to my shame although I've had them for ages (we're talking years here) they had never been inked - how bad is that??  Do take a look at her blog to see some of her lovely work.  This card was made for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge and of course this is another blog which has beautiful work - they are both on the Chocolate Baroque design team and these large flower and leaf stamps are CB (formerly Elusive Images).  First of all I stamped one of the large flowers on a piece of ivory card with Versamark and clear embossed, then applied various Distress inks with cut'n'dry foam and overstamped with a swirl stamp in one of the colours to give a subtle effect.  The leaves were stamped also with Versamark and embossed with Queen's Gold, coloured using Copic pens and cut out before arranging them on the card with a small gold die cut flower (Marianne die).  This weekly challenge is brilliant for making me use items which lie neglected and sometimes even completely forgotten - thanks Judith.

Bah Humbug 45 Again

When I saw this  Bah Humbug challenge earlier I thought it was a shame I couldn't use the lovely gift bag we made at the Extravaganza last weekend so went ahead and made the little gift box.  However I have now made another bag following the  ideas but using different papers and stamps from my own stash.  Card and background papers are bits from my oddments and I used an EK Success punch for the decorative edge.  Stamps and punches used were from Stampin Up apart from the actual words which were stamped inside the label border with a greeting from a Polkadoodles set. I must say I had a problem finding a greeting stamp small enough to fit - I have lots of greeting sentiments but most are too large for any of my fancy punches and I usually resort to printing them on the computer.

Bah Humbug Challenge 45

One way and another I've not managed to get into the craft room much this week so today as I wasn't going out I decided I'd make a start on what I hope is a crafting weekend and make a little gift box for the Bah Humbug challenge.  They were asking for a gift bag or box as a change from cards so I decided to go with an idea which I saw on Jo's Blog so I can't really claim it was my idea but I have made a variation of what she produced.  Do go and take a look at her blog because there are some great tutorials on there for unusual items like this one.
I used the little milk carton Sizzix die from Stampin Up and cut a circular window from one of the sides and adhered a piece of vellum inside before making it up.  The roof on mine was made from a strip of card embossed and corners rounded.  The decoration on the little house was made using Pines and Poinsettias stamp set also from SU.  This particular house has a flashing tea-light inside (battery of course - not the candle type) but  you could of course use the box to hold a small gift. Unfortunately this doesn't show up particularly well on the photo which was taken using flash due to the light being poor this morning.  Jo managed to get much better photographs of hers and I'll propbably try again when the light improves.

Blog Candy

There is some brilliant blog candy on offer at the Craft Barn so do check out the link here .  Good luck everyone

You just need to become a follower, put a post linking the picture on your blog and leave them a comment with a link back to your blog to be in with a chance to win these wonderful goodies.

Make My Monday challenge 24

The good people at MMM this week are looking for a CAS (clean and simple) Christmas card with emphasis on the wording and plenty of  'white space'.  Those who know me will be aware that this isn't really my style but I'm always prepared to have a go so I've used two stamps from Chocolate Baroque steampunk Christmas set stamped with Versamark and embossed with Ranger Queens Gold. It was so hard to resist adding a bit more of something in the wide open spaces.  I carefully cleaned the scanner glass (twice) before I got a clean image and now I see there is a tiny mark at the bottom which isn't on the card - honest!!  Do go and take a look at the great cards from the design team.

Bah Humbug Challenge 44

We are on week 44 at Bah Humbug which means I must have at least 44 cards ready for the festive season so that's good news.  This week they are asking for a Baby's First Christmas card which had me thinking a bit for ideas I must say until I remembered this lovely baby stamp from Lili of the Valley.  I coloured him with Coloursoft pencils so that he looks like a mini Santa and I added a bobble on his little hat.  The 'fur' around his hat and the bobble have been covered with textured glitter snow but it doesn't look too glittery on the scan.  The sentiment was produced on the computer.  While I was waiting for the snow to dry I went for a walk and that's when I do a lot of my thinking - I realised it would be a first Christmas for my great nephew so used a Stampin Up pennant punch and X-cut letter dies to add his name.  The image was popped onto a Marianne die cut to which I added some narrow ribbon.  It is thanks to Jenny (Stamping Moments) for that idea as yesterday I went to a brilliant SU Extravaganza day where we made some lovely projects - do take a look at her blog and you will see some of the things we made.

Forgotten Friday 39

I think Judith must be busy because no sign of her post yet for Forgotten Friday but as I've made a card in readiness I'll show it here and link to her blog later.  The partially embossed background on this card was a piece I did as a demonstration on using the Big Shot machine way back in September of LAST YEAR and I came across some of these bits and pieces when I was having a sort out.  That is the first 'forgotten' item and the second is the stamped music design from a Chocolate Baroque set which I just had to have in August (this year) but this is the first time any of them had been inked. The main image is from a set of Urban stamps by Papermania, mounted on Nestabilies and I added a little greeting on matching die cuts.

Make My Monday Week 23

There is a new theme for the month over on Make My Monday challenge blog and as you might guess it is Christmas with traditional/vintage chosen by Suzi B for this first week of November.  I do like a wide variety of styles but for Christmas I think traditional or vintage always goes down well.  I have chosen backing papers from a pad by Cart-US which has some wonderful vintage papers including some of these little postcards on which I've stamped a greeting.  The main image is a stamp from a clear set which has unfortunately lost its packaging but I really love this Santa.  I added some cream lace, a die-cut border and a poinsettia cut from some of the backing papers.

Beaded Bauble

I just had to have a go at a beaded bauble pattern which appeared in the latest edition of Bead magazine.  This is something I've been meaning to try for ages - even bought a book last year but didn't actually get around to making any of the designs!  These instructions were brilliant to follow with excellent step by step photographs (sadly not always the case with magazine patterns) but that's another story.  The most difficult part was actually trawling around the town searching for a bauble of the recommended size and I'd not realised just how many variations there seem to be, mostly smaller or larger than I needed. I would have preferred a matte gold rather than shiny but shiny was all I could get in the right size.  The beading is a mix of size 11 seed beads and various fire-polished crystals. Sorry the photo is a bit dark but the light wasn't brilliant and I didn't want to use the flash on that reflective bauble.

Bah Humbug Challenge 43

The lovely folk at Bah Humbug tell us that we are nearing the end of their challenges for this year - a brilliant way of amassing a good selection of cards for Christmas without the last minute rush. I do hope they will be back next year with more wonderful themes for us. The theme this week is snowmen and there are some great examples from their DT so do take a look if you are stuck for ideas.  My snowman is made from a Spellbinders die which I had forgotten I had until trying to decide what to do this week.  The 'scene' I've placed him in was printed from Polkadoodles Magical Winter and the ticket sentiment was from Cuddly Buddly. Once the various pieces were die cut this was a fairly quick and easy card.

Forgotten Friday 38

Friday again already and time for something for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  During my recent efforts to have a bit of a sort out of my stash I came across a box with a selection of stamped and/or digi stamp images some of which I'd coloured and some not so I decided to use one of the coloured ones for the challenge as I'd completely forgotten what was in the box - what am I like??  I thought these birds (a digi image from Pollycraft coloured with Copic pens)) would make a cute 'congratulations' card - background paper from my stash has had a border added with a fineline pen, a Martha Stewart punched border was added along with a couple of punched flowers. A friend had commented that she thought my cards had been a bit dark of late so I hope she likes this brighter one (you know who you are)!!

MMM challenge 22 - Autumn Leaves

The last challenge in this month with an autumnal theme from Make My Monday is 'autumn leaves' and there is some great inspiration on their blog from the Design Team - well worth a look.  The background on this card was made with a large leaf stamp from a set by Tanda Stamps using a resist technique involving acrylic paint   The image is  from a Stampin Up set and I simply added a little sentiment to complete this fairly quick card (apart from waiting for the paint to dry) which doesn't take long!  I'm looking forward to seeing what the team challenge us with next month. Now I've seen this on the blog  post I think it maybe needs a little something in the other corners but still debating that one! Maybe I should stick to less is more?

Bah Humbug Challenge 43

I have to report that my major re-organisation didn't get too far yesterday but at least I cleared my actual working space and put away all the stray ink pads, stamps and so on which were cluttering it (they'll be back).  I did get side-tracked however and made something for the Bah Humbug challenge this week which is to use die cuts to make something seasonal.  I decided to break away from  cards for a change and made a little milk carton gift box using a Sizzix die from Stampin Up.  The poinsettias are also die cut using two sizes of Marianne dies.  The closure is a small bulldog clip from the stationers and I glued another poinsettia onto that for decoration.  The craftroom won't get much attention today either because I'm dashing off to teach a bead workshop  but maybe tomorrow ...?  One or two people who have left comments suggested I might like to sort their rooms out too so obviously I'm not the only one who needs to declutter.

The Time Has Come...

... for me to have a MAJOR sort out and organisation of my craft room but before I launch into this mammoth task it is also time for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge again so I've just made this quick anniversary card. Do go and take a look at her blog - some beautiful work to see and the current post is a Haloween tag using her forgotten or neglected stamps (mind you Halloween stamps are mostly a once a year thing anyway which is why I don't have any to speak of).
For my card I used three stamps from a set of frames and smaller stamps by Joanna Sheen which I have had for a very long time and haven't used for an equally long time - we're talking years here and the little heart motif had never been inked as far as I recall. Background paper is a piece left over from a recent project and is from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD which isn't just for Christmas; the frame and bow were stamped using Versamark onto kraft card and gold embossed before being cut out; the Top Note die cut has been embossed using a polka dot mask (another item which I reckon has been used only once since I bought it; the sentiment was computer generated and cut out with oval punches from Stampin Up.

Three Challenges

I've had to do something this week which I very rarely do and that is to cover three challenges with one card - I really prefer to do separate cards for each challenge.  Needs must but it actually took quite a bit of thought to co-ordinate my ideas to to do this which surprised me somewhat.  I'd just realised that this week was galloping away from me at an alarming rate so I'll try to do better next week!
The challenges covered are Forgotten Friday, Funky Hand and Make My Monday - fortunately the last two are both autumn themed and Forgotten Friday needed me to use something from my stash which had been neglected or forgotten.

Forgotten Friday - the neglected item is the Nestability die set with the spikey circles which I've hardly ever used although I really needed it at the time.

Funky Hand - their monthly theme is autumn and I've used papers from the Craft The Year Away CD and the  bird is also on the same disc - he has been paper pieced with a jewel for an eye.  I chose papers from the Orange October collection (seemed appropriate!!).

Make My Monday - again an autumn theme for the month and this week they were looking for orange and black.  I suppose the obvious thing would have been Halloween but as I don't have anything much for that and don't really 'do' Halloween I just used the colours.  A Spellbinder die cut border across the centre, a computer sentiment some matching card candy and there it is - one card covering three challenges.

Beadwork Today

Today's offering is a little beaded brooch made using one of the components of a necklace pattern which appeared in a recent issue of Bead magazine.  A friend had mentioned that she'd tried this and that the instructions didn't appear to be particularly clear so I said I'd have a look and before you know it I'd launched into making this.  Neither of us fancied making the whole necklace but it was a great idea of hers to turn part of it into a brooch and she was right in that the written instructions weren't the best but luckily there were also some diagrams so between the both we managed to work it out. This quite a close up photo - the actual brooch is approx 2" across

Bah Humbug challenge 42

The Bah Humbug challenge for week 42 is 'with men in mind' so I've taken the opportunity of using stamps from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas. The  background paper is from their Seasons Greetings collection and I've used a Tim Holtz Sizzix border die and also an embossing folder with gears. Some sponging with distress ink and there you have it - a male orientated Christmas card.

Advent Calendar

While this Advent calendar wasn't especially quick to make it was very enjoyable and the instructions are available from the lovely Jenny of Stamping Moments if you think you'd like to make one.  It is made on a canvas approximately 9" x 12" which I painted with gold acrylic paint and spritzed with Glimmer Mist using some masks (not much of this actually shows) but it is better than a plain white canvas. The 25 boxes with hinged lids are made using various Stampin Up punches and are about one inch deep which doesn't show up on the photo but they are large enough to hold a nice chocolate treat of some kind.  I didn't follow Jenny's insructiions to the letter because I didn't have all the correct punches but managed to improvise by using circles to hold the numbers which were cut with X-cut dies as were the letters for the heading. I might just have to keep it for myself because I'm not sure I have enough spare time to make a couple more for the family (have to treat them alike of course).