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.