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.