Pointy Bauble

When I was at the show last weekend and bought some stamps I also spotted some masks produced by the same company but unfortunately they had sold out of them by the time I decided to buy so I had to order the one I wanted.  It arrived today in the post so I've used it to make a CAS card and it is indeed very CAS - I'm still debating whether to add a seasonal sentiment although I think I probably won't put one on this card as the design speaks for itself.  I started by using the mask to emboss the shape onto a piece of white card and then lightly brushed over the aperture with some light brown ink before masking off the lower portion and repeat stamping some Christmas trees to set the scene.  I then selected stamps from a couple of different sets.

It is a really horrid day here with lots of strong wind and rain so ideal for staying indoors and making some cards.

Bauble Mask - from Cardi-o
Trees - Tiny trees stamp set from Clarity Stamps
Deer and Rabbit - from two different Cardi-o stamp sets

Winter Scene

I've made a couple of Christmas Cards today inspired by a recent visit to a Craft Show where I watched a demonstration showing ways of building up scenes from lots of different small stamps.  Of course this reminded me that I have quite a few stamp sets from this company but that doesn't mean that I wasn't tempted with another set of up to date designs.  I really should stay away from temptation!!  Anyway I found out my original stamp sets along with card and inks and set to work.  For this card I decided to pop the scene into  behind really) a die cut snow globe.  There were some masks on the stand but unfortunately they'd sold out by the time I went to buy a couple of them so I've had to improvise.  The scene was built up using  a torn paper mask and a combination of stamps old and new - new ones are the deer and rabbit.  I brushed the sky area with some blue ink and all the stamping was done with black Versafine ink.  Background is a piece of designer paper from Docraft which I've had lying around for some years.

Snow globe - die from Crealies
Stamps - From Card-io Combinations Collection and Christmas Companions (new set)
Greeting - stamp from Stampin' Up Contempo Christmas

PS - Dotty Jo kindly commented and said that this would fit in with the latest Christmas Kickstart challenge HERE.  Pop along to see some great woodland creatures cards.

Finally Completed!

Three years ago I decided to take part in a CAL (crochet along project) from Stylecraft and designed by Susan Pinner but partway through, and for various reasons, this was put aside.  However I have 'friends' who remind me of this from time to time by asking if it is finished so I went for it recently and made a determined effort to get it done and finally here is a photo to prove that it is indeed finished.  Probably if I'd realised at the start just how much work was involved I might not have been tempted but all in all  I've quite enjoyed the process.  I also learnt some new techniques including joining shapes by crocheting them together which I found quite fiddly at first but soon got the hang of it - plenty of practice on this design with the pentagons and hexagons to be joined.  Please don't ask me if I'm making another one!!  I do have quite a lot of the many coloured yarns left over so I will be using them up at some stage on possibly a smaller project.

Green Wellies

This chocolate Labrador in green wellies is scampering along to the Playground for challenge #363.  The lovely Di has made a really fun underwater scene card and there is a bumper prize for the lucky winner this time as well.  There is also the added bonus of a  video of the adorable Dudley enjoying his recent holiday - a blog well worth visiting.

For my card I've used up various snippets of paper and card starting with the last piece of patterned paper left in a pad I've had for ages and some reasonably sized pieces of pearl card in a creamy brown colour.  These were used to die cut an oval frame and the backing for the sentiment banner;  the final scrap was embossed and used as a layer behind the oval.  The dog was cut from a scrap of chocolate brown card and his red bandanna and green wellies from really tiny bits of card.  The tree was stamped onto an oval of cream card, as was the sentiment.  Finally some die cut birds were added to the tree cut from scraps of black.

Embossed Panel - Sheena embossing folder
Ovals - dies from Tonic
Tree - Sheltering tree stamp set Stamoin' Up
Birds - Memory Box dies
Banner - Creative Expressions dies
Labrador in Wellies -  from an Unbranded die set

Thanks Again

This is the other 'thanks' card which I mentioned recently and this one is for the Pixie Snippets challenge. It seems appropriate to mention that the 'thanks' word die was part of a set which I was lucky enough to win from there some time ago.  Always worth taking part because you never know when your name will pop up as a winner and it is a great opportunity to use up snippets.  This particular word has been lying around on my desk ever since the set arrived when I did my usual thing and did a test cut to see how the dies looked.   Luckily I had some other bits and pieces amongst my stash which could be brought together to make a complete card.  The embossed panel was a piece left over from another card, as was the tail end of a banner.  Fortunately I still had some scraps of the purple card from which to die cut three butterflies.  Backed everything with a larger snippet of designer paper and added a few stray gems with, of course, the original 'thanks' which sparked this card off in the first place.

Word dies -

fabulous phrases Concorde & 9th
Butterflies - freebie dies from magazine

Thanks

I'm filling a gap in my box of cards and this time I've made a couple of 'thanks' cards using mainly snippets and things lying around waiting to be used up although I despair of ever catching up with the mountain of debris - all of which is useful and CANNOT be thrown away!!  This time I've used a kraft card blank and some bits and pieces of cream pearl card for the die cutting along with some toning designer paper and a small scrap of brown for the word.  I started by edging the largest piece of cream using a scalloped edge die and trimming the designer paper to fit.  The next thing was another bit of the cream pearl to die cut the row of cats and finally the 'thanks' word was cut from a really small scrap of brown card.  All was layered together and that is one more for the card box.  The second 'thanks' card is quite different and I'll share that another day.  It is certainly a challenge using up all the miscellaneous bits but I do enjoy doing my best to avoid the cards looking as if they were made from oddments.

We've had some more lovely weather recently with plenty of sunshine but sadly this morning it is raining so a good excuse to disappear into the craft room and play.

Scalloped Edge - die from My Favourite Things
Thanks - die from set by Concorde & Ninth
Cats - Possibly from Magenta but packaging seems to have disappeared so not sure

Another Christmas Card for the Box

I've put together a Christmas card to go into my box for later in the year using up more of the miscellaneous bits and pieces lying around on my desk. The background paper was part of a sheet which I'd printed for another card and the two circles were 'waste' from cutting circular apertures (I have loads of these of various shapes) and of course they aren't really 'waste'.  The blue one I embossed with some snowflakes and then popped the Santa and deer die cut racing across the sky.  Finally I put together some vellum poinsettia flowers, also left overs.

Background - printed from Artylicious CD (I think)
Santa and reindeer - I think was a freebie die from last year