Seasonal Cards

I'm still ploughing on with a selection of Christmas cards and have come to realise what a lot of seasonal stamps and dies I actually have in my stash although I am quite short on suitable card and papers.  Luckily I have at least one very good CD with a wide selection of lovely designs but I think I need to go shopping for some green card because although I have heaps of snippets many of them are too small for some of the things I want to cut out.  I did manage to find a couple of shades of green for the die cut tree on this card and the background was printed onto some photo paper.  The white square was lying around just waiting to be used but I did run it through a snowy embossing folder., then added a slightly larger blue layer to tone with the background.  The tree decorations were die cut from tiny scraps of silver card.  Not much space for any wording on the front but this design speaks for itself really.

Tree and Decorations - die set from Tonic, freebie with recent magazine
Background - printed from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD
Snowy Effect - Sizzix snow is falling embossing folder from Stampin' Up.

Another Crochet Project

I like to have some knitting and crochet on the go so that I can pick it up while watching TV - I have to admit this is so that I can hopefully stay awake to watch a whole programme!!  Trawling around the internet - as you do - I found this pattern for the oddly-named 'Virus' shawl which is triangular and there is also a square version to make a blanket. A shawl is really handy to wear around the shoulders to keep warm and nicer than a cardigan I think.  I chose a variegated yarn to make my shawl and here it is draped over my office chair.  I enjoyed  making this, mainly because there are four rows to the pattern which gives a bit more variety when working rather than repeating the same stitch and row ad infinitum.  I'm planning on making another one in a different colourway as a Christmas present so I will have to get a move on with that in between making cards and all the other things I like to do.

On a Roll

I'm on a roll with Christmas cards at the moment and this one is being taken along to the Playground for the latest Snippets challenge because I've used up some snippets and also made more snippets by cutting into a new sheet of card.  I was reminded that I have a set of dog dies when I saw the card posted by my friend Anne and I've done something similar in using my little Scottie dog to make a Christmas card.  I die cut the dog using a scrap of black card with a TINY piece of red for the bow around his neck and he is joined on his snowflake background by a small stamped and die cut tree.  I cut the main background to size from a new sheet of printed card which left me with enough to cut the oval and I also have more snippets for another card.  The red and white layers, sentiment and snowflake were all cut from oddments. 

It is well worth a visit to the Playground to see the fabulous butterfly card made by the lovely Di - what patience she must have!  As usual the prize for one lucky person will be the dies she used to produce her card.

Oval and square dies - Toni
Banner - Sizzix die from Stampin' Up
Snowflake - die from Docraft
Sentiment - Gemini die
Scottie - unbranded die set
Tree - stamp and die set from Studio Light

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