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.

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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.