Quintiles for December

The theme for the December Quintiles was, of course, seasonal and because I was somewhat pressed for time I've made two very similar ones using a lovely tree stamp from Chocolate Baroque.  Stamped onto card printed from Seasons Greetings CD and embossed with WOW powder; layered onto an embossed panel of snowflakes and the base layer is more of the same printed design from the CD.  Hopefully I will be able to include a picture here - I've lost the programme I normally use for manipulating and sending the scans to my blog and have had a go with something else which came with the new system.  I was so used to the old programme but sadly it isn't compatible which is such a pain but I'm not going to rush out and buy another programme until I've tried out other options.!!

I'm Back!

My computer was returned to me yesterday complete with new operating system so hopefully I will be able to catch up with blogland - I do so hate being cut off from the world and using a tablet is no substitute for the real thing.  I have quite a bit of work to do re installing my programmes and retrieving my files but I'm hoping that won't take me too long and of course I have to get used to the new system but it seems pretty straightforward as far as I can see although some of my programmes aren't compatible so that's something else to deal with.  I have a card to share today which is one I made a while ago but hadn't actually shown. Background is embossed Centura pearl card and the other elements are from various Stampin' Up stamp sets with some die cut leaves and butterflies.

missing from blogland

Apologies to my followers - I seem to have been very busy doing other things. Thanks to those who've shown concern, yes I am fine! However I will be absent for a few more days because my computer has  to be taken into ' intensive care' for a new operating system to be fitted. Hopefully I will be up and running before too long.

November Quintiles

Well November seems to be rushing by while I've been pondering how to depict the theme of FIREWORKS  which was the obvious choice for the Quintiles this month.  Eventually I had a flash of inspiration and decided to use some of the stamps from  Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque) sets - Retro flowers/Vases because they  gave me the impression of bursts of colour in the sky such as would be seen with fireworks.  I used two different approaches here - one using the clear embossing resist technique, starting with yellow card and gradually adding images followed by a slightly darker colour of distress ink, then more resist with a darker colour and so on.  The other one was made using very dark purple card with  stamped and embossed images using various colours of Cosmic Shimmer embossing powders.  The descriptive word was typed on the computer and cut out with a label die.   It is lucky really that I actually got these made this month because it took me so long to come up with an idea but hopefully they will get there in time!!

Quilled Christmas Card

Yesterday I attended a seasonal quilling class with the lovely Jill and came away with lots of ideas for Christmas cards.  The card we made was this one which includes some lovely quilled pinecones which I'd not seen made before.  To my shame I've not actually done any quilling since I went to a class with Jill this time last year, consequently I'm not too happy with my poinsettia flower which to me looks a bit spindly so I might make some better ones for another project.  We were also shown a great Christmas rose flower which I made when I got home before I forgot how it was done so you might be seeing that at some point. I enjoy going to workshops and meeting other like minded people and I also treated myself to lunch which meant no cooking yesterday.

Where Did That Week Go??

I can hardly believe it is almost a week since I posted anything on my blog - apologies.  However I've at last managed to find a bit of time to get into the craft room and make something for the  Make My Monday challenge  This week they are asking for ANYTHING BUT A CARD and CHRISTMAS THEMED so I decided to use one of the box 'blanks' which I bought recently at the Stampin' Up Extravaganza.  The boxes are made from sturdy kraft card and have an acetate sleeve which slides over to cover the contents (mine is empty at the moment) but they are food-safe so could contain some nice home-baked goodies perhaps or even some shop-bought ones which appear to be home made - not that I'd cheat like that LOL!!!  I've added some patterned paper with matching mat layer and die cut a selection of Marianne poinsettias using Centura Pearl card.  The embossed detail doesn't show up in the main photo but the close-up should give you an idea.

Twelve Tags 2013

I expect many of you know about Tim's 12 tags series but if not you can check it out here.  I've not used all of the ideas this year and somehow I never seem to have quite the items he's used  although I can usually improvise if necessary.  The chalkboard technique used on the latest one has taken my fancy so I had a go but instead of using the traditional 'blackboard' colour I've used a very dark purple card and rather than make a tag I've decorated the cover of a journal. I've also incorporated a few of his other techniques from Creative Chemistry.  I won't go into details because you can read all about it on his blog but I used one of his blueprint stamps, Distress inks and stains along with various masks/stencils for the background.

All I need to do now is launch into jornalling which is an entirely new field for me - very daunting seeing all those blank pages staring at me!!