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Monday, 19 December 2011

Merry Christmas

I'm sorry that I have not issued a post for some time, but there just isn't enough hours in a day!!!

I would just like to wish all my followers and blog friends a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!

Hopefully, Santa will bring me some nice crafting bits to play with for the challenges in 2012!!, so I'll be back then.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!

Sunday, 11 December 2011

Let it Snow!

Brrrrrrrrr!!! What a cold wet day outside, thank goodness I'm still putting my decorations up indoors. Now you may think that my house must look like Santa's grotto, but watch out for the photos at the end of my post and see for yourself.

Today, I've only had time for a quick card that is for the  Less is More challenge  and they want a 

ONE LAYER CARD
       This time our theme is
       Let it Snow!

So out came my snowflake stamps and sponges, and this is what I came up with


I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark across the top of the square card, and heat embossed them with white powder. The same was done with the sentiment. I then embossed 2 lines across the middle of the card and covered them with Post Its before sponging over the top area with blue inks. Gems were added for a little bit of bling.

Recipe :
Card = Whisper White
Stamps = Inkadinkado, and my stash
Inks = Versamark, Bashful Blue, and Brilliant blue
Tools = Heat gun and embossing tool
Extras = White embossing powder and gems


Thanks to my RA it takes me sooo long to do what takes a normal person only a few hours!!! but I think it makes my room look festive even if it does cause me pain to do it. 
Here is my traditional red tree ( and I've just noticed the strange pale patch on the dining room curtains, and if it's not the reflection of the camera flash from the large mirror, it's a ghost ??)




and this is my fireplace, minus the large red baubles (which I hang from the top of the garland swag, and I think must still be in the loft) and the coals from the fire as Monty likes to steal them and hide them under the dining table!!



Tomorrow I'm off to Jacqueline's to play and it may be my last chance to go round before Christmas, so I'd better get my crafting stuff ready.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you'll call again soon.

Saturday, 10 December 2011

Blue Christmas!



This afternoon, in between putting my decorations up, I took a break to have a coffee and finish the card I started yesterday.
My card is for the Pals Paper Arts challenge, and their theme is something for "Puttin' on the Ritz" with extra sparkle, shine, or decoration.


I thought of putting some "bling" on a Christmas tree, but as I don't have one in the form of a stamp, I decided to make one out of the scroll in the SU Strength and Hope set.

This is how it turned out



I started by stamping the whole scroll in Versamark on navy card and heat embossing it with a silver pearl powder. Then I reduced the size of each scroll the higher it went, till the fourth and last scroll was just the heart and leaves.




The BS was used to cut labels from the stamped navy and silver cards, that were then layered. I rounded the corners of a square cream card and a matt of pale blue card that had been wrapped with silver and navy ribbons was added, onto which the stamped panel was placed on 3D pads for added dimension. The finishing touches were the sentiment stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with silver powder, and the addition of clear gems to the tree and the "i" in Winter.

Recipe :
Card = Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, and Silver and cream cards from my stash
Stamps = Strength and Hope and sentiment from my stash
Inks = Versamark
Tools = Big Shot, Nestabilities labels, and Heat gun
Extras = Ribbons, Silver and Silver Pearl powders, and gems


Thanks for looking at my blog today and I'd love to see what you think.

Oh, and a big "Hello" and "Welcome" to my new followers, thank you for your support.







Snowmen Smiles

Today, I've put my Christmas icicles and lights up outside, and I still have to put my indoor tree up and decorate it, but I can't get in the festive spirit yet, so I've made a card instead.

I will be entering it into the Friday Mashup challenge where they want snowmen, the colour palette of Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, and Basic Grey, or both the snowmen and the colours.

I will also put it into the The Paper Players challenge where they are looking for a Christmas project with non holiday stamps or colours.



So here is my card with Snowmen in non traditional colours, what do you think??





I started with a white card and rounded the corners before randomly stamping snowflakes in pink and blue. I then used the BS to cut 2 Sizzix Snowmen, 1 grey and 1 blue label, and embossed the grey label with dotty snowflakes. The labels were layered, white stitches drawn on, and wrapped with a ribbon and placed on the card. The snowmen were coloured with SU write markers and had Cosmic Twinkles added before they were placed on the labels. Finally, the greeting was stamped in Versamark on blue card, heat embossed with white powder, and stuck on 3D pads between the snowmen.


Recipe :
Card = Pool Party ( I don't have Baja Breeze), Basic Grey, and White card from my stash
Stamps = Snowflakes and sentiment from a kit I've had for too long to remember where from
Inks = Blushing Bride, Pool Party, and Versamark
Tools = Big Shot, Sizzix snowman die and Texture plates, SB nestabilities labels, Heat gun, and Xcut corner rounder
Extras = Pro Markers, Cosmic Twinkles, Ribbon (coloured with Blushing Bride marker), White gel pen, and 3D pads.


Thanks for dropping by today, and I hope you liked my card.

I must let you all know that I'm having Internet problems at the moment, so if I go AWOL again it's because of that...........fingers crossed it will be ok till the new year.








Thursday, 8 December 2011

Glitter Christmas

Hello my blogging friends, I'm back in the crafting saddle but I'm not firing on all cylinders yet, so please bear with me.

Today I went to Jacqueline's, and as her challenge blog ( Make My Monday) is looking for a Seasonal project with Added Glitter, I decided to have a go at a technique I'd seen on TV done by Barbara Gray from Clarity Stamps. She uses some sticky paper ( designed and sold by her company )to create glittery scenes that then get stuck on acetate.

Here is the finished card, and then I'll try to explain how I made it!!




If I'd thought about it properly, I would have taken photos of the various stages, but I didn't think of it till the picture was complete!!!! 

Anyway, I placed 2 strips of 1.5" double sided tape side by side, sticky side face up, and stamped the reindeer silhouette directly onto the sticky side with Black Archival ink.                                 The tape was then placed onto the rougher side of a piece of acetate. With a craft knife I carefully cut into the tape backing paper to make a thin wavy strip under the deer, and peeled off the yellow backing ( too much pressure on the knife and it will cut the acetate as well, so carefully does it)


I then sprinkled blue glitter onto the exposed sticky tape. Either side of the deer I cut 2 Christmas trees, but the first parts of the backing to be peeled off were the stripes of tinsel and baubles ( glittered with red ), then the larger trees ( pale green glitter) and lastly the smaller trees ( darker green). I then cut a wavy strip across the background and sprinkled it with silver glitter, and finally the remaining yellow backing paper was peeled off and sprinkled with white glitter.  

Now, to stick this glittery scene down, I stuck 2 strips of the tape onto white card and peeled off the backing tape. The glittery side of the acetate was stuck onto the tape to leave the shiny side of the acetate face up ( so the glitter is sandwiched between acetate and white card) and the scene was then trimmed and layered on some red and green cards. The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder on the red card, and finished off with 3 white pearls.

I hope that this all makes sense to you, but I can thoroughly recommend this technique if you fancy getting glitter absolutely everywhere!!! I think poor Jacqueline will be finding it for weeks to come ( especially as Louise seemed to like lying on it!! ) , Sorry Jacqueline.  

Recipe :    
Card = Green Galore, Real Red, and Whisper White
Stamps = Clarity and Dovecraft
Inks = Black Archival and Versamark
Tools = Martha Stewart border punch, Heat gun, craft knife and wide double sided tape  
Extras = Blue, red, pale green, dark green, silver and white glitters, White embossing powder, and White flat backed pearls


Thanks for dropping by today, and I hope my rambling instructions haven't scrambled your minds too much.


             
  

Saturday, 3 December 2011

AWOL Apology

Hi blog friends, I'm sorry that there has been no posts from me this week, but I had a horrible reaction to my RA injection drug which really knocked me off my feet. Now I've had lots of bed rest and doggy cuddles, I'm starting to feel human again.

I also owe Jacqueline a big apology, " Sorry Jacqueline", as I let her down for the Christmas Sale at the local Village Hall, I hope she can forgive me!

And now some good news, I've also just found out that I came Top 3 at Simply Stampin again, so a big "Thank you DT" to them, and apology for no entry to their challenge this week.

I hope to get back in the crafting saddle soon, so please call again in a day or two if you can.

Thanks for bearing with me