Sunday 31 December 2017

Happy New Year!

This will be my last post of 2017, so Happy New Year to all the visitors to my blog.  I hope you all have a happy, healthy and creative 2018!

It seemed appropriate that my last card of 2017 is a Thank You card.  Thank you for all your visits, comments and friendship throughout 2017.  

A CAS card using one of the first sets of stamps I ever bought, a Tapestry set, 'African Daisy Border'.  I can't remember the last time I used this set, so it was time I gave it an airing!  I used Adirondack inks to stamp the pattern.  The fishtail sentiment banner was hand cut.

I am joining in the following challenges:
Penny Black and More December Challenge ~ CAS
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/challenge-360-361-sketch-22.html

Saturday 30 December 2017

Thank You

Well that's the Christmas festivities over for another year....memorable for all the wrong reasons!  I didn't invite a stomach bug, but one arrived late on the 22nd and stayed until the 27th!  So, no trip to Devon to spend a few days with the family and no Christmas dinner...in fact no food at all for me for three days. Thank goodness for good friends who delivered a Christmas dinner for hubby!   Our house smelt of disinfectant, rather than turkey,  to make sure hubby didn't go down with the dreaded bug. Family presents are still here, as well as all the treat boxes I made, so we'll need to arrange a belated family lunch sometime in the New Year.  But hey-ho, hubby and I were warm over Christmas, didn't need to record anything on the TV to watch later and still have all the Christmas chocolates to enjoy!

Here is the first of a few thank you cards I need to make.
 I used a Memory Box 'Grand Thank You' die with patterned paper from an old Dovecraft paper pad.  The top part of the card is embossed with a Spellbinders 'Dainty Dots' embossing folder.  I added a punched flower in the colours of the flowers on the patterned paper.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Friday 22 December 2017

More Treat Boxes

More chocolate treat boxes to use over the festive period, this time a cracker shape.  I'm planning to add little tags with names on to use as place names on the table.
The crackers were made using a WRMK Candy Box Punch board.  The Santa faces are stickers I bought to use with my Reception class for Christmas activites when I was teaching full time, so they at least seven years old!  They've been gathering dust all this time, so I thought it was about time I used them. I stuck them on a scalloped Nestabilities die cut, added two Memory Box 'Twilight Snowflakes' die cuts and tied the end of the crackers with red and gold cord. 

I am joining in the following challenges:

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Another tag

Another tag today, using two of the Poppystamps 'Stitched Main Street Tags' dies.

I die cut one tag in white.  Before die cutting the second one in dark blue, I attached a strip of white card, die cut with a Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border' die, so I could 'ground' the tree.  The tree is a Poppystamp 'Snow Flocked Tree' die cut, with Glamour Dust added to the layers of a tree to add some sparkle and a punched matt silver star at the top of the tree.  I added some 'snowflakes' with Nuvo Crystal Drops.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Tuesday 19 December 2017

Fairy Wish

Have you ever had one of those days when it takes longer to take a photo, than it does to make the card?  Well, today I had one of those days. Silver mirror card is difficult to photograph at the best of times, but when it's a silhouette and the light is bad.....this is the best I could get!   The fairy's legs ARE silver!!

So, onto the card I made for my granddaughter's 8th birthday.  The die is a new one I bought recently in Hobbycraft during their half price sale, with this particular card in mind.  It's an Intricut die called 'Intricate Fairy'.  The set of dies comes as a pack of three, including a fairy wand and a star.  I actually used the star from the wand and snipped of the stick, as the star was a better size.  I used a snippet of silver non-shed glitter card with the main die, just cutting out the wings as I wanted to inlay them rather than leave the wings as an outline.  The embossing folder I used for the background is Creative Expressions 'Shimmering Stars'.  The sentiment is computer generated and printed in grey, as it looked less harsh than black.  I added a little red punched heart to finish off my card.  I was really pleased how the card turned out, but I can't say the same for the photograph!

Monday 18 December 2017

Reindeer Tag

Christmas cards all made, written and posted, so time to start on my tags. 

 Most of the tags I need to make are for children's presents, so I dug out an old wood mounted stamp with a cute reindeer on.  I know I've had this particular stamp for a long time - the date on it is 2002!  The image is stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Promarkers.  I added some Nuvo Crystal Drops for the reindeer's nose and clappers of the bells.  I always thought they were called clangers.  Surprising what you can find out on Google!! LOL!!  The tag shapes were cut with two of the Poppystamps 'Stitched Main Street Tags' dies, the green tag shape is non-shed glitter card.  A little piece of ribbon finished off my tag.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Saturday 16 December 2017

Santa Pillow Boxes

 I've finally got round to blogging again after nearly a week.  I've made a couple of cards this week, which I can't put on my blog until I know they've been received

I made sixteen little Santa pillow boxes this evening, filled with chocolates, ready for Christmas day.  (As usual, the gold mirror card I used for the buckles doesn't photograph well!) I used a Sizzix pillow box die and snippets of black, white and gold mirror card.

I am joining in the following challenges:
Country View Crafts December Challenge ~ Christmas
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge #187 ~ Anything Christmas Related
HLS December Christmas Challenge ~ Anything Goes
HLS December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
I spent several hours today shaking a bucket outside a local supermarket with my hubby, a few friends and Santa in his sleigh.
   It was fabulous seeing all the children's eyes light up when they spotted Santa!  Despite it being an expensive time of year, it was lovely to see so many people dipping in their pockets to fill up our buckets, raising lots of money for local charities. 

Monday 11 December 2017

Candlelight

Another Christmas card with a few challenges in mind.  My Christmas cards for this year are all made and written, with a few spare in case I have forgotten someone.  So, I'm starting on my cards for Christmas 2018!
The image is a wood mounted Stampendous stamp I found in a bargain bucket at a craft fair earlier this year.  The image is stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and coloured with Promarkers.  The sentiment is from a Woodware set of stamps, stamped with Versafine 'Onyx Black'.  To add some sparkle, I went over the yellow, orange and grey with a clear Spectrum Noir glitter brush.  I added some faux stitching around the edge with a fineliner pen to finsh off my card.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Friday 8 December 2017

Sparkly Snowmen

We had our first snow of the winter this morning.....okay, it was only enough to dust the roof of the car and was gone within about 30 minutes, but it WAS snow! LOL!

There are a few 'Snowman' challenges around, so out came my favourite snowman rubber stamp.  The Country View Crafts Challenge this month is 'Christmas with the option of Reds, Greens & Rust', so my first card incorporates these colours. I'm not sure why the red looks a bit orangey, but in IRL it is bright red.
The stamp is an old wood mounted stamp by Anita's.  I coloured the image with Promarkers, then went over the falling snow, the snow on the ground and the snowman's body with a clear Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen to add some sparkle.  After matting and layering the image and raising the sentiment up on foam pads, I finished off my card with five Card Candi.

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:


My second card, like one of yesterday's cards, is using blue and white, the colours of our local football team.  Mr Snowman is dressed ready to go to the match tomorrow.  This card will be for another friend who regularly watches the team play.

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:

Thursday 7 December 2017

Santa

I'm making a few of this design for some very special little people in our family.
The background is embossed with an Embossalicious e/f, 'Reindeer Forest'.   The dies I used were from eBay and the ribbon from my stash.

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:

I made one more with Santa wearing the kit of our local football team for a friend.  Our rival team wears red and white, so I never put red on the cards I send her! LOL!
(The football fans are affectionately known as 'The Gasheads', due to the original stadium being in smelling distance of the gas works many years ago.)

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Bunnies

I saved this as a draft post until I knew the card had been received, but somehow the photo and all the text disappeared, so I had to start again....but then I forgot to make the post live!!  So here's my post - better late than never! 
I made this card for Cara, a blogging friend. You can find her blog, Crafting Bunnies HERE.  When I mentioned in a comment on another blog that I'd been looking for this particular embossing folder for ages, but thought it had been discontinued, Cara very kindly said she had a duplicate one I could have!  Well, I just had a do a Happy Dance, thank you so much Cara!  The e/f is by Creative Expression, 'Heart Lattice'.  I knew I had to use bunnies on Cara's card and the Joanna Sheena 'Rabbit Family' dies were just a perfect size.  The grass is  MFT Die-Namics 'Fresh Cut Grass' die cut.  A strip of sentiment ribbon finished off my card.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Monday 4 December 2017

Handwritten sentiment

The Butterfly Challenge this fortnight is 'Butterflies + H is for Handwritten and/or the colour Lemon'.  The lemon bit is fine, but handwritten?! I've never handwritten anything on my cards before, apart from a bit of Zentangling, so this was a first for me.  I decided to make a 'thank you' card as I'll be needing a few after Christmas.  I wrote the sentiment with a green fineliner pen.
I started by die cutting a 6" x 4" card blank down the side with a Memory Box 'Kensington Border'  die.   I used the die again with snippets of lemon coloured card and cut off the butterflies before attaching them over the main card.  The embossing folder I used is Couture Creations 'Fireflies'.  I added a thin strip of lemon card on the edge of the green embossed card.  The matted, handwritten sentiment is attached with foam pads.

Saturday 2 December 2017

Crafty Calendar ~ December DT Post

Today is the start of a new challenge over on Crafty Calendar Challenge, with the theme 'It's Christmas'. There are two prizes this month from our generous sponsors, 


 Crafty Ribbons

and


Bugaboo Stamps


For my DT card I used a pre-coloured image from Bugaboo 'Bugs Snowman 003'. The image was die cut and layered on dark blue, using MB 'Stitched Circles'.  The patterned paper is from a freebie paper pad which came with a magazine.  The snowflakes are MB 'Twilight Snowflakes' die cuts, cut from snippets of white card.

Looking forward to seeing all your Christmas creations over in the Crafty Calendar Challenge. You have until 28th December to join in the fun.

I am joining in the following challenges with my card:

Thursday 30 November 2017

Countdown to Christmas

This Saturday I have a stall at a local fundraising 'Handmade Craft Fayre'.  I'm making a few of these as an alternative to an advent calendar.  I almost sold out at the craft fayre I was at last Saturday, so I had a quick trip down to IKEA today to buy a few more inexpensive frames.
  

The Santa is made from a die I bought on eBay.  (Thanks to Di for her useful tips HERE on the quickest way to assemble them. I managed to make 15, Di! )  The little blackboard came on a wooden stick, which I snapped off, before attaching to the non-shed glitter card from Poundworld with a glue gun.  The glitter card is a bit too brassy for cards, but was perfect for this.  The glitter card comes in a mixed pack with four other colours and I've been trying to thing of a way of using up the gold.  I've layered the text onto a snippet of silver glitter card.  I add a stick of chalk to the pack when I'm selling them for writing the number of days until the 25th December. 

I am joining in the following challenges:  
Double "D" Here Comes Santa Claus Challenge
Deep Ocean Challenge Challenge #169 ~ Santa is Coming to Town

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Sparkle and shine

Two cards today, as I'm trying to catch up with a few challenges.  I don't use glitter card very often, but it IS nearly Christmas!  All the non-shed glitter card was bought from the local pound shop, a bargain at 10 sheets for £1.   

Beccy's Place Challenge this month is up to the letter 'Y', so my Christmas card has 'Three 'Ys' Men' ! 😉

The stamp is by Lavinia, 'Three Kings', stamped with Versafine' Onyx Black' onto a background made with Adirondack ink pads and Ink dusters.  The image is die cut with a Memory Box 'Stitched Rectangle' die and matted on non-shed glitter card. The panel is die cut with a Die-namies 'Peek-a-boo Stars' die on white card.  A strip of silver glitter card was attached behind, before attaching to the card blank.  The three larger stars are punched with an X-cut punch.

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:

Onto my second card.

I've used the same stars die for the panel, but this time attached strips of silver and pinky/purple glitter card behind the star apertures.  The fairy is a Poppystamps die, 'Posing Faerie' which I've matted and layered onto memory Box 'Stitched Oval' diecuts.  This was a quick card to make and I'm hoping there is enough white space for the Less is More Challenge this week.

I am joining in the following challenges with this card:
Poppystamps Challenge #38 - Faerie Kingdom
Less is More Challenge #356 ~ Let it shine
HLS November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Sunday 26 November 2017

When Santa got stuck in the chimney.....!

The last couple of weeks I've been on an unexpected emotional rollercoaster, so I've not done as much posting on my blog or blog visiting as usual.   Things are thankfully more or less back to normal, so I'm hoping to get back on track with my crafting and blog visiting this week. 

The Christmas card I made today was supposed to be quick and easy, with the plan to make a few of the same design.  However, the  die I used didn't cut out quite as I expected, so I think this design may be a one off!  I have got this die design as a stamp which I bought earlier in the year in a bargain bucket at a craft fair and if I had found it, I would have used it instead! 

 The die I used is a Dovecraft Christmas die called 'Chimney'.  I thought the die would emboss the chimney and leave an outline of the snow, trousers and boots.  However, it cuts out all the bricks and leaves the trousers and boots as a solid piece of the die cut.  So, I decided to use a snippet of black for the main die cut, which left the boots and the trousers black. A snippet of red was used for the trousers which I attached on top of the original die cut - after all, Santa doesn't have black trousers!  All the white and brown pieces were die cut and inlaid.  The patterned paper is from my snippets drawer and I suspect it's from a LOTV paper pad.  The background is embossed with a Creative Expressions 'Frosted Stripes' e/f.   I'm sure Santa said "XXXXXX!" when he got stuck in the chimney, so I'll be hopping over to Beccy's Place Challenge, where the theme is up to the letter 'X'.

I am joining in the following challenges:
Beccy's Place Challenge ~ A Month of Holiday Cards
 Rudolph Days November Challenge
Allsorts Challenge - Week 443 ~ Inspired by a Christmas Carol or Winter Themed Song (When Santa Got Stuck in the Chimney)
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 309 and 310 ~ Use snippets
HLS November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
HLS November Christmas Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Cards in Envy ~ It's Only Paper Card Challenge
Double "D" Here Comes Santa Claus Challenge

Tuesday 21 November 2017

Blue Santa

Beccy's Place Challenge of a Month of Holiday cards is up to 'S' today, so I've included Santa, Snowflakes and a Sentiment.
The image is a pre-coloured digi stamp from Beccy's Place, 'Skating Santa'.   Santa dressed in blue is perfect for the friends who support our local football team, as the team play in blue and white.  The card base is die cut with a SB 'Happy Days' set of dies.  I die cut the image with one of the dies from the set and another in plain white card, before embossing it with Creative Expressions 'Frosted Stripes' e/f.  I added several MB 'Twilight Snowflakes' die cuts, cut with non-shedding silver glitter card from a pound shop. A computer generated sentiment finished off my card.

This photo shows the card from a different angle.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Monday 20 November 2017

Robin Redbreast

Welcome to my new follower, Sue of Planet Susie.   I'm sure Sue would love you to pop over to her blog to see her beautiful creations.

Another Christmas card today.  I decided to play around with some old Christmas patterned paper.  I haven't made a Joy Fold card for a while, so here's my card.

The stamp is a Woodware one, 'Patch Robin Square', stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black'.  I paper pieced the robin and the branch and the rest of the image was coloured with Promarkers.  I used three of the four patterned papers for matting the image and for the backgrounds.  The card is kept closed with a brown brad.

This shows the card open, revealing the white space to write a message.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Sunday 19 November 2017

Snowmen

There is an ongoing challenge in Beccy's Place throughout November to make holiday cards.  Each day there is a different letter, with the challenge of including something starting with that letter, with a few other challenge popped in every now and then.  Although it's 19th November, life has somehow got in the way this month and this is my first entry.  The challenge for today is 'Q' so I've chosen 'Quarters', the background paper cut into quarters on my card. (It's actually already tomorrow in Australia, so I'm already a day behind, LOL!)

I chose one of Beccy's lovely images from a Snowmen set of pre-coloured digital stamps.   The sentiment is from the same set.  The patterned paper is from a paper pad which came free with a magazine.

I am joining in the following challenges:

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Football

A birthday card today for my son who supports our local football team.
 
The background paper is by Anna Marie Designs.  The football and boot are one die by Sweet Dixie.  I used the die with black card and inlaid all the parts of the boot and football with snippets of white, grey and yellow.  The die cut is matted and layered with MB 'Stitched Rectangles'. 

I am joining in the following challenges:

Tuesday 14 November 2017

A card for a Gardener

A card today made for a friend who is a keen gardener.

The embossing folder I used for the background is Leane Creatief  'Garden Tools Small'.  The spade, fork and rake  are Leane Creatief  'Garden Tools'  die cuts, using silver mirror and brown card.  The embossed background and sentiment are layered on the same brown card. 

I am joining in the following challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania Challenge ~ Masculine
City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 388 ~ For the Boys!
HLS November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Friday 10 November 2017

Blue and Brown

Welcome to my three new followers, Babs of A Place to Stamp, Chris of and here's one i made earlier... and Katrina of Katrina's Crafting Blog. Please pop over to their blogs, where you will find lots of inspiration.  

I wanted to enter the Allsorts Challenge this week, where the theme 'Blue and Brown'.  The day the challenge started,  we were coming down to North Devon to close our little caravan down for the winter, so I knew I'd have to make a card in the caravan.  (If you make it to the bottom of my post, you'll see a couple of photos I took on a walk in Woolacombe earlier this week.)  I packed a Dovecraft paper pad with blue, brown and white patterned papers, a handful of dies and some blue and dark brown cardstock.  During a visit to my favourite North Devon 'bricks and mortar' craft shop earlier this week, I bought a bottle of Nuvo Crystal Drops in 'Dark Walnut'.  I had no idea what I was going to make when I started, but this is what I came up with....

I decided to make a masculine card for my box of ready-made cards.  The Happy Birthday die is from eBay, which I used with blue pearlised card and matted and layered on Memory Box 'Stitched Circle' brown and white die cuts.  I chose the main backing paper to keep the circle theme and the paper I used for the panel was perfect to add some Nuvo Crystal Drops in the centre of the diamond shapes, to add some extra detail.  I had a slight mishap just as was adding the last drop.....somehow, a ruler I had on the table flew into the air and landed on the wet crystal drops, totally splattering them!  Grrr!  Fortunately I was able to prise the panel off and make a new panel.  I usually put my cards on little easel to take photos with my camera, but I forgot to pack the easel and camera, so I propped up the card against a tin of baked beans and took the photo with my phone instead!  The light in the caravan is not ideal for taking photos, but the wind is so strong outside today, I'd probably be chasing my card round the field if I tried to take a photo of the card outside.  

As their school is only a couple of miles way, we're picking up my great nieces and nephew from school today and bringing them back to the caravan for their evening meal.  I know they will want to do some crafting, so I'll have a fun evening with a 6, 8 and 9 year old getting creative with card, dies, embossing folders, stickers, scissors and glue, while my hubby will probably be reading the newspaper!  LOL!   

I am joining in the following challenges:

If you've made it this far, here are a few photos taken on Wednesday.  It was beautiful day, perfect for walking along the beach.  Woolacombe beach is over two miles long and at this time of year is almost deserted.