New Year card

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and you got some lovely crafting goodies - which I did.......... my DH bought me a huge stash of Stampin Up stamp sets and lots of other SU goodies which I am dying to use.

When we got back from Christmas we found a bottle of bubbly on our front door step and a card through the door which was most unexpected - luckily we live in a very rural area otherwise I don't think the bubbly would still have been there!!!

As a thank you I made this New Year card for them using a Thomas Kinkade stamp which I love. I stamped it with black StazOn onto acetate, made sure it was dry and then ran it through my Xyron 510 to put adhesive on the back and then put copper gilding flakes on the back of the acetate. This was then mounted onto black card and some copper mirri card. I used some lovely Graphicus paper as the base of the card, tied some black and copper ribbon across and typed a computer generated greeting which was then matted and layered using my nesties. A bow and some black pearls and the card was finished. Hope they like it. Think I will save the bubbly until New Year's Eve................

Thanks for looking.

Fun card

This is my very last post before Christmas as we are off to Portsmouth in a little while to spend Christmas with the family.

It was my brother-in-law's birthday on the 21st December and it's always very difficult to find something suitable for men but several months ago I found a free download of a glass of Guinness and, being Irish, Jim absolutely loves his Guinness, and his red wine, and his Cointreau......... well, you get the message!!!! lol





This card needed a bit of work in a graphics package but I really had fun in making it - normally the last image of the glass is the one most seen in Jim's hand!

Happy Christmas to everyone and a peaceful New Year.

Reflections

Well, I know I said I probably wouldn't post again this side of Christmas but I have been playing with stamping reflections this afternoon trying to get ahead as it's one of the projects we are doing with our craft club in January.

I used two methods - using the brayer on the tree scene and using acetate on the boy fishing. I must admit I definitely prefer using the brayer as you get a much better image.

For the tree scene I inked up the stamp, which was in my stash and I can't remember where it came from (!!!!), and then ran the brayer up the inked stamp. I then rolled the brayer to the bottom of the image and rolled it over my coated cardstock and voila you get your reflected image. I then turned round the cardstock, inked up my stamp again and lined up the image with the reflection and stamped. The water was created by inking up the brayer and then running it over a crumped piece of copy paper. I used a mask for the sun and brayered over it and then removed it and then stamped my cloudy sun image (Clarity Stamps) over.


The boy fishing image was made in the same way except that you ink your stamp and then stamp the image onto acetate which is then placed over your cardstock, laid down and lightly rubbed over. I think there is a problem with this stamp as it wouldn't ink properly but is borrowed from a friend so I will ask her about it.

A quick tip - the Stampin Scrub from Stampin Up is amazing to clean your brayer on as it's a perfect size.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Christmas to everyone

This will be my last post before Christmas and I wanted to take the opportunity of wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

I have totally finished making all things Christmassy and have put all my stamps, cards, paper and embellishments away and cleared the decks to start again in January. I have promised myself that I will try and make a few Christmas cards each month so things are not quite as hectic next year but your guess is as good as mine as to whether that will get done!!!! lol

Just thought I'd post a photo of the Christmas cake I have just finished decorating this morning. Normally my sister Val and I take turns in hosting Christmas but this year my youngest nephew, Keir, who got married last year has invited us all down to Portsmouth to celebrate Christmas with him and his wife Lara in their new home. Where ever we are I always make the cake and as none of us like marzipan (yeuck!!!!) I decorate the top with nuts or fruit and this year got some lovely glace fruits. Hopefully it will taste as good as it looks as I've fed it enough brandy to sink the proverbial battle ship................ just joking, but it has had some over the last few months.

Thanks for looking.

Gift bags

Taaa daaaa!!!! All things Christmassy now finished - yippee!!!! lol Hopefully I've now finished everything; apart from this morning I had to make a really quick card for someone I forgot - whoops.

Last night I finished making three gift bags from white paper carriers cut down and decorated with SU card and, of course, Silent Night SU stamps. I got the inspiration from our lovely SU demonstrator Jenny when she did a workshop with us last month. I think these will make really nice and different wrappings for Christmas presents - and if the recipients are careful they can keep the bags after! The handles are made using the SU scalloped oval punch.

Thanks for looking.

Marathon finished............

At last I've just managed to finish off all my Christmas cards and ended with these three.

These first two cards use sets of clear Creative Expressions Christmas stamps which fit my nesties perfectly. The first card is made up with a base card of black stamped randomly with snowflakes; a white card border clear embossed with the swirly border stamp; the main image matted and layered onto silver mirri and black card and the same with the greeting.

The second card uses Papermania Signature linen paper, some white and silver sparkle paper, ribbon, gems and stickles. The main image is clear embossed and matted and layered using nesties. The greeting is the same border stamp used in the black and white card.




The next one uses the Crafters' Companion Cute Companions Winter Tales CD and stamp set. This is not my usual style but the set was given to me by my friend Dee so I thought I would use them to make her Christmas card to show how much I appreciated the gift. Although it looks pretty simple there was an awful lot of cutting out for the decoupaged elements - the swags especially were rather a trial but the finished card looks pretty good and I hope she likes it.

Some more Christmas cards

Well, I've nearly finished off my Christmas cards - only another couple to make.


This card, which I made for Jill, uses Alison Yeates' embossing grid which is lovely and worked even better when I realised I needed to put the parchment on top rather than the other way round - wondered why I couldn't find an embossing tool small enough................... lol Mind you it wasn't only me who thought the same way as some of the other girls said "I'm glad you asked that question"............ make a fool of myself? Never.........!


Seemingly I was extremely lucky to get my hands on a Papermania stamp "Bauble Decoration" which is part of their A Christmas Carol series. I first saw it on the DoCraft website and loved it immediately but had trouble finding it. Eventually a lovely man at Emerald Crafts ordered one for me. I was amazed at the size of the stamp - it's about 6 1/4" by 4 1/2" - and only cost £6.99. Some of my friends have since tried to buy it but they can't be had for love nor money - well saying that a couple have been auctioned on eBay and gone for over £30 seemingly. For some reason Papermania aren't going to be making any more until next year. I made a couple of cards for Anne and Jan which were inked using the Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves ink and clear embossed. I then sprayed with Stick & Stay from Crafters Companion and covered with glamour dust. They were then matted and mounted on an A5 card using gorgeous cardstock from My Mind's Eye Christmas Glitter Book, I added some gems and ribbon and then had to have a shower as I was absolutely covered in glamour dust..................

This card was made in virtually the same way except I stamped it in green StazOn onto parchment and I then embossed it and pricked out certain parts of the baubles. This was mounted onto gold mirri card and finished off in a similar way to the other two. This one's for Tony my hubby - hope he likes it.

Thanks for looking.

Birthday cards

As well as it being my sister Val's birthday at the beginning of December it was also Anne's birthday whilst we were away in Paignton on the parchment weekend.

For my sister's card I have used a lovely little stamp set from Craftwork Cards called "Shaken not Stirred". Val loves her cocktails and I thought this was so appropriate for her. I stamped the image of the cocktail glass three times and matted and layered onto red cardstock. I stamped the cherry image into each of the glasses in red ink and then used Diamond Glaze over the top of them. I stamped the cherry image on the card base using first, second and third impressions. Used a lovely piece of foiled black/silver card and placed my three glasses on top. I then used my nesties for the greeting.

The card for Anne used the cupcakes stamp set from Creative Expressions which was then matted and layered using my nesties. I used an impressabilities for the background piece of card which had been inked with VersaMark so after I had run it through my Big Shot I then dusted it with embossing powder which gives a really nice effect. I used a Martha Stewart lace border punch ontop of the background card and also on the greeting.

Emerging from the chaos of my workroom!!!

Can't believe it's over two weeks since I posted but apart from having an absolutely fantastic long weekend in Paignton with Christine Coleman, Alison Yeates and Anne, Jan & Jill, I then had a couple of days up in London and have been trying to catch up ever since.

We had a great weekend of parching with lots of laughs and some serious hard work. I haven't done that much parchment crafting, especially grid/lace work so when we were faced with our first challenge I nearly went home!!! lol It was the most beautiful rose surrounded with two frames and lace work.

We settled down to doing the outer and inner frames and then were asked to do the rose next - terrified I was going to mess up big time I decided, along with the other girls, to do a "practice" piece which actually turned out nicely. Trouble is when you've done it once and are pleased with it you are a bit loathe to try it again.............. still we did and luckily that turned out okay as well. Then came the terrifying job of the lace work.

By now it was about 11pm on the Saturday night and I started confidently enough - but unfortunately a bit too confidently! I had nearly finished the gridwork and found that I had made a mistake right at the top of the piece of work.......... won't tell you what I said. Anyway Janet said we could rectify it but without going into too much detail that went wrong as well. But I have saved the piece by pricking out the rose and two frames and I am going to have a go at the lace work now I have some time to spare. Hopefully the rose can then be mounted on top of the lace work in a 3D manner.

These are photos of my practice piece with the single frame and the main piece with the double frame. I know I shouldn't say it myself but I was really pleased with the roses as I think white work looks stunning when it's done properly.


The other photo is of Anne and Jan working hard although it looks like Jan was tearing her hair out............ probably because of me!!!! lol

Easel Cards

Have just made a start on my own Christmas cards with two easel cards. These were made using Stampin Up Brocase blue and Old Olive card stock. The flourish was part of a huge stamp called Bauble Decoration by Papermania and the blue baubles were from the Stampin Up Tree Trimmings stamp set. The sentiment was something I had in my drawer which was punched out using SU oval and scalloped oval punches. Then I added a piece of matching ribbon. I used Old Olive and Ballet Blue SU ink pads.

This is probably my last post for a few days as a group of us are going down to Paignton on Friday for a weekend workshop with Christine Coleman and Alison Yeates. We're really looking forward to it and I am sure we will have a great time.

Thanks for looking.

More Christmas cards

My friend Sharon has commissioned me to make her some "special" Christmas cards. This one's for her husband Chris who is having a mad passionate affair with his ................. truck!!!! lol

Seemingly he absolutely adores it. When it snowed earlier in the year most people were taking photos of their kids etc etc. Not Chris - all he took photos of was his truck in the snow!

Anyway, Sharon emailed me a copy of one of the photos and with a bit of photo editing I have placed his snowy truck in more snow and have made a shaker card using my circle and scalloped circle nesties, some patterned vellum and some die cut snowflakes. I've been asked to make some strange things in the past but nothing quite like this!

Thanks for looking.

Fantastic Stampin Up Evening

Last night we had the pleasure of a visit from Jenny, our lovely Stampin Up Demonstrator who came to our club night to show us lots and lots of goodies!!! lol

As well as bringing a ton of fantastic samples, she had also gone to the trouble of making up projects for all the girls and as half of them were getting on crafting she demonstrated some lovely cards with some of the new SU sets - then halfway through the evening everyone swapped round. Must admit we had an amusing moment with a radio mike - but not sure Jenny thought so!!


At the end of the evening Jenny must have been absolutely worn out as she came all the way from near Poole to East Coker, spent 3 1/2 hours with us and then had to drive home. Hopefully it was worth it - but I know most of us had empty purses at the end of the night. Now we are all waiting with baited breath for the goodies to arrive.

Again Jenny many thanks from all of us and we can't wait to see you again. Here are a few photos of the night although I can't show them all as I took 66 of them.............

Another Treasure Box

I have just finished making a new Treasure Box as all my others sold out - strangely they are more popular than the Etui boxes which I love................

Now all I have to do is make some more leather books and that will be it for the two craft events at the end of the month.

Thanks for looking.

Address books

Haven't blogged for a while as things have been really busy but I have just finished covering three address books which my friend Jan kindly gave me. These are for a couple of Christmas Fairs at the end of the month - unfortunately I won't be able to attend but friends will be looking after the tables for me as we are going to be in Paignton on our parchment weekend with Christine Coleman. Now all I have to do is make some more leather notebooks and a couple of fabric treasure boxes and I should be all set.

I've also just finished a birthday card for my sister but will have to post that after her birthday as I don't want to spoil the surprise!!


Thanks for looking.

Marathon over...............

Well, I've finally come to the end of the marathon of recycling Christmas cards. They are all complete with inserts, matching envelopes, poly bags, labels with the greeting and price tags.

Thought I'd take a photo to show what they look like packed into a box - when you look at it like this it doesn't look much but it's certainly taken me a while to complete.

Really looking forward to making some "special" cards now for friends and family...............

Thanks for looking.

Anniversary Card

It was my sister and brother-in-law's anniversary earlier this month so I didn't post a photo of their card just in case Val saw it before hand.

The main image is from Stamps Happen "How Do I Love Thee" stamped on acetate and the sentiment is from Butterfly Kisses "Anniversary Collage" which is part of a set. The card is from an Elusive Images pack and it was finished off with matching ribbon and gems.

It's been a while since I posted but I've been busy recycling Christmas cards that were sitting in my box - I hate throwing handmade cards and some nice shop bought ones away - so I've been up to my eyes. I didn't realise just how many I had but I have just finished making 80 recycled cards; just put in all the inserts and sorted out matching envelopes and now got to put them in cello bags. Then I will be able to get on with my "proper" Christmas cards!!!! lol Definitely think I will be making a start earlier next year.................... famous last words!

Anything to do with steam trains!!!

It's my husbands birthday early next month and I was hunting round for an appropriate card to give him when I came across a topper pack with printed images of steam trains. Tony loves anything to do with steam so have made up this card for him using copper mirri card as a base and the mats for the main images - these were cut out using my nesties. What did we ever do without them? Finished off with a thin copper ribbon and some gems. Hope he likes it.

Great download from Graphicus

Glenda has given us yet again another great download - just click here.

It's a spooky one just right for Halloween...........

Masking samples

Club night has come around quickly this month as we have had to have it a few days earlier than normal as the hall has been booked for a harvest festival "do". Anne and I are showing the girls the masking technique and so I have made some samples.

The frog trio is a Penny Black stamp "Jump for Joy" and I love it - such a happy stamp!! The bird stamp is from Inkadinkado, the lovely teddy bear is a PSX stamp called "Fuzzy Bear" and the last one is a lady's face by 1st Class Stamps with the flower by ISC.

The other card is a stamped and watercoloured image by Stampin Up which is the homework card we set the girls.