Clearly Besotted Challenge 14 - Christmas

Hi Everyone - well, what a very dismal and chilly Sunday here in Somerset and the forecast is for 30-40 mm of rain overnight and tomorrow!!!  So, to cheer myself up I decided I really needed to enter the Clearly Besotted challenge.

Now I must admit to owning just one or two CB stamps/die sets (!!! fingers crossed....hehe) and the other day was amazed to find I'd won a £20 e-voucher from Mandy's blog A Little Space of my Own. To say it got spend fairly quickly is an understatement..............

But what I really wanted to use was an exclusive stamp set that Stephanie had designed for Simon Says Stamp!  Once I'd seen it I knew that I needed it!!!

So I stamped the pine leaves in SU Always Artichoke and the cones with Close to Cocoa.  The sentiment was also stamped using Close to Cocoa.  This was then matted onto some dark brown cardstock and then onto an A6 top fold card.  I also used a stencil (sorry don't know the make) which looks like snowflakes and used Imagination Crafts Sparkle Medium in Diamond.  This was placed over the top of the main design and I added a small brown bow to finish off.  This is such a lovely set I know it's going to get used a lot.

Thanks for popping by.

Happy crafting.

Flippin' Men!!!!

Couldn't resist this stamp set from Imag-e-nation who are selling all the various sets for £4.99 instead of £9.99 at the moment.

I bought the stamp set because it reminded me so much of my DH!!!  Well, most men are the same aren't they??

I started off with an A5 cream card with an oval aperture and used a craft knife to cut the oval out of the second piece of card.  I used d/s tape to stick a piece of acetate in between the two apertures.  I then stamped both the front and back stamps using a Memento inkpad in black and coloured in using ProMarkers.  After cutting out the images carefully I glued the first image on the front of the acetate and then glued the second image onto the back of the acetate being careful to align them perfectly.

I then used Diamond Glaze on the toilet bowl and cistern and his pint of beer.  On the rolls of toilet paper at the top right of the card I gold embossed onto cream card and then gold embossed onto tissue paper which was then glued on top of the card with the bottom "sheet" left to flap in the wind.............  The sentiment and "Do not Disturb" sign were also gold embossed on cream card.

Thanks for looking.

Acetate and snowflakes

This weeks challenge over at Bah Humbug is using acetate and over at Susie & Vikki's it is snowflakes.

So, to get two for the price of one I have combined both in this card. I started with an A5 card blank and printed out some snowflake paper from my Artylicious "Season's Greetings" CD and then printed out the Snowflake wording design from my Peerless Designs "12 Days of Christmas" CD onto acetate. I placed the acetate on the top half of the card using brads. I then stamped the "Let it Snow" greeting (Creative Expressions stamp set) and embossed it with purple powder. This was matted onto a piece of the snowflake paper and purple mirri card and placed bottom left of the card. I then stamped the matching circle design and again embossed it with purple powder. I cut this out with my circle nesties and again this was matted onto snowflake paper and mirri card. I tied some ribbon around the card and placed the circle design using foam pads. Some purple pearl gems and Stickles added the finishing touches.

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!

Venice birthday card

Also managed to fit in making a birthday card for my nephew, Keir.

Always find it difficult finding male orientated themes but had this lovely Venice set of stamps from Darkroom Door, an Australian company.


Over the top of the main image is a stamped and clear embossed postal mark and gondola on acetate which is domed over the top of the image and firmly stuck on the underside of the card.



Hope he likes it. Of course he never knows what he wants for his birthday and always appreciates a slip of paper with figures written on it.............

Tall Trees Acetate Domed Card

It felt like Christmas this morning because my eagerly anticipated order of 5 (yes I said 5.........) stamp sheets arrived from Graphicus by courier. Then another two Joanna Sheen stamp sheets arrived so I have spent all morning mounting the sheets on EZ Mount, cutting out the individual stamps, laminating the illustrated sheets etc etc - boy are my hands sore!!!! LOL But not sore enough to stop me having a go at a card that was shown in the Graphicus Guild Newsletter using acetate domed over an image. It looked really effective so here's my attempt.



I have used an alcohol inked background on glossy cardstock and stamped the main image several times across the card using Staz-On in Timber Brown and Olive Green. I then stamped a separate image of the trees on a spare piece of the inked background. I then took a piece of acetate and swiped it with an antistatic bag and stamped the same image in the Timber Brown ink. The acetate is then scored down the side and attached to the back of the single image with DST (red liner tape)so you get the domed effect. This was then matted onto bronze mirri card, placed on the background image of the trees and then onto the main A5 top-folded card to which I had adhered some Graphicus paper. An organza ribbon across the top and a greeting and block from the Damask Blocks and Loving Sentiments stamp plates, again from Graphicus.



I was quite pleased with the way this has turned out and will be using this design again.