Happy Birthday

Good morning all. It seems to have been a short week...not sure I'm ready for the New Year yet! We're off out to the neighbours for drinks and nibbles this afternoon.

Hope everyone is well and dry...my heart goes out to those affected by all the flooding. 

I've been having a break from blogging and spent the time getting organised for our trip to New Zealand. The last couple of days have been spent trying to get ahead with the cards needed whilst we're away. This one is for hubby's cousins daughter who is 18 next month.

Still using up my stock of Kanban card. Stitched square die from Lawn Fawn, I got two sets of these for Christmas! Happy die and stamps are from Whimsy Stamps.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Creations - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes

The Crafty Addicts - anything goes/celebration

Creative Card Crew - anything goes

Deep Ocean - anything goes

Tuesday Throwdown - anything goes

Wishing you all a happy and safe Hogmanay. May 2016 bring health and happiness...and lots of crafting to you all. xx

Five Favourite Christmas Cards

Good morning all.

Debby is once again hosting a "Five Favourite Christmas Cards" event....thank you Debby, not sure my five will live up to the standard of yours!

Here are mine after I eventually narrowed it down:

Merry Christmas

Good morning all.

Wishing all my friends and followers a very Merry Christmas and hope you all enjoy a wonderful day tomorrow with friends and family. Big hugs to all those missing members of their family for whatever reason.

I hope Santa is good to you all with lots of crafty goodies...I'm hoping for a few in my stocking! I'll be raising my glass of Bucks Fizz tomorrow morning...cheers everyone :)

Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

Had a lovely lunch yesterday with Mum, my brother and sisters and three of my nephews.  Indian for tea so I had a completely lazy day!

An unshared birthday card to show today, found languishing in the files.

Made with the free papers from the Quick Cards Made Easy magazine I was featured in earlier this year. Dies from Spellbinders, sequins and ribbon from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Creative Card Crew - anything goes

Deep Ocean - anything goes

Allsorts - anything but Christmas

That's Crafty - anything goes

Creative Knockouts - winged wonders

Crazy Bird

Good morning all.

Parcels all arrived safe and sound yesterday so I'm off down home today to deliver presents and meet up with my brother and nephew for lunch. 

Had to whip up an extra card at the weekend...I still had some leftovers and have some made for next year but they weren't suitable. So it was out with the crazy birds and gelli prints again.

Mat dies are from Wplus9 and Spellbinders. All other dies and stamps are from the Tim Holz Crazy Bird sets. Stickles and googly eyes from my stash.

Challenges entered:

613 Avenue Create - anything goes

Amusing - anything goes

Come and Get it - anything Christmas

Fashionable Stamping - make your own background

The Glory of Christmas - anything goes

CHNC - anything Christmas

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Merry Christmas

Simon Says Stamp - die crazy

Holly Jolly - anything Christmas

Little Boxes

Good morning all....how many of you are singing now!

Hoping the last of my parcels arrives today...once they're wrapped I'm done! A little light cleaning and some cooking to do and the jobs a good one :)

Here are some of the boxes I made at the weekend.

These are just basic rectangular origami boxes which I found a tutorial for online. Paper is from Papermania. This box can be made to fit your object and I used my box maker to score the lines. Ond holds a gift voucher and the other some Euros.

These are also origami (tutorial here) and are made with a piece of square light card/paper. These ones are made with 12x12 papers from Papermania and hold two travel size bottles of Molton Brown toiletries.

Challenges entered:

A Gem of a Challenge - anything Christmas

My Time to Craft - last minute Christmas

Daring Cardmakers - all wrapped up

Crafting for all Seasons - anything Christmas but a card

Stencil Sunday #25

Good evening all.....oops senior moment this should post at 9am Pacific Time not GMT!!!

Feeling mighty upset this weekend as blogger seems to be eating my followers...10 have disappeared over the course of the weekend! Hope I've not upset anyone! I'm guessing it's just blogger doing a Christmas clear out!

My turn to provide some Stencil Sunday inspiration over at STAMPlorations today. I have some journal pages to show you....having finally got around to playing again, I have several months missing that I need to catch up on.

As often happens when crafting these pages didn't quite turn out as planned!! I had hoped to use a shaped silicon mould as a gelli plate and do some layered printing as seen in the top right hand corner but it didn't work too well so I changed my tack. Trees have been stencilled with transparent texture paste then inked with DI once dry. Holly and stars are stencilled direct to page. Stamping is all done with Archival inks.

Items used:

ARTlorations: Oh My Stars, Holly Background and Christmas Trees stencils

STAMPlorations: Partytime, Heaven Sent, Noteworthy, Believe, Discover, Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds, Vignette: Christmas Block, Mixed Media Grunge and Mixed Media Elelments

And the December Mixed Media Challenge runs until the end of the month! If you want to play, you still have a few days left to get messy and share your non-card mixed media projects. It's anything mixed media goes except a card...and you must use a stencil (any brand or even a homemade one!) in your project(s). For the complete challenge info + prizes, click here.

Challenges entered:
Creative Artiste - anything mixed media
Inspiration Destination - anything goes
We Love 2 Create - anything creative/mixed media goes

Season's Greetings

Good morning all.

Feeling a little better today after drinking copious amounts of honey, lemon and ginger in boiling water yesterday...it certainly soothed the throat.

I think this is my final Christmas card for 2015!

Die from Wplus9. Stamps all from PaperArtsy stamped and heat embossed, then returned to die and inked with various DI and splashed with water. Bow from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Brown Sugar - anything goes

Fussy and Fancy - happy holidays

That's Crafty - anything goes

Scrap & Craft - anything Christmas

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Christmas cards

Where the HeART is - Christmas colours

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

Think I might have a duvet day today...throat feels like someone has been in there with the sandpaper and nose is streaming, thankfully it's afflicting me this week not next! I think I finished my shopping yesterday and everything should be here by tomorrow...just got my online grocery shop to finalise and I'm nearly done :) Kids presents were wrapped last night, hopefully get hubby's done today and finish off tomorrow. The only other time I've been this organised was the year Lora was born when I had everything ready before I gave birth!

I'm off to join Erika to share an oldie, this week I'm sharing another Bookatrix type card from 2009, this time for a wedding.

This was another commissioned card. Dies from Spellbinders...I think the smaller layer is cut from card and acetate. Most of the embellishments came from Joanna Sheen....I even parted with a diamante buckle!  Of course it needed a box to match.

Have a fun weekend.

Happy Anniversary

Good morning all.

A little change today...I'm sharing the anniversary card made for my sister and her husband who celebrate their 2nd Anniversary today.

Images from Unity Stamps; anniversary die from Cheery Lynn Designs; Happy from Whimsy Stamps. Square dies from Spellbinders.

Challenges entered:

Crafting by Designs - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

The Crafty Addicts - anything goes celebration

Merry Christmas

Good morning all.

I had a lovely long lunch yesterday with my friend, which ended in an impromptu singsong with the four older gents on the table next to us...it was so funny! Luckily my friends husband didn't arrive to pick us up until 5 minutes after the gents left otherwise he may have turned around and left us there!

Another Christmas card today....I think this is the penultimate one.

Sentiment die from Poppy Stamps, die cut with a Spellbinders die and filled with glitter!!! Who's idea this was I'll never know...I really should throw out all my loose glitter as I hate the stuff with a vengeance! Me and the dust are sparkling now.

Challenges entered:

UnstampaBelles - sparkle and smile

CHNC - anything Christmas goes

CHNC extra - anything Christmas goes

Live and Love Crafts - sparkle

Sparkles Forum Christmas - die cuts

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes twist make it sparkle

Dream Valley - die cuts and punches

Sparkle n Sprinkle - anything goes with loose glitter/embossing powder/flocking

Simon Says Stamp - just a pinch

Christmas Wishes

Good morning all.

Yesterday I got the house tidied, beds changed, washing done and marzipan on the cake...today I'm off out for lunch with a friend.

A cute Christmas card for 2015 to show today!

Stamps from Wild Rose Studio, part paper pieced and part coloured with promarkers. Die from Wplus9.

Challenges entered:

Addicted to Stamps - Christmas

Amusing - happy holidays

Great Impressions - anything goes

OSAAT - anything goes with red

Christmas Cards all Year Round - keep it simple

Through the Purple Haze - Christmas

Cardz for Galz - cute Christmas

Addicted to Stamps & More - CAS

I Love Promarkers - anything goes

Christmas

Good morning all.

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday with some of the family...14 of us for lunch! Today I'm hoping to put the marzipan on my Christmas cake and get the last of my Christmas cards in the post.

My final few Christmas cards to share with you this week...I'm already making next years!!

Stamp and sentiment from Crafty Impressions, heat embossed with white detail EP then inked with DI. Die from Wplus9.

Challenges entered:

Craft Stamper - take it make it sharing the season

A Gem of a Challenge - anything Christmas

Crafting with Dragonflies - anything Christmas

Crafty Calendar - let it snow

CHNC - anything Christmas

My Time to Craft - Christmas animals

The Glory of Christmas - anything goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Father Christmas

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas

Addicted to Stamps - Christmas

Christmas Card Club "Anything Goes"

Good morning all.

My baby is 18 years old today...I can't believe they're all grown up now! Some of the family are coming around for lunch so I'd best get my skates on and get organised. If I don't see you all later I'll catch up tomorrow.

Our final challenge for the year at the Christmas Card Club...EEEK! Zoe has given us an "Anything Goes" to end the year.

I needed a card for a swap with the theme of "Wreathed in Smiles" and when I came across this decoupage sheet from Joanna Sheen I thought it fitted the bill perfectly. I decided to make a stepper card using my die from Cheery Lynn Designs. Fancy rectangular die from Spellbinders, embossing folders from Cuttlebug and gems from my stash.

You'll find the links for the other girls on my side bar if you'd like to see what they've made. Many thanks to all the girls for the great themes they've provided and their friendship throughout the year....here's to getting our 2016 Christmas cards made in a timely fashion too!

Challenges entered:

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes

CHNC -anything Christmas goes

Winter Wonderland - snow people

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - previous challenge July snowman

Holly Jolly Christmas - anything goes

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - day five

Good afternoon all.

A reminder! We're on day five of the blog hop, our final day...come and join in the fun.

Prizes:

• FIVE (5) winners will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.
• ONE (1) winner will receive a $15 gift certificate OR her choice of 2 ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by December 13:

• TWO (2) winners whose projects feature stencils (any brand) will each receive their choice of one (1) ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7)
• ONE (1) winner whose project features an ARTplorations stencil will receive her choice of three (3) ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7) OR a $15 gift certificate to the shop.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to today's projects here.

I've got a card to share today.

I used the ARTploration Christmas Reindeer stencil with transparent texture paste then covered it with gold metal magic and heat embossed once dry.....I love the testured finish you get.  Simply matted and layered with Spellbinder dies. Sentiment from STAMPloration Holiday Artsy set, stamped on vellum and heat embossed. Brads from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Mixed Media Card Challenge - celebration opt vellum

Creative Artiste - anything mixed media

Anything but Cute Mixed Media - happy mail

Allsorts - golden days

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - day four

Good evening all.

My turn today to show a tutorial over on the ARTplorations blog, this month I'm showing how you can extend your stencils to cover a larger area.

I've recycled a box, I hope you like the results.

A reminder! We're on day four of the blog hop...come and join in the fun.

Prizes:

• FIVE (5) winners will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.
• ONE (1) winner will receive a $15 gift certificate OR her choice of 2 ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by December 13: 

• TWO (2) winners whose projects feature stencils (any brand) will each receive their choice of one (1) ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7)
• ONE (1) winner whose project features an ARTplorations stencil will receive her choice of three (3) ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7) OR a $15 gift certificate to the shop.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to today's projects here.

Golden Oldie

Good morning all.

A busy day ahead, still lots to do before I'm organised for Sunday's lunch party! Busy gutting the kitchen, got the oven to do today...oh joy of joys

I'm off to join Erika to share an oldie, this week I'm sharing a card/keepsake made for my friend on the birth of her grandson in 2009...I was off work for 3 months following my brain surgery and luckily was able to craft. His little brother arrived last month, hopefully you'll see his keepsake very soon.

I can't for the life of me remember what this fold is called.... is it a Joy fold? I'm sure one of you will remind me :)

Paper pricking on the front, computer generated sentiment and Spellbinders die. Photo of the new born and a floral arrangement made by moi!

Clothes embellishments were from Joanna Sheen.

....and of course my friend decided she needed one to give to the proud parents so voila mark II.

Cuttlebug EF, computer generated sentiment and Spellbinder dies.

Decoupaged image from a Create and Craft kit, below which I've stamped a sentiment using a stamp called Rosebud Baby.

Have a fab weekend.

ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop - day three

Good afternoon all.

Had a lovely trip to Edinburgh yesterday with my niece and a couple of my sisters albeit it was a tad breezy. We had a leisurely stroll around the markets sampling the Gluwein (just to keep us warm!), then headed down to George Street for a late lunch. At this point the weather became wet and windy, so we enjoyed a leisurely lunch before heading back to the station. 

My train was stranded at the station on the way home....we had no driver as he was delayed trying to get over from Fife!!

A reminder! We're on day three of the blog hop...come and join in the fun.

Prizes:

• FIVE (5) winners will receive their choice of ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs.
• ONE (1) winner will receive a $15 gift certificate OR her choice of 2 ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7). Winners will be randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog.

Extra prizes for those who participate in the Flash Stencil Project Linky Party and link up by December 13: 

• TWO (2) winners whose projects feature stencils (any brand) will each receive their choice of one (1) ARTplorations stencil (standard size - 5x7)
• ONE (1) winner whose project features an ARTplorations stencil will receive her choice of three (3) ARTplorations stencils (standard size - 5x7) OR a $15 gift certificate to the shop.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to today's projects here.

Using a smooshed distress paint background I stencilled one of the trees from the ARTploration Christmas Trees stencil with sparkle medium from Imagination Crafts. Sentiment is from STAMPlorations Vignette: Christmas Block set. Scalloped die from Wplu9, smaller stitched die from Spellbinders.

Challenges entered:

Anything but Cute Mixed Media - happy mail

Crafty Creations - happy holiday

Creative Card Crew - holiday season

Holly Jolly Christmas - anything Christmas

That Craft Place - Christmas

Virginia's View - all about glitter