Christmas morning

I'm back! not exactly in one piece but managing to crawl by, but at least I can move faster than my computer!  Struggling with the DIY has taken it's toll and I've b****d up my neck again.  So yesterday I was in pain, and a pain to be with .. .. not a good day.  Today I am going to take things easy and maybe craft a little if it's possible.  I do have this card to share with you, it's been one of those that's been made in stages over several days. The darling image is by LOTV and coloured a while ago with my Copics, added sparkle with loose glitter on teddy's hat and a Stardust pen on the stars, and unusually for me I cut it out with a Nestie label die - don't use them much.  I had to draw around the die and cut out the mat by hand as the next die up gave too much of a gap.

The background papers are from Marianne's Scandinavian Winter paper bloc and I've added white faux stitches around the edges.  For embellishments I've cut out various Marianne dies - list in a minute - and added the red gems.  The big ones are from a jar I recently unpacked and wondered if I would ever find a use for such big ones!  Anyway, I hope it has worked.  Here's the list of dies:

snowflakes - LR0123 & LR0125
woven heart - CR1228
mini poinsettias - LR0142
fronds - LR0192 (large) & LR0107 (small)

The Stamptacular Sunday blog challenge is a recipe to include ribbon or twine, pearls or gems, dies or punches on your creation - I have ribbon, gems and diecuts so I can enter, and Dies to Die for have a Christmas theme challenge so I fit their bill too!

I've lots of catching up to do as I didn't have the computer on yesterday so fingers crossed things speed up a bit later in the day.

Put your feet up!

That's just how I am feeling today! But chance would be a fine thing .. ..

Skip this next para if you just want to go to the card details, but if you want my latest saga, read on. Yesterday was yet another disaster on the DIY front with the mosaic tiles .. .. it has taken Jason all week to carefully re-lay them, and then the 'proper' grout, as supplied, did exactly the same as the previous one .. .. the tiles are ruined .. .. again!  So, they are all going to have to come off which is going to be harder as we aren't doing it today so they will be set to the wall and the grout rock hard  .. .. poor Jason needs to get away from it all at least on his birthday.  I have decided we need to go for plain black glass or ceramic then salvage the pretty glass tiles from the duff lots and create our own bespoke design .. .. But that wasn't the worst of it .. .. the big mirror is finally on the wall, but of course the wall isn't straight all the way around .. .. never mind, I'll buy a big vase and stick it in the corner where the mirror doesn't reach the edge!  Then, the sink went in, Jason went up into the loft to switch on the hot water whilst I waited in the bathroom for leaks .. .. none!  So we heaved a sigh of relief and exhaustion, and sat down to relax.  Then, at 10pm Mark went to let the dogs out via the conservatory to find we had a paddling pool!  Ankle deep in water that was coming from the laundry where the plumber hadn't put a stop on the hot water pipe put in for the sink that didn't go in .. .. a lot of mopping up to do, but fortunately there is a drain in the conservatory so it didn't take too long with Jason mopping and Mark bailing water out the doorway with a dustpan! So it's skirting boards off and fingers crossed the walls will dry out.  Fortunately I didn't have much craft stuff on the floor so although things feel damp, I am hopefull that not too much is damaged.

Anyway, the postman came with my crafty goodies at lunch time, a few of the older Marianne dies I've had my eye on for a while together with a bloc of paper, and that was much bigger than I was expecting!  I've not had a chance to play and had finished this card just before they arrived, so nothing new on this one.  The image is by LOTV and coloured with my Copics.  The background pp is a couple of pieces of Papermania from several years back, stuck together so they would make a piece big enough for my card.  The mats are kraft edged with Walnut DI and there's a scrap of grossgrain ribbon hiding the joins.  To make the lace mat big enough for my image I had to cut 2 pieces and join them together, quite easy to do with this die pattern.  The text is on that Marianne sheet I've had on my desk, and the snowflakes are all her dies - list in a minute.  To finish I've added the amber pearls made with my Wacco pearl maker pen.

The list of dies:
the lace mat - CR1202
snowflake at the top - CR1225
snowflake behind the text - LR0124
the 3 snowflakes the same - CR1227 with LR0124 behind
the small kraft snowflake - LR0123

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge this week is to use old stuff, my image stamp is from last year, the paper is a couple of years old at least and so are some of the snowflake dies - and that Wacco pearl maker pen is at least 2 years old .. .. it just keeps going!  The Jingle Belles challenge is for food, hope a couple of mince pies and a mug of something warming will count!  And Lili's Little Fairies also have a food challenge so I can enter with them too.  Now, I am going to put my feet up!

bottle tag

Tomorrow it's my eldest son's birthday and as he's not really one for cards so instead I've made a bottle tag to fit over his favourite tipple!  He is spending the day with the 'boys' - they are going fishing!  Hopefully for a couple of lovely big trout for the freezer and for me to cook up over Christmas, hence the theme for my tag.  I made it up as I went along, first deciding which size of Nestie circle would fit over the neck of the bottle and then taking it from there.  The base is SU! Crumb Cake card and the paper is very old from my stash, a sheet with fishing things on it but so subtle it hardly shows up.

I've stamped the hooks, fishing rods and text with brown Momento ink - they are a mix of stamps I've collected over several years and all together in a box so I couldn't say who they are by, but I'm pretty sure the quotation text and hooks are on a Papermania clear set.

Here's another view, the leaping salmon is a wooden button I've had years, the little butterflies are the smallest in the Nellie's Choice stamp and emboss set with amber pearls down the body made with my Wacco pearl maker pen, and the fly is made by my DH then fixed onto a little tag to safely hide the lethal hook before fixing to the base with a brad.  I couldn't resist prettifying just a little so settled with a double green bow tied from plain silk ribbon and a selection of Marianne diecuts:

daisy - LR0106
fronds - LR0107
skeleton leaf - LR0228
decorative spray - LR0157

The Addicted to Stamps challenge is for tags, while Oldie but a Goodie want anything but Christmas plus of course something over 6 months old - most of the bits on this tag are! 

I am expecting a nice little delivery in the post today so will have new things to play with tomorrow whilst the boys are fishing.  Today I have to finish hemming the second bedroom curtain - did the first yesterday.  They need shortening by quite a bit and being a silk fabric I'm doing it by hand - might see if there are any crafty programs on the tv to watch as I stitch.  My biggest problem is threading the very tiny eye in the fine silk needle .. .. it's more by guesswork than actually being able to see where the thread is going! 

Last night I tried to catch up with the lovely friends who have left me comments over the past couple of days, but I keep getting error messages when I click on the comment box .. .. and then the internet reboots itself and I have to start all over again.  I am not totally convinced that the problem is the internet .. .. I might have picked up 'something' and need to get my machine de-bugged.  So, if I am missing for a few days you will know why.

Starry, starry night

Our challenge this week on Cute Card Thursday is titled 'Starry, Starry Night' - for you to interpret as you will.  Our sponsor for this challenge is Whimsy Stamps.

I've had this LOTV stamp for a while but never got around to inking her up, but I knew she would be perfect for this challenge, a little girl watching the star in the night sky with her kitty, watching and waiting!  She's coloured with my Copics and a sprinkling of glitter, for the snow I used a white marker pen, then I've embossed the edge and inked with Sahara Sand chalk ink, it's a little softer finish than using DI.

And here's the card.  My background paper is from Marianne's Warm Winter Wishes bloc, this has been my favourite pattern and I've only one sheet of it left now.  I've added a length of cream cotton lace and diecut the frame and embellishments from SU! Crumb Cake and Riding Hood Red cardstock along with a little cream textured card from my stash.  After embossing by hand I've inked all the raised areas with the chalk ink and then finished off with amber pearls made with my pearl maker pen.  Here's the list of Marianne dies I used on this card:

frame - LR0234 Petra's square frames
snowflake - CR1225
mini poinsettias - LR0142
holly leaves - LR0244

I've just ordered a couple of replacement 'B' plates for my CB so hopefully when they arrive I might be able to emboss again - mind you it doesn't seem to take long before they go bendy. At the moment I am cutting on my 'C' plate with a bendy 'B' plate on top so only getting a good cut in the middle, and embossing between the 'A' and 'C' plates with my silicone mat, but it doesn't give me a sharp impression.  Do the Grand Calibur plates bend the same? I am still wavering about buying a new machine .. .. Santa could bring me quite a stash of new dies for the price of a new gadget .. .. .. ..

Anyway, I digress, I'm linking my card up with the Fussy and Fancy Friday blog where the challenge is for pearls and flowers, the My Time to Craft blog with a vintage challenge (I think this is a vintage look), and the Creative Stamp Friends who would like to see your favourite colours - at the moment mine is definitely this warm red mixed with kraft and cream. By the Cute And Girly's monthly challenge is twinkle, twinkle little star so I'll enter my card with them too.

It's not all my mess .. .. and WOYWW

I missed joining in with Julia's what's on your workdesk Wednesday last week, if you want to join in go to Julia's blog here.  I am all at sixes and sevens, trying to do too many things at once and not getting anything finished, consequently the whole house is a bit of a mess!

This is the dining room table that I've taken over, although with all my diecutting equipment still in the conservatory plus the drawers and cupboard with the crafty stuff in there, I'm constantly back and forth.  Here though is where I do my colouring in - with my Copics you can see in 4 empty laundry tab boxes with the colour chart I created.  There's a take-away box with loose glitter, and a cd case with a set of Marianne dies that don't fit in the plastic folders I use for the majority of them.  And then there's my floor lamp with the daylight bulb that let's me see to colour at night.  Some of my recently finished makes are on the sideboard waiting for the insides to be done, nothing fancy, just a text and maybe a little spray of something.  You can see the new set of Marianne clear stamps that I've been playing with, there's a lovely little holly spary corner that I've used quite often and the little deer looks cute too.  The far side of the table is hubby's mess .. .. although as he's away until the weekend I'm encroaching on his half!  Don't look at the state of the room - but if you do you can see the doorway that's been knocked through to give access to the new part of the bungalow.  Eventually we will get around to decorating in this room, but that's a long way off yet.  On the table there's a simple little C6 card I've just finished for hubby to give to one of the farmers that let him shoot on their land - I make him half a dozen each year and they tend to be simple traditional styles.  I've not had any feedback so don't know what happens to them .. .. anyway, here's the card.

The image is an old Elusive Images stamp that I coloured with a mix of Copics and pencils, it's been finished a while and you could see it on my earlier WOYWW posts.  I thought it was about time I did something with it and since I've unpacked the box with old Christmas papers, I found a plain Papermania one that matched the ivy leaves and stamped the little holly spray in the corners, you can still see it at the top.  The image I matted with cream card as my base is cream, then matted the paper with kraft to tie things together.  It looked a bit plain so I used up some snips from other projects that were hanging about on the desk.  The little strip of lace at the bottom, the flourish at the top along with the little flower are all from Marianne dies: flourish and flower from Petra's Square frames LR0234,  lace trim from CR1202.

All being well, I'll get around to catching up with you this evening, usually the internet get's a bit easier after 11pm!

Winter Wishes

Not sure if I'm very, very late posting this card for Tuesday, or perhaps it should be early for Wednesday .. .. either way, here I am with a cutie from LOTV, coloured with my Copics plus added sparkle.  Pictures taken under my daylight lamp again so the sparkle does show up quite well, and as I'm predominantly blue I can enter the Charisma Cardz challenge - feeling blue.  Winter Wonderland and Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge are both to create for men or boys whilst the Allsorts challenge is to be young at heart.

My background paper is an old piece from my stash, I think Papermania, matted with blue card with the edges inked in dark blue chalk ink stitching added with a white marker pen.  I've diecut the pretty mat and inked the embossed areas, then embellished with the trees, snowflakes and a little text greeting, all by Marianne. Finally, a scattering of white pearls made with my Wacco pearl maker pen finished things off - perhaps not as fussy as some I've made recently, but I think better than yesterday's effort!

Marianne dies I used:
circular mat - LR0141
trees - LR0136
snowflakes - LR0123, LR0124, CR1227
mat behind text - CR1201 (the largest flower)

Well, I'll soon be off to bed - it's been another hassle day on the DIY front, but at least hubby is almost back to normal and able to go to work.  The only downside is that he's in the Plymouth area for the rest of the week so will be staying up there to save on the travelling time each day.  Still, it means I can stay up late and browse the internet for a while without disturbing him .. .. .. hopefully catch up with you all over the next couple of days then!

Let it snow

I finally finished this card! what a day of ups and downs it's been. Hubby is sick so in bed, Jason has had nothing but hassle with DIY and I had to spend a while desperately trying to clean sticky stuff off one of the new mosaic tile sheets (baby wipes did the trick in the end), and because hubby is only able to get out of bed to dash to the loo .. .. I've had to walk the dogs too! oh and look after Mum as usual, do laundry, cook, clean .. .. .. can you hear the violins!

So by the time I'd finished it was dark and I had to take the pictures using my daylight lamp, which actually brings out the shimmer of the cardstock quite well.  The stamp is another new one from Nellie Snellen, coloured with my Copics then lots of frosting and snowflakes added with my white pearl maker pen.

I didn't have enough of the pretty embossed white card to mat my paper so have used a plain pearl white paper, as the card is years old I doubt I can get any more.  The background paper is a piece from Marianne's Scandinavian paper bloc with Snowcap dabber on the edges.  I cut a mat for my image and 3d mounted it to the base.  That's as far as I'd got over the weekend, so this afternoon I've been trying to add the embellishments but I guess my mind hasn't really been on the job and it's looking a bit disjointed to me, I'd have liked to link up at least down one side but flowers and leaves didn't feel right for a card with a little boy on it.  And anyway, by the time I had cut the 3 main snowflakes, I had so little card left to play with I was cutting and piecing together the spray and hid all the joins with a little snowflake. I was going to add a circular sentiment to hide the join but didn't have enough card to make a mat for the one I had in mind so instead had to go with the snowflake and add a little text at the top.  I chose to use the spray as it has embossed blobs on the ends which match in with the blobs on some of the snowflakes .. .. well that was my idea anyway! All the diecuts are by Marianne, here's the list:

square mat for image - LR0234
icicle border - LR0135
snowflakes - CR1225, CR1226, LR0123, LR0125
spray - LR0228

The title of the For Fun Challenge is Brrrr! it's hot or maybe cold! I've gone cold with my snowy card, and the Dream Valley challenge is an anything goes one for this week so I can enter with them too.  Both Everybody Art and the Fairy Tale challenge blogs have an embossing challenge, and as all my diecuts are embossed I am hoping I'm ok to join in their challenges.

The Nativity

This little chap is one of the Lili of the Valley Nativity stamps, coloured with my Copics.  At the moment my crafty routine is to sit at the dining room table one evening and colour 2 or 3 images, then I have to clear the pens away so I can spend the next couple of evenings putting things together.  I can manage to diecut in the conservatory for a few hours in the afternoon but this time of year with no heating out there it gets pretty cold, especially once it gets dark outside.  So, despite making a mental note to write down the pens I've used .. .. I forgot!  I've used kraft card as my base and mat, as well as for several of the diecuts.  I found a scrap of soft red card that matched the Marianne Warm Winter Wishes paper to make the rest of the cuts and weave the heart together.  The text is from a Marianne set of stamps too - just about all the extras on this card are, except the buttons threaded with twine, the tiny pearls and the little red heart is a very old punch!

I've inked all my edges and the embossed parts of the diecuts with Walnut DI, and there's a little sparkle on the stars and halo in the image.

Marianne dies I used are:
Snowflakes - CR1225 & CR1227
Woven Scandinavian heart - CR1228
Bird on heart - LR0205
Bird and ivy - LR0206
Fronds - LR0245
Mini Poinsettia - LR0142
Red sprays - LR0228

Thank goodness for 'anything goes' challenges!  I'm linking up with Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog, One Stop Craft, Crafty Catz and Christmas Stampin' All Year Long.

Look at what's coming soon!

Open publication - Free publishing

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Open publication - Free publishing

I'd like to say a big hello! and welcome! to my new followers - it's lovely you could join me.  I've not got a card to share with you today - but have one almost done so maybe by tomorrow .. .. .. we'll see.  I did want to let you see a sneaky peak at the new products that Marianne will be bringing out very soon .. .. those little love hearts are sure to be a hit what with Valentine's day not that far off - well we crafters have to think ahead! And the ability to cut out the pieces to make a little owl decoration - great if you are a patchworker.  And on the second page those big fancy edge dies to cut big circles, and other things, well I'm definately going to have to try out those!

If the link doesn't work then go to Marianne's own web site here and take a look.  And, a couple more of my cards made it into the gallery too!  I've not sent in any more as I like to keep them 100% Marianne, so although I'm using her products on just about every card I make, quite often the image is from another manufacturer.

I do have a query .. .. my old Cuttlebug is hanging on in there but has certainly failed the MOT, so it's time for a new machine and Father Christmas has hinted that I might just get lucky!  So ladies, and any gentlemen reading, what gadget would you recommend for cutting my Marianne dies?  And crucially, for embossing them - at the moment I'm having to go over all the embossing the old fashioned way by hand and it's taking up a lot of my time.  Either leave me your suggestions in the comments or email me at anniejuk@yahoo.com

Well I have to get motivated - still in my dressing gown and new Yak boots - a pressie from hubby to keep my feet warm, they work!

Snowflakes are Winter's Kisses

This little lass is one of the new Christmas stamps from Nellie's Choice, coloured with my Copics and with a sprinkling of frost.  I've cut her out with a blossom Nestie for a change, and cut a mat from some pearl card I found when unpacking boxes - it has embossed blobs on it that could be snow, well that's what I thought anyway.  The piece of background paper is from my stash, not sure when and where I got it so it's probably years old, and I've added the frosting around the edge before matting onto a piece of the pearl card.  I wrapped a piece of lace along the bottom before 3d mounting my image, then went and cut the embellishments from the left over pearl card - they are all Marianne dies so I'll list them in a tick.  The text is a magazine freebie stamp, also from years ago - I'm unpacking all sorts of things I'd forgotten about!  To finish I've added pearls to the centre of the flower, the bottom snowflake and the flourish.

Marianne dies I used:
Snowflakes - LR0124 (flake top left hidden behind text), LR0125 (2 flakes layered top right), and CR1227 for bottom left snowflake
Mistletoe flower and sprays - LR0189
Flower stamens - LR0122
Cut Leaves - LR0156
Flourish - LR0141

I'm going to enter my card into the Paperplay challenge for snowflakes, Divas by Design who's theme is 'let's get cute', Totally Papercrafts who'd like to see cute and girly, and the Penny Black and More monthly challenge to use diecuts as well as some stamping.

I'll probably not be around blogging over the weekend as we've had some hiccups with the tiling.  After thinking we were almost done, the grout for the mosaic lifted the finish on some of the metal tiles .. .. so they have all had to come off!  Jason and I managed to get that done last night and the replacements arrived this morning, complete with the grout from the supplier - as a particular grout wasn't specified when we ordered at least they have replaced free of charge + grout.  So Jason is busy making good the wall and hopefully will get tiling again .. .. .. the big mirror should arrive today for the alcove wall so once we have a couple of strong able bodied men about the place that can go in, then the sink can be plumbed in and the finishing touches can begin .. .. I might even get a bath in about a week's time!

CCT Sketch

This week on Cute Card Thursday Deb has designed a simple sketch for our challenge, you can choose to keep it CAS or add more or less of what takes your fancy .. .. I went for it rather!  Our sponsor this week is Whiff of Joy!

If you are a regular reader of my blog you may have noticed that it's been years since I used a Magnolia stamp, and I went and sold all my Tildas and Edwins but kept back the little extras and a few stamps that I knew would see ink again.  So today's card sees three of them being dusted off and inked up.  The image in my circle is cut from the Winter scene, and then there is Santa and the log I've sat him on.  They are old Magnolias but I think classics that will stand the test of time.  All my colouring is done with Copics with added sparkle from loose glitter and a glue pen - I'm avoiding Stickles with Copics especially where red is in the mix!  The papers I've used are from Marianne's Warm Winter Wishes bloc and I've inked the edges with Sahara Sand chalk ink as it's quite subtle and I've also used it to ink my diecuts.  On the Christmas trees I've added a snow effect with a Snowcap Dabber, and went over the log a little too, before finishing off with white snow created with my Wacco pearl maker pen.  I've used 3d foam pads on each layer and for the trees, log and Santa to give dimension and added interest, especially as I've avoided embellishing at the top of the card so you can see my pretty square kraft mat, and also see that I did follow the sketch!

The Marianne dies I used are:

Craftable CR1202 - rectangle cut twice then one piece cut again and layered to make the square (the join is hidden).
Circle mat for image - LRO141 double circle (this is the smaller one)
Christmas Trees - LRO136

I'm going to enter my card into the Papertake Weekly challenge as it's an anything goes week with the option of making a Christmas card, and the Sweet Stampin' challenge for glitter (Santa has a very sparkly beard and there's glitter on the snow but it's not showing up very well).  Crafty Creations challenge is for no flowers, so it's one for them too.

Marianne Shaped Card

This card is my second entry for the Marianne Design Divas challenge to create a shaped card .. .. just in case my first card, wasn't quite shapely enough!  To get my shape I fiddled about a bit with the measurements as I wanted the card to fold flat and fit in a square envelope to post.  So, starting with a piece of Cookie Crumb SU! A4 cardstock, I lined it it on my Scorepal so that the long edge was evenly spaced across the top - worked out that I was on the quarter inch at the left hand edge.  I scored at 3", 4.5", 7.5" and 9" then folded to get the shape you can see in the picture.  Once I knew how wide the card was going to be when closed I cut it so it was square.

The papers are from Marianne's Warm Winter Wishes bloc and I've inked the edges, as well as the edges of the diecuts, with Walnut DI.  The cream lacy border on the back panels is a Martha Stewart punch, other than that the dies are all by Marianne - list at the end.  I've got a little stamping on this card, the text greeting from the Marianne Stamp Fairy Christmas greeting set, and Eline's Owls clear stamp set EC0141.  I've coloured the owl and the little heart that comes with the set using my Copics before cutting them out to fix to the little tag I have on the front panel.  There's a tiny scrap of lace, little ribbon bow, the pearl button at the top of the tag, two tiny hearts from waste cutting something else, and the pearls all over the place made with my Wacco pearl maker pen, the rest of the card embellishments are all diecuts:

Bird and Ivy - LRO206
Scandinavian woven hearts - CR1228
Christmas tree - LRO136
Mini poinsettia - LRO142
Skeleton leaves - LRO128
Spray - LRO157

The Cupcake challenge is to get krafty this week - I have lots of kraft coloured card elements on my creation.  The Cutie Pie challenge is for distressing and I've got lots of inked edges so hope that counts. Totally Gorjuss just want anything with a button (big pearl one at the top of my tag), and Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge this time is to use 3 different patterned papers: I have the red flower on the back panels, the kraft coloured one on the sides and the tag, and a different red on the front.

Marianne Tag Card

My regular blog follwers will have noticed my recent crafty obsession with Marianne's diecuts, and today's card I made for the Marianne Design Challenge blog.  However, it's in Dutch and the translation button doesn't seem to want to work for me so I've had to guess a bit as to the exact nature of the challnge theme!  I think it's for a tag card where the tag is enclosed and pulls out, rather than just being stuck on the front as an embellishment - so that's what I've made and aplogies if I've got it wrong.  I've used a square kraft card as my base but diagonally cut the front then stuck the cut off piece on the back to create a pocket for my tag.  The papers are all from Marianne's Scandinavian Winter block and I've inked the edges of the papers, the card, and the embossed areas of the diecuts with Walnut DI.  I'll give you a list of the dies I used at the end of my post. To finish off I've scattered about some little blue pearls on my front flap (plus a tiny one in the centre of the poinsettia inside).

On the inside I stamped a little text on my postcard tag (from a clear set I got at my local craft store last year) and one of the greetings from Marianne's Stamp Fairy Christmas greetings on the kraft circle, and of course there's already a greeting on the patterned paper.

The circles are cut from LRO141 - double frame, and Nestabilities
Skeleton leaf on front of card from LRO128 - flower fantasy
Large Poinsettia from LRO122 - poinsettia straight
Holly from LRO244 - holly branches
Small Poinsettia from LRO142 - poinsettia miniature

Although the card looks busy, it does in fact fit a regular square envelope as most of the diecuts are glued flat, just the poinsettia on the front that is 3d mounted on foam squares so that will squash down to fit.  Dsepite there not being any stamped image to colour, I had fun making this card - although a slight misshap cutting the red circles and covering up a little white edge with a Copic brown pen on the inside circle led to bleed through on the front .. .. hidden by those holly sprays I hope!

I'm also going to enter my card into the Christmas Stampin' All Year Round challenge as it's an anything goes theme, and the Fussy and Fancy Friday challenge for pearls and flowers.

LIM in the pink

What a busy weekend, and what dreadful weather!  On Saturday afternoon it was blue sky, hailstones and thunder - all at the same time!  Yesterday the family came to visit and we enjoyed a roast with a homemade apple crumble, delicious if I do say so myself!  I haven't had much time to craft and my 'fancy' card is still a work in progress .. .. but I have put together a card for this week's Less Is More colour pink challenge.  I emptied out another storage box of craft stuff from the loft and discovered my pearl paper and card, the pale pink is left over card from when I did my son's wedding invitations, so pleasant memories making this little number.  I've cut and embossed the fancy edge with Marianne die LRO201, although you can't see the embossing very well in the picture.  The heart I cut from Marianne craftable CR1225 with the inner heart embossed with a CB rose folder.  Then simply finished off with the ribbon and text by Lili of the Valley stamped in grey ink.  Inside I've added a pearl paper insert edged with a Martha Stewart lace punch and stamped a greeting and a heart design in the matching grey ink.

The Fab 'n' Funky challenge is for diecuts or punches so I can enter with them too.

Christmas Notes

I have very exciting news to share with you - I just saw two of my cards on the first page of Marianne's card gallery here - at the moment they are the middle two on the second row from the top.  I often take a look at the gallery for inspiration as there are some stunning works of art on show.

It's been a bit of a stop and start craft day today as I've been grouting in the bathroom and pottering about the house.  I was hoping to have several little bits and pieces finished from ideas in my head, but this is as far as I got - a little notebook with a new cover created from left-overs.  I stuck a piece of Marianne's Warm Winter Wishes paper to the cover then trimmed it, inked the edges with Walnut Stain DI and then went around with Platinum Stickles.  I made a little tag from a scrap of kraft card and a different pp from the same pack, then glued an oddment of lace across the bottom, glued the big cream satin bow that's been sat on my desk for a week or so to the top, then 3d mounted the tag onto the notebook cover. I cut one of my favourite Marianne snowflakes from cream textured card and gave that a distress ink touch before 3d fixing it to the tag, plus adding the little star to the middle that came from my bit jar - it's actually the waste from a Marianne border die.  I stamped the text, also by Marianne, onto yet another piece of pp from the pack then did the same distress ink touch, a couple of mats in kraft and cream, also inked, and a touch of Stickles on the snowflakes - there you have it!

The Cutie Pie challenge is to distress, hopefully they will be happy with a distressed note book rather than a card.  I will try and finish up the other projects in my head to share with you in a day or two, but with family visiting this weekend I'm going to have my hands full!

CCT angels or fairies

This week on Cute Card Thursday we would like to see angels or fairies on your card and our sponsor for this challenge is Little Darlings Stamps.  I am temporarily off fairies - gosh! I hear you say .. .. well, I'm sure it will be a temporary dislike!  Unfortunately I've not got many angel stamps of my own so when you do see an angel on one of my cards it's most likely an image I've stamped up when visiting my friends.  But, this little LOTV Angel Gabriel I do have - I think I have all the LOTV Nativity stamps and get them inky every year. They remind me of watching the school Nativity plays, firstly with my own children many years ago and now with my grandsons - who usually end up being shepherds.  I coloured the image with my Copics, but have no idea why I chose the B0 shades and then that bright pink RV00, R81 & R83, and the slightly less vibrant yellows YR30, 31 & 21 with a touch of E55 for shading.  The little lamb is E30, 31 and the E55, then to finish I've shaded with cool greys.

Of course, when it came to making up the card I had no patterned paper that would match - I do have a lot of the aqua card so no problems for mats, so I simply put a piece of white card through the swiss dots CB embossing folder and used that as my background - and it does mean I can enter the card into Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge for no patterned papers.  I cut a strip of Marianne icicles border LRO135 to fit across the top and added Frosted Lace Stickles for sparkle.  To embellish I stamped and cut out the little text from a mini HOTP stamp set, diecut pieces of Marianne LRO245 (twigs but I call them fronds) and punched out the bright pink poinsettia flowers with Nellie's Choice mini punch and emboss set.  Even more Frosted Lace Stickles on the fronds and the Marianne snowflakes, CR1226, then a final sprinkling of little gems finished things off.  I'm also going to enter the ABC Christmas challenge for V= vibrant colours - well that pink certainly fits the bill!

Sorry I'm late sharing my card with you today, there was a minor hiccup with the car which meant I got to go shopping with Jason in his sporty little Brabas Smart number .. .. I can just about manage to get in and out of it by myself, but getting the Tesco's shop in was another matter and I ended up with the overspill from the boot with 2 bags at my feet and another on my lap so I couldn't see out the window on the way back!  And it wasn't that big a shop .. ..!

WOYWW #178

I missed sharing my desk last week with Julia and the WOYWW girls, so here's my messy desk this week!  At the top left there's my card I just posted waiting for the Stickles to dry and in the box it's sat on is my collection of little bottles of sparkle and pearl stuff.  Mostly though it's a pile of felt things I'm diecutting with Marianne's new Creatable dies to the left there.  I saw on the Marianne catalogue a banner made with them, however, they were finished off with blanket stitch around the edges and my stitching looked apalling so that idea went out the window!  I did manage to layer the two hearts together with running stitch and then came up with the idea of using little buttons to keep it all together - I think it's going to work!  I'm going to have to go shopping for some baker's twine or ribbon to string them together, and I will need more little buttons or another idea for fixing before I cut out more as I only had those half-dozen buttons in white.  Think I had best go shopping at Bunny Zoe's as there's 15% off across the store .. .. ..

Isn't he cute!

Well, after yesterday's busy card, today I have a rather plainer design to share with you.  The little lad is another of Nellie Snellen's new Christmas stamps and is coloured with Copics.  The background is a piece of Cuddly Buddly digi that I'd got in my stash and I've simply added green mats, green holly sprays cut with Marianne die LRO244, a stamped text, a little white organza bow, and a smattering of red gems.  I've added Stardust Stickles over the snowfall areas and carefully added Ice Stickles to his fur trims trying to avoid any Copic bleeding.  I've used G40, 43 & 46 for the greens, E11, 13, 15, 17 & 18 for the browns, and R22, 24 & 27 for the touches of red.  I think I've used BG70 for the shadow, I wrote that number down so it must be in there somewhere!

Totally Stampalicious have an anything goes theme this week, Allsorts challenge is for stitching, thankfully it doesn't have to be real, and the Dream Valley challenge is for glitter and bling.    BUT - Mr Blogger has 'mislaid' my reading list of blogs that I'm following so I'm totally lost and have no idea what is going on out there .. .. I am hoping that it's just a temporary glitch and that he will find my list at the back of a drawer and reinstate it for me, until then I must get on and finish my DT card for tomorrow and the laundry is piling up - not the best day for it as it's blowing a gale already and the forecast is for more torrents of rain!

Is it a mess, or not?

Yesterday I had one of those crafting days, you know the ones, when you don't really know how the card is going to turn out and you keep going in the hope that it'll be alright in the end .. .. .. well that's what happened with this creation.  The image is one of Nellie Snellen's new stamps called Christmas birdie and I'd coloured her up last week with the aim of creating something with her using the Marianne Warm Winter Wishes papers - so at least the idea was there!  The best match for the papers, imo, is kraft cardstock and I loved how this card turned out the last time I used the papers.  Then when I saw the Incy Wincy blog yesterday I thought it would be the perfect challenge: it's a recipe - 4 patterned papers (base knitting pattern, crochet pattern on middle layer that's almost obscured, poinsettia flowers diecut from 3rd, and then the top left corner all but obscured by the greeting and the little deer embellishment are both cut from the 4th paper).  In addition there's the 3 brads in the centre of my flowers, the 2 ribbons (pink across middle you can just about see and a little red bow) and of course the 1 image. I've inked the edges of everything, papers and mats, with Sahara Sand chalk ink, added lots of Stardust Stickles to my image (and got p'd off that the red Copic colour's run into it especially on her shoulder), stamped a PB greeting in Poppy Red pearlescent brilliance ink and then cut out lots of Marianne skeleton leaves, LRO156, and the big snowflake I'm addicted to at the moment!  I still wasn't happy so added the pearls with my Wacco pen .. .. so .. .. too many big embellishments for the small scale image?  Perhaps I should have gone for smaller leaves and a smaller snowflake - I dunno .. .. it's growing on me .. .. .. and I've learnt that Stickles will dissolve Copic ink!

I certainly don't expect to win any prizes with this card, but thought I would share with you anyway and link up with Incy Wincy as their challenge was the inspiration for how it turned out!  It's going to be a pottering about kinda day today, waiting for Jason to do a bit more tiling before we start grouting another area in the bathroom.  I did get the final gloss coat on the door frame yesterday so no hold up there .. .. still have to paint the door but I'm going to leave that until the work is all done otherwise it's only going to get knocked about and grubby.  I still have a carrier bag full of spring bulbs to get planted so if it stays dry I might get that job out of the way - oh and I have my DT card to make for Thursday, so I'll not be bored!

Festive Pup

This little 4" square card was snapped last night under my daylight bulb, so apologies for the shadows, but, it's the only card I still have to blog and I'm not sure when I'll get around to putting another one together .. .. gotta get on with the tiling and painting this week or I'll never be able to have that bath!

I stamped the little PB pup and coloured with my Copics, not much colour, just a touch of red for his hat and the BV20 - BV29 pens for the pup.  I've used one of the Marianne dies from LRO234 to cut him out and another to cut out the plain blue mat, then I cut out a piece of red pp from Marianne's Scandinavian Winter pad to fit in the square, tiny scraps of red card behind the corners then 3d fixed over my base layer.  That's a blue piece of pp from the same pad, again matted with the blue card - I think it's SU! Baja Breeze.  To embellish I've used lots of different Marianne die cuts, the most obvious being the mini poinsettia LRO142.  I've added lots of Stardust Stickles over the white fronds, centre of the flower, the snowflake and the pups hat, then to finish I put a little red gem in the centre of the flower and snowflake.  I am hoping that the sparkle and the 'exploding' embellishment will be ok for the Papertake challenge theme of fireworks glitter and sparkle!  Jingle Belles have a creature feature challenge, and I'm just in at the last minute for the Penny Black at Allsorts monthly challenge theme of Animal Magic.

Hope to catch up with you later, but now it's grouting and painting!

LIM Sketch

I had a chance to play today, seeing as it's been cold and wet so we couldn't do the planned garden chores.  I've created a card for the Less Is More challenge, which this week is a sketch panel in 3 sections - when I saw it I immediately thought of this stamp that I've had for years.  In fact it wasn't so easy as I needed the panel to fit the card from top to bottom, but with a little bit of judicious cutting and matting it just fits onto a C6 size.  The stamp is by Stamps Happen Inc, a Nan Goss design, and I used brown Momento ink to stamp onto SU! Sahara Sand card, and created my base card with it too.  I coloured the images with Copics: the yellow leaves are YR20, 21 & 24, the greens are YG61, 63 & 67, then the little squares and the pins are RV66 & 69. After I cut out the images I matted them onto a strip of green card, fixed brads where the pins were on the leaves and finished with Glossy Accents on the squares.  I scored a couple of lines down my base card so the panel could be 3d mounted with foam pads between them, then added a few pricked accents in the corners, and that's it!

Stampin' for the weekend have an anything goes theme this time around so I'll enter my card with them too.

Scandinavian Winter

Marianne's Design Divas blog have a challenge this month to create a shaped card - this is my first attempt, and it's just a simple easel card created from a thick scallop square base card with the top folded.  Hopefully though, my Christmas tree will be interesting enough to qualify me for the challenge. The first picture shows the easel part - I've used a couple of paper designs from the Scandinavian Winter paper pack and either inked the edges with red chalk ink (on the tree) or added white faux stitches (on the paper matted with blue card stuck down onto my base).  The tree is from Marianne's new CR127 set with the lacy edge cut from blue card and the larger plain edged tree from the red and blue patterned paper.  To create the swags I cut the lace circle from CR1201 in blue card then cut out the centre with a circle Nestie and snipped pieces to fit, adding more white faux stitches.  The snowflake atop the tree is from the same set, backed with two flakes from the LR0124 Norwegian Ice Star set, the smallest in red is just that tiny bit bigger than the snowflake in the tree set so gives a little edge to it, then the bigger snowflake in blue is 3d matted behind.  The greeting from the Marianne Stamp Fairy set is stamped in London Fog Momento and finished off with a red satin bow. 

 

This is the base of the easel - the paper has the text already printed so I didn't want to cover it up too much. I've cut Holly sprays from LRO244, created a flower from the mini poinsettia set LRO142 and my favourite snowflake from set CR1225 (hearts). I've finished off with little pearls and red berries made with Liquid Pearls, although I'm not so pleased with them .. .. I've tried both the red Wacco pearl maker pen and the red Liquid Pearls but both give me a pointy finish rather than a nice round dome .. .. got any ideas?  I've no probs with the Wacco cream or white pens.

And here's the card - I didn't think when I took the picture on the glass table in the conservatory so there are odd reflection in the background!

Week #47 on the Christmas Card Challenge blog calls for bows, so as I have one on my card I'm going to enter with them.  Fussy and Fancy Friday have an anything goes theme so entering with them too.

My apologies again for not getting around to visit everyone who leaves me a comment, my internet is incredibly slow and if you have lots of pictures on your side bars my internet can't load them all, and I can't leave comments, that's if I get to see your blog at all.  I am trying but it seems that things are getting worse rather than better, I just hope the promised upgrade in the next few months really does make a difference to connections here abouts. 

Boo!

This week on Cute Card Thursday we would like to see something scary on your creation, not necessarily Halloween, you could just go for spiders or something else that's scary!  I expect that most of us will go down the Halloween road and I found this digi image partly coloured in my box so thought she needed finishing off.  She was a freebie from Mo Manning ages ago, so not around anymore, and not particularly scary - although that mask makes Bronte look rather scary IMO!  I couldn't find any papers that would go so instead I stamped spiders webs (Magnolia) and bats (PB) onto a piece of orange card then matted it onto black.  I found a length of purple lace to wrap around, then cut out a black square from Marianne die LRO234 (will I ever get tired of using it), and a black scallop mat for my image so it could be 3d mounted on top with foam pads.  The pumpkins are Magnolia stamps and the Boo text is from a clear Penny Black set.  A little piece of purple silk and a black button to anchor my coffin shaped text finished things off.  The image and pumpkins are coloured with my Copic pens - but sorry no list of colours today as I had to clear the table so we could eat!  My crafting is spread out around the bungalow .. .. the pc is in my bedroom so here is where I blog, I tend to colour in the evenings at the dining room table with the aid of my daylight lamp, then when it comes to putting the card together all my stuff is in the conservatory.  The only problem comes when I'm blogging and can't remember what I've used and have to get up and go and find out .. .. ah well at least the walking is exercise!

There are loads of Halloweeny type challenges around at the moment so I'm going to link up to these ones:
Crafty Catz, Sweet Stampin', Digital Tuesday, Cutie Pie, Everybody Art, Moving Along With The Times, Crafrty Creations, Creative Inspirations and Party Time Tuesday.  Gosh! I don't think I've ever entered so many challenges with just one card .. .. but then I don't have reason to make more Halloween cards this year so it's one for all!

Woodland Wishes

I sort of had in mind the Paperplay challenge theme of 'Wooden it be nice' for this card and used one of the Marianne Warm Winter Wishes papers on my base card as it has lots of end on logs, although it's been rather obscured as things went along.  I created the base from SU! Sahara Sand card and used it for my diecuts as well, inking the edges and embossed areas with Walnut Distress Ink'.  I've used the 3 squares from Marianne die LRO234, with the middle layer cut from another piece of paper from the Warm Winter Wishes pack that looks like knitting.  The greeting is from a Stamp Fairy at Marianne set of texts cut out with a scallop circle then 3d mounted as the top layer.  I've also added a couple of Marianne Christmas trees, LRO136, plus my favourite snowflake this year from the CR1225 set with the hearts.  As the whole card was by now looking a bit too sepia, but perfect for the My Time To Craft theme, I finished off with a pretty cream satin bow and cream pearls made with my Wacco pearl maker pen.  Half way through the making I wasn't at all sure about this one, thinking it too dull for Christmas, but now that it's finished I am quite pleased with it!  Here's a close up of the different diecut pieces:

I have to paint door frames again today so Jason can get on with the bathroom tiling - it's slowly coming together, and the toilet is now working!

Another Festive Robin

The weather was lovely yesterday, at least here in Cornwall it was!  I decided to get the grass cut and trim all the edges of the borders and paths, and even managed to plant Winston Churchill (daffs), but I must get my fingers out and get on with the rest of the spring bulbs as it's getting a bit late now.  Today has started dull and grey so I am hoping that the postman will bring me another little crafty package I ordered, then I can have a play.

The card I am sharing with you today uses up the third little robin image from last week - he's coloured the same as the other two then cut out with a Nestie.  I wanted to use some of my new Marianne Scandinavian paper so picked out this ice blue snowflake design.  The papers are a mix of bright blues and reds so in keeping with the Scandi theme I matted with both red and blue card and added a row of white faux stitches.  I've used Marianne's doily LRO129 cut out in red card to mat my robin then drew around the die to get a blue mat for it that I cut by hand - not exactly my forte but I think it has worked out ok.  The white doily underneath is the circle die CR1201 cut in half to make it look bigger, and to decorate I cut mistletoe leaves LRO189 and finished them with white beads from my Wacco pearl maker pen.  It still needed something in the top left corner so I rummaged through my ribbon box and found this wrinkle blue tape to tie into a bow.

Totally Papercrafts have a Christmas theme running with a reminder that there's less than 9 weeks to the big day! and the Jingle Belles challenge is for a festive creature on your creation, while at Fussy and Fancy Friday it's an anything goes theme.

Shades of Autumn

 

New picture with a third rose leaf added - looks better now!

Yesterday I went for a little stroll with hubby and the dogs up on Goss Moor.  It was surprising how much green there is still around, albeit more muted and olive in tone, and every now and then a splash of scarlet red from fallen leaf or berries and a little bright yellow from the wild evening primrose flowers that seem to bloom right up 'till winter.

This afternoon I've let hubby take the dogs on his own to the beach as I'm feeling tired, and instead I've been having a play with my new mini hot glue gun.  I diecut the flowers from 3 different autumnal shades of HOTP card using Marianne die CR1202 - the advantage of the HOTP card is it's thin enough to shape and has a beige back so no white underneath to show up.  I've inked the edges of everything with Versamagic Sahara Sand chalk ink just in case, and once the layers were shaped and stuck together I added a gold bead with my Wacco pearl maker pen.  I found an old seed head stamp and stamped a design on a square of Eco board then used Versamagic chalk inks in Tea Leaves (green), Mango Madness (orange), and Malted Mauve (dusty pink) to colour, edged with a gold ink pen then fixed my flower on.  To pick up the green I cut a strip of the HOTP card to go across my base kraft card, a couple of rose leaves from LRO162 to slip under the flower, added the text, a little butterfly from LRO158,  and more gold beads.  It's for the Less Is More challenge so I quit at that!

Crafty Cardmakers and Allsorts blog challenges are also for autumn colours, and the Anything Goes challenge is to make your own embellishments - done that!

CAS Robin

I'm not long back from a visit to the new Hobby Craft shop that's opened in Truro this week, with lunch at a very nice pub thrown in after - thank you DH!  The shop was busy, very busy, and although there were some nice bits and pieces, especially in the scrapbooking area, I didn't come away with much new stash.  I was treated to a mini hot glue gun which has been on my wish list since using one at the Kernow Stamper's fair in the summer, but apart from that, a few packets of gems, some squares of felt and a magazine, that was it.  The prices were a little steep, there were quite a few Marianne dies on the shelves but you can certainly find them cheaper on line and the same went for most of the named brand items. 

I forgot to schedule a post for today, to be honest I'm feeling rather tired again at the moment and even crafting is beyond me.  Fortunately, this little robin is one I'd coloured earlier in the week and he simply went together with Marianne diecut LRO234 called Petra's square frames.  I've layered the two white squares onto silver mirri card then 3d mounted them to the base card.  Three plain snowflakes cut from silver using one of the dies in set LRO124 finished things off.

Charisma Cardz have a CAS theme challenge so I can enter my card, I think it's clean and simple enough. And, if you remember my rather plain CAS one layer card for last week's LIM challenge, well, I just had to tart it up a little bit:

I've inked my embossed stitches around the edge with pale blue chalk ink then matted my one layer onto pale blue card, added a length of sparkly blue ric rac across the corner before mounting onto the base card.  To embellish I diecut Marianne's mini poinsettia, LRO142, and inked it a little with the blue chalk ink, cut the holly spray, LRO244, from blue card and inked it with white chalk ink then finished with white pearls made with my Wacco pearl maker pen.  It's more 'me' now!

I am going for a bit of a rest now, browse my magazine and decide what I'd like to make next, but the actual doing might have to wait for another day.  Whatever you are doing, enjoy! and I look forward to catching up with you again very soon.

The Nativity

 

This card started out as a bit of a play/mess about, but I am pleasantly surprised by how it turned out so am happy to share it with you. Plus, as it's a LOTV stamp and Lili's Little Fairies have an anything goes theme this week, I can enter it into their challenge.  The ABC Christmas challenge blog are on the letter 'U' and it's up to you, so entering with them too.

 

When my new Marianne dies arrived the other day I wanted to have a play and cut out the larger square from LRO234 in SU! Almost Amethyst card, unfortunately my CB plates have warped so badly now that embossing in the bug doesn't work, so I've had to do it the old fashioned way by hand! I am dropping hints that I'd like a new machine for Christmas .. .. .. Anyway, after embossing I added a little white chalk ink to the raised areas, although it barely shows up, and cut out the little medallion from the set in thin white card and inked with pink chalk ink to match the sheet colour. I also did the embossed stitch line around the edge of the image and inked that to match. I'd no pp that would match so just went ahead and stuck down the square onto my base white card. In addition to the little medallion flowers I cut and inked the fronds LRO245 and made a frame with them around the image.

 

 

The image is coloured with my Copics, the sheet with B60 & B63 and the background with B0000, 000, 00 & 01. The foreground is coloured with warm grey shades, her headdress, their socks and the trim on the crate with cool greys. The browns are my favourite E40 to E47, although his little top started as a cool grey but then I picked up an E41 by mistake so it's a totally unique colour! His headdress and the baby wrap are BG70 & 72. To finish things off I added little gems and actually decorated a little inside the card too!

 

 

The text is an old stamp, I think from an Elusive Images set, embossed and inked thefaux stitch edge to match the image on the front then simply added a medallion flower and fronds.  Still plenty of room for Mum to write - she's already made a bid for this one!  I have to take Mum to the surgery this morning for her flu jab so am scheduling this card, fingers crossed.  Catch up with you later, internet allowing that is, from Friday evening through the weekend it virtually grinds to a halt - the weekenders invading us and using up all our internet bits and bites!

A touch of sparkle

This week on Cute Card Thursday we are looking for a touch of sparkle on your creations, it doesn't have to be a lot, but if you really must - go for it!  I have been restrained and limited my sparkle to the star, a touch on the baubles and the pups hat on this LOTV stamped image called 'decorating the tree'.  I couldn't resist adding a little more to the centre of the Marianne diecut poinsettia flowers and as the card wasn't quite finished when my new dies arrived, I managed to add a few fern fronds and sparkle them too.  Then just to finish things off I found the iridescent ribbon and tied a couple of bows.  The pp is very old, from Anna Griffin, and I used a Martha Stewart punch to layer up my horizontals - and there's some ivory satin ribbon there too but that somehow got almost completely covered up!  Our sponsor for this challenge is Whimsy Stamps with a choice of 5 digi stamps as the prize.

Here's the close up of my colouring, with Copics of course.  It's another image that's been waiting to turn into a card so the exact colours elude me.  The browns are the E40 - E47 range and for the bigger lad's shorts and slippers I used E81 and E84, which is looking greener on my screen than in real life.  The red areas are the R20 range darkening to R29 with a little R00 added to lighten the dress. Not totally sure on the greens, but probably used G40, 43 and 46.  The yellows I'm thinking might be Y11, 13 and 15, as to the rest, I'm not sure, although the shading is various pale shades of warm grey.

Totally Stampalicious have a Christmas card challenge running this week so I'll enter my card with them.