Banners and boughs

Hello, crafting friends...

 

... and a happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating today :)

 

Have you finished your festive cards yet? If you haven't, you can come and be in my gang because I certainly haven't! But that's okay because it's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge Thursday which means loads of inspiration, courtesy of Elizabeth this week:

I chose the diagonal from bottom left Stamping/Free/Layers and went with neutrals with just a pop or two of colour.

 

The card started with a kraft card base, the edges of the front sponged with white craft ink. I layered it with gingerbread coloured card cut with the largest of the Greetery's Nordic Frames dies. I also cut a layer from kraft card with the medium size frame and stamped it with a bunch of mistletoe from Budding Beauties Winter, also from the Greetery. Once I'd stamped it, I stenciled around it with white craft ink using Funky Fossils Brick Wall stencil.

 

The stamped image was intensified with coloured pencils and I added a shadow which helps it to pop. Berries were added with a Posca white acrylic paint pen. To finish, I stamped a banner image from a retired Stampin' Up set and stamped a Greetery sentiment inside, bending it to fit the curve. The banner was fussy cut and I added some shading with brown ink and a sponge dauber to add dimension before popping it up on dimensional pads.

 

Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to check out my team mates' card samples - prepare to be amazed! And then it's your turn! Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board, create a card using the inspiration, then share with us using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post.  We are looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Inkspirational where the theme is Seasonal; at ABC Christmas W is for Wreath and X is for XOXO - Hugs and Kisses and I thought my bunch of mistletoe would be good for the hugs and kisses theme! I'm also linking up with the Stencil Fun Challenge where the optional theme is Leaves

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's been so wet here and I've had my hands full with Lulu, so I'm only now getting round to tidying up in the garden. Everything needs cutting back and the leaves need sweeping up and the grass needs a final trim, but that's okay because I've got some wonderful helpers!! Here we see the difference between Eva and Lulu:

 

 

This is Eva. She likes to carry my trimmings around the garden and if I make a pile of leaves, she makes a nest in it. She is demonstrating her 'Smoosh Face', a term coined by my eldest son, which is where she's concentrating on something on the ground and her ears flop forwards and her forward goes all wrinkly and smooshed. We can never resist Smoosh Face and it often results in cooing noises from us and Tummy Rubs for her!

 

This is Lulu. She likes to take her ball with her as she wanders around the house and garden. She hides it under things and then takes immense pleasure in triumphantly finding it again. She is delighted that I have had the idea of cutting lots of trimmings from the hedge for the sole purpose of giving her an excellent place to hide her ball!

Sending hugs,

Misty Mountains

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I have taken over the coffee table and it is laden with Christmas crafting goodies! It just means I can dip in and make a card whenever I have a spare minute. This is my latest effort: 

 

 

This card happened because I had this beautiful 'Go tell it on the Mountain' sentiment from He is Born by Penny Black, and it occured to me to pair it with actual mountains!

 

 

First I masked off the edges of a white card panel with low tack tape ready to create the scene. I used purple ink to stamp the mountains from Stampin' Up's retired Snowfront, then covered them using a sticky note mask and sponged in a sky using a blend of blue and purple inks. There are lots of pine trees in the set and I used them to create a wooded area using second and third generation stamping to give a misty look.

 

Once the scene was complete, I stamped the sentiment in versamark ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The panel was matted onto card was finished with my trusty Posca white acrylic paint pen which I used to add snow and ice to the scene.

CHALLENGES

Joanne's theme at As You See It is Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. What makes it wonderful for me? It's the birth of Jesus, the most extraordinary event ever! I'm also linking this card up at Stamping Sensations where the theme is Getting Ready For Christmas.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My darling golden girls are getting on like a house on fire. Every morning, while I get up and get ready, they play a rousing game of Bring The Bison Down and Bitey Face together, and I love the way they take it in turns to be the Hunter and the Prey. When I'm ready, we go out on the fields together and romp about and chase the crows and have a good sniff in the hedges before returning to do some sensible training and have breakfast.

 

 

Here they are on the field this morning, tails up and as happy as the day is long! What a joy they are!

Sending hugs,

A candlelit Christmas

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and there's a new board at Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Joanne is in charge this week and what fab inspiration she's provided:

 

 

I'm deep in Christmas card mode now so I chose the diagonal from top left - Sequins/Holly/Navy - to make a festive card using jewel tones.

 

This card started with a card base, masked at top, left and right, and on the diagonal two thirds of the way down. Inside the masked area, I sponged navy ink, then clapped wet hands over it for a starry/snowy look. While it was drying, I reached for a white snippet of card and stamped a candle from a new set a lovely friend gave me in the summer: Christmas Candle by That's Crafty. I coloured it with alcohol markers and coloured pencils and fussy cut it.

 

Before attaching the candle to my background, I stamped a few pine branches for a bit of depth. To cover the bottom of the candle, I die cut some holly leaves from a snippet of glossy card which I sponged with green ink. The glossy card gives a lovely texture! To finish the card, I added sequins to represent berries and stamped the sentiment from the candle set in navy.

 

Okay, it's time for you to play! Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board and make a card using the ideas in each square. Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge site and check out the fab samples made by my team mates; you'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link up your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm playing at Make My Monday where Dawn's theme is Lighting The Way; also Stamping Sensations where the theme is Get Ready For Christmas; I used this stamp set for the first time so I'm sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge; and I'm romping up just in time to hand in my homework at The Snippets Playground - I used white snippets for the candle and the holly.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When I was a little girl, we had some ancient Christmas decorations to put on the tree. We would never have thought to have a decorated tree before Christmas Eve so, on that day, my father would go out into the woods cut down a fir tree, embed it in a piece of wood and bring it home. My brother and sister and I would wait in a fever of excitement while he checked the tree lights for blown bulbs, then, when all was fixed, the lights were arranged on the tree. Only then would we be allowed to help decorate it. There were fragile glass ornaments, strings of glass beads and, incredibly, some little tin candle holders with tiny wax candles in them. I looked online to see if I could find any like them and look:

 

German shop Blumchen.com has some very similar! A health and safety nightmare (although we were NEVER allowed to light our candles!) Happy memories :)

Sending hugs,

Big card for a big birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

One of my neighbours was having a big birthday so we all clubbed together for a gift and I was so excited to be asked to make a card for us all to sign to go with it. Come and see:

 

The card is a sheet of thick white A4 card, scored and folded in half, so it is twice the size of the cards I'm used to making - and that was a lot of fun! I cut a card panel with a large stitched rectangle die by Christina Griffiths and sponged in an inky background. I clapped wet hands over this to create movement and  texture and left it to dry.

 

To build up a background for my toadstool and leaf scene, I used inks and daubers and three stencils: Berry Branch by the Greetery and Uniko's Tiger Print and Natures Tresure. The leaves, from Fall Foliage by Reverse Confetti, were left overs from another project and the mushrooms are gorgeous textured die cuts from the Greetery's Toadstool Garden, coloured with ink and daubers. Everything was glued in place, the panel attached to the card front and, to finish, I stamped a sentiment from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments.

 

 

I made a little gift bag too, out of some Stampin' Up designer paper I've had for many a year! I added a tag cut with an arch die, and sponged and stenciled using the same elements as the card.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Birthday Goes; Ellie has chosen the theme of The Great Outdoors at Allsorts this week, so I'm joining in there too; I'm also playing along at November's Stencil Fun Challenge where Leaves are the optional theme.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The clocks have gone back here which means the evenings are drawing in earlier and I'm finding it really hard to adjust to the dark this year. Anyone else? Off to make a hot water bottle and curl up with a rug over my knees...!

Sending hugs,

Have faith

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Come and join me for a bit of embossing folder fun!

 

 

Today's card uses a folder from a Stampin' Up set of two called Floral Affection. (You can see how I used the other folder on THIS card - very different.) After many years of not having any embossing folders I am really enjoying using them in all sorts of ways :) Anyway, I embossed this vine image onto a snippet of white card that had been cut with an oval die. Once it had been embossed, I trimmed it into a label using a square die. This did flatten the embossing a little but I'm fine with that.

 

I used a blender pen and inks to colour the vine image and added a beautiful sentiment from Perfect Timing by Reverse Confetti. To add a bit of dimension, I stamped two flowers from Uniko's Background Blocks, Layered Modern Floral, and fussy cut them, glueing them to the centre of each of the vines. To finish, I attached the label to a card base and embellished the centre of the large flowers with enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Shopping Our Stash where I was bowled over by the gorgeous jewel tones in the inspiration photo and couldn't wait to use all the colours! I'm also joining in at Allsorts where Dena's optional theme is Embossing, wet or dry; also Can You Handle the Pressure where EFs must be used and where there is an optional theme of Vines/Greenery; It's a CAS week at Just Us Girls and Nancy wants to see us Just Use the Centre of a Card, so I'm playing along there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

So November has suddenly happened when only two minutes ago it was March, I'm sure of it! I almost daren't look in my Christmas card stash box because I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anywhere near enough cards in it. I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on and come up with some amazing designs which can be made up in batches in mere minutes... watch this space!!

Sending hugs,

Wedding doves and flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Why should doves only come out at Christmas? I thought one day while rifling through my stamp sets. These doves are from Uniko's Peace on Earth set but I imagined a pair of them would look just right cooing at one another on an autumn wedding card!

 

 

I decided to stencil one end of a slimline card base with The Greetery's Always in Bloom layering stencil set, and then mirror the stenciling on the other end. This worked well and left me with a space in the middle for a focal point.

 

I did a bit more stenciling using isolated parts of the stencil to bring the two halves together, then blended some pale yellow ink into a circle stencil before stamping a sentiment from a long-ago retired Stampin' Up set. Finally, I added the doves, stamped in pale blue, shaded with an alcohol marker and fussy cut.

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Stencil Fun Challenge where the Orange is the optional twist this month; I'm also joining in with Lynn's Autumn Colours theme at Allsorts

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We are having a beautiful autumn here. The hedges are full of berries and the leaves are taking their time to turn completely. The mornings are damp and misty but by lunchtime, the skies are glorious blue and the sun is warm enough for shirt sleeves - no jumper or jacket required! The golden girls and I are taking full advantage!

Sending hugs,

Wreathed in festive florals

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and the Tic Tac Challenge invites you to come and play with our new board! Devised by Betty this week,  there are plenty of options...

 

... including suggestions to enable us to crack on with those festive cards! I've chosen the middle row Wreath/Free/Enamel Dots to create mine.

 

I started this card by offsetting Funky Fossil's Holly Wreath stencil on a card panel and sponging reds and greens into it. I added a snippet of DSP  to the bottom, trimmed it to size with my guillotine and then went in search of a focal point.

 

I've been adding to my Embossing folder collection just lately and have found a few retired Stampin' Up beauties that I've really enjoyed playing with. The florals on this card come from a set of two called Floral Affection. I embossed the large floral on an offcut of pink card and again on a snippet of red card, added detail with markers and cut them out. The pine branches and holly leaves were found in the snippets box, left over from other projects. The sentiment is a retired Uniko's stamp combined with a die cut from Avery Elle. To finish, I attached the panel to a card front and added enamel dots to the flower centres. 

Right! Now it's your turn! Here's how to play along: Choose a row or column or one of the diagonals and create a card using the inspiration suggestions. Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to check out the samples the team has made for your enjoyment! You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own card with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I used lots of left overs for this card (snippets of DSP, pink red and blue card offcuts, left over pine branch die cuts and holly leaf cut outs) so I'm skipping over to the Snippets Playground with this card in my satchel; I'm also joining in at Peace on Earth where there are wreaths everywhere on the mood board! I used an embossing folder to create my flowers so I'm also linking up with Can you Handle the Pressure where Anything Goes ( with optional twist of Spooky); also Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here's a heartwarming story for the dog lovers among you: Yesterday, I took the golden girls on a walk in the countryside. Both dogs have great recall so they run off lead, sniffing in the hedges, chasing things in the undergrowth. If they lag behind too long, I just call them and they catch up. Well yesterday Lulu didn't come back when I called and I realised there was something wrong. Eva and I walked back to find that Lulu had managed to get the wrong side of a fence. She was trying to get to us but was running up and down the fence looking for the way back, giving frantic little barks. Eva went into Big Sister mode and ran alongside her on our side of the fence, obviously trying to help her find the way. In the end, I found the gap under the fence in a very overgrown thicket with a ditch (delightful!) but I was so pleased to see how the girls interacted with one another.

Sending hugs,

The stars are brightly shining

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I thought I'd have heaps of time to craft now that I'm hunkering down with my golden girls and letting Lulu relax, feel safe and really learn about the life of a dog in our family. But it's like having a young pup again and we're doing lots of stress-busting walking, so I'm only crafting in short bursts! Today I managed to complete this simple Christmas card:

 

I found the starry sky paper pad in The Works about a month ago and thought it would make great Christmas card backgrounds. It's 6"x6" so I fell at the first hurdle as I'd selected a slimline card base! But I cut two short pieces the same width and joined them in the centre, mounting that on two vertical strips of fabulous gold washi tape that came in a prize I was lucky enough to win at ABC Christmas Challenge - thank you ladies!

 

To conceal the join, I cut a musical stave using The Greetery's Noted die set and, before attaching it to the card front, stamped the sentiments in Versamark and heat embossing them in gold. The 'Oh holy night' part is from Reverse Confetti's Greatest Gift of All, and the lovely curvy line from the song under the musical stave is from The Greetery's Sing a Song of Christmas. I finished the card with a little star punched out of gold foil card.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at ABC Christmas where V is for Vertical and U is for Use it Up - and I did use up a snippet of white card stock and a tiny piece of gold foil card! I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days, where each month on the 25th we make a festive card for the stash; and am choosing the Anything Goes option at Peace on Earth Christmas and Happy Little Stampers Christmas.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

No time to stay and chat as it's late and I'm off out into the real life starry night with two golden girls before bed!

Sending hugs,

Home is where the pusscat is!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's an Addicted to CAS kind of Saturday today but it is with some sadness that I have to tell you that because of personal commitments, our  challenge leader Kylie is stepping down and so the challenge will be closing after this fortnight. Kylie has given so much of her time and energy to the crafting community and we will really miss her. Vicki D has the honour of choosing the Code Words for the last challenge and we all hope that as many of you as possible will join in and show your support for Kylie:

 

A colour prompt is always fun isn't it! This one could work for your halloween makes or if, like me, you don't do halloween, it would make a lovely floral. I went a different way for my card, making a 'welcome home' card for my friend whose cat I look after sometimes.

 

It was a lot of fun making this card - a bit like playing with a dolls house! I used a Sugarpea set called Let's Stay Home, stamping and colouring the cat before covering with a sticky note mask, then the armchair getting the same treatment, then the other elements. After removing the masks, a little seating arrangement was revealed with a little black cat fast asleep on the armchair! I was able to cut the whole scene out with sharp paper snips.

For the background, I sponged a little purple ink into my Brick Wall stencil from Funky Fossil, then stamped a sentiment using Uniko's useful Everyday Spring Sentiments. To finish, I attached the furniture scene to the card front with sticky pads and added some clear gems.

Okay, so now it's your turn. My team mates have made some fabulous cards to inspire you, so do hop over to the Addicted to CAS blog to check those out. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of clear space - and have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Crazy For Cats. The challenge this month (Anything Cat Goes or Meow-o-ween) is in loving memory of Janis and Sue, who both sadly passed away this year and are sadly missed.

 

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's a Lady Dora week this week! I will be attending Her Ladyship with my starched cap and pinny on, and hoping that I don't blunder with the presentation of her meals in case I'm dismissed without a character!

She is an exacting mistress (although sometimes she forgets herself and gets quite affectionate!!)

Sending hugs,