How lovely are your branches

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Yet again the end of the month has hurtled towards me without a single Christmas card being made for my stash! Out came the inks and stamps and sponges as I made a valiant effort to address the situation (although it is very difficult making a card while two pairs of anxious brown eyes are just mentioning that it's really time for a walk and you must have forgotten and we don't want to push ourselves forward but we know you wouldn't want to abandon your proper duties...!)

 

I came up with this vintage-style card by stamping a card panel with one of the fir tree from an older set, Spruce Trees by Inkylicious. I used a greyish brown ink, stamped off, then sponged over the trees with more of the same ink plus some pale blue ink for a misty feel. To create 'snow', I wet my hands with water and clapped over the panel, blotted it with a paper towel and left it to dry. To complete the background, I added script using a stamp from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks and sponged dark green ink at the bottom of my panel to ground the trees.

 

The next stage was to stamp a different spruce for the focal tree. I stamped it in dark green ink then cleaned the stamp, moved the panel very slightly in my stamp positioner, and stamped it again using white craft ink. I added a little brown marker to the trunk of the tree and used a white acrylic marker to add more snow. The sentiment from Uniko's Rustic Wreath was stamped in red and I mounted the panel on matching card. Finally, I decorated the tree with glitter glue lights and and a tiny glittery star.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the misty tree from the mood board at Peace on Earth as well as the Vintage theme at Jingle Belles; I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days where Anything Christmas goes. I noticed that Retro Rubber has a Great Outdoors theme and since my Spruce Trees set is from 2015, I'm playing along there too :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When my children were little and things were getting a bit hectic, I would find myself speaking in what we called my 'Mary Poppins voice'. I was thinking about that this morning as I was flying about trying to shorten my To Do list and wishing that I could snap my fingers as she did in the (original) film to get things tidied away!

 

 Sending hugs,

Nostalgic thoughts

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The golden girls and I went on a slightly earlier walk yesterday, mainly because I had one eye on the weather forecast... Sadly, we have had to say goodbye to The Tropics and embrace welly weather again. But that's okay! It gave me the perfect opportunity to abandon the allotment and have a little inky play.

 

With this card I have wandered quite some distance from Comfort Zone Central and ended up in Vintage Village, which is uncharted territory for me! But sometimes it's fun to challenge yourself isn't it :) I imagined overlapping letters, so I masked areas off on a panel and sponged pale brown ink over the edges before stamping them with script stamps from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks. The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die and, for a bit of detail, I cut the centre of the panel out with a label die before replacing it.

 

 

Once the background was glued to my card front, I created a little focal cluster on my letters using a stamp image and postage marks from the Pretty Postmarks set. I topped this with a gorgeous old-fashioned rose from Fleur Impressions, also from The Greetery, stamped and cut out. I added some tiny pearls too for extra prettiness!

 

The sentiment is from a Dovecraft set that I thought would be perfect for this vintage look! I stamped it in brown ink and coloured the little butterfly with a pale pink marker. When I glued it on the panel I left a little bit unglued and curled it up a little.

CHALLENGES

This card was inspired by We Love Stamping where Lynn's challenge for May is anything stamped goes with an optional twist of Vintage. I'm also whisking this card over to Allsorts where huge congratulations are in order as the challenge celebrates its 15th birthday this week! There are amazing prizes, so do come and join in :) 

And talking of 15th birthdays, next month will actually be We Love Stamping's 15th birthday too so save the date for a special celebration there too!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The temperatures may have dropped but there's no need to worry about chilly toes in my house...

 

 

... as the built-in foot warmers are working perfectly! Thanks Eva!

Sending hugs,

Frosty stamps

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Isn't it annoying to have craft time and then Mr Mojo disappears without so much as a by-your-leave! I find that an idea usually springs into my mind just as it's time to walk the dogs or cook dinner (and I am certainly not permitted to delay any of those activities!) By the time free time swings around again it's dark and things usually go badly if I craft in artificial light! Anyway, sorry to ramble on... here's a late idea made next day:

First, I made the postage stamps using Waffleflower's Postage Stamp Collage Die and cutting the stamps apart with paper snips. I used the die itself as a stencil to sponge blue inks into the centre of each stamp, going for an ombré look, then added various die cut botanicals which I left white for a frosty look. For the background, I found a 'wooden plank' snippet of designer paper which was trimmed to size and splattered with blue and white inks.

 

When the splatters were dry, the paper was attached to a slimline card base. I arranged the postage stamps onto it and stamped the postmarks from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks set.

 

Finally, I stamped the sentiment - a mix of the Greetery's PreText Sentiments and Stampin' Up's retired Endless Wishes - and added some pearls for berries on one of the stamps.

CHALLENGES

It was Jaydee's sketch at The Paper Players that triggered the idea for this card, so I shall link up there; Retro Rubber gave me the idea for the ombré blues and the stamps I've used are Pretty Postmarks 2019, PreText sentiments 2021 and Endless Wishes 2017; I'm also joining in at The Sisterhood of Crafters where Winter Blues is the theme; and last but not least I'm playing at Four Seasons where Anything Goes Winter and there's a lovely wintery mood board.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's now been nearly four months since Lulu came into our family and she has done really well. Some of you may be wondering how well Eva is doing - has she accepted the interloper? The answer is a resounding yes. I've been very careful not to focus too much on either dog in the presence of the other one because I wanted them to develop their own relationship, and this has worked well. They play beautifully together, taking it in turns to be the 'predator' and the 'prey'. They are incredibly tolerant of each other around food, and Eva, who is not a dog that cuddles with other dogs, will allow Lulu to sleep touching her. Lulu is much younger and full of life which has resulted in Eva losing a bit of weight and becoming much more active - bonus! But it IS quite tiring keeping up with the youngster...

 

and a warm, cosy sofa is very welcome at the end of a busy day. Sleep well sweet Eva!

Sending hugs,

Stamping stamps!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Back in the summer, I was so busy I had no time to craft and even less time to blog! I did, however,  find time to buy the Waffleflower Postage Stamp Collage die which made my heart beat faster on its release! Of course I only took it out of its wrapper in December (can anyone relate?!) and it has not disappointed. I had so much fun making this card and I think it might have been my favourite of the year!

 

There are stencils you can get to go with this die but I just used the die itself as a stencil, sponging blue ink into the stamp shapes, and it worked perfectly well! Then came the fun bit: I used a couple of new-to-me Greetery sets (Pretty Postmarks and Pine Blossom) to design my own postage stamps, adding script and other images for a collage effect. The Christmas Blessings sentiment came from Uniko's Peace on Earth set.

 

American frame dies are made for US A2 cards, but I usually just trim a bit of the height of my cards to make them work. On this occasion, I had a little lightbulb moment! I remembered a retired Stampin' Up set (Butterfly Basics) that had an airmail pattern stamp on it, and stamped it in red as a frame around three sides of the card base.

 

 

I was really pleased with that final touch - and isn't it amazing how many stamps and dies from different eras and different companies work perfectly together!

CHALLENGES

The die set and two of the stamp sets are Never Before Used Schtuff, so naturally I will zoom over to Darnell's NBUS challenge to share. PS. I'm very proud to have a card from last month showcased there! I'm also joining in with Stamping Sensations where we are asked to use Favourite Colours - I love all colour but this is a favourite Christmas combination; We Love Stamping has a Winter Flowers and/or Foliage theme so I'm also linking up there.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've always loved hearing the sound of the letter box before Christmas! There are always some exciting cards to open or parcels containing gifts that need to be wrapped. After a few unhappy incidents when Eva was a puppy and chewed up the post, I taught her to gather up the mail and bring it to me. She was rewarded handsomely for this and has been a keen helper ever since. But his year, we've had another pup in the house of course! Eva wasn't prepared to give up her task but Lulu watched carefully and then decided her job would be to give a wuff to alert everyone to the fact the post has arrived. Oh dear, this is NOT something I feel should be rewarded! I have a long list of training that will begin in the new year!

Sending hugs,