A Winter thank you

Hello, crafting friends,

 

Welcome to a new challenge at The Flower Challenge! For November we'd like to see your floral thank you cards:

I do like to have a little stash of wintery thank you cards ready to send after Christmas. This one uses a new-to-me Altenew set called Hope and features what looks like a camelia - which always seem such magical flowers, blooming like hot house flowers but in the depths of winter!

 

The layered camelia and leaves were inked up with distress oxide inks and fussy cut. I teamed these with winter foliage and berry stencils from The Greetery's Banner and Bough set, stenciling directly onto a thick card front. I added fir branches using the coordinating stamp set, then glued the flower in place. I love how the pink flower really pops against the dark blue greens!

 

To create a frosty look, I used a pale blue-green ink to sponge round the edges of the card front and stamped more fir branches over the top using the same ink. A tiny sentiment from Clearly Besotted finished the card.

 

Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog and check out the amazing designs my team mates have come up with to inspire you! You can enter your own card from there using the blue Linky button at the bottom of that post. We're looking forward to seeing what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up over at Allsorts' Magic of the Season challenge. Brenda, who organises this long-running challenge, has just announced some changes to the format and is looking for new design team members. Do hop over and check out the details HERE.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Firework season has descended upon us again. Pretty sparkly stars bursting in the sky are lovely and often don't come with loud noises - and of course you can draw blinds and curtains if your pets are averse; but can someone please explain to me why people are attracted to what sounds like the noises of war complete with exploding bombs, and gunfire? Also, why do these seem to get louder every year? Poor Eva had a tough time of it on Saturday but Lulu, who is very sensitive to voices or the sound of cars outside, was quite calm through the explosions. She didn't like seeing Eva so frantic though. There were more fireworks yesterday too and this will go on for another couple of weeks until we can finally relax until new year. 

 

Sending hugs,

Let the bells ring out!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I have returned to the land of the vaguely up and running just in time to join in with Christmas in July!

 

At the beginning of the year, I won a bumper prize at one of my favourite challenges The Snippets Playground which included an un-named Crafters Companion stamp set with ringing bells on it. That caught my eye and I had a little play with it today.

 

The stamp was quite small but I stamped it twice at the top of a 4" square card so that it could be the main feature of a CAS one layer card. I used pale brown ink to stamp the image and then coloured the bells with oil-based coloured pencils, including a metallic set for a lovely shine. The fade-out background was added with a brush and pale blue-grey waterbased ink and a brush and I added a bit of more intense colour at the top with a sponge.

 

Using a white acrylic paint pen, details were added to the bells and 'snow' to the background. The card was finished with a curvy sentiment which I thought went well with the ringing bells.

 

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Stamping Sensations where stamping is required and the optional theme is Christmas in July; The Daring Cardmakers also have a Christmas in July challenge with the option to use Christmas supplies to make a non-festive card; Peace on Earth which has a lovely mood board from which I chose my colours; and last but not least, I'm linking up with Rudolph Days which has us making festive cards on the 25th of each month (link up runs until the end of the month.)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here in the UK, we've all been yearning for a bit of sunshine as we has have an appalling grey summer so far, after a miserable wet winter. And now a heatwave has descended upon us! Lulu has embraced the paddling pool but has no notion of lying peacefully in it to cool off! It's hunting practice for her - and she likes to chase balls in there and murder them.

 

 

Here she is, my little huntress, swaggering out of the pool, leaving a trail of ball corpses in her wake!

Sending hugs,

Joy to the weary world

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Thanks to everyone, the regulars and the sometimes visitors who have played at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge this year. This week's challenge will be the last one before we retire for a break, and who better to present the board than Felicita, the lady who dreamed up this fun challenge!

 

 

If (like me) you are still scrambling to make a few extra cards, this board is sure to give you some ideas! I chose the top row December Holiday/Winter Foliage/Red or Green:

A gorgeous paper from Simple Stories and a large die cut sentiment from Reverse Confetti were the beginning of this card. I trimmed the paper, layered it onto red card and glued it to the front of an A6 card front, leaving a white frame round the edges.

 

 

The die cut sentiment was left white to pop against the paper. I glued it to the paper, tucking some wintery sprigs around it to bring it to life. An additional sentiment from The Greetery's Banner and Boughs added some curvy interest, along with some pearls.

My team mates have some gorgeous inspiration for you, so do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to admire those. And then it's your turn! Choose a row, column or diagonal and make a card using the ideas in the boxes. You can use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post to share your card with us. We can't wait to see what you come up!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at The Four Seasons challenge where Anything Winter Goes, and where there is a lovely wintery mood board.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The halcyon days of summer are a distant memory, and it's hard to remember a time when the dogs and I haven't been coated with mud. It's beginning to get me down a bit. The silver lining is that Lulu, who fought like a lion when I introduced the concept of a bath to her, now hops in happily and seems to enjoy the spa treatment. All that practice!

 

 

Here she is on a rare sunny (but still muddy!) day last week, my little huntress, eyeing up a cheeky squirrel. And look - she pointing like a real hunting dog!

 

You may be wondering where Eva is. She is just out of shot. It's quite hard to get a photo of them together at this stage of a walk as Eva, at 9 years old, trots about and spends a lot of time sniffing in the hedgerows, whereas Lulu gallops about like a total loon and does everything at 100 miles an hour!

 

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,

Decorated pine

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Where do you store your Christmas cards that you make throughout the year? I use a box. It has been sadly empty for most of this year but I'm happy to say it's filling up nicely now! 

 

The stamp set I used on this card was from The Greetery's Banner and Bough stamp and stencil set. First I stamped two flowers in pink and covered them using masks I'd made using sticky notes. Then it was time to stamp the foliage: I used a paler green for the background leaves and a darker green for the pine branches and holly. I also sponged a little blue ink around the edges of the foliage but you can't see it in the photos very well.

The berries were added by hand with a red marker (I find it quicker than stamping them) and given 'shine' with a white acrylic paint pen and detail with a black fineliner. The sentiment is a favourite from WPlus9, stamped in two colours. Once that was done, I stamped the larger flower on a snippet of card, fussy cut it and popped it up on a dimensional pad. The final touch was a little 'snow' added with the paint marker.

CHALLENGES

I see that the Christmas challenge has come round at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'll link up there; I also used Jen's gorgeous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches; I'm also joining in with the Anything Goes option at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge; Jingle Belles are asking for Christmas cards featuring pine trees or branches so I'm also playing along there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I remember the days when my OH went away and would return with some elegant chocolates or some other delicate little fancy. He was away in the north east this weekend and returned with a gift...

 

 

... a large smoked haddock from the North Shields Fish Quay! And what's more, I'm delighted!!

Sending hugs,

Framed festive florals

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Sometimes I invest in additions to my stash which I tell myself will be brilliant because I can use them in all sorts of different ways. And then I don't have time to try all the ideas I was excited about. Does that sound familiar to you?

 

For example, I was so excited about The Greetery's Banner & Bough stencil and stamp set but although I used it to make a whole batch of cards in the way they were designed to be used (check out the cards I made with it here) I just never got round to a proper play with it. Until today!

 

Choosing a slimline card base, I started with a large bold sentiment from WPlus9's Be Merry, then stamped three of the wax flowers from Banner & Bough. I measured up and drew a frame around this using a ruler and a black fineliner pen, then added stenciled foliage with coloured pencils in three different shades of green.

 

I added to the foliage and flowers with stamped pine branches and berries, also from Banner & Bough. To finish the card I added black stalks and white highlights to the berries and coloured the flower centres and the word 'merry' with a gold pencil.

 

CHALLENGES

I was intrigued by Less is More's challenge to include a hand drawn frame on a one layer card and this is the result; Peace on Earth have a lovely inspiring mood board and I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where Anything Christmas Goes with the optional theme of Frame; Also, since this is quite the sentiment, I'll enter again at Allsorts challenge where Pauline's theme is Add a Sentiment.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My head might be full of Christmas but there is no doubt that the autumn season is in full swing.

 

Here's my fluffy young lady enjoying a leafy lane. It would have been great as a video as leaves were gently fluttering to the ground as I was taking the shot.

Sending hugs,

Joy to the world at Easter

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe challenge kind of a day today and I hope you'll be inspired to come and join in with us! Joanne has gathered some versatile elements together on her board this week:

You could make any kind of card with these ideas! I've had Easter on my mind and thought the right hand column would be a good start. Here's what I came up with:

I started by making a stenciled background on a white card panel. I sponged yellow ink through Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil, and added green ink to the bottom of the panel through the grass section of Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. The panel was cut out with one of The Greetery's Nordic Frame dies and I trimmed a vertical section out of it to make it fit my A6 card before glueing the two sections together onto a card base.

The join was covered with a cross which I put together with pieces cut out of a plank DSP by Stamping Up. The palm leaves and flowers are from Stampin' Up's Wrapped Flowers dies.

 

I have Easter sentiment stamps but I wanted something joyous to go with my cross image. In the end I pulled out The Greetery's Banner and Bough Christmas stamp and stencil set, stenciled a banner with blue ink and stamped the 'Joy to the world, the lord has come' sentiment leaving out the word 'come' and adding in the word 'risen' with a black fineliner. It's not exactly seamless but it works if you don't look TOO closely I think!

So now it's your turn to get creative! Which column or row will you choose? Or will you go for a diagonal? Do  hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the amazing samples made by my teamies and, when you're ready, yyou'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your card with us. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with The Snippets Playground - the flowers, leaves, cross and banner are all snippets; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where anything goes - there's LOADS of stenciling on this card; and also Happy Little Stampers Die challenge where anything goes - the frame and the flowers and leaves are die cut.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It really IS true that British people talk about the weather all the time, but that is because the British weather is totally unpredictable and is always doing something crazy. At the moment for example, Spring has arrived ludicrously early when we were expecting winter to carry on for at least another month! Some people are wearing shorts and sleeveless tops (that's me - it's hot when you're walking dogs!!) and others are still bundled up in winter coats and boots! But almost everyone is smiling and ready to talk about the unusual weather and you've got to love something that brings people together like that :)

Sending hugs and wishing you sunshine,