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,

The Masked Poinsettia

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's an Addicted to CAS kind of Saturday today and I invite you to come and contemplate the new Code Word at the challenge, dreamed up this time by Sue:

 

One of my favourite techniques is masking so I didn't hesitate! I brought out a Christmas set by Reverse Confetti* which has yet to come out of its packaging :)

 

I started by stamping the poinsettia from the set onto a nice thick card base using dark red ink. To make a mask, I stamped it again onto a sticky note, fussy cut it and stuck it over the original. Next, I stamped the leaves and berries in green ink and removed the mask. I loved the graphic look of the uncoloured leaves and the poinsettia, so I just coloured the berries using a light red water-based marker to avoid any bleed through the card front, and the centre of the poinsettia with a yellow marker.

 

The sentiment was a mix of 'with love at' from The Greetery's PreText Sentiments and 'Christmas' from Endless Wishes, an old Stampin' Up set. The card was finished with some 'shine' on the berries using a white acrylic paint pen.

Okay, now it's your turn to interpret the Code Word! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to check out the inspiring cards my team mates have made. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to link your own creation up with us. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Little Red Wagon where the challenge is No Snow Christmas; also Addicted to Stamps and More where the Any Occasion challenge has come round again; I'm also playing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where we share our Never Before Used Schtuff. 

 

*Attention all you UK bargain hunters: You can find Reverse Confetti stamp sets and dies at Seven Hills Crafts at half price, and there's an amazing Sale section and Bargain Basement there too! You're welcome!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The title of this post made me giggle as I thought of a mysterious poinsettia tiptoeing about in the dark! And that reminded me of a night long, long ago when I lived in London and shared a house with my sister. We were both woken in the small hours by a loud crash. There was a long pause and then my sister and I converged on the landing, white-faced in our dressing gowns. We tiptoed silently down the stairs clutching each other. Nothing. We made our way towards the glass door leading into the kitchen - and that's when we saw a movement inside the room! We both screamed loudly, wrenched the front door open, and were halfway up the street when it dawned on us that the movement we'd seen was our own reflexion in the glass door. On returning to the kitchen, it turned out that we had hung a heavy pan up on a hook that was loose, and it had given way, falling onto the tiles below. We had to have a soothing cup of milky hot chocolate before going back to bed I can tell you!

Sending hugs,

The winter blues

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Having looked at the weather forecast for the next few days, and seeing the temperatures plummet, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a bit of a snow flurry. And that thought leads to a selection of blue inks and today's card:

 

 

I wanted to give the impression of bitter winds and snow driftying, so I stenciled what I think is supposed to be ocean waves from Funky Fossil's Scenic Borders stencil. It does add quite a bit of movement to the card I think!  The snowflakes are from Endless Wishes, a long-ago retired Stampin' Up set. Sitting next to it on the shelf was another ancient Stampin' Up set called Holiday Home, and I used two tiny stamps from it to add to my pattern.

 

The sentiment is from the Endless Wishes set, stamped in a dark navy blue, and I added a couple of gems for added sparkle.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the challenge at Allsorts this week which is Anything Goes with optional Winter Blues; I'm also joining in with the Anything Christmas Goes theme at ABC Christmas; and Retro Rubber where the theme is Winter Scenes using stamps over a year old - the sets I used were released in 2013 and 2014.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's lovely walking in the sunny, frosty countryside with NO MUD - hurrah! It's a bit chilly but there's always plenty of playtime indoors as well :)

 

This young gentleman has settled in nicely. Dogs never expose their tummies unless they feel very safe and relaxed!

Sending hugs,

Sparkle berries

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Thursday of Tic Tac Toe fun! Elizabeth has come up with a wonderful board to inspire you this week:

 

Lots of options there - especially if, like me, you are frantically trying to get a whole stash of festive cards made! I've chosen the middle column Red/Sparkle/Hollyy to create this one.

 

I started by trimming a card panel so that it was slightly smaller than my card base, then cutting the centre out with a decorative stitched label die and replacing it to create a stitched frame. The pine branch from Uniko's Winter Foliage stamp set was stamped directly onto the panel and I added holly from the same set, stamped and cut out.

 

The sentiment is put together from different sets from The Greetery and from Stampin' Up and I stamped it in a dark red and a pink for an illusion of dimension. The berries were the final addition, cut out of lovely, sparkly, bright red paper using two sizes of circle punch.

So now it's your turn! Which column or row will you choose? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to check out the fab samples Team X has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I thought I'd pop a second entry in at Allsorts where they team is celebrating the 700th challenge with the theme Let's Celebrate Any Special Occasion! I'm also linking up at Peace on Earth where they always have such inspiring mood boards; I'm also joining in with Merry Little Christmas and The Holly and the Ivy where Anything Christmas Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Well halloween is over thank goodness and hopefully all the horrible decorations will be cleared away soon! My fluffy girl had a bit of a scare on one of our river walks. Back in the summer, a group of lads were cooling of with a swim in the river and one of them left his t shirt behind. Someone hung it on the fence so that they'd see it if they returned and it's been there ever since. Every time we come near it, I notice Eva's body language stiffening and I'm sure she thinks it's a person...

 

 

only a weird person that isn't moving like a real person - aaaargh!  She always relaxes when we come closer and she realises it's just a shirt hanging on the fence!

Sending hugs,

A trio of poinsettias

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Look! I've crawled back out of the woodwork just in time to play making Christmas cards on the 25th of the month! And no, you haven't got your dates wrong, I'm posting this the day after I made it :)

This card was totally inspired by my brilliant Tic Tac Toe challenge team mate Joanne James. She is SO good at coming up with sketches - she rustled this one up for her Paper Players design team and I was hooked at once! The idea is to create three overlapping shapes and add a vertical sentiment (see the sketch below, under the 'challenges' heading.) I recently acquired the Season's Blessings stamp set in the recent Stampin' Up sale and thought the gorgeous stylised poinsettias would work well with this sketch.

 

I stamped two onto a card panel and the third on a scrap of card stock, which I fussy cut. Gold embossed centres were added to the poinsettias. After putting together a sentiment with black ink and more gold embossing, I trimmed the panel to size with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle. To assemble the card, I matted the panel onto a slightly larger red panel. The fussy cut poinsettia was popped up on dimensional pads and I added a sprinkling of green sequins to make the red sing.

CHALLENGES

I am playing along at The Paper Players as I mentioned before; I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Christmas where the theme is Anything Goes with Optional Glitter; and last but not least, I'm joining in at the Rudolph Day challenge where the idea is to make a card on the 25th of each month (you have until the end of the month to link up.)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva and her chums are loving this warm weather and being able to lounge about outside. 

It's a shame this little jutting out flower bed has become a short cut for everyone but it has lots of tough little plants in it and should recover by the summer! I would put a 'do not walk on the flower bed' sign up but some bright spark would only cock his leg against it!

Sending hugs,

Merry and bright... colours

Hello crafting pals!

On the 25th of each month it's Rudolph Day, a chance to make a Christmas card for your 2020 stash. I'm a big fan of this as it's very cheering towards the end of the year to be able to start sending even while you're making. Some organised folk even make their whole stash early (no, you're right, never me!) Anyway, I'm only two days late for this month... but come and see:

I'm still all about the bright colours, so I started with a wash of blue ink on dampened watercolour paper. Once that had dried, I stencilled fir trees over it with yellow and green inks using the negative space of a tree from the Tim Holtz Woodlands die set.

To create a strong horizontal, I ran two strips of double-sided tape along the card, peeled off the backing strips and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I also gold embossed a label from an ancient retired Stampin' Up set called Winter Post, fussy cut it and glued it over the strips. The tag in the centre was stamped with a sentiment from another retired Stampin' Up set, Endless Wishes.

To bring all the elements together, I used some diluted pearlised white acrylic paint to create a snowy foreground and dots of snow in the sky, and added a sprinkling of gold jewels. Finally, I die cut the panel with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die and attached it to a card base.

CHALLENGES
I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch for this card; I'm also joining in with Jingle Belles' Bling on the Holidays challenge and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's Embossing/Dig in your Stash challenge. And not forgetting the Rudolph Day Challenge of course!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
We have a blackbird fledgling in our garden! This is a really tricky time for them as they spend a lot of time rustling about in the backs of the borders and hopping about on the lawn, but are still being fed by the parents, can't fly properly and are pretty helpless. I have to watch Eva like a hawk as fluttery rustlings are a red rag for her but, on the plus side, she keeps cats out of the garden.

Not the best photo ever, but can you spot the fledgling? He doesn't look like a blackbird yet - has no tail and is a bit speckled.

Hope you are staying safe and well.

Hugs,

A farmhouse Christmas

Hello crafting friends!

I'm thrilled to bits to be Guest Designing at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown today! YAY! *pops champagne corks, blows party hooter*

This weekly challenge is here to inspire you to create four Christmas cards a month for the whole year. Just think... no last minute panic! It really flexes your creative muscles too - which leads me on to today's challenge:

Make a festive card using the colours White, Yellow and Brown. Well, I've got to be honest, this colour combination didn't exactly yell Christmas at me but I had a little think and this is what I came up with:

It's a Christmas card with a farmhouse feel! The bottom of my panel was stamped with Kaiserkraft's Gingham using Stampin' Up's Early Espresso ink, a lovely dark brown. I shaded where the candle would be with a pale yellow pencil to give a nice glowing effect.

The candle image is an old one from Alota Stamps, which is sadly no longer trading now. I stamped it with Crumb Cake ink, then coloured it with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers in shades of yellow and brown, before fussy cutting it and popping it up on dimensionals. The fir branches were given the Wink of Stella treatment to add a bit of festive sparkle.

When I came to the candle, I coloured the whole lot in a pale yellow, then used a clear blender pen to 'lift' the colour from the wax.  I love the effect this creates - look! here's another version in blue :)

To finish the card, I added a sentiment from Endless Wishes (retired) by Stampin' Up, then mounted the panel onto deep yellow card stock before attaching it to the card base. And for the final touch, a sprinkling of gems, coloured with a dark yellow alcohol pen before attaching to the card.

CHALLENGES

I shall also link this card up with Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where it's Anything Goes (with the optional extra theme Trim the Tree.)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Driving home at around dusk yesterday evening, I was amazed by the full moon - one of those huge orange ones. And when I got out of the car, I saw that on the opposite side of the sky, there was a bright star that looked actually star-shaped.

Did you see it?  Now, if I was the kind of person that believed in these kind of things, I'd predict that something pretty special was going to happen!

Hugs,

Sledging through the snow!

Hello crafting friends!

Wow! The sunrises are just gorgeous at the moment - glorious pink skies streaked with grey blue! I can't do justice to that but there is at least a hint of it in today's card, where some lively children are taking advantage of the icy conditions to get a sledge out! Come and see:

To make the background, I scribbled lines of watercolour crayons across a trimmed card panel and used a paintbrush and water to merge them into a wash with a strong horizontal line. While this was still wet, I stamped the pine trees from Stampin' Up's Waterfront, using grey ink stamped off once.

Once the background was dry, I stamped the children from Welcome Christmas (retired) in Memento black ink and matted the panel onto black card stock.

To finish the card, I used a Wink of Stella pen to create glittery details (hard to see in the photos!), added a greeting from Endless Wishes (retired) and then mounted the panel onto the card base.

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, which is running a watercolour challenge. Also, the Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge has an optional Christmas theme, so I shall play along there too. Finally, I used the wonderful sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments and am so happy to be joining in there for the first (but not last) time :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It's the first time I've brought Welcome Christmas out this year and it made me smile. As well as a pretty wreath, a couple of sentiments and the lovely sledging image I used today, it features this interesting stamp:

My daughter once looked at it and said thoughtfully: "Hmm, yes. Nothing says Christmas like a man throwing his child at the Christmas tree!" I've never been able to unsee that!

Now, if you didn't have any responsibilities, do you think you'd be up at sunrise to take a sledge out in the ice and snow? I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts about this!

Hugs,

One layer of Purple Snow

Hello crafting pals!

You know when you're thinking up ideas for a card and a song comes on the radio and all becomes clear? Well no, not usually me either... but today, I give you Purple Snow by Prince! Come and see:

I love these folksy little snowflakes from Stampin' Up's Endless Wishes (retired) and it's always fun to stamp a snowflake in unexpected colours! Thanks to His Royal Purpleness, I've pulled out Highland Heather ink today as well as Mint Macaron and Balmy Blue!

This is a one layer card so I stamped the snowflakes directly onto the card base. I spent a little time embellishing with silver Liquid Pearls before adding an appropriate sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks Christmas.

CHALLENGES
I'd been wondering what to do with Less is More's Pick a Triangle challenge this fortnight and the snowflakes lent themselves happily to the top triangle in this sketch.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
There's no sign of snow around here. It's been so wet that the fields by the river have been flooded and the farmer has had to move the sheep to higher ground. I bet he's not happy about that but at least a certain floofy someone is enjoying the watery new world!

Eva has discovered a beautiful Golden Retriever living at the bottom of the water but she just can't get her to play!

Thanks for coming to visit me today. I'll be back soon with more inky fun :)

Hugs,