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,

In the globe

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I couldn't help but notice it was the 25th the day before yesterday, and that brought to mind another month where the 25th is a major celebration! I tried to imagine what it might feel like to be cold and this card was the result:

 

I hadn't used this Snow Globe stencil from Funky Fossil before and I'm already thinking of other scenes I can fill it with! For this one, I taped the snow globe part of the stencil over a card base and covered up the base section. Inside the globe, I stamped one of the houses from an old Stampin' Up set called Holiday Home. This was covered with another house I stamped on a sticky note and cut out. I also cut a little circle out with a circle punch and placed it in the sky area.

 

While the masks were in position, I used a fir from Inkylicious to create a woodland scene around the house and then sponged navy ink into the sky and, with increased pressure at the base of the trees. When the bits of sticky note were removed, a moonlit scene was revealed! I used a navy coloured pencil to colour the house and add detail to the snow and added snow with a Posca acrylic paint pen.

Once that was dry I was able to position the base of the globe and stencil it in. I grounded my globe with a strip of neutral plaid paper that I sponged with the same navy ink. The card was finished with a die cut sentiment from Tonic Studios, a strip of red card and a bakers twine bow.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where the optional theme is Snow Globe; also Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge cycle has come round to Christmas; I'm also joining in with Rudolph Day where we make a Christmas card on the 25th of each month :) I'm also linking up with The Snippets Playground - I used a scrap of plaid DSP and, from my snippets box, a tiny strip of red card, a left-over bow and a sentiment cut from a small off-cut of the same red card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

You know that weird feeling you get sometimes, when you can't shake the feeling that someone is watching you?

And then you turn round and...

Oh. Hello Eva and Lion Fren! :)

Sending hugs,

Goodbye old friend

Hello, crafting friends!

It's time for one of those hard-to-make sympathy cards today. 

I've gone for a one layer card, using masking and sponging techniques to create a sky and ground off the edge of a thick card base. Trees were stamped along the ground line using a little stamp from Stampin' Up's Holiday Home (retired.) The scene was spritzed with water and left to dry. 

A spritzed card will usually warp as it dries but I find a visit to the bottom of a large pile of heavy books sorts that out! I know, I know, it's hard to keep up with my cutting edge technology! The card was finished with stamped birds from Take Flight 2 by Inkylicious, some detailing on the scene with a marker, and a heat-embossed sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with CAS Mix Up where they theme is Off the Edge and they want watercolour to be the main feature. Helen is hosting Watercooler Wednesday's Occasions challenge this week and I'm entering my sympathy card there. I'm also joining in with Stamplorations CAS challenge where I'm sticking with the Anything Goes option.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The card is on its way to the owners of The Baroness who has come to the end of a long and happy life at the grand old age of 16. Regular readers will remember her as one of Eva's pals, a dignified boxer dog.  She stayed with us often and was such a character. She would pretend to be above Eva's fun and games but would often join in despite herself and every now and again she would turn herself over for a tummy rub which always made me laugh. I especially loved collecting her from her house for walks: I would usually find her asleep on the sofa and would sit next to her and gently stroke her head until she woke, took one look at me and leapt up wagging madly with her whole body. I enjoyed watching the dogs running shoulder to shoulder ahead of me on our long country walks, Eva with her fluffy trousers and The Baroness with her smooth black leggings. As she got older and began to lose her sight, The Baroness relied on Eva to show her the way, but they would still sniff the hedgerows together and The Baroness would still kick up her heels and frolic with Eva despite her arthritis. Last winter I started to see a change in our old friend. She started to have seizures and became increasingly frail. She struggled to climb the stairs where she'd always slept alongside Eva at the foot of the bed. I couldn't bear to leave her downstairs on her own, so I would carry her up, and down again in the morning. It was such a privilege to know her and I can say, with absolute certainty, that we were friends.

Sending hugs,

The spooky birds

Hello, crafting friends!

Once, when I was 9 or 10 years old, we had a halloween-themed disco after school. It was the most exciting thing ever! We spent the afternoon decorating the school hall with friezes of witches, ghosts, spiders and other spooky-looking things. Then we went twittering off to the loos to change into our disco outfits and one of the girls had actual eyeshadow!! Giddy huh? But apart from that, I've never celebrated halloween, so I've no idea why today's card turned into a halloween one!

I was looking at these bird stamps, which I found in a tiny craft shop last summer on a trip to London with my daughter. They're from a company called Knorr Prandell which I've never heard of (anyone else?!) I haven't used them yet but thought they'd be perfect for a bird-on-a-wire card.

I started with a card panel, masking off a circle cut with a 1 1/2" circle punch, sponging ink up from one corner of a panel and fading it out. When the mask was removed to reveal a full moon, I stamped the birds over it and used a black fineliner pen to join the branches and add a few more.

It looked so spooky that I realised a halloween sentiment was really the only option ('Thinking of you' or 'Get well soon' would just have been rude!) I found the word halloween in Stampin' Up's Holiday Home stamp set and stamped it repeatedly along a piece of orange cardstock using my stamping platform. Once it was trimmed into a thin strip, I glued it to the bottom of the panel and attached that to a card base with dimensionals.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

Delighted this card was chosen as Diamond Winner at Color My Heart Color Dare!

CHALLENGES

It was AAA Cards' fabulous sketch, and their optional twist of At The Movies, that started me making this card; no prizes for guessing that my movie was The Birds! I chose the colours from the palette 409 at Color My Heart Color Dare - Lagoon, Peacock and Nectarine. I'm also joining in at Allsorts where they want to see at least one circle on our cards. I've never used these bird stamps before so I shall share at NBUS Challenge, the place to show off your Never Before Used Schtuff!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

At Halloween, witches are supposed to commune with their familiars aren't they?

I wonder if this counts...?!!!

Sending hugs,

A prickly new home

Hello, crafting friends!

When a young man moves into his new house, it is important to encourage all the good vibes! My youngest son, who has just moved into a shared house ready to start his second year of university, texted me to let me know he's unpacked his bags and made his bed up, so I thought I'd send a card to celebrate ;)

I think I've mentioned that he is a keen cactus grower. I chose a tiny pot from Waffle Flower's Books and Coffee as well as one from Woodware's Succulents. These were stamped, coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut, ready to place onto the background.

That background was made by sponging ink into one of my favourite Funky Fossil stencils, Funky Circle, and letting it fade towards the edges. I stamped over that with a banner and some hearts from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, and a sentiment from Stampin' Up's Holiday Home.

A sprinkling of bright enamel dots and the card was done! I shall package it up with a treat for him to share with his housemates.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
Delighted this card was one of the picks at Freshly Made Sketches!

CHALLENGES
The lovely citrussy colours at The Color Throwdown are my favourites so I couldn't resist joining in there; I've used Jen Mitchell's great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches so I'll link up there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
No time to chat today because Someone is harumphing...

Apparently it was time to go out like FIVE minutes ago!!!

Hugs,

Birthday star!

Hello crafting friends!

You may have noticed that when I'm not using florals for birthday cards I often bring out the stars. I love the celebratary feel they give.

I started this card with an inked banner that I masked off with sticky notes and blended out to a fade using distress ink. I first saw this on a card made by the talented Jan Clothier and had to borrow the idea - thanks Jan!

I've stamped a bold birthday greeting in Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay ink and I love the look! The sentiment is from MFT's All Occasion Sentiments and I masked off the dot over the 'i' before inking up so that I could replace it with a stamped star - I chose a tiny one from Holiday Home, a long-ago retired SU set.

To continue the star theme, I punched out a couple of different sized stars, popping one up on a dimensional and glueing the other. The card panel was cut out with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodles for a neat finish.

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up at Seize The Birthday, where they want the sentiment to be the focus of a birthday card; also Less is More, where they want to see a contrast between Large and Small on a CAS card; and The Paper Players where I was inspired by this fresh colour scheme :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Do you remember that I left my hat on the train the other day? Well I replaced it with one that was just as comfy - that's nice isn't it? Except that I left it behind at the birthday celebrations on Sunday!!!  I'm making do with an annoying one that doesn't fit properly and is the wrong colour. But hey, one look at the news tells me that I am a very lucky lady and that a hat is not a big deal at all. My heart really goes out to all the people in the world struggling with illness.

Hugs,

Super fast delivery

Hello crafting friends!

I do have enough Christmas cards now but I just can't resist joining in with the challenges! And, as I read today, they'll always come in handy for Christmas 2020! Here's a very quick, one layer card snuck in for the fun of it:

Look - it's Santa! He's not dilly-dallying about either - he's got presents to deliver! In fact, I'm rather hoping one of his parcels might be distress inks for me so that I can get a smoother blend on my backgrounds!

After positioning a circle mask punched out of a sticky note, I sponged some Night of Navy ink gently over the top of the card base. After removing the mask to reveal the moon, I wiped the card with an embossing buddy, stamped the greeting (from Uniko's Pure Florals Poinsettia) with versamark ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. I added 'stars' with a versamark pen and silver-embossed those too before stamping Santa and his reindeer (from Stampin' Up's retired Holiday Home) with Memento black ink.

CHALLENGES
It was AAA Cards that lured me into playing along today with their Along The Edge challenge with optional Time Travel twist. And isn't Santa the original time traveller?!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's no dilly-dallying for me either today! I'm just about to whisk my little dog out for a walk and then it's off to the station to collect my youngest son and there's a whole host of other things to do... Now, if only I had a magic sleigh...!

How are you getting on with your holiday preparations? Are you on top of everything? Or are you having a week-before-Christmas panic? Let me know won't you - and don't forget to breathe!

Hugs,