You've got vintage mail

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I had some spare time today and sat down to play with some crafty bits and pieces. Have you noticed that the postal theme has become trendy again with Waffleflower selling out of their gorgeous new postal stamp themed stencils, stamp sets and dies in record time? Well I unearthed my Mama Elephant Botanic Envelope die set and my Holiday Foliage dies from Flora and Fauna and this is what I came up with:

 

It's a very vintage style isn't it? I don't know what came over me!! It was great fun to make though :) I made the envelope first, cutting the envelope itself and lots of fir branches and winter leaves and berries out of lots of white snippets. I coloured these with inks and daubers adding 'snow' with a white paint pen and then assembled everything and glued it together.

 

For the background I used Funky Fossil's Postage Frame stencil to create the postage stamp shape on a card base, then the Snow Flurry stencil, also by Funky Fossil, to layer a snowy background over it. I added a little putty coloured ink to the edges of the card before adding Greetery and SU sentiments and popping the envelope up on dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I used heaps of white snippets to make this card - only the base was not a snippet - so will frolic over to the Snippets Playground with my homework; I'm also linking up with Christmas Craft Creations and Double D Challenge where there's a Christmas in July challenge; as well as Peace on Earth where there's a gorgeous mood board but I opted for Anything Goes. I'm just about squeaking in for Rudolph Day too!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Poor Eva has a sore paw with a slightly swollen pad. These are so difficult to treat but the best remedy is rest - and that is not a popular decision as you can imagine. I am protecting the pad with a dressing and taking her for very gentle walks on soft grass but she keeps turning tragic eyes on me which are saying "Why are you not taking me swimming? Why can't I hunt squirrels? Who are you and what have you done with my Mum?!"

Sending hugs,

Bobbin' Robin!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

We're heading towards the end of the month and there were a couple of challenges I've been wanting to join in with. This card covers both bases|!

I started by cutting a card panel with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and sponging lots of blue ink onto it. Funky Fossil's Snow Flurry stencil was positioned over the top and I sponged the same colour blue into it for a soft tone on tone look. I stamped the pine branch from The Greetery's Budding Beauties Winter at the bottom of the panel, adding extra pine needles and doodling in extra branches with a marker.

 

The adorable robins are from an old set from Clearly Besotted. I coloured two of them with coloured pencils, layering up the colours and blending them. I perched one robin on the branch and the other in the air as if he was dive bombing his friend! 

 

 

The sentiment was put together using two sentiments from WPlus9's Silver Bells. Once I'd stamped everything, I mounted the panel onto a slightly bigger green panel and attached it to a card front. I'm excited to see my Christmas card stash growing!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at  We Love Stamping where the challenge is Anything Goes with optional Add a Stencil; and Rudolph Days for the monthly Christmas card challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I realised the other day that although I think of this house as 'the new house', we have lived in it for over twenty years! I had a sudden memory of the boys playing together. The two of them were inseparable when they were little and played all sorts of extraordinarily detailed imaginative games. If they wanted their characters to have something, they drew it on a piece of paper and cut it out with scissors. They didn't bother to colour it in or anything, their imaginations did everything! In case you're feeling sorry for them, they did also have plenty of toys!

Sending hugs,

Double stenciled gift

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS - and our last challenge of the year! Raga is in charge of the code word this time and if you're anything like me and have heaps more festive cards to make, you'll be glad to see the word she has chosen!

 

Just the thing to get a bit of inspiration going!

 

I started by sponging a pale turquoise ink into the arch from Funky Fossil's Arched Window stencil turned on its side. Next, the present from Stampin' Up's retired Holiday Haul was stamped in red ink and covered with a mask made from a sticky note. I added a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Sing It's Christmas in dark brown ink.

 

 

To create the patterned background, I replaced the Arched Window stencil and added Funky Fossil's Snow Flurry stencil over the top and sponged the same turquoise ink into that. When I removed both stencils and the mask over the gift, I was left with a pattern that looks as if it's behind the present and the sentiment :) I added a gem to make the gift look special :)

So now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to  CAS challenge blog to drool over the beautiful samples my teamies have 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. Don't forget we are a clean and simple challenge so we love seeing lots of lovely clear space on cards, but above all have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Are you wondering what's in that gift? Perhaps it's an unusual pair of earrings...

 

... like these, modeled by the handsome Murph!

Sending hugs,

Merry snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've been wanting to join in with the Christmas theme at The Snippets Playground for over a week now. A rummage through my snippets box brought no lightbulb moment but I finally got out the folders containing my offcuts of card instead!

I made a background on the flip side of a ruined card base, using the Snow Flurry stencil from Funky Fossil and some dark purple ink. Then I set to work cutting snowflakes with my favourite Dies by Chloe snowflake dies. These are great because you really can use tiny little snippets! I cut some stars out of the fragments too using the retired Twinkle punch from Stampin' Up.

 

The panel was cut out using one of The Greetery's Nordic Frame dies. I cut a smaller panel out of the panel with the smallest Nordic Frame die then inlaid it again for a bulk free look. Once the panel was attached to a card base, I topped the inlay with a bold sentiment from The Greetery's Snowflake Soirée, stamped in versamark, heat embossed in silver and fussy cut. And then it was just a matter of arranging the die snowflakes and stars over the stenciled background and adding a few silver accents with silver liquid pearls.

CHALLENGES

So I'm finally turning up at the Snippets Playground with my homework (Sorry I'm late Miss Sarn!); The challenge chosen by Lynda at ABC Christmas is N is for New, O is for Old. I've gone for old stash - the newest thing on my card is the Nordic Frame dies which were released 2 or 3 years ago now; At Sparkles Christmas, Helen is challenging us to use the Sentiment as the main Focus so I'm linking up there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It hasn't rained for ages here, so instead of lush green grass we have hay, and there's certainly not a snowflake to be seen...

 

 ... unless you count my very own Special Snowflake of course!

Sending hugs,

Special snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

I made this card on the 25th of the month when my thoughts turned to other 25ths of the month! It seems impossible to imagine short, dark days and freezing temperatures while it's still warm and sunny outside but they're definitely coming! 

The background was made by masking off parts of a card base, to make an offset panel, and stencilling snowflakes into it with the Snow Flurryy stencil by Funky Fossil. I embellished the flakes with silver Liquid Pearls and left it to dry.

Meanwhile I die cut some snowflakes from dark green-blue card stock as well as a cheery red sentiment. These were arranged on the background and clear gems added to the centres of the snowflakes.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Jingle Belles where they theme is Snow; I'm also joining in at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where it's Anything Goes with optional Non-Traditional;  and I'm playing along with Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes; and Rudolph Day where we must share a Christmas card between 25th and the end of each month.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I enjoyed making a snowy scene but if I'm honest I would love to stave off the first frosts for a little while. The only ice I want to see at the moment is in a glass of G&T!!

Sending hugs