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,

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,

When Christmas is a challenge

Hello, crafting friends!

I have two more cards to share with you before I sink into holiday relaxation mode!

CHRISTMAS ON THE MOVE

A friend of mine moved house this month. Can you even begin to imagine how stressful that must have been at this time?! After many ups and downs, she is finally going to be spending Christmas in her new home and I felt her Christmas card should reflect the move. This is what I came up with:

I adore stamp sets that feature houses, furniture or room sets, and New Home by WPlus9 ticked some of those boxes for me! I used the plank stamp to create a clapperboard background panel which I coloured with alcohol markers. The door was stamped, 'painted' blue, fussy cut and attached to the panel.

Then came the fun bit, adding the little details. There's a wreath for the door, and some pretty topiary which I planted in these nice modern pots. The sentiment is from Uniko's Background Builders Christmas and is so useful when you need something to stretch across a landscape card!

GRIEVING AT CHRISTMAS

I had news the other day that reminded me that not everyone is looking forward to a jolly Christmas and that bright glittery cards are not always appropriate. It prompted me to make this card.

I started by masking off the edges of a thick card base, then masking off the bottom with a torn piece of scrap paper. The area that was left was sponged with grey and pink inks to create a cloudy sky, then stamped with fir trees from Stampin' Up's Waterfront and Inkylicious' Spruce Trees. The torn paper was removed and I sponged in a bit of shading to the 'snow' in the foreground.

This sentiment is from a long ago retired Stampin' Up set called White Christmas which I felt expressed what I wanted to say. I doodled in a few birds to add some movement to the card and used my Posca white paint pen to add some subtle snow over the trees.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank you for all your company this year. I have been so grateful for my crafting hobby and for the friendship of my fellow crafters :) Eva and I wish you a very happy Christmas and hope for a brighter new year.

Sending warm Christmas wishes,

Summer colours for winter

Hello, crafting friends!

Today's card is the result of it being summer, with all its bright colours and tropical vibes, mixed in with the fact that it's the 25th of the month and so a Christmas card is required! Come and see:

I've used one of the trees from Spruce Trees by Inkylicious combined with a beautiful sentiment from Be Merry by WPlus9.

I started with the sentiment, stamping the 'Christmas Wishes' in red ink directly onto a nice thick card base, then adding the banner in black using my stamping platform. I made a mask byy stamping the banner again onto a sticky note, cutting the top of the banner shape out and positioning the mask over the original.

Then it was time to stamp the trees in their lovely bright colours! I chose Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay, all from Stampin' Up. Once the mask was peeled away, I added some coloured gems and voila! What an quick and easy card this turned out to be :)

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD
Delighted to get a shout out from Stephanie and Lauren at Jingle Belles! 

CHALLENGES
I was fascinated by the inspiration photo at Jingle Belles, so I'm joining in there. I was inspired by the bright colours and the bottle brush trees. Less is More has a One Layer Card Christmas in July challenge, so I'm also playing along there. And finally, it's Rudolph Day over at Scrappy Mo's, so I shall link up over there too. Happy Rudolph Day!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I've taken my youngest son back to his new house where he can settle in and be ready for when his university opens up again in September. He gave me a lovely hug when I left him and patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry!" he said bracingly. "I'll be back at Christmas, The 'Rona permitting!" Needless to say, I felt quite tearful on the way home!

There's always crafting therapy though and my adorable assistant...

... pass the glue Eva!

Hugs,

Presents under the tree

Hello crafting pals!

It's cold and grey and damp in the heart of England today - perfect weather for Christmas cards making! Come and see:

This one is all about the gifts! The card was started by stamping one of the trees from Spruce Trees by Inkylicious. I used Shaded Spruce ink appropriately enough! The tree was trimmed by making dots with a Cherry Cobbler marker and adding detail with a white gel pen.

Next came a strip of Crumb Cake card stock to make my floor. And then I wanted to pile up some presents onto that. I remembered a very old wooden Stampin' Up set I used to have called Wishing You, disappeared into the back of the cupboard to retrieve it, and yes...

... this is the stamp I was looking for! I inked it up using markers and stamped it several times in different colours, cut each present out and made a nice pile of them under the tree.

Finally, I finished with this charming sentiment. I'd forgotten that was part of the set!

The thing that sparked this card was the always-inspiring Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where the challenge this month is It's A Gift. I'll be linking up there.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It was Eva's birthday yesterday and she is officially 5 years old. I can't believe how time has flown by, I honestly can't. We kept the celebrations low key but she did have an extra long walk with her favourite elements (the opportunity to get completely filthy and a river to rinse off in!) and she had some mackerel (which she loves) for her tea and of course plenty of cuddles! Happy birthday my lovely girl :)

Lovely to see you hear today! I'll be back soon with more craftiness ;)

Hugs,