White Christmas polar bear in a bauble

Hello crafting friends!

It's important to look on the bright side of life isn't it, so I'm going to start this post with saying that the miserable weather here has been SO good for my Christmas card stash! There's snow in today's card although things haven't got quite that chilly in real life yet! Come and see:

Several people have given me gifts of dies and although I was going to hold out until Christmas for a die cutting machine, I crumbled the other weekend and bought a Big Shot Foldaway. It deserves a post all of its own I think so, for now, I'll just say I really, REALLY enjoyed cutting this bauble aperture using a bauble die and a circle die from nesting sets - thanks Gill!

The scene inside the bauble was started by stamping the bear from Stampin' Up's White Christmas (retired) in Smoky Slate ink on a separate piece of white card stock. I coloured in the sky with a couple of pale blue alcohol markers, using a colour lifter to add the suggestion of snow. The trees from Waterfront were added and I added snow to those with a white gel pen. The scene was glued to the back of the bauble aperture.

To finish the card, I used the bauble die again on Smoky Slate card stock, then trimmed it to add a topper to my bauble. A bakers twine bow and a stamped sentiment were added before the card panel was attached to a Soft Sky card base.

The sketch I used for this card is the current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

I shall also link up to CrazyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge where Anything Christmas Goes, with optional For Someone Special theme.

You can enter up to two projects at Sweet Stampin' Christmas, where Anything Christmas Goes, with optional Christmas Decoration theme. This is my second entry there :)

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It's been a hectic weekend here with both my daughter and my eldest son visiting to make sure I was bearing up after my youngest had gone off to university! (They are sweet but, considering he spent most of his time at work or out socialising, I had plenty of time to get used to not seeing him much!) It was so good to see them both but, as always, I realise that we were so busy enjoying ourselves that we forgot to take photos. Note to self: memories are twice as sweet when you can relive them through photos afterwards!

Thanks for joining me today. Judging from all the inspiring challenges that have come out over the weekend, I shall be back VERY soon! How are you getting on with your Christmas card stash? Do let me know in the comments below - I always love hearing what you've been up to :)

Hugs,

Rudolph the sleek black reindeer

Hello crafting friends!

It's time to have a word with myself. Sunshine or no sunshine, if I want to have a lovely big pile of Christmas cards to send out at the end of November, I need to get going! That was my stern voice, so I have gone off meekly and made this:

This card was started by smooshing diliuted Night of Navy and Pool Party inks over a card panel and there is a suggestion of Northern Lights there isn't there! No? Oh, just me and my imagination then! While it was drying, I pulled out a load of my old Stampin' Up Christmas stamps - I had hung on to those in The Great Craft Stash Cull!

Look! I made another fun sentiment combo :) The 'Happy' is actually from a current set - Merry Christmas to All, but the 'Christmas' is from Endless Wishes and all the other stamps I used today are ancient too...

That beautiful reindeer is from Winter Post and the trees are from White Christmas. Love them all! I added some detail to my scene with a Smoky Slate marker on the trees and white craft ink for snow and more of the diluted ink for shadows. The card was finished with a tiny adhesive star that came out of a scrapbooking kit. I would've liked to add a little frost to the trees but I have no glitter or metallic embossing powder... Maybe I'll invest in a Wink of Stella pen! Has anyone else tried one?

So what set me off on this moonlit reindeer scene today? It was the ABC Christmas Challenge! I'm a bit late to this challenge, having arrived when they're at P (for penguin), Q (for quarters) or R (for reindeer), but what I lack in time-keeping, I more than make up for in enthusiasm!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
It's time to drag myself away from reindeer and focus on a pair of pooches who are looking at me with reproachful eyes. My Eva is particularly good at communicating 'I don't want to put myself forward in any way but I have noticed that time is marching on and I've got a bit of a rumbly tummy and USUALLY we'd be in the kitchen now...' with just a pair of melting brown eyes.

Thanks for coming round to see me today. See you soon,

Sheltering Tree and not so White Christmas!

Yesterday I decided to make some quick Bohemian Borders thank you cards, which I was going to show you today, but then oops! This happened instead:

I had a sudden curiosity about mixing the trees from White Christmas with Sheltering Tree and giving them a good old summer vibe!

I propped the bicycle against one of the trees as a nice focal point but it made me giggle - there wouldn't be a chance of me cycling to this idyllic spot as Eva pup would either have hidden from, or eaten the bike, one or the other!

Stamps, inks and sponges is my idea of a happy crafting session :) How about you?

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Sheltering Tree Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.00	White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set £14.00	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00
Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Cucumber Crush Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Stamping Sponges £3.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

This was only supposed to be a snatched 3 minute crafting session but, as I was sponging away, Eva came up and sat in front of me with a look that clearly said: "It's definitely my walkies time - I know it is!" She allowed her gaze to fall on my crafting table. "Of course, I could always find something to chew if you'd rather...!" She is actually usually very good around my crafting things, although we did recently have a difficult moment with a new spool of lace trim which proved too much for her self control!

Now, are you looking for birthday inspiration at all? Because, if you are, the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team has got you covered! We'll all be showing off our birthday ideas tomorrow, using gorgeous new goodies from the annual catalogue - see you then!

One layer snow scene card using White Christmas from Stampin' Up

I have a secret to share with you today! More about that later but first... imagine waking up on Christmas morning, looking out of the window into a snowy scene and seeing a magical reindeer! That's the effect I was going for with White Christmas, one of my favourite Stampin' Up Christmas sets of all time! Come and see:

I love using my Stampin' Up inks to sponge scenes and find Naturals Ivory card stock perfect for this. It's thick enough to make a nice, sturdy one layer card too.

The area was masked off with sticky notes and the scene stamped using Smoky Slate ink. I sponged in a wintery sky and coloured the snowy ground with my Stampin' Chalk marker. That marker is brilliant for detail too - I added snow to the trees with it and the speckles on the deer too.

I thought you might find it handy to see a photo of the masked card before stamping. (Doesn't that sound exciting? The mysterious masked card!)

I'll be linking this card up with 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown which has Christmas Windows as its theme this week; and Less is More, where the challenge is to make a card with More Than One Tree.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Naturals Ivory A4 Card Stock £6.75	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	White Stampin Chalk Marker £3.25	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Are you wondering what my secret might be? Well, regular readers of my blog might remember that we have an imaginary dog in our house - a Golden Retriever named Aramis. He has accompanied us on our family walks and entertained us with his antics but, as my oldest son has often reminded me, it's not the same as having a real dog. We've thought about getting a dog over the last few years. Perhaps a puppy...

... like this adorable little cutie?

Her name is Eva and, tomorrow morning, I'll be bringing her home. Please be gentle with me - I may be a little sleep deprived for a while...!

See you tomorrow,

With Sympathy, with designer paper by Stampin' Up

I use my Stampin' Up stash pretty much every day to celebrate birthdays, new arrivals, weddings, anniveraries, to say thank you or congratulations or good luck... well I think you get the idea with that! But as well as making cards for high days and holidays, it's important to offer support during sad times and that's what today's card is all about. Come and see:

I had a left-over snippet of the wonderful leafy design from the Motley Monsters designer paper pack and I thought those swirling leaves would work well with the trees from White Christmas. I added a touch of colour to the ground with a sponge dauber and filled in the trees with a Crumb Cake marker.

The sentiment is from the Love and Sympathy stamp set and I think it's beautiful both in what it says and in the way it looks.

I'll be linking this card up with the Snippet Playground where it's high time I joined in again - it's conker season for goodness sake!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper £9.95	Early Espresso A4 Card Stock £6.25	Love & Sympathy - Clear-Mount Stamp £10.95
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad ...	Whisper White Note Cards Envelopes £5.50	Crumb Cake Stampin Write Marker £2.95	Sponge Daubers £4.50

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I had this impassioned text from my daughter yesterday: "Maman? How does one Launderette?!" The thing is, I actually don't know as it's been, ahem, several years since I used one! I'm so impressed that she's making the effort actually; I thought all students just brought their washing home!

See you tomorrow with something bright and cheerful!

Going autumnal with White Christmas from Stampin' Up

I knew at once that Stampin' Up's new White Christmas stamp set was going to be one of those sets that would set my imagination going - and it most certainly has! I made my first Christmas card with it on Friday (see it here) and today, I've used the same design to make a card to send right now in the autumn! Come and see:

This time, instead of a snowy scene, I've stamped brown trees, sponged in some grass and added the glowing leaves of autumn with markers.

You may think I've gone all arty on you but these leaves are seriously easy! You simply dab small splodges around the branches with the brush end of a Stampin' Write marker, adding a few dabs underneath to represent falling leaves. Do have a go at this yourself, it's really good fun and you'll be amazed at how leafish those blobs look!

I stamped the sentiment onto a banner and attached it to the scene with a double staple before mounting onto the card base with dimensionals.

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

White Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Naturals White A4 Card Stock £6.75	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95
Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad ...	Brights Stampin' Write Markers £23.95	Whisper White A4 Card Stock £7.50	Handheld Stapler £8.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy your Stampin' Up products any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We've been away in Somerset this weekend, visiting family, and with the gorgeous, warm weather were able to get some good walking in. All those hills always give us a good appetite - well most of us anyway... My husband, having done full justice to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, beans, grilled tomatoes and several slices of toast and a lunch of roast lamb with roast potatoes, piles of vegetables and plenty of gravy, confessed that he wasn't particularly hungry for dinner. He was regarded pityingly by my youngest son. "You really do need to build your appetite up!" he said.

I'll be back tomorrow with more crafty inspiration and perhaps the odd photo of the weekend too! Hope to see you then,