Walking in a Woodlands Wonderland

Hello, crafting friends!

With all this ice and snow around it seemed a good idea to make a Christmas card! Any Christmas cards made now mean less rushing about at the end of the year and that makes sense to me :)

To start, I tipped the contents of my snippets box out onto the table and picked out some items I'd made for other projects but not used - a deer (from Stampin' Up's retired Winter Post) that was stamped and fussy cut; the number 25 (from Stampin' Up's retired 25 Days) that was in a star shape but I cut it out with a circle punch; a couple of tiny snippets of designer paper; and some die cut snowflakes (which I later put back as I decided to stamp my flakes instead.

Before arranging my elements on the card, I stencilled in a background. I held a homemade rectangle stencil off centre and sponged in sky/snow with Tumbled Glass distress ink. Over that, I held a stencil made with the Tim Holtz Woodlands die set and inked in some fir trees.

Then I was able to build up a collage with the snippets of paper (one of which I scalloped for a bit of interest), the deer and the 25. Finally he sentiment and the snowflakes (both from Funky Fossil's Christmas Characters) were stamped and I added tiny details to the snowflakes and deer with a Posca white paint pen.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So lovely to be show-cased at The Snippets Playground with this card :) It also won a Cut Above at The Paper Players.

CHALLENGES

The starting point for this card was Joanne's exciting sketch at The Paper Players so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in with the Stamplorations Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes using stencils; Such a Deer is the theme at the Christmas Kickstart challenge and of course it's time for the Rudolph Day Challenge too (where anything |Christmas goes from the 25th to the end of the month) so I'll link up there too.  And last but not least, I shall trot over to The Snippets Playground with my snippety make, if my deer doesn't mind giving me a lift!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's been lovely having the snow for Eva to play in and the day of intense blue sky and sunshine really gave my mood a boost too . But snow turns to ice which isn't what you need when recovering from a hamstring injury, especially not when in charge of large excited dogs!! The thaw has set in now - it's drizzling as I type -  and it'll all be gone by tomorrow leaving... oh heck, more mud :/

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,

Oh deer!

Hello crafting friends!

How are you all getting on? I'm on a crafty roll which feels so good - I would much rather have card designs on a loop in my mind than anything Covid-related. Today is the 25th of the month which means it's Rudolph Day, the day lots of us get together (virtually of course!) to make a Christmas card for the 2020 stash. Come and see:

I knew exactly what I was going to do today - use some fabulous die cut Christmas trees that my lovely friend Sarn sent to me to play with! (They're Sissix dies, Woodlands by Tim Holtz and I love them!) I started by taking a card panel, masking off a snowy foreground with a torn sticky note and sponging Weathered Wood distress ink upwards from the horizon so that it faded out nicely. I added snow shadows with a pale blue alcohol marker.

The fir trees are so beautiful and perfect for inlaying, but today I tried two quicker techniques: I used the negative of one of the trees as a stencil and sponged green ink into it, then just sponged the positive of the other tree with the same ink, which showed off all its lovely jigsaw effect. The stag is from Winter Post, a long ago retired Stampin' Up set which I'm so glad I kept. He's stamped onto the snow and I added shading and dapples on his hind quarters.

The panel was cut out with a Heffy Doodles stitched rectangle die and mounted onto a dark red card stock. I finished the card with this gorgeous sentiment from WPlus9's Be Merry and added gems for a bit of festive sparkle.

CHALLENGES
As well as playing along with Rudolph Day, I'm joining in with The Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is Winter Wonderland (create a scene.) I think this is definitely a wonderland as the stag is wondering whether it's going to snow!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
Someone has a very nice tummy!

Hope you're having a peaceful weekend and are staying safe and well.

Hugs,

Different ways to use a stamp

Hello crafting friends!

I have a couple of cards to show you today that use the same stamp in very different ways. One of the cards was a doddle to make and I banged out eight of them in an hour or two while chatting and crafting with a friend...

... The other card took practically a whole day and had me shrieking like a baboon as everything went wrong! Can you guess which is which?

THE FIRST CARD
This started with a greeting made out of some of the words in Stampin' Up's Merry Christmas To All. I arranged 'wishing you a' and 'Christmas' on a single block and stamped it in black ink, while 'Happy' went on a separate block and was stamped in red.

All the gorgeous leaves and branches I used to decorate around the greeting are from Uniko's Winter Foliage. This card was simple and everything went according to plan :)


THE SECOND CARD
I think the problem with this one is that I had only a vague plan for it! I started by masking off the edges of a thick card base. The remaining space was stamped in versamark ink with the snowflake from Stampin' Up's Winter Post (retired), then heat embossed with white embossing powder. The card base warped badly but I saved it by running it through my big shot a few times.

I used the fir branch from the first card to stamp over the embossed snowflakes, left and top, sponging a little extra ink round the edges for definition. The snowflakes were polished off with a tissue. I cut an off-centre square out of a card panel (it turned out to be in the wrong place so I had to do it again.) This was placed over the embossed card base and looked ok so I was encouraged to go on!

I then spent many ages of this world adding things, taking them away, trying a variety of sentiments which all went horribly wrong... until I ended up with this reindeer from the Winter Post set, a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Simply Said, and a little garland made with tiny circles punched out of shiny gold card with a cropadile.


CHALLENGES
As always, I am so grateful for all the wonderful challenge sites out there that inspire us all. I shall link both cards up with The Twofer Challenge, where the theme this month is Holiday Foliage and the foliage I've used in both cards is the fir branch. The second card was made using the beautiful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I shall also link it up with Perfectly CAS where the theme is Christmas; Jingle Belles, where we are taking inspiration from their header; and Festive Friday, where I've chosen Woodland Creatures, Leaves and Gold from the inspiration list.

AND IN OTHER NEWS
We are getting to that time of year where the light levels are shockingly low if it's cloudy, even at nearly midday. Of course that means it's nearly Christmas which brings with it friends and family, glowing fires and decorations, feasting and fun... so it's not all bad!

Are there things that you love about this time of year? Or would you prefer to hibernate until spring like a polar bear? Do let me know in the comments below :)

Hugs,

Get your Christmas skates on!

Hello crafting pals!

Sorry to have been away for a while. I've been struck down by a very nasty lurgy AND his mates! Each time I've picked myself up, those horrible lurgies have given me another bashing and back down I've gone! Now I know what it's like to be a skittle... Anyway, I digress. Come and see what I made today:

I love this pair of skaters. They're from a very old (2009) Stampin' Up set called Winter Post and I love how absorbed in one another they seem to be. Their vintage styling is bang up to date too - and the guy is sporting a trendy moustache! I coloured them with alcohol markers in lovely bright colours so they'd pop against the background.

I've set my skaters twirling on ice made by drawing swirls with a Versamark pen and heat embossing using clear embossing powder. After masking the top half of the panel, I sponged grey and blue inks over the swirls and polished them up with a tissue.

The greeting is from Uniko's Pure Florals Poinsettia and I gave it a touch of sparkle with a couple of gems.

I'll be linking this card up with CAS(E) This Sketch, where the sketches always inspire me; also Addicted to Stamps and More, where the theme is Holiday, and I felt that skating was the perfect winter holiday activity; and last but not least, The CAS Christmas Card Challenge where Warm and Cosy is the theme - those skaters are bundled up in warm scarves and hats and look positively rosy-cheeked with cosiness!!!

AND IN OTHER NEWS
My top tip for a tight chest is to hold a covered hot water bottle to it - this never fails to help me to breathe. I had to rummage at the back of the cupboard to find one and when I did, I had to smile. Hot water bottles were often on the list when the children went on trips at school or with the Scouts and obviously we labelled them with the children's names so that they'd find their way home. The one I'd found was not one of these but it had obviously been labelled by an industrious child who believed that all hot water bottles should be labelled!

If you've been laid low with the lurgy, I send you get well wishes and all my sympathy. But, let's look on the bright side, at least we've got it all out of the way before Christmas!

Hugs,