UNLUCKY FOR SOME .. .. 13

Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good week and not had any problems caused by the awful weather we have been enduring recently.

Can't believe another week has passed since I was last here.  But to be fair this week has been a real manic one and I haven't known if I was coming or going.  Every morning I have woken up and struggled to know what day it was .. .. .. let alone what the date was!!  Thank goodness for "diaries" and "do lists".

The London Kids are coming to stay with us for a few days next weekend so some of today has been spent starting to try and find the spare bedroom for them to sleep in .. .. there is still plenty to do but  I am nearer than I was.  Last time they came to stay they joked and said "why don't you just fix up a big hammock in there" .. .. now that is so tempting!! LOL!!

Anyway, I am here once again with my festive make for this week .. .. at this rate my blog could be re-named "always with a Christmas card" because that is what my blog appears to be showing most at the moment .. .. but never mind .. .. it does make me happy that my Christmas stock box is filling up and I am now on number 13!!  Unlucky for some .. .. but not for me!!

So this little creation is for taking over to Jo's Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme for this fortnight is "moves on hooves"

This used:

Image:  Penny Black "4203K" Snowscape

Sentiment:  Hobby Art "Winter Wishes" (I took the holly from one sentiment and added it to another)

Backing Papers:  out of the Christmas Paper box and sorry I don't know where it came from

Distress Inks added with Duster Brushes

ProMarker for the holly leaves

Tiny pearls

Ribbon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hopefully it won't take me a whole week to be here again!!

FOR THE SERIOUS HEART SEARCHERS

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend .. .. a real mixed bag of weather here but a nice day for crafting.

My card is my festive make for this week and is for taking over to Jo's "Christmas Kickstart Challenge #5" and is one for the serious heart searchers.  Its not quite so easy to spot today .. .. or am I wrong?!!?.

The theme for Jo's challenge this fortnight is "Have a Very Bear-y Christmas" and there are still two days left to enter.  I was running out of time for my make this week so went for a lovely pre-coloured image from Polkadoodles.  

I always feel I am cheating when I use a pre-coloured image but need to stop feeling like that because everything in this collection was of such a high quality that it was a real pleasure to play with.  The backing papers in the set and the sentiments are gorgeous!!  They are so lovely I am going to have to investigate what else is available.  There was no needing to print in "high quality" either .. .. they printed perfectly just on a standard setting.

So this is my offering:

This used:

Image, Sentiment and Backing Paper is all from Polkadoodles "Winne Winterland - Big Kahuna" digital download.  I bought mine whilst it was on offer just after Christmas. 

Crystal Glamour Dust

Memory Box Die "Snowflake Heart" 

Ribbon

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Many thanks for all your lovely comments yesterday regarding the stitching on my cards.  You are all very kind. 

These days no card feels right without some form of stitching on it .. .. and it has even crept into my wedding work now .. .. and is proving to be very popular.  I have just finished a wedding where all the place names, table names and even the table plan was stitched.  I was really pleased with it .. .. as was the bride and her Mum (I never did meet the groom LOL!!).

Anyway, best go and link my card up and put Christmas Card number 12 into my stock box.

So did you find the heart?  I do think there have been harder ones to find!

COLOR THROWDOWN CHALLENGE #533

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!!

So sorry it has been a while since I last posted .. .. what a busy time it has been.

My lovely Sis has been poorly sick which has meant she needed to steer well clear of  Mum .. .. we definitely didn't want any nasty bugs taking up residence with  her!   So as a result I have been trying to do some extra cover on the "TLC for Mum" front which has meant lots of juggling of the work list and late night crafting to keep my head above water!  But I am "just about" back on track again now .. .. and my Sis is better!!  Yay!!!  What a massive difference that extra pair of hands makes!!

Anyway, at last I have a card to share .. .. one of my favourite cards to make .. .. probably because it gives me a lovely "sewing fix" whilst making it, and I also get to use up some of those pesky snippets:

This used:

Backing Papers:  Craft Sensations:  Mysterious Purple
Sentiment:  Computer generated using font "Candy Round"
Die Set:  Die-namics Blueprints 12
Pinking Shears
My Trusty Sewing Machine

I came across a "new challenge to me" a few weeks ago .. .. and like lots of challenges I earmark them and think .. .. I'll try and enter that.  But sadly time quite often doesn't allow it and they expire before I get to take part..

But I have managed it with this one and am entering my card into the Color Throwdown Challenge (which has clearly been in existence for ages as they are on number 533!!!

The generic colours for this week are Gray, Lavender, Purple and Kraft

but as you can tell my camera isn't a very big fan of purple
 .. ..  it makes mine look more like royal blue!!

So that is me for today .. .. have a good day everyone and I will be back with this week's festive make tomorrow!

SNIPPETS & RUDOLPH DAY CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday .. .. I hope you are all making the most of the lovely sunshine .. .. after all who knows how long it will last?  

On Saturday I shared a Christmas card I had made and mentioned at the time that it would be good to make the same card but in different colours .. .. so that is what I did on Sunday and I finally have chance to post them here .. .. 

These used:

Images:  Hero Arts "K5620" and "H5629"

Sentiment:  Penny Black "30316" Season's Gifts

Memento Dew Drop Ink Pads:  Rose Bud, Teal Zeal, Toffee Crunch, Pear Tart & Pistachio (the green card ended up with two colours on it for some reason)

X-Cut Heart Punch

Pearls

My Trusty Sewing Machine

Not sure which colour I like the most.

So I thought I would share my makes in the Rudolph Day Challenge and also in Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge where we are encouraged to use up our leftovers.  I was able to use up some of the white card snippet mountain and a few glitter card snippets so I was well chuffed.

The Rudolph Day Challenge is a great prompt for us to get ahead of our Christmas makes.  You know .. .. those cards we end up making in a last minute panic and flurry come November/December (well I say "we" .. .. but I definitely mean "me").  But this year it is going to be VERY different!!  I am going to be super organised .. .. she says with her fingers tightly crossed!!.

These four cards have bumped my Christmas card total up into double figures .. .. woo hoo!! .. ..  and I now have a grand total of 11 cards sitting waiting in my Christmas stock box.  Not a huge amount I know, but better than I have manged in previous years .. .. and it is still early days!

Anyway . . . off to go and cross some work of that "crafty do list" next.

Catch you soon

THIS WEEK'S FESTIVE MAKE

Hi Everyone

I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend.

Isn't the lovely burst of sunshine we have been treated to a welcome sight?  Well apart from making the windows look a bit like they haven't seen any TLC in a while!!  Eeekkk!

Certainly my brides who got married last week were treated to lovely sunshine on their wedding days.  Who would have thought February weddings could be blessed with such beautiful weather.

Apologies for my quiet blog.  It has been all work and no play this week .. .. but I hadn't made my Christmas make for this week so decided I had better crack on and get one done .. .. and here it is:

This used:

Images:  Hero Arts "K5620" and "H5629"

Sentiment:  Penny Black "30316" Season's Gifts

Memento Dew Drop Ink Pad "Sweet Plum"

X-Cut Heart Punch

Pearls

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I really enjoyed making this card and now want to make it in lots of different colours! But for now this is Christmas Card number 7 into my stock box.

I am hopeful that this week is going to be a bit less pressured and that I will have chance to do a bit more posting.  We shall see!

MAKE CARDS TODAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday .. .. and happy Valentine's Day.

I hope some love will come your way in one form or another today.

It has been a busy wedding week here which has seen me completing lots of venue stationery.  I  have two brides getting married this week.  One tomorrow and another on Saturday so definitely lots of love in the air for those happy couples.  Let's hope there will be some of the wonderful sunshine in the air too that has been making a bit of an appearance this week.

So nothing has been made especially for my blog since the weekend .. .. but what I can share are a few of my makes that went into the current edition of Make Cards Today  magazine which is now on sale.  

There was a bit of a cute bird theme running through the projects I was asked to work on.  The first here was part of a decoupage commission and the others were part of a stamping commission.

Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for me to take Mum for a walk out later.  We are already looking forward to the spring weather appearing as walks out have been rather chilly for her these past few months .. .. .. no matter how many layers we dress her in.  Someone suggested her having a little hot water bottle under her coat so we might have to try that!

To make her smile come meal time I made her a little cottage pie in a heart shaped dish last night.  That can be cooking away whilst we put the world to rights later.

So enjoy your day everyone and I will catch you again soon.

GUEST DESIGNER FOR CHRISTMAS KICKSTART CHALLENGE #4

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday!

Here super bright and early today with a scheduled post .. .. .. and wearing a little elf costume if you will!!

Yes, the lovely Jo, owner of the Christmas Kickstart Challenge, asked me a few weeks ago if I would be a guest designer this fortnight .. .. for the theme "Have a Heart".  Luckily there are quite a few hearts in various guises in my craft pod, so I was more than happy to accept Jo's kind offer.

This is the creation I have put together in the hope of inspiring others to take part:

This used:  Image:  Penny Black "2754H" Xmas Kiss

Sentiment:  Hobby Art Clear Stamp Set "CS059D" Winter Wishes

Backing Papers:  First Edition Papers "All That Glitters"
Poppy Stamps Die Set:  Stitched Market Tag

ProMarkers

Chalk

Ribbon

Pearls

My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it!

If you fancy playing along and adding  to your Christmas Card box nice and early, then head over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and remember to "Have a Heart".

It will make a change for me to me looking for your hearts LOL!!

Jo has also included the option of you using Sketch Number 30 from my collection .. .. which looks like this:

but this isn't compulsory.  It is just an added option.

So there we go.  I hope you get chance to take part .. .. and thank you Jo for asking me to be an Elf for the next fortnight. 

I am so pleased your challenge is proving to be so popular.

Have fun everyone .. .. and in the meantime that is Christmas card number 6 into my stock box!

BLEEDING ART TISSUE TECHNIQUE

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday .. .. I hope your weekend has got off to a good start.

I have a lovely blog friend called Pauline (though as she doesn't have a blog herself I suppose you would call her an "email friend") .. .. but for quite a number of years now we have shared emails.  Not lots .. .. just one special big one in the period between Christmas and New Year.  It is where we discuss things that have happened since our last emails, how our Christmas has been and our hopes and dreams for the coming year.

Pauline enjoys going to workshops and one she was hoping to visit this year will be run by Eileen Godwin.  Not a lady I have come across during my crafty journey (so many fantastic people I still need to discover) .. .. but boy oh boy was I pleased that Pauline had mentioned Eileen and sent me a link to her blog "Eileen's Crafty Zone".  (Thanks again Pauline XXX).

I watched some of Eileen's many You Tube videos and particularly enjoyed one featuring the "Bleeding Art Tissue Technique".

All fired up I was ready to have "just a quick play" and rushed to the craft pod armed with tissue paper .. .. but sadly my tissue paper wasn't the right sort.  Mine was of the "non-bleed" variety so did absolutely nothing .. .. but an internet search found me the right sort and I ordered a pack asap! 

It arrived earlier this week but unfortunately there was no time to play .. .. .. to be honest there was no time today either but I just couldn't wait any longer .. .. and this is what I made:

This used:

Images:  Stampendous! -  "P107" Agapanthus Cluster
A very old wooden script background stamp with no markings
Scrapberrys Stencil "Petals Pattern"
Sentiment:  Hunkydory Die Set "Framed With Love"
Butterfly:  Memory Box Dies "Moonlight Butterfly & Kaleidoscope Butterfly"
Distress Ink:  Bundled Sage
Memento Ink:  London Fog
Crystal Glamour Dust

Bleeding Tissue Paper
Ribbon
My Trusty Sewing Machine

Obviously not as good as Eileen's but for a first play I don't think I did too bad.  Next time I think I need to get things "a little bit less wet" although I do like how some of the colours have mixed together.

I definitely feel lots of play sessions coming on (when the other work allows it) .. .. and my sheets of tissue are certainly going to go a long, long way as you don't use much at all!

This technique is definitely going to be good for using up some of those boxes of white card snippets!!  But I now feel I would like more stencils and silhouette stamps!!  LOL!!

Anyway, that is me for today.

Hopefully I will find time to throw a few snippets together tomorrow.

CHRISTMAS KICKSTART CHALLENGE

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday!

Another week has disappeared super fast .. .. .. and it has been wedding work all the way!  Hence no time to make anything for my blog unfortunately.

But I had better get my Christmas make for this week done smartish .. .. otherwise the week will be gone and a new years resolution will be broken .. .. and we can't have that happening so early into the new year can we?!?!?

So here it is .. .. .. all ready for taking over to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme for this fortnight is "Festive Felines" .. .. ..

This used:

Image:  Digistamp Boutique "Large Christmas Cats" (very sadly no longer trading boo hoo!!!)

Sentiment:  Computer generated using font "Zipty Do"

Distress Inks:  Faded Jeans and Weathered Wood for a watercoloured sky
ProMarkers
White Embossing Powder
Crystal Glamour Dust
Gems
Snowflake stamp with no name .. .. but a favourite that never gets put away.  It has sat on my desk for years being a Christmas present that my Nieces bought me 

and that is it!  Christmas card number 5 into the box. Woo hoo!  I must admit I am really enjoying making Christmas cards in a more relaxed manner.

Hoping to catch you again over the weekend ... have a good one everyone!!

I DON'T ALWAYS SEW STRAIGHT

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all had a good Saturday ahead of hopefully a good Sunday too!

So January is done and dusted in the blink of an eye and we are into February already!  I hope the whole year isn't going to go this fast.

We have been lucky here snow wise so far and have missed out on it completely .. .. though the other day when I went to Mum's I turned a corner and the road and pavements were fine but then a few hundred yards later I was met by snow on the pavements and trees.  How weird .. .. but I guess it has to stop and start somewhere! 

Don't the trees look beautiful all covered in frost!  Even those pesky cobwebs I walk into in the garden suddenly look amazing and make you appreciate just how much hard work they must be to create.

No frost today though .. .. just really cold temperatures .. .. just perfect for staying snuggled indoors and cracking on with some of that wedding work and a quick play with my Oxide Inks to produce this paper pieced creation:

This used::

Image:  Penny Black "3865K" Gossamer
Sentiment: Penny Black "30-297" Sprinkles and Smiles
Backing Papers:  Docrafts - Forever Friends Kraft Notes
Distress Oxide Ink Pad:  Faded Jeans
Distress Ink Pad:  Worn Lipstick
First Edition:  Torn Edge Nesting Dies
Josy Rose:  Nail Heads
Ribbon
Glass seed beads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is it!

All finished and ready for entering into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for February where the theme is "anything goes" as always .. .. but with the optional theme of flowers!

Catch you again soon and stay safe and warm.