Well, the weather is so lousy it didn't actually feel out of place to be making Christmas cards. It's 2 pm and extremely dark so it is obviously about to pour with rain. To be honest, I'm not too averse to rain now and again. We are quite isolated and are not connected to the mains, so our water supply is from a well. There has been so little rain over the last two years that the water table has dropped quite markedly and we have been having problems. We have always harvested rain water for the garden, but we are now harvesting even more and using it for washing, showering, toilet flushing etc. (Rain water is supposed to be good for the complexion!! Lol!) Poor John had to change the whole system to make sure this water wasn't mixing with our "real" water from the main well. Don't want to contaminate the drinking water! Ah, the joys of living in the country!!
Anyway enough of the waffle! As I said this is my first Christmas card, and it is actually using the very first Christmas stamp I bought about 11 years ago and is by a company called Petulama. I was going through the box of stamps and this poor little thing has been badly neglected. - not seen ink for years! I stamped the image with black pigment ink and heat embossed it with blue pearl embossing powder which gives it a really nice blue shimmer. I then used glossy accents and masses of Diamond Dust on the trees and roofs to give a real snowy effect and matted it on navy cardstock. This was then matted onto card embossed with the Cuttlebug Ice Crystals embossing folder. The navy ribbon actually has white flowers printed on it but they look a bit like snowflakes. I also coated the Marianne snowflakes with glossy acents but used a crystal ultrafine glitter. Neither of these show up very well on the picture, but in actual fact the diamond dust is really thick and almost 3D. Looks really icy. The close up gives a bit better impression of the diamond dust. I used to do a lot of heat embossing but haven't done it for years. I must do more though because the effect is pretty good especially if, like this, there is no colouring.
Well, thanks for visiting today. See you again tomorrow.
With love from Christine xx
12 comments:
Hi Christine...reading your post I can see why you don't mind a little rain, when we are on mains supply and just turn on a tap, we take it all for granted! I love your card, navy and white at Christmas is so classy isn't it? The stamp is beautiful because it stands alone, just heat embossed as you have done, no colouring necessary. I would definitely give this stamp a new lease of life this Christmas..thanks for visiting my blog too, much appreciated, Carole Z X
Hi Christine,
well what can I say I love, love, love, your card today. Everything about it is fab. You do make what I would call classical cards. I hope you don't mind that description. You must be tired after being up so late. I do the same if I have got and idea floating in my head. Have a great crafty day everyone, and yes it's me I've changed my profile picture.
Lots of crafty love. Jenny L.
What a beautiful stamp if I had it it would make it to the top of the list ,the card is stunning well done thanks for your lovely comments on my blog >Melanie
Gosh you look so different! Lovely pic. I have to be perfectly honest - I tend to do my blog the day/evening before and then schedule the post to appear at a given time - something Linda told me about. I don't mind your description of my cardmaking at all. It's amazing how we all have differing styles and makes it very interesting. Love from Christine x
This is gorgeous Christine. I love that image with all the added sparkle. The embossed background and the snowflakes are beautiful too.
Hugs Sue
Beautiful beautiful card Christine with all that fabulous glittery sparkle. A very christmasy card indeed.
Cheers,
Elaine
Hi Christine, this is stunning, such a lovely stamp and the glitter makes it looks so magical. No colouring, what a bonus!
A beautiful Christmas card.
Love Christine H xx
Hi Christine,
Oh this really is an elegant and very sophisticated Christmas card. This would be perfect for a Corporate card or family repeatable as it is so stylish but it doesn't entail lots of coloring. Truly beautifully done.
Sorry to hear about the water troubles, just glad they aren't your own :D LOL!!
When I was a girl we lived in the country and everything was the same as you have mentioned, we even had a cess pit that had to be emptied on a regular basis and boy did I hate the smell! I remember my dad made extra downpipes from the guttering of the house and shed to collect as much rainwater as possible which he used on our gardens, lawn and fruit trees. As Carole says, we with mains water really do take it for granted. Boy I don't know how I'd cope with little or no water as I have to bath every morning!
Hope this rain will help to ease the situation for you.
Love Linda x
Hi it's me again. I have just been on Jennys blog and left this little tip and I thought that maybe it would be useful for you and any newbies that may read your blog too.
If you would like to see a card on a blog in closer detail (as long as the creator hasn't limited its size) instead of just left clicking on it to bring it into a black page, right click on it instead and then select 'Open in new Tab'. Click onto the new tab and you should see a plus sign as the cursor now, click this onto the image again and it will blow the image up even more. Sue Wilson, you, Jenny, myself and many others don't limit the size of our photos so the tiniest of details can easily be seen when using this method.
Love Linda x
At least we have a septic tank not a cess pit! Very efficient and hasn't needed emptying in the 30 years we have been here. The weeds flourish really well in the middle of the field where it discharges! Lol! But I still love country living! One thing I do miss is a bath though because we only shower - easy to wash my hair though. And thanks for the tip below. Love from Christinex
Hi Christine! Thank you for your lovely comment on my blog! You also have a new follower! Beautiful card today, love the colours you have chosen and Xmas wouldn't be the same without glitter!xx
Christine this is fabulous what a gorgeous Christmas card I like that ultra fine glitter, what a stunner for your first Christmas card this year Hugs Elaine
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