Baby Girl

Good morning friends.   I've just heard that my niece has had a baby girl so this card is for her. I had to keep it quite flat because it is going in the post. I'm a little later with my post because unfortunately I didn't get chance to take a picture yesterday and so I had to wait until this morning.

                                                         

Click on image to enlarge picture.

I used a Cuddly Buddly digi stamp, coloured with Promarkers and die cut  with Spellbinders Resplendant Rectangles.  The LOTV stamp was diecut with Spellbinders lacy circles and the flourishes are from Marianne Creatables. I finished it off with some adhesive pearl gems  from Hobbycrafts and the little pearly hearts are from my stash..

Well that's all for today. Hope you all have a good day.

Love from Christine xx

Birds On A Swing

Good morning blog friends

Todays card is using the  Bird Swing stamp which is one of the Wee Stamps by Sylvia Zet. She does some fabulous stamps. I stamped this onto lilac card to marry in with the striped backing paper, but in the picture it looks more like grey. The paper reminds me of men's pyjamas. LOL!

Click on image to enlarge picture.

The little ribbon, flower and pearl spray were in my stash and I've had them for quite a while. I wish I could remember where I got them because this was the last one. I do have some more in cream though.

Short and sweet post today. Won't be able to post on Monday because we are having friends coming for lunch and so won't have time to make a card. Hope you all have a great day.

Love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the kind comments you leave. I really do

appreciate each and everyone of them.

My First Tag

Morning everybody.  Hopefully this will go out at the right time. I always schedule my post the day before, but this is the first time I have done it two days ahead. Friday will be a very long day and I don't want to mess around when I get home.

I decided that it was time to make a tag - so here it is.

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The size is 15.5 x 9 cms. My initial thought was to make a tag for a man which is why I chose this colour. I stamped a music background stamp in Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder. You cannot actually see that unless you enlarge it. Somewhere along the way - and I really have no idea how - it developed into a  lady's tag. It is double sided cardstock so I used the reverse to add a strip to the bottom and to diecut the butterflies. I used a  Martha Stewart punch for the bottom. Then it was just a little ribbon and lace, some silk flowers held together with a gemstone brad, and a few gems.  Maybe next time I'll manage a man's tag.

Well, have a great weekend everybody.

Love from Christine xx

 

All The presents

Good morning fellow bloggers. Well, I can't believe it but today we have no fog!!! First time for about a  week. It was very cold but I have been wanting to clean my windows so I now feel very virtuous - and flipping cold too!

Christmas is creeping ever nearer so I'm afraid you might be seeing quite a few Christmas cards finding their way onto my blog. Every year I say I'm going to cut   back - but I never do! Still, I enjoy making them and sending them, so that's the main thing.



Click on image to enlarge picture

Today's card uses an LOTV diecut topper with just a little glitter added to the puppy's Santa hat. The backing papers and labels are from Hot Off The Press "Forever Christmas" which was a free pad  in a magazine. Then I just added some gems to lighten it a bit because the papers are a bit dark.

Well I hope you all have a good day. We will be having a busy day! By the time most of you read this we will be driving up to Lancashire to collect something for John, so we thought we might pop into a National Trust property on the way home and make the trip worthwhile for me too.

Love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your comments. I read them all and appreciate

each and every one of them!

Lacé card

Hi!

Having  made a couple of cards with my Spellbinders Diamond Strips and Accents I thought I would re-visit my lacé dies and see just how easy, or otherwise, it was. It's a few years since I used them. Oh my goodness, what a kerfuffle! (Is that a word?) I chose a lovely double sided pearlescent cardstock in contrasting shades of  pink. The card is so nice that I proceeded with great caution because I didn't want to ruin it. Well as you can see, I didn't ruin it, but because I was being so careful it took me ages! Now compare that to the speed of whizzing a die through the Grand Calibur - no comparison!!!  I think I have proved the point to myself and will be giving the real lacé a miss in future!

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Having taken so long with the cut work I decided to make it very simple, although it is only now that I have uploaded the picture I realise it is a bit wonky. Fortunately it is only attached with a glue dot so it can be easily remedied. I used florist's tape (courtesy of my sister) to bind the cala lilies together.  I decide to  use the pale pink as the outside but the deeper colour is really lovely so perhaps I will use the Spellbinders and make another card in the opposite way.

Well that's all for now. Have a  good day.

Love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the  comments you leave. I really appreciate

each and every one of them.

Friends

Hi everybody.  I have had such a busy day  that although I made my card in the morning, by the time I had chance to take the pictures it was dark and the results are pretty rubbish. The flash, as well as reflecting off the embossed text, just made it very shadowy so in the end I took these in the kitchen - still reflection but no shadows.  I'll probably try again in the morning and replace them if they are better. 

                                                                           Click on image to enlarge pictures

 The card slightly open to show the cut out.

Showing inside the card.

The card is 6 x 6 white cardstock and I covered the front with taupe coloured paper and a blue and brown floral backing paper. I diecut a circle with Spellbinders standard circles  then matted the cut out with a diecut

lacy circle frame made from Bazzill Basics card in a colour called Sugar Daddy!! The flowers are from WOC and Hobby House and the leaves are Spellbinders Foliage. I popped taupe coloured pearls from Meiflower into the corners. I used the same backing paper to line inside the card. I stamped the sentiment in brown and then embossed it in a pearl powder, diecut with the standard circles onto Bazzill Basics - this one called Blank Check, and mounted onto the contrasting lacy circle. Wherever do they get these names from?

By the way - I have found my gold tassels!!!! They had somehow got caught up with the dies and I found them today when I was getting out the foliage dies. So now I can change the ribbon on bookmark card! 

Well I hope you have a good day.

Love from Christine x

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the comments you leave.  I really do appreciate

each and every one of them!

Christmas Baubles

Good morning friends, I hope you are all well. Yesterday was such a dreadful day, the fog just didn't lift at all. Makes you feel so miserable doesn't it? Anyway fortunately I didn't have to go out and there was plenty of wood to keep the woodburner working all day long. The guy from Autoglass came to repair my windscreen because there was a chip in it. It was extremely small but I'm sure that would have changed once the really freezing weather started. The good news was they were giving  free set of wiper blades with each windscreen repair  and this was the last day of the promotion.

Anyway, enough of the waffle, let's get onto my card.

Click on image to enlarge picture

Had to use flash I'm afraid because it was just so dark the entire day.

I have made another Christmas card using LOTV diecuts so it was quick and simple. The papers are another very old set. They are the same Papermania range as yesterday but this time from the Traditional, rather than the Contemporary, set. I used the Memory Box Frosty Border and  Marianne Creatables Swedish Snowflakes.

Well let's hope the weather improves today and I hope you all have a good day.

Love from Christine xx

I am entering this card in http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.ca/2012/10/u-for-up-to-you.html

Peace On Earth

Good morning dear blog friends, we had a very foggy start to the day yesterday and it didn't clear until about lunchtime so let's hope it's better today!

Today my card uses Peace On Earth from Lily Of The Valley, such a sweet little image.

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The papers are Contemporary Christmas from Papermania which I have had in my stash for many years. I'm trying to keep  my promise to myself to use up as much of my old stock as I can rather than just buying new because I like it.  I'm trying to be good. LOL! There are some  really pretty papers in this pack so I will definitely be using them again. I used the flourishes from Jewel Flowers and Flourishes simply because they were still on my desk from yesterday. The poinsettias were some I won from Hazel Conboy but  I didn't like the yellow centres, so I removed them and replaced them with  some little suns I punched  out of the backing paper and used some pink glitter on them. I dusted the angel's wings and halo with white glitter and added some Papermania Shimmer Dots.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and managing to craft.

Love from Christine xx

I am entering this in http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.ca/2012/10/u-for-up-to-you.html

Thank you for visiting  my blog and for the comments you leave. I really do appreciate each and every one   of them.

Happiness

Good morning blog friends

Had a nice day out yesterday at a National Trust property near Worcester, and once again we were so lucky with the weather. We were about 15 minutes into the drive home when the rain started. I'm glad it held off until then because there was some lovely parkland to  walk around and  I wouldn't have wanted to miss that.

So to my card. I bought this set of dies a little while ago and haven't got round to using them until now. Criminal!  The problem is  there are so many gorgeous dies aren't there?  Mind  you, I have my birthday, wedding anniversary (the big 40 one!) and Christmas coming up, all in the space of six weeks, so that should be worth quite a few dies wouldn't you agree? There are so many that I would just love to own, and it is very easy to get carried away!

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Anyway, I'm talking about the Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes die, which contain a couple of pretty little butterflies as well.  I also used the trellis die and backed it with lemon pearlescent card which I then used to diecut three of the smaller flowers. I finished off the bottom edge with a Martha Stewart edge punch but I can't remember the name.  I used one of my famous quotes on Labels 18 die. I embossed the flowers and they came up beautifully, but then I used a large ball embossing tool to make them curl so lost it all. I popped a pearl in the centres of the flowers and  used tiny yellow gems on the butterfly's body. I don't usually mix gems and pearls but had no tiny yellow pearls, but they don't look too bad. If I can get hold of some tiny yellow pearls I will do a swap.

I had to use the flash again on my picture because I didn't get round to taking the photo until we got back home and by then the sky was very dark and cloud laden, so it doesn't  look too great.

Well, I hope you all enjoy the start to the weekend.

With love from Christine xx

Thank you for your visit to my blog and for the lovely comments you leave. I really do appreciate each and every one of them, and if you want to leave some constructive criticism then please do so!

Extremely Quick Card!

Hi friends, this  morning I have an extremely quick card to post. I was asked to make a card for a friend that needed to go into the post - like now!! I don't think I have ever made anything as quick in my life!  I didn't even have time to get the camera out so I just shoved it into the scanner and hoped for the best!

Click on image to enlarge picture.



I used purple and lilac Bazzil Basic cardstock folded into a DL shape. A piece of purple and black spotted ribbon from my stash hid the join. I used a punch for the circles and the flowers were from a large pack in various sizes and colours that I bought years ago but I don't know from where. Three different sizes glued together with  a purple spot to form the centre, a rub on greeting and then it was whisked away. I think it came out pretty well considering. Usually I procrastinate for ages when I'm making a card.

Well I hope you all have a good day!

With love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and for all the comments you leave. I really do appreciate each and every one   of them.

Christmas Bookmark

Good morning blog friends. I've just  had rather a disastrous day. Anything that could go wrong has done so today.

Click on image to enlarge picture.

I have used my Spellbinder Diamond Strips and Accents again today. In the photo the card  looks a little dull, but it really does look better in real life.  I stamped the candle and greeting in Versamark and heat embossed with Detail Gold. This time I used the straight die along the edge of the dark green cardstock and used gold mirri card behind it.  I then used a perforated blade to cut along the left hand side of it (if you look closely you can just see the little perforations) so that after Christmas the recipient can detach  it  and use it as a book mark. This was when Murphy's Law struck - yet again. I had in my hand a pack of gold tassels to add to the book mark - the operative word here is "had". I have laid them down and I've no idea where. I've searched everywhere but they have disappeared completely. I'll probably find them in the fridge, or somewhere equally stupid. LOL! In the end I stuck a piece of ribbon through the hole I had already punched - this will be replaced with the tassel when I find it!! When I find it I will take another picture and edit the post.

 It has been such an awful day that I could not get a decent picture without the flash, which is why there is a bit of reflection off the gold mirri.  I also knocked the camera off the shelf and it crash landed on the hardwood floor in the hall, and it took me ages to get it working again. What else can happen? I think I'll quit now before blogger goes off on me. Knowing my luck it probably won't schedule properly!

Have a good day everybody! Christine xx

Thank you for visiting and for leaving your comments. I really do 

appreciate each and every one of them. 

Clean and Simple

Good morning friends

I bought a new Spellbinders die on Saturday and I have been playing with it.   Many years ago I used to do Lacé work and still have  a number of dies.   I loved the look of it but  it was extremely fiddly and sometimes you'd get right to the end and then your blade would slip!!!    Dis-ars-ter Dahling - as Craig Revel-Horwood would say!!  Anyway, when I saw this Spellbinders Diamond Strips and Accents I just had to have it!!  And it didn't disappoint.  I kept this card very clean and simple to show off the lovely cut and fold corner - but then I used lashings of pearls!!!!

Click on image to enlarge picture.

This is a 6 x 6 card layered with a  pearlised pink card to show off the cut work.  I computer generated the sentiment, using Freehand 591 font , onto Labels 16 die.  I love this font and use it a lot.  The pink flower pearls were from WOC and the other pearls are from Hobbycraft.

I know Clean and Simple is not to everyone's taste but I've never been one who has to fill every little bit of space so I quite like it.  It has been very dark here today but I did my best with the photograph.

Have a good day everybody.

With love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog today and for all the comments you leave. I really do appreciate each and every one of them.

Christmas Stockings

Good morning blog friends,

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days. Since John had been away for over a week I didn't really want to disappear into my craft room. Anyway, things are almost back to normal - he's just about got through the list of jobs I had waiting for him on his return. LOL! Got to let him feel wanted you know!

Click on image to enlarge picture

I used a Lili of the Valley diecut topper that I got at the NEC last year. I think they make quite nice traditional Christmas cards if you want to stay away from cutsie images. The backing papers are Papermania Home for Christmas, flowers from WOC and the little adhesive red pearls are from Hobbycraft. The sentiment was computer generated using Bernhard Fashion font onto white card and matted onto green card die cut with Spellbinders scalloped squares. The priority job on John's list was to fix my printer which started to play up while he was away. I had tried  the usual things like cleaning the cartridges and the printer heads - the sum total of my printer technology!!!

I went to a small papercraft fair at the National Motorcycle Museum yesterday. £2 entry fee (being a "senior"  has its advantages!) and free parking, so very good value. I mainly wanted some cardstock because there is just nowhere near me at all.  I also bought a new Spellbinder die which I had been looking at for a while, and a new Christmas stamp - which I definitely did not need!!!!! But what the heck! Unfortunately that means less to spend at the NEC next month. Mind you I have a birthday and Christmas coming up...........

Well I hope you all have a great day and manage  to squeeze in a little crafting.

Love from Christine xx

I would like to enter this into http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/challenge-153-traditional-christmas.html

Thank you for visiting my blog and for all the comments you leave. I really do appreciate

each and every one of them!

Navy and lavender

Good morning dear friends, today's card is very simple and made entirely from Spellbinders Marvellous Squares, inspired by Sue Wilson.

Click on image to enlarge picture.

It doesn't show well in the picture but the navy card stock has a very subtle sheen and the lavender card is hammered card stock. After cutting the largest die I used foam pads to attach the negative to the navy card then added the rest of the dies directly to the card.  I added the little navy bow and  purple  Papermania shimmer dots, with a WOC 15mm rose in the centre. So quick and easy but I think it looks quite effective. The corners were the negatives  left after cutting out one of the dies which I didn't use all of - I trimmed it down to make the navy centre piece and cut the final  lavender piece into a frame. There just seems to be no waste at all with this set, it's fabulous. Must try it in different colour ways; it might be nice for Christmas.

Anyway that's all for today so I hope you all have a great day.

With love from Christine xx

PS My mountaineer has returned safe and sound!!!! He was due back Thursday night but I got a text to say he would be back at midnight, and in fact he arrived home at 9:15pm. It's always a worry with such a risky pastime but he just loves climbing! So I grin and bear it. My hobby is much safer. LOL!

Thank you for visiting my blog today and leaving your comments. I appreciate each and every one of them.

Santa's New Transport.

Hi friends, I made this card yesterday evening so obviously to late to take a picture and that is why I am off to a late start today. This  is a Christmas card which I think will be very appropriate for a couple of farming friends who have a herd of Friesans.  In fact she actually gave me the stamp a few years ago and  I've not used it till now. All I can say is  -watch out Rudolph!

This is the first year I have used traditional colours for my Christmas cards but I am quite enjoying them. The backing papers are  Home For Christmas from Papermania. I think I shall be going back for more of these now I'm in my red phase. The stamp is Christmas Ride by Penny Black and is such a fun image. I added a bit of glitter to Santas hat and a little punched out sprig of holly to the cow. The poinsettias are Marianne Creatables. The mini card candi down the sides was free in a magazine last month - can't remember which.

Well that's all for today. I hope you all have a good day.

Love from Christine xx

I would like to enter this card into http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ colour combo

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the comments you leave. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Origami Box

Hi Everybody

First of all I would like to  say hello and welcome to my two new followers. You are so kind  to join my blog friends.

Today I want to show you an origami box that I saw on Ribbons Flowers and Pearls and you can find a video tutorial  Here.

I do like to make boxes and like the Flap Boxes I showed in an earlier post, the body of this box is made from one sheet of 12 x 12 double sided card, plus extra for the lid. It can be made smaller depending on the size of your square of card. I think it looks so pretty. I used this piece of card because it's not exactly my favourite so I thought if I ruined it it wasn't the end of the world. I know I should have probably made it in paper first to try - but I'm impatient!! And it turned out okay. Just imagine what you could put in here to make a lovely gift! And it can be as plain or ornate as you like. I'm going to have another go soon and see what else I can do with it.

Click on image to enlarge pictures

and finally the lid

I know it seems like a lot of pictures but I wanted to show it from different angles.

Well that's my post for today. I do hope you like the box and perhaps decide to try it yourself. Have a great day everybody.

With love from Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and for the comments you leave. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Time Traveller

Hello friends. Hope you are all well.

I'm not really into steam punk so I didn't want to invest in stamps and dies that I would get very little use from. However, when I saw these Kanban toppers I thought it might be a compromise.

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This is the easel card open



It was quite difficult to photograph because the light was reflecting off the gold.

The base card is black cardstock and I matted the backing paper with gold mirri card and the topper with black card. The sentiment is a Craftwork Cards circle sentiment.

I will probably add  "40" to this for my nephew's milestone birthday in a few weeks. He is travelling on business at the moment so it is quite apt. There are another two or three toppers so you can expect another couple of cards at some stage in the future.

Hope you all have a good day and fit in some crafting.

Christine xx

Thank you for visiting my blog and for all your comments. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

The Lighthouse

Hi Blog Friends, I'm back.

I bought this set of  Kanban stamps a couple of months ago - and then promptly misplaced them!!  They weren't lost - I just didn't know where they were!! Anyway as you can see I did find them so decided to use them for my brother in law's birthday card.

Click on picture to enlarge image.

The blue plaid paper was a freebie from Jak Heath, matted onto blue card then added to white cardstock. The lighthouse, anchor and seagull were stamped in Encore Ultimate Metallic Blue pigment ink. A very simple card but suitable for a man. The stamp is quite detailed so I decided not to do any colouring. Perhaps nextt time I use it I will do it in black or grey and add some colour.

Lighthouses always remind me of a hymn my mum  used to sing as a solo in church when she was younger

called the Night Watch, and which we sang at her funeral.

Bright stars are watching the world as it sleeps,

Shepherds watch over the little white sheep,

The lighthouse  is shining for ships far at sea,

As God keeps the night watch for you and for me.

So sleep, sleep in peace and rest,

Don't be afraid of the darkness,

Alls well for over the land and the sea,

God's keeping the night watch for you and for me.

I think the words of this hymn are very comforting.

Well that's it for today. Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with another card.

With love from Christine xx

Thank you for your visit and for the comments you leave. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Christmas Money Wallet

Hi Blog friends!  I've had a very busy couple of days and no time for crafting. However, John has just gone up to Scotland for a few days so my time is all mine . Yippee!! Great stuff eh?  Well actually, no. I plonked myself down at my desk and  ............. could think of absolutely nothing at all. Zilch!

I did a bit  of playing around with a few stamps, and I also made a start on a couple of other things but in the end I just decided to give up.

I did actually make one very simple thing - just so that I could say I hadn't totally wasted  my day. When my nephew was married last year we gave him a cheque because they wanted the money to put towards furniture. Rather than just handing over a cheque in an envelope I made a fancy Wedding Money Wallet, like you would do  at Christmas. So, just so that I could say I did something today I made a Christmas wallet. I'll probably use it for one  my great nieces or nephews.



Click on image to enlarge picture.

I used A4 card and folded it to fit into a DL envelope. Obviously if this was to be the actual Christmas card too then you would probably want to make a much fancier card. But for this I just layered red glitter card onto the front and added a Forever Friends sticker. I have no idea where this came from because it's certainly not something I would buy.

Anyway, I'm hoping that tomorrow is a better day and I can come up with something creative!! LOL!

With love from Christine x

Thank you for your visit and  the comments you leave. I appreciate each and everyone of them.