Christmas Card Club # 7 - Cute Christmas

Good morning to you all and thanks for dropping by to visit.  Today it is time to post a card for our little Christmas Card Club.  These two weeks certainly come round quickly!  We take it in turn to choose the topic and this time it was Lorraine's turn to choose.

My Card

click to enlarge

I want to apologise in advance for my card. It is so simple, and I might even say a little boring but I didn't actually get round to making it until yesterday evening so I was doing it pretty quickly. Also because it was dark I had to use the flash, which never really gives a good picture.

It is a 6 x 6 " card and matted with lilac pearlescent card and and white card embossed with SB  Dainty Dots.  For speed I used a pre-coloured image from my Greetings Card CD. I love the identical expressions on the face of the snowman and the baby angel. I used Memory Box Snowflake Corner and Marianne Creatables Swedish Ice Star with a computer generated sentiment added to it.   Lashings of glitter - but what's a Christmas card without glitter?

It was a lovely day yesterday and I was outside most of the day trying to tidy up in the garden etc.  I think I might pay for all the activity tomorrow, but it had to be done.  And it does look so much better now.

Well that's it for now.  Hope this finds everybody well.

Entered into:

http://suzysmarty1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/completely-christmas-challenge-4_28.html

http://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.pt/2014/03/d-for-diecuts.html

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.pt/2014/03/week-252-use-those-dies.html

http://crimbo-crackers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-61-anything-goes-christmas.html

65th Birthday

Good afternoon to all my friends and fellow bloggers.  Thank you for your visit.Sorry I have been AWOL for a few days. Things have been a bit hectic.

My Card

Click  to  enlarge

Close up of right side

This stepper card was commissioned when the lady saw the last card that I did similar to this.  I don't usually like to do similar cards so close to each other, but I got to play with my new dies this time. The backing papers, label and butterfly are from Craftwork Cards "Time Flies". I used my new Memory Box Catalina Wreath die cut twice in lilac and cream.  I then  used Sue Wilson's Classic 3D Bow die in lilac. The pearls are from Hobby House.  Since it is to be hand delivered I didn't need to worry about keeping it flat, but I had to make a box to put it in - which I forgot to photograph!!

I hope you are all okay and that you are having better weather than we are.  It is bitterly cold and now has started to rain!  Can only improve - I've decided I'm going to be an optimist!

Well that's it from me for today. 

New Stash

Well I wasn't going to bother doing this but a few people have asked so here goes.

My New Stash

I was actually quite restrained this time. I did also buy some ribbon and pearls from Meiflower which I forgot to put here and I also bought some 7" x 7" cards from Anne Marie Designs.  The two Sue's and I  all wanted the same - and what a hoot we had trying to sort that out between us all! Lol! I'm sure there was something else but can't think what.

But even though I was restrained I didn't go off to a craft shop the very next day and buy more - like someone I know who shall be nameless but is mam to a gorgeous doggie!! But I won't crow too soon because in five or six weeks I will probably be meeting Mrs Duck again at another, smaller, craft fair!

Hope this finds you well.  We have had a bit of everything with the weather today, sun, wind, rain and hail stones. What fun!

Gift Cards

Hello dear friends and fellow bloggers. Thanks for popping in to visit. I had the most fabulous day yesterday at the NEC with Ollie's Mam and Planet Susie (the two Sue's) and then at lunchtime we met up with Mrs Duck (Ang) for the rest of the afternoon. Much giggling and enjoyment.

My Cards

Click  to enlarge picture

Inside showing the pocket

These cards are very small, just 4.25 inches X 3.5 inches so I was able to cut them both from an A4 sheet.  I cut a piece of card stock 4.25 inches x 10.5 inches, folded  it into a trifold card and then trimmed off a section of the right side.  I used double sided tape to stick the side and bottom of the now shortened fold over section to the centre section. I have just popped a diecut into the pocket to show that there really is a pocket there! This could be used for money, gift cards, telephone top up cards etc. I used it to pop in a little stamp for my friends.  Worked a treat.

The fronts were matted with patterned papers and the mini LOTV images (which have been in my stash so long these little kittens are practically geriatric now!) were matted onto SB Labels 16. The little flowers are Britannia Dies Miniature Roses and the leaves are Britannia Wreath Strip. The sentiment is from JustRite Grand Sentiments. Very quick to make so would be ideal at Christmas I think.  I actually made three, the last one being in sunny yellows, but didn't realise till I had sealed the envelope that I hadn't taken a picture - but it was exactly the same only different. Lol!

Well I must be off to Sainsbury's now because the fridge and larder are pretty bare.  I hate shopping on Saturdays but my usual shopping day - Friday - was spent doing other things!! Lol!

The sun is shining although it is cold and very windy.  But the sun really cheers you up anyway.  Enjoy the weekend everybody.

Strength

Hello dear friends and fellow bloggers.  Hope this finds you well but my love and thoughts if you are feeling under the weather.

My Card

A very CAS style card today.  It is for a man so I have kept it very simple and let the wonderful sentiment and the embossing do the talking. The sentiment is from Quietfire Designs, and the embossing folder is "Ornate Corner" from Die'sire Embossalicious.  The card stock I used is actually Papermania white canvas effect textured card but I changed the colour digitally with Pink Petticoat "Natural Neutrals - Mushroom".  I used SB Classic Squares large to cut the sentiment which was stamped with Memento  Cocoa Brown. The darker brown that I used to mat with SB Labels One  is from my bit box so not sure what it is from although I have a feeling it is Gemstones Jewelled Cardstock. A few Hobby House pearls finished it.

Well I must be off.  John has a hospital appointment at a different hospital and we have never been before so we need to leave a little earlier.

Take care and see you soon.

Entered into:
http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-124-anything-goes.html
http://bunnyzoescrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge-monochrome.html

A Quick Thank You Card

Good afternoon to you all.  And what a horrid cold blustery day it is too.  I think we were spoiled with the sunny spring days over the last week but now back to winter again.  Still, spring is definitely on it's way.

My Card

Click on image  to enlarge

This was an extremely quick card that I made as a thank you to my friend when we went to lunch the other day. Appropriately it is a topper from the Hobby House entitled Spring Bringer so let's hope she really does bring spring back.  The backing paper is from First Edition Daydream and the green paper that I cut the SB Grand Decorative Circles from is from the same pad. The corners dies are Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco Corner Die C and I popped a Hobby House pearl into the centre of each.  I used some glitter to highlight her wings. The topper was mounted onto the card with foam pads.  An extremely quick card but still effective for all that. 

Hope you are all well.

Christmas Card Club # 6 - Let's See Some Wings

Good morning to all my friends and visitors.  Thank you for taking the time to call and, hopefully, leave a comment.  We are a group of ladies who want to get ahead with our Christmas cards and so we make a card every two weeks.    If you want to see what the other ladies have produced you will find them on my right sidebar.  Today it was my turn to choose the topic for our little group and as you can see I wanted to see wings - angels, fairies, birds etc.

My Card

c lick  to  enlarge
card  c losed 

left side 

right  side

 inside

Sorry it's picture heavy but it's difficult to see a gatefold properly with only one picture. I don't usually make such a fuss inside but again, with a gatefold you see the inside when it is on display so I spent a bit more time than I would normally.

Ingredients:

6 x6 card made from own card stock
Jade green card from bits box(Core'dinations)
Paler green paper for matting and ivy leaves also from bits box

Papermania embossing folder - Quilting

Spellbinders Marvellous Squares

Signature Dies - Ivy Corner

Marianne Creatables -  Small Poinsettias

Marianne Creatables LR0156 (other flower & leaves)
Britannia Dies -Happy Christmas

LOTV  stamp - Little Ivy

Rubber stampede stamp - Holiday Wish

Flexmarkers

Hobby House Pearls

Lots and lots of glitter!!

I used Flexmarkers to colour my image.  I don't have many but they are so lovely to work with that I might treat myself to some more. Whilst looking through my stash I found some LOTV toppers with Christmas angels so I will be using those up soon.  I had already stamped and coloured my image so I didn't use them this time. 

Well I hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend.  We are off out to friends for lunch so looking forward to that.  It's always nice to spend time with these friends - and lunch invariably stretches to early evening.

Entered into :

http://suzysmarty1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/completely-christmas-challenge-3.html

http://alohafridaychallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/03/aloha-friday-challenge-19-things-with.html

http://crimbo-crackers.blogspot.pt/2014/03/challenge-60-cute-christmas.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/chnc-challenge-168-going-green-little.html
http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/chnc-challenge-extra-for-march.html
http://christmasblogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/girls-girls-girls.html

Young At Heart

Good morning to you all. This card is for my brother. I don't think these images need to be kept for children but can be used for the young at heart too, and he is certainly that!

My Card

click on image  to enlarge picture

My base card is 6" x 6" and matted with a dark red paper from my bits box, as is the stripy paper.  The image is from LOTV Art Pad Vintage Boys.  The sentiment circle and the mini candi are from Craftwork Cards.  The Papermania Chronology Cogs dies were at the top of the box, since I used them on my last card, so I popped a few onto this card too.  The sentiment circle and the cogs and sprockets are all silver, although the top ones look more like gold.  I have some tiny peel off letters and numbers so after I had taken the picture I used them to put his number plate on the front of the car.

Entered into :

http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-13.html

http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-102-anything-goes.html

http://craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-204-young-at-heart.html

Steam Punk Girl in Hat

Hi to you all, and once again thanks for stopping by.   We had a lovely day out yesterday.  John is getting everything pulled together for when he starts the roof repairs.  He has been looking for some roof tiles because he is bound to break or chip a few -  he said so, not me!!  Our house is forty years old now and the hunt was on for reclaimed tiles for two reasons.  Firstly, this type are no longer made, and secondly new tiles would stand out like a sore thumb amongst these very old weathered tiles.   Good old Ebay to the rescue, and he located some in Derbyshire so off we went first thing.

Since it was such a long way to go we made a full day and visited Kedleston Hall, a National Trust property near Derby. It was Robert Adam's first major building commission and was designed purely to be a showpiece palace and for lavish entertaining. Fabulous fireplaces!!! There was a lot of parkland to the property so we really enjoyed strolling around in the sun.  Mind you, when you were out of the sun the breeze was pretty chilly.

My Card

click on image  to enlarge  picture

I would like to say thank you for all your lovely comments on my Safe Harbour card on Monday.  They really are so appreciated.   Well here I am a little out of my comfort zone with a steam punk card, but I still can't bring myself to do grunge so this is a very neat and tidy steam punk - if there is such a thing!  I also used nice bright colours too.

I matted my 6" x 6" card with a freebie digi paper (but don't know where it came from, sorry) and  I changed the colour from brown to lilac/purple to match my colour scheme. I used an X Cut embossing folder, Cogs from the Chronology range, on turquoise pearlescent card stock. The Marianne Craftables clock die was used on lilac pearlescent cardstock. The digi image is by BBKake from Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet and coloured with Promarkers.  This is another one of those images that I buy on impulse and never get round to using. The cog die cuts were also from the Chronology range. I was actually quite pleased with how it turned out.

Well sorry that I have droned on a bit.  Hope you are all feeling well and if not then I really hope you are well again soon. I went out to stock up the bird feeding station and it is really cold, foggy and miserable.  Glad we went up to Derbyshire yesterday!!

Entered into:

http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/g-is-for-girls.html

http://treasuredtimesrubberstampschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-13.html

Safe Harbour

Good morning  to you all and thank you for visiting.  Well I don't know about your part of the country but here in North Oxfordshire we have had a couple of really spring-like days.  It's so nice to see the sunshine finally. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

I thought I would add to my meagre stock of male cards - extremely meagre!  They are far from my favourite cards to make, but we do need them so every now and again I drop one in -  and it takes me so long! Although I must admit this one was very easy as I have used the image before. 

My card is 6" x 6" made from card stock which  I bought from Anna-Marie at one of the shows. It is good strong quality card and stands up well. This is a digi image is by Delicious Doodles from Stitchy Bears Digi Outlet, which I printed onto canvas-effect card stock and coloured with Promarkers. The sentiment is from "Life's Journey" from LOTV. The ships anchor die is from Cheery Lynn Designs. The hessian is from my stash.

The colour is not brilliant because I used navy card stock for matting and it has come up looking black.

Well that's it for today. 

Entered into:

http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/challenge-203-and-dt-call.html

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/mim-182-final-make-it-monday-linky-party.html

http://craftsandmeinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge-146-and-regrettably-no.html
http://anyoneforanya.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/march-challenge-masculine-or-grungy.html
http://paper-craftingjourney.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/make-is-manlyboyish.html
http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/challenge-122-anything-goes.html
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/one-for-boys.html

Stepper Card

Good evening friends and fellow bloggers.  Hope you are all well. Just a quick post tonight.

My Card

Click image to enlarge picture

 This card was made using the Time Flies collection from Craftwork Cards.  I bought this at a papercraft fair at the National Motorcycle Museum last year, put it away and promptly forgot about it.

I'm not sure where the shaped stepper cards are from, but I have a feeling it may be Craftwork Cards again. I also used SB Decorative Labels 1 as a background for the large flower and the pearls are from the Hobby House.

Well that's it from me.

A Quick Card By Necessity

Good afternoon everybody. This is an extremely quick card.  I remembered it was my nephew's birthday on Thursday and I wanted to get a card in the post today.  I sent it first class - which is something I rarely do!!  However I wanted to make sure he got it on time and I know he is going away on Friday for a few days.

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

I made it very flat and did it very quickly so I could give it to the postman to take for me. All of the papers are from my bit box so I did very well. The image is from LOTV art pad Vintage Boys. It was matted onto SB Lacy Squares. The papers were from LOTV Petal Fresh, the sentiment is from Personal Impressions Mixed Sentiments and the pearls are from the Hobby house.  Unbelievably, in my hurry I still remembered to photograph it, even though it is a bit wonky!

We went out for a walk yesterday and it was lovely to see green leaves starting to appear and the hazel catkins too. Spring is on the way I do believe!!!

Well, that's it from me.  Hope you are well and enjoying your day.

Christmas Card Club # 5 - Feature a Robin

Good morning to you all.  Well it's time once again for our little group to make another Christmas card.  This time it was Margaret's turn to choose the theme and her choice was to "Feature a Robin".

My Card

Click on image to enlarge picture

(Sorry about the picture.  I made my card a couple of days ago and then forgot to photograph it.  I had to put the kitchen light on last night in order to get a picture, and some of the sparkly leaves are in shadow.)

I have used a digi image, "Kissing Robins", from Just Inklined which I bought a few years ago and never used.    I have coloured it with Promarkers and die cut it with SB Labels 18, mainly because it was sitting on my desk - I hadn't actually put it away after using it for my last card. But in fact this die works well because I wanted to use the inked border technique on my die cut and this is really good for the technique.  By inking the border rather than cutting an extra die cut it makes it lighter and less bulky for mail purposes, therefore cheaper!.  And as a popular supermarket says - "Every little helps", especially since Royal Mail are putting up their postage rates again next month!  I have used this technique quite a few times and once posted a link to where I found a tutorial from Becca Feekin (my favourite crafter of all time, followed closely by Sue Wilson) but since that was quite some time ago I thought I would add the link again in case you missed it and would like to try it.  You will find the tutorial here 

I used Twinklets Diamond Dust on the roof of the bird house having first spread some Glossy Accents over it. Gives a real icy feel.  The Holly Vine is from Memory Box and the Ivy Corner is a Signature Die from Joanna Sheen  I sprayed them with Crafters Companion Silver Spray and Sparkle. So I managed to get all the Christmas leaves in - holly, ivy and mistletoe. The Papermania Home For Christmas was a piece from my bit box as were the two red scraps of embossed card and the pieces I used for the die cuts. The poinsettias are from WOC.

Well yesterday was a really lovely day, bright and sunny though chilly, so lets hope it keeps up for a while. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Entered into:

http://suzysmarty1.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/completely-christmas-challenge-1.html

http://craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/chnc-challenge-extra-for-march.html