Get Creative Challenges # 5

Good morning to anybody who has actually dropped by.  I hope you have all been enjoying the festive break with your family and friends.  This post is scheduled, because my plan has been not to go onto the blog until the New Year. At the time of typing this I'm not sure whether I will have been able to stick to that ... lol!

Today's challenge at  Get Creative Challenges  is to use a bow, 2 patterned papers and 3 brads/buttons.  My image is Eleanor and Pickles  "Decking The Halls" which you can find HERE at our sponsor Lacy Sunshine.

My Card

Recipe

Papers - LOTV Snow Princess

Holly Vine die - Memory Box

Holly Corner die - Cheery Lyn

Pearls - Hobby House

Tiny brads and ribbon for bow - from stash

Sentiment - Computer generated.

Promarkers

I had originally planned to use some small red buttons as the holly berries but turns out they were not samll enough.   I found some very tiny brads in my stash but they were not the right colour so I used nail polish to colour them.  As I had already stuck down the holly corner I had to remove the legs from the brads and then stick them down. Nice and easy to put together and this is my first Christmas card for 2015 !!!

Please pop across to the blog to see what my teamies have created and we would love it if you decided to join us.  You have the chance to win three digis of your choice from Lacy Sunshine - you'll be spoilt for choice I can assure you.

OSAAT Challenge # 227 - Anything Goes ... with stitching

Good day to you all.  I have scheduled today's post (and tomorrow's) because I wanted to spend Christmas with family and not worry about my blog.  However,I had two DT posts due hence the need to schedule.  But I shall be back checking out all your creations in a day or two.

My Card

The challenge this time is "Anything Goes .... With Stitching".  But the stitching can be real or faux.

The image I have used is Geranium Urn by IkesArt.  Clicking the link will take you to our sponsor Stitchy bears Digital Stamp Outlet.

My card is very CAS and I have left off the sentiment until I know who/what it will be used for.

We would love it if you were to join us, and this is the prize you could win.

Well that's all for today.  If anybody has actually dropped in I hope you have had a lovely time over Christmas.

Christmas Card Club # 26 Non Traditional Colours.

Good morning everybody.  Well this our final card for this year - but we will be starting  all over again in the new year.  This time it  was GranMargaret's turn to choose and as you can see her choice was to use non-traditional colours on our cards.

My Card

My card uses pink and grey which certainly qualifies for non traditional colours.  The papers are extremely old stash from Papermania, I think, but they were in my bits box so I may be wrong.

Recipe

Topper - Lili Of The Valley

Poinsettias - Old stash

Diecuts - Spellbinders

Sentiment - computer generated.

The poinsettias originally had yellow stamens at the centre which I removed and replaced with pink glitter. A nice and easy card which is actually pretty flat so I think it will be okay for posting.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Christmas table Gifts

Good morning to you all.  This is a very quick post because we are off to St Alban's to celebrate Christmas.  Don't panic, I know there are still a couple of weeks yet.  John has very little family - two cousins  in the UK and two in New Zealand, plus their families of course. One of his cousins and his wife are off to Tokyo to spend Christmas with their son and his family so they have decided to have a faux Christmas Day and celebrate today.  There will be twelve of us, plus two little ones so it should be a great day and really set the mood for Christmas.  I have provided the table gifts, wine and chocolates etc.

My Project

I used Spellbinders  Square Bracket Edge Box and then just decorated the lid with Marianne Designs Swedish Crystal snowflakes.  The boxes hold a couple of Thornton's chocolates which I wrapped in tissue paper so that the boxes can be re-used by the recipients without being chocolate streaked! I always forget about this set of dies but they are really very useful for small gifts.

For the wine bottle tags I used Core'dinations card stock in teal. I ran some white card through the GC with Crafters Companion Bebunni Christmas Sentiments folder. ( A snip from teh stall "Every Crafts A Pound" at the NEC.) The snowflakes are SB Create A Flake Four. I just added a ribbon bow and then to all the snowflakes I added pearls from my stash.  I wrapped the boxes of chocolates and fancy biscuits in white paper and decorated with the same snowflakes.

Well I must take my leave of you so that we can get ready to go.  Hope you are all well and having a good weekend

Accordion File

Good morning to you all.  Just a quick post today.   About a month ago I bought the Big Score Board from Crafters Companion. This was one of the projects on the CD - ROM that came with the board.

My Project

I used double sided A3 card from Crafter's Companion, together with white centura pearl for the inserts and embellishments. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the edge and SB Parisian Accents and SB Foliage around the Wild Orchid Crafts flowers.  The lace,  ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

I have decided to fill it with some cards and include it with my sister's Christmas gifts.  I often end up making cards for her and having to post them.  This way she will have a little stash ready to hand.

Hope you are all well.  We are off to Cheltenham to do some shopping in an hour or so.  My first Christmas shopping trip and I want to get it all done.  Luckily some of my gifts are "money - bigger kids seem to like that and it suits me!!  I do have one or two gifts though. Thick fost and fog so that country road trip is going to be challenging to say the least.  This is the main reason I 'm glad I no longer work in Cheltenham - summer was lovely but winter was a pain!

Take care.

Singing Snowmen - Get Creative Challenges # 3

Good morning to all my dear friends and fellow bloggers. Today it is time for my second post for the Pink Team in Get Creative Challenges. The theme is "Christmas" which suits me down to the ground.  I absolutely love making Christmas cards.

My card uses the digi image " Caroling Snowmen" from The Stamping Boutique

My Card

I'm afraid it's not a particularly good photo because there is so much shine bouncing off the mirri card and the foiled backing papers.  Unfortunately the weather is so awful that I really needed flash to take the picture.  When I tried without flash the picture was very dark.  If it brightens up I'll try again without the flash.

Recipe

6" x 6" card cut from red card stock

 Backing papers - Twinkle from Craftwork Cards
Silver Candi - Craftwork Cards

Music die cut - Virtuoso from Memory Box

Promarkers

After colouring the image I just added a little - okay, a lot - glitter.  But it's a Christmas card so glitter and sparkle is almost obligatory!!

We would love you to join in our challenge this time and I'm sure there will be no shortage of Christmas cards to post. Please pop across and check out what the rest of the DT have made and then add your creation.

OSAAT - # 225 - Anything Goes - With Lace

Good afternoon to you all.  I hope you have all been enjoying your weekend.  Hopefully you working girls (and guys) have managed to have a little rest before the start of another, no doubt, busy week for you all. Well here I am back for the second day in a row!  And I will back tomorrow too.  I have said before that my cards are like buses - none for ages then two or three in a row!

Time for another card for the OSAAT Challenge . This time the theme is " Anything Goes .... With Lace".  My image is "Sunflower Collage" from  Ginger Loft, which is available here at our sponsor Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet.

My Card

My base card is 7" x 5" and cut from ivory Centura Pearl from Crafter's Companion.  The brown pearlescent card is from my stash together with the cotton lace and ribbon.. The image was coloured with Promarkers.    I tried stamping a sentiment but it bled on the Centura Pearl and since I didn't have the right shade of plain ivory card I computer generated the sentiment instead.

Please pop across to OSAAT and check out what the rest of Stitchy's Angels have come up with.  This is the prize you can win  and we would love to see all your creations.

Take care and enjoy what's left of the weekend.

Christmas Card Club # 25 - Silver Bells

Good morning to all my friends and regular visitors, as well as anybody who is just dropping by.  If you leave a comment I will return the compliment and visit you in return.  I also see that I have some new followers and you are very welcome.

Well this is the penultimate card for our little Christmas Card Club.  The Big Day is creeping (rushing!!!) towards us so we will have a week or two break after the next post beginning all over again in 2015.  This card is not actually due until Sunday but since I have a DT card due then, and another on Monday, I decided to post earlier.  I don't post often enough to put more than one up on the same day!

Today it is the lovely Asha's turn to choose and her theme is Silver Bells.

My Card

Recipe

7" x 5" card base

Digi image - found on the internet

Silver mirri from stash

Purple Cracked Ice pearlescent card stock - Pennies Worth

Lavender paper - scrap of LOTV Snow Princess

Labels 4 and Elegant Labels 4 - Spellbinders

Pearls - Hobby House

Promarkers

Sentiment - Computer generated.

Unfortunately my card is a very last minute make!  Not that I forgot - I actually had my card made quite early in the week and was just checking on the CCC blog  - and shock! horror! I had made my  card using the wrong theme!! At first I thought I must have looked at the challenge rota for 2015 so I double checked and the challenge theme I thought was there doesn't even exist!!  I think I must be going mad!

Anyway I then had to put my thinking cap on because I don't have any stamps or toppers with bells.  I trawled the internet late yesterday  and found this digi image. I'm sorry Asha, my layout etc is not very imaginative but it was the best I could do at such short notice!  It has an old fashioned, traditional look to it I think. Different to the usual for me. Had to use flash because the day is so dull but as usual the flash is bouncing off the mirror card. Sorry about that.

Hope you have something nice planned for the weekend.

Frosty Friends

Well, I scheduled this to appear earlier, which I nearly always do.  For the first time it has let me down!  Ah well, not a problem really.

Good morning everybody.  Sunday was such an awful day that there was nothing to do but craft!  Such a hardship!  These digis are ideal for batch making and I made a couple of dozen in a short space of time in different colours.

My Cards

 They were made using Frosty Friends from Pink Petticoat which come with and without the sentiments.  Except for a handful of "specials"  my Christmas cards are all finished so now I can concentrate on bags and boxes, which will be fun.

Hope you are all well.

OSAAT # 224 - Giving Thanks

Hello to all my friends and fellow bloggers.  I hope this finds you all well.

Today I am posting another card for One Stitch at a Time challenge  "Giving Thanks". I am using "Black Eyed Susan Floral Corner" from Floppy Latte which you can find  HERE at our sponsor Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

My Card

I decided to make a CAS card this time to showcase the image. After colouring with Promarkers I added Glossy Accents to the centres and filled them with multi-toned brown micro beads which are not showing too well in the picture unfortunately. The sentiment is from JustRite Stampers "Grand Sentiments" stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa.  A few Hobby House pearls in the corner finished it off.  I matted it onto a lovely bronzy brown pearlescent card stock and then onto my 6" x 6" card base.

We would love you to join us for this challenge and this is the prize you can win.

h

Well that's all from me today.  Take care and enjoy what's left of the weekend.

Entered into:
http://www.aaacards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-game-of-thanksgivings.html

http://cagichallenge.blogspot.ca/2014/11/thanksgiving-traditions.html

http://greatimpressionsstamps.blogspot.ca/2014/11/november-challenge-thankful-thoughts.html

Christmas Card Club # 24 Teabag fold/Origami

Good morning - although it's actually pretty misty and murky here in Oxfordshire.  Time for another card for the Christmas Card Club.  This time it was Karen's choice and as you can see from the title she has chosen Teabag Fold/Origami..  Now I have only ever done teabag folding once in my life and this was when Karen chose it for a previous challenge.  I really struggled with it then and it took me simply ages!  This time I have been so pushed for time that I decided to cheat.  I hope you don't mind Karen but I have made a card with what I am calling faux origami.  It still involved cutting up and arranging squares of paper so I haven't strayed too far from the remit, I hope.

My Card

My card is approximately 15 cms square and cut from red card stock. The papers are from Hot Off The Press "Forever Christmas".  Punched snowflakes, red pearls and a peel off greeting finished a simple card.  This is totally not my style, but I actually don't think it is too bad.

Hope this finds you all well and looking forward to a good weekend.

Entered into:

http://www.craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.com/2014/11/crafty-calendar-november-challenge-its.html

Computer Boy

Good morning.  Yesterday was my birthday - I have now reached the advanced age of 65!  I can scarcely believe it!  Where did the last 25 years go because I'm sure I only celebrated my 40th  a short time ago!!  My friend Sue also retired this week so the four of us had a celebratory lunch.   We thought we would let the guys come - after all we needed somebody to pick up the bill!!  It started out by lashing with rain early on but fortunately it dried up later and the sun was shining.

My Card

Card base 6" x 6". This is a Cuddly Buddly  image and papers "Techie Teen".  It is very apt because I'm sure Sébastien was actually born attached to a piece of electronic equipment.  He certainly is now, whether it be laptop or game box  or something else.  Drives me mad, but that's youngsters these days. A couple of pieces of card candi and it was done.   Kept flat for a cheaper postage alternative.

Well, just a very quick post today.  Hope everybody is well.

MDF Hearts

I had a great time at the NEC last Thursday, spending some time during the day with Ang/Mrs Duck and then in the evening meet up with Patricia, Hazel, Kate and Ang's friend Nesta for a meal at the local Harvester. A super, if rather noisy, evening, just like last year!  The weather had turned filthy when it was time to go home. It didn't help that my junction onto the motorway was closed for roadworks.  Fortunately my very good friend Susie was travelling with me so I managed to get to the next junction okay.By the way I''m talking about  Susie Satnav, not my dear friend Planet Susie who didn't attend this time  ...  lol!

It was very late when I got home and so didn't look at my stuff and the next morning I sorted things out and put everything away - then realised I hadn't taken a picture.

My Projects

I bought some MDF pieces and so decided to make one of the hearts.  I had made the pink one whilst I was at the show.  The pink butterfly was on my desk so I stuck it on because it matched. I added a flower, ribbon and bow to the green one.  I used gold gilding wax on the edge and the backs of the hearts.  The was also a scrap of LOTV paper sitting on my desk so I covered the cat with it, both sides.  My great niece Charlotte is mad about cats (she has two) and she loves purple. so I think this will find it's way into her Christmas stocking.   I think I will probably swap the hessian twine for silver ribbon to match the bow.  I enjoyed doing these so I will be having a go with some of the other shapes now.


Hope everybody is well and keeping warm and dry - although I did see that snow is forecast in Scotland.  Brrr!  Far too early for snow!!!

Take care everybody.

Get Creative Challenges Blog Launch - Challenge #1

Good morning to all my friends and fellow crafters.   If you remember two weeks ago I said I had a new position on a new design team. Unfortunately there were some family problems for one of the owners and sadly it was shut down. Well I'm very excited this morning to post a card for a brand spanking  new challenge blog and today is the launch! Get Creative Challenges

The challenges will be every two weeks and alternating between the Pink and Purple Teams. The Pink Team kicks off and the challenge is "Anything Goes - with an Optional Twist of Stitching".  I got so carried away that I totally forgot the stitching.  Fortunately it was optional otherwise I would have had to try and rectify it.

The prize is three images of your choice from our sponsor Angies Digi Stamps.   Angie is also the owner of our blog and she has put so much hard work into getting our blog up and running in no time at all!!!  Thanks so much Angie. Please pop across and see what the rest of the Pink Team have produced using Angi's great digi images.  We would love you to participate in our very first challenge.

My Card

Ingredients

6" x 6" base card cut from white card stock

Image - Cute Bug in a Flower - Angie's Digis

Backing papers - First Edition  "Summer Breeze"

Spellbinders - Large Circles

Spellbinders - Lacy Circles

Sue Wilson - Faux Quilled Leaves

Promarkers for colouring

Wild Orchid Crafts - Roses

The Summer Breeze papers are both glitter effect but unfortunately this does not show up on the photograph.  They really are so pretty too.

Hope you are all well and have enjoyed your weekend.  Monday comes around so quickly doesn't it?

OSAAT #223 Anything Goes - With Distressing

Good morning to you all.  Thank you for dropping by again.  My goodness the time is certainly shooting by isn't it?  It's time once again for my DT post at  One Stitch at a Time.  This time the challenge is "Anything Goes ....... With Distressing."  This is another card I struggled with because I just don't like distressing - and I'm useless at it, so I'm not 100% happy with my card.  My Report Card will say - Must try harder!  Oh boy, remember those end of term school reports?  My mum apparently kept all our reports, going back to junior school, and we found them after she died.  Amazing!

My image and backing papers today are Orchid Beauty Digital Stamp and Paper Pack from Coosty Creations, available from our sponsor. Stitchy Beary Digi Outlet  There are four papers as well as the digi image so I was spoiled for choice.

My Card

The one thing I'm pretty happy about is the colouring of my image, because colouring really is not my strong suit!

Ingredients

6 x 6" base card

Spellbinders  Labels 18

Spellbinders Large Ovals

Corner dies - Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco C
Sentiment - Kaisercraft "Friendship Sentiments"

Pearls from stash

I used a scrap of Core'dinations Whitewash card, embossed with SB Dainty Dots, sanded over it and then distressed the edges with a distressing tool.  I should have stopped whilst I was ahead, because that is the thing that has spoiled the card.  Ah well, these things are sent to try us. I printed the orchid as a png. image onto one of the background papers from the pack and coloured with promarkers.   I used the same paper and one of the patterned papers as backgound. The corner dies were also cut from that same backing paper and then just some added pearls into each corner.

We would love you to join us and you have the chance to win our November Prize Pack.

Christmas Card Club # 23 Snowmen

Good morning. Well it's time for the members of our little Christmas Card Club to produce another card to add to our collection.  We are just a friendly little group and our aim is to make Christmas cards all year round and lessen the mad panic in November when you realise you still have masses of cards to make! One of us chooses the theme every two weeks and this time Lorraine chose "Snowmen."  I originally made a card with just one snowman and then remembered an image I have had for a long time but never used before so I made another card to show today and I will post the other one in a few days.

My Card

Ingredients

6" x 6" card base

Background papers -  LOTV Snow Princess + Solids pack

Pink pearlescent paper from stash

Image - Cuddly Buddly

Snowflake - Spellbinders Create a Flake 5

Border - Martha Stewart

Pearls from Stash
Red stickles on all the berries
A wee bit of glitter on the snow kids hats

This card came together practically without me knowing it.  I wanted to use these LOTV pads but  they didn't really fit my original card.  When I came across this digi image in my file I knew that I had to use it - just because of the papers I could use with it! The snowflake is die cut from glitter card but doesn't really show up.

Last night we went, with friends,  to a performance of "The Pirates of Penzance" by the Banbury Operatic Society. (Our nearest town.)  It really was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was actually the Broadway version and so had a couple of new songs in it.  It is years since I have seen this and it was great.  Mind you, I have been singing ever since - just before Sue P makes the comment! Lol!

Beautiful sunshine this morning so have a great weekend folks!

Entered into:

http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/10/challenge-235-christmas.html

Simple Male Birthday Card

Good morning and I apologise for my absence. I really don't know where the time goes I'm sure.

We've had a few problems over the last few days because somebody crashed their car on Thursday night on the road - right at the entrance to the bridle path which leads to our house and totally blocked it meaning we couldn't get in or out.  I discovered it early on Friday morning when I set out to do my shopping.  I had to reverse all the way back up the very narrow lane, a few hundred yards. Not ideal!  We then had to get hold of the police who then tried to contact the owner.  We managed to get it shifted so that we were able to squeeze in and out with difficulty until it was eventually towed away late this afternoon. You can't say we don't see life living in the depths of the country.  Needless to say it was Saturday before I was able to get out to shop.

I hope this finds you all keeping well. We are having a mixed bag of weather in different parts of the country but today has been like a beautiful spring day here - I'm scheduling this for morning, so I'm talking about today being Tuesday.

This is a very quick card because I had forgotten a cousin's birthday.  Well, I remembered just in time which is why it had to be an extremely quick card.

My Cards

The base card is 5" x 7 " cut from my black card. I embossed a piece of matt silver card stock with Crafters Companion Embossalicious "Argyle".  The sentiment is from JustRite "Grand Sentiments" which I stamped with Versamark onto black card and embossed with Detail Silver embossing powder and matted onto offcuts of silver and black card.  The cogs from Papermania Chronology collection were again all die cut from scraps.  The black dots and silver dots in the corners were the leftover bits from some of the dies.

Well that's it from today.  Take care!

OSAAT Challenge # 222

Good afternoon to all my friends and fellow crafters. Well it's time for our next challenge at One Stitch at a Time. This time it is "Anything Goes ....... With A Butterfly".   My image is "Fancy Free" by Barb Jenson which you can find  here.  Please click here to see the cards made by the rest of the DT this week. We would love you to join us.

My Card

Recipe

7" x 7" card from Anna Marie Designs

Papers - Pastel Dreams from LOTV

Die - SB Grand Decorative Circles

Butterflies - SB Jewels and Flourishes 

Tiny butterfly - a punch (sorry, no name on it)

Promarkers

Pearls - from stash

Sentiments - Mixed Sentiments from Personal Impressions 

Well, there's a lot of pink here isn't there? Very girly!  If you would like to join us you have the chance to win the October prize pack of digi images and papers. You could also be one of the Top Three chosen by the DT.  So what are you waiting for?

Hope you are all feeling well today, and if not I'm sending you a virtual hug from Oxfordshire.  I've been left with a very irritating cough so I'm hoping it will soon be gone.  Take care everyone!

Christmas Card Club # 22 - Christmas Reindeer

Hi!  I hope this finds you all well. I am posting my CCC card a day earlier, as I usually do, because my OSAAT card is due tomorrow.  I don't like posting twice on the same day. My card is fairly simple because  I have had quite a week this week with not a lot of time to spare.  John has had two hospital appointments and two dental appointments, one being an emergency.

On top of that, the treasurer of our Women's Institute group died last week and we thought it would be nice if the WI could do the catering for her funeral yesterday.  She was only a year older than me and was diagnosed with bowel cancer earlier this year.  It was quite a task because we were catering for about 120 people so lots of cooking, baking and sandwich making.  As well as preparing the village hall and all the clearing up afterwards.  Fortunately the church was right next door so we were able to slip out, attend the service and then shoot back again.  But we were all pretty exhausted at the end of the day.

I'm afraid I didn't actually get round to making my card until last night.  This time it was Rita to choose and her choice was Christmas Reindeer.

My Card 

Recipe

6" x 6" base card

Core'dinations Cardstock

Embossing Folder - Freebie from Cardmaking and Papercrafting

Reindeer - Marianne Craftables

Twiggy Tree - Memory Box

Sentiment - Elegant Christmas Swirls - JustRite

Pearls - Hobby House

I embossed the beautiful folder onto  Core'dinations card, which I believe is from the White Washed collection, and lightly sanded it.  I diecut the tree and reindeer from a scrap piece of card stock which was sitting under a pile of things on my desk.  It was patterned side up and when I moved it I discovered the other side was the perfect colour match for my card. I stamped the sentiment with silver ink and then just finished with a few Hobby House pearls.  I really like this folder  so I will be using it again.  It actually came with a reindeer stamp too but for speed I used the die cut ones.  I had to wait until this morning to photograph my card because the light wasn't very good by the time I had made it. However, the colour still doesn't show well - it is a very pale turquoise - more visible if you click on the image to enlarge it.

Well must go.  Take care.

Crafting at The Weekend - Mid-Month Remider

Good morning to you all - although it's actually pretty bleak here.  Hope it's a bit better where you are.  I was lucky enough to be asked to be part of the Design Team on this fabulous Challenge Blog - "Crafting At The Weekend",  and this is for the mid-month reminder.  Please pop across  and see what my talented teamies have come up with for this "Anything Goes" challenge, and we would love you to join in with us HERE.

My Card

As I said in my previous post I have a number of male birthdays coming up so this is another male card although I don't think it is gender specific. The sentiment makes it useful for a birthday but can also be used for other occasions. All in all quite a useful set.

Recipe

Stamp - "Kims's Coppice" from Woodware

Sentiment - Same stamp set as above.

Papers - from my Snippets box ( very old stuff)

Leaves - Punches from Woodware
Pearls - The Hobby House

Well this is just a quick post but I hope it finds you all well. Unfortunately my sore throat is no better, but I certainly shouldn't grumble about it.  Take care.