Male card or Gift at International Art and Soul

 Good morning.  Our new challenge at IAAS has been chosen by Jennie and she wants to see a card or gift for the male of the species. My card is for  my nephew who has a birthday later this year and he is a very good cook. The sentiment on my card will amuse him and I am well prepared for his birthday now - as long as I don't put it away and forget what I did with it.  Actually, I don't do that now since I have a box  for the cards I have made for specific people and another box for other cards.

Please scroll to previous post if you are looking for my 

Christmas Card Club entry

My Card

This card is 6" x 7" so I needed to make an envelope to match. I used kraft card and cream card. i used Crafter's Companion "Hessian" embossing folder. I have the Hunkydory Book of Quotes which is where this image is from and the colour is perfect for males. The embellishments were just a few I had left over from another card and since they were suitable fro this I decided to make use of them.

Please pop across to the blog and check out the cards from my team mates.  If you are like me I always need as much inspiration for male cards as I can get.

Take care.

 

 

Christmas Card Club Challenge Christmas Flowers and Foliage

 Good morning on a day that's looking better than the last few; no wind anyway which is a blessing. Zoe has chosen our theme of Christmas Flowers and foliage.

My Card

I used a .5"x7" white card base. Crafters Companion Sparkling Trellis die. The rest of the dies are all from John Next Door - Poinsettia, Christmas Elements and Festive Swirl Sentiments. I mostly used up scraps of cardstock that I had left over in my box.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Christmas Carols for Christmas Card Club

 Good morning on a very bright sunny and frosty morning in Oxfordshire. Today we have another challenge for our Christmas Card Club ladies. We are a little group who challenge ourselves to make at least one card every two weeks and one of us will choose a theme each time.  Today's theme of Christmas Carols was chosen by Rita.

I managed to make three cards this time so my stash is coming on well already. Again I am a day early with my cards and the other girls will be posting theirs tomorrow.

Card # 1

Card # 2

Card # 3

Three very quick cards today but they look pretty effective.  All made with one die and one pass through the die cutting machine. The first two were made with dies from Pretty Quick Designs which I bought last year from Craft Stash.  The final card is a Gemini die form Crafter's Companion. The first two carols are pretty easy to see since they actually state the name of the carol in the die cut itself and I thought the third one could be Away in a Manger.

Take care and have a good day.

Christmas Bells at Christmas Card Club

 Good morning.  It's time for our next challenge for our Christmas Card Club and the theme is Christmas Bells.

My Card

Sorry for the very poor picture but when I tried to take a photo last night my camera seemed to have given up the ghost. I got John to take a look at it earlier so I have changed the image.  I will take a better photo when the camera is up and running.

This is another Create a Card from Crafter's Companion and I just added an MDF bell to the corner.

Take care.

 

 

Nativity at Christmas Card Club

 Good morning.  This is the second challenge for our Christmas Card Club where we make a Christmas card every other week in order to be ahead of the game come November. Margaret has chosen the theme and she wants to see the Nativity which is , of course, the reason for the season. I am a day early with my card and the rest of the girls will be posting on Sunday.

Card 1

 

 

For this card I used the Memory Box Starlit Nativity Scene. I cut it twice, once in black and again silver then pieced the two leaving me the opposite colourway to make a second card. For some reason I didn't notice the glue stains until  I had taken the picture.  However they came off easily with the glue eraser. Why is it you always see faults after the picture has been taken?

 

Card 2

 

 

This is my "Go To" die for Christmas using  a Crafter's Companion Create a Card die. I love it and it is so easy to do. I have used the last of my beautiful glitter card but hopefully I can get some more because  it puts me in mind of the sand in the desert from where the Magi made their long journey.

Well that's it from me today. Take care and enjoy the weekend. Mind you all days are the same now aren't they during lockdown?

Card for my sister

Good morning.  Just a quick post to show another of the cards I have sent to my sister.  I still send them every week or so because she appreciates them so much.  I guess I would probably feel the same if I lived alone.

My Card

 

White and purple card stock from stash. I cut the front down and used a Gemini Edgeable . I then cut  the purple card to the same size as the card back and glued it in place. This is the cornflower die from John Next Door and the leaves are the star flower leaves, also from JND.  I really love the cornflower die.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the day.

Take care.

Winter Wonderland Sketch Challenge

Good morning.  Today we have a new challenge at Winter Wonderland. We ask you to follow one of two sketches, which you will find on our challenge page, and also to add embossing either dry embossing using a folder or heat embossing. Our sponsor is  Dr Digi.

My Card

Recipe

6"square blue base card- Hobbycraft

paper - LOTV

image - Lonely This Christmas from sponsor

Scandinavian Christmas e/f - Crafter's Companion

Noble pierced rectangles - Sue Wilson

Promarkers to colour

I really like monochrome but I didn't actually set out to that with this card.  However, subconsciously that's exactly what I did. I cut the pennants by trimming the edges off the embossed strips and then added a pearl to finish off. I followed the above sketch but if you go across to the blog you will see the other choice of sketch the inspiration from the DT.

We would love to see you take part in our challenge but do remember we are a Christmas/holiday challenge only.

Take care and enjoy your day.

Nativity for CCC

Hello and hope all is well with you all. I can't really believe this that having not posted for a fortnight this is now my fourth in a row.  Unfortunately I am two days late with this so I must apologise to my friends in our little Christmas Card Club.

Card # 1

Card # 2

I have gone to extremes with these cards.  The first one is 4" x 6" and the second is 7" square. Nothing like variety. The first one uses an image from my Greeting Card Factory and I computer generated the sentiment before adding a blue mat and mounting onto a C6 card base.

The second one uses a Crafter's Companion Create a Card die, gold glitter card to resemble the desert sand and an mounted onto the base card. They were both quick and easy - and flat.

I found another watermark signature which I haven't used for a while so I used one on each card but I o prefer my original one because the font is better so I'll be sticking with it I think.

This is a quick post but I'll be back later in the week with another DT card.

Take care.

Tea Party at IAAS

Good morning.  We have another challenge at IAAS and the theme is tea party

My Card

This is a 6" square white base card and using "Tea Party" die from Crafter's Companion. I just added a blue mat and some pearls and job done.

My sister lives alone and it must be so difficult to be on your own during this time that I decide to send her a card every week.  Actually, that's not quite true.  I just sent a card to give her a bit of a lift  but she was so thrilled that I thought I would do it weekly. This was one of those cards.  I enclosed a tea bag and the following little verse inside.

"I cannot sit and chat with you

The way I'd like to do

So brew yourself a cup of tea

I'll think of you, you think of me."

The DT have come up with som great ideas for those challenge so it's worth taking a wander over to the blog and checking it out.

Take care.

Christmas Card Club Challenge #10

Good morning.  I can scarcely believe it's time to post another card for our little club.  It doesn't even seem like a week since the last one and certainly not two.  I know some people are struggling with lock down but I'm finding that time is just whizzing past. I guess there might be some slackening of the rules but it makes me rather nervous. However, being in the over 70's age group we were told from the outset that it would be 12 weeks for us and I don't find that a problem at all. In fact John and I have discussed it and we shall carry on regardless in exactly the way we have been  doing. John hasn't left our property since the problem first started which is about 11 weeks I think. We have plenty of land for him to be outside and he is working really hard with his landscaping project.  He calls it his Corona Virus project.  When he went through more than six months of chemo a few years ago having a project got him through it and he is dealing with this in the same way.  Keeps him from under my feet ... lol! 😃😉

The challenge this time is to show a Christmas door or window, and as you can see I'm showing a window.

My Card 

Recipe

7" x 5" tent fold card

die and e/f - Winter View- Crafters Companion

Pine twig dies - Sue Wilson

Fern dies - Britannia Dies

Sentiment die - John Next Door 

image from my stash

Tonic Nuvo drops

I bought this Crafter's Companion set a couple of years ago when they were extremely reduced in pric so a definite bargain.  It includes the window die, the embossing folder wall and two different tree stamps.  

Well that's it from me today.

Take care and stay safe.

Steamunk for MAWTT

Good morning.  The challenge this time is steampunk.  I'm not sure this is truly steampunk, but it does have plenty of cogs and it makes a great male card for my box.

My Card

Recipe

5" x 7" base card - made from Crafter's Companion black cardstock

matt silver card - Crafter's Companion

Argyle e/f - Crafter's Companion

cog dies - Papermania Chronology collection 

I went to Gloucester Docks Victorian Christmas Market last week with our WI and had a really good day out. I didn't actually spend too much but it was nice to be with friends.

This is an extremely quick post today I'm afraid.  I've had a very busy week so far and the next few days look like being more of the same.

Hope this finds you all well and surviving the cold weather.  I'm happy as long as John keeps the wood burners loaded  up!!

Take care and I'll see you in a day or two.

Anything Goes at Christmas Card Club

Good morning and I hope everybody is well. Gosh yesterday we had such a hard frost that I couldn't actually scrape the ice off the windscreen. Serves me right I guess for forgetting to put it under the carport.  I had to wait almost an hour before it could be done. I couldn't believe that an hour or so later the rain started to come down in torrents and it rained the entire day.  Very odd weather.

 This week's challenge is Anything Goes, which I actually find more difficult.  I prefer to have a theme to work towards, but that's just me.   It's been a very busy week or more, so again I have only one card to show. However, I have been getting on very well with my Christmas cards so I think I'm still on target.

My Card

Recipe

7" square base card - using Craft UK Ltd card stock

gold mirri card - Crafters Companion

Christmas Words die - Create a Card Crafters Companion

Snowflake ribbon die - Poppystamps

I think did pretty well in photographing this card.  Usually mirri card is so difficult and catches the light and reflections etc. So all in all not too bad at all. I love this die because you need to do so little with it to create a pretty card.  Ideal for batch making.

Anyway, thats all from today.

Take care and enjoy your day.

Love and hugs from Christine

Polar Bears or Penguins for Christmas Card Club

Good morning. Just a quick post from me.   I have had rather a trying week so I only have one card to show today. The theme, chosen by Shaz, is to use pengins or polar bears.

My Card

view from side 

Recipe

ice blue glitter card - Crafters Companion 

white glitter card from stash

polar bear dies - Britannia Dies

evergreen trio - Memory Box

sentiment die - Sue Wilson

snowflake die - The Works.

I made a side stepper card this time by using a piece of cardstock 7" x 11" which when cut, scored and folded becomes 7" x 5.5".  I love the Mama Polar bear and her little cubs marching along beside her. I cut them from plain white cardstock but everything else was cut from glitter card - which was very difficult to photograph. I tried using flash but that was just too bright and glaring so this was the best of a bad job.  The weather has been so bad and it's been pretty dark all day. 

Hope you are all well and managing to stay dry!

Take care.

Nativity at Christmas Card Club

Good morning.  My goodness this past year has flown by. Only two more challenges after this.  At least my stock of Christmas cards has been building up.

Rita has chosen the theme this month and, as you can see, it is Nativity.

My Cards

 

This  card  is 7" x 5" and cut from card from my stash.  I used an embossing folder from Crafters Companion on black card and used chalks to give it a bit of colour.  I almost threw my chalks out a few months ago because it is donkeys years since I have used them. I added a diecut star using a Sweet Dixie die. I computer generated the sentiment but I shall replace it because the font needs to be larger I think.

The rest of the cards were made using "Elegant Ornaments " from Imagine That Digis. There are three images plus seven sentiments in the set.  I made six CAS A6 cards  although the only sentiment I used was the "Peace" one.  I computer generated the others. I used Linen card from Hobbycraft and black card from Rymans. For the final card I made  it 6" square and printed the image larger. I used the same black card and linen card and the spotted paper was a free digi from my stash. The black pearl swirl was something else that had been in my stash for years.  I'm not too sure that it goes with the spotty paper but once it was on it had to stay, or risk damaging the paper in trying to remove it.

Well that's it from me Hope this finds you all well.

Take care.

Trees for Christmas Card Club

Good morning and I hope this finds you well. I had the pleasure of choosing the theme for this challenge and my choice was trees. This could have been Christmas trees, trees in the forest, etc so I'm looking forward to seeing what the other girls in our little club have made.

Card #1

 

Recipe

5" x &7" white base card

kraft cardstock 

stamp, dies, e/f - Winter's Tale Crafter's Companion

The brick embossing folder came in a set together with the window die, Christmas tree stamp and another tree stamp. The pine leaves were a separate die set but all from the same range. I bought them early this year when they were on sale but haven't used them until now.  I put a piece of  transparency film behind the die  to make it look glass.  The tree was stamped onto a scrap piece of card stock which I thought looked like wallpaper.

Card #2

Recipe

4" x 6" base card

Knban topper

unknown sentiment stamp

silver glitter card - Hobbycraft

Very simple card made with a glittered Kanban topper which I found in the back of a drawer.  There were four different ones on an A4 sheet.  It's difficult to see on the picture but the angel is holding her hand out to a white dove.

Card #3 

Recipe
5" x 7" base card
e/f - Sue Wilson
sentiment die - Sue Wilson
Snowflake tree die - Britannia die
pearlescent card - Crafter's Companion

Another simple card with just a few pearls added. 

Well that's it from me today.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Christmas Baubles for the Christmas Card Club

Good morning and thanks for dropping by. This time at the Christmas Card Club Elizabeth wants to see Christmas Baubles.  We also have the option of Anything Goes but I always try to follow the theme. As usual I am posting a day early; the other girls will be posting their cards tomorrow.

 Card # 1

 

Recipe

6" white base card 

Create a Card bauble die - Crafter's Companion 

Noble Pierced Squares - Sue Wilson

backing paper - Silent Night from First Edition

glitter card stock - Hobbycraft

sentiment stamp - from stash

I initially just used the glitter card as a mat but when I finished I realised there was a mark on the edge, right in the middle, which I couldn't get rid of.  In the end I decided to make a frame from another piece of the glitter card and add it to the top. Shame I wasted a large piece of glitter card which I had used as the mat.  Why do you never find your error until you have finished? Ah well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Card # 2

 Recipe

7" x 5" base card

Falling Snow e/f - Crafter's Companion 

Bauble die -  Amy Designs

Pine sprigs - Sue Wilson

Sentiment die - Sue Wilson

It's very difficult to see the embossing on the red card stock unfortunately.  Anyway another couple for my Christmas stash, which is mounting up nicely.

Summer has returned to Oxfordshire and I hope it is the same for you too.

Take care and enjoy your weekend.

Shades of one Colour for IAAS

Good morning. After rain and mist yesterday we have another lovely sunny morning today.

Today is  my DT card for IAAS where the theme is to use shades of one colour.

Please scroll down to the previous post if you are looking for my
Christmas Card Club card.

My Card

Recipe

A5 card base - Crafters Companion Centura Pearl card

glitter card - Hobbycraft

teal pearlescent card - Limetree Crafts

Cross dies - Spellbinders

Sunray die - Sue Wilson

Oval die -  Austrian Collection Sue Wilson

 Sentiment computer generated

My great nephew's Christening takes place this afternoon in Co Durham so I won't be attending.  However,  my card was posted early in the week so it should have got there in good time. 

Why not pop over to the blog and see what the rest of the team have made for this theme?  We are a "Just For Fun" challenge but I think it often gives some inspiration, particularly if your mojo is not working as efficiently as it should - and I think we all have some of that at times.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Angels 0r Fairiesfor Christmas Card Club

Good morning.Thankfully the snow seems to be thawing although there is still quite a bit hanging around. I'm glad I do't live in Scotland at times like these - much as I love it.

Time for another Christmas card for our little club.  This time GranMargaret has chosen the theme and as you can see she wants to see angels or fairies.  I have gone with angels.

My Card

 Recipe

7" square base card Anna-Marie Designs

backing paper - Silent Night  from First Edition

Die'sire e/f - Seasonal Music

stamp - Angelic Candle  LOTV

sentiment stamp -Little Claire

holly corner die - Signature die Joanna Sheen

Promarkers tocolour

flowers -Wild Orchid Crafts

Lacy Circle dies - Spellbinders

lace and pearls from stash

I haven't used this rubber stamp for years and I don't know why because it is gorgeous. I have had this First Edition paper pad for a number of years and there is not much left of it now, which is sad. I'm trying to make a point of using some papers dies, stamps etc that I haven't used for a long time.  We tend to get fixated on the new ones and forget about the ones which we used to love.

Well that's it for today.Hope you are all well and keeping warm.

Take care.

Entered into:
The 12 Months of Christmas

New Year Card

Good morning.  I had rather a sad and stressful few weeks coming up to Christmas and some of my Christmas cards just didn't make it to the post office I'm afraid. On the plus side it does mean that I am ahead on cards for Christmas 2019!  During the week between Christmas and New Year I made a couple of New Year cards for some friends who live a long way from us and whom we rarely see.

My Card

Recipe

6" square base card - Hobbycraft card stock

silver mirri and silver glitter card - Crafter's Companion

number dies - Spellbinders

large pennant die - The Works

small stitched pennant die - Sue Wilson 

star die -  Spellbinders

navy/silver spotted paper - Crafter's Companion "Decorative Christmas"pad

white ribbed card - Jelly Bean Crafts

sentiment - computer generated

I wanted to extend the large pennant so I die cut it twice in the two mediums and joined them behind the sentiment pennant.  This card came together so easily.  I knew in my mind exactly what I wanted to achieve - and it came out just as I had envisioned for once.

It was very difficult to photograph because the light was so bad. The spotted paper really is gorgeous in real life. The numbers look black but are in fact navy.  All in all it looks so much better than the picture shows.

Well that's it from me today.  Have a good day.

Take care.

Sparkle and Shine at IAAS

Good morning.  Here I am with my third card in three days.  This time, as you can see, it is time to sparkle for IAAS. This time the challenge will run for four weeks to give the DT a chance to spend time with family and friends over the Christmas season.

If you are looking for my card for the Christmas Card Club challenge please scroll down to previous post.

My Card

Recipe

centre step card die -  Press Cut 

silver non-shed glitter card - Crafters Companion

silver mirri card - Crafters Companion

candle die - Winter Wonderland collection Crafters Companion

holly corner dies - Joanna Sheen

sentiment die - Britannia

I think the card pretty much speaks for itself - it is just a very sparkly CAS card.

Well that's it from today.  We are having visitors today so I need to wrap up their gift and sort out a Christmas card! Nothing like being last minute!!

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.