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Sunday 28 February 2016

All Wired Up for Christmas

Hi everybody.  Well it's that time again, it's the Rudolph Days Challenge which runs from the 25th until the end of each month and is run by Maureen over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and is always Anything Goes, and will ensure a few cards are made before that time in November when panic begins to set in when you realise that there is only about a month before they need to be made, written and posted.  I noticed also that Less is More this week have asked for wire to be included on a card, and the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge have a Tic Tac Toe this month and one of the options is to use red, green and gold, so with all this in mind here is the card I ended up making.


I began by folding a piece of white card to make a 7" x 5" card and then I used a snippet of white card and an embossing folder by Sheena Douglass called Frosty Ice, which I was lucky enough to win not long before Christmas.  I had a hunt through my box of bits and managed to find some gold wire which I have had for absolutely ages and have hardly over used.  It is reasonably thin and I started to bend it to make an interesting shape, and at intervals I looped the wire a couple of times at the places where the lights would sit.  It was a bit fiddly and not something I am likely to mass produce but I got there in the end.  I took a few brads and where I had looped the wire I made a hole with a pokey tool and put the brads through to hold the wire in place.

The lights were my own design and made with some snippets of the same white card and using Distress Inks in Festive Red and Mowed Lawn I inked them using a water brush and highlighted a little with a white gel pen and then covered them with clear Wink of Stella for a little bit of glitz.

I finished with a sentiment which I die cut from gold mirri card which I backed with Stick It which I find excellent for sticking sentiments and other quite small surfaces which it is difficult to get ordinary glue on to without getting in a total mess ..lol.

Thank you for dropping by today and I do really appreciate all the interest shown in my little slice of blogland.

Pat x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Casology - Distress.  I have used Distress Inks.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

So delighted to be chosen Winner of the Happy Little Stampers February Christmas Challenge.

Friday 26 February 2016

CAS Crocuses

Hi there all.  I  got out some Chocolate Baroque stamps called Spring Bird Crocus which I bought last year to use for Springtime cards and as the last couple of days have been lovely and bright, if rather cold, it does begin to seem a bit more Springlike, and as there is a family birthday coming up I decided to use the Crocuses.

 
I also decided to do the Happy Little Stampers February CAS Challenge which has asked that we use our embossing folders to stamp with.  This entails inking up the front piece of the folder and spritzing a little with water, and then with the folder layed flat placing the piece of card over it and rubbing it to transfer the ink to the card.  I used a Cuttlebug folder called Divine Swirl which sadly doesn't seem to be available now, and two colours of Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn and just inked the central part of the folder so that the pattern faded out and didn't entirely cover the snippet of white card.

I then stamped the Crocus image on to another snippet of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured with Distress Inks using a water brush.  I used Mustard Seed on the flowers and for the shadows I added a bit of Seedless Preserves, and then Mowed Lawn for the leaves and for the stems and outer leaf casings I added a little Walnut Stain.  I then created a little background with some Tumbled Glass and Walnut Stain to ground the plant.

I finished by rounding the corners on the topper and used a My Favourite Things Basic Stitch Lines die which puts a decorative pattern on the edge of a piece of card.  In this case I chose the pierced design.  It is a bit fiddly but you can repeat the pattern round the edge of a square or rectangle by lining it up a little in from the edge and making sure you place the other end of the die over the edge of the plates on your die cutting machine so that the pattern doesn't go right to the edge of the card, and then repeating this round all four sides.  I placed the pattern a little farther in from the edge than I would have liked so I trimmed a little from each of the edges.  

I then added a sentiment using the Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I put the card together and adhered the background layer and then gave the topper some dimension by raising it up on foam tape.

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

Pat  x

I also wish to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 217 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Casology - Distress.  I used Distress Inks so this is my take on the challenge.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.           
Simon Says Work it Wednesday Challenge - February.


Stamplorations CAS Card Challenge - February.




So delighted to be chosen as one of the favourites of the Happy Little Stampers February CAS Challenge.



Tuesday 16 February 2016

Stencilled Valentine Card

Hi there.  Well I hope everyone who celebrated it had a good Valentines Day.  I made this card for DH and also intended it for Less is More's 5th birthday but by the time I got round to posting it on Friday evening I missed the deadline because I thought it was midnight but it was 10pm.   Anyway here is the card which I wasn't sure DH would like as it is not the usual type of valentine card, but he did make all the right noises so I took that as a yes .. lol.











        









The second photo shows the lovely shine of the Pearl and Silver Embossing Powders which look a bit flat and uninteresting in the first photo.

I used a stencil from Claritystamp's Design Club and laid it on a snippet of white card and using Versamark ink I patted the ink through the stencil straight from the pad.  I decided to leave the larger heart out and covered it with a piece of paper under the stencil and where it slightly covered some of the hearts nearby I kept turning it to make sure I had covered all the surrounding hearts with enough of the ink. After removing the stencil I used some WOW White Pearl Embossing Powder and then heat set it.  I then placed the stencil back and put paper over the surrounding hearts and then covered the remaining heart with the Versamark and again removed the stencil and covered it in WOW Silver EP and heat set it.

I finished by stamping the sentiment using the Versamark and WOW Silver EP and then mounted this on to a snippet of silver mirri card and then mounted that on to a white square card.

Thank you for dropping by today.

Pat x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 216 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
Claritystamp Challenge - No 36 - Love.
CAS on Sunday - Valentine
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes.


Monday 1 February 2016

Rudolph Days Challenge January 2016

Hi everybody.  I expect some of you must think I am in a decline as I haven't been around for a couple of weeks or more but I have had a very busy time lately and yes I suppose you could say I have been in a creative decline in that the crafty mojo has been on a bit of a holiday but  hope it will return shortly.  I have in the meantime found a Christmas card which I haven't got round to posting so I have entered it at Rudolph Days Challenge which is run by Maureen of Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, and runs from the 25th to the end of the month. 


I used a snippet of red card to cut the curved border shape using Spellbinders Curved Borders One die and mounted that on to a snippet of white card.  I cut the Sue Wilson Noel Star die from another snippet of red card and mounted that as you see and surrounded it with the Craft Emotions Snow Crystals cut from another snippet of white card which I embossed with a falling snow stencil.  I then cut a slightly bigger piece of the plaid card which came from Dovecraft paper pad called Twelve Days of Christmas.  I think I might just as well have used a piece of plain red card instead of the patterned paper because it is so narrow you can barely see the pattern on it anyway.  I finished by mounting that on to the square white base card. 

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

Pat x

Edit:  I did manage to link my card but it is after midnight so hope it will be allowed.  If it is a bit late I will only be playing for fun this time!

I am also entering the following challenge:

Crafty Hazelnuts Challenge  - Anything Goes as long as it's Christmas.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 214 where we use up our snippets of paper and card.