Joy - CHNC Challenge 113

Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well with you, as it is with us here. It's been a fine but still chilly day here - spring is around the corner but we're not quite there yet.

Today, the card I'm sharing is another Christmas card ... this one was made especially for CHNC Challenge 113. Hazel has asked for just one word this week.

As you can see I've gone for the word 'joy' ... from the cards I've seen already, this is a popular choice. I simply stamped the Stampendous Mini Joy in VersaFine Crimson Red on to the Father Christmas topper and added a touch of gold glitter to make it shine.

The papers, and the topper, were included in the same RAKs mentioned in yesterday's post. I've challenged myself to make good use of them this week and, so far, this is the second card I've made. The music paper is the real McCoy! I just tore round the edges and inked them with TH's Vintage Photo distress ink and added a panel of the gorgeous red paper with gold glitter embossing ... I think this is a hand made paper. Some gold card candi finishes the card off.

I've remembered to submit my card to Hazel's Challenge Extra for February where the remit is for anything as long as it's Christmas themed.

Ah, finished writing this post just in time for Pointless - you'd think I'd planned it :)

Take care everyone and happy crafting,

Joy to the World - February's Rudolph Day Card

Hi Everyone,

Second post today ... I'm excelling myself :)

I interrupted blog hopping around the WOYWWers desks this evening to nip into the craft space to make a card for this month's Rudolph Day challenge.

Not a lot to this quick and easy card. The tree patterned paper and the green die-cut greeting came in one of the RAKs received at Christmas from the lovely members of UKPC - once again, many thanks :) I thought the combination of green and black was so striking, I decided that the only addition needed was a touch gold and a smidgen of red.

The black topper was cut out using Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Five and to make the gold mat I did my usual ... I traced round the die on to the gold paper and cut it out by hand. The black flourishes for the corners were also cut using a Spellbinders die. They were then decorated with spots of gold Liquid Pearls. Two sprigs of holly from stash were used to give that final splash of colour.

I'm submitting this card to the following:

Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge - February 2013 - over at Stamping For Pleasure.

Hazel's CHNC Challenge Extra for February - anything goes as long as it's Christmas

As it is now the wee small hours here, I'm calling it a day, but I'll be back with another challenge card tomorrow.

Goodnight, sweet dreams everyone.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW 195

Morning WOYWWers, Followers and Bloggers All,

Wednesday again! And a lovely day it is here too - the sun is shining, we have a blue sky - and here's what's on my desk this morning.

I've been organising my humongous ribbon collection ... and baker's twine, and cord, and fibres! As you can see I've simply wrapped the ribbon, or whatever, round sheets of white card - colours sorted alphabetically - and slipped them into plastic inserts. They are then filed into some inexpensive but pretty ring binders found at one of the nation's largest supermarkets. Three ring binders, to be precise! It's shameful to have so much ribbon, etc., - hoarding at it's worst!!! During the process a drawer, several boxes, and not a few of those hanging up thingies, have been emptied/cleared/removed - the craft space is looking a lot less untidy than it did.

I've still to sort out a wee box of fibres ... later ... then it's back to cataloguing the stamps. A job I wish I'd thought of from the outset, but then it's easy to be wise after the event, and I certainly didn't think that I'd ever invest in more than a handful of stamps. Beginners, be warned! Mine, may be a modest hoard collection but it's proving difficult to keep track of what is where. 

To the left of the binders is a wee pile of photos and a sketch - the next scrap page project. At the back, on top of the usual mess crafting necessities, there's the latest issue of Craft Stamper - you can see the brilliant free stamp lying beside that much needed cuppa. I can see those little people being very usefully employed on scrap pages :) 

That's it for today - short and sweet, just like Julia likes it. Julia who? Julia Dunnit, of course, the brilliant instigator of this weekly desk fest. Hop on over to the Stamping Ground and join in, if you don't already. Once I've linked up, I'll be popping into to check out as many desks as I can ... I may be some time :)

Take care everyone and have a very happy WOYWW. 

Ruby Anniversary Card - A Sunday Snippet Make

Hello Everyone

I hope this finds you well and enjoying Sunday wherever you are. Up here in the south-west of Scotland we are enjoying some very unseasonably good weather - blue skies and fluffy white clouds. Yes, it's true, we did see a few snowflakes fluttering down yesterday, but blink and you would have missed them ... and I was getting so excited thinking I might, at last, get out and build a snowman :(

I have a card for the Snippet Playground - over at Week 61 Pixie's Crafty Workshop - to share with you today.

Our friends, Margaret and Brian, are celebrating their 40th anniversary today. They are somewhere in the beautiful Lake District enjoying a few days chilling out - hope the weather stays good for them.

Apart from the card base, the card has been made up from supplies that were either gifts from friends, freebies from crafting magazines or scraps out of the snippet pile: the snippets are the wine red cardstock used for layering and matting;  the embossed background came from a wee stack of embossed card from a crafty buddy, Chris - I still don't have the gorgeous, yet elusive, Tied Together folder; the stamps are the freebies.

The millions of gems - well, okay, I'm exaggerating, there's 33 altogether - took forever to stick down! Just as well the rest was quick and simple to put together. Just a case of trimming the card, stamping and cutting the topper and greeting and then putting it all together.

It's not like me, but I've kept the inside très minimal ... M&B do appreciate the cards I make, but I just know that they will return it to me in a few months time for me to reuse in any way I wish ... they much prefer to do that than send it to a landfill site.

Different strokes for different folks  - me, I have to force myself to toss anything ... long time followers of this blog will already be aware that I have well honed hoarding instincts. Personally, I blame post-war rationing and the need to 'make do and mend' ... and growing up in a large family with a handful of younger siblings who clearly thought nothing was sacred to their old sister. I haven't forgotten the little perisher who cut the fringes of my doll's hair, this is not a good look on rooted hair, and drew moustaches in permanent ball-point pen on their little faces!?!?

Materials:
Kanban white card base
Wine cardstock for layering and matting
White card embossed with the 'Tied Together' folder trimmed to size (gift from Chris)
Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Five die - as usual, I traced round the die to make the matting for the topper
Special Occasion stamp set free with February issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft
Colorbox ink, Dark Peony
Red gems from Anita's gem wheel

Yesterday, I was buried deep in a pile of ribbon ... in the process of reorganising it, in the vain hope that I'll be able to just put my hand on exactly the right colour and shade needed at any given time. When done, I'll post a photo of the end result.

Before I go, reasons to celebrate - I'd like to welcome my newest follower, Sara :) My 200th follower, yeah!!! And, if I'm not mistaken, this is my 600th post! When I remember how trepidatious (for the collectors of big words - this is today's) I was when I wrote my very first post, it's a miracle I'm still here. Here's to another 600!

Take care everyone and happy crafting,

Crystal Snowflakes - a card for CHNC 112

Evening All

I've had the laziest of days but I blame the dental appointment I had to keep this morning. It put me out of sorts for the rest of the day.

Don't get me wrong, he's a very nice man and all he did was prod around my teeth and gums, take an x-ray of the root filling he did last year, to check it was fine, and entertain me with some interesting facts about his home country, Norway, and his experiences in the military as a Skiing Marine ... sounds very James Bond-ish, doesn't it. No, I just get myself in a state of anxiety beforehand which exhausts me completely ... I know, I shouldn't be such a scaredy cat!

However and happily, I've recovered enough to make this quick little card for Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge.

The challenge this week is to 'let it snow again' so I've stamped and embossed snowflakes in a swoop from mid right across to bottom left of the card using crystal powder ... and lovely though the effect is, it doesn't show up well in the photographs.

The colour of the stamped greeting and gems was dictated by the gorgeous wine colour of the ribbon chosen for the top. The finishing touch was to round the corners at the bottom of the card.

Materials used:
Kanban square white card base
Woodware corner rounder
Hot of the Press Magical Christmas stamp set
VersaMark ink pad 
Stamp n Stuff Crystal embossing powder
Colorbox Dark Peony ink pad
Wine coloured organza ribbon and pink gems from stash

Edited note: Hazel has just reminded me, because, as usual, I forgot, that I can also submit this card to her monthly challenge extra - Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - where anything goes :)

I'm told there's a cuppa with my name on it waiting downstairs so I'm off to grab it before it gets cold.

Take care everyone and happy crafting,

February Flowers - Wednesday's layout finished

Hi Everyone

Hope you are well and gearing up to enjoying the weekend.

I thought I'd let you see the layout I was working on yesterday, now that it's done.

Apologies for the glare coming off one of the sequins - it didn't matter how I tried to photograph this page, there was always a glare coming from somewhere!

The layout is based on another of Shimelle's sketches.

With one or two little differences. For example, I've added two small embellishment clusters, top left and bottom right. Otherwise, the page is as suggested in the sketch. I've only recently discovered how helpful it is to work from a sketch ... can't think why I resisted it for so long :)

Materials used:

Paper - Docrafts Papermania Vintage Notes for the base and photo matting, Crate Paper Neighbourhood Collection, Echo Park This & That Border Strips 

Stamps - American Crafts Dear Lizzy set 

Inks - Momento London Fog, ProMarker Ice Grey 5 

Alphas - BoBunny Weekend Market, Adornit Carolee's Creations Tiny Sunshine 

Embellishments - Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi pink flowers, We R Memory Keepers Aqua washi tape, Turquoise sequins from stash

The photos were taken as we strolled through the garden at Culzean Castle last Sunday. It was a bright, sunny, day - perfect for flower spotting. First, we stopped on the bridge above to look down at the garden and the most heavenly scent of honey drifted up towards us - it was from the viburnum that you see in the top shot. Then down in the garden there was clumps of snowdrops everywhere, always a sign that winter's on its way out. But the biggest surprise was the single African daisy (osteospernum)! As the name suggests this is a flower suited to warmer climes and here it is flowering through out winter - this one has to be as tough as old boots to survive a Scottish winter :)

Time I called it a day ... got a date with the dentist tomorrow. It's just for a check-up but I still have to steel myself for the experience :(

Take care folks and happy crafting,

WOYWW Wk 194

Hi WOYWWers, Followers and Everyone,

I'm back!

Last week was so frantically busy here that there was just no way I could join in the fun over at What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. And how I missed it! Wondering why? Just hop on over to the Stamping Ground. There you will find our noble Keeper of the Desks, Julia Dunnit, with an impressive number of links to lots of other folk, just like me, only too willing to reveal their desks no matter whether they are tidy or not :)

On my desk this week is a partly done scrap page featuring some photographs of spring flowers taken at the weekend, the sketch I'm basing the layout on together with the embellishments and stamps I may or may not use and, of course, the leftover paper scraps. At the back there are a few photographs, also taken at the weekend, also lined up to be scrapped. Well, that's the plan!

Lying on top of the scrap page is my newest acquisition - it's a ruler with a metal edge and a row of pricking holes along one edge. A bargain, it cost less than £2 from a recently opened branch of Dunelm Mill in Kilmarnock. As we were in the area on Monday, we popped in to give it the once over - there's a small crafting section but I was remarkably restrained - restrained for me - and the ruler was the only item that came home with me :)

Another bargain is the copy of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I got it secondhand for a couple of pounds thinking I might use some of the illustrations in projects - that's if I can bear to remove any of the pages from the book.

Just behind the book is a lovely Valentine's card, which arrived yesterday, all the way from Canada and sent by gorgeous bloggy friend and fellow WOYWWer, Darnell. The topper is stamped in the shape of a bag of chocolates ... they look like, if my memory serves me well, Hershey's Kisses. Haven't had these chocs since I left the States in 1996 but I still remember how yummy they are ... thanks for the memory jog, Darnell :))

Everything else on the desk has been seen many times before ... regular WOYWWers will recognise them and would probably be shocked if I ever cleared any of it away. One day, perhaps, when it takes over and encroaches on my craft mat, maybe, we'll see :)

That's it then for today ... it's after midnight here and time to call it a day. I'll be back in the morning to link this post and join in the snoopathon - can't wait to see what you have on your desk this week.

Happy WOYWW and happy crafting,

Thinking of You Card

Hi Everyone,

At last, I think I can say that this busy period I've been going through is over for me ... well, all but a visit to the dentist later this week ... and I'll be able to settle down to a bit of serious crafting time again :)

However, I do have a card to share with you. It was made for a friend whose husband, sadly, died recently.

Never the easiest of cards to make, I kept it simple. And, in fact, the design of this card is a variation on one I made a couple of years ago - I like the clean look of it. I also find grey softer and less stark than black.

Materials used:
a white card base
a piece of white card embossed with the Tied Together folder (a much appreciated gift from a crafting buddy)
a piece of grey card for matting
grey ribbon
Hero Arts Classic Messages 'thinking of you' stamp
Memento grey ink pad, London Fog

I'm happy to report that Bonnie seems much improved - she hasn't been sick since the vet injected her on Friday. I don't mind telling you now that I was very worried for her. She is, at fourteen, a little old lady and I'd steeled myself to be told the worst so what a relief to find that what ailed her was treatable.

The EM is well again too and very much back to his normal vibrant self ... he even went to his keep fit class this morning :)

As it was a bright and sunny day, we drove over to visit my mother's memorial garden this afternoon.  It was lovely to see the pot of tiny Tete-a-Tete daffodils we put there at our last visit in full bloom.

And for those of you who follow Arihanna's progress, she is, at 14 months, walking. The last time we visited she was staggering around by hanging on to the furniture but hadn't plucked up the courage to let go - yesterday, she did. There will be no stopping her now :))

It's late, time to call it a day.

Take care everyone, and happy crafting,

Card for a footballer's birthday

Hi Everyone,

Hope you  have all had a great Saturday and are enjoying the weekend so far.

My days continue to be very busy right now but I did somehow find time to make a birthday card for my footballer grandson - in Celtic colours, of course :)

For the backing I put some green coredinations through the Cuttlebug using diagonal stripe embossing folder from Darice and almost came unstuck right there! For some reason the folder did too good a job of embossing leaving the card cut right through in places. I suppose the card was too thin for the job :( However, all was not lost because the card came apart on the stripes leaving me with neat strips of embossed card. A bit of sanding and then judicious placing on the base and the result wasn't a complete disaster after all - a happy accident, you might say :)

For the topper I fell back on an old favourite, Kanban. I swear they make a topper for every occasion and they have helped me out many times when I've needed a male themed card ... especially for my football daft grandsons :) I simply edged the topper and greetings with black ink and matted them on to some silver paper from my stash ... great stuff for matting because it isn't as shiny as mirri and it's not as thick either.

Materials used: 

white card base

green coredinations card

Darice diagonal stripes embossing folder

Kanban footballer topper and greetings sheet

silver paper for matting

embellishments - black ProMarker, green card candi,  natural twine

Thank you to everyone who has enquired after Bonnie - she seems to be doing much better. It's probably too early to tell, but after the injection the vet gave her yesterday she hasn't been sick and we both had a good night's sleep - the first for days. In fact, she seems much more her usual self and has even gone out into the garden more today ... that, of course, could be down to the lovely sunny weather we are enjoying here. 

I'm off now to see if we can have a second uninterrupted night's sleep so I'll bid you all goodnight.

Take care and happy crafting,

Music - Less Is More Challenge Card

Hello Everyone,

Another quick post this evening with a card made especially for the Less is More Challenge for Week 106.

The requirement this week was for a one layer card with music as the theme. I don't have too many music themed stamps but I did have this rather wonderful gramophone stamp from Artemio - that brings to mind the trademark for His Master's Voice - and an Inkylicious music script, from the Simply Script stamp set - both seemed to pair together well.

 

I've used Tim Holtz distress inks in three shades, Pumice Stone, Evergreen Bough & Stormy Sky - sponged on to create the background square - and the gramophone is stamped in Vintage Photo. The script was stamped in Pumice Stone over the masked gramophone image. The edges of the card front are inked with Pumice Stone.

It's taken me two days to make this card but only because we were out and about celebrating Valentine's day in style yesterday and we had to be out a rather a lot today too. 

Firstly, with Bonnie, aka The Boss, who has a couple of bothersome health problems - ear and stomach trouble. This necessitated a visit to the vet. She has had her ears cleaned out and an injection which may help  settle her stomach ... hopefully that will do the trick, if not more tests will follow. 

And secondly, it is the fourteenth birthday of our youngest grandson, Alun, today so, after we got Bonnie settled back at home, we went off to see him and give him his present. He's grown so much over the last couple of years - he's taller than me now! 

Must hurry off now and get this card submitted. 

Hope you are all well. Have a wonderful weekend and take care.

Happy crafting,

Passing Out ...

... no, not literally!

Hi Everyone,

No WOYWW today ... I've a busy few days in front of me and I just know I wouldn't be able to give my fellow WOYWWers the attention they deserved :( Besides, there really was nothing on my desk to show ... it's so tidy it's boring. Instead, I have this scrap page to share.

The photo in this layout shows me dressed in my 'best', No.1, uniform immediately after my Passing Out Parade in February 1966. I'd just finished the six-week initial training period at Queen Elizabeth Barracks,  Guildford, which, sadly, no longer exists. To my knowledge, this is the only photo of me in uniform still in existence - one for the Family History album, methinks :)

Choosing the papers to go with this particular photo was interesting and not just because it's black and white, the subject didn't lend itself to the obvious 'vintage' style papers.  They just didn't work with it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any swinging sixties style patterns in my stash - pop-art might have been good. I could have tried green ... the WRAC uniform was dark green - designed by no less a man than Norman Hartnell, designer to the Queen! - but that didn't appeal. I finally decided to use the very current Dear Lizzy papers because I like the aquas and teals and the stripes and triangles struck me as more appropriate than flowers/leaves/etc.

The layout is a scraplift inspired by Hayley Morris's page, entitled 'My Precious Memories' in Issue 70, Scrapbook Magazine.  For the background, I chose a dark grey SEI paper which had a tiny lighter grey dot pattern. The embellishments are a mix of ready-made stickers and die-cuts and a few I made myself, e.g the yellow stars were all made using either a die or were punched from Dear Lizzy paper and the taupe deckle-edged circles were die-cut from scraps of Kanban paper. When it came to the journaling, I almost came unstuck - where to write it was a bit of a test. I suppose I could have used a white pen on the grey background but I didn't think I could do a good job with the only white pen I own. As you can see, I went with filling in the area to the right of the photo.

Supplies used:
Papers: SEI Juliette, My Romeo patterned paper(side 2) for base; Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic paper collection; Kanban Vintage Tapestry
Embellishments: Corners from Docrafts Chronology Die-cut Toppers; My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Howdy Doody 'Lovely' stickers; Teresa Collins Fabrications 'Canvas' Die-cut sheet & Sticker Sheet; teal coloured tiny brads; teal/white baker's twine; Trimcraft Flower Riverbank Revels yellow polka dot washi tape
Titles: BoBunny letter stickers Country Garden Tiny Type; American Crafts thickers Newsprint
Tools: Docrafts X-cut nesting dies Star & Spiro Circle; X-cut star corner punch

Only a few snippets went in to the layout but I think I'll be skipping over toDi's at Pixie's Crafty Snippets. It's week 59 and I'm keen see what the others in the playground are up to :))

More background to the photo which might be of interest to some readers:  The WRAC - Women's Royal Army Corp - was disbanded in 1992 and women have since been integrated into the rest of the army. Queen Elizabeth Barracks was also known as the 'Powder Puff' barracks - all those women - and was the height of luxury compared with any other army camp I was billeted in - only four beds to a room!  Now redeveloped, it is an estate of private houses and flats, I believe.  We had two uniforms, one for 'best' and another, more practical one for everyday wear.  The best, as seen in the photo, was the least flattering ... it had a way of flattening our natural attributes :) Oh, and I loathed that cap - it had a metal band inside that was like a vice - it hurt! I much preferred the everyday beret :)

Right, I'm reliably informed that there is a pot of tea on the go, so I'm off to get a cuppa and start planning the next project on the to-do list.

Thanks for visiting, take care all and happy crafting,

Something Fuzzy - The Scrap Our Stash Challenge

Good Afternoon Everyone

I hope you have all had a great weekend and you are enjoying Monday too, even if it does mean back to work for many of you.

I have a quick share for you today.

Over at Scrap Our Stash this month the challenge is to use something fuzzy in a layout. These tiny fuzzy pompoms were leftover, and forgotten, after a Christmas cardmaking session with my two youngest grandchildren a few years ago ... yes, they've been in my stash that long! However, when I saw the challenge theme, I immediately remembered them and thought they would be perfect for this challenge.

I love these snowy photos but choosing papers that looked good with them was so difficult. First, I pulled out blue based papers but they just didn't look right. In fact, most colours didn't look right except the reds - an unusual choice for a winter scene but the page is going into a Christmas album so I decided to go with the red.

This is the sketch, designed by Karen, Karen's Papercraft Life, for members of UKPC, I used for the layout. The base is a smooth white cardstock, the corners stamped with flourishes and spritzed with red and gold shimmer mist. Instead of having a circular shaped photo, I decided to layer a cropped photo on top of a doily. The die-cut reindeer was embossed, first in a white coating and then a coat of crystal powder, given golden hoofs and nose and given a blue gem for it's eye. 

The embellishments consists of circles and a pennant cut from patterned paper, red die-cut flowers (a Christmas gift), clear gems and the red and white fuzzy balls. The pennant has 'winter wonderland' stamped on it.

Materias used:
Base - 12" x 12" sheet of white cardstock, Stampin' Up
Stamps - Dawn Bibby Delicate Scrolls, American Crafts Christmas Date Stamp
Shimmer Mists - Cosmic Mist Lava Red & Rich Gold
Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark 
Embossing powders - white, crystal and gold  
Papers - Docrafts Papermania, Happy Days Collection & Noel Collection, My Mind's Eye, Love Me Do Blooming Love
Alphas - Docrafts Forever Friends Cosy Christmas, Glitz Teeny Alpha Pearl, Doodlebug Design Simply Sweet Blue Jean
Embellishments - white paper doily (large), die-cut deer and flowers, clear and blue gems, fuzzy balls

More often than not, I'm not too pleased with my scrap pages, but I am happy with this one. I've still to add the journaling but I'll do that before I find a home for it in the album.

Today, I completed another page that I've been working on for days - it's been a struggle thinking up the title! It's quite different from the one above and all I have to do now is photograph it and then I'll be able to post it.

Take care all and happy crafting,

Happy Mail - The Friday Smile on Saturday ...

... again!

Hi Everyone,

I really did intend posting this yesterday but didn't make it and it has taken me forever to get to the computer today. However, I'm finally here and eager to show what has made me smile this week.  First up is some happy mail that arrived this week from two lovely fellow bloggers.

First up is Lynn, Crafty Linby, who sent me a wee package containing these little wooden embellishments - something I never seem to have enough of - and some labels together with a gorgeous card. The cheery little lady with her umbrella certainly put a smile on my face :)

Next came Helen's - of The Craft Project - who has recently started a regular two-weekly feature on her blog, Trash to Treasure. The plan is that she will make a project using something that would ordinarily end up in a landfill site! The silver card in the photo was the first of these projects ... you would never believe that it's made from what she terms 'cracker debris', i.e. what was left of the crackers after Christmas dinner - click this link here to see the full article. A clever bit of recycling :)  Lucky me, my name was selected from those that commented to receive the card. Helen also enclosed a beautifully lined envelope to match with the card together with another of her beautiful cards! The toadstool house and the tweety bird are guaranteed to make me smile :)

Now that's the kind of mail that is always going to make me happy :)

And next ... My son has a lovely partner called Elaine who is a keen Facebook user - well, the whole family is. I think she must despair of me because I am am just about the worst at checking in to see what the family are up to. However, I did look yesterday and here's what Elaine has been up too!

Impressive or what? It's been a year in the making!

And finally, I couldn't resist this photo, from Elaine too.

Take care all. Hope your having a wonderful weekend. I'm off to do a bit of scrapping now.

Happy crafting,

Penguin Parcel Carrier - CHNC 110

Evening Everyone

Just popping in with a card for Hazel's weekly challenge over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Week 110. This time she has asked us to pick up a p-p-p penguin or anything else that begins with P.

This cute little LOTV topper fitted the bill perfectly. The card was quick and easy to make - it had to be as my crafting time is a tad limited at the moment :( The topper is edged with an aqua Promarker - still aiming for cards that will be posted to be as skinny as possible! There's a little iridescent glitter dotted around the sky and snow.

The aqua polka-dotted card and the strip of embossed pearlescent card used for the belly band came from the snippets boxes.

Itsy-bitsy leftover strips were used to decorate the inside ...

... and back.  Nothing fancy, just strips edged with the aqua marker.

Materials used:
Base - white square shaped card
Cardstock - Kanban foiled background card, Teal Polka Dots, white pearlescent card embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder - an oldie but a goody, a gift from Lisa a couple of years ago and it's still a favourite :)
Topper - LOTV Cute Squares, Christmas Animals - Decorations edged with a Cool Aqua ProMarker
Embellishments -aqua polka dotted ribbon from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy collection, turquoise gems from an Anita's gem wheel.

I'm also going to submit this card to the following:

Hazel's other challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra blog - Anything Goes

and 

Di's snippet challenge over at Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 58

I've been submitting to this challenge for getting on for two years, so you would think I would have bottomed the snippet pile by now ... not a chance!

I have some photos for a Friday Smile post so I'll be back later with that. In the meantime, I'm off to watch the second part of this week's Silent Witness ... it's edge of the seat stuff - something for my friend, Maureen, over at Scraps of Life by ScrappyMo, to look forward to. Maureen tells me she follows the series too :)

Take care everyone and happy crafting,

Love Heart - Less is More Challenge Card

Hello Everyone,

A quick post this evening but hope all is well with you.

The EM is still poorly but improving so with a little judicious juggling of my domestic and nursing duties, I managed to find enough time to make this card for the Less Is More challenge this week.

The challenge is entitled Kraft & Kreme.

The Kraft base has flourishes stamped with a watermark ink and spattered with a cream acrylic paint - the dregs in the bottom of a tester pot diluted with water. The heart - another freebie from Craft Stamper - is stamped on to cream textured card and then the word 'love' is stamped over that.

The inside is embellished with two tiny cream hearts.

Just one big heart on the back.

Materials used:
Base - Kraft cardstock trimmed to measure 9 x 4.5" and folded to make a 4.5" square card
Hearts - Leftover textured cream cardstock 
Inks - Versamark, Tim Holtz DI Pumice Stone
Paint - B&Q Matt Soft Cream 
Stamps - Sheena Best Friend Swirls, Heart free with Craft Stamper magazine, BoBunny Love Birds stamp set
Tools - fine tip paint brush, small heart punch

As well as the Less Is More Kraft & Kreme challenge, I'm submitting this to Di's challenge over Pixie's Crafty Snippets, Week 58 ... not only are the hearts made from snippets but the paint for the spatters were dredged from the bottom of a nearly empty pot!

Incidentally, Less Is More is celebrating it's second anniversary this week - congratulations to everyone involved :)

As soon as I'm done here I'm off to bed - it's been a long day and I need my beauty sleep. But before I go I'd like to extend a warm welcome to my newest follower - 1st Man - who tells me that he wants to do some crafting - that is, once he gets his gardens done!

Take care everyone and happy crafting,