Christmas Card Club - Cards 13&14/2020

 Hello and Happy Sunday Everyone,

How are you? I hope you're doing okay during this difficult time. We've been locked in at Level 4 since Friday and hubby, who loves taking us out on little road trips, is clearly finding it difficult being so confined - he's showing signs of developing cabin fever.

Me? After weeks, months, of not feeling too good, finding it a trial just doing the simplest of tasks, and feeling miserable because of it, a mental pep talk sees me spending more time crafting, and blogging. About time too. Which brings me to the reason for today's post - the Christmas Cards Club challenge for today. Gwen has set us the theme of 'Deer' and I've managed to make the following two cards. 

Both cards are made from scraps. I have several boxes of scraps - patterned paper, card - plain, glitter, embossed - you name it, I'm hoarding it.. I really shouldn't. It takes up too much space. I'm sure many of you do the same. But there is nothing more satisfying than dipping into scraps and creating a couple of cards, so the hoarding continues.  

Materials used:

- plain whte cardstock for card bases and topper base 

- tartan patterned paper - 'Plaid Tidings', 6"x 6" pack from Stampin' Up!

- a scrap of bright green cardstock embossed with a folder from Craft Concepts, 'Silver Fern' - ancient but still gorgeous.

- stamp - deer from Crafter's Companion's Signature Collection

- Stickles, 'Cinnamon, for deer's eyes

- tiny red gems to embellish

- scrap of tree embossed card - source forgotten

- scraps of orange (die-cut deer), dark green (greeting), gold (greeting and snowflakes) cardstocks

- dies - Creative dies (deer and gold snowflakes), Tonic Studios (Merry Christmas), Tattered Lace (Happy Christmas) 

Goodness, it's ages since I listed materials and I wasn't at all prepared. Must do better!

I'm submitting the second card to Di's challenge, Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #391. She will, I suspect, be pleased to see a card, and not a scrapbook page this week. 

That's me done for now. I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created for today's theme. You'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - as always they are so much more creative than I will ever be.

I wish you well for the rest of the day. 

Hello Sunshine Scrapbook Page

 Hello Everyone

I hope you've had a good day today - despite everything. Quick post as it's Saturday. I woke up this morning determined to get some crafting done and I have ... it's a miracle! 

I finally created a page for this lovely photo which could be seen on my desk for this WOYWW post from a couple of weeks ago. It's an exercise in using up lots of scraps leftover from previous creations and that makes me very happy. The base page is 'Loot Bag' from Cocoa Vanilla's 'Make A Wish' collection (from a Mind the Scrap kit). The title was inspired by a Bruce Springsteen number, 'Hello Sunshine', the subtitle 'We Are Family' from one of my favourite Robin Williams movies, The Birdcage. 

This sketch by Jenny Evans for Creative Scrappers inspired the layout. I confess this was a fun page to make - cutting up and using all those 3x3" squares was very satisfying. 

That's it for me today. I'll be back tomorrow with a couple of cards for the Christmas Card Club. In the meantime, I wish you all a lovely evening. 

What’s On Your a Workdesk Wednesday - Week 598

 Morning Everyone, 

And a very happy WOYWW to you all. Yes, it's still morning - only just - but earlier than what has become my usual! Outside it's horrible. Rain is hitting the window in sheets and I can just about see a few of the last roses bending in the gale force wind that's howling out there. A good day to stay indoors in my cosy crafty bolthole. 

On my desk today there's the making of a card. Making cards of any type has been much neglected these last few months and I'm feeling surprisingly out of practice. It's time to get my hand in again. No prizes for guessing that I'm concentrating on toppers featuring deer. I've pulled out my wee selection of deer themed stamps and dies together with a 6x6 pack tartan patterned paper (Plaid Tidings from Stampin' Up!) ... I can't help but associate deer with tartan! 

Looking through my collection for suitable dies had me falling down the rabbit hole - that's the sorting out rabbit hole. 

I'd been intending to sort them into these CD sleeves for months but just never got started. Now I have another job started but not finished. Sigh. It's heartening to know that crafting and sorting out craft supplies are two different hobbies - I enjoy both! 

Which leads me to my 'And finally' today, 

If the weather continues to be as bad as today:

Realistically, as we are now on Level 4 here in South Ayrshire, we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. My daughter and granddaughter both live in a Level 3 area so we are not allowed to visit each other - again!

In the meantime, I hope you are all okay wherever you are. Take care everyone.

Sunday Scraps & Snippets

 Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all having an enjoyable Sunday. This post is my way of  trying to get back into posting regularly - or at least a bit more than I have been doing over the last six or so months! It is also intended to give me the nudge I need to get me crafting in the way I did before all the bad stuff that's happened this year ... I won't dwell on it beyond saying it's been no picnic for any of us. 

To say I've done very little crafting is no exaggeration. No sewing, knitting, crochet, and not even gardening - indeed, the garden has become completely overgrown and wild looking. The only consolation is that the wildlife is enjoying it ... we've birds, squirrels, field mice and even our very own hedgehog. 

Scrapbooking has, for reasons I can't think off, been the only thing I've been able to concentrate on. Here's the two last pages made.

Both were made from scraps and old stash because I'm trying to use up as much as possible before I have a good clear out. There's nothing new on these pages - even the photos were taken years ago - and I can't remember what year the embellishments date back too. The yellow and white striped squares on the 'Bedtime' page were made using scraps of paper and sticky transparent squares that are a Docraft product. Hoarded because I couldn't find a reason to use them. The pretty patterned paper on 'New Arrival' is from the Little Sprout collection by Fancy Pants Designs which came inside a scrapbook magazine a long, long time ago - possibly 2009. Even the new arrival isn't so new anymore - he started school this year!

I'm going to submit 'Bedtime', because it's made almost entirely of scraps of patterned paper, to Di's challenge: Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #390. 

So that's my first Sunday Scrap post in a very long time and, what's more, I intend to be back posting again soon. I need to get back into the old routine. 

Hope you are all well and that you have a great week ahead. 

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 597

 Hello Everyone, 

Well, I'm back again. Back and joining in with Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to enjoy a peek at everyone's desk and, of course, show what's on mine too. 

And it's not much. Patterned papers, embellishments and, of course, the next photo I intended scrapping. Actually, I've already changed my mind and I'm thinking that I have another photo that would look even better with these papers. There's several punches lying out at the back - circles and a square. They're the shapes I find the most useful when building embellishment clusters on layouts so they've taken up residence - for now! 

I did say there wasn't much on my desk so here's a couple of photos of pages recently made including one using that fabulous paper that was on my desk last time I was here - Week 594.

The photos were taken at my grandson's wedding last November. Hard to believe they've just celebrated there first anniversary. Time flies, even in a year like the one we are enduring now. 

It was a pleasure to relive such a lovely day while working on these pages. Eventually, I hope to put together an album full of beautiful memories for them both. 

That's it for this week. Not much I know but there's really very little to report. We were to have new flooring laid this week but this has been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control. In the meantime, it's chaos here and I've been heard to mutter 'never again' more than once these last few days. I'm sure it will pass and the new floor will look wonderful when it's done. 

Hope all is well wherever you are and whatever level of restrictions you are coping with at the moment. 

Take care and stay safe.

Remembrance Day - Lest We Forget

 

Remembering my great-grandfather an injured survivor of WWI, my

two great-uncles who sadly lost their lives and my father who survived WWII.

Always Remembered.

Elizabeth 

Christmas Card Club - Card 12/2020

 Hello Everyone

It's been many weeks since I've been able to make cards so I'm well behind with the Christmas Card Club Challenge. I must thank the CCC ladies for being so patient with me and it's so nice to be back this week - though with only this one card. 

It was Rachel's turn to set the theme this time and she chose stencils. A search through my box of bits and bobs uncovered the Kraft/white stenciled piece made so long ago I'd quite forgotten I did it. It occurred to me that it would make a great card for a male recipient so that's what I concentrated on. The colour combination is certainly non-traditional but it works well with the topper - from a very old Papermania Ticket Book. 

I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created for today's theme. You'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - as always they are so much more creative than I will ever be.

In A Vase On Monday - Storm Damaged Roses

Hello Everyone,

We've had the most foul weather recently and the garden is looking very much the worse for wear. Storm Aiden came and went leaving a trail of disaster. The last of the roses took a battering so yesterday I nipped out, in a rare dry spell, to save as many as I could. 

I found a mix of Elina, Simply The Best, Burgundy Ice, Hot Chocolate, Amber Queen and Happy Retirement. Twenty-four hours later they are looking a lot less battered. 

So that's what's in my vase today. Beautiful, despite the storm damage. Thanks for looking in and do pop over to Cathy's blog, Rambling In The Garden, to see the many lovely arrangements submitted for her meme, In A Vase On Monday

 

Amber Queen

Burgundy Ice

Amber Queen

Simply the Best

Hot Chocolate