Compliments of the Season - Times Two

Evening Everyone,

I hope you've had a good day wherever you are, if not then I can only hope tomorrow is better for you.

I've been out and about today ... lots of errands to do ... and it's been cold, blustery and showery! Just the kind of weather, you'd think, to keep the little neighbour-hood tricker/treaters tucked up warm and cosy at home. You'd think! But no, the little darlings arrived, as they have done every year since we arrived six years ago. They were all dressed up and looked fabulous. Sad to think that we won't be here to see them next year, sigh!

On a more cheerful note, one of those errands we did today was to do some measuring in our new home and just check out the garden. It's an old garden, the house was built in the 1950s, so there are quite a few well-established plants, including two cherry trees on either side of the front gate ... I can't wait to see them in blossom :)

I have a duo of cards to share with you today.

Still working my way through the pile of patterned papers, either bought a year or more ago or that came free with magazines, that I want to use up before I buy any more ... it's a sizeable pile! The paper used here is from the Scrapbook Max! Winter Frost collection that came free with an issue of Scrapbook Magazine. It's been trimmed to size, spritzed (not visible in the photos) with a brown marker (Sharpie) and then edged with the brown too  ... this is a neat trick that keeps the layers down making the card less bulky.

The 'kraft' layer is in fact cut from a manila folder ... found in a box of stationery leftover from my freelancing days, and forgotten - and probably would have stayed forgotten if we weren't moving house ... and it was the perfect shade too.

The topper, from Cardmakers Delight, and the 'kraft' mat were also edged with the brown marker and then it was blinged up with Platinum Stickles.

The embellishments, the lace and pearls, are from stash.

Inside and back are decorated with off-cuts from the paper.

It's not like me to make two identical cards, I much prefer to create one design and then move on, but the patterned paper is A4 size (8.27" x 11.69", about US Letter size) and, at this time, it seemed more practical to use up as much of it as possible rather than add the leftovers to the snippet pile. I may even do the same again ... it didn't take much longer to make the two as it would one :)

It's been a long day for me, time for bed.

Take care and happy crafting,

CHNC Challenge - Week 107 - Rudolph is Resting

Hello Everyone ...

... from a freezing but snow free corner of Scotland. I don't know how this has happened but while the rest of the UK has a white-out, we, disappointingly, have seen not so much as one flake!!!

Seriously, I hope those of you who do have snow are enjoying it and looking forward to a weekend of frolicking in it, sledging, making snowmen and throwing snowballs.

I have a very quick share for you this evening  - a card for Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - 107. The challenge is entitled Rudolph is Resting, which means Hazel is looking for a card without a reindeer on it, anywhere! Happy to oblige, Hazel :)

This card is made almost entirely of snippets of paper and bits and bobs from stash. The scraps of papers and the ribbon were enclosed in packages by the lovely UKPC girls, makers of the patchwork pieces for the wall-hanging I showed in my WOYWW post on Wednesday.

Front and back are decorated with the trimmings, as usual.

Materials:
white card base 
scraps of Kraft cardstock for topper base
Cardmakers Delight Christmas topper
snippets of patterned paper
scrap of lace trim and cream/gold patterned ribbon
Snowflake embellishments (from The Works two years ago) 
Red and gold glitter
My sewing machine 


Yes, I actually got out my sewing machine for this one and much to my surprise managed to sew a satisfactory row of zigzag stitches ... something of a victory for me :)

So many snippets means another trip to the playground and Pixie's Crafty Snippets #55 - I wonder if anyone has made a snowman yet :)

Edited note: At Hazel's suggestion, the card is also being entered into her Challenge Extra for January - thanks Hazel :)

Right, I'm off - I need to see the second part of Silent Witness or I'll never know who dunnit :)

Happy crafting,

Altered Notebook

Evening folks,

I've had a very lazy day today ... a slow start and an even slower day. My get up and go has got up and gone!

However, I do have this little altered notebook to share with you. And it's one for Pixie's Crafty Snippets #50.  Di, you'll be relieved to learn that this is probably my last submission for this week ... it's too cold, wet and miserable for the playground :))

It's just one of those little memo pads that can be bought in packs from Tesco's - they're an inexpensive buy and the covers are easy to alter. The papers, Papermania A Silent Night, are from the snippet box, of course, and the embellishments came out of my bun tray. It takes the tiniest bits of ribbon and paper to fit across the width of the cover.

The topper is yet another from Cardmaker's Delights - this time the non-Christmassy image is of a perfume bottle - I love the roses. I think this will make a nice little stocking filler for one of my lovelies.

I'm hoping for a bright day, instead of this interminable rain that is our lot right now, some time soon so that I can go down to the woods ... with my secateurs ... looking for some evergreens to decorate the house. I love the scent of fresh green foliage at this time of the year - and it's festive looking too.

The EM has just announced that he is going up into the attic tomorrow and bringing down the tree and decs. At last!

Take care all and have a lovely weekend.

Happy crafting too,

Compliments of the Season ...

... and Happy Holidays to you all too!

This is the last of the tags I've been making recently. Quick and easy and I've managed to use some more bits and bobs from the bun tray. I like the blue/brown colour mix - non-traditional but pretty all the same :) The Hero Arts, Wavy Stars, stamp used for the background is an oldie but a favourite, so nice to get it out again.

Quick and easy ... well, it has to be at this time of year, does it not?

Materials: a manila luggage label; Hero Arts stamp, Wavy Stars; VersaMark; Crystal embossing powder; Cardmaker's Delights topper; bronze glitter; blue buttons and embroidery silk; white bobble trim; brown pearls; blue/brown ribbon

Yesterday it was the opticians, today the dentist ... I don't think I stand much more excitement :))

Off to relax with a Alexander and Richard on the sofa now ... Pointless is one of my secret pleasures!!! Oops! Not so secret now :))

Hope you've all had a great day. Take care.

Happy Crafting,

Christmas Wishes - another Christmas gift tag

Hi Everyone,

It's another cold and frosty day here in Ayr today - and it is treacherous underfoot too. The EM has had to dig out the bag of road salt, from last winter, to de-ice the steps at the front and back of the house. I hope you are enjoying warmer conditions where you are.

Unfortunately, I had to venture out to pick up my new glasses ... I'm now trying to get accustomed to them and find myself testing the lenses out constantly.  However, it's great to not have to take them off when I want to read the small print, which is what I was doing with my old ones :)

I've been making good use of my bun tray full of embellishments and made another gift tag.

Same size label as with the one I posted - scroll down to check it out - but this time no stamping. Instead, I covered the label with a couple of snippets of paper from last year, or perhaps it was the year before! More snippets used up means another trip to Di's and her Pixie's Crafty Snippets #50 this week :)

The topper is matted with a scrap of silver mirri card and then edged with crystal Stickles. I've also emphasised the letter C with the Stickles - you can see the effect more in the first photograph. Just a tiny length of cream lace and lots of  cream button twine have been used as embellishment.

Materials: a manila luggage label from WH Smith; scraps of A Silent Night paper from Papermania; scrap of silver mirri card; topper from Cardmaker's Delights; Crystal Stickles; cream cotton lace, cream button twine and narrow green satin ribbon from stash.

I'm off to do a bit more WOYWW blog-hopping until tea time and after that I plan is to spend an hour or two in the craft room this evening working on a scrap page. 

Thanks for popping in and do take care.

Happy Crafting,

Naughty or Nice - A Christmas Gift Tag

Afternoon Everyone,

I hope you are all well and keeping up with all the necessary preparations for the holiday season.

Yesterday, we went off to Tesco's to get some photographs printed. A simple enough exercise you  would think but, no! We only picked the machine that decided it was going on strike ... half way through the process. After endless head-scratching from a couple of Tesco's staff, the problem was eventually sorted and the photos appeared. Phew!!!

After all that excitement we trotted off up to the cafeteria for a recuperative cuppa and were entertained to find a chaffinch swooping up in the roof space. Apparently, it's not unusual for one to fly in through the front doors which are always open. Goodness knows what elf and safety would say about it but we were delighted :))

Home again and I decided to try, once again, using up some of the bits of leftover ribbon, lace and trimmings that have accumulated in the craft space by making a small gift tag.

There's nothing much to it. The label is just a bog-standard luggage label bought at WH Smith - this is a manila one. It's the largest size I could find in the shop, but is still nowhere near as big as those used by Tim Holtz, Hels, etc.

I did stamp it all over with red polka dots but once the topper was added hardly any can be seen. The topper is matted on to a snippet of the card I decorated with inks, stamping and mica powders - made like this:

Starting with A4 sheets of smooth white card, several ink pads in a variety of colours and several ink brushes, blend the inks in a fairly random fashion until happy with the result. For some reason my camera finds it hard to focus on the result, but hopefully you get the general idea.

The next stage is to stamp all over the card, for this I chose two leafy Penny Black stamps, then brush with various shades of mica. Now my camera does like this a lot better :) Here's a close-up of the detail.

Lovely, isn't it? 

Here's another shot of the tag taken from another angle - you can see the stamped polka dots on this one.

Materials: a manila label; stamp -  Stampin' Up's Dots, Dots, Dots; Tim Holtz Festive Berries distress ink; small piece of the hand decorated paper for matting; card topper from Cardmaker's Delights; iridescent glitter; gold Liquid Pearls; twine, cotton lace, gingham ribbon; red buttons & green gems from stash.

Using snippets means only one thing here in blogland ... a trip over to Pixie's Crafty Snippet Challenge #50 ... #50, another two weeks and it's Di's first snippet anniversary!!!

It took me a lot longer to locate the shots of the paper on my PC than I expected ... I had a senior moment and couldn't remember where I'd filed them :)

I'm off now to calm down with a bit of therapeutic crafting :))

Take care and remember to relax occasionally, if you can, during this busy period.

Oh, and Happy Crafting :) 

Find Joy In The Little Things - A Birthday Tag

... and spotted! the first Christmas Tree

I hope your Monday has gone well folks ... and that despite the harsh weather conditions we are experiencing. The weather here is going from one extreme to the other, sunny and bright on Saturday, lashing down with rain all day yesterday, and today we have had fluffy white clouds polishing the blue, blue sky! It would not surprise me if it snowed tomorrow.

I've been working away in the craft space today but nothing to show you yet, so it's just as well that I have another project I made earlier that I can share with you.

I made this ultra feminine and OTT tag for a crafting friend's birthday. The base is another one of my inked, mica covered and embossed experiments - not that you can see much of it in the photo. Lots of trims, pearls and bling, doily and butterflies ... the little jewelled tile came from an old bracelet.

The topper is a Cardmakers Delight Pretty Perfume Bottle, the rose heart is recycled, and the digital sentiment is from Pink Petticoat's New Simple Sentiments.

And here's the Christmas tree - spotted it in the Scottish National Trust shop at Culzean Castle on Saturday - how early is that!!!

And it wasn't the only one ... there was another in the toy shop too, you might just be able to spot it inside.

I'm not sure what the connection is to the castle but the pirate is a permanent feature of the stable yard.

Scary looking too.

That's me lot for this evening. I'm working on another quite different tag and I'm still experimenting with heat embossing and creating my own 'frantage' mixes, so it's back to the craft sheet.

See you soon and in the meantime take care.

Happy crafting,