Christmas Card Club - Cards 5/2019 - Poinsettia

Hello Everyone,

It's another Christmas Card Club Sunday and Valery (Mrs A) chose today's theme - Poinsettias ...

... which means I get to use one of my all-time favourite stamp sets from Penny Black.

Supplies used:

- a white 5" square card base, ready made from Docrafts Papermania, used in the tent style orientation, the front of which is randomly stamped using a tiny poinsettia stamp from a Cardmaking & Papercraft Fairy Stamp set (2010) and Memento Dew Drop Rhubarb Stalk ink pad. I found the set buried under a ton of other stamps totally forgotten - the fairies would have been so useful for CCC week 3. 

- white card for the topper. The poinsettia, from Penny Black's Wonder Collection, was stamped on to the card twice and coloured with ProMarkers in shades of red, green and yellow. I then fussy cut one of the flowers and used a circle punch to cut out the other. I then layered the flowers together using a dimensional foam square and added yellow Stickles to the centre for a bit of bling. 

- die from a pretty doily nest set, M& C Boutique from The Works, and green glitter card from a Mixed Media pad - Dear Lizzy New Day collection from American Crafts. Note: I cut this on my Cuttlebug making up the sandwich as instructed, passing it through the machine twice. This wasn't entirely successful so I think I should have added a sheet of cardstock to my sandwich to increase the pressure. Glitter card is notoriously difficult to cut cleanly. 

- the topper was then put together with Tacky Glue - ordinary glue tape doesn't work well, actually it didn't work at all, with glitter card - and then adhered the topper to the front of the card base with dimensional foam squares. 

- the greeting die, also from the PB set, was stamped in Rhubarb Stalk on to a scrap of white card. I used an oval punch to cut out the greeting. To create the mat for the greeting the green glitter was punched out with the same oval punch - this was then cut in half and adhered to the back of the greeting leaving an edge showing at either side. I'm not sure I've explained that well so here's a close up and hopefully all will be clear.

- the card was finished of with green neon gem embellishments - they went so well with the glitter card that I had to use them - especially as the pack has been in my stash forever!

Looking forward to catching up with what how the others have interpreted today's theme. Check out the links on the right sidebar to see for yourself too.

Thanks for popping in and have a great crafty week ahead.

Christmas Card Club - Cards 3 & 4/2019 - Fairy & Robin

Hello Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I've been able to blog anything - another lung infection bad enough to prevent me from doing much more than cough. Happily, I can report that I'm now almost completely recovered and normal service can be resumed!

And I have a twofer for you today because, unfortunately, I wasn't able to post a card for the last Christmas Card Club challenge. Firstly, here's the card for this week, CCC no.4, which is based on Gwen's challenge - 'birds'.

Actually, I've only managed one bird so I hope that passes muster. I found this bird stamp in a set and thought that coloured appropriately it would look like the perfect Christmas robin.One of my all-time favourite Penny Black stamp creates a very nice wintry scene.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) portrait orientation
• stamps - Berry Red, Snow White (Penny Black); Winter Woodland stamp set (Craftstore) - leaf and bird; Forest Magic - greeting
• inks - Memories Black; Memento Rich Cocoa; Versafine Olympia Green
• card - white for stamped topper; red for layering; scraps of smooth white for bird and greeting
• paints - black, brown and red Spectrum Noir Aquatints Nos. 63, 40 & 11 for bird 
• embellishments: black 'pearl' for birds eye; Xmas Red Stickles for 'berries'

The second card, CCC no.3, should have been posted two weeks ago for GranMargaret's choice - 'angels or fairies'. I'm not a fan of either angels or fairies so I very nearly ended up going for the fallback of 'anything goes'. However, after a lot of digging around in my stash I discovered this fairy topper.

I also dug out of a box of 'experiments' the piece of embossed vellum used as a layer on the card. It started out as a sheet of plain white vellum but a long time ago, in fact two printers ago, I used desktop publishing software to change the colour to pale blue. This was in the days before it was possible to source coloured vellum - now it's easy to find online.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) landscape orientation
• card - blue and red for matting and layering; scrap of white for greeting
• papers - red/white check from Those Characters from Cleveland (2012); pale blue vellum
• embossing folder - Snowflakes Cuttlebug) 
• topper - this cute fairy image is one from a set bought from an online store several years ago (source forgotten)
• embellishments - red peel-off greeting; red/white gingham ribbon; turquoise enamel dots

Right, that's me caught up with the Christmas Card Club challenges. It's so nice to be back and fit enough to participate again. The ladies in our Christmas Card Club will be publishing their cards too. To save the stress of the last minute dash in December we make a Christmas card every two weeks and posting it on our own blogs - see the list of links on the sidebar to the right.

There's quite a whiff of Spring in the air today so hopefully that's an end to the winter blues. The EM certainly thinks so - he's planning ahead by putting the picnic chairs in the boot of the car ready for the better weather.

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate it.

Sunday Snippet Card - Golden Leaves

Afternoon Everyone,

It's been a while since I popped over to the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop. I've been so busy with the summer scrapping challenge I've been participating in that there's been very little time for cardmaking, but here's one I made with a background made from leftover watercolour paint.

Rather than mop up the paint, such a waste, it was brushed on to a scrap of white card and put aside for later. Later usually takes months but on this occasion it only took a week or so - something of a record for me - before I decided to make this card with it.

Supplies used:
- one white 5¼" square card blank
- sheet of lavender patterned paper from a very old 6x6 pad - the Prima Londonderry Collection from 2011
- the scrap of white cardstock
- yellow paint mixed up from my Winsor & Newton set
- Penny Black Golden Leaves stamp 
- Personal Impressions Happy Birthday stamp
- Whispers Archival Rio Purple ink pad
-  three tiny lavender coloured enamel dots

It's a very simple design but I like it. That's one of my all-time favourite wood-mounted stamps and I really like the font used for the birthday greeting - it's not unlike my own handwriting.

I've just mopped more leftovers on a scrap of white card - this time it's blue ink - so I might just have to make another snippet card very soon.

Hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend and have a great evening.

Keepsake

If you've read yesterday's post you will know that I'm sorting through the contents of my craftroom. It's a great time waster but it's also a job that needs to be done. The bonus is that I'm finding all sorts that I'd forgotten about including this topper, already stamped and coloured, just crying out to be made into a card. It also gave me an opportunity to use a snippet, admittedly quite a sizable snippet, of green card so I'll be popping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground for the first time this year.

Supplies used:

- a white A6 card blank from Docrafts Papermania 

- the snippet of green textured cardstock, also from Docrafts Papermania

- water colour card, from a pad bought at my local craft shop (sadly now closed down), brand name now forgotten

- Penny Black's Keepsake stamp

- Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

- pink water colour paint 

- Stickles Sprinkled Sugar for the centre of the flowers

- small yellow gems for the centre of the flowers - I didn't think the Stickles was sparkly enough - and pink ones for decoration. 

Ah well, better get back to my stuff sorting. I feel that as I unearth more forgotten treasure there will be a few more cards to share with you. Talk about getting back to normal with a bump. 

Happy Crafting

Penny Black Poinsettias

I've been itching to try out the new Derwent watercolour pencils and waterbrushes I brought back from our trip to the Lake District this summer but, what with one thing and another, it's taken me until now to find the time.

To make the topper, poinsettias were stamped randomly over the piece of white card to create the background then they were coloured using red, green and yellow pencils and a waterbrush. When dry, it  was glued to a layer of red card which was then attached to the front of the card blank.

On a snippet of white card a single poinsettia was stamped which, when dry, was fussy cut before being stuck, with glue gel, to the central poinsettia on the background. To add a bit of sparkle yellow Stickles was added to the flower centres. To finish, a greeting was stamped in black on yet another snippet of white card before it was punched out in an oval shape. To give the greeting more definition the red pencil run round the edge before adhering it to the right hand corner of the card front.

Supplies used:

- a white A6 card blank from Docrafts Papermania with matching envelope
- red and white cardstock for the topper and greeting
- stanp set - Penny Black Wonder Collection
- ink - Memento Tuxedo Black 
- Derwent Academy watercolour pencils - Red, Dark Green and Cadmium Yellow
- a No.2 Derwent Waterbrush
- adhesives - Pinflair Glue Gel & a double sided tape pen
- yellow Stickles glitter glue
- punch - Stampin' Up oval label

I enjoyed the watercolouring so much I decorated the envelope to match.

It's been a while but at last I have a snippet card to submit to Pixie's Snippet's Playground.

Happy Crafting

Rudolf Day - Winter Berries

Hello Everyone,


Once again it's time for the Rudolph Day Challenge, hosted by our lovely ScrappyMo over on Scraps of Life. The whole idea of this challenge is to make Christmas cards/projects throughout the year thereby taking the pressure away from finding time to make them at the last minute. That being so here's my entry for February.

This card was made with old and new stash, The paper used being the old and the stamp being the new ... the postie just delivered it this week. Here's a list of supplies used:

• base - a black 5" square card
• patterned paper & sentiment topper - The Nancy Watt Collection,Decorative Christmas Trees from Making Cards December 2010
• cardstock - silver, for matting, and white for the topper
• stamp - Penny Black Winter Berries
• ink - Stazon Jet Black
• decoration - Nuvo Crystal Drops Navy Blue

Only one card this month ... there goes my goal of making one Christmas card a week. Once again I have kept the card as flat as possible to save on postage. The only cards that will have a lot of dimension on them will be those that can be hand delivered. 

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful weekend wherever you are.

Sunday Snippets - Winter Themed Thanks Card

Afternoon Everyone,

It's Sunday again! I hope you have had a wonderful weekend. I'm back to share a snippet card. 

The EM was looking for a card to say 'thank you' to a neighbour who has been very kind to him over the last year. A rummage through my box of cards revealed a sad lack of anything appropriate so I set to and made this very simple card.  

To make it I used the following:

• a 4¼" x 5¾ white card base
• a piece of white cardstock from the snippet box, stamped with Penny Black's 'berry red, snow white' stamp which, as luck would have it, was sitting out on my desk just waiting to be used, and the 'thanks' word stamp from Stampin' Up's 'So Happy for You' stamp set. I used black Archival Ink 
• a scrap of black cardstock for matting and layering
• black and white baker's twine long enough to wrap round the topper before adhering it to the front of the card base. I had to use dimensional tape for this as the baker's twine was too think to lie down flat. 

That was all I had to do and the EM was delighted - can you tell he's easy pleased? 

I'm off now to Pixie's Snippets Playground where Di might be found checking out the duck pond for ice. Not that she plans to don ice skates, not with her back!!!

Enjoy your Sunday evening and have a great week.

Christmas Candle Card - Rudolph Day Challenge October 2016

It's a very long time since I joined in with Mo's Rudolph Day Challenge which runs from today until the end of the month. Truth is I should have been joining in every month because there's only one more Rudolph Day left and my Christmas card box is looking very empty - help!

For this card I've gone for the easy option and used a Penny Black Stickeroo - so useful when time is short.

I think/hope this is a card that a man would be pleased to receive. 

Here's how it was made:

• the base is a plain white one measuring 4" x 5¾" finished size - the orientation is portrait.- covered with a dark grey with a very subtle lighter grey check patterned paper - maker/design unknown.  
• next the band adhered to the middle was created from a length of gold edged red ribbon wrapped around a piece of yellow cardstock finished with a decorative edge punch. 
• to make the topper the Stickeroo was matted on to dark red cardstock and then adhered using dimensional sticky pads.
• the greeting was embossed on to a scrap of the red cardstock, using VersaMark and white embossing powder. It was then matted on to a snippet of the yellow cardstock.
• to finish a sprinkling of sequins was added to two corners.

Et voila! A very quick card. Just a few more to make to catch up - if not it will be a trip to the card shop for me!!

 

Cardmaking - Golden Leaves Snippet Card

Hello Everyone,

And a happy Sunday to you all. Thanks for joining me on what is a dull and cool day - only 9°C this morning. Almost time for me to go into hibernation with Di's hedgehog family, methinks. That's Di of Pixie's Crafty Workshop - the lady lucky enough to have what seems like the UK's entire hedgehog population living in her back garden.

And talking about hibernation, I believe the Danish have got winter sorted with their hygge approach to winter. Hygge is hard to define but seems to encompass blazing fires, candlelight,  warm woolly clothes, throws, hot chocolate - in fact all things cosy. Sounds perfect to me.

I've just noticed that it's a whole seven days since I last posted anything. Where has the week gone??? It's been busy for me - people to see, places to go, things to do - ending with a visit to my doctor on Friday with a nasty case of acne on my face. Who would have thought that a woman of my mature years could develop acne? Turns out it is acne rosacea and it is no respecter of age!!! Oh, and while I was with the doctor she just gave me my flu injection too - talk about adding insult to injury!

Enough of that! You came to see my snippety make for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 251 so here it is at last.

The object of this card was to use up a few snippets from the mountain,  a sadly neglected stamp, and Brusho ink powder, just because it is fun to use.

Here's how I made it.

1. I used a plain white base for a 4" x 5¾" finished size, turned to create a tent style card, opened out and laid flat out on the craft mat for the next step in the process. Before moving on I covered the back of the card with copy paper, taped it down on each side, to prevent the Brusho powder getting where it wasn't wanted. 
2. Next, I spritzed the front with water - not so much that it was saturated but enough to allow the Brusho to do it's magic. I chose the Leaf Green powder for this background, just puffing it here and there because I did not want too much coverage. Where there wasn't enough water some of the powder didn't react,  so I spritzed those areas again, ever so gently, until I was happy with the effect it created. 
3. While the background was drying, I grabbed a snippet of white card and stamped it with Penny Black's Golden Leaves stamp using Memento Pens for the colour. The middle image is coloured with Bamboo Leaves and the outer images with Pear Tart. I also touched the edges of the middle image with a Peeled Paint Tim Holtz Distress Marker just to create a bit more definition. 
4. To finish the topper it was matted on to a snippet of green cardstock. The greeting, which was created by stamping Crafty Stamps Thank You with Bamboo Leaves ink on to a teeny weeny snippet of white and matted on to yet another snippet of the green card, was adhered to the top right corner of the topper.  

And that was the card done.

I have another busy week in front of me with the highlights being my great-granddaughter's first birthday on Tuesday, the same day my second oldest grandson, on leave from Shetland, will be here for an overnight stay, and on Thursday two of our friends are staying overnight and we are off to the Gaiety Theatre here in Ayr to enjoy the sound of Nick Ross Orchestra. Should be a night of nostalgia for my husband  and his pal - they both love the big band sound!

So if another week goes by without me posting anything, I think you'll know why ... I'll be exhausted :)

Weather update - it's pouring with rain now - and I have to go out in it soon, big sigh.

Wishing you a wonderful Snippet Sunday and a great week ahead.

Christmas Cards - Winter Bough

Hi Everybody,

Here's the finished card that you might have seen part done on my desk on Wednesday.

Inspired by Cornelia who was, in turn, inspired by Coni, Which Craft, this card is about as clean and simple as I get. You can check out how they made there cards following the links but here is how I made mine.

• The base is for a 4" x 5¾" card finished size. I chose to create a tent style card so stamped the image to the right of the front. The stamp is Penny Black's Winter Bough which was stamped with VersaMark and then heat embossed with gold powder. I used Heat It Up Gold embossing powder because, well, it was what I had in my stash. Cornelia used WOW powder and Coni used a Ranger product. It would seem there are many shades of gold - mine seems quite dark in comparison to others. 
• The card was then opened out and laid flat out on the craft mat for the next step in the process. Before moving on I covered it with copy paper and taped it down on each side to protect the back. Splattering with gold paint, which is what I did next, can be messy! I used Spectrum Noir Aquatint Ink #70 gold paint to splatter randomly, concentrating most of the spatters around the stamped image.
• The greeting, Basic Grey Christmas Greetings, was stamped using VersaMark and gold embossing powder, as for the main image, on to a snippet of white card, trimmed to size. To finish the greeting it was matted on to yet another snippet, this time gold mirror card, and then adhered to the left of the image.
• The final touch was to wrap gold jewelry cord around the top of the front three times before tying it into a bow.  

I liked the first card so much I made a second one to match. And this gave me the chance to use another couple of snippets - yeah! Every little snippet used is one less in the snippet mountain! And, of course, I'm joining in, once again, over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 250 where Di is looking for anything as long as it involves snippet(s).

Wishing you all a happy snippety Sunday.

Sunday Snippets - Winter Birthday

Hello Everyone,

Another Sunday and another Snippet Card to share over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 203. The materials strewn all over, and around, my workdesk at the moment are Christmas themed but it came to me that some of them could be put to a different use. This winter birthday card is the result.

Although the paper was included in a festive themed pack the colour and plaid pattern isn't obviously Christmassy and I'd say the same for the poinsettia topper.

How I made the card:

• First, a white A6 card blank was covered with the patterned paper from Cosy Christmas from Quick Cards and then a ribbon strip from a sheet of Penny Black Stickeroos Winter Fantasy was added.
• Next, the topper, from the same sheet of Stickeroos, was matted on to a snippet of smooth white cardstock and attached to the front of the card.
• Birthday Wishes, from Sweet Roses Embossing Folder and Stamp Set, was stamped on to another snippet of white cardstock, using a Memento Love Letter ink pad, and matted on to yet another scrap of card, this time a co-ordinating shade of teal.
• Papermania iridescent gems in shades of green and pink were sprinkled around two corners to finish the front.
• Finally, leftover strips of the paper were used to decorate the inside and back of the card.

There we are! An easy birthday card quickly made on a dark and dismal Sunday afternoon. I think I've earned a lovely hot cup of tea now.

Edit Note: Once again, it has taken someone else, this time Sally H, to remind me that this card fits with Stamping Sensations challenge for Festive Flowers and Foliage  this month - thanks for that Sally H, so I'm submitting it as suggested:

Stamping Sensations November challenge

Take care everyone and Happy Crafting,

 

A Bunch of Love - with a Gelli plate print layer

Morning Everyone

I meant to share this card yesterday but I was just 'sew' busy in the craftroom ... working on some patchwork. Anyway here it is now - a card for my niece's 29th birthday.

I've used a square scalloped card base and softened the white by inking the edges with Tim Holt DI Spun Sugar. The layers are chocolate brown and kraft ... I'm not a pink kind of 'girl' but I do like it combined with shades of brown. The pink print was one of the many samples I made when I had a session with the Gelli plate and brayer. This piece was made with white card, Boldmore Rose acrylic paint (very inexpensive from The Works in Ayr) and That Special Touch Fretwork mask ... proving to myself that you can go pretty and pink with Gelli plate printing.

The topper is a Penny Black Stickeroo, from the A Bunch of Love sheet, adhered to white card which was then sponged with the Spun Sugar ink. The two-tone pink grosgrain ribbon (American Crafts) was wrapped around the three base layers and then I offset the topper to leave visible as much of the pink print as possible. A greeting (with Wild Rose Studio Everyday Greetings and Archival Jet Black ink pad) and some adhesive flat-backed pink gems finish the front.

 
And the tiny slivers cut from the print have been used to decorate the inside and back - as per usual :)

I plan to skip over and submit this to Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 87 - the snippet is the white card used for the PB Stickeroo ... it's not much but every little bit helps :))

It's going to be a lovely day here because not only is the sun shining but also the birthday girl herself is going to be dropping in to see us.

I hope to return later to share the patchwork I've been working on - that's if it looks good enough to share with you all.

In the meantime, I hope you are all having a lovely day too.

Clearing my desk of snippets, scraps and leftovers ... Day 7

Hi All,

Well, while you are reading this, I'll be home - the jollies over and no doubt the week will  have just flown by ... they always do.

So this, Day 7, is the last scheduled post and the last of this little series of mine. It was fun for me to do so I hope you have enjoyed seeing just what I managed to create out of that pile of scraps shown on the Day 1 post. Here's the snippet make for today.

The background is made from what is left over from a master board created for a Twinchie project - a swap challenge. The basis is white card inked and stamped in various colours to create my very own patterned paper. The topper is yet another of the Penny Black Stickeroos I find so irresistible :)

Scraps - the master board, teal cardstock (Papermill Direct), smooth white cardstock
Additional supplies: Image from Penny Black Stickeroo A Bunch of Love sheet; stamps - Art Journey Sweet Dreams, Inkadinkado Leaves Mini, best wishes stamp; inks - Big & Juicy Mountain Meadow, Tim Holtz DIs Evergreen Bough, Shaded Lilac and Vintage Photo, Adirondack Peach Bellini, Memento Tuxedo Black; punch - Woodware small butterfly and a corner punch; scallop shaped scissors; teal/white bakers' twine; blue glitter glue

Just as soon as I've unpacked, done all the washing and ironing, I'll be back to see what you all thought of my little exercise. I'll also reveal what is left of the scrap pile on my desk.

It's the weekend so I hope you are all having a terrific time. 

See you soon and happy crafting,

Clearing my desk of snippets, scraps and leftovers ... Day 3

Hello Everyone.

Gosh, day 3 and yet another scheduled post because I'm still not here :)

Hope you are having a good day and even perhaps enjoying some sun wherever you are.

Here's my snippets share today.

front

inside

back

From the pile - mustard yellow card, yellow patterned paper (Docrafts Vintage Notes)
Additional supplies: Penny Black Stickeroo Hedgehog image; stamps - Ladybug Crafts It's Only Words 2; ink - Memento tuxedo Black; punches - Martha Stewart butterfly edge punch and Stampin' Up Word Window, Woodware small butterfly; 10mm yellow polka dot washi tape (Riverside Revels from Trimcraft); Yellow Stickles.

A sunny and cheerful card, and it didn't take too long to make either - those PB Stickeroos are real time savers.

That's it for today, I'll be back with Day 4 tomorrow.

Happy crafting,

Stickeroo Hedgie

Evening Everyone,

I'd have loved to have given this post a better title, i.e. the actual name of this Penny Black character, but I don't know it so he's my Stickeroo Hedgie.

The week is running out and I just had to make a third snippet card for Di's challenge over at Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 75.

Stickeroos are very sticky, I mean super sticky, so if you are anything like me and find them hard to position spot on - and not off on one side or, worse still, at an unintended jaunty angle - you might like to try what I do to get around this. I adhere the Stickeroo to some white printer paper or thin white card first and then trim round it before adhering it with some glue gel. Glue gel isn't just useful for creating dimension and making decoupage up with - though it is perfect for that - it's also useful because it doesn't immediately become tacky, thus allowing some wriggle room to get positioning just right.

Materials used:

• a white A6 card base
• snippets of kraft coloured textured card for matting and layering and lemon coloured Core'dinations card embossed with Craft Concepts Wings folder
• white die-cut filigree edged square (a gift from a friend)
• Penny Black Hedgehog Stickeroo
• greeting stamp from Ladybug Crafts It's Only Words 2 set
• Stampin' Up label punch
• embellishments - caramel lace/velvet ribbon trim, purple satin ribbon, purple card candi, purple gem

That's me done for the day and I've managed to tick everything off on my to-do list and even add a few unplanned items too. Yes, I even found time to dash away with the smoothing iron - on clothes fresh of the drying line this afternoon ... I must be coming down with something :) 

South Ayrshire is still basking in sunshine, the temperature reached 22 degrees in our back garden today ... amazing!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that the sun shines on you too.

Happy crafting,

Berry Red, Berry Bright ...

my shot at a Christmas card for a male - always a tough order, but I think this one would be just about acceptable :)

I've used one of my new Penny Black's for this card - love the wintry scene. I stamped it in black,  picked out the berries with a red marker and then added red glitter to give them a bright sparkly appearance. I also added a bit of iridescent glitter for a snowy look and stamped a greeting in the corner. It's matted onto gold pearlescent and dark green cardstock.

The design paper is from Paper Cellar and the inside trim is from what is left over after making the band of gold matted trim on the front. The back is similarly decorated.

I kept the embellishments simple - don't think men go for fussy - just a few green card candies on the topper and gold on the trim.

Materials used:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake for base; Neenah Solar in white for the topper; gold pearlescent card and green card for matting from stash
Design Paper: Paper Cellar Traditional Christmas 6"x6" pad
Stamp: Penny Black, Berry Red, Snow White; greeting from Anita's Magical Christmas set
Other materials: Docrafts red glitter, iridescent glitter from stash; Craftwork Cards Candi

Hopefully, I'll just be in time to submit this to Crafty Hazel's CHNC Challenge 40: for a male - that's if I hurry.

Happy Crafting,

WOYWW - Week 80 + the V & W cards in the Alphabet Series

Good Morning everyone,

Another What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday is here and once again I don't know where the week has gone. I did try to get round as many of you as possible this last week but, unfortunately, I didn't make it to all - this Christmas thing has just taken over my life completely! So apologies to those I missed and I will try to visit you all this week.

Not much to show morning - last night completed a card and tidied everything away ready for the next project. However, there is a couple of goodies from Sir Stampalot there- yeah, the postman got through : ) - the Christmas edition of the Magnolia magazine to browse through and draw inspiration from - a bit late for this season but, as I intend to get ahead of the game for next year and produce one Christmas card a week in 2011, it won't be wasted. And a Penny Black Stamp, Winter Bow - it's beautiful and I can't wait to do something with it!

I'm almost at the end of the Alphabet series now - just two more to do. I was almost stumped for what to do for V until I received the Hinny Bop CD, Santa's Christmas Treasures. I originally got this for the inserts - I'd admired them when I saw them on some cards of Ginny's - you can see an example here on her blog, AsIDoRodos. The contents are vintagy and from that the theme for the card emerged - V for Vintage Christmas:

Materials Used: papers & image from Santa's Christmas Treasures CD; gold and lilac cardstock for matting; paper lace borders by Siesta; purple Prima flowers; white rosebuds from Wild Orchid Crafts; lilac/silver ribbon; silver stickles; glittery brads; glitter; inside greeting copied from an old Christmas card!

And here's the insert I used:

The W card was much easier as I'd had the stamp and the idea for quite sometime - Walking in a Winter Wonderland. And, with my friend, Ruthie, in mind I knew I wanted to use her favourite colour combination - brown and turquoise - if at all possible.

Materials used: Salt coloured double Swiss dot cardstock for base and turquoise/brown satin ribbon from Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn; design paper from Paper Cellar; Ladybug Crafts Ink Nikki stamp coloured with Promarkers; Docrafts Winter Wonderland stamp; G Studio turquoise ink pad; iridescent glitter; inside stamp from Sentiments 4 You.

Love this stamp of Nikki, more running with her dog than walking but definitely enjoying the snow. Ruthie has a rather boisterous spaniel, Charlie, so this stamp is so apt. Charlie could not walk anywhere - he's got to run and jump!  

The ribbon was a find - perfect for this card . Hayley at Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn shares my enthusiasm for ribbon. She's also a talented designer and you can see some of her work on her blogspot here.  Apart from this I didn't use much in the way of embellishments - quite restrained for me. The Winter Wonderland stamp is not clear in the above photograph so here's a close up.

Of course I did decorated the inside as usual - loved that design paper from Paper Cellar. 

And after looking at all the above you want to know more of what WOYWW is all about, and go on the biggest blog hop ever to snoop on even more interesting crafty spaces and inspirational blogs, then please pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and maybe even join in What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday. I'm sure you will be welcome.

I have another card to post, hopefully later today, if the light improves and I get some decent photographs - roll on the lighter days! In the meantime, I'm off for a cup of tea.

Bye for now,
Elizabeth