Sunday Scraps & Rudolph Day - Christmas Cards 34-37

 Hello and Happy Sunday to you all,

I hope you are all safe and dry. I see from the TV News that many on the East Coast of the UK have suffered badly during the recent storm and now it's snowing. I can only wish any of you that live in the affected areas well. 

I have been making some scrap pages for the Scrap Backwards, a FaceBook group, challenge this week - the aim of which is to use up old scrapping materials, particularly stickers but including other supplies we've had lingering in our stash for some time. One page I made helped me use up quite a bit of an old, 2011, Graphic 45 8x8 pad, Christmas Emporium but, as is always the case, there was a lot of scrappy leftovers. Some scraps were used up for the Christmas Card Club this week but I didn't stop there so here's another four. 

Apologies for the quality of the photos - the lighting, like the weather, has been very poor this week. With the exception of the ribbons, all the materials used were either scraps or leftovers - e.g. the beads were just the last few on a sheet. The stamps and embossing folders are from very old collections - the stamp sets are Docrafts Papermania Noel Christmas Wishes and Marianne Vintage Christmas, the embossing folder is from a Sizzix Christmas set. 

Frankly, almost everything in my craft room is not new. I'm happy with the embossing folders and stamp sets I have and only give in to temptation now if I think I will really make good use of them. I admit to still finding it hard to resist new patterned paper so treat myself to a kit from Mind the Scrap on a monthly basis. Otherwise, the only craft stuff on my shopping list are the necessities such as adhesives, scrap albums & plastic inserts - all those scrap pages have to go somewhere - card blanks & envelopes That sort of thing. In truth, I think I have enough stash at my age to keep me going until I leave this mortal coil. 

It's been a long while but I'm submitting these cards to the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #417 - Ruby's Memory - where anything goes as long as there's scraps used.

ScrappyMo's November Rudolph Days Challenge - a bit late but I think it's okay to enter to the end of the month.

CHNC Challenge 570 - where anything goes as long as it's Christmas

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper November 2021 challenge - a challenge that is always about using patterned paper or patterned cardstock

It's not quite 4pm here on the South West Coast of Scotland and the sun is going down already and just because I can't resist it here's the view from my window right now. 

So that just leaves me to wish you all a very good week and as my late mother would have said, look after yourselves and be good :)

Bye for now, 

November's Rudolph Day - Special Delivery

Hello Everyone,

As I missed last month's Rudolph Day, over on A Scraps of Life, I was determined not to miss this month's too, especially because it's the last one for the year.

Once again the topper has been recycled from a card received on a previous Christmas ... could have been last year, could have been several Christmases ago. I've teamed it up with a leftover scrap of patterned paper and a piece of white embossed card - Hero Arts 'Dots'. It's a simple design with just a few dew drops and a bow of red and white twine to embellish it - perfect for a little child, I think.

I'm also submitting this card to Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #465 where anything goes as long as it's Christmas.

That's it for Rudolph Day 2019. Looking forward to starting all over again in 2020.

Take care everyone,

Rudolph Day - September

Hello Everyone

This has to be a super quick post today as the computer is still acting up. It looks like it needs a bit of TLC so will taking it to an IT expert tomorrow in the hope that it's fixable. In the meantime I have this month's Rudolph Day card challenge at ScrappyMo's Scraps of Life to share with you.

Once again, apart from the base, all supplies are from my stash.

Supplies used:
- white 5"x 7" card blank
- cardstock; orange/red satin finish card; snippets of white card for greeting, flowers and leaves
- embossing folder: Sizzix Hero Arts 'Christmas Words
- die: Scandinavian Christmas 'Merry Christmas' wreath from Crafters Companion's Signature Collection
- inks: ColorBox 'Frosty White' & 'Green'; Memento 'Rhubarb Stalk'
- stamps; Christmas Stamps set from PaperCrafter Issue 13
- yellow enamel dots 

Oh dear, the fan is making too much noise so I better not stay on much longer.

Take care and have a great day.

Rudolph Day Challenge - August 2019 - Using Leftover Scraps

Hello Everyone,

I've been so busy making scrapbook pages for the MTS summer challenge that I almost missed Maureen's Rudolph Day Challenge for August. And I don't like to miss it - it's the best excuse to add to my little, but growing, pile of Christmas cards - so today had me delving into the box of scraps, leftovers and snippets and this is the card I made.

Not the best photo but I hope you can see that the sentiment is embossed in gold powder.

Here's a close-up which is a lot clearer. The stamp set is made up of the large 'It's Christmastime' with several smaller stamps that can be combined to create a variety of greetings - all very usable.

These scraps have been around for a year or two. I can't remember how I got the mottled finished on the red scrap. It looks as though I might have splattered it with a bleach/water solution to get that effect.

The painty scraps, die-cut to make the poinsettias, are the trimmings from a larger mixed media piece that was used for another card at some time.

I used:
Crafter's Companion 'It's Christmastime' stamp set
VersaMark ink pad
Red and Gold embossing powders
Spellbinders Poinsettia die set
Gold adhesive pearls

I'm also submitting this card to Hazel's CHNC challenge 452

Have a great Tuesday evening.

Rudolph Day Cards

Morning Everyone,

It's not too late to share these cards made for this month's Rudolph Day challenge hosted by our lovely Maureen at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo!

I've upcycled a couple of cards received for Christmas 2016!

To make this one all I did was trim the topper down and edge it with silver - I drew a line using a ruler and an embossing pen, added the silver powder and heat embossed it to create the edging. The background is one of my Gelli plate prints stamped with snowflakes and embossed with the same silver powder.

This card was made in much the same way but this time I stamped snowflakes on both the trimmed topper and the background and added a few pink enamel dots for embellishment.

Supplies used:
- white card bases
- the Christmas card toppers
- the Gelli plate prints
- stamps -  from 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' set and  Inkadinkado 94646 
- Versamark ink pad and American Crafts embossing pen
- Heat It Up embossing powder

That's it for Rudolph Day this month.

Take care everyone.

Rudolph Day Card for May - Little Robin

Happy Rudolph Day

And happy Saturday to you all. It's raining here so no gardening for me today. Instead, it's been the perfect day for staying in and making this month's Rudolph Day card for Maureen's challenge over on Scraps of Life by Scrappymo.

This entire card is made from snippets and leftovers - my self-imposed challenge for this year is to use up as many scraps as possible. A few weeks ago I test stamped the  robin on a branch on to a tiny off-cut of white cardstock but then it didn't get used. Now it's been water-coloured and cut out - painstakingly, I should add - and it's made a lovely little topper for this card. The greeting was cut twice from scraps of red card and layered up to create more dimension.

That's all from me today - short and sweet.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Rudolph Day Card - February 2019

Hello Everyone

Happily I've managed to make my first Rudolph Day card this year - I was so sad to miss Maureen's challenge over at Scraps of Life last month.

The design was prompted by the plaid patterned paper that was leftover from an earlier project.

Supplies used:

• a white 5" square card base
• scraps of patterned paper from Those Characters from Cleveland (2012)
• leftover scraps of red and white card
• paper backed hessian from a mixed media pad - American Craft's Dear Lizzy 'New Day' collection (2018)
• the felt Scottie Dog embellishment from The Works
• greeting stamp from Sweet Sentiments set - a freebie with Issue 9 of Love Cardmaking (2019)
• ink - Memento's Rhubarb Stalk Dew Drop pad
• embellishments - red/white twine and white enamel dots

As well as submitting it to ScrappyMo's Rudolph Day challenge, I'm submitting the card to the following two challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 346

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge  - CHNC 426

I was reminded of the felt Scottie dog embellishments by an item in the TV news yesterday stating that Scottie dogs are becoming an endangered breed. 

Seems they are considered old-fashioned so there isn't the demand for them that there once was. Such a shame. Perhaps being in the news will help save our Scottie dogs. I do hope so. 

November Rudolph Day

Hello Everyone,

Hard to believe but here we are at the last Rudolph Day for 2018. Despite missing a good few Rudolph Days this year I'm always pleased to join in with everyone over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo whenever I'm able ... if only because it helps cut down on that last minute panic that's almost inevitable in December!

This is another of my thrifty makes using up scraps of supplies and stash not used before too. The topper is another of my pre-embossed ones - the folder, Winter Wonderland, is an old one, a magazine freebie that I hadn't used before. The greeting was stamped on the topper with a Memories black ink pad, and turquoise ribbon was wrapped around the lower part, before matting it on to aqua card trimmed to fit the front of a white base. The three crystals adhered to the right of the ribbon are the finishing touch.

I thought the embossed topper looked so nice I made another two cards exactly the same.

Rudolph Day - October

Hello Everyone,

Goodness! Here we are at the penultimate Rudolph Day! So many cards to make and so few weeks to make them in. I've been so slow to work on Christmas cards this year that Maureen, Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, will no doubt be surprised to see me rising to her challenge for the second month in a row. In fact, I've made a determined effort to create a few recently so have this one to share today.

I've had this stamp, 'The Wonder of It All' by Crafts And Me, for a year or two but never used it. The thought of colouring it seemed beyond my capabilities - I'm very much an amateur. However, it seemed such a shame so I considered just stamping the image and leaving it just as it is. As you can see, that's not what happened. Instead, putting on my big girl's pants I stamped it on watercolour paper and following the example on the packaging, and using Winsor & Newton paints did my best to colour the image.

Once I thought I'd done all I could it was matted on to a layer of red card. I cut a tent shaped card base from the same watercolour card and stamped the greeting with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink.

Once the image was adhered to the card base I decorated it with Crystal Stickles. The centre of the flowers are decorated with gold BoBunny Double Dot. Finally, I tied some red raffia in a bow at the top of the card.

Have a great Rudolph Day.

Winter Cottage - A Rudolph Day Card

Evening Everyone,

At last, a card! I can't remember the last time I made a card but as the temperature falls I am reminded that Christmas isn't so far away and it's time to get cracking on cards for the occasion.

This card is made entirely from scraps and snippets saved from bigger projects. The spattered background piece is the result of having too much ink leftover when making a Summer Challenge scrap page ... it would have been criminal not to use it up so I flicked it on to some white card and stashed it away in my odds and ends box.

Materials used:
- a selection of white and green card scraps
- a Scenic Stamps set, Woodland Cottage - a magazine freebie
- Memento Tuxedo Black and Versafine Olympia Green ink pads
- a selection of ProMarkers in brown, green and red colours
- X-cut Square nesting dies and The Works stitched & scalloped square die set
- Crystal Stickles

The little trees were stamped and then fussy cut out to create embellishment cluster and I used a fine brush to 'paint' the Stickles 'snow' on to the roof, etc.

As I'm not too late I'm submitting this card to Maureen's September Rudolph Days Challenge, over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo.



 Have a lovely evening everyone.

Rudolph Day - February

Di, Pixie's Crafty Workshop, has reminded me that today is Rudolph Day over at Mo's Scraps of Life. What would we do without our friends to keep us right!

So here's my card for this month's challenge.

Once again I've used a card received at Christmas to create the topper. I just trimmed it down to fit the 6" square base, made by cutting a 12" square sheet of brown textured cardstock in half and folding it. The patterned paper used for the background is a piece leftover after making a scrap layout and the red cardstock the topper is layered on to is from the snippet mountain. The greeting was also cut from the same card as the topper.

As Rudolph Day sneaked up on me this month I've just got the one card and that suggests that I should maybe get on and make a few more if I don't want to get caught out at the beginning of December.

Thanks for popping in and happy Rudolph Day to you all.

January Rudolph Day Cards

Morning Everyone,

If you've read my previous post you'll know why I'm so late posting these cards for January's Rudolph Day challenge over at Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge. I know we are only allowed to submit one for Mo's challenge so it will be the first one but I'm adding two other cards to this post because I like them.

This first one was made using some pretty dies from The Works and stamps from the Winter Woodland stamp set that came with a Craft Beautiful magazine.

The toppers on these two cards are upcycled from cards received two Christmases ago - if I like something I keep it!

For this one I've used a selection of papers from the 6x6 paper Memory Box collection Spiceberry layered on some much treasured light green card - Di from Pixie's Crafty Workshop sent me many moons ago and believe me it's used sparingly.

This last one has such a fun topper - love Rudolph's nose. I think the background paper is from a very old Docrafts Papermania pack and the red card used for layering is from the scrap box mountain.

That's it for this month. The EM is recuperating nicely so all being well, I'll be posting earlier for the February challenge - maybe even on the 25th!

Rudolph Day Card - Christmas Corner

Evening Folks

This has got to be the quickest post in the history of this blog because time is running out to participate in July's Rudolph Day Challenge over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo!

I made this card very quickly using a bought base, a scrap of card that I'd already embossed, a recycled greeting and a few enamel dots

Here's a close up of the embossed detail.

Supplies used were:
- scalloped edge white card base - Make & Create, The Works
- snippet of red card - American Crafts Bazzill Basics, Tomato
- embossing folder - Nellie Snellen Christmas Corner
- greeting cut from a card received Christmas 2016, trimmed and corners rounded
- corner rounder punch - Woodware
- silver enamel dots - Simple Stories, The Story of Us
- inside the card is stamped with the Merry Christmas stamp from Penny Black Wonder Collection using a ColorBox Cranberry ink pad.

Here's a pic of the embossing folder to give a better idea of what the embossed design looks like - it's very pretty.

I hope my brother and his wife will like this card as much as I do come the time.

I'm also entering this card into Pixie's Snippets Playground  - anything as long it a snippet or three were used in the making.

Rudolph Day Card for June

Hello Everyone,

It's last minute but I just found some time this afternoon to make this little card for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Day Card Challenge for this month.

The background is another one of the pieces I made a few weeks ago using Brusho powder paints. The colour is Brilliant Red. The stamp set is an old one that I think came free with a magazine a couple of years ago - I particularly like the leaping deer.

Materials used:

• a white card base cut to measure 4¼" x 4¾" - I know that's an odd size but I wanted the topper to be centred.
• a scrap of red cardstock for matting the topper
• the piece of Brusho spattered card
• the Magical Christmas stamp set
• Stazon Jet Black ink pad
• Nuvo Crystal Drops Red Berry
• black & white cord which came in a pack of three from WH Smith at Christmas

I think Maureen's Mister Linky is still open so I'm off to add this card to the list.

I wish you all a lovely weekend.

A Sunday Snippet & Rudolph Day Card

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the weekend so far. We have, for the most part, been enjoying the hot, sunny weather, though today is cooler and overcast. A temporary condition I hope.

As you can imagine, this has meant very little time for crafting, and therefore blogging about it, but I do have a card to share today.

It's made from several snippets, one of which is admittedly quite a sizeable scrap of card, and is Christmas themed so perfect for both Di's Snippet Challenge over on Pixie's Crafty Workshop and ScrappyMo's Rudolph Day Challenge on Scraps of Life by ScrappyMo!

How the card was made:

• I cut a card base from a sheet of American Crafts card in blue. This was easy because all I did was cut a 12" x 12" sheet in half and fold it. Hey presto! One card blank. 
• The snowflake topper was cut using one of the Chinese dies bought from eBay and that scrap of white pearlised cardstock from Papermilldirect.  
• Next, I adhered the die-cut to the base front using liquid glue dotted behind parts of the design that were more solid - a fiddly job but worth the effort.
• The Let It Snow! greeting (Docrafts Penelope & Percy Christmas Greetings stamp set) was made by stamping a snippet of the same pearlised cardstock using a Memento ink pad in Danube Blue. 
• I then matted the greeting on to another piece of the American Crafts cardstock and adhered it to the card front using sticky pads to add dimension.
• Finally, Papermania Aqua Dew Drops provide the finishing touch to all four corners of the card front. 

The snowflake die makes a lovely addition to a card but I did find that once cut this particular cardstock, which is quite heavy at 300gsm, wasn't easy to remove from the die. I should have prepared the die by wiping a tumble drier sheet over it - that might have helped.

That's it for now.  I hope you've had a lovely Sunday.

Rudolph Day Cards - April

Hi Everyone,

It's Operation Craft Room Sort Out here, hence the absence of posts recently. It's surprising just how much time it is taking me to sort through all the shelves and drawers. I think I could be some time. Anyway, I decided to take a break today and make a few cards for this month's Rudolph Day Challenge over at ScrappyMo's where anything goes as long as it's Christmas themed.

Here are the cards I made.

I had a good rummage through the scrap box to make the first two cards and the topper on the second is one of many pieces of scrap card I embossed recently. The toppers on the last two are recycled from cards received last Christmas that I thought far to nice to throw away.

I'm submitting the second card to Pixie's Snippet's Playground - snippets of paper patterned paper and green cardstock used.

Well, that's my day off over and it will be back to Operation Sort Out tomorrow. Sigh. I'll be back ... eventually!

Have a great week.