Christmas Card Club Challenge - Cards 9-16/2022 - Clean and Simple

Hello Everyone,

Surprise, surprise! It's been a wee while since the last time. Weeks actually. But today, while Alan is resting, I've found time to make a few cards. Eight cards actually. 

So here they are, in no particular order. 

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15)

16)

Thank's to Gwen for her theme of 'clean and simple' today. It made it so much easier for me to 'bash' so many out. Many of the toppers are recycled from cards preciously received - only the snowman and the trio of birds are my very own work! 

Recently I treated myself to a light box to help with the photographing of cards. I haven't mastered it completely yet, as can be seen from the quality of the above pics. I think baby steps are what's called for. I will improve with practice. 

That's me for today. I hope you're having a lovely weekend. I hope also that you will pop over to see what my teammates have created this week. 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.

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, 

Christmas Card Club - Cards 1&2/2021 - Kraft Challenge

 Hello Everyone,

I promised in yesterday's post that I'd be back today for the Christmas Card Club Challenge. Today Kate has set the challenge for us to use Kraft on our cards if possible - otherwise it's anything goes. Happily, a search through all my bits and pieces unearthed some much forgotten scraps of Kraft cardstock that made lovely backgrounds for these two cards.

 

Materials used:

• two white card blanks measuring 53/4"x4" (Papermilldirect)
• scraps of Kraft (background) & white (topper) cardstock, 
• embossing folder - background on first card - Diagonal Stripe Background (Darice)
• scrap of alcohol ink blended card for matting topper on first card,  products used used: Adirondack Juniper ink, Gold Mixatives & Alcohol Blending Solution
• scrap of tartan patterned paper (Stampin' Up's Plaid Tidings 6x6 pad)
• scrap of hessian (Dear Lizzy New Day mixed media pad)
• snow scene& greeting stamps (Stampendous' Winter Stags set from Issue 90 of Creative Stamping Magazine)
• ink pads in shades of brown & green (Versafine's Vintage Sepia & Olympia Green and Adirondack's Noel)
• embellishments - printed ribbon, White Opal Liquid Pearls and Zazz! Honeycomb glitter glue

I had a lovely time going through a couple of boxes of past 'trials and experiments' to uncover the embossed card and the leftover scrap made with alcohol ink. Old stuff but good stuff. 

The Adirondack Noel started life as a Rainbow mix of Cranberry, Mushroom, Bottle & Lettuce ink colours. Over time, however, the colours have merged together - a lot! It now stamps in shades of brown - it's interesting if not as intended.

I'm submitting the first card to Di's challenge: Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 393 - all those old scraps must qualify.

And also to Hazel's challenge: Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge 523 - that alcohol inked piece is positively ancient!

That's it for today. I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created this week. 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.

Take care everyone. 

Christmas Card Club - Cards 15,16&17/2020

 Hello Everyone,

I'm so late for what should have been a Sunday post for the Christmas Card Club. I can only apologise but I'm still having up and down days. Sunday and Monday this week have been two such days. I wish it were otherwise but it is what it is. So here I am today sharing the cards I made for Shaz's choice of die-cuts. 

I cheated a bit because all three cards were made from a card kit, Christmas Delights from Studio Light. The kit, full of die-cuts, is an old one that I'd only just broken in to so there's many more cards left to make up - another year, perhaps. 

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 hope you enjoy what's left of the day. 

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.

Christmas Card Club

 Hello Everyone

I know it's been forever but I'm back blogging again and back, too, with a few cards for the Christmas Card Club. Lorraine asked for 'mainly red' this time and I can't honestly say that what I've made fits the challenge so I'm going with the alternative, 'anything goes'. 

There is some red but not nearly enough. I've used another A4 sized 'one sheet wonder' to make these four cards. 

This is what it was like before I chopped it up to create the four toppers. I might just use this photo as my blog header for Christmas this year - it's certainly festive enough. 

A shot of materials used in the making. 

The toppers, once trimmed to size, were matted on to Kraft coloured card, stamped with the greeting and adhered to white card bases. 

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.

Take care and stay safe, 

WOYWW - Week 554

Afternoon Everyone,

It's another Wednesday and another excuse to reveal all for the weekly deskfest that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Not that what's on my desk today is much of a revelation, as you can see. 

I'm in cardmaking mode and, because Julia mentioned them last week, I've unearthed a lovely bunch of wood-mounted stamps. All winter foliage, my favourite Penny Black's, and festive greetings. The little one with the trail of ivy image is the first stamp I ever bought, brought home from Massachusetts in 1995! Good stamps never date.

As is often the case at the start of a new year, I've been thinking about sorting out the mountain of stash there is cluttering up this craft space. It's just been too easy to ignore it. There's a box full of all the inky, painty, stenciled experiments - the one on the left - and all the scraps used for testing new embossing folders - the one on the right. It's too easy to toss them in a box, to be used one day, never! Well, never has arrived. The coming week is going to be spent working my through those boxes. Hopefully, when you see my desk next week, the contents of those boxes will be very much reduced and there will be a lovely pile of cards to show instead.

Now, the book bit.

Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons - a classic children's adventure and a childhood favourite.  Absolutely brilliant even though it's dated and I'm certain parents today would not allow a group of young children to sail away to camp on Wild Cat Island for the summer holidays without adult supervision. Putting that aside, this book is a delight, and still an entertaining read even today.



That's it from me this week. I'm off now to see what Julia and our fellow deskers have been showing us today.

Take care everyone and have a great week ahead.

Saturday Catch-Up - the one instead of the missed WOYYW & Friday Smile posts

Hello Everyone,

And a happy Saturday to you all too. So far, this week has gone by in a blur with so much stuff going on - none of it craft related - that there's been no chance of blogging, or scrapping even. Regretfully, despite my best intentions, I had to miss the last WOYWW and Friday Smile posts before Christmas. I suspect it's been the same for many of you.

I did, however, manage an hour or so in the craft room late yesterday afternoon to make these cards using the 'one-sheet wonder' technique which I shared in this post here.

Not that I needed any more cards for this Christmas. The last post has gone and the address book has been put away for now. I don't think I've missed anyone but if I have, I can only apologise. No, what I really wanted was to create a new Christmas header for this blog and it seemed a good idea at the time to combine it with cardmaking. So - like I needed to challenge myself more at this time - it had to be a 'one-sheet wonder' - of course!

To begin, because I intended creating a street scene, I drew a line across the middle of an A4 sheet of smooth white card to show what direction I should be placing the house and tree stamps. I could have made it easier for myself in so many ways but where's the fun in that!  The masks were made from large post-its. The houses, from Pinkfresh Studio's 'Christmas Florals', were stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink and the pine trees, from Cardmaking & Papercraft's  'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas' stamp set, with Letterpress green ink pad.

The next bit, filling in the winter sky, was so much easier to do. Using a selection of snowflake filler stamps - from the 'Forest Magic' and 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' stamp sets and two Distress Oxide ink pads, Evergreen Bough and Tumbled Glass, and Adirondack Stonewashed dye pad.

Bearing in mind I was creating a Christmas blog header, Father Christmas had to feature. The image, stamped in black, of Santa on his sleigh with the reindeer is again from the 'Forest Magic' stamp set.

I remembered, just in time, to take a shot of the page before adding the fourth repeat of the sleigh so that it could be cropped down to size for the header.

Once that was all done, the sheet was cut into four to create the card toppers. I then embossed some Stamp-n-Stuff Crystal powder on the rooftops and round the base of the trees using a VersaMarker pen. The sparkle is subtle and doesn't show up well in the photo but recipients will be able to appreciate it. The greeting, another stamp from the 'Christmas Florals' set, was stamped on each topper using Versafine in Crimson Red. The final touch was a dot of Xmas Red' Stickles on the wreaths on the doors of the houses.

And finally, an oops! moment.

This was the first topper that I tried to finish off with the sparkly embossing powder. Unfortunately, I opted to use a new American Craft's embossing pen. Unlike my old, and trusty, VersaMarker pen, the AC pen is not clear - it's pink and the colour doesn't disappear on heating! Pink roof tiles! Disaster!!! To rescue it, I embossed over the pink with Papermania 'Seafoam White' embossing powder and used puffy stuff to create snow around the base of the trees.

Blunder. What blunder? Lesson learned.

If you've read all the way down to here, you have real staying power so thank you, it's appreciated.

That's me done for now. Hopefully, I'll post again before the Big Day, but if I don't make it, I wish you a very happy Christmas - may your day be wonderful and as perfect as you want it to be.

WOYWW 537

Morning Everyone

It's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again and I'm late. What's new? Only because I've been busy doing nothing more exciting than my domestic goddess tasks. But enough of the excuses, I'm here now and this is what's on my desk this morning.

Question: how many green ink pads have I got in my stash? Answer: the eight in this shot? No, there's more - at the last count it's eleven! You'd never guess that green is my favourite colour. The autumnal background was made for a challenge. Sorry, can't show the finished project yet - it's still a secret. But, talking of autumn, here's another card I made this week.

The topper was made from a bit of promotional mail received from our local garden centre I thought too nice to toss. It's layered on to dark brown card and the base is a square kraft card base. Course garden twine seemed an appropriate embellishment and the little wooden leaf perfect for the season.

And now, the book bit.

This week I've been enjoying the second installment of Shaun Bythwell's tales from what must be Scotland's most famous bookshop, The Bookshop in Wigtown. 'Confessions of a Bookseller' follows on from 'The Diary of a Bookseller' (soon to be a major TV series). I enjoyed both books very much. Apart from Mr Bythwell himself my favourite character is his neurotic Italian temp assistant, 'Granny'.  It's only a week or so the Wigtown Book Festival which we plan to go to, and we will be sure to pop into The Bookshop while we are there. A mile of bookshelves - unmissable!

And ... finally ...

me this morning ...

Illustration by Louise Braithwaite

... because I am a ...

... and now, I think I need one of these ...

Enough! Time for lunch. But before I go, I just want to apologise to everyone I didn't visit last week. Life, as usual, got in the way and I simply ran out of time. Today, I promise, I will do much better. Thank you to you all for your visits and your comments, they are very much appreciated.

Have a wonderful 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.