Christmas Card Club Challenge - Cards 1-3/2022 - Black & Gold

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year to all the Christmas Card Club members. I hope I find you well. I've been poorly, nothing very dramatic, but I woke up feeling better today. Well enough, in fact, to spend the afternoon making cards for the first Christmas Card Club Challenge of the year. Black and gold is Kate's challenge and I really enjoyed searching through my boxes of scraps and dies to make the following three three cards. 

The background on the first card is one of my experiments with the gelli plate and a chevron patterned stencil on a scrap piece of white card. I don't know why I kept it because I wasn't altogether happy with the result then but I'm glad I did now. 

The other two cards have embossed gold card backgrounds. It's been a while, a couple of years actually, but whenever I got a new folder I'd always try them out on some bits from my leftover box. That box can come in very handy for cardmaking.

The greetings in the first and second cards are actually gold peel-offs on black card. 

Stencil, Embossing Folders and Dies used:

Chevrons stencil - Creative Expressions That Special Touch

Kassie's Brocade folder - Cuttlebug

Sun Rays folder - Craft Concepts

Poinsettia - Spellbinders

Trailing Ivy & Rectangle die set - sources forgotten

Merry Christmas Wreath - Sara Davies Signature Collection

That's it for today - it's my bedtime. 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

Post Christmas Catch-Up

Hello Everyone

And Happy New Year to you all.

My Christmas break stretched a few more days than planned but I was feeling, as many of us do at this time of the year, in the need of a bit more down time. We've tried to take advantage of any dry day - and if the sun was out, even better - by going for walks to enjoy some fresh, bracing even, air. Otherwise it can be too easy to just curl up on the sofa with one of the new books Santa left under the tree or, more likely, another Christmas film on TV. All very enjoyable.

However, I've not been slacking off completely. This blog needed a new header - the Christmas header with it's image of a sleigh, reindeer and the big man in the red suit no longer seemed right. After all, he'd done his job and was presumably back in the North Pole enjoying a well earned rest.

Instead, I wanted to welcome in the new year and the hotly debated new decade - I leave it to the pedantic among us to wait another year. As for me, it's a new decade, and hopefully better than the one just gone.

Supplies used: patterned paper,  'Christmas Cheer' from Heidi Swap's Winter Wonderland collection; 'Scenic Winter' border die set; scraps of white cardstock; American Crafts foam thickers 'Comfort'.

I use Serif Craft Artist to create the header these days since I gave up on MS Publisher when my old computer had to be replaced a few months ago. Buying the MS Office products would have been very expensive so it wasn't too difficult to decide to do without, after a great many years using it. I've been retired for ten years so just had to question why I still thought I needed it. Especially as I already had the Serif disc here. It does the job just fine. I'm happy.

Once the header was created and uploaded I was left with the panel. Usually, I'd make a card with it but, as it has the year 2020 on it, that wouldn't have been useful at all - 2021, yes, but not 2020!

So, I incorporated it into this layout featuring the first selfy the EM took of us just after midnight on the first day of the year. This page used up a lot of scraps of patterned paper - most from what was left from the December kit from Mind The Scrap. Loved the non-traditional combination of patterns and colours in this kit. The house and the robin were made from scraps of card and dies from two sets, 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas' (Cardmaking & Papercraft, Issue 202) and 'Card Making Magic' (Simply Cards & Papercraft, Issue 197). The letters used to create the word 'hello' are AC 'Picnic' gold foil stickers.

I still have quite a few photographs from December to scrap yet, and I see that it's the first day of the Christmas Card Club again today, so Christmas isn't quite over for me yet. But that's okay. I love Christmas and it's so sad to see the trees and decorations coming down ... a job the EM couldn't wait to get started on. Sigh. Am I the only one to feel like this? Surely not.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, have a lovely Sunday. Take care.

Christmas Card Club - Card 22/2019 - Penguins or Polar Bears

Evening Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I wish I could say I'd been doing something really exciting - touring the Highlands or climbing Ben Nevis, for example - but sadly not. Instead, I can only blame life - it just got in the way.  And it's been difficult to find time to make cards but I did squeeze in a few hours today, so here's what I've managed to make for the Christmas Card Club challenge. Today the theme, chosen by Shaz, is 'penguins or polar bears'. As you can see I opted for penguins.

The penguin chick is too cute and looks disappointed to be offered holly leaves instead of fish, don't you think?

Supplies used:

- a white A6 card base

- cardstock: white for embossed layer and penguin; black for layering and penguin; grey for baby penguin chick; red for greeting

- embellishments: tiny black and white pearls from Craft for Occasions

Tools used:

- die-cutting machine 

- die sets: Docrafts' Spiro Circles, 'Snowflake Penguins' from Apple Blossom and 'Modern Merry Christmas' - a Mini Moments from Tonic Studios

- embossing folder: 'Congrats' set from American Crafts

After watching the first episode of 'Seven Worlds, One Planet' on TV last night, I have renewed respect for these brave creatures so was delighted to bring out this cute penguin die set today.

There's only three more challenges for the Christmas Card Club left in this year and I'm pleased to say I have, by now, built up quite a stock of cards. It's been well worth participating in the challenge along with the others this year. 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 me.

Christmas Card Club - Card 14/2019 - Christmas Baubles

Hello Everyone,

Finally, back after our holiday in North Yorkshire - memorable in many ways, not least for the cold I caught from the EM who'd become poorly just before we hit the road south. Unfortunately. because I have asthma, a cold is never just a cold for me and so it takes me a bit longer to recover too. Happily, I am better now so can catch up with this fortnight's Christmas Card Club challenge - the theme of Christmas Baubles was my choice.

I've taken the opportunity to try out a lovely new stencil, The Dusty Attic's Starry Night, and using black ink decorated both the inside and outside of this card. To make the baubles I used a couple of very old Memory Box dies (2013). First, I cut the coloured part of the bauble from a piece of card that was one of my early experiments with alcohol inks, making sure to place only the 'bauble' part of the die on the card before passing it through the die-cutting machine. Second, I cut only the 'bow ribbon' part out of snippets of gold card - it takes only tiny amounts of card for this. The pieces were then glued together before placing them on both the front flaps and inside. The greeting, Tonic's Modern Merry Christmas, was also cut from a snippet of gold card.

This card is bit different from those I usually make but I did enjoy working on a different base and with such a lovely stencil too. It was a bit fiddly putting the baubles together but, I think, well worth the effort.

That's it for CCC today but 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 - they are, as always, so much more creative than me.

I'm also submitting the card to Pixie's Snippet Playground Challenge #356. It's been a while - too long in fact - but nice to be back and using up some of the many snippets I've been hoarding.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Boy's Birthday Card

Afternoon Folks

I hope you've had a lovely day. I'm not long home from the craft group - our last meeting of the year - a festive occasion with mince pies, chocolates, a lot of good chat - as well as some crafting, of course. It's getting to feel a lot like Christmas around here.

It was my wee great-grandson's birthday recently and, as he is obsessed with anything that has wheels on it, I made him this card.

It's another of my thrifty makes. The digger and road cones are from a pack of die-cuts found at The Works.

Other supplies used:

- white cardstock for the tent fold card base
- Kraft and dark brown cardstock
- Sizzix's Tim Holtz Alterations Steampunk embossing folder 
- X-Cut's Spiro Circle nesting die set
- Greeting stamp from The Best of Card Making Magic set
- VersaMark Watermark stamp pad
- white embossing powder

It was a quick last minute make - put together in minutes. Just as well, too. I've been so busy concentrating on making Christmas cards lately that I almost forgot the wee one's birthday. And it made a nice change to be doing something not Christmas related.

Enjoy your evening.

Get Well Cards

Evening Everyone,

Why is it we never have any 'get well' cards when they are needed? Could be that, like 'sympathy' cards, we hope there won't be a call for them. Well, this week the call came so I set too and made one for now and one spare.

This one is made almost entirely from scraps. The topper was based on a scrap of white card with brushstrokes of aqua watercolour paint which was leftover from another project. I over-stamped using Penny Black's 'Aspire' stamp- an oldie but a goody - and two shades of ink, first in 'Peacock Feathers' distress ink and then black Memories ink pad. The dies used to cut out the topper and it's mat were from a stitched square set from The Works. The greeting is from an embossing folder and stamp set, 'Sweet Roses', which came free with a magazine some time ago.

 I stamped out this greeting - from 'The Best of Card Making Magic' free with Issue 9 of Love Cardmaking - with the intention of using it on the first card but decided it really didn't suit the topper after all. Instead, it made the beginnings of this one and the colours in the llama patterned paper, 'Cactus & Llama' 8x8 pack from The Range, went well with the aqua and teal cardstock used to mat and layer the topper. I've been itching to use the llama die, another find from The Range, for some time - they are a bit of fun. I cut it twice, in aqua and teal, and glued them together, just offset a little to allow the darker teal show through, and added two tiny aqua gemstones to the 'eye's of the llama. The upper right corner of the card is embellished with three larger turquoise gemstones.

All the cardstock is from papermilldirect online, my favourite card supplier, and the white square card bases are Papermania from The Range.

I think I've covered all the supplies used but if I've forgotten something you want to know more about do let me know ... I'm happy to answer any questions.

Hope you've enjoyed the weekend and will have a wonderful week ahead.

Happy Christmas Card

Hello Everyone

It's another lovely day here. The sort of day that beckons me out so I think I'll be off for a wee walk after lunch.

In the meantime, I have this quick make to share.

All the supplies were rescued from the scrap mountain. I found the card used for the upper part in the 'already embossed' box.

Supplies used:
- 5" square white card base, from Papermania - used to form a tent shaped card.
the pre-embossed card for the upper part
- scrap of very old patterned paper for lower part of the card, from the Papermania A5 Penelope & Percy pack - also trimmed along the lower edge with the X-cut scallop punch
- a scrap of turquoise petersham ribbon used to cover the upper and lower join
- lacy snowflake paper trim from Siesta Craft - once self-adhesive but so old there's no adhesion left
- snippets of aqua and dark teal card for the poinsettia and greeting
- one aqua gem for flower centre

Tools:
- embossing folder, an old favourite, Kars Ice Crystals from Cuttlebug
- X-cut 4cm scalloped border punch - used to trim the lower edge, back and front, of the card base
- Xyron 150 - used to give the paper trim back it's stickiness
- dies - Spellbinders Poinsettia set and the Happy Christmas greeting
- die-cutting machine

From the two lists above you will have not failed to have noted that I've been raiding old stash. And that is true of just about every card I've made this year. I can't see the point of buying new materials and tools when I have enough of the old to last me a lifetime. Especially when the papers are still gorgeous, the trims & embellishments are still usable and the embossing folders and dies are still my favourites. The bonus is, savings from such thrift help me to Royal Mail's ever increasing postage rates!

I'm entering the card to the following two challenges:

Sweet Stamping Christmas - November Challenge

CRAFT Challenge 491

Edited Note: I did set out for a wee walk but got no further than the garden where I ended up pottering around for an hour or so. 

Pennant Card for CHNC Challenge

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a super Saturday.

Here's the card I've made for Hazel's CHNC challenge 412 today. We have a choice of theme: 'either anything goes as long as it's Christmas' or something beginning with 'H'. I've opted for anything goes.

I have to admit that this is an unapologetic lift of an original design by Wanda Cullen of Cullen-ary Creations. I was struck by Wanda's card a few years ago, remembered it - and that is nothing short of a miracle at my age - thinking it was the perfect design to use up scraps of leftover papers.

Supplies used:

• white cardstock trimmed to 11½" x 4½" folded in half to create a tent style card base
• scraps of patterned paper from an old Memory Box 6x6 pack - possibly Christmas First Edition - trimmed to various widths and lengths, with ends trimmed into fishtails to create the pennants
• another scrap for the topper, with greeting stamped in black - Memories Dye Inkpad- and cut with a label die - Spellbinders Petite Labels S3-205
• scrap of smooth red cardstock, also cut with a label die from the Spellbinders set. This was used to mat the greeting onto, creating the topper
• two small metal brads for the the topper
• green satin ribbon to tie around the top of card
• adhesives - the pennants are attached with a flat double-sided adhesive tape and the topper is attached with foam dimensional tape

For much more inspiration do check out Wanda's blog - her creations are lovely.

What's On Your Desk Wednesday - Week 446

Ah, the last WOYWW before Christmas and it's a super busy time for me and, no doubt, for you all too. So, such as it is, here's my desk today.

For much of the week it's been the present wrapping station hence the Sellotape dispenser and dish of labels. It will stay there for the time being, there's still some last minute wrapping to do. Every year I vow to be more organised and every year I fail ... miserably. There's a reason, too, for the fabric, old jeans and alphabet templates ...

Zipper bag made from old denim jeans decorated with an appliqued letter - the initial of the recipient. I've filled this one with toiletries.

I've also been busy batch-making cards.

I think it is safe to show these today as I believe they should have been received by now. These were for the UKPC craft group swap for Christmas - the theme being animals/birds at Christmas. They involved lots of stamping, die-cutting and gluing and it was the nearest I've ever come to a production line!

That's me done for this week. It just leaves me to wish you all a wonderful holiday whatever you are doing and however you celebrate. No doubt there will be lots of messy desks and happy photos to see next Wednesday.

In the meantime, Happy WOYWW to you all.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 445

Hello WOYWWers & All,

Here we are heading towards Christmas - fast! And, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling just a tad stressed. So much to do and so little time left. I expect Julia, our Head Desker, over at The Stamping Ground is rather more organised than this poor WOYWWer.

It's not as though I haven't been busy. I have. Honestly! But I'm still paddling like mad to get everything done before Christmas. So here's what's on my desk today.

Yep! I'm still making cards. What you can see is the result of me playing with an idea for a Christmas card. It hasn't worked out quite how I wanted it to so it's back to the drawing board.

Other projects I've been working on:

From the sewing machine. This little toilet bag was a tricky wee make and I admit I'm not entirely happy with it, but I'm looking on it as a learning experience.

This lovely bowl of labels were cut from leftover scraps of card in a variety of colours. The die used is from Xcut's Mini Bunting.

The labels were for this pile of books for my great-grandchildren. They have one for each day of the week leading up to the big day. For the first time there was two piles to label this year - that's a lot of labels.

And finally:

More knitting of asymmetrical scarves. Numbers five and six. Number five, the cream/gold sequined one at the back, is finished and number six is nearly there. I'm loving the fluffy white yarn which has a sprinkling of the tiniest silver sequins through it. 


That's what I've been up to this week and what I'm working on today. The weather here is frightful, we're having sleet and rain by turns,  so so what better excuse to stay warm and cosy indoors, hot chocolate at the ready, and check out what you have on your workdesk today.

Take care and stay safe wherever you are.

Sunday Snippet Cards - A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Evening Everyone,

It's been a lovely autumnal day here ... perfect for the day out at Portpatrick Harbour to celebrate DH's 79th birthday. For those of you who follow me on Facebook pop over to see photos taken today.

There was, though, a definite nip in the air so I think it's safe to say that summer is over. Not to worry, autumn here in Scotland is glorious and our summer hasn't been all that good ... not good enough to miss, that's for sure. And it does mean that I will be spending less time gardening and more time crafting. Now, that's got to be good because it will mean I can get back to posting more often on this much neglected blog ... starting with sharing this trio of snippets cards.

As you can see the design is similar in all of them and they all feature butterflies. The strips of card are leftovers from an earlier session when I played with the various colours in my Brusho collection. I layered them on to scraps of solid coloured card before adhering them to the face of the card blanks. The butterflies were cut from snippets of card using two of the new die sets bought recently from The Range.

Supplies used:

• card blanks 
• leftover pieces of white card spattered with Brushos in a variety of colours, trimmed to create strips
• scraps of card in green, yellow and pink for the layers under the Brusho strips to create the panels
• snippets of card in green, aqua, yellow, turquoise and pink for the butterflies
• butterfly dies - Xcut Dinky Die - Butterfly and Dovecraft Mini die - Layering Butterfly

I'd like to say that these made a huge dent in my scrap mountain but, sadly, they did not. I've been thinking of taking another approach to this problem, that is apart from tossing them all in the bin - I couldn't do that - and after watching a few YouTube videos on the subject I'm going to have a bash at making up card kits to have ready to work on at any time I have a free moment. I'm hoping the initial time taken to make up the kits will, in the end, be worth it. Grabbing a few kits to work on whilst watching TV of an evening would seem a good plan. And it also occurs to me that the youngsters in the family might like some to be creative with. It's worth a try. I'll let you know if it proves to be a successful approach - or not.

In the meantime, I'm submitting one of these cards to Pixie's Snippets Playground. I'm just not sure which one - decisions, decisions!

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend and that the coming week is going to be a good one.

Butterfly Birthday Card - Experimenting with alcohol markers

Good Morning ...

... and a very happy Tuesday to you all too.

I have a very quick share today.

Prompted by this month's swap challenge for UKPC I've been experimenting with all sorts of alcohol inks, including Promarkers. This card is intended for my younger sister's birthday later this month. She doesn't read my blog so it's okay to share it here.

Here's how I made it:

- first I selected a bunch of colours that I thought would look good together. I chose a rainbow of colours. From left to right - Indigo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Duck Egg, Ruby, Cardinal Red, Poppy, Dusky rose, Ginger, Soft Peach, Buttercup, Pear Green, Olive green, Leaf Green, Lime Zest, Baby Pink, Lilac, Bluebell, Plum.

- I then took a Ranger Gloss Paper 7 x 10 card base - I'd forgotten I had these tucked away in my stash until the recent big sort out.

- with the top and bottom masked off I simply drew lines of colour, using the stubby end of the pens and working from each edge into the centre. The next step was to add some Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution which had the effect of smudging the hard lines between each colour. This would work better with Adirondack alcohol inks but it didn't do too badly with the Promarkers. I also dabbed on some Gold Adirondack Mixatives which is not showing up too well on the photo but looks lovely in real life.

- to tidy up the edges of the panel I drew a line top and bottom with a Krylon 18kt gold leafing pen and then outlined that with a black Pigma Micron 08 pen.

- to decorate the card I cut out a decorated circle from a snippet of gold card using an inexpensive die from The Works and it cut perfectly.

- I then used the butterfly die and cut it out of this piece of card that was another alcohol ink experiment.

It was made on a scrap of smooth white card using Adirondack Alcohol inks in Sail Boat Blue, Red Pepper, Currant, Sunshine Yellow and Juniper with splats and dabs of the gold mixative. It looks very bright and messy here but once it was cut the butterfly looked a lot more toned down.

- almost finally, the greeting from Stampin' Up's So Happy For You set was stamped in Stazon Jet Black and then I added three tiny hearts - saved from the butterfly waste - just because they were too pretty to toss.

- to finish the inside, and because there was a little bit of bleed through from the markers, I added a plain white insert.

I did trim the bottom edge it with a sliver cut from the paper used to mask the card when colouring - it mirrored the front of the card perfectly.

Well, that doesn't look such a quick share but it's mostly photos and it really didn't take too long to make either.

Because I've used a couple of, admittedly tiny, snippets I'm submitting this to Pixie's Snippets Playground. 

The reason for speed today is that as it is such a glorious day we are off out to Culzean Country Park. We're taking a picnic and  we intend finding a lovely spot to just sit and enjoy.

I wish you all a very lovely day.

Embossed Birthday Card

Evening,

I have this little card to share with you today.

It was made by dipping into that box of embossed scrap - part of the sort out operation I've been working on for weeks, see it in this previous post.

Supplies used:

• a pre-made white card base, measuring 5¾" x 4¼" - landscape orientation.
• cardstock - rose pink Coordinations card and aubergine Textured Cardstock from Papermania. 
• embossing folder -  Folksy Circle (Sizzix). 
• Happy Birthday die - from China  
• aubergine satin ribbon to tie around the top of the card.

Just a quick post this evening. I'm still busy preparing for the holiday - just a few more sleeps and we'll be on our way.

Take care,

Sunday Snippet Make - A Minnie Mouse Card

Good Evening,

I hope you are having a happy crafty Sunday.  After quite a pleasant morning here - managed a couple of hours gardening - the heavens have now opened and it's pouring down. Not that I'm too bothered because it gave me the perfect excuse to retreat to the craft room and finish the card I'm sharing today.

Have you ever wondered how I go about designing my cards? Well, I often wonder that myself and actually it's pretty hit and miss. I don't make sketches and I certainly don't have a clear idea of where I'm going before I start. They just sort of develop - usually very slowly. In fact, a quick card is something of a rarity.  Instead I start with a person, an occasion or, as in this case, one item I want to use and then go from there. What follows is an illustrated walk-through of how I made this card.

The idea for this card has been brewing for a few days. The starting point was that I wanted to make a card for a Minnie Mouse enthusiast's birthday using a Disney adhesive topper from a set that has been in my stash for quite some time, Frankly, I'm a sucker for anything Minnie and/or polka dots and I blame Disney entirely for this obsession.

So I had the topper but there has to be more than that to a card. Once the topper was decided on a very vague idea of what I wanted to include in it began to develop. A background was essential and I wanted to make it myself but I wasn't at all sure how. It wasn't until I was watching a recording of a craft show - I 'speed watch' these to avoid the sales chatter - where the demonstrator was making the most fabulous background using alcohol inks and glossy paper. Now the background I've made is clearly not made with alcohol inks but that demo was the prompt for me to dig out my tiny set of Brushos instead.

I chose a scrap of white pearlised card - using the reverse (non-pearlised) side, a tip from Sheena Douglass - and on a craft mat spritzed it with water before shaking Brilliant Red Brusho ink dust on to it. I found a second spritzing got the spattered effect I was looking for. After putting the card aside to dry, I mopped up the ink that was left on the craft mat and put that aside too.

While they were drying I cut a sheet of black cardstock - Papermill Direct - to make the matting for the spattered background, which was then adhered to a plain white card base measureing 7"x 5" (The Works Make & Create). Next I die cut the matting and layering for the topper. Dotty paper seemed a must and I was lucky to find a snippet of red/white and a sheet a black/white polka dotted paper in my stash. It's old 6"x 6" paper - Raspberry Road Designs Summer Goodness (2012) and a Crafts-~Too Designer Paper Pack - most probably 2012 too. I used a Chinese die set for this. The packaging has minimal information on it so here's a photo of what it looks like.

And while I was searching through the dies I came across the tiny Interlocking Circles die from Decorette (CLDR 11) which gave me the idea for the embellishments. I cut it twice from leftover black cardstock and attached it to the top right and bottom left corners of the splattered card using liquid glue ... it's so fine any other adhesive wouldn't work.

To make the topper I also die-cut the scrap of card used to mop up the ink and then layered it with the red and black patterned papers before topping it with Minnie. The final touch was to add the greeting which also came with the topper set.

And that is how this card was made. I'm submitting it to the following two challenges:

Di's Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 285 and 286 - where anything goes as long as it includes snippets.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 419 - Use at least two dies

I hope you enjoyed reading this more detailed description of how I made the card. Normally, I simply itemise the steps that go into making a card, making it all seem so quick and easy, but I thought this blow by blow account would give a truer insight into the tortured thinking that goes into the whole process. I suspect that you have a much more organised approach which makes cardmaking easier, simpler and quicker. I truly am the slowest card maker in the World! I'd never be able to make a living at it, that's for sure.

It's going to be a good night tonight. Poldark is back!

I wish you all a lovely evening.