Poinsettia Flourish - an unintentional stencil story

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well and, for those of you in the UK, enjoying some lovely autumnal weather. I always find autumn so refreshing after summer, especially the less than lovely summer we've endured this year.

Today's card came about by accident. After I'd finished the die-cutting of leftover snippets of card session I had recently, and as I was clearing the scraps into the bin, I was halted by this piece.

It actually looked quite regular and it occurred to me that it would make a stencil, A bit of inking with some red and brown inks and the addition of a few flourishes, gems, and a greeting, and here's the resulting card.

To help it blend better, the peel-off greeting, which was silvery, was rubbed over with the red ink too.

I'm now looking at my wee die collection with new eyes and I'm thinking that, with careful selection and placement of them, I could make even more stencils ... yet another way of using these fab goodies.

Materials:
A tall white card base.
Die-cutting machine (e.g.Cuttlebug) Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die and a snippet of card to make stencil
Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Fired Brick and Vintage Photo
cArt-Us Christmas gem flourish, gold and Anita's gem wheel, gold gems used
Peel-off greeting 

The painting of the lounge is now finished ... yay!!!

The furniture is back in place, the pictures and portraits are back up on the walls, the new curtains are up and harmony has been reinstated.

Maybe life will get back to normal now :)

Happy crafting,

Snippet Cards for Rudolph Day and CHNC

Hi Everyone,

I've had a productive day making a bunch of Christmas cards using up snippets and stash and recycling bits from  commercial cards folk sent us last year - always much too good to toss.

Here's the first.

This is the card that was in the planning stages on my desk for yesterday's WOYWW post. It's a 5" square card base stamped up using a Sheena Douglas Flourish stamp. First it was stamped using the pink end of a Big & Juicy Hydrangea pad and then over stamped with VersaMark and embossed with silver powder. The recycled topper and silver mirri mat were cut out using Spellbinders labels 9. The greeting was punched out of the same card as the topper.  Mauve gems and silver edged ribbon complete the card.

I have a confession to make ... I made this card for this week's Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge after spotting the theme is 'Home for Christmas'. I saw the theme and immediately had Chris Rea's voice playing in my ear and had visions of folk going home for the holiday ... think Trains, Plains and Automobiles and you'll get the picture!  Consequently, this image of a couple making there way home in the snow seemed to fit the bill. Of course, if I had read Hazel's post right through ... !?!? Not to worry, the colours are non-traditional but they are growing on me, and I like the finished card, and to make up for my mistake I've made another two cards with toppers that fit Hazel's theme.

So here's the second card:

This card definitely features a house, well two cosy looking cottages actually. This time I've used a die-cut card base, measuring 6" square. The image and the greeting are, once again, recycled and the matting is patterned paper snippets from Memory Box's Spiceberry paper pack. It's not clear on the photo but there's glittery embossing on the image. The only embellishment is some red card candy.

And here's the final card:

More cottages in the snow. This one reminds me of the cottage in the movie, The Holiday ... Kate Winslet's idyllic and pretty Cotswold retreat! I was so disappointed to learn that it was just a film set, torn down after filming was finished ... places like that should really exist. Anyway, I digress, back to the card. The base for this is a scalloped-edge A5 card. The pattern paper is a piece from Papermania, Silent Night in a lovely soft green shade. The greeting is from Graphic 45's Christmas Emporium, matted onto a snippet of gold card. The ribbon and gold card candy is from stash.

I'm submitting number 2 and 3 to Hazel's Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #65 - Home for Christmas 

I'm also submitting all of them to the following two challenges:

Stamping for Pleasure's Rudolph Day - March 2012

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge - Number 13

And as all materials that went into the making of these cards are from my stash of stuff they qualify for the 100% Use-It-Up logo.

I've lots planned for tomorrow, including a walk along the river if the weather is still as sunny as it has been today. We missed our walk today because the EM was taking advantage of the fantastic weather to paint the decking - we inherited three tiers in our very sloping garden and it is the bane of our existence. However, we dread to think what further horrors lurk beneath so have decided to live with it rather than replace it.

Now, as it is well after midnight, I'm calling it a day. I wish you all well and hope you have a good day tomorrow, wherever you are.

Happy Crafting,

Creating a Scene for Christmas - It's Rudolph Day

Hello to you all,

Here I am at the end of a busy day and it's not been bad at all. My DH was at the hospital today and has been declared officially free of cancer - yippee! It's been a long five years and we're so glad it's all over :)

After the obligatory domestic stuff this morning I managed to slip into the craft space for a bit of R&R this afternoon.

Hazel over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #60 - set us the task of creating a scene and here's what I came up with.

I've been recycling again ... the idyllic winter scene was cut out of another commercially bought card we received two Christmases ago! I have added glitter glue (Stickles Crystal) to it and then backed it with a die-cut that is also edged with glitter glue (Stickles Burgundy). I've added sprays of holly (Penny Black Winter Bough) embossed with transparent crystal powder (Stamp 'N Stuff) to a white card base and strips of iridescent glue on the front and inside edges. Finally, I've embellished it with some red card candy in the corners.

I really like the effect of the embossing, subtle but pretty. I thought this stamp, one of my favourites from Docrafts,  Penelope & Percy, Christmas Greetings, appropriate for the scene.

As well as submitting this card to CHNC, I will be entering it over at Sandra's, Stamping for Pleasure, for February's Rudolph Day tomorrow when Mr Linky is up and running - it's my first entry for this challenge as I was too late discovering it in January.

Okay, I'd better get a wriggle on if I want to get over to Hazel's before the challenge closes.

Happy Crafting,

Sleepy Puppy - a recycled snippet card

Hi Folks

I'm nice and early this morning ... no idea why, but I was up with the lark :)

Whilst doing a bit of blog hopping yesterday, I came across Cynthia, the Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog and was tickled to read that it was Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. As Cynthia says, a very odd day to celebrate :) However, it prompted her to challenge us to make something that features a dog/dogs and this is what I came up with:

My recent organising session turned up this wee chap. He first appeared on a High Street bought card a non-crafting friend sent me for my birthday ... I thought he was way too cute to throw out so cut him out of the card for recycling one day.  Because the illustration is monochrome, I've stayed with the black/white colour combo. This is the first time I've used this embossing folder ... which is a crime since I got it way back in the middle of last year! ... and it is lovely. The tiny paw print stamp is one I brought back from Massachusetts in 1996. The price tag is still on it - $3.99! That's £2.55 in today's exchange rate and a bit of a search in the online catalogue index found at Blade Rubber Stamps suggests that it is still available, now costing £3.90 ... now that's inflation for you :)

Strategically placed paw prints on the inside ...

All materials are either from my snippet mountain, recyled items box, or from stash so it's another for Di's Crafty Snippets, Number 8, and as not a new penny was spent in the making of it, it definitely is:

Materials used:

• White  5" square scalloped-edge card base.
• Pieces of  card, black & white, trimmed to fit card and recycled topper.
• All-In-One Cuttlebug embossing folder, True Love.
• Magenta Paw Print stamp.
• Memento ink pad, Tuxedo Black
• Black/white stitched ribbon and black self-adhesive gems from stash.

The sun is out today and there's a gentle breeze, well, for now at any rate, so we should get out this afternoon for our daily walk ... in this mercurial climate of ours, what's the betting it will be raining by then. The EM has an OP appointment this morning - hopefully his last after his brush with cancer, as it is over 5 years since he had an operation to remove a malignant melanoma - fingers crossed.

The visit to the dentist was good and bad - good news that I'm a good girl and maintaining my usual high standards in the teeth cleaning department, bad news that I really must have that root canal job done - the temporary filling, is just that - temporary! So an appointment has been made for next month :( Oh dear, someone pass me the morphine!!!

It's almost 10am my time, so I'm off to brew another cuppa before contemplating my next project.

I hope all is going well for you, that you are well, and if not, wishing you a speedy recovery. Have a great weekend everyone and ...

... keep crafting :)