Glowing Candles, First 2014 Christmas Card!

At last! I have the first of my Christmas cards to reveal. I am entering a few challenges with this one, I also challenged myself to only use dies, punches or embossing folders...

I used the Glowing Candles Memory Box die which I cut in gold card then created white candle insets so that the gold dripping wax effect was enhanced. I cut the foliage again in white, and added bits of it here n there! I made punched twiggy bits using the Martha Stewart branch punch in white and gold and a couple of sprigs of spruce using a Lea'abilities set. The poinsettia flower was hand cut

 The frame behind is the Victorian Lace die by Tattered Lace which was cut using white pearl card. 

I had a bit of a struggle with the sentiment I couldn't decide where to put it or even whether to use it at all, I'm still not happy but it's stuck down now! next time I will try it without!

To begin with I wanted to create a white on white card but half way through I changed my mind after seeing my gold and white card together on my desk! unfortunately I have found it very hard to take photographs of this card, either the white looks grey or shines too bright to look at. this gold is lovely but is looking more of a garish yellow, (very frustrating grrr)
I added a bit of bling with amber coloured gems to finish the card off.

I am entering this card into a few challenges.....
Crafty Card Makers.....cut it out! die cutting or punching
House of Cards.....use a punch or die
Winter Wonderland.....Gold Christmas
Allsorts.....Christmas
Crafty Bloggers.....Christmas

It's nice to find some challenges to enter that are not haloween based, as I am a Christian I do not celebrate halloween at all, I would much rather celebrate light than darkness! mind you, being totally scared of spiders even at my age  makes halloween something I want to miss!

Dies used: Glowing Candles by Memory Box, Victorian Lace Antique Ovals by Tattered Lace
Spellbinders Edgeabilites Classc Scallop and a decorative inset from another Edgeabilities set Lea'bilities Holly set (used spruce)

thanks for visiting today
have a good week!

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

I've been trawling Pinterest over the last couple of days to find some crafty makes I can have a go at for Christmas, One of my favourites was this cute little bag of reindeer noses. Rudolph was made with the Stampin' Up owl punch which just happens to be on order along with the bird builder punch! 

I'm thinking it would be fun to make some of these up to give alongside other gifts. I found them on Pinterest but can't link to the actual website so here's the link on Pinterest HERE

The brown noses are obviously maltesers but what about the red ones? where do I get them from? what are they? any suggestions?

This was the other design I found using the same punch but these are obviously a different sweetie.

I found this version HERE.....I think I will have to go into one of those old fashioned sweet shops! We have one in St Annes but I have never been in that shop yet as I would have to bring back some samples to taste LOL.

And finally I found this cute version, I love the re-wrapped little chocolates, its a great way to use up scraps of patterned paper and it looks fabulous, very designer I think! I found this item HERE

I just can't wait to get my owl punch from Stampin Up, I have made a board especially for it on Pinterest as there are loads of other crafty ways to use the punch.....from penguins to monsters, pirate owls to Winnie the pooh and then tiny little baby dresses etc etc. the more I look through the internet especially Pinterest, the more I am amazed at how clever paper-crafters really are, what a wonderful thing an imaginative inspired mind is!!

Super Pup, Ethans Birthday Card

I shared yesterday about Super Pup...a digi-stamp by Tiddly Inks. Well after spending ages trying to get my printer to speak to my laptop and play nicely, I finally got it printed out 4 times onto smooth card and I coloured the images with my Promarkers. Well after cutting and layering the image decoupage style using foam pads, I created a card that really made me smile lots which is just what the doctor ordered LOL, here's a close up of Super Pup.....

I made the eyes and nose shine using Glossy Accents. To create a cloudy background I used my powder blue pan pastel with an acetate template for the sky I stamped with my Lovely as a Tree stamp by Stampin' Up at the bottom of the rectangular scene to give the idea that the pup is flying higher than the tree tops,  I used some tiny polymer stamps to create a flock of birds flying into the distance. After setting the pan pastels with hairspray I added the Super Pup decoupaged image to the background to complete the scene.

I matted and layered the completed scene onto mat black card and then onto blue holographic card and attached it to my white A5 card blank. I tried to use a white pen over a grey Promarker to add like little jet stream from the cape and back legs to give flying movement but it doesn't really show up much at all.

I think if I use this image in a similar way again I will make the image of Super Pup much smaller which will be more effective, but this one is for my grandson Ethan celebrates his birthday this week, I know he will love it and will be convinced that Super Pup is our doggy Lulu in the picture.

I am entering this card into a few challenges, 

The Alphabet Challenge.....R is for Round or Rectangle

Chocolate Coffee & Cards Challenges.....For The Boys

Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge.....Celebration Cards 4 Kids

Creative Knockouts.....Animal Friends

I have purposely not put "Happy Birthday" on the card as I know my grandson Ethan will want this card to be framed and hung on his bedroom wall after his birthday.  this pup looks so like our Lulu!

Kev and I have been visiting for the weekend to celebrate Ethans birthday (which is actually next Tuesday), We live over 100 miles away so only see each other every couple of months! We have had a fab time finishing off with a small surprise party for him, we bought super hero cups plates table cloth and birthday banners which co-ordinated perfectly with his card, we couldn't have planned it better! still finding it hard to believe our Ethan is 11 years old this week!

Lulu and Super Pup look like the same doggy! (she has hung her cape up here LOL)

I now one thing! creating this card really made me smile and cheered me up on a day which had been quite stressful, even though I was up very late finishing it

Super Pup Digi stamp by Tiddly Inks

WOW I just fell in love with a digi-stamp. I love my rubber stamps and the feel of using them, I don't usually buy digi-stamps unless they are something special, but this one is super special!

Not many of you will know that I am the proud owner (and mommy) of a beautiful West Highland White Terrier, she is our joy and we love her to bits, here she is a couple of years ago above.

and here she is a couple of weeks ago on a very windy day! she never seems to look at the camera with her ears up, I think she enjoys being difficult just for fun, she has loads of character.

well here's the digi-stamp I have found at Tiddly Inks, is this cute or what? its titled "Super Pup"

there are other images featuring the same cute doggy, I think I will have to get them all. But this one is just perfect for my grandsons birthday card... Ethan kinda believes we talk to each other (me n Lulu),he asks me what she just said LOL he loves her to bits and is always asking about her when we talk on the phone. I will blog again with the finished card tomorrow I thik he will love it!

WOW I Have Bbeen Featured!

Wow! what a lovely surprise to be featured on the Little Red Wagon challenge blog. My centre step Lovely as a Tree card was featured.

That was such a welcome surprise, and to be honest I needed a lift today, Thanks so much
Little Red Wagon, hoping to play along again soon, I'm off to add my first button to my sidebar ;o)

As Lovely As A Tree.....Centre Step Card

Today I want to share a thank you card which is made especially for the mental health team who work from The Woodlands Resource Centre, in St Annes on Sea. I have had a lot of support during my illness and it was world mental health day last week so I though I should send a thank you card to them and what better image to use than this one for their card? (woodlands!!!)
I used this Stampin Up set below to create it...

 I have been trying to buy this Stampin Up "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set" for ages, I absolutely love the grove of trees (bottom stamp) I bleieved the set had been retired so didn't bother going to Stampin Up for it. I kept bidding on eBay for them but was always outbid at the last minute. in desperation I asked Cal a Stampin Up demonstrator (her username is HysteriCal on ukscrappers) for help.

To my surprise she told me that its the one set that has lasted so long without retiring it's that popular! So I ordered it along with my new Stampin Up paper trimmer (which is fabulous but that's another post!!!) I have marked the centre of the block with pencil to help me in a project I am trying out!

So the first card I have created with it is a centre step card but I used the landscape style rather than the usual tall portrait version as it fitted the image better! unfortunately I see looking at the photo now that 2 of my sticky back gems have dropped off at the bottom GASP!!! I shall go back and stick them all on properly with glossy accents! so glad that I haven't posted it already!

I used an embossing folder which gives a wood grain effect behind the image and I used the long spellbinders Parisian border die at the bottom. the "Thank You" is die cut using a Robert Adams die

To colour the image which was stamped with my Rich Cocoa Momento ink pad, I used Promarkers.

I decided to send the ground further back than the stamped tree mound edges as I didn't want to give the sense that the trees were on the edge of a cliff! 

I wasn't totally satisfied with the sky which I had coloured at the bottom and blended into the green and then brought colour down from the top too so I used a powder blue pan pastel very lightly but leaving some white till I got the desired effect.

I am really pleased with the card and cant wait to think up some lovely Christmas designs once I have played some more with this fabulous stamp set LOL

CHALLENGES...
I'm entering a few challenges again today as it inspires me to keep to crafting especially when in pain or just feeling blaaaahhhh!
Their name is linked to their respective blogs so just click to go to them!

Creative Card Crew.....Black Cardstock
Ooh La La Creations.....Inspired by Nature
Little Red Wagon.....Give Thanks
Creative Knockouts.....Thankful
Sisters of Craft.....Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination..........Antything Goes

Side Step Card & Cute Knitting Die Cuts

The Christmas cards are still a work in progress, to be honest I keep changing my mind on exactly what I wanna do so I'm still thinking that through especailly which papers to use so I wanted to try something totally different today... I browsed on Pinterest (a favourite armchair activity lol) and I found samples of side step cards I have only ever created centre step cards so I decided I really had to have a go! theres even one based on a semicircle but that's for another day LOL!

I needed to make a thank you card for my close friend Kath, she has been helping me to make some preemie baby hats for another friends littlle baby girl who was born very early. Kath has made the knitted ones while I have made some crochet ones. I love how realistic these Marianne Design die cuts have turned out. I embossed them then used a promarker to accent the embossing.

This is the front view of the side step card I made today. As well as the the Marianne Design die set I mentioned earlier I also used the Tattered Lace ornamental rose die. The thank you circle is a small clear stamp which was stamped then heat embossed in silver and cut with a circle die. I used a silver marker to colour the knitting needles, they look quite realistic!

I have wanted to participate in some card challenges for a while but I always seem to miss the deadlines or tiredness and my health problems get in the way, However, I am gonna break that cycle now and enter this card into a few challenges, kinda like getting back into what I really love to do...card making and scrapbooking! actually playing with all things pertaining to papercrafting.

CHALLENGES
Here's the challenges I'm entering this card into,
Select the name as this is linked to the relevent website
Inspiration Destination.....Anything Goes
Sisters Of Craft.....Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon.....Giving Thanks
Creative Knockouts.....Thankful
In The Pink.....Fancy Folds and Pink
Crafty Hazelnuts.....Use Patterned Papers All Over the Card
The Sisterhood of Crafters.....Think Pink (breast cancer awareness)

Im feeling really happy now that I have learned a new card shape
but even more so that I have been back into card challenges again
But mostly because I like this card (I am usually over critical) and the recipient will love it


thanks for stopping by , I hope you have a great week
please leave me a comment before you go!

replacing what was lost

I really need to make a start on my Christmas cards now that October is here and the holiday is over. last year I was so miffed about my Christmas cards because when I moved house last October, somehow I lost all of my dies and couldn't make the ones I had planned, in fact I hardly sent any cards at all last Christmas.  One set of lost dies was the Deer Trio by Memory Box

I love the fabulous cards people have made with these dies, I have even made a board on Pinterest of the many cards on line for inspiration. I had searched for them on and off for at least 9 months to replace the lost ones and finally found them last week,

I had also lost a set of poinsettia dies, I have bought the Lea'bilities Multi Flower Poinsettia set to replace them although they're not the same as those lost I like the fact that they have the 2 flourishes and the actual flowers can be used as leaves any time of year too. I am looking forward to making a start on my Christmas cards this week I don't wanna miss anyone out this year so better get a move on LOl!