Snowdrops

Hello lovely crafters
I hope you are not all rolling around groaning in a stupor of too much food and drink. It's not over yet, we have another family bun fight later today and then I am free to craft and garden for the rest of the week.

I've lost count of the number of times I stamped out these snowdrops and coloured them in different ways. I've used plenty of snippets but perhaps not in the way Di intends the challenge to work. (They are all in the bin).
This final version is painted with dilute Brushos and brilliance white for the flowers. There is also very light blue inking behind the flowers which gives a slight contrast and background but doesn't show much in the picture. 

I had a plan for the offset circle but, as usual, didn't really think it through so if I did it again I'd do a few things differently. 
The snowdrops were stamped on a snippet and then stuck to the main card but it would be better if the stamping were on the main card and a die cut front glued on. That would save mess on the inside. 

Here is the inside. I'd like to decorate the insides more often but I usually run out of time. 
Don't think I just did this to cover up a failed stamped snowdrop on the back of my final version...why would you think that? 
I'm sure I'm not the only one who stamps on both sides of the card.

Well it finally turned out OK and I'm linking to the following challenges:
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Di is generously offering extra prizes of the holiday period and Parsnip is cooking up treats for the playmates. 

Stamping Sensations - the current challenge is Winter trees and flowers. I've seen the very tips of the snowdrop shoots above the ground. Brave souls but so welcome in the dark days of winter. I wanted this for a January birthday.  

Thanks for visiting. I hope you get some time to yourself in this busy time. 
x

December - How did we get here?

Hello lovely crafters,
Suddenly we find ourselves in December. I know I'm not the only one who wonders how we got here and that the world must be spinning faster on it's axis. 
We have our final Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge for 2017 and it runs all month. 

Hopefully you have a nice little pile of Christmas Cards stashed away but if not we are asking you to Pick a Previous CCT challenge from the 2012/13. There is plenty of choice and you can see the lists of themes, sketches, colours and stash/technique archives at the top of our challenge page.

Here is my card inspired by the August 2013 challenge - Holly. Click here to see that challenge. There are some fabulous cards there. 

I used one of my favourite techniques for this. I stamped all over a piece of watercolour paper with holly stamps and embossed in clear powder. Then I wet the paper and used Brushos to all over. 
I should perhaps have tried to keep the green off the berries but instead I used water to fade the green, once the sheet was dry, but finished up using a drop of bleach in the water to help. I'm not really allowed to play with bleach having ruined various pieces of clothing over the years! I really only used a drop here though.
I rather like the blue berries but, for the sake of tradition, I went with red. 

After I'd bleached out the green I added Scarlet Brusho and blotted to give paler colour. 
The final step is to iron off the embossing powder with a hot iron and plenty of copy paper under the iron to absorb the sticky mess. 
I only used a quarter of this sheet so you may well be seeing more of it at a later date. 
I finished it off with some washi tape and bow and also a little heart which is punched out, inked and covered with Glossy Accents. I made 6 of these for another project and only used one. Now I've used 2, lost one, found it again and still have 4 left.  
The holly stamp is Honey Doo and the sentiment Creative Stamping #49. 

I hope you'll find time to join in with our challenge. 
Thanks for visiting and Enjoy Your Day. x

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Guest designer Christmas tags.

Hello Lovely Crafters,

I'm very pleased to be guest designer for Di at Pixie's Snippets Playground this week. Di encourages us to use those scraps of paper and card we all have stashed away. 

My snippets are mostly plain card so I am always looking for ways to use them. I saw some tags like these and, with Christmas looming, thought they were very pretty and a good use of off-cuts. 

I saw them for sale from an online retailer so it's not an idea I've stolen from another blogger. 

I used 5cm strips of kraft card for these first tags and added embroidery thread and a couple of strands of gold for the ties. 

I think it's the gems which make them special. 

Of course you do need the right sort of die as some just leave a hole without much pattern to it but luckily I had one which worked. 
I found a good size was 5cm x 9cm. I made some a bit shorter but they didn't look as good. (Top line).

Then of course I was left with the cut out snowflakes so I just added them to a square of card with a similar tie and a gem in the middle. 

I also made some white ones but I think I prefer the kraft, or do I? I do like the pink gems...

 This photo now looks grey but they are white I promise. White with a pink gem and pink and silver thread. 

Dark gems and red and gold thread. 

Now I'm left with some 1cm strips. What can I do with those? Hmm. Or should I just throw them away! I think I know the answer...

So now I am stocked up with tags and have made a dent in the snippets mountain. I look forward to seeing what inventive  and creative ways people have found for using their snippets this week. 

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your Day. x

One layer wreath

Hello lovely crafters, 

I'm not sure why I've never found this challenge before, maybe I have but I was just at challenge overload. Seriously there are 2 or 3 a week I'd like to enter but I'll have to give up work and I really don't need that many cards. 

Stamping Sensations. This month it's a One Layer Christmas Card Challenge. Maybe monthly challenges are the answer... 
Stamping is my first love though now I wander into die cutting and design paper too.

I also love stamping wreaths and this one is built up with mostly Card-io stamps in green and then I added gold embossing. It wasn't quite right so I added the red flowers which are also embossed. 

I'm frustrated as usual by trying to get a good picture.
Other stamps are on a need to know basis - if you need to know just ask. x

Christmas Card Throwdown - November colours

Hello Lovely Crafters.

We are back with a new challenge a Christmas Card Throwdown. The pressure is one now and Christmas does seem to be coming. I've yet to hear carols in the shops (thankfully) but they are certainly piling in their stock. 

Here is our colour challenge. 
I couldn't think beyond the obvious so here is my stamped wreath showing a little bit of sparkle. 

The glitter stuck onto everything and all over the card, I'm still finding specks of it around. I think I must have been wearing hand cream and touched the surface of the card. I really should know better. 

We hope you like our challenge and hope to see you there. You have two weeks to join. 
Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your Day. x

CCT - November Sketch

We still have a week left of our Sketch challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown.

This is my card and here is the sketch:

I spotted these folded trees months ago but have never tried it out until now. This is where I found the information on how to do it. When I came to print the pattern, I found we'd run out of ink - how often does that happen? So I drew a circle and traced the fold points from the computer screen. I'm sure it could be done with a protractor if i could find one. 
You need double sided paper,. I didn't have the right sort of Christmassy paper so I've just used  a red pattern which I hoped would look a bit festive. 
Once I'd made the trees I made frames with snippets which involved a satisfying amount of cutting and sticking but I know would send Miss Di running for the hills. I used the same paper and my JustRite corner dies and thin strips. 
Each tree is made from half a circle so I made another tree with the remaining half. 

The I tried green which I didn't like so much as it is the wrong sort of green:

I'd like to try some mini trees but I have a long list of things I'd like to try so it might not be today. 
There are already some outstanding entries to this challenge so do go and admire them and join in if you can. 

I'm hopping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground where I am running in at the last minute again. You'd think with two weeks I could get in earlier. 
Crafty Hazelnuts Challenge Extra for November - there are some excellent DT cards on show. 
CHN Challenge 359

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy your Day. x

Merry Monday - red and kraft

I really like the idea of the current  Merry Monday challenge which is to use red and kraft.

 It's a very Christmassy combination. I really struggled to get my ideas in order, though, and in the end this is what I made:

There is a bit of clear embossing, some red embossing, a tartan ribbon and there it is!
I'll definitely use this combination again when my head is more organised.

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy your Day. x