Gone!

And there it was - gone. Christmas that is!
So now we there are only a couple of days left of 2017 - this morning we woke up to quite heavy snow - so much so that I didn't fancy trying to get out of the road from the barn - one hair appointment cancelled and now shall be greeting the New Year looking like a shaggy dog. Good job there is only the other half seeing me.....😄

Made a card from some left overs so snow or not I am pulling on the wellies and trudging across to the Playground (which is considerably nearer than the hairdressers) - might even get to build a snowman?!
Used cream linen card as the base and found another left over piece to cut into!
The die cut leaves are a snippet of watercolour card suitably smooshed through various green inks (Crushed Olive/Shabby Shutters/Forest Moss).
Another scrap given the same treatment then I didn't know what to do with it - thought about another small die cut then remembered the corner die which reminds me of a trellis. Happily,  said scrap fitted behind it (JUST).
The little red birdie is also a die.
Stamped the sentiment  and done.

Linking up to
CASology - Kindness
Die Cuttin Divas - Thank you
Tuesday Throwdown - A/Goes
Crafty Gals Corner - A/Goes
Crafty Creations - A/Goes

It has just started to rain here so no doubt my lovely white wonderland will soon be washed away!
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and that you are all warm, dry and safe wherever you are. x

And so this is Christmas

A Christmas card to share today - made for someone in America - can only hope it arrived with the flower (and the bead centre) intact!

I used linen textured card as the base.
The gold embossing was done with Cling Film (thanks Loll!!).  I am still being too heavy handed though I think when pressing the scrunched up cling film onto the embossing pad.... but this was done last minute (as I had forgotten the post date for the USA) so just had to go with it as it was.

The poinsettia is by Penny Black from their Wonder Collection. Painted with Fired Brick, Barn Door and Festive Berries Distress Inks before fussy cutting.
I added some seed beads into the centre.
The sentiment was stamped in Metallic Gold ink and is also from Penny Black.

I hope everyone has not worn themselves out in the pre Christmas madness - if you can spare a couple of minutes -  sit down, turn on your speakers and listen to this - one of my fave renditions of this Christmas song -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tekN9NtGXOc
Might set you up for the holiday!

Joining in a couple of challenges -
Allsorts - Seasonal Flowers
PB Sat Challenge- Christmas
Sweet Stampin - Last Minute Christmas
CC Throwdown - Previous Challenge -( 2012 Christmas Flowers)

I will be here all over Christmas but I know many of you will be very busy with your family and friends, so I want to wish you all a Happy Christmas full of love and may all you wish for come true.
Thank you all for your visits this year - they have meant a lot. xx

Shocking!

Shocking PINK that is!
I mentioned that I'd been messing with Alcohol Inks again so here is the first completed card.

Have made rather a mess on the table with these inks.... and a mess on my hands!
LOVED IT!

I followed Loll's technique of scribbling the inks onto foil then smooshing the Yupo through it.
I used two separate pieces of Yupo.

The first piece is really dark (saved for another  time) and this is the result with the 'second pass'.

Flicked some white acrylic paint here and there before adding the two die cuts, (cut from some odd leftovers - so it's the Christmas visit to the Playground for me....!)
The sentiment was shadow stamped using my Misti and Versafine Smokey Grey then Versafine Black. It looks a little out of focus on the pic!

I suppose everyone is mad busy getting ready for the weekend... one of the plus things about there just being the 2 of us is there is no mad running about at Christmas. We've done our (small) food and (large) drink shopping, wrapped a couple of pressies up for each other and are ready to hibernate!

I did though manage to get my tree up a week early this year - as for some unknown reason I wanted it to be Christmas (for the first time in YEARS - normally I am full of Bah Humbug and the tree makes an appearance around the 24th December!)

Hope you're all surviving the pre Christmas panic - and thanks for taking the time to drop in. x

Joining in over at -
SOS - Gah Pink!
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
Crafty Gals corner - Anything Goes
Craftaholics R Us - Anything Goes
CRAFT - Anything Goes

Red and Gold

Home from a couple of days away with some good friends - was lovely to just relax - although we have done a lot of eating (and drinking!). We went to a Lantern Festival on Thursday night - freezing cold but a really nice evening -I even made a paper lantern complete with glow stick! 
I can post their card now as although my friend doesn't have a blog she does look at mine.

I am REALLY disappointed with this pic - I was so pleased with myself when I had finished the card but this pic doesn't do it any justice at all - so you will just have to imagine the finished article.
It was a quick card really despite the matting and layering and it was inspired by something similar seen on Pinterest.

I started by stamping the birdie on the branch (SU Beautiful Season) onto a piece of scrap paper and cut out to make myself a mask.
Stamped onto the red card and gold embossed, masked it, then stamped the script stamp in metallic gold ink.
Used some of the leftovers from the gold matt card to cut out the Holly die and added some gold grossgrain ribbon - Finished!
It does look so much better in real life!

Joining in over at -
Die Cut Divas - Winter
HLS Dies - A/Goes with dies
1 Crazy Stamper - Winter
Fussy & Fancy - Christmas
Thanks for looking - I am now on lots of 'me' time - have a couple of finishing touches to the re-arranged bedrooms to do and of course I have to get the tree up! (Last minute as ever!) Our Christmas will be quiet as usual with just the two of us and I am intending on trying to catch up on all that I have missed during my busy year. xx

One stamp = lots of cards!

Our snow disappeared this morning - because the rain decided to come instead!
It has been really cold here the last few days so in between the bed and wardrobe assembly and the clearing up afterwards I snook (hope that's a word!) into the craftie space...In between the Christmas cards I have been messing with alco inks  -  I will share those makes later  -  so I have a Christmas share again today.

This was a quick card - so quick I made quite a few - in different colours including the one below done with a Brilliance Ink Pad in Twilight colours.

The stamp is an old one and suppose it is intended primarily as a background stamp.
I stamped it in Silver Encore Metallic Ink and then silver embossed on top.

It is really lush!  The embossing has really stood out and is amazingly shiny. Didn't need to do much else so I embossed a sentiment onto a scrap of vellum and stamped a single silver snowflake, adding a tiny sparkly gem.
Layered onto silver matt card before putting onto the white base.

The other card was stamped with the tri-colour ink pad and clear embossed. It looks OK but isn't anywhere near as shiny as the silver one - but I like it.
I know there's not a lot of white space left on these cards but I consider them to be CAS so 
I am sharing at a couple of challenges  - I'm sure if they don't fit the Challenge criteria I can be forgiven for linking (after all it's nearly Christmas!!) - seriously though I know how irritating it is when the rules aren't followed so if they're not CAS enough I apologise in advance!!
 AAA - Sparkle
CHNC- Christmas (option Sparkle) 
CAS on Friday - Christmas
Addicted to CAS - Sparkle
Craftaholics R Us - Embossing
 I am off to see a friend for a few days from tomorrow - at least the snow has gone for the drive!
Stay warm wherever you are! x

Experiment!

Brr.... it's cold here! Had some snow and more forecast for the weekend. Have spent the last couple of days assisting dear husband whilst we have had a re-vamp of 2 of the bedrooms - a new bed ordered for one, a new carpet and a quick change round of the furniture. Looks tidier and we've not spent a firtune so am happy.

Am not so sure I am happy with my embossing on this card - particularly the sentiment!
The gold embossing on the black was a bit of an experiment and I masked off the card to leave me enough room for a greeting in the middle.
The sentiment stamp is from a set called Fabulous Fashion by Katy Sue designs.
I confess to never having inked any of this stamp set .... maybe that's why the embossing hasn't turned out as crisp as I would have wished?
There's a lot of little gold flecks where they shouldn't be.
 
The baroque style background is an old wooden backed stamp - so old that the name of the maker etc has worn off!
I mounted it onto gold matt card before layering it onto the black card base.
It's not too bad an effort - hopefully my next attempt turns out better! I have managed to make a couple more Christmas cards too - will share these over the weekend!

Linking up to
Kitty Bee- Anything Goes
Crafters Cafe - Embossing
Moo Mania & More - Heat Embossing
Stamplorations December Challenge -Theme - Stamps and Gold

Hope you are all snug and warm - have a great weekend whatever you're doing. x

Not Christmas!

I have had a few days in the crafty space in my 'wind down time'. As today is also the first day of the Stamping Sensations Challenge please scroll down the the next post to see our challenge this month!
Finished the Christmas cards (will be able to show these now as I am at home!) but in addition just sat and made a few other cards too.
I had a little trip out to a craft shop (dear husband sat in the car outside for HOURS!!!) and I spent a little on some new stash.
None of it inked as yet......LOL
The inspiration for this card is attributed to the very talented Birgit who made a card like this using a similar stamp a few years back.

I am really pleased with the way this turned out! I used Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink and linen textured card.
The stamp is from Technique Tuesday. Stamped and heat embossed then coloured with Carved Pumpkin.
Simply inked the bottom panel then added the flower top.
Found these beads in my stash - no idea where they came from! But they were a good colour match so used them.
The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

Used up some odd pieces of card so am paying a visit to the Playground - have missed not being there during the summer!

Also linking to
PB&More - CAS
CAS Mix Up December - Stamping, Heat Embossing, Watercolour
Crafters Cafe - Embossing

Hoping you are all having a happy Sunday. x

Stamping Sensations December Challenge

Not long to Christmas now so our Challenge at Stamping Sensations is a related theme of Winter Trees and Flowers.

I was going to do another winter tree scene but changed my mind and ended up using one of my 'go
to' Christmas Stamps which is this Poinsettia stamp from Creative Expressions. The set has several different sizes of the flowers but for this card I just used the largest one.

I stamped and gold embossed onto white vellum then fussy cut each one.

On the base card just stamped and embossed few blobs (!!) (SU Timeless Textures) on the left - (on reflection may have been better just spattering with gold paint as I think they look a bit 'bulky')
Positioned the flowers folding in and securing those that overlapped the edge.
Sentiment from my stash again gold embossed.

Originally thought about pearls for the centres but them found these lonely glittery bits in the Blingy Box so used them instead!
And another bonus - this is quite a flat card despite the blingy centres so in keeping with my promise not to make OTT multi layered cards to save postage!

Our prize this month is all these goodies and to be in with a chance you need to link up your creation.
Please remember we are a Stamping challenge and so we must see a stamped image sentiment etc as the FOCAL element of your submission. Stamping must be the central point of attention! Hope you will find time to join in with us!

Have a great day whatever you're doing. x