Finally made a start on my Christmas cards

I am a firm believer that  Christmas belongs in December... trouble is that seems to find me mid-month  frantically making cards and trying to beat posting deadlines. Of course it doesn't help that I still can't bring myself to batch make several cards of the same design...I know it makes sense and would save a ton of time, but I love the creative aspect of making all of the cards different in some way.

This year I decided to use a few general themes... so I have gnomes, owls,  snowflakes and Santas and the collage pic above shows samples of each. 

It is fun doing these festive makes and I just love sending a smile in an envelope, especially at Christmas.

Haven't used my Bah Humbug stamp yet... but that may still happen ;)

Until next time.
Cxx

Winter themed tags

I seemed to have joined rather a lot of swaps this month...and all of them with a winter theme...so here are two tags for starters...

I cut all the tags  and washers with a Tin Holtz tag die set. I cut two the same for each tag and then trim the second one of each for a perfect fit as a layer on the base

The tag on the left is "Do you see what I see?" and  has a Kraft base and a cream velvet card layer,which has been treated with two shades of distress oxides wiped back through a leafy stencil to get the background effect. Once that was fully dry I stamped over with white Kraft ink and a couple of snowflake stamps. The owl was stamped, coloured and punched out along with the branches and adhered to the tag (the owl is popped up on a foam pad) Then I went over the entire tag and picked out areas to add some sparkly stickles. The final step was to decide on the wording for which I used a sticker by my dear friend Marta 

The tag on the right is "Let it Snow"  and has a white base which was stamped with random snowflakes before the layer was added. The main panel was coated with blue distress oxides and wiped back through a cracked stencil to give an icy effect. This was over-stamped with random snowflakes using white Kraft ink... which was also used to blend the edges. The dancing penguin was one I had in my Xmas box and I thought he worked well with this theme and colour. The snowflakes and stars were punched out of  diamond glitter card and the whole thing was finished by the addition of the wording sticker 

The tags have since made their way to the intended recipient who says she loves them, so that is a job well done!

Until next time

Cxx

Share a smile today

I have a regular  swap buddy and we take part in a monthly card swap and this is the card I made for her this month. 

It is super grungy but very soft to the touch. The base layer is Kraft card and the layer on top is cream velvet card, treated with distress oxides and  then wiped back with a stencil. I used inked and stamped  die cut Kraft card behind the TH alterations paper dolls. The layered sentiment is  made from stamped and die cut brown paper flowers and I used perfect pearls in opposite corners to finish it off.

I quite liked how this one came out in the end I really hope Suzanne will love it when it lands on her doormat....and she did!

Until next time

Cxx

Tag swap

Its tag time again... and this is one I made for a regular monthly tag swap over at UK Stampers .

To make my tag, I used a TH  die to make my base layers and washers, distress oxides, a stencil, TH Alterations paper dolls, lace trim and a  Cat Kerr quote stamp from VLVS.

I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out. I will be making more tags this week, but on a winter theme - which, judging by the rapidly dropping temps and the weather outside, seems more than appropriate.

Until next time

Cxx

Ministry of Mixology Fun

As promised, here are some pics from the wonderful weekend away at Ministry of Mixology. I took my niece with me this time and she is a complete novice...or should I say, she was a complete novice 😊

 Day one saw us  in Antonis classroom where we made this fabulous book box. It is a pretty big project (assembled size is 14 x 10 x 3 inches) and loaded with technique. The main pic above shows the front (at this point I hadn't put the hinges on)  and the photo to the right shows the back of the book

Day two found us in Andy Skinner's workshop for another technique laden workshop where we produced this rather fabulous piece with  genius opening and closing shutters. 

Although we all started out with the same basic kit, the options to personalise were pretty much unlimited and the finished projects were all different and all fabulous.

Left is a photo of my project with the shutters closed

  The photo to the right is my project with the shutters open.

There were a variety of skull options for the inside of the shutters and a few heart options too...and I was lucky enough to get the heart in the random allocation draw.  The heart received the paint and antiquing cream treatment which brought out its full beauty.

                                                                                             On the left is a photo of my niece holding her day 2 project. She chose a skull and gave it her own cool decorative treatment.

She started out as a complete novice, a real mixed media baby and ended up a superstar.

We were both tired and inspired by the end of the weekend and we are looking forward to doing it all again at MOM 2018.

Until next time
Cxx

Happy Birthday card

As much as I love stamping and all things inky and painty, sometimes my big shot calls to me - and this was one of those times...resulting in a birthday card using die cuts and embossing, with the teeniest of stamping for the sentiment.

They say a change is as good as a rest, so that's me rested 😉

Until next time

Cxx

Enjoying all that Jetlag has to offer....

The day after my last post we flew to the USA for a break with reality in Las Vegas...There really is nothing quite like Vegas to recharge the batteries and reset things and we had a great time, although it was a tad warm while we were there - 10 degrees above normal for the time of year!

While I was there I of course visited the amazing Viva Las Vegas Stamps store where I collected my pre-ordered plates of rubber. 

I also spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon with the wonderful DeeDee Catron in her studio doing some serious Gelli printing.  These were just a few of the background samples I made that day - with  deliberate white space of course! I plan to turn them into a mini journal as soon as I get a few minutes to spare...which I suspect may not be until after Christmas

We got back a few days ago and the jetlag has been brutal... so I am battling to get it under control because this weekend we are off to Coventry for the wonderful Ministry of Mixology event. I am taking my lovely niece along this time and I am hoping she will enjoy it as much as I plan to.

Will be back Monday with news of  the MOM event and hopefully some details of the projects we made there.

Until then, take care
C xx