Craft A Scene - Week 3 - Winter Scene

I have to say sorry as this is a day late. I should have posted this yesterday, but hubby and I have been on a last minute Christmas Markets Cruise and only returned yesterday. We had a nice time although the weather on the high seas left a lot to be desired and I'm glad I popped the travel sickness pills into the suitcase when I packed. We stopped at Copenhagen, went through the Kiel Canal, visited some fantastic Markets in Hamburg as well as a visit to C and A (how I miss this shop from our high streets), six floors of wonderful clothes. Next we should have visited Amsterdam, but unfortunately due to the terrible weather we were not able to get into the harbour so we had to divert to Zeebrugge. Needless to say we were all disappointed but made the  most of it. Anyway onto my card this week for the final Craft A Scene challenge. I've used stamps from Chocolate Baroque for my scene, and coloured with spectrum noir pencils. I then added some glitter to make it look cold and frosty. I do hope that you will pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the wonderful inspiration the the DT has made for you. You still have until the end of December to take part.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Christmas Card For Mum

A couple of weeks ago (in what now seems like a moment of complete madness) I booked hubby and I on a last minute cruise to the Christmas Markets calling at Copenhagen, Hamburg and Amsterdam lasting 10 days. Not our first cruise, but we've always been lucky with the weather and the calmness of the seas. Hubby is quite a good sailor and has been on trips before where the weather has been rough and has suffered no ill effects. We're about to find out just how good I am by the looks of the wonderful weather reports coming in on the News today. I'm just praying that it's a short lived storm and will blow itself out quite quickly.

This was my last Christmas card make and it's for my Mum.  The stamps are from Heartfelt Creations  and I loved playing with the stamps and dies to make the flowers and the holly flourishes. I've posted all my cards that needed posting and hand delivered the rest, just got one more to deliver by hand and that to a friend who's running us to Southampton to get the Boat tomorrow. What I haven't finished is the Christmas shopping, I'm hoping to find some lovely gifts at the Markets.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments that are always appreciated.

Sue xx

 

Craft A Scene - Winter Scenes - Week One

This year has rushed by so quickly, I can't believe that it's December already and as it's the first Sunday in December it's time for a new challenge over on the Craft A Scene blog. This month we are asking for your scenes to be a Winter Scene. For my entry this week I've used this wonderful stamp from Chocolate Baroque which shows this lovely snowy cottage scene. I stamped onto white card and coloured with Spectrum Nior pencils. The sky was coloured with distress inks, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans, I then added the sentiments mounted onto some silver mirri card and then onto an A 5 blue card blank. With an off cut of the silver card, I added some score lines and ribbon and placed onto the bottom of the card. Finishing with a poinsettia made with a Marianne die.

Unfortunately this months challenge is going to be the last, I shall be sorry to see it go. Before being asked to join the DT back in 2012, it was my favourite challenge blog. Stamping scenes is probably my favourite form of stamping so I'm really going to miss it. I hope that you have the time to pop over to the blog and see what the DT has made for your inspiration this week, and also hope that you have the time to join in with our last challenge before the the end of the month.

I shall all so be entering this card into the Stamping Sensations challenge which this month is Winter Wonderland.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Couple of Christmas Gifts

This week I've been busy making these memory boxes as Christmas gifts. I bought the boxes from the MDF man at a show earlier this year, and after making one a month or so ago for a great niece for Christmas (still have another to make for her older sister yet, but will be putting her name on it) I thought I would make a couple more. First the boxes were treated to a cover of gesso and while they were drying I sat down and had a look a what backing papers I had on CDs that I could use to cover them. I went for this lovely backing paper from Chocolate Baroque and the Decadent Brocade CD (on sale at the moment on the CB website) For the larger box I chose the peachy colour and the smaller box the blues. For the inside I used a backing paper from the same CD in matching colours but a different design.

 The backing papers where applied with Matt glue and seal, this could also be done with a gloss finish as well. The flowers and leaves are from Heartfelt Creations, the Arianna Collection, and the sentiment are from a Fiskers set based around Memories. The flowers were coloured with ink pads and a blending tool and then shaped with a ball tool, before being stuck onto the top.

Thank you for taking the time time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

While Shepherds Watched.....

This week has flown by, I can't believe that it's Friday already. I have a card to share today that I made earlier this week using this stamp from Chocolate Baroque off the Child is Born stamp sheet. On my PC I had this down loadable sheet music for While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night, so I faded the image and then printed it off and stamped over the top. I coloured with  promarkers and then went over the background with distress inks. I then distressed the edges with a Tim Holtz distress tool before mounting onto some mid blue card. Finally I mounted onto an A5 pale blue card base. I felt that it didn't need any more embellishments or sentiments added, so for me this is a fairly CAS card.

I'm going to enter this card into this months challenge over on the Stamping Sensations blog which
this month is Christmas.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft a Scene - Trees - Week 3

It's week 3 over on the Craft A Scene blog and we're still asking to see you cards with trees on them. For my card this week I've used a set from Inkylicious call Old Beech Tree, the sentiment is from the same set. I started by stamping the tree, sentiment and the bird in black Archival ink and then using ink dusters and distress inks to colour the background. Once done I then mounted onto some silver card and a blue base card. I do hope you have time to pop over to the challenge blog and see what the DT have made for your inspiration this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Stampendous Christmas

As I spent last Christmas and New Year in America I was there for the sales. I picked this stamp from Stampendous for the equivalent of £2.50 in Micheal's, wood mounted too, not that I normally go for wood mounted. I stamped onto some white card with Navy Stazon and the using Tumbled Glass distress ink I coloured the image, picking the holly out with some pro markers. I then mounted onto some silver mirri card. I picked a backing paper in a matching colour from a Crafters Companion CD, sorry I can't remember which one. I had the holly die cuts already cut out and added these, along with one of Sue Wilson's poinsettia Dies which I added glitter too.

I can't believe how quickly this month is flying by, only a few more weeks and Christmas will be upon us once again. Last year I tried to make a couple of Christmas cards each week so I was at least a little bit prepared. I'm going to try and do that again next year so it doesn't sneak up like this year.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Photo And A Request

The other day I had an email from my Daughter with a photo attached. Could I make a 50th Birthday card for later this week using the attached photo. So first I took the photo into Paintshop Pro and played around with the special effects. I created a seamless tile (so I could make a backing paper), made the topper using a weave effect and flowers using the kaleidoscope effect.

After saving them as jpg images I opened MCS and set about making a card with the different pictures. I tiled the seamless photo creating a backing paper, which I mounted onto silver mirri card. Next I mounted the picture with the weave effect on silver mirri card, and mounted using foam pads. 

The flowers were copied and pasted and them re-sized so I ended up with 5, 4 and 3 cm flowers. These were then cut out, shaped and layered before adding some flat backed pearls into the centres. I tried to match the red to the red on the wing mirrors. I also added some silver leaves cut our using a Nelli Snellen punch.

Finally I cut out the name, and 50 today using some Rob Addams dies. These were cut out in Silver and Red mirri and the red placed on top of the silver for effect. The photo that my Daughter sent was of the Birthday girls own car, and I've managed to get the name onto each of the petals on the flowers. You can just see it if you look closely. Just hope she likes it now.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Trees - Week 1

A new month and a new challenge over on the Craft A Scene blog. This month we would like to see your scenes include trees. For my scene I've used mainly stamps from Stamp Addicts to create this scene of the English countryside, which shows how the land is broken up with hedgerows and trees. I decided to make it an Autumnal scene showing trees that have lost their leaves, evergreen trees, and hedgerows that have their leave turning. Very often in the Countryside around the area which I live you will often see deer grazing, so I've popped a couple into the fore ground of my scene. These stamps were from Hobby Art. I coloured the whole scene with pencils and finished by going around the edge of the card with a Gold pen, before popping onto a 6x6 green card base. I do hope you'll take the time to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the wonderful inspiration the DT has made for you this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look and you kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Chocolate Baroque meets Sheena Douglas.

Some time ago I made a card for the CD Sunday challenge which a friend had seen. The other day the friend asked if I could make a similar card for a 90th birthday, only she wanted it in brighter colours. So I found the stamp in the back of the cupboard (this is a Chocolate Baroque stamp but I'm not sure if it is a discontinued one) and hunted around for a brightly coloured background to use. Last time I had used an Artylicious CD for the papers, this time I found myself reaching for the Sheena Douglas Taste of India resource CD, and this lovely backing paper that is on there, I also used an A4 embossing folder from Sheena Douglas. I've stamped and embossed the stamp several times and then coloured with Spectrum Noir pens. I cut out parts of the stamped images and layered them using glue gel, finishing off by adding some flat backed pearls in matching colours. I then dusted off the Cricut and cut out the 90 Today. I just hope that the customer like the colours I chose.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - By The Silvery Moon - Week 3

It's week three over on the Craft a Scene blog, and we're still asking for your scenes to be By the The Silvery Moon. For my card this week I've used all stamps by Sheena Douglas, and this wonderful steam train going through the station at night. I used distress inks to darken the card, then stamped the train and embossed with black glint embossing powder. I then took a wet brush and removed some of the ink to give light patches. I then used a white pencil and white jelly roll pen to high light some areas. For the moon I lightened using a little white gesso. I do hope that you'll find the time to pop over to the challenge blog and see what the DT have made for your inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Mr & Mrs

This weekend we're off to a family wedding in Cornwall, and this is the card that I've made for the big day. My first card that I've made using just die cuts and embellishments. I started with a pearled white card and made an 8x8 card base, then matted some silver mirri card and the white pearled card for the next layer. Next I added some white organza ribbon around the middle of the card. All of the dies are from Tonic, what I like about these dies is the fact that you can cut out a layer to mat onto and it's exactly the same size. This was done with all of the layers, I used foam pads in-between each layer. I then added some gems to the corner dies and the the middle of the flowers, these were made using a crealies die.

After having to travelling to Cornwall for the wedding we decided we would hire a cottage and make a week of it, along with my Mother, Father-in-law, Sister-in-law and her husband. My Daughter and Son-in-law will be there until Monday, then they have to be back for work. We're hoping that the weather clears up for the weekend and even next week.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Daughters Birthday

October is my busiest month for Birthdays, as my Daughter and my Nieces are born within five days of each other (on different years of course). It starts with the elder niece born on the 5th, followed by the younger who was born on the 8th and then followed by my daughter the eldest on the 10th. I made this card for my son to give to my daughter, I was not happy with the photos as I had to take them in the evening with my daylight lamp. I was so disappointed with the photo of the card that I made from hubby and I, that I won't be posting it here. I used an A5 card base for the card, some silver matting and white card that I sprayed with some Dylusions ink, sorry can't remember what the colour was. I stamped a Prima Doll and coloured her with spectrum noir pencils before fussy cutting her out. Over the background I used one of the new stencils from Sheena Douglas with the Eiffel Tower on and then added some french text. This was from a stamp by Inkylicious. The trees were from Stampscapes, stamped in a navy blue. I added some ribbon from my stash, and the Happy Birthday which was from a Rob Addams die.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

The Real Meaning Of Christmas

I've made this card for this fortnight's challenge over on the CD Sunday blog, which is Christmas Is Coming.  I had to have this wonderful CD when Debbi Moore bought it out, the images on it gorgeous and depict the true meaning of Christmas. It brought back memories from my childhood when my Mum would take me to Church on Christmas Eve (or the Sunday before Christmas) to see the baby Jesus being placed into the manger. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I still like to go to the Midnight service at the local church, it somehow makes it feel like Christmas. Anyway onto my card, it's an 8x8 card base as the topper was a large one, it fact it filled the card, there was just enough space for a bit of blue matting card. I then added the sentiment and Away in the manager verse. There are no embellishments added as I felt they looked too much.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - By The Silvery Moon - Week 1

October has snuck up on me while I was crafting. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Anyway as it's the beginning of a new month, it's time for another new challenge over on the Craft A Scene blog. This month we're asking for your entries to have moonlight in it. For my card this week I've used this wonderful new stamp from Visible Image (part of a collection of stamps celebrating The Wizard Of Oz). This also fell just right for my nieces birthday which is today, and she is a massive fan of the musical Wicked, which is why the witch is coloured green. I also used Stampscape stamps for the trees in the background. First I stamped the witch onto stamping card and the onto some copier paper and masked her. Next I stamped the trees over the top and masked these. I cut a circle with a large circle punch and place onto the card to make the moon. This then allowed me to get my brushes out for the background colours, which were different shades of blues starting with the lightest to the darkest in distress inks and then a couple of different greens, again in distress inks. After removing all of the masks I then coloured the witch with spectrum noir pens. The sentiment was from the same set as the witch. I do hope that you can find the time to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the wonderful cards the DT has made for your inspiration this week.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Tim Holtz Snowman

Another Christmas card today, again using craft card. For this one I've treated the base card with a little gesso painted lightly over surface, then when dry I brushed a little tumbled glass distress ink over the top. Next I made some splodges by whacking my distress stains onto the surface in tumbled glass and broken china. I allowed this to dry before stamping the snowman stamp directly onto the card along with the sentiment. I then stamped the snowman onto some white card and cut out using the die that came with this stamp. I coloured the twigs, hat and scarf with pro markers and the base of the snowman with tumbled glass on a brush.  He's stuck onto the card with a thin layer of glue gel, I'm trying not to make my cards to dimensional to keep the cost of the postage down.

It seems that our lovely weather from September is leaving us, although the sun is our here in the south of the UK at the moment there is a nip in the air when you go outside. But at least it's not raining yet.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comment which are always appreciated.

Christmas Robin

I thought I would share this card I've made for Christmas using craft card. I took the card base (a 6x6 craft card) and put the front half into an embossing folder from Crafters Companion, after embossing it I lightly blended some Vintage Photo distress ink over the raised bits. I then stamped the image from Stampendous onto some craft card and coloured with spectrum noir pencils, cutting it out with an oval spellbinders die and blending around the edges, again with Vintage Photo. I then added some polar white Flowersoft to the tops of the berries and the branch. I then finished it off by adding the poinsettia which was made with a Marianne die.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Birthday Card For a Male

I was asked last week if I could make a birthday card for a 40 year old male who loves golf. This was what I came up with and it just happens to fit with the challenge over on the CD Sunday blog this fortnight, which is A Birthday card For A Male. This is an 8x8 card base and the image and background are from La Pashe The Big One CD. I took the images into MCS and resized the background until I could crop out the bit that I wanted to use, placed onto some green card for matting. I also wrote the sentiment in MCS and printed it onto the background. The golfer was resized slightly to fit with the proportions of the background and I popped the layers together with glue gel.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Making A Start On Christmas

Earlier this year at the April Ally Pally show I bought one of these boxes from the MDF man to decorate. Needless to say I got it home and then did nothing with it. Then last week I decided (after moving it around the craft room several times) that it was time to do something with it. We have two great nieces so I decided to decorate them one each for Christmas, this meant I had to buy another one when I went to Ally Pally  this weekend just gone. I started by giving it all a coat of gesso before covering it with papers printed from the Crafters Companion, Cute Companions CD. I  used this cute butterfly backing paper for the outside and a small rose bud pattern on the inside. The flowers are from Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms and the leaves from another set of Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies. I cut the name on my new ScanNcut, can't believe how easy this is to use and weld letters together, it was cut three times and then stuck together to make it like chipboard. Now all I have to do is decorate the other box for Darcy's older sister.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Week 3 - Autumn Splendour

After being a few hours late with my post last time for the Craft A Scene challenge blog, I thought I had better be on time this week. I started my card with some white card stock and coloured the bottom with a green distress ink and the top with an Orange and yellow. The stamped some trees in the background of my scene, these were from Stampin Up, Lovely As A Tree set.  These I coloured with distress markers to give the appearance of autumn leave on the trees and the ground underneath. Also from the same set are the oak leaves which I stamped into each of the bottom corners and again coloured with distress markers. The walking figures are from Stampscapes, the birds from one of the Hobby Art sets and the sentiment also from Stampscapes. I then ran a black marker pen around the outside of the card to give the appearance that it had been matted before popping the finished scene onto a 6x6 craft card base. I do hope that you have time to pop over to the challenge blog and take a look at the wonderful cards the DT has made for your inspiration this week.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.
I'm off now to play with my new goodies that I bought at Ally Pally yesterday.

Sue

Happily Ever After

My card today has been made for the CD Sunday challenge, which at the moment is Happily Ever After. I've used an 8x8x base for my card with silver for the matting. The backing paper is from the Holly Pond Hill CD and the stamp from Lili Of The Valley. I coloured the image using Spectrum Noir pencils and cut the couple out using a spellbinders die. Before removing the image from the die I went around the edges lightly with Spiced Marmalade distress ink. I then mounted the image onto one of the fancy frame dies from spellbinders, then popped it onto the card. I've added flowers made with a crealies die with paper roses popped into the middles and also a couple of pins to match. The sentiment was made on the PC and foiled with silver.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Autumn Splendour - Week 1

Where has today gone? This should have been posted four hours ago, but somehow time just got away from me today. Still better late than never. It's a new month so time for a new challenge over on the Craft A Scene blog, and this month we're asking for your scenes with the theme of the Splendour of Autumn. For my card I used just two stamps and one of those was the sentiment. While I was at Ally Pally earlier this year I found this wonderful stamp on The Stamp Hut stand, from the English Traditional Collection. When I saw this it struck me that it would be suitable for all four seasons, so here it is coloured for Autumn. I used Spectrum Noir pencils for the colouring (I love these pencil's they go on so smoothly). I then mounted it onto some gold mirri card, and then some white before popping it onto a 6x6 green card base. The sentiment is from Stampscapes. I do hope that you will all pop over to the challenge blog and look at the wonderful cards the DT have made for  you inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Another Prima Doll

I've been quite busy lately but with family things, however I did manage to get another card finished using one of the Prima Doll stamps that I bought some time ago. The background was made using spray inks, either Dylusions or Sprinkys (I can't remember which ones), then I had a play with a couple of dylusion stencils and some ink pads. I then added a ribbon and flower made with Heartfelt Creation Flower dies, Arianna Blooms. I cut out around the doll which was coloured using Spectrum Noir pencils and added her using glue gel. The Happy Birthday is from a Rob Addams die.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Week 5 - Include A Four Legged Animal.

As August is a five Sunday month it means that you still have another week where you can join in with the challenge over on the Craft a Scene blog. We are still asking for your scenes to include a four legged animal. This is my card for this week made with stamps from Joanna Sheen's Jayne Netley Mayhew collection, the grasses are from Inkylicious and I can't remember what set the Warmest Wishes comes from. I do hope that you have time to pop over to the challenge blog and see the inspiration the DT has made for you.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Week 3 - Include A Four Legged Animal

Were onto week 3 over on the Craft A Scene blog, and we're still asking to see you scenes with a four legged animal. For my card this week I've used mostly stamps from Stampscapes, the moose is from Stampin Up. I started by stamping the boulders and the moose, masking them off then adding the trees and grasses. With brushes I added the colour to the sky and to the ground, I then coloured the trees and grasses with a piece of cut and dry foam. The moose was coloured with pencils, and the boulder promarkers. Finally I finished by adding the walker and dog, the birds in the sky and the sentiment which is also from stampin up. I hope that you can take the time to pop over to the blog and take a look at the cards the DT have made for your inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

50th Birthday Card

I can't believe how fast the last week has gone, we've been back from our Holiday for a week now and I'm only just finding time to post this card that I made at the beginning of the week. It's for hubby's cousin who turns 50 at the beginning of next week. I know I'm safe posting this as she does not visit my blog. I have several of the Julie Nutting doll stamps and decided it was about time I used them, so this is the first. The background was made using Dylusion sprays but I can't remember which ones, as they were made before we went away (I say they as I made quite a few background in different colours) I popped this onto an A5 black card base after adding a piece of black ribbon around the bottom. I stamped the doll and then coloured her using spectrum noir pencils then cut her out. I stuck her onto the card with glue gel. The flowers were some white ones that I had in my stash that I sprayed with Crafters Companion silver spray and sparkle. The large Happy Birthday die is from Tonic, the 50 Today from Rob Addams dies and the leaves are from Crealies.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Include A 4 Legged Animal

Time for another new challenge over on the Craft a Scene blog, and this month we're asking that you make your scenes and include a four legged animal in the scene. This can be any animal as long as it has four legs. For my card this week I've used a 6x6 blue base cards and then stamped my scene onto white card which has been coloured using a mixture of distress inks and promarkers. The stamps that I've used are from Joanna Sheen's Jayne Netley Mayhew collection (I think these maybe now be discontinued), with the exception of the grasses which are from Inkylicious. I do hope that you will all take the time to pop over to the blog and take a look at the wonderful cards the DT have made for your inspiration this month, and why not even take part in the challenge.

This post is a scheduled one as I shall be somewhere in the Baltic sea when it goes live.  Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

A Little Bit Tim Holtz

I love Tim Holtz stamps and Stampers Anonymous and have quite a few in the cupboard. But I sometimes struggle to use them. The day we return from our latest cruise is our sons Birthday, so with this in mind I got the stamps out and managed to put this together. I used an embossalicious folder for the background which was given the distress ink treatment and then popped onto some matting, this was the packaging that the folder came in. Next I stamped the main image which was from a set using the art from Brett Weldelf called Dandy Robot, the clockworks stamp was from a Tim Holtz set. I added the tattered clock and letters from the alterations Wanted Alphabet set to finish it off. Just hope that he likes it now.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments that are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Week 3 - Fantasy

Week three over on the Craft a Scene blog,and for my card this week I've stamped straight onto the card itself. The foliage was from Chocolate Baroque, the tree branches are from Stampscapes and the little fairies are from a set that I bought at the Newbury Show a couple of weeks ago and are from Magestix, along with the little dragonflies too. Before adding the fairies I inked a background through the trees and foliage using distress inks. I do hope you have time to pop over to the blog and take a look at the inspiration from the DT.

I seem to have been very quite on the blog just recently. I have been crafting, but catching up with DT stuff for next month and having a play. I will be away for two weeks from Friday, Hubby and I are taking my Mum and his Dad on a cruise to the Baltic sea and Capitals around the sea. We're not sure if this was a great Idea because I'm sharing a cabin with my Mum and Hubby with his Dad, still it's only for two weeks and it may be the last Holiday we take them on like this as they are 83 and 86. Hopefully I'll have some lovely photos to show you when we get back.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday - Round Again (recycling) With Carol

This time round at the CD Sunday blog Carol is asking for us to make a project using something that has been recycled. I had got to the stage where I thought I couldn't find anything to recycle, then earlier this week while looking in one of my over loaded cupboards I knocked out all of the thick bits of Acetate that is used in the packaging of the spellbinders dies and embossing folders. I always save this and have acquired quite a pile of it, next it was what would I make with it.

I decided to make a Christmas card, partly because I've not made any yet this year. I used Crafter Companion Makey Bakey Mice Christmas CD. I started by folding a piece of A4 green card in half and trimmimg most of the front way. After trimming the Acetate to size I stuck this in place of the removed card. Next I found two toppers the same size, cut them out and stuck them back to back (only with the acetate between them). The backing paper was stuck to the inside of the card and a verse stuck onto that and in line with the toppers.

I stuck the sentiment to the inside and embellishments to the outside of the card and added some festive looking ribbon to the top to finish it off.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Inspired By Craft Stamper

I have a project to share with you toady that was inspired from an article in the May edition of Craft Stamper. The original projects was by Riikka Kovasin, where she used leftover chipboard alphabet shapes to cover a canvas. I did not have chipboard alphabet shapes, but I do have a Cricut and several cartridges that have alphabets on them. So I cut out two different types of alphabet several times and then glued three together to make my own. Next it was all treated to a layer of white gesso, before spraying with three different colours of Glimmer Mists. When it was all dry I found a stamp that had words on it and over stamped the letters with black ink (this is what Riikka had done), at this stage I thought it looked a little dark. So I got out my Inka Gold metallic paints and just rubbed some lighter colours over the copper and the plum, I found I preferred the look now. I've decorated the corner by using a combination of die cuts, doily and swirls are from Marianne, Ivy leaves are Crafter Companion the butterflies are Spellbinders and finally the flowers are Heartfelt creations Arianna stamps and dies, coloured with spectrum noir pens. I really enjoy making this and already have several other ideas along the same line buzzing around in my head.

I'm going to enter this into the Stamping Sensations Challenge this month. They are asking for Summer Flowers, I think this will fit the bill.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Fantasy - Week One

A new month and another new challenge is starting over on the Craft A Scene blog, and this month we would like to see your scenes set in Fantasy Land. This is a good excuse to get your Fairy stamps out and dust them off. For my card this week I've use a digi image as my focal point from Rick St Dennis. I coloured the tree with Spectrum Noir pencils then coloured the sky and the ground using ink pads and brushes. The sentiment was from Chocolate Baroque and the rest from Lavinia. I stamped stars from Lavinia with Stampin Up luminate, which has a lovely shimmer to it, then highlighted them with Liquid Pearls.

I do hope you have time to pop over to the challenge blog, the DT have made some wonderful cards for your inspiration this week, and hopefully it will inspire you to join us with your Fantasy Scenes.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Mini Canvas

Some of you will remember that recently I went on a Crafting Retreat, where one of the workshops was how to make these wonderful Mini Canvas. When I got home I knew that there were some stamps in my cupboard that I thought would look great on a Canvas. So I had a rummage until I found them and set about making this. At first I could not get my crackle to crackle (I tried using Sheena Douglas's method with PVA glue) so had to send for more, once it arrived I had success. The stamps I used are all Chocolate Baroque,  Bold Blooms, Fresh Blooms and Butterfly Collage. I finished it all off by adding a charm from my stash, a bit of cotton lace and some flat backed pearls.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sapphire Anniversary and Die Cuts

I've just been asked to make a card for a Sapphire Wedding Anniversary card, which fell in quite nicely with two challenges. Make My Monday who are asking for cards to mark Anniversaries and CD Sunday who are asking for cards with Die Cuts. I started with an 8x8 card base and backing papers and topper from Debbi Moore's Art Deco Rome.  The backing paper has been mounted onto gold mirri card, then onto the card base. I added some die cut corners for a Marianne die to two of the corners. Next using foam pads I've added the topper and a sentiment which has been made on the PC then put through the foiling machine. The flowers and leaves are also die cut, are from a Crelies die . To finish I added some blue gems to the centre of the flowers.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Ist UKSN Retreat

I can hear you asking what UKSN is. Well it's the UK Stampers Network and recently I was asked if I would like to join them and go on their 1st retreat, which was held last weekend (14th and 15th June) just outside of Biester in Oxfordshire. I only live about a hour away so when I left home last friday afternoon at 2.15 I fully expected to be at the hotel by 3.30 - 3.45. Sadly that was not to be, due to an accident on the M40, which had a knock on effect on the A34, it took me 3 1/2 hours to get there. At one stage I had done 6 miles in 2 hours. However a good nights sleep and the next morning I was up and ready to get to the village hall by 9.30 for the meet and greet. At 10.00 o clock we started properly for a weekend that was packed with workshops.

Above are some of the things that I made over the weekend. A box card, a mini album, a flip card using wax paper as a resist for distress inking, a shirt front card. Also there was teabag folding and card consequences with a twist (we worked in groups of six with a pack each, containing all the bits we would need to make a complete card), we were given 2 minute to work on the card before passing all to the next person to add the next bits. All the cards made from this session were donated to charity. Sunday afternoon we all got inked up and paint covered when we had a workshop making cool backgrounds (sorry I've not added these), lots of different techniques and it was great fun.

I loved making this gorgeous canvas that Member Karen Rhodes taught us, and I have already bought some of the mini canvas's and sorted out some suitable stamps to make one here at home.

We were asked to take some photos so that we could spend some time doing Project Life. An easier version of scrapbooking (I still like the traditional way and 12 x12 papers) which is great if you have loads of photos to sort.

We finally finished and began our journey's home at about 6.00 pm sunday. It was great fun, I made new friends and can't wait to do it all over again next year I hope. A big thank you goes to Micky Woodcock for organising the retreat and to all the lovely ladies who ran workshops.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - By The Sea Week 3

It's week 3 over on the Craft A Scene blog, and we're still asking for you to create a scene which is beside the sea/beach. There's still plenty of time to sort out those stamps and join us, we love to see your creations. For my scene this week I've used stamps by Sheena Douglas, and I've coloured it all using water colour pencils. I decided (in my mind of course) that this beach was in Cornwall, as the waves rolling into the beach look like surfers waves. In fact it reminds me of the beach near to where my In-laws used to live, with the sand dunes and the lighthouse. I do hope you'll pop over to the Challenge blog and take a look at the wonderful cards the DT has made for your inspiration this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Only Fools And Horses

Last week I had a lady ask me if I would make a 65th Birthday card for her husband, after saying yes, she says "he loves Only Fools and Horse's and anything to do with Del-boy". So earlier this week I sat at the PC and googled images and found this lovely one (actually I found a couple, but liked this one best). I made a backing paper by cropping a picture of the Trotters van and in my photo editing program made it a seamless tile. Then I took it into MCS and made a backing paper by tiling the workspace. I then faded it, so it didn't over power the card. I re sized the image also in MCS before mounting onto some mirri card. I cut out the name and age on the Cricut using silver mirri and black card. She hasen' seen it yet so I'm hoping that she will like it.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Lavina Challenge - Add Some Beads or Gems

I was recently asked if I could make a card with fairies for the customers Granddaughter, so I've combined it with this months challenge over at the Lavinia challenge blog this month. First I made a mask for the hills and using a brush and Adirondack ink pads I made a background to stamp onto. I've used Luna and the fairy that came free in a magazine last month with versafine black onyx. I used the slender mushrooms at the bottom and also the bluebell stamp, I added some flat backed pearls to flowers.The birds used are from a set from Inkylicious. Finally I used the fern leaf to add foliage to the top and some glitter to the wings.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue xx

Wedding Theme At Make My Monday

While visiting a friends blog earlier this week I saw she had entered the Make My Monday challenge, who are asking for wedding theme cards this week. I'd had a request for a wedding card using an image from the Holly Pond Hill CD from Joanna Sheen. So decided to get on and make it and enter this week. The flowers and Ribbon look a better match in real life than they do in the photo, Cameras seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. The card base is an 8x8, and I've used silver mirri card for the matting. The backing paper is the one that goes with the image. The image was taken into MCS and made bigger to allow me to cut it out using a die. The sentiment was computer generated and put through the foiler to match the silver matting. Flowers and ribbon are from my vast stash.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday - At The Seaside.

This weeks theme over at CD Sunday is almost identical to the theme at Craft A Scene. So as I had the stamps already out on the worktop I had a search about until I found the Cute Companions Summer Stories CD and put together this card so I could take part this week. I printed off the background, and placed on an A5 white card. Then I stamped out some of the cute little mice and coloured them in using Spectrum Noir pencils. I then cut them out and placed them onto the scene, and added the stamped sentiment to finish.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - By The Sea Week 1

Another month has gone by so quickly, and here we are in June already. I'm glad to say that at least the weather is gorgeous today, if only it would last. A new month means a new challenge over on the Craft A Scene blog, and this month we're asking for your scenes to be By The Sea. For my card I've used some stamps that I brought some time ago from Joanna Sheen, and this particular one has never been inked before, which is a shame because it's such a lovely stamp. I started by stamping the images onto some white card, then masked off the images. I then place acetate at the top and the bottom of the card leaving a small gap in the middle for the sea. Using a brush and distress ink I brushed across the middle, then turning the top down with a lighter blue ink and a mask to make the sun I brushed across the top part. I then reversed the mask made for the sun and coloured the sun using a bright yellow. Last of all I turned the bottom mask up and coloured the sand using two tones of yellow. I then used a white jellyroll pen to make a foam along the seas edge be for removing the masks. I coloured the rest of the images in with promarkers, and added a Happy Birthday stamp. I know that the design team have made some super scenes for your inspiration over on the blog, I hope that you have time to pop over and take a look and maybe join us this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Just A Few Photos

I've been so busy since returning from our cruise last week, but I did manage to download the photos to the PC, so I thought I would share a few with you. The scenery was fantastic.

These top three were taken in Stravanger.

One of the stunning sunsets.

These three were taken at our stop at Olden - one of the most scenic places I have ever been too.

These next three were taken when we stopped at Eidfjord - Our trip on this day took us up into the mountains and a Dam that supplies Hydro electric power. Although you can't see from the photos the dam was still frozen, and although the snows were melting it was still extremely cold (so glad we took coats).

This was taken on our last trip ashore at Kristiensand - The trip we did was called the WW11 experience. This gun is placed on the most southerly part of Norway and was put the there by the Germans when they invaded Norway in 1940. There was also a similar gun placed opposite on Denmark, together these guns covered most of the entrance to the Baltic Sea, making it very nearly impossible for anything to travel into these waters during the war. We then went onto visit the place when the SS set up it's headquarters in Norway, where there is now a museum to the  Norwegian resistance, and also the dungeons where the SS carried out there interrogations on the Norwegians. During their occupation there were over 2000 people killed by the SS and those that were not killed were taken to work camps in Poland. It was a very moving experience. The week was over far too soon, but we had a fantastic time. I hope that I've not bored you with the photos. If you click onto them they will enlarge.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue