Winter Walks

Just before Christmas I invested in a new PC, so the last week or so I've been swapping files and programs from my old PC to the new one. Also getting to find my way around windows 8, I think I'm getting there at long last. In between I managed to make this card for the challenge over on the CD Sunday blog, but then discovered my old photo editing program did not work. So I've spent today looking online for a new one. Luckily they do free trials. In a moment of madness I also decided that my blog needed an overhaul as well (I don't know how long it will last but I like it for the time being). Anyway onto my card which started with an A5 white card base, then I popped Pollyanna Pickering Magical Christmas Moments into the PC, I remembered that I'd seen some beautiful scenes with Farmer, Dogs and sheep on a country farm track on what appears to be a cold frosty morning. After printing it out and mounting onto some pearlesent gold card, I stamped this lovely sentiment from Inkylicious and added it to finish.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

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