Christmas Left Overs

Tag Tuesday's challenge is for Christmas left overs , we ate all the brussel sprouts so have had to make do with a few bits and pieces salvaged from the recycle bin.  The background is wrapping paper, the star is a used  gift tag, the ribbons are from the waste bin too, the flower is made from yesterday's newspaper. First time I have been able to find a few minutes to do some crafting and I have lots of new goodies waiting for me and I,m grovelling in the bin looking for stuff !

Tag Tuesday

Now I've done this I,m wondering where the yellow is ? Oh dear !  I'll just have to say that the background paper is a sort of yellowy colour. Its been lovely to relax and do something simple for a change. These stamps were already on my table as I had been using them for another little project so just found a few bits of paper and added a bit of glitter. Forgot to say this is Tag Tuesday challenge which is brown/yellow & green

last past the post !

Well I was determined I WAS going to finish the twelve tags even if I am days behind and I finally finished number twelve tonight.As usual I didn't have the elements so hand cut the bauble, pinched a bit of fir off a Christmas decoration, the calender stamp is from Oxford Impressions, now I can relax ! Just got to post in on artyjens blogspot and I,m done.

Tag11

There was a bit about sledges on the dictionary paper but think I have covered it up, once again I didn't read the instructions properly and so the snowflake background didn't work. Handcut the tree and I was quite pleased with it until I tried to paint the edges with white acrylic paint and the green bled into the white and made an 'orrible mess, so I had to try and wipe it off , oh joy ! what fun ..............  Just one more tag to go.despite my whittering I am enjoying making them !

Tag 10

Oh dear ! my tags are getting worse and worse ,  I forgot his nose and then stuck it on in the wrong place ! Didn't have any ingredients as usual so all hand cut and bodged, cut the top layer from an embossing folder packet, I also cheated and used a piece of Paperartsy paper for the background. After Christmas I intend to go back and try some of the techniques out properly.

silly old me !

Well silly me, I made three tags for Tag You're it swap, had it in my mind it was Christmas, just went to look and make sure and its supposed to be St Nicholas ! duh, not a St Nick in sight on mine, they will just have to be used on someones gift instead, don't know if I have time to do any more.

Tis the season

This is my atc for The Stampman December swap, can't get away from these reindeer ! All the stamps I used on here are on a sheet of stamps from Butterfly Kisses. My friend Babs bought them and then decided she wouldn't use them so I bought them from her, this is the first time I have used them and they are beautiful stamps, glad she didn't like them !!!

running backwards !

I wasn't going to do this tag because I didn't think I had anything to use except a small stamp with santa and sleigh, however last night I was sitting waiting for some stickles and acrylic paint to dry on another project and I thought I might have a go at drawing santa and his sleigh, I was quite happy at how it worked out (in fact to tell the truth I was totally chuffed with myself ! ) I have not done the masking though, just cut it out,coloured with Barn Door DI, stamped with various music and snowflake stamps and stuck in on an inked and stamped background, the row of houses is a Hero arts stamp, didn't leave enough room to put the clock on the tag so tied it on with the key,metal corners from stash.

Tag 9

Well this is a travesty of Tim's tag but at least I had a go !  Of course I don't have the die ( wish I did! ) and I could not face pleating the paper so I used one of my doily lace flowers which are made in a similar way.Everything seemed to come out very gold tonight, it is very shimmery seen close up. Used a stamp for the wording as I don't have a small enough die cut alphabet.Buttons from my very large button box,metal heart etc from stash. I had promised myself that if I finished the cards I was making by 10-30  which I did I could have a go at doing the tag and its taken me over an hour and a half to do it and this is one of the simpler ones ? if I had tried to do all the things Tim did I would have been up all night ! Finished putting up the Christmas decoration in the sitting room today and it all looks very festive in there,as for the rest of the house, less said the better !

Tag seven !

Oh dear, these are getting worse !  I did have the flourish die and the tattered flower die, but I really have not had time to make the flower as Tim did, I didn't have any self adhesive canvas but had some photo canvas so sprayed that with andirondak cranberry and lettuce green(the only two of the colours I had) but I didn't do the sticking to grungepaper so my flower is a bit flat!!! hand cut the leaves, used the distressed stripes for the background and cuttlebug Olivia alphabet for the letters, few bits and bobs and thats it.  I don't know if I am going to attempt todays, don't have the mask and last time I tried extreme masking it was a total disaster !I did get the card I had to make finished last night and posted today. Had Babs over today and I  got seven Christmas cards almost made (all the same ,so boring to do !) Cards are starting to arrive now so I just need to get finished off and start writing some . Just going to post this on Artyjens splinter group and then finish off the cards .

Tag 6

Well if this had been the first tag I don't think I would have started as I do not have any of the elements except the splatter stamp.  The back ground is a piece of Paperartsy paperand a crafty individual flourish stamp.stamped with the splatter stamp and white and then gold acrylic paint. I am reasonably proud of my reindeer as I drew him on some grungepaper and cut him out, the antlers are bits of the offcuts.Trees are also freehand cut out. Don't have the tissue tape so used a bit of lace and some music ribbon, the wreath round his neck is a bit of glitter pipecleaner and a bit of sparkly braid, the ribbon bow would not stick to it so stuck it at the top instead. the Joy charm is a metal brad charm from The Works and (whisper it) I did not have any tiny brads for the sentiment so used peel off dots.  Now I have to go and make a card I need to post tomorrow and is 11-15pm already so don't think I will have time to visit other blogs tonight will have to leave it until tomorrow. Many thanks to all who have commented. 

Tag5

A very rushed tag 5, I would love to do all the techniques T!m uses but just don't have the time or the supplies. I don't have the alterations die so hand cut it and can't you just tell by how wonky it is ,still thats what hand made is all about isn't it ? I know I have some little sleigh bells somewhere but couldn't find them, so made do with these, the metal flower was in my stash but had yellow petals so coloured it with red copic pen, cheated with the crackle on the die cut by stamping it with a CI stamp, I already had the 25 ultra thicked from another project. The Santa and girl are a CI stamp which I have a larger version of as well and the little girl is on the other side of Santa, its one of those stamps I seem to use every year. Put a bit of flowersoft Polar white on his hat which is actually a wreath of holly.I don't have any green distress stickles but I do have some ordinary green stickles and will put that on later, couldn't wait for it to dry now as I wanted to get it scanned. 

Tag 4

Everyone is saying this is an easier tag and I thoughtit was going to be too, but I have really struggled with this one, maybe because I don't do "bling" !  I would have loved to do the facet, its beautiful but of course I don't have any, I found this big "gem" in some poundshop stones but instead of just sticking it on I tried to be clever, scraped the metal looking stuff off the back with a knife and then stamped and embossed white snowflakes on the back of it, of course they don't even show unless you look really hard, then I tried to make a hole in the top and snapped a bit off so had to glue it back together with glossy accents , hence the bow with the rest of the beads to hide the crack, I think I must be mental doing this ! The back ground paper is from Paperartsy, Santa stamp is Crafty Secrets. Stamped asnd Inkadinkado jewelled swirl and stuck on papermania gemstones, bit of lace and some dangly braid stuff on the bottom. The only thing I did have was the adage ticket and I stuck in on the opposite side to the one on Tim's tag as I didn't want to cover my jewelled swirl up. Phew........  .  Now I need to get the dinner started as I want in to be cooking while I watch Strictly Come Dancing.

Tag number 3

Well I did at least have the bird die for this one so that was a good start. Didn't have a tree or branch stamp except this rather feeble one which is almost covered up anyhow, coloured the bird with fired brick DI and then stamped the music over it. I don't have the paint dabbers so just stamped with white acrylic paint and I do like the snowy effect, will be doing that again!  The nest bit is some eyelash wool and it really did not want to stick on there so I ended up pushing a brad through it, hoped it wouldn't show but it does. made the flower from some old book pages and fastened the tag on with a large pearl pin. I did have some of the elasticy trim, it came from a local haberdashery shop and I knew it would come in useful someday, the tinsel is a pipe cleaner from my box of Christmas ribbons etc ,some sari ribbons on the top. I think this is my favourite one to date, probably because I love the bird. Also posted this on The Artistic Stamper Christmas challenge

Another Christmas card

Still churning out the Christmas cards, won't be doing many of these, although I love the Penny Black Nativity scene it took me nearly two hours to colour four of them. Off now to see what Tim has in store fpr todays tag .

Day 2

Here's my day two tag for the twelve days of Christmas, this time I did have two of the stamps, the music and the splatter so that was a start. The Fir cone and branches are a Butterfly kisses stamp and the flourish is Paper Artsy.Didn't have the metal bird so stamped one from a Oxford Impressions set and embossed it with Metal Magic. The Christmas Carol stamp is from the same Tim Holtz set as the music stamp. Few pearl beads and bits of ribbon. certainly not as hard as yesterdays ! ( I forgot to say that you will see that I stamped it upside down , the pine cones etc should have been at the bottom of  the tag, I would like to say that its just my take on it but that wouldn't be true , I just did it wrong ! ) There are lots of tags on ArtyJens blog splinter group.

Twelve tags of Christmas

Tim Holtz's twelve tags of Christmas has just started again.  Now I have never tried to do any of them before but after spending all afternoon trying to catch up on Christmas cards etc I felt like trying something different.
This is my tongue in cheek take on the tag !  I did not have any of the things he has used so just improvised with what I had to hand. The house is a chipboard shape from Crafty Individuals, coloured with walnut stain DI, put through the cuttlebug  with distressed stripes folder and sanded, the fence is also a CI chipboard shape,wreath made with punched holly leaves,tree a die cut, ticket stamped and inked and a snowflake brad at the top,  the snow is flower soft polar white ,not much like the original and it did not take too long to make
and the main thing is I enjoyed making it.

Christmas tags

A few Christmas tags made with bits from  Graphic45 papers and tags. 

money/giftcard envelopes

Just as a change from the production line Christmas cards I have been making some envelopes for money or gift cards, its too difficult to buy for grownup grandchildren so they get to buy their own gifts .We still shop for the little great grandchildren at the moment, but some of them are getting into the teens now and I think they will be going on the money list soon, its getting incredibly expensive and we keep saying we will have to draw the line somewhere but then Christmas rolls round again and we say, well  maybe just this year .......

Jolly St Nicholas

Here's my card for Tuesday Taggers where I was picked as guest designer for this week. This is one of those stamps that I have to use every year, I love it. The papers are all Graphic 45. I am so pleased to see that Carole and Yvonne have joined Tuesday Taggers as designers !

Flower atc

here is my atc for Theme Thursday challenge which asks for an atc with flowers.  The background is a wax paper one I did a while ago, flowers stamped with stazon and bleached a little, I've forgotten how to do the wax paper stuff, will have to look it up again, the old memory is getting a bit worn out !

Colours for Christmas

Louise at Kardkrazy 's challenge is for a Christmas tag with the colours, navy, turquoise and red ..... Hmmm
not colours I would usually put together, I kept the turquoise to a minimum as its not one of my favourite colours,cuttlebug embossing, bit of sanding, punched snowflakes and my fabourite Kanban bauble

Dashers just dashing by again

A quick post tonight , I've had a busy week and not much time for crafting. Babs has been over again today and we have made the usual mess which still has to be put away!  Think its just really clocked with me that November is almost over and I,ve got little stacks of unfinished cards evrywhere so I,m trying to really get down to finishing them off. This card is not for any challenge, just one of a batch I have been making today. Carole just told me that Craftsandme challenge is snowflakes so I am posting in on there.

We Three Mice

Daring Card Makers challenge is for We three - of anything, so I thought this card would fit the challenge.three mice and three card candies. Not the best of scans, the green is not as bright as this and it does have stamping on it which doesn't show on here, sometimes things scan really well and other times  they don't , who knows why ? The cute little mice are Penny Black.

Peace on my wings

Made this atc for Theme Thursday challenge which is "Faces"  I love this stamp from Hampton Arts which I have had for a very long time, I love the face and also the sentiment, wish someone could fly round the world and bring peace everywhere ! I stamped it onto a piece of card which had been coloured with spray inks and glimmer mists, it is actually a bit greener than it looks on here so I did do her face with bleach so she didn't look quite so seasick ! coloured her headband and punched a couple of flowers.

Take a letter

Finally got round to making my atcs for the Stampman  atc swap. This months challenge is Take A Letter. The little boy and the wording are from SeeDs, the ink splatters are Paperartsy. The background paper is some old basic grey and the piece of ledger paper is from an old pad I found while I was sorting out my desk. I always think this little boy is writing out "Lines" , the older bloggers among us will no doubt remember it being a punishment for being naughty at school !  (As if !!! )

Thank You

No cards to post tonight, been busy with other things but I just wanted to say Thank You to the lovely people who leave such wonderful and kind comments for me and who cheer me up no end  and the ones who sign up as followers.  

Joy ?

Just been looking at everyones blogs and now I'm almost ashamed to post my boring little card ! It does look a bit better in real life as the gems are iridescent red and green and quite sparkly. I can't quite get my head round Christmas cards this year for some reason and I usually love making them. I haven't done any Christmas shopping or anything as yet so maybe if I got cracking on that it might put me more in the mood.I did make another couple of more elaborate cards also today but I can't remember where the challenges were and can't be bothered to look tonight. My friend has been over today and you should see the mess she left me to clear up  (only kidding Babs ,its twice as bad now as when you left ! ) Its a good job in a way I don't have a proper craft room as I do have to put most of the stuff away before I go to bed so we can at least have a corner of the table to have breakfast on. Posting this on Tuesday Taggers challenge which is Joy/Peace/Love

Background

Tag Tuesday this week is for Backgrounds and not to cover them up with embellishments ! My background is just sprayed inks and glimmer mists, swirl & flowers white embossed, the circle at the bottom is punched from another bit of the same paper. It looks a bit plain to me but it is very "glimmery" in real life. I do like making backgrounds and we are so inclined to end up not seeing much of them.

Winter sports

I don't know what I have been doing all day ! I had intended making a load of Christmas cards, everything is stamped and cut out, just need assembling but have I done them ? have I heck, just messed about looking at blogs and craft sites, watched Country File, Strictly and Antique Road show and just generally wasted time.
Finally made this card for Winter Wonderland challenge which is Winter Sports, I,m not too happy with it but at least its something I,ve done. I downloaded the picture from the net, I think its from Ahomeandheart.blogspot but will have to go back and check that. (now I,ve just gone and posted it on the wrong challenge and I don't know how to take it off, think its time I went to bed !)

Steampunk ?

Although I love steampunk I find it very hard to actually do anything with the images. Finally found this background on the internet(clockwork atomics), the lightbulb image is G45 and the figure is Lost Coast(I think) she looks a bit as though she stuck her finger in the light socket and I like her odd stockings !Cog from alterations die. Now I,m off to do something simple like Christmas cards.Nearly forgot to say this is for Theme Thursday Steampunk challenge.

Three Kings

Had a busy day trying to sort out the spare room which has ended up as a dumping ground for everything that doesn't have a home , filled three bags with surplus craft bits and pieces which will go to one of the childrens groups in the village, either the school, Brownies, Beavers or Youth Club, I just take it all to the local Post Office and our lovely Post Office Owner passes it on to who ever wants it, however much I try to get rid of it just never seems to get any less, I have enough paper and cardstock to start my own shop and as for stamps, well the less said the better !  Anyhow tonight I have only managed to make this tag, very simple using just a couple of Crafty Individuals Stamps.  Tuesday Taggers challenge is for Silver/Gold and Purple and Tag You're It Is Simple Stamping so I manage to fit it to two challenges.  Tag You're It is a proper swap so I have to make another two tags the same so I can send them off for the swap, I got three more lovely tags from their last swap, I do like getting these little works of art in the post !

Bingo!

Louise at Kardkrazy has a challenge for Bingo this week.  I messed about for ages with a small bingo stamp and was getting nowhere fast but while I was looking for some paper to cover the tag well,  BINGO!  found this paper . The two ladies are a stamp that my sister sent me for my birthday and I hadn't got round to using it yet, they look so sad I guess they didn't win tonight ! 

Haute Couture

I am finally managing to bring myself to actually use some of my G45 papers, I have spent so long stroking and admiring them its a wonder they aren't worn out.  I know they are so "last year " but I haven't seen anything else to beat them as yet. I haven't even managed to start on the Steampunk ones yet and I will have to wait until next year now to cut into Alice in Halloween !  Gingersnap have a challenge for Haute Couture and I love anything to do with fashion ( on paper only !) I also see this weeks is Sewing Notions which is also a favourite thing for me, will have to get going on that one, make a change from Christmas cards.

We Three Kings Of Orient Are .............

I,m into simple cards at the moment and they don't come a lot simpler than this one. Background is gold embossed Impression-obsession stamp, the kings and the wording are Butterfly Kisses. I,m entering this on Winter Wonderland which is Sing a Christmas carol and also for the Stampman which is anything goes Christmas , not often I manage to do one card for two challenges, now my friend Carol has told me off for putting myself down so I am not going to apologise for wonky lines etc ! lol .........

Front & Back Tag

Spent most of this afternoon making this front and back tag . I'm quite happy with the front of the tag but the back got a bit of a mess.  After I stamped the wording on the back I thought it was too " in your face " so I tried to lighten it up with a white pen and then some glitter, it didn't work out how I wanted and then when I stamped and embossed the white snow flakes the embossing powder stuck everywhere I didn't want it, it was fun making it and quite a challenge from Kard Krazy Louise ! I wanted these to appear on the blog side by side but can't work ot how to do it.

Oriental ?

Tuesday Taggers challenge this week is A Taste Of The Orient, I don't have much in way of oriental stamps(although somewhere is a whole packet of oriental papers that I can't find ! ) but this triple embossed stamped panel has been in my bits and pieces pile for ever ! I don't even know who's stamp I used, its certainly not mine, its on mountboard so was always too heavy to put on a card. I had a lightbulb moment and decided to put in on the front of a notebook, just a plain white notepad ,covered with red card and some bits of decorative paper and ribbon, the metal thingy was in  another box of odds and ends. It might have been better it I had stuck it together a bit straighter but it can sit at the side of the computer for me to write all the stuff down that is usually on scraps of paper which immediately get lost . Going off to watch Pillars Of The Earth after I post this. 

Dashers here again !

Had a busy afternoon making Christmas cards, I am not posting the ones I made as I have done something I don't usually do and cased a Stampin Up make and take card someone gave me. I didn't have the Stampin Up stamps so used some similar ones I had but other than that it was a straight copy of someone elses card that I really liked. Anyhow tonight I made this for Creative Sketches, Stampin Up dasher stamp again ( think he is going to be used a lot this year !) and Cosmo Cricket papers.

Dasher

Love this little reindeer stamp from Stampin Up, I need to put some stickles on his antlers but did not want to get stickles all over the scanner bed,last time I did that had to get some thinners  as it had set solid along with some glossy accents and took some getting off. Card is for Creative Sketches which is a sketch and a holiday theme.I have flipped the sketch a bit but think I got the basics of it.

Ophelia

A very quick tag for Tag You're It which this week asks for scallops, I,ve managed to miss the last two of their challenges and am running late with this one, not much time for crafting at the moment, seem to have a hundred and one other things I have to do instead.  The stamp is an unmounted one I have had for years, I think it is a Stampsmith one, flourishy bits are Hero Arts. having said I have no time I have to say I spent ages last night messing about trying to do the Extreme Masking, made four tags and did not like how any of them worked out, chucked them all in the bin and will try again another day !

Paris France

Haven't used these stamps for ages. The Lady,the dog , plant and words are all from an old Non Sequitur plate, the background swirly stamp is Impression-Obsessions. The picture of the Eiffel Tower is a freebie from the Graphic Fairy. Made this for Lets Ink It Up challenge which is Make A Scene. This card is not as wonky as it looks on here , the black is not part of the card, just a piece of card I put behind it to scan it, maybe I should have cropped it a bit !

Card for a man

Stampman fortnightly challenge is for a card for a man, I never seem to have any cards ready made when I need one for a man but I do actually quite enjoy making them. This is a simple card using my Artistic Outpost steampunk stamps. sentiment circle is Personal Impressions, the dark card is brown although it does look black one here. I keep saying I am not going to be making any more cards from now on unless they are Christmas cards but here I am again ! plus I,m half way through another one for a different challenge. I don't seem to have the knack of making a card that fits more than one challenge!

Christmas Easel card

I could not seem to get a decent photo of this card even though I took them outside in beautiful sunshine this afternoon, you can see the sunshine on the bottom picture but it was still very cold !  I got this little robin on a branch stamp at Port Sunlight , its by Great Impressions, the flourish is Hero Arts. I seem to have a thing about this colour combo at the moment although cream and brown is not really very Christmassy. Its the first time I have used the polar white flower soft for snow and I don't know that I like it very much, think I will stick to the glamour dust glitter in future. This is for Lots to Do challenge which is a shaped or easel card.

Winter2

I,m a bit disappointed at how this card turned out after I spent ages faffing about with it . I saw some really beautiful cards made with  this stamp at Port Sunlight show but nothing seemed to work out how I wanted it to do tonight, will have to play some more with it and try and improve !  When I was at the Stampin Up class the other week I finally learned how to use a rollagraph properly ( do straight lines !!! ) so I was quite pleased when I managed to cover the whole card front without making a mess of it.  I was thinking of taking the rubber off the rollers as I didn't seem to be able to do much with them, the only thing that stopped me doing it was that I do not have a big enought acrylic block to use them on. Now I might have another go at using them as I do have some nice ones, mostly from Imagination Crafts , thats where the stamp is from also.  I'm putting this on Theme Thursday as their challenge this week is "Winter".

Winter

Another last minute entry, this time for Lots To Do which asks for Plain and Simple, stamps are Hero Arts.bit of holograph paper,  stamp embossed with white glitter embossing powder and a couple of rub on snowflakes  Its quite glittery but that doesn't show on here.

Black& orange or orange & black

I wanted to post this on a couple of challenges but think I was too late on Something Completely Different but I entered it anyway. Its also for Tag Tuesday. I love this image of a witch and especially the cat ! I found the image on Magic Moonlight Free Images. Couldn't really do anything much other than layer it up on orange and black card as the image already says it all. Drew the bat on a bit of black card and cut it out. Wording done on computer. The gauzy stuff at the bottom is some kind of dressing,came out of an old first aid box, knew it would come in useful one day, of course it was white originally, coloured it with my versamagic ink pad (I,ve got very black fingers too )

Tag you're it

This is my tag for Tag You're It's October challenge, I did not get my tags made in time to post them in the challenge in the first week of October but finally managed to get them made just in time to get them in the post for the swap, I have had some lovely tags in their previous swaps and I do like getting pretty things in the mail . I'm always surprised that more people don't join in this swap, its lovely!