Box in a box

Second post of the night and still not a single stamp in sight.  Spent a while this afternoon making this little box in box which I did at a Stampin up class a while ago. Jill, who took the class, kindly let me have a template for a simplified version she had worked out later and it was much quicker than the original one we did.All the papers are Graphic 45. I wish I had put a different ribbon on it as the one I used is a bit heavy for it but I'm not about to take it apart now . The last two pics are a little decorated tea light (battery one of course) which we also did at the same class. The photos are lousy but the best of a very bad bunch ! I made the box for  Make My Monday which is for a box in Christmas style

1. Make my Monday - Box for Christmas
2. Crafty Bloggers - other than a card, something 3D

You used what ?

On Sunday I had a discussion with a friend on why we have all kinds of stuff we never use and one of the subjects was peel offs, why, when I don't use them, do I have a big folder full of them? and then even more strange, why did I go into town yesterday morning and buy s sheet of the perishing things,

well because I saw such a cute card made with these stockings!  at least there were only enough of them to make two cards so they are all gone now. I cannot get a decent photo as I'm having to take them in artificial light and the colours are all wrong. What appears as orange on here is promarker Berry Red believe it or not, Putting it on a couple of challenges

1.  Craft Your passion - Tis the Season

2.  Make it Monday- anything goes

bling ?

This card was a very quick and easy one and in real life it looks lovely but can I get a decent scan or photo of it ? taken three times as long trying as it did to make the card and it still doesn't look right.The card base is cream with a gold embossed tree and sparkly hologram gems, cut a piece of hologram to make the tree tub and I wish I was as happy with the photo as I was with the card !

Simply less is more - Bling
Our Creative Corner - Christmas tree

shrink plastic

Getting into making tags again, at least when I make Christmas tags they usually get used and don't just sit about in boxes like my everyday ones tend to do. While I was flicking about through challenges I saw Try In On Tuesday was shrink plastic and I just happen to have a rather large stash of it which needs using,seemed to go out of fashion although I have seen a few articles about it recently.
I love this Father Christmas stamp but it is so big its hard to anything other than stamp it for the front of a card, I did mess about making decoupage glasses with acetate lens for his glasses years ago but certainly could not be bothered now. Stamped him with ancient page on the shrink plastic and coloured him with tombow pens before shrinking, stamped a few snowflakes and the message(G45)and dabbed round the edges with snowcap dabber, finished with some bakers twine. Now I need to get on with what I was going to do in the first place !

winter morning

Just back from a few days in the Cotswolds and after a day of laundry etc thought it was time I got back to the stamps and inks, whole week with no stamping gives me withdrawal symptoms!  I wanted to do a card for Fashionable Stampings challenge which is winter wonderland. I loved doing the resist background, one of my favourite techniques and also used it on the tag background, added some stencilling with viva gold paint to tone things down a bit. The little girl is not as pink as she looks on here, she was stamped with quite a dark red (Stampin up's Cherry Cobbler) but I think its the background red which is making it look pink.The  stamps on the tag are Oxford Impressions and the background stamps are Butterfly Kisses.

Fashionable Stamping - Winter Wonderland
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge - vintage/distressed
Just For Fun - favourite shape  ( tag )

last batch!

This is the one of the last batch of Christmas cards and hopefully I  have now got enough of them. I have spent the last two nights putting in inserts and finding envelopes etc, not something I like doing, of course if I was perfect I would do it everytime I make the cards instead of leaving it all to do at once. We are going away for a few days on Monday so I now need to have a big tidy up in here or heaven knows what kind of mess I would find on our return as my two furry monsters have moved in here as their playroom and although my neighbour is kindly cat sitting they are going to be able to get up to all kinds of mischief while I'm not looking! Kitten, Bramble, thinks anything with a ribbon is a toy for him and I have already lost a couple of tags ,nicely chewed up by him.!

Craft Barn Blog Candy

Fabulous blog candy on the Craft Barn to mark their 600 followers. Just need to be a follower and post this picture to have a chance of winning

oldie

This has got to be one of my oldest stamps, its dated 1995 and I've probably had it since then , I don't think there has been a single Christmas when I haven't made a few cards with it. I do try and do something different with it each year and this time I've coloured the houses for the first time, some cuttlebugged papers and loads of glamour dust for sparkle.  There's on;ly one challenge I think its appropriate for and thats Oldie But Goodie which says it all.Their theme is Let it snow.

Times Past

This is the card I made for my sister's birthday ( she is 21 about the 3rd plus time around !) The lovely lady is an Inkylicious stamp as are all the background stamps,the honey cream label is from a very old stampin up set. Think this fits the theme at Fashionable stamping  so will put in on there.

Fashionable Stamping - Times gone by
Make it Monday  - anything goes

Christmas Tree

Nearly didn't put this card on here as I can't get the colours to look right either by scanning or camera!
The embossed paper is a lovely bronze/gold, not the greeny colour it looks here. I am trying to use up things I have had a long time, I have a large box full of metallic /pearl type papers that I haven't used any of for ages, used to be able to buy large boxes or rolls of papers from a local paper mill that had a shop for a while, not sure if the actual mill is still in production now. I have not bought any Christmas papers or embellishments this year (just a few stamps!) so I am trying to use up old supplies. The gold metallic ribbon I have had for ever , it looks nicer really than it does on here. The stamp was on a sheet of free stamps from Creative Stamping and I think its lovely. plus no colouring needed !I have made 9 of these tonight, one got scrapped because the cat came in with wet feet and walked across it and another got glue on the front of it. Beginning to think I might manage to get enough cards made after all.

Robins

I tried to resist buying this Penny Black robin stamp as I had an idea it wouldn't be the easiest of stamps to do anything with but ended up buying it anyway and yes I have struggled with it! Finally decided the only way it looked right was to cut it out and what a fiddly job it was too( I have made eight cards with it, don't want to see it again this year !) I'm quite enamoured of the cuttlebug folder I used and its one of the big ones which are so useful for doing a whole card front.It meets a few of the challenges

sweetstamps - red/green/gold
Toptip Tuesday - anything Christmas goes
Make My Monday - Christmas - vintage/traditional
St Lukes Charity Card Challenge- Christmas card
Make It Monday - anything goes

Skating snowman

I got this cute little snowman at the Harrogate show in September and had forgotten all about him until I came across him while looking for something else. A fairly simple card for me, I am not even halfway to making the cards I need so I will have to try and simplify, I don't do simple easily,even when I start out with something meant to be simple it seems to evolve but feel I have been  very restrained on this one.Used some very old christmas paper and minimal colouring, tiny bit of glitter along the snowline. Bah Humbug is asking for snowmen this week so will get him of there before the challenge closes tomorrow

Bah Humbug - snowmen

Simpler Santa !

While I had the stamp out to make the card below I made a few  simpler versions although by the time I had made eight of them I decided I had seen enough of Santa for now! I think it would have been better without the twine but now its there its staying !  I found a pack of gold cards so I used them as a base, I do like the sizzex border embossing folder, just took off the blank look at the bottom of the card, didn't want to trim the card down as there are also envelopes of the right size in the pack. I am trying not to do my usual trick of making a load of cards and then finding I have no envelopes to fit, I hate making envelopes !

Santa Claus is coming to town

I've been playing around with this new Stampendous Santa Stamp I just got from the Stampman with a gift voucher I won, thought I would make a card to enter in their challenge which is Collage, something I like playing about with. Won't be making many Christmas cards like this though as it took me ages ! 

The Stampman - Collage
Sunday Stampers - Christmas
Our Craft Lounge - distressed and stressed
Winter Wonderland  - Sparkle

Poinsettia card

haven't had time for much crafting this week and when I do get a bit of time I'm trying to get on with Christmas cards. Having a quick look through challenges this week I saw that Sugar Creek Hollow is asking for Vellum this week so thought I could pop this card on their challenge. The torn piece is white vellum and although it doesn't show too well it is stamped with versamark and then coloured with perfect pearls, looks quite pretty in real life.  Its only when I put cards on here that I see all the stray bits of embossing powder, my eyesight is not so good these days! Also putting this on
Make It Monday which is , as always, Anything goes.