Chocolate, raspberry and cream for FSC

A yummy sounding  Colour theme for us to try over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges.

'Chocolate, Raspberry and Cream',

Please pop over for all the details and see what my Design Team sisters have been making.

The stamped image is by personal Impressions, this was shaded with water colours before  layering  up onto raspberry and chocolate coloured card. The trimmings all came from my stash. Before you wonder about my favorite Vintage Photo distress ink, it was in action on this card at the edges.
This card is now with Valerie  an inspiring ,creative blogging friend, who celebrated her Birthday just before Christmas.

This is another scheduled post and as it is close to the New Year, I would like to send you all my very best wishes for 2014.
I haven't been able to visit you all recently, but I hope to catch up soon.

Thank you for taking time to stop by to see what I made for  FSC.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday and  I send you best wishes for the coming year.
Sorry I am not able to visit you all and thank you for all the super comments you have left me here over the past year. They were all greatly appreciated.
I feel truly blessed having such lovely friends in Blogland.
p.s. I hope this scheduled post appears on the right day

Me time

These two journal pages have been  work in progress for some time. I started with good intentions with the base stamping, colouring  and the usual mopping up of excess inks. Then somehow the preparations for Christmas crept up on me.

I decided on a little me time today to add some bits and pieces.   A couple of Graphics 45 images, material scraps, die cuts etc . The quote  which is a bit hard to read on the photo says--Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.
I am still working out what that could  mean to the look of this thrown together collage page.
So with that in mind I only used two single words on the other page.  Memories and thoughts, two precious words that can mean so much to us all in many ways.

Thank you for stopping by, I do so appreciate you taking the time to  pop in.

Christmas Tree

Our last challenge theme  for 2013 over at Try it on Tuesdays is 'Trees '.
It can be any type of tree you wish to use, please pop over and see our  interpretation of this theme.

I have to admit to going down an easier route for this challenge and used  a piece of printed fabric.

This was frayed a bit around the edges, mounted on a Kraft card, with a Christmas button and bow placed in a corner.

On the left is another I made at the same time.

Thank you for  stopping , I do so appreciate you taking the time to visit me.

Tree Baubles.

A few photos today,  of tree decorations.
They were made in the same way and  have  reached their destinations.
So I can now show you  some of them.

The picture on the right  shows the reverse side on some baubles.
Both sides were painted with acrylic cream paint.
The Santa image  and words are from Stampendous stamps.
Additional colours are Distress inks,
Vintage photo, Barn Door and Bundled Sage.

Some were edged with Antique gold embossing powder.
They were all sprayed  with a coating of Silver Spray Sparkle and Shine. This make it real difficult to get a reasonable photo.

I  had some wax left from another project and used it to cover Santa's beard on this bauble.

Thank you for taking time to stop by.
 I hope you are enjoying the build up to Christmas and are not rushed off your feet like I seem to be.
I vote for at least a 28 hour day and an 8 day week,  at this time of year.

Make over time.

Altered Recycling/Re-purposing  is our new challenge theme today over at Sugar Creek Hollow.
Time to give the boring box on the left a make over.
I didn't have an end result in mind, so just got going with a coat of cream paint to begin with. Which when dry I promptly covered with some pretty papers.
Well I did say I had no plans.

Next came the top panel.
The card was shaded  randomly with Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters and Spiced Marmalade distress inks.  I used my Inkadinkado Poppy stamp and a well used old French script  stamp, stamping up with the DI greens.
This then was cut to size and layered up with a piece of lace trim.

So with the panel made,  it was at the assembly stage. As always with my love of  vintage/shabby chic ,  ribbon, lace and flowers needed to be added.

I hope you will pop over to see what we all made and welcome our Guest Designer for this challenge Laney, you can find her here.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments

Deck the Halls

Not a craft post from me today, but I thought I would share with you a few  photos my OH took when we visited Wallington Hall in Northumberland on Saturday . It is half an hour  by car from where we live and owned by the National Trust. It was decked out in all its splendor for Christmas.

I think the stone gargoyle heads in the lawn look as if they are waiting patiently for some one to try getting past them.

 This was the fire burning in the entrance hall.

Mother Christmas , who had just finished telling a group of children a story in the Drawing room.
We did have a good chat about how Christmas has changed, but  we agreed that Traditional  ways were best.

The Dining room all set for the festive dinner.
No we were not invited.

This was the library, with an array of gifts waiting to be opened.

The Clock Tower with Santa's sleigh outside, all the reindeer were made with rushes.

I started writing this when we got home, then our internet went off. So 3 days later I am able to post it.

I had to add a bit of craft interest, sitting in the  corridor was this  child size, hand  made model,  complete with his Guide Badge.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed seeing the photos.

12 days of Christmas

This is my last Fat Page swap of the year and as you can see it has a pocket  full of tags. The other side looks exactly the same.

 On the right you can see the first 6 tags. All the backgrounds were created at the same time. A stenciled snowflake background, using  blue inks.
The same stencil  at the top, spread  with Grunge paste, which I pressed  with silver glitter, before I removed the stencil.

The 12 Days of Christmas stamps are by Hampton Art. I used black Archival to stamp these up, so  they showed up  against the busy background.


Thank you for stopping by to take a look. I always appreciate your comments.





I will be joining the festive fun at these challenges.---
Country View Crafts  December challenge which is  Bah, Humbug.
 After all the preparations and lead up to this festive season, I can relate to  this sentiment some days.
Stamping Sensations  the December challenge here is Free and Easy
Artistic Stamper-- Creative team challenge for December is Anything goes

Frosty the Snomwn

A snowy tag from me today. The new Tag Along challenge theme is 'Frosty the Snowman.'
So here is Frosty, an Indigo Blu stamped image covered with white Flower Soft. I knew I would find a use for this someday. The background is a left over piece random stamped and textured card.
I hope everyone is safe from the storms we are having here in the U.K.
Our greenhouse door was a casualty this  a.m.  Broken  glass to clear away so Meg wouldn't  cut her  paws  when she was out in the garden.
Thank you for taking time to  stop by, your comments are always appreciated

Advent, 4th December.

Here we are a few days into December and I forgot to show you  this Advent Calender.

It was quite easy to assemble from the Tando Kit.
The biggest problem was working out how the attach the pointer and get it to move freely.







The whole shape was painted with acrylics before I added  paper insets using  Graphics 45 papers.
Antique gold embossing powder, bronze distress stains and  vintage photo distress glitter were my additional way to add aging.
Some of the little additions came with the kit and only needed painting etc. I had the silver charms in my stash.

Thank you for stopping by, especially when we are all so busy at this time of year.

Hand made gift for TioT's

What do you do with your old scraps of material?
This is what I did with mine.
Cut a pile of strips about 5 inches long and a bit less than i inch wide.
The pile was much bigger than this when I started.
Nothing technical here and definitely no measuring was done.

Next take florist metal ring, mine was about 11 inches in diameter.
Start tying on the scraps with a simple knot.
Now I have to say this was not my idea, I did see this demonstrated at a local Craft Fair at the beginning of November
For the inner ring I used cottons, you will see that I used sparkly mesh on the outer ring later.

I added the center  piece, which is a lovely clay heart shape.
I couldn't resist a little Vintage Photo distress ink round the edges.
This has a wonderful scented smell and came with a small phial to give the scent a boost when it fades.
At this stage I did a bit of trimming to the materials so you could see the heart.

Well as you can see the only other addition was a bow of ribbon and a loop to hang it up  on the wall.

Over at Try It On Tuesdays our first challenge theme for December is a 'Handmade Gift or Tag'.
Please pop over and see what we all made and join the fun.

Thank you for stopping by here, as always I realy appreciate the comments you leave.

Cheers

When I read that our new theme  at Fashionable Stamping Challenges was called 'In the Holiday Spirit', I had to get my thinking hat on. We were given some guidelines--A chilled and relaxed feel for the Holiday season. Remember some parts of the world have summer at this time of year.
So in the Holiday Spirit', this card is to send to friends, knowing that over the festive season, we will be raising a glass or two, remembering the times when they lived closer to us.
So 'cheers' everyone wherever you are.
This card  has  a random stamped layer . The stamped images are all  from Creative Expressions.
Mind you I don't think I will be fussy cutting bunches of grapes again  for a while.
The wine label was water coloured and all the other shading is Vintage Photo and Dusty Concorde distress ink.
Please pop over to FSC for all the details and see what we all made.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Vintage Christmas

The countdown to Christmas is approaching fast.  so with this in mind the new Challenge Theme over at Sugar Creek Hollow is 'Vintage Christmas' and you can make a card, ornament or gift.
Please pop over for all the details and welcome out Guest Designer for this week Avril Branthwaite.

My choice is a card .  The base layer is embossed with a snowflake stencil then  shaded  with  a dusting of [ blue]  Pans Pastels.
The image is from the  Figgy Pudding  images  set by Gecko Galz.
My boys loved sledging  when it snowed, I won't mention how old they are now,  it was a long................................. time ago.
As usual  my vintage/shabby chic card features  a bit of lace and ribbon, as well as  torn edges on the  layers.
The snowflake die cuts is a Memory Box die.

I will  also be joining the current  Craft Room challenge the theme is  Vintage Christmas.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Sadie's in love.

A quick post today, time sure is  flying.
'Hearts', is the latest challenge at Tag Along.
So here is my take on their  theme  using all sorts of bits from the left overs box.
I think Sadie  is totally besotted with her fellow and just 'Can't get him out of her head,..
Thank you for stopping by, I realy appreciate you calling.

Just Dreaming

Clean and Simple is the challenge Viv  has set us this time at Crafty Cardmakers.
This is a real out of my comfort zone style, but its not a challenge if you don't try.
The base card is white, looks a bit cream in the photo.
I stamped the image [Indigo Blu stamp]onto plain white card. The sentiment stamp I have had a while and sorry cannot remember the maker. I ran the edge of the ink pad around this piece of card as its not allowed to use layers on CAS cards.
We have two sponsors for this challenge, please pop over for all the details.

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Now here is another simple version of  the  card , using the same images, but in a style that I am more used to making.

You can see the base card, shows white, a whole lot better when adding some colour.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments you leave.

Snowy days

'Ring a ding Ding - Lots of Bling.'
This is the theme the folk over at the Tag Along  Challenge 
They want to see lots of sparkle.
 No warning was given about  how to avoid getting glitter everywhere it shouldn't be, the dog included.
But I did enjoy making this tag.

On the right is a close up of the die cut poinsettia , coloured with tumbled glass distress ink, before it got the glitter treatment.

Even the poor squirrel got a dusting of the sparkly stuff.

He will also join the fun over at Crafting When We Can the new theme there is, 'Winter'.


Thank you for stopping by to take a look, your comments are always appreciated.

Bless My Mess

Some days, it is good to play  with your crafty stash.  No plans, no expectations, go with the flow, forget what you should be doing, have some fun.   This afternoon I actually managed this.
I had seen that the Stampotique Designer Challenge was ' A Splat of Paint on your work.
Just the prompt that I was looking for, nothing I like better than an excuse to create a bit of mess.

I decided to make a small hanging using these Stamptique images, which were water coloured.
The base is recycled packaging painted with acrylic paint, Mermaid blue and  Mocha.  A tatty piece of Kraft card to mount my top layer on.
It was great fun 'splatting ' with paint. I have to admit I watered the acrylic  paint down a bit so it would flick off the brush easier.
By this time the whole bench was dotted [and me].  It took longer  to wipe things down than splash them.
Even the fibers  look  tatty and messy.

Thank you for stopping by, I do realy appreciate the comments you leave.

Fruit, Flowers and a Cup of Tea

I thought that I might to name this post,  'Peel me a grape darling', or 'I want to be alone',  this coy image  came from one of the free image sheets I collected on the Gecko Galtz blog hop a while ago.
I have made this tag for the current  theme  Fruit and Flowers at the  Tag-Along  challenge.
The base is random stamped and generally shaded with distress inks.
The grapes are a Creative expressions stamped image which was water coloured,I have no idea who to attribute the flower stamp to.

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Afternoon Tea

Also sharing a journal page with you that I  have just declared ' finished' . Its been in the making for a few days now. Lots of random stamping and blotting inks for the base layers. Some scraps of muslin etc, because I don't like to waste anything.  The main image is a Crafty Individuals stamp, which I can relate to very well.
Three o'clock is definitely time for a cuppa in our house.
Over at  The Craft-Room challenge  the current theme is Afternoon Tea/Photo inspiration.
I hope this page meets the theme.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments.

White Christmas

White on White is the new theme over at Try it on Tuesdays.

This is not an easy colour to get a good photo at this time of year. I had to use a daylight lamp and it  showed a reflection on  part of most photos.
Anyway, as you can see the card is made mainly with a selection of die cuts [ including Spellbinders]. The embossed word strip was a freebie  from a magazine. [Simply cards and papercraft]
For once I had clean hands making this, not a stamp  or ink pad in sight.
We do hope you will pop over and join the fun.

I will also enter the colour  challenge at
Inkspirational Challenges  which is White on White

Thank you for stopping here, I realy appreciate  the comments you leave.

Tranquility

Christmas gets so hectic, sometimes its good to make time to enjoy a little peace and Tranquility.
I love this scene, I think  its a Woodware stamp, but not sure its so well used.
This card I made  for the new challenge at Fashionable Stamping challenges , the theme is ' Shabby Chic Christmas'.
The base card is random stamped with a Stampers Anonymous snowflake image.
Colours used for all the shading are Vintage Photo and Tumbled Glass distress ink.
Two of the layers are  dry embossed, a tiny ivy sprig for one and music. Both folders are Embossalicious ones. As you can see the blunt scissors were used on the edges, material scraps  etc for interest. The lace and ribbon were also shaded with Vintage Photo DI.
Please pop over and see what my design team sisters made and get all the details and read about the prize from our sponsor Flonzcraft.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Its a gift

We have a new challenge theme starting today over at Sugar Creek Hollow
This time its, ' Vintage Tags/Boxes . I am sure that getting close to Christmas these are real useful things to make especially if its going to someone special.
We also welcome our  Guest Designer  for this challenge Bonnie Garby, please pop over and see what we all made and check out all the details.
I recently bought the  Figgy Pudding images set from Gecko Galz, they are the kind of Vintage images I love.  Normally I prefer stamping but this set might just be the one that makes me experiment a bit more with digi's.

I decided to make a Gift Tag, using mainly off white and cream card for the layers.

The light for the photos was not playing nice, so I am afraid these are the best of a goodly number
Naturally the Vintage Photo distress ink featured for the additional shading.
Scrap pieces of lace and trimmings from my stash.
The base layer I run through the Crimping gadget, there is also a little  sprinkle of Frantage ivory embossing powder in a few places.


Thank you for stopping by, I do always appreciate your comments.

Feeling Blue

I am pleased to say that I have nearly finished my Christmas cards. Some I shall  share as DT cards over the coming weeks. Now don't be shocked, I have been confined to the house this past week with a poorly foot, which  now  sports the multi coloured shades of  some eye catching bruises.  I have been  able to get out a little this afternoon, a slow walk, not very far, but it was lovely to be out in the fresh air .
 Thank you for all your kind wishes.
Now on to this card.

The image is a digi one from the Figgy Pudding set by Gecko Galz.
I used a Computer program to change the colour to print out Navy Blue.
An Embossalicious folder with sprigs of holly was useful to add texture to  the base card  layers. All the shading is Tumbled Glass distress ink.

I will join the current challenge at  Crafts -Too Challenge You.
The theme is a Vintage Christmas and Twist 1 for the 1st-14th November is Monochromatic

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments you leave.