Green Card

Another new card today.
I've used a Penny Black stamp set that I won earlier in the year and have only just got around to using! And I will be using it again as I loved colouring it in!
And after playing around in PSP I managed to get my photos to not look so blurry, so much better quality pics today lol

Isn't that little hedgehog so cute!?!
And even though I do say so, I like the way I coloured in the bird, who is attached to some acetate so that he hovers above the tree. I did take a video of me flicking him but it is sooooo dark, so I will try again tomorrow in daylight lol
Also to add more dimension I snipped away at the little hedgehog to give him bristles, but you can't really tell on the photo :(

A side shot, to show the acetate.

I would like to enter this card in to the following challenges:

• Ooh La La: Spots & Dots {spots on the panels}
• I Love ProMarkers: Use Acetate {I used acetate to make the birdie hover - I hope this counts!}
• Penny's: Anything Goes
• Delightful Challenges: Animals or Insects using Dots and Stripes {I have two animals, dots on the panels and stripes on the backing paper phew!}
• Cute Card Thursdays: Trees or Leaves {I have used a tree lol and the flower to the left of the tree has a little leaf}

Recipe:

• Penny Black Stamp Set
• PaperMania's Creative Tones backing paper {the stripes} 'Olivine Essence'
• Claire Curd's 'Big One' paper {dots} which I coloured over in a Mint ProMarker to darken it a little as it was far too light.
• Prima Flower
• Self Adhesive Pearl in the centre of the flower
• Silver Mirror Board
• Green Card stock
• Sentiment which was also coloured with my Mint ProMarker
• ProMarker colours used: Mint, Grass, Pine, China Blue, Azure, Cool Aqua, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Lilac, Rose Pink, Peach, Blush, Gold and Cool Grey 3
  

Calendars, Stockings and Trees

Well, here are the other items I finished making a few days ago, but I didn't want to post them just incase any of the recipients saw them here first!
All have been sent out now, and most of them got them today, so it should be safe to post them!
As always, click on the images to view in better detail!

I bought the calendar tabs in March or April and since then I was struggling to decide how to use them, at first I thought maybe my son could make Christmas cards with them, then I saw the easel card and the lightbulb went off, perfect for desk calendars!
It wasn't until a few days ago that I saw quite a few other people have made them too!
Great minds think alike huh!

On the left is the first one I made ages ago, it wasn't until I got around to finishing them all off that I added the handmade flower. My son has claimed this one as 'that thing in the middle is cool!'
The middle one, maybe went to my brother and his girlfriend?
The one on the right went to William's teacher.

I think the one on the left went off to the states, and I *think* the middle one went to another Aunt. I know for certain that the one on the right was sent to my Mum.

I think the left one was reserved for my sister-in-law, and i know for certain that the one on the right was sent to my Uncle, and in his words 'they are great!'

Once again I am not 100% sure who got the one on the left, maybe my Aunt.
And the other one is sat on my desk as a spare!

I will post each one individually over the next few days with what goodies I used on each one, otherwise this post would be really huge!

All of the calendars together, laid down flat.
I think the first three on the bottom row are my favourites! But then again, I like the Smirk ones also!

My son was given this at school, to decorate at home. He had a whole week to do it, but we only managed to get it finished on Saturday night.
And here is the end result.....

I'll post the details in later as I have to go and finish off making a very special card right now!

Ooops, almost forgot.....

The tree was put up at the end of November! It is a new tree, (well, we got it in January when the sales were on), as out last tree would have been 12 this year (older than our son!), and was starting to look a bit threadbare. This tree is full of (fake) life and is nice and bushy and has no unsightly gaps between the three sections!
It is not fully decorated yet, but I will post a pic as soon as it is done and there is a little story surrounding the lights!

"It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas.....

On every blog you looooooooooook"

If any of my family or friends are reading this, please look away now, as there might be a card that is on here that will be in the post to you shortly!

Every year I choose a theme/style of Christmas card that I am going to send to my family and friends.
Earlier this year I bought some waterfall cards in Christmas colours.
They were LOTS of fun to make and really easier too! So much so, I will probably have a go at make my own in the future.

I have already decided what next year's Christmas cards theme/style will be too, so I will start work on then in January, as I hope to have more time to craft and to be able to join in with more blogs and challenges!

As always, click on the images to enlarge and view in further detail.

The first four cards.

And the final 4 cards! I guess I am lucky that I don't have make 20 or 30 cards lol As I choose to only send hand made ones to close family and friends. Plus I have 8 green and 8 white waterfall cards left over for another year ;)

A close up of one of the cards.

A side view with the waterfall effect in place.

And again from a different angle.


Whilst we are on the subject of cards, here are the ones my son made for family and friends also. These were bought as kits. The funny thing is, you see the green ones? Well today we received a Christmas card from my Aunt, and it is from the same kit LOL But in red! What are the odds of that?

William's cards. He made 5 of each design, though he did mess 1 of each up as he put the stuff on upside down lol

I am going to leave it there for now, I have some other stuff to show but will post them in a new post as I don't want to clutter this post up too much!


Recipe for Waterfall Cards:

• Kit from local store
• Mini Christmas stamps from 2 different sets and both from different places
• Gel pens
• Glitter Pen
  
• ProMarkers
• Pieces of scrap card
• Red stock paper
• Designer paper is 'Tis the Season' by Dove Craft
• Double sided tape
• Gold Snowflake Outline Stickers
• Gold Border Sticker
  
• Black Ink
  

Recipes for Previous Cards

Here are the recipies for the cards I posted on 29th July.
Most links link directly to the product.


Card One (Brother Card):

• Card was a free sample from stamps.co.uk
• Dark blue stock paper
• White card stock
• See D's So Big Alphabet stamps
  
• Rainbow Sparkle Embossing Powder (No longer available from where I got it from)
  
• Self-Adhesive Foam Numbers from stamps.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Small gem embellishments from 5mm Round Coloured Gems pack from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• Anita's Narrow Blue Organza Ribbon from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Papermania Foam Stamps from ???
• 'Hand Stamped by....' stamp from madaboutcards.co.uk pound shop
• Gluegun
  
• Black ink
• Whispers Black pen
• Silver pen
  
• Craft Knife
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk

Card Two (Balloon):

• White card stock
• Red paper stock
• Balloon Template FREE download from timeforcrafting.co.uk (I scaled it up quite a bit and my son didn't use it as a card shape, instead *he* rounded off the flat edge)
  
• Printable 'Happy Birthday' backing paper from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Self-Adhesive Foam Numbers from stamps.co.uk
• See D's Birthday Words Collection? (It came in a set)
  
• See D's Birthday Collection? (It came in a set)
• Anita's Narrow Blue Organza Ribbon from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Scrap piece of red ribbon
• Stock silver glitter
  
• Black Ink
• Red Ink
• Whispers brush pens
• Funky Scissors to create the jagged edge effects from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk

Mini Box Project:

• White card stock
• Black paper stock
• Blue paper stock
  
• Inner backing paper all from a 2x12 Colossal Border Strip pack from madaboutcards.co.uk
• See D's So Big Alphabet stamps
• Powder Blue Sparkle embossing powder
  
• Star Embellishments from a local craft store
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk
• Photograph printed from PC
• Small gem embellishments from 5mm Round Coloured Gems pack from madaboutcards.co.uk (Often out of stock, gotta be quick to get these!)
• UR 21 Plastic Number Plate embellishment from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Sticky Ribbon - Check/Tartan from stamps.co.uk
  
• Self-Adhesive WhiteSticker
• Happy Birthday Stamp from a See D's collection
• Red Foam sheet from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Heatgun
  
• Metal Paperclip
• Blue Ink
• Red Ink
  
• Black Whispers brush pen
• Red Whispers brush pen
• Scoreboard and bamboo folder
• Silver tag (source unknown)
• And a cheque ;)
  

Card Three (Mother's Day):

• Part of a kit that is no longer available. I have the same card available for sale for just £2.90 including P&P (UK only) leave a message if you are interested with your e-mail address.

Card Four: (Get Well Soon):

• Green pre-folded card from local craft store
• Red paper stock
  
• Petals made from various papers from the Creative Tones pack and the 'Love' pack from the Colossal Paper Pack collection from Papermania. The packs my son used from the Creative Tones collection were; 'Amethyst Infusion', 'Antique Cream', and Venetian Skies'
  
• 'Pot' made from a sheet of paper from the Simply Elegant Colossal Paper Pack from Papermania
  
• Impress Machine
• Impress Upper Case Italics die cuts
• Anita's Tacky Glue Glue from madaboutcards.co.uk
• Diamond Stickles from stamps.co.uk

More goodies arrived + Freebies (kinda)

YaY! The rest of my goodies arrived today.

Quilling papers (I forgot to get a quilling pen, so that is on my next 'to get' list), waterbrushes, funky foam cut out shapes and stickles. Along with a FREE Marie Curie Cancer Care Card Bag. I thought that the bag would be a pack of 5 or 10, but nope they are singular bags lol oh well, I will have to get more the next time I order *cough cough*



This was the first time I had ordered from stamps.co.uk so when I found the little card at the bottom I was surprised to find a little free embellishment attached to it. It is the cutest little ladybird ever! (See pic below). (How many 'little's did I just write there?? LOL)

The card reads:


FREE sample with next order
Put 'FREE CARD' in the box at checkout to receive a FREE Papermania Card & Envelope. Valid until January 31st 2009

PASS this on to a friend and they can try it too!

FREE Touchy Feely!
Enjoy your FREE sample Lady Bird (EMB458) ONLY £2.99p for 60!




So there you go, I have passed it along lol


Speaking of goodies.....

I have been on another spending spree (well..... there was 10% off everything!) so............
I am looking forward to receiving the following in the next few days:

Corrugated Card, Double sided tape, more Hot Melt Glue Sticks, U R 21 Embellishment ('cus I can't find where I put the last one I bought for my Brother's special card for his 21st this year), 4x sets of Papermania Paperpacks (£1 each, can't complain!), Hand Stamped By....... stamp, Child's Angel Mini Stamps (hey for 50p you wouldn't turn it down neither!), Pigment inks, Heat Gun, 7x Embossing powders, Large Scissors (so I don't ruin any more 'kitchen' pairs lol), Angled tweezers (so I don't ruin my eyebrow tweezers), Clear Away Tray (to save on paper, and glitter getting EVERYWHERE), Decoupage scissors (ya never know when ya need those little 'uns), and finally a new craft knife, as the one I have has a tarnished handle plus it's blade needs changing and I'm too scared to do it myself! Knowing my clumsiness I will chop off a finger (again. - Don't ASK!!)


So there we have it. I think that is the last of my goodies to come, crafting wise anyways!

Looking forward to that stash coming, as I need the papers to finish off this little mini box I am making for my Brother.


And finally to report, I have finished stitching Lumpy, the free mini cross-stitch, he is on the radiator drying off, as I like to wash and iron my finished cross-stitches, so I will post a pic of him dried, ironed and in his frame later!


Gotta go get the tea ready for later, we sticking with the healthy eating crap. Tonight we are having Creamy Mushroom Pappardelle!


Take Care & Happy Crafting!

On Track...

Well, I can happily report that I am on track with my new year resolutions.

I read a chapter of the 'current' book I am reading. I say current, because well, as I said in an earlier blog, I had gotten so far with it, about a year ago, and have not picked up a book since!
Anyways, in case you are interested the book I am reading is A Lesser Evil by Lesley Pearse, which you can find out about by clicking the link :)

I have also kept to my other promise, of doing more cross-stitching with the hope of completing one mini kit per month. And maybe if I can get a mini kit done way before the month is up then I will treat myself and work on some of the larger projects I have! Anywhow, I did a little stitching today for a couple of hours on a mini kit of Lumpy, from Pooh, which I got free with a magazine.

Also, I am about to go and print off some healthy recipes so that I can plan the next couple of weeks worth of meals. Go me!

Finally, new goodies!!!
I ordered a bunch of new goodies to help me with my quest to get in to stamping.
So over the next few days I should be expecting the following items to grace my doorstep:
A Buncha See D's Stamps & A See D's Kit, Brush Markers, A WaterBrush set, Stickles and some Quilling Papers plus some Funky Foam sheets & Letters that I needed.

I got some of these goodies from stamps.co.uk where you can get your FREE Marie Curie Create a Card for Cancer Appeal Bags 2009. So if you are planning on making any cards for this years appeal, go ahead and get your free bags to put them in by clicking on the link. There is also a neat little stamp set you can buy to use on your cards for just £4.99, which includes a £2 donation to MC Cancer Care.

I have also just this minute bought a couple of digital stamps. One was Pretty Head Lily from thegreetingfarm.com. I also got the Lola Rose kit, Twinkle kit and a Sentiment collection kit from pinkpetticoat.co.uk and as I don't have my markers yet I might go ahead and have a try with some of my chalks, and if they turn out ok I will post some piccies later!

Right I gotta go print out these recipes, catch up on some blogs and print out my new printable kits!

'Till tomorrow! (When hopefully some of my goodies will have arrived!)