Hmm - where did that time go :( ??

What a shock to realise this is my first, 1st, FIRST post this year!!!  How did that happen?  Only excuse I can really give is that I’d to spend from Dec last year through to March clearing out my overstuffed office/craft room.  10 years of buying stock & not being judicious in clearing out unused items had left the room so full, it was actually causing structural issues with my house!!  I live in a 3-storey one with the craft room in a top front bedroom.  So it’s a big room and bedrooms aren’t meant to hold much other than a few bits of furniture & some clothes.  But I’m a paper addict so I bought and printed lots and LOTS of paper and card – so much weight as you can imagine and all sitting at the front under the window.  Bit of a shock 2 yrs past when I was told the pillar between the windows in my bedroom wall (room below) was in danger of falling onto the street below.  And while the primary culprit was a rotten beam the other secondary factor was most likely the weight from the room above!!

SO the job finally had to be done and as I’m disabled I had to do it one tiny bit at a time.  But I got there in the end and am now in crafting nirvana or whatever’s it’s called.  A nice new worktop, new floor, all redecorated and a cleared room later – it’s now a joy to come into.  The downside is still having 2/3 of my previous stock in boxes and nowhere to bring them out to.  But that’s a small point.  I’d really only started getting some cards made when it was time to do my half-yearly switch to Christmas cards & am very slowly starting to pick up pace.

So as always I chose a WordArt Wed challenge to get things moving.   This is a birthday card for my prayer partner and longtime friend who’s been going through some tough times of late so as she loves my cards I put a bit of extra time & effort in to make it special.

It’s on a Kraft card base with 3 panels of rose design paper cut to fit.  A different panel of 2 different papers intersects the middle as a bit of contrast.  Flowers as always are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  Die cut flourish from my stash.  Finished off with a little name tag and some gold pearls.   A special card for a special lady :)

Entered into the WordArt Wednesday Challenge 238-39

 

Christmas – Oops :)

Ahh – well, it’s just getting to be my usual these days – 3 miles behind myself so once again didn’t get any posts up prior to the big event.  I was SOOOO far behind this year with C. cards after last year’s wedding – I lost 2 months out of my cardmaking schedule which I never really managed to recover so started this season with much less than usual.  Then I had the same problem I have every year – starting in July it’s just so hard to make C. cards with the sun splitting the sky.  I refuse to start playing the music any earlier than October although that may change but I do need some sort of help to get a shade more inspiration much earlier in the season.  Invariably iI only really ever get going by mid October with just 2 weeks to go before I stop making, and start finalising (inserts/envelopes etc).  So there you go – what can I say.

These 2 cards are just a couple of my nicer ones from this year as I found myself doing a LOT of repeats from last year for speed.

The first was one of my quick cards made using diecuts which I loved.  I used an A6 landscape/portrait card if that makes sense (fold at the top rather than the side :).  Another slightly smaller piece of single card was then cut and I printed on my various scripture texts.  I then diecut a circle out of the top end to make a frame.   On a small piece of scrap card (just enough to fit behind the circle) I coloured a background using dewdrop chalk inks to provide a little backdrop to the diecuts.  This card has 2 shepherds with their lambs where others had a few more or a different setting.  But they made a great quick and easy card to make.

 

Added on some stars and a nice glitter border peel off and that was it.

Then the 2^nd card was another very quick and easy one as I got an unexpected order for solely Christian cards at the end of October and was in a flap as to how to produce more (most of the rest were already allocated) plus I wanted something that would really stand out too.

So this was the solution.  Another A6 card – this one a landscape one.   Corners were punched and a piece of mirri paper (I used all the colours to make my set – this one is purple) was die cut with a Spellbinders A2 border die before having it’s corners punched also.  An S/B small silver floral frame was put in the middle and a scripture text cut to size to put into it.  A couple of snowflakes and a peel off greeting to complete.  

These are being entered into:
Word Art Wednesday 214/215 challenge.  
Crimbo Crackers
Crafty Creations 

Finally back :)

Ok - where HAVE the past 7 months gone to - I seriously cannot figure how so much time has passed since my last entry.  But as ever, it takes a WordArt Wednesday to get me kick started into action again.

I've been making Christmas cards (or at least trying to) since mid-July and now near the end of October I'm coming to an end temporarily for this season as it takes me weeks to 'finalise' each of them ready for collection by those who've asked for some.  I rarely get paid for these ones much as most go to family but I do thankfully have 1 or 2 friends willing to buy £20 worth which is great, but given I can only charge about 50p max per card means I don't get much profit.  Regardless, I continue to make for my pain relief & distraction therapy rather than profit anyway.

So onto my offering for the Challenge this week & possibly my last of the year unless I get a half hour to put something up before the end of it.

The card I've made is one of my favourites for this season - a Joy diecut on red mirri paper which has a border cut with Spellbinders A2 curved borders.  I then did the same on the card front while cutting the back straight to ensure it sits up properly. 

Just finished off with peeloffs so is a nice quick & simple card - and very effective I think. I've done some more in different colours which all look wonderfully striking and have gone down well.

Enjoy!

 

Word Art Wednesday Challenge 174

As ever, my ability to keep this blog running in between challenges has escaped me!  But I’ve such a good reason this time, I know you’ll all forgive me!!

I only went & got myself an electronic diecutting machine – a Silhouette Portrait to be precise.  And wow oh WOW am I in craft heaven currently.  Just can’t get enough of it & the multitude of things it can do for a lot less £’s than some of the others I’ve seen around.  Somehow I’d never come across this one until I spotted it going on Ebay – brand new & in an auction so incredibly I managed to snag it for 2/3 its usual price – happy HAPPY bunny I am LOL!!

So now that I’m just starting to settle down somewhat I thought it’s about time I get some of my new creations onto the blog & into some challenges.

This is one of my favourite designs as I’m just amazed at these wonderful lattice shapes.  I’d always had one on the back burner to buy of the metal dies but never could afford them, & so to have FREE ones to cut is just awesome!!

Anyway – it’s a basic square card and I have no shame in saying I’ve used Debbie Steven’s wonderful designs as inspiration.  I just matted up 3 squares & embossed the top one before cutting out the aperture – oh yeh used the machine for that too!!  Then cut the lattice to fit & that was me!  While the lattice isn't as clean cut as a metal die might do & of course you've no embossing - who cares!

Popped a piece of rose floral paper in behind the lattice & stuck everything together.  As ever, used flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and Sweet Lilac.  Popped on some adhesive pearls & glitter glue along the flower edges and that was me.  Not an easel for a change but I forgot to take a pic of the complementary inside – I used the same rose paper & then die cut a sentiment block for the greeting.  

My Sister-In-Law was especially pleased I’d made it so she could reuse it too – because they’re large & boxed etc, I find now many people would like to “Pass It On” so I’ve made a series of cards in this way that have gone down well

This is going into the Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge 174.

Enjoy!

 

First card, first challenge of 2015

First card of 2015 and a great one for making lots of quickly – something I’m always trying hard to find as some of the cards I make for Christmas take me ages to make & thus really not worth repeating.  But this little one is perfect.

I’ve a friend who just adores black/gold on any type of card so these were made with her in mind. It’s an A6 landscape card with black pearlescent paper backing and a shaped gold mirri paper cutout stuck on top.

Then the fun part comes – just using peel off snowflakes & stars along with anything else that goes with the design.

Finished off with some black peel off border to cover the edges and a peel-off greeting.  I’m coming down with P/O’s so it’s great to have a card that will use up a good few, but of course I went & bought yet more snowflakes – obsessed or what LOL!!!

Apologies for the photo - haven't got time just now to do my usual clean up of it - rough & ready but keen to get it up before anything else distracts me.

This is being entered into the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge which was for a card with snowflakes.