Christmas cards....

Whew – at long last I’ve finally got time & energy to put something onto this blog – it’s been a truly hectic season for me this year as I got badly behind on my Christmas orders through making so many “Specials” and then got a couple of unexpected orders at the outset of the month which took me every spare hour I had.  Others who don’t have health issues might have rattled them off in a day, but for me, everything takes hours & hours longer than it would have even a few years ago, as my arthritis worsens & pain levels increase making sitting painful too.

But anyway, enough of all that.  Since I can’t type much either now, I’m not going to put up all of my latest cards – these are just a couple of standout ones that I enjoyed making – once Christmas is over I’ll put up some of those given to family who visit this blog as I don’t want to spoil their surprise in advance :).

The first card was my 2^nd boxed one which again took ages to make and for which I’ve yet to get the tutorial put together, but there are plenty of others out there to use if you search hard enough.  This card has gone to my primary school teacher who’s now the grand age of 95 and still writes as beautifully as she has throughout her life, despite her arthritis.   Apologies for the photo – was rushing on the day to photograph it & it shows.  It was another fairly simple card to make using Craft Creations papers along with a Thomas Kinkade Christmas image which I put plenty of glitter glue onto.   Embellished with the usual bow & charm, WOC flowers, punched border, & foil, diecut sentiment blocks (think these are Kanban from a few years ago).

And then this one I created for my prayer partner’s best friend’s young daughter.  Just for a nice change I used a lovely Morehead decoupage image.  It was just perfect for Rachel and the colours worked in wonderfully too.  Background papers are from the HOTP Forever Christmas paper stack.  The purple one under the image was an offcut from a very old HOTP paper pad.  Flowers from WOC.  Charm & teddy bear from my stash.

Hopefully get some more up shortly, but that’s me for now.   I’m taking a whole week off from making cards next week as everything hurts too much not to.

Have a wonderful, peaceful & blessed Christmas.

Enjoy.

New LOTV Challenge Blog

LOTV have changed the format of their weekly challenge blog - same web address but a new name & a host of new DTs working hard to inspire us all.  And to get everyone in the mood, they've LOTS of wonderful prizes up for grabs including repeats of some recent candy's.

Check it out at LOTV Challenge Blog :).

Another winner :)

Oh WOW and WOW again - think that's become my catchphrase since I discovered I won top prize on the LOTV challenge blog.   And on top of that to have such an awesome prize of a stash of Wild Orchid Flowers is doubly wonderful.   I'm too shocked & overwhelmed to write much other than to thank all the gals on the Ideas to Inspire blog for setting the challenges & for WOC providing such a wonderful prize, but also to thank all of those others who've created cards & shown them on the blog as it's been my #1 place to go to get inspiration and I'm endlessly in awe of those who've been making cards a lot longer than me & who produce such incredible work.   You're ALL amazing & I'm proud to be a part of this incredible card making community!   THANKS.

Another LOTV challenge card

Another wonderful  LOTV challenge for me to get my teeth into, although if truth be told, my ability to make any cards is declining between the colder days & my arthritic hands, so fortunate to get anything made at all for this particular challenge.  Apologies in advance both for the lateness of the entry & also the photos as they were almost photographed in the dark given the weather and I had to use a lot of contrast to lighten them up.  Being disabled sure slows you down when you least need it to :(.

And the challenge in question this time is “Anything Goes” – perfect for me, as at least I can stick with tried & tested layouts & ideas although suspect to have any hope of winning I’d need to produce something different to my tired format.

Anyway – having just got 3 new stamps at the weekend  I figured it was a good opportunity to roadtest one of them & chose this beauty – “Feathered Friends” as I think it just encapsulates Christmas in the traditional sense wonderfully – reminds me of my childhood in the wonderful village of Belleek where I often put out bird feeders for the multitudes of birds we had visiting the garden all year round.

The design is as always, coloured with Coipcs & finished off with some peel off snow drops & Stickles Glitter Glue for a nice sparkly finish.   The background paper has come from the wonderful Making Cards magazine (their Christmas Special), although there’s also a mat of Southfield Red paper (totally hidden by the image/flowers – duhhh!!).

I added a nice red ribbon border  along with some lace trim, a double red bow, large brad & snowflake charm.    All finished off with a circle sentiment matted onto a green scallop with some more white glitter peel off snow drops and another sentiment as a Stop.  Finally some green adhesive gems for the corners & a complementary tag make for a nice card I think.

The flowers & lace come as ever from the awesome Wild Orchid Crafts while everything else comes from my stash.

Enjoy!

Purple Christmas

Today’s card is for another new challenge this time from Charmed Cards & Crafts and an even easier challenge in that all it requires is a stamped card, so good for me to continue learning my new skills in this area.   And my what a giveaway they're giving away lol - has to be, without doubt, one of the largest that's been provided, of late, on any blog.  Check it out in the sidebar.

My card uses a Tilda image just for a change and is based on a sketch from My Sweet Stop Challenge site which helped me a lot in organising the card, as I'm often lost for how best to present an image.  Sketches also let me digress from my usual "flat" background - some habits truly do die hard!!!

As ever, I've used WOC flowers - lilac, deep lilac & pink roses along with some Christmas roses along with the usual pearl sprigs from my stash.  I used a lovely gold edged deep purple ribbon from my local craft shop in behind the image which sets it off beautifully.  Also placed some tiny purple gems around the scallop frame behind the image which are actually darker in reality than they're looking in the image.  

All finished off with a circular sentiment, a clear glitter peel-off corner and clear glitter sentiment.  And once again, I've finished off the inside to complement the outside.

Enjoy

LOTV Christmas Challenge card

Today’s card is based on a wonderful perfect Christmas Theme of “Red, Green & White”.  Well how much more Christmassy can you get than that!!   And perfect for the first inking of my new LOTV stamp – “Carol Singing” which I think has worked out quite well.

The background paper came from my stash but I’ve a vague notion it might originally have come from either Craft Creations or Making Cards magazine, but how perfect is it for the purpose having all the colours in it.

You can’t see them too well but I put 2 strips of beautiful bright gold bordered red ribbon under the image which I matted onto a scallop frame.

As ever the image was coloured in with Copics – primarily R29, R27 & R20 along with G29, G14 & G02.  Browns were E59, E51, E50, E29, & E00.  Greys/blacks & yellow were done with watercolour pencils. Crystal Stickles glitter glue looks wonderful on the hats.

Finished off with the usual Wild Orchid Crafts roses, diecut leaves & snowflake, red ribbon, & adhesive pearls.   Snowflake charm courtesy of my recent win from Bev’s site.

Enjoy

Sweet Stop Challenge

Woohoo – my 2^nd challenge card and a chance to take part in my 1^st Sweet Stop challenge which is great.  I’m such a novice at both stamping & challenges I’ve no idea whether I’m doing things right in any sense, but regardless, am enjoying using the sketches as a means to designing a card a bit differently, as I do get stuck in a same old, same old routine at times.

 

SO, this is one of my first Christmas cards for the season too – a LOTV stamp “Christmas Candle” which I think is such a beautiful image I suspect many friends will find it on their card this year :).  Excuse the look of the edges of the card - just my poor attempts with PSP to select it properly - it's honestly not thin in parts & thick in others - duhhh!!

Better image of the front.

Close up of charm

Inside decorated to match the outside.

Recipe:

Papers:  The main backing paper is from Craft Creations while the green holly one is off one of the Cute Companions Christmas CDs – if anyone really wants to know the details just email me.

Diecut – Nestabilities Labels 4

Ribbon – locally bought

Flowers – Wild Orchid Crafts

Snowflake charm – won off Bev Rochester’s blog but freely available on Ebay also.

Sentiment, corner p/o & gold stems – from my stash

Enjoy