Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge

Hello everyone,

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas so far, with more relaxation now that the big day has has been and gone. I managed to get a little crafting time this morning whilst everyone else was sleeping off some of the excesses of yesterday, and I decided to play along with the PTI December blog hop. The challenge is to use some of the Christmas leftovers on a card and as a lot of our wrapping paper and ribbon was red, I chose to make a Valentine card:-

I cut the card shape from my Cricut 'Wild Card' cartridge and stamped the lower half with all the stamps in the PTI Background Basics 'Hearts' set. I then die cut some hearts out of some used snowflake wrapping paper with Sizzix dies and matted them onto red card.

I threaded some leftover ribbon through one of the hearts and stuck it down with my ATG gun. I didn't glue down the top layer of paper heart, but just used the ribbon to hold down the centre to add more dimension.

  I chalked the edges of the card to soften the whiteness a little, used some red heart gems to highlight the hearts and finished off with a sentiment  from PTI Signature Series 'Flower'. I am hoping that the snowflake design of the paper is geometric enough to look a little like flowers but what the heck, we may still be having snow in February, so it doesn't really matter.

Thanks for looking in and enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Hugs

Carol x

The Perfect Man

Hello everyone,

Only 2 more sleeps to the big day and our heating has broken down! We had friends round for dinner last night and were able to warm up one room so it was cosy, and I was so glad we have a fire in the living room. Whilst I am waiting for the gas man to come, I thought I'd share  final post before Christmas. This little gingerbread man package is something I included in my 'secret santa' gift last week. I saw the idea earlier this year and thought I would give it a try:-



click to enlarge so you can see the words



I typed the poem on the computer, cut a Kraft tag from the Cricut Tags, Bags and  Boxes cartridge and then passed it through the printer, before using PTI snowfall stamps on it.

I packed the gingerbread man in a glassine bag after it had been passed through a Cuttlebug folder.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
This is the other side of the tag.
 
 
 
All the presents but one have now arrived and I only have to ice the cake before the big day, so I'm off to sit by the fire and have a cuppa until the gasman cometh.
 
Thank you for visiting my blog, I really appreciate all the comments you make, and I enjoy visiting other blogs, so please leave details of your own blog whilst you are here. I wish you a very happy Christmas and a fun and crafty new year.
 
Hugs
Carol x

More Christmas cards

Hello everyone,

I've finally finished all our Christmas cards and I'm feeling a bit pleased with myself because I made more this year than ever before. I'm going to have to consider my designs more carefully next year though, because the raised elements I used meant that lots of them had to go in the post at the large letter rate, so the costs were excessive. I do think the thickness rule is particularly mean because you can have a small card that still commands the higher rate!

Lots of my presents still haven't come and the weather is deteriorating again, so I'm starting to have a little panic and I'm having to constantly remind myself that there is still a week to go and they'll probably all arrive at once on Christmas Eve.

Anyway, our Choir is singing in Chester Cathedral this evening and there is a rehearsal beforehand so I have popped on here before the day gets hectic to share a couple of  cards:-

This simple Kraft card was made with the tree from PTI Believe embossed in white with the berries highlighted in red, and matted onto red card. I punched a couple of holes either side of the tree trunk to thread the bakers twine for the bow before sticking it onto the card.

This one was passed through a Cuttlebug folder and  was matted with a PTI Matstack die and PTI Holiday Tag stamp, with the berries highlighted with red nail heads.

I'm hoping to get a bit more Christmas shopping done in the lovely Chester town centre, so I better get a move on if I want to get there early.

Thanks for looking

Carol x

Watzing Mouse Sketch challenge card

Hello everyone,

I wanted a change from making Christmas cards so decided to play along with the current Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge:-

I decided to turn the sketch on its side and go a bit dotty for this one:-



click to enlarge

I  used PTI Melon Berry for the card and the Polka Dot Parade paper which I inked around the edge and stitched to the card base. I made a tab from Ripe Avocado card that had been passed though the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, and used Nestabilites to cut circles from Raspberry Fizz  and Ripe Avocado. I then cut a Nestabilities Labels 14 and stamped it with a WM Holiday Label stamp and a sentiment from Frame It. I raised this panel on pop dots and looped some Raspberry Fizz ribbon behind it, adding a couple of green dots to highlight the sentiment.  I stamped a butterfly from PTI Butterfly Dreams and stitched it to a circle of cardstock, added the 'flight path' from WM Spring Baskets, and added a Melon Berry button that had been tied in a bow with crochet thread, to resemble wings. A little dotty bow finished it off.

Have a great day and thanks for looking.

Hugs,
Carol x

Cricut Christmas card

Hello everyone,

Yay! we've got our Christmas tree, lights and decorations up, so its beginning to look a lot like Christmas round here, and I love it. I'm trying to get the Christmas shopping done before the threatened cold snap comes back but I just popped on to share another Cricut Christmas card based on a card I made at a Crab Apple Crafts workshop:-

This is a 5 x 5 card and the snowflake and its silver shadow comes from Christmas Noel cut at 2 inches, and I glittered it with some glamour dust. The sentiment comes from Beyond Birthdays and I added some faux stitching to highlight it. The background paper is Sandylion 'snowflakes'.

I hope all your preparations are going well and thanks for looking in.

Hugs

Carol x

Christmas card

Hello everyone,

I've been really busy this week because our choir has a lot of concerts in the run up to Christmas, and with the weather being so poor, it has been quite a challenge to get to the venues. As usual, all my good intentions went by the wayside, and I am still only just starting my Christmas shopping, when I had promised myself that it would all be bought and wrapped by December 1st. Oh well, maybe next year!

Anyway, I'd like to share another Christmas card, and when I get time to take some photos, Ill put some more on over the next few days.

This card uses a lovely angel stamp from Stampendous, but the name of the design has come off the wooden block. The frame and sentiment are from Waltzing Mouse. I just used Copics to colour the image and ribbon, and a little glamour dust on the wings.

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it.

Hugs

Carol x

PTI Christmas treats

Hi everyone,

I just came across some pictures of things that I made for my daughter's school fayre that I forgot to post at the time.

These were for a Fair Trade coffee morning and all Cadbury chocolate is Fair Trade now. I just popped in some mini marshmallows and a candy cane to stir. I couldn't find Fair Trade candy canes though!

I love the little snowman stamp and he comes out every year for some project or other. The snowflakes and sentiment were from PTI Snowfall.          

For these candy canes, I cased an idea by Lesley and used the PTI Mat stack 3 Die, and stamps from For the Graduate and the 2009 Holiday Tag Collection. They looked really pretty grouped in a pot.

I hope your Christmas (or other holiday) preparations are going well. Thanks for looking.

Hugs

Carol x

Cricut Christmas Joy card

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a good weekend and staying warm. I'm still beavering away at my Christmas cards but just popped online to share a Cricut card I made today based on Rosemary's workshop at the wonderful Crab Apple Crafts:-

click to enlarge

I decided to stay with a white and silver look although I was sorely tempted to add a pop of colour. I used a stocking from Christmas Cheer as the J, and Plantin Schoolbook for the o and y. The snowflake was from Christmas Noel and I glitzed it up with a sprinkling of glitter. I used some vellum as an overlay, stamped it in white with some snowflakes from the PTI Snowfall set, secured the vellum to the card with ribbon, and then tore the edge to give a softer look. This photo doesn't show the vellum very well so I took another with some black card behind so you can see the snowflakes. I love this stamp set!

This card was quite quick to make so I'm going to do a few of them to add to my pile. Have a lovely day and thanks for looking.

Hugs

Carol x

Lily of the Valley Christmas Card

Hello everyone,

Well it has been a really cold week here with the temperature rarely getting above freezing and snow and ice making an appearance. However, other parts of the country are having a really bad time so I mustn't grumble and the snow does look lovely. I haven't been able to get out and do my Christmas shopping so I have been making food to freeze for Christmas and getting on with my Christmas cards. Here is a card I made with a gorgeous new stamp I got at the NEC from Lily of the Valley:-




click to enlarge


I haven't bought any new backing papers this Christmas because I have enough in my stash to last years, and I think this one was from Die Cuts with a View. I used PTI Spring Rain card for matting, coloured the image with Copics and used glitter on the wings and halo. The little dots in the corner were silver glitter dots that I coloured navy with a Copic marker, and the sentiment is from Inca stamps