Parcel Post ......

I had an idea just before going to sleep last night but it was too late to do anything about however much to my surprise I remembered when I woke up this morning!  I was convinced that I had a sentiment stamp that was laid out like a name and address on a parcel or envelope.  To my delight I do have such a stamp so I was able to try out my idea - now it is down to you all to decide whether the idea was worth it.   I'm not going to try to explain where I was coming from but will let you see:

This really is a card and not a parcel!

I'm quite happy with the card - it does look exactly as I thought it would!

As the stamp features a robin I think I will enter it into the "Less is More" challenge to feature a bird on a Christmas card.  Hopefully the design is clean and simple to fit the rest of the criteria.

Thanks again to all that visit and leave a comment - I really appreciate all the feedback.

Enjoy!

Postage stamp card ....

I've had a hectic 10 days with no time to make cards and no time to post on my blog.  I've had stalls at two craft fairs - one last weekend with my Mum in Welton (just north of Lincoln) and one today in Hagbourne (just south of Didcot) - in between I've been trying to make sure that I have enough stock.  I've a couple more coming up early in December so the sewing machine and knitting needles are going to be busy!

Tonight I had an idea for a card that I wanted to try that will also fit the criteria for this week's challenge at "Less is More"  - the challenge is to create a Christmas card that features a bird.  It is possibly the most simple card that I have made.  The design is simple and the card is tiny (approximately 10cm square about 4").

First class stamp and not a lot more!!

My brother is an avid stamp collector and always saves the Christmas ones for me - they are a pain to get off the envelopes but I think they are so pretty it is worth the effort. 

I made a second one - same design different postage stamp!

If you are very lucky the postmark can be useful!

Enjoy

My Dad's birthday ....

It's my Dad's 85th Birthday this week so I just had to make a card!  I had a bit of crafter's block as I didn't really know where to start.  However I began with the numbers and decided to zentangle them - you'd think it couldn't be that difficult but after five or six goes I actually ended up with an 8 and a 5 that I was quite happy with.  But the card was going to be a little boring with just a number on it!!  So here's what I did:

The papers are from Stampin Up, the sentiment stamp is from Clearly Besotted and the ribbon is from who knows where.

I am entering this in the Seize the Birthday Challenge and the anything goes challenge at Make it Monday.

Enjoy.

Black, white and grey take 2 ....

Thanks for all the comments on my first attempt at a black, white and grey card.  Below is my second attempt - this time I've included stamped snowflakes using white pigment ink onto a slightly shimmery black paper which I've then layered onto some grey card.  I've decided that when I'm looking for silver paper it all looks grey and when I'm looking for grey card it all looks silver!!!

I've taken inspiration for the card from Kristina Werner I love her style.

I'm still obsessed with polka dot card so have used it again for the punched snowflakes and for the sentiment. 

I'm going to enter this into the challenge on 52 {Christmas} Card Throwndown.

Enjoy!

Black, white and grey ...

When I started blogging I thought that I would only publish cards and crafts that I really liked or at least was reasonably pleased with!  But I've decided that every rule deserves an exception (just like English grammar!!) so this is the second post that I've published that centres around a card that I'm not particularly happy with.  

The card doesn't look like I imagined it would!  It involves sparkle (Frosted Lace Stickles) which I never use and a few gems which I also never use.  You could say that it is a bit of a departure from my usual style!  I was inspired by this weeks challenge on 52 {Christmas} Card Countdown which is a colour challenge - Black, White and Grey.  I've made black and white cards before (which you can see here) but the addition of grey seems to have sent me into a bit of a frenzy until I remembered my polka dots.  

So take a peek 

I die cut the sentiment out of the white card and replaced it with a sparkly black version. The snowflakes are a combination of embossed polka dot ones hand cut and the smaller ones are punched out of the same paper.  Neither of the photographs show the sparkle very well but you can just about spot the gems in the middle of the larger snowflakes.  I've given the card  some dimension by setting some snowflakes on foam pads and the topper onto the black card also using foam pads.

Enjoy!

Thanks again ...

Just a quick post - I made another one layer Thank you card.  It's a style that I've used before - a different image last time but I quite like the effect and its simplicity.

I think I will enter it into the "Less is More" challenge.

One card, two challenges .....

It's back to Christmas cards with this post - I've nearly made enough to send this year but just in case I keep making!

This card uses the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! 

I've also used embossing so will enter it in the challenge on CAS-UAL Fridays

Have a look and see what you think.

The photograph doesn't show the sparkle of the stamped snowflakes.  They are stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with some holographic embossing powder.  The sentiment is from Little Claire Designs.

Thank you!!......

This card is a BIG thank you to all my blog visitors - Thank you!  Thank you for dropping by and especially for leaving such kind comments I really do appreciate the time you take to comment.

I'm finding that the challenges are great fun and provide that bit of inspiration I need to get making.  Sometimes I find it difficult to know where to start when faced with lots of paper, stamps, inks and embellishments - I just need someone to give me a clue and that's what the challenges do!

So here is my contribution to this week's "Less is More" challenge to produce a one layer Thank you card.

Simple and one layer

As always I like to provide a close up to show some of the detail.  I'm not sure where the stamp came from as all identifying features have been removed from the packaging but I used Stampin Up Ink Riding Hood Red.  

Enjoy!

One day, three cards, five challenges .....

This will be my last post for the day.  I couldn't resist using my favourite angel stamp one more time - this time I've coloured it with Pro Markers.

I've used the sketch from this week's challenge on 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and as it's anything goes on Penny Black and More Challenge I am going to enter this card into both these challenges.

I'm not sure about the sentiment, wrong style, wrong place and wrong colour!

As you can see from the close up I used a very simple approach to the colouring - single colours so no dimension, I think it suits the image.

A change of direction ....

I am not a very cute kind of person (as anyone who knows me will agree!) but I would like to master the art of colouring stamps with alcohol markers. This Forever Friends stamp was free with a magazine -  that's the only reason that I own it as it is not something that I would go out and buy - so I thought I would give it a go.  I understand the principles behind using markers and in my imagination I am very good at it but in reality I believe there is clearly room for improvement!

So here it is 

I even thought I'd put in a close up of the image so that you can see the colouring in detail - warts and all!!  For the observant among you I made a mess of the bear's crown (possibly the easiest bit to colour) but managed to save the situation by paper piecing an alternative!!

I have used the sketch from this weeks challenge at Sketch Saturday so I'm going to enter it there.  They are having an Anything Goes challenge at Penny Black and More Challenge so I thought I'd give that a go as well.

If you've popped over to have a look at my blog and have any useful tips on colouring with markers I surely would appreciate hearing them.

A bit of zentangle .....

I created this owl using the zentangle approach (the outline owl was from a free colouring picture online - I guess it could be called a digital stamp!!).  I have used this image previously but then I paper pieced it which gave a totally different look which you can see in an earlier post here.

Today I thought I would create a card for the challenge over at clean&simple using their sketch:-


I used a couple of peel off's from Little Claire Designs of the sentiment and small owl - I've had these in my stash for quite sometime!  I finished with some faux stitching around the circles.

A close up of the zentangle element

The card looks very flat in this photograph put I have used dimensional foam pads to raise the white card but I cannot seem to get that to show in the photograph.  Although not a brilliant card it does look better in real life!

I thought I would also enter this into the challenge over at Make it Monday the challenge for the week is 'Anything Goes' so I guess this fits the bill there too.  I've already spied some lovely cards entered so I'm going to pop back and have another look.

Snowflakes variations on a theme .....

I've had quite a productive afternoon and increased my stash of Christmas cards - I think I have enough made to see me through this year.

Once again I have used my new snowflake die but with a different design - I'm still not sure that they really work but I find the process very therapeutic!

The first card I am also going to submit to the challenge on Winter Wonderland where this week's theme is Blue and White.  So here is the first:

I've used a navy card in the spaces of the snowflake

I flipped the colours for the second card and introduced red into the third and slightly changed the layout.

     

A splash of colour .....

Good afternoon, I'm coming to the end of a week off work - unfortunately the week is almost over before all the work is done!  Depressingly I've had an ear infection for the whole of the week and it still doesn't seem to want to clear up! The worst thing about it is that I can hardly hear anything.  

The challenge at "Less is More" this week is to use a dark background with a splash of colour.  I bought a new set of dies this  week which included a snowflake so I thought I would give it a go.  I die cut the snowflake out of the dark background and out of the red card stock then I pieced them back together - a very fiddly activity because some of the pieces are so small! The sentiment has also been set into the dark background.  

I added a third snowflake but this time set it on top using a foam pad to add some dimension to the card.










I had another go this time with turquoise and a very dark green.  This time I pieced just one snowflake and added another on top to add some dimension.