Thursday 31 December 2015

2015 Last post ...



To all my followers and everyone that visits my blog I would like to wish you good health and happiness for the New Year!

Well Christmas has been and gone ... I know it arrives on the same date every year but I still wasn't ready this year with cards and gifts!  My problem was that although I had planned time to do everything what I hadn't planned for the unexpected!  The unexpected happened ...  I had to make an unplanned trip to my parents in Lincolnshire the weekend before Christmas.  This did mean that I missed the last posting dates for cards but I have made up for it by creating New Year cards.  This is the card using one of my favourite techniques for 2015 - inlaid dies.  A simple design but easily replicated.

The numbers have been die cut from card that I printed using acrylic paints and my gel plate.
Enjoy!

Wednesday 16 December 2015

Happy Christmas or Merry Christmas? ...

Do you prefer Happy or Merry?  My mum doesn't like to use Merry ... she doesn't like to think she is encouraging people to drink in excess, so prefers to use Happy.  I don't really have a preference although I tend to use Happy more often if just using one sentiment on the outside of the card but very often wish people a ... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  So tonight in my panic to create more Christmas cards I have catered for all tastes - ten cards, five that are Merry and five that are Happy!  All I've done is create a problem for myself ... how do I know whether my friends prefer Happy or Merry ... I think I just need to relax and accept that not many people think so hard about this ... or maybe they do!

Less waffle more card!  Here are the cards:


Bird's Eye View

Merry!

Happy!


I'm entering the following challenges:

Penny Black and More December Challenge - Anything Goes with a Stamp

Inkspirational Challenge 97


Enjoy!

Tuesday 15 December 2015

Christmas wishes ...

As the last posting day for Christmas is fast approaching I am struggling to create enough cards to send to my family and friends - I might have to admit defeat and buy some!!  I did create a very CAS card for this week's "Less is More" challenge - it is one layer week with the theme of 'What's in my stocking?'.  I've been very literal with my image but I've tried to reflect what I would wish for everyone to find in their stocking this year - 'Peace * Love * Joy.  We seem to live in a very turbulent world at the moment  - wouldn't it be nice if we could all just live alongside each other and celebrate and accept our differences.

I seem to have lost the 'Wow factor' in creating cards but I'm sure someone will be happy to receive this card if only because it means someone is thinking about them.



Very plain and simple - just stamping, water colouring and heat embossing.

Enjoy!

Thursday 10 December 2015

Baubles ...

Good evening!  Quick post this evening to share a card - today's contribution is towards the stash of Christmas cards!  I'm way behind with everything to do with Christmas but I guess I will get there in the end - I usually do!!



This week it is time for a colour challenge at "Less is More" - Green and Blue - this was my starting point.  I used:

Brushos - Ultra Marine, Turquoise, Emerald Green and Leaf Green
Uniko - Jungle Bells stamp set
Distress Ink - Festive Berries
Diesire Die - Snowflake Bauble.
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Rectangle die

Hopefully I will find time to create enough Christmas cards in time to write and post them - I did die cut some more baubles out of the card I created for this card so it will be quite easy to assemble some more.

Over the last month I've been busy with my sewing machine creating cushions and Christmas decorations (some I've shown on my blog).  I thought I would finish this post by sharing a couple of photographs of my table at a recent Christmas Fair:

From one side ...

... from the other side ..
The wooden items were created by my brother but everything else was created by me! 

Enjoy!

Wednesday 2 December 2015

More textiles ...

When my sewing machine is out of the bag I just can't stop using it - I'm also motivated by a school Craft Fair at the weekend and the need for stock to fill my table!  Tonight's contribution to the stock is more cushions but this time aimed at the younger people among us! I created similar cushions last year and they proved very popular and as I had some of the fabric left I decided to make a few more.  Here they are:




Enjoy!