Christmas Card Club - Card 16/2019 - Non-Traditional Colours

Hello and Happy Sunday to you all,

It's another Christmas Card Club Challenge Sunday and it's the turn of Sylvie to set the theme - and it's non-traditional colours.

I had a some fun thinking up what colour combinations I could use and then messing about with spray inks and embossing powders to make these three cards.

Card 1

 Card 2

Card 3

The starting point for all three cards is the Navy Color Shine, from Heidi Swapp. Using the packaging method, I dabbed the colour randomly over three front of white card bases. Once it was dry I splattered a second colour on each - Teal Color Shine on Card 1, Gold on Card 2 and Mister Huey's Plumb Thumb on Card 3.

Each card was given a topper stamped with a greeting from a very old Docrafts stamp set, Penelope & Percy Christmas Greetings, and embossed with a coordinating powder, Moxy's Opaque Wave, Heat It Up!'s Crimson Red and Gold. I also embossed around the edge of each topper - easily done using a VersaMark pen and a ruler to draw a narrow line around the edge, dipping one side at a time into embossing powder and heat embossing. Tweezers are very useful for this process - prevents fingers being burned!

To finish, I had a good search in my stash and found matching embellishments for each card.

That's it for CCC today but I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created for Sylvie's theme today - you'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - as always they are so much more creative than me.

Christmas Card Club - Card 15/2019 - Trees

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and that the sun is smiling for you.

It's time for another Christmas Card Club Challenge and today's theme, chosen by Christine, is 'Trees'. The following cards were made using stuff out of a box of bits and bobs, most of which are the results of trying out new goodies in a moment of enthusiasm and then doing nothing more with them. Result - I'm feeling quite virtuous today.

For this card, it's the background that was found in the box. It's just a piece of white cardstock spattered with Heidi Swapp's Gold Color Shine - lovely stuff. I've over stamped, and embossed with gold powder, trees from the Winter Wonderland stamp set that was magazine gift - I've forgotten which and when. Before I added the topper to the card front I created an embossed gold edging all the way around the front - I didn't have any gold cardstock so had to think of another way to give the topper a gold background. 

These two cards used up two embossed panels found in the box.

Pale amber gems decorate the tree - sadly the camera had difficulty picking them up against the gold. 

The two shades of pink gems show up better on this topper. The embossing folder used was another magazine gift - a years old Creativity magazine. I don't believe it's still in existence. The papers used on both cards, some of which were just scraps, are from Docrafts Papermania 'A Silent Night' paper pack, c 2009.  I'd like to say that I've now used up the entire paper pack but it's not so. But then, sadly, that is true of the my stash of paper packs once so enthusiastically collected - so much paper, so little time!

I'm submitting the last card to Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #357 - Di's challenge is always for any subject as long as snippets are used. 

That's it for CCC today but I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created for Kate's challenge today - you'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - they are always so much more creative than mine.

Boy's Birthday Card

Afternoon Folks

I hope you've had a lovely day. I'm not long home from the craft group - our last meeting of the year - a festive occasion with mince pies, chocolates, a lot of good chat - as well as some crafting, of course. It's getting to feel a lot like Christmas around here.

It was my wee great-grandson's birthday recently and, as he is obsessed with anything that has wheels on it, I made him this card.

It's another of my thrifty makes. The digger and road cones are from a pack of die-cuts found at The Works.

Other supplies used:

- white cardstock for the tent fold card base
- Kraft and dark brown cardstock
- Sizzix's Tim Holtz Alterations Steampunk embossing folder 
- X-Cut's Spiro Circle nesting die set
- Greeting stamp from The Best of Card Making Magic set
- VersaMark Watermark stamp pad
- white embossing powder

It was a quick last minute make - put together in minutes. Just as well, too. I've been so busy concentrating on making Christmas cards lately that I almost forgot the wee one's birthday. And it made a nice change to be doing something not Christmas related.

Enjoy your evening.

Create Art Card - More Enamelled Letters

Evening Everyone,

Surprise, surprise! I've made a card. It's been a long time.

I'm so enjoying trying out this new to me technique for changing the colours and enamelling letters I thought I'd try them out on a card.

It's very much a scrap card. It's made from bits leftover from some of the layouts I've been working on recently. For example I made up far too much red paint for one page so I took a wide brush and brushed it in wide strokes on a scrap of watercolour paper with no idea of what it's future use could be. The black and white patterned paper used as a layer under the topper was another scrap looking for a home.

Supplies used:
- an A6 size blank white card base
- the scrap of watercolour paper
- the red Winsor & Newton paint
- Darkroom Door Collage 'Create Art'
- Archival black ink
- American Crafts Alphas Memo 'Newsprint' chipboard thickers
- a red Sharpie marker
- Stampendous Transparent embossing powder
- American Crafts Brush Tip embossing pen
- the scrap of black/white patterned paper from Craft Sensations Chalkboard Basics

This close up shows just how glossy the letters are after being enamelled.

Now I'm off to look at a sewing project now while I have a few minutes to spare.

Have a lovely evening and take care.

Enamelling Letters - How I Did It

Hello Everyone,


I recently mentioned in a WOYWW post (Week 478) that I'd been shown a way to give old letters a new look ... you know the ones, bought on a whim but never been used! I should say that although it's new to me, I'm sure many of you have seen it/done it before. This is what the letters looked like after the makeover.

For the record, just in case, like me, you haven't tried it before, here's how it's done.

First, I chose a set of flocked letters that I didn't love - American Crafts Thickers Emerald - how inappropriate is that name! Look at them - they don't stick to the backing sheet anymore, in fact I don't think they ever did, and, in truth, there's never been any call for that colour in any of the scrapbook layouts I've made.

I picked out the letters for the title I wanted then did a colour tester on a letter 'z' - there's not much call for 'z's making them pretty disposable.

Next I coloured the letters using two Promarkers in the colours I wanted, Cardinal Red and Cobalt Blue.

This proved to be more tricky than I thought because of the flocking - I pressed too hard with the pen to begin with - something to bear in mind next time I do this.

The letters were left to dry before I covered them with embossing fluid using an American Crafts brush tip pen. These pens come in a pack of three, all with different tips - the others are broad tip and medium tip but I found the brush tip the best for this job.

The final stage is to cover them with clear embossing powder - I used Stamps Away powder but any clear EP will do - and use a heat tool to melt the powder. This is the really fiddly stage - I found I needed a pair of tweezers to stop the letters scooting all over the place.

Also, it took several reapplications of both the embossing fluid and the powder before I got the high gloss finish I was looking for but the end result is well worth the effort. One thing to note is that the affect of embossing was to deepen and enrich the two shades chosen as can be seen in this photo. This turned out to be a happy accident!

Here's the page with the finished title and as can be seen the colours are perfect.The photo was taken at the Artist Textiles Exhibition - Picasso to Warhol at New Lanark in April this year.

I was delighted with the result - I love the glossy finish - and changing the colour extended the use of letters I might have eventually consigned to the bin.

Take care and have a great day tomorrow.

Christmas Cards - Winter Bough

Hi Everybody,

Here's the finished card that you might have seen part done on my desk on Wednesday.

Inspired by Cornelia who was, in turn, inspired by Coni, Which Craft, this card is about as clean and simple as I get. You can check out how they made there cards following the links but here is how I made mine.

• The base is for a 4" x 5¾" card finished size. I chose to create a tent style card so stamped the image to the right of the front. The stamp is Penny Black's Winter Bough which was stamped with VersaMark and then heat embossed with gold powder. I used Heat It Up Gold embossing powder because, well, it was what I had in my stash. Cornelia used WOW powder and Coni used a Ranger product. It would seem there are many shades of gold - mine seems quite dark in comparison to others. 
• The card was then opened out and laid flat out on the craft mat for the next step in the process. Before moving on I covered it with copy paper and taped it down on each side to protect the back. Splattering with gold paint, which is what I did next, can be messy! I used Spectrum Noir Aquatint Ink #70 gold paint to splatter randomly, concentrating most of the spatters around the stamped image.
• The greeting, Basic Grey Christmas Greetings, was stamped using VersaMark and gold embossing powder, as for the main image, on to a snippet of white card, trimmed to size. To finish the greeting it was matted on to yet another snippet, this time gold mirror card, and then adhered to the left of the image.
• The final touch was to wrap gold jewelry cord around the top of the front three times before tying it into a bow.  

I liked the first card so much I made a second one to match. And this gave me the chance to use another couple of snippets - yeah! Every little snippet used is one less in the snippet mountain! And, of course, I'm joining in, once again, over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 250 where Di is looking for anything as long as it involves snippet(s).

Wishing you all a happy snippety Sunday.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 383

Hello Everyone,

Oh my, where did last week go! It seems like only yesterday I was linking up with Julia at Stamping Ground to join in with Week 382 of her blog hop. Famous the world over, it's a favourite weekly stop for nosy interested folks like myself who look forward to seeing what's other crafters are up to and what is on their desks.

And here's what's on my desk today. After seeing a wonderful card made by Cornelia at Stempel Spass yesterday I was inspired to get out card, stamps, embossing powder, and gold paint. Truth is my stamps have been tucked away in drawers, forgotten and neglected, for months so it was about time they saw light of day again. I've concentrated on airing my favourite wooden-mounted stamps - there's plenty enough to keep me stamping for quite some time. Just as well too, because I haven't really begun making Christmas cards yet and if I leave it any longer I'll start to panic. What am I saying? I'm already panicking!!!

That's me for today. Nicely brief ... just as Julia prefers.

Happy WOYWW,

Snippet Sunday - Something Different to do with Embossing Powders

Hello Everyone,

Well, that's the festivities over, time to get back into crafting, though the cards I  have to share today were made way back in November last year.

The first is a Christmas card with a difference ...

... and the second is a card made for a special little girl's birthday.

Both feature backgrounds that were made using glittery embossing powders in a way not tried before.

Here's are the steps to making the background:

• First step, gather together the materials - white card, VersaMark Ink Pad, Sheena WOW! Easter Sparkle & Magenta Twinkle embossing powders and a heat gun.
• Second step, cover the card with the VersaMark by smearing it all over - this doesn't have to be too precise - then sprinkle with the yellow powder. Knock off excess and then use a heat gun to melt and set the powder.
• Third and final step, repeat the second step but this time using the pink embossing powder.

That's all there is to it. I did find that the effect looked better if I used shiny cardstock, as in the second card ... I used smooth card for the Christmas card and, as you can see, the effect is quite different - much more of the pink powder stuck!

Challenges I'm submitting the cards to:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 210 - I used several snippets of white, yellow and pink card to make the cards.

CHNC Challenge 262 - vintage or anything goes

CHNC Challenge Extra - January 2016

Penny Black Saturday Challenge January - Anything Goes

That's me for today - I'm off to do a bit of blog-hopping and then later work on my Christmas scrapbook, in the hope of finishing it before Christmas 2016 :)

I hope you are all keeping dry and cosy wherever you are.

Serengeti Snapshot for Sunday Snippets

Afternoon Folks

I hope you are having a great weekend and a super Sunday. Ours has been spent doing much the same as the rest of the week - painting! The EM has been painting the hall and I've been painting with watercolours. I'm over simplifying, of course, but you get the picture ... he's been hard at work and I've been slacking keeping out of the way of the paint fumes :)

What you see is my first attempt to paint a background using the Spectrum Noir Aqua Tints that the postie delivered into my eager wee hands yesterday. After recording and then watching just about every Sheena Douglass demo on TV recently I simply could not, in the end, resist ordering a set ... an early birthday present :) The EM was all for it, said why not, you deserve it - I'm swishing my hair Cheryl Cole style as I type, of course :)

Sheena made the tints look so easy to use, as they need to be for an amateur like me :) You may recall that some time back I enrolled on a class aimed at water colouring for card makers. What with one thing and another I didn't make much progress but now I have no excuse not to start again!

It's small, the base is white card measuring just 4"x3" ... big enough though for me to try out this technique of swooshing colour about. All the colours used are from the Perfectly Primary set and the stamps are from an African Safari Silhouette set from Clarity Stamps, stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with Stampendous Midnight Black powder.

The EM loves bright colours so he immediately claimed this as his own. It reminds him, he says, of photos he's seen depicting the Serengeti, hence the title. As he intends framing it I've kept the matting and layer to just black and white ... a rummage through the snippet mountain produced scraps of black perfect for the job.

Now I'm off over to link with Di's challenge at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 146 - where anything goes as long as it has a snippet or two on it somewhere.

Many thanks to you for popping in ... leave a comment if you have time because it's good to know that I'm not here on my own just blethering away to myself :)

Take care and enjoy what's left of the day.

Happy Crafting,

Blue Peace & Joy Tag

Hello Everyone,

Another very quick post this evening. I hope this finds you all well and that you've had a good day.

I have a tag to share tonight. One that I made as a change from making cards. It also enabled me to use quite a few snippets and leftovers and to try out a couple of dies for the first time.

The base of the tag was made with a leftover piece of dark blue card (my favourite Papermania Textured) cut and trimmed at one end into the shape of a label. It's covered back and front with some of the same delicately patterned paper that was used to make the card posted on Monday - from Scrapbook Max's Winter Frost collection. On the front, the stamping with two fab stamps - Unity's Itty Bitty Peace & Joy and Penny Black's Winter Bough ... I'm not sure I will ever tire of this stamp - was done with VersaMark and clear embossing powder (Stampendous) before it was sponged all over with a combination of three distress inks - Tim Holtz Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky & Iced Spruce. I'm not too sure about this combination ... the jury's still out I think.

The small baubles were cut from a scrap of gunmetal grey pearlescent card with the super Memory Box Precious Ornaments die. This was the first time I'd used these dies and they cut perfectly. A combination of tiny snowflake stamps taken from Papermania's Urban Stamps Noel set and Heat It Up silver embossing powder were used to decorate the baubles.

The snowflake embellishments were made from a combination of snippets of white card and the last of a sheet of treasured silver paper using dies from the Die'sire Snowflakes set and a small snowflake punch  - make and name unknown. The glitter was applied to them by covering them first with VersaMark, then a heated layer of Ranger Sticky embossing powder. After adding a coating of iridescent glitter another quick blast with the heat tool was used to set the glitter ... this prevents a lot of the shedding that so often happens with glitter :)

Pebeo silver gilding wax applied around the edges, pearl, ribbon and lace trims and blue, grey and white adhesive pearls (various sources) provide the final touches.

The back has been left unadorned ... ready for the addition of a handwritten greeting.

And so it over once again to Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Week 95 - a ton of snippets have been used on the tag :)

Exciting news ... well for me it is! I'm having another day off tomorrow. I know, it's been virtually unheard of over the last couple of months and now two days of in one week. And for why you may be asking? Well, I'm meeting my daughter in Glasgow and we are having a girl's day out. We are going to the Hobby Craft show at the SECC in Glasgow tomorrow.

I have a list of exhibitors and another list of wants desires needs ... I can't wait :)) Hopefully, I'll remember to take photos this time ... last time I was at this show, a couple of years ago now, I forgot to take my camera out of my bag I was so mesmerised by all the goodies available.

And, I'm going to bed now, I have an early start in the morning and I need my beauty sleep :))

Take care and happy crafting,

Wishing You Peace and Joy

Afternoon Everyone

It's a horrible day here ... rain, never-ending rain! I really do hope you are faring better where you are.

The card I have to share today was actually completed late Friday night, too late for Hazel's challenge over at CHNC then, for square cards. But, lucky me, it fits in very nicely with this week's, that's Challenge 47, which is to incorporate 'peace', in shape or form, into a card.

And this, new to me, stamp fits the bill perfectly. It's an Itty Bitty stamp by Unity called Peace and Joy. It's been stamped (VersaMark) and embossed in white (Docraft's Seafoam White) on to a snippet of smooth black card then die-cut using a Spellbinders Nestability Labels Nine die. The outside of the same Nestability was traced on to silver mirror card and the shape cut out to create the faux nestie used to mat the sentiment.

The patterned paper, from the Scrapbook Max Winter Frost Collection (came free with a 2012 issue of Scrapbook Magazine) was trimmed to measure just shy of the square black card base - an inexpensive buy from The Works some time last year ... yes, I'm still using up my stash and can honestly say I haven't bought new patterned paper and card blanks for months!

Even the poinsettia is die cut (Spellbinders Shapabilities Layered Poinsettia) from snippets of red mirror and black card - the dies for the leaves are from a Marianne Creatables set, Chinese Rose. The finishing touch is a silver card candi.

Apologies for the quality of the photograph. My Ottlite has suddenly and unexpectedly died :( We thought at first a new bulb was all that was needed but it was much more serious and even the resident handyman has been unable to repair it. I'm now searching for the perfect replacement.

So many snippets went into the making of this card that I have the perfect reason to go check out the ducks over at Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Week 95. And there's a rumour that Parsnip is the worse for wear ... now who could have been leading him astray ... and while Di is off on her jollies in paradise too? :)

Almost forgot to submit to CHNC's Extra Challenge for October - where anything goes as long as it's Christmas!

Right, off to do a bit of shredding ...  6-year old business records. That's well past the legal requirement so no point in keeping them any longer - something less to pack :)

Take care everyone and happy crafting,

CHNC Challenge - In A Manger

Afternoon All,

Unbelievable! I know, it's fairly unusual for me to make it once, and then usually at the last minute, but here I am with a second card for Hazel's challenge this week - CHNC - challenge 145 :) Not to mention Hazel's CHNC Extra Challenge for October - it wouldn't do for me to miss that out!

It's surprising how inspiring it is sorting out crafty stash with a view to packing and it's amazing what I'm discovering tucked away on shelves and boxes. This topper is just one of the many.

Once again it's a recycled card, trimmed and edged with gold embossing powder. It's been mounted on to a layer of black card and another of deep red embossed Core'dinations - Spellbinders M-Bossibilities Regal, Design B.

The background is a royal blue texture printed cardstock gold embossed with a flourish from Sheena - A Little Bit Sketchy Best Friend Swirls.

Because the base is black cardstock I've added a white insert, made from printer paper, with a simple Christmas greeting embossed in gold.

I think I can promise that this will be the last card for CHNC this week. I've moved on to altering a very old photo frame so there's a lot of paint on my desk instead of card.

We are enjoying some late autumn sunshine in Ayr today, but it is decidedly colder than it was ... we've had to put on an extra layer to keep the chill off. There's a stunning blue sky with fluffy white clouds floating by ... such a welcome change from yesterday's gale force winds :)

I hope you are all well and having a good day.

Happy crafting,

Falling Leaves

Evening Everyone,

It's been a miserable, dreary day here, even the cat was looking a picture of misery for much of it. She doesn't do rain and there was rather a lot of that!

I packed another three boxes today - only six weeks to go before the big day. The EM busied himself sorting out something in the mancave ... it's a bit of a no-go area for me so I have no earthly idea what he has stashed away that could take him the best part of a day to sort out, but it did :))

Whatever it was, it gave me the opportunity to sneak up to the craft room to finish of this card. It is the one that was lying in bits on my desk yesterday morning - you can check that out in the post here.

The topper was an excuse to try out my newest stamp - Hero Arts Overexposed Leaves - and a technique that was new to me involving VersaMark, clear embossing powder, distress inks a paint brush and a stamp block for a palette. I'd seen a video demonstration on YouTube and thought I'd like to try it out for myself. The patterned paper - a Nancy Watt design, Cute Creatures - that makes up one of the layers, provided the inspiration for the colours of Tim Holtz ink used - Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Shabby Shutters, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo and Aged Mahogany. The Darice folder, Fall Leaf Background, got it's first outing to create the embossed layer (Papermill Direct Kraft card). Stickles yellow glitter glue looks perfect in the centre of the tiny punched flowers.

To get the autumnal effect on this leaf stamp - a giveaway with Craft Stamper magazine - the ink pads were dabbed, starting with the lightest shade through to the darkest, working from the centre outwards. 

Other materials used:

• white card base
• snippets of card - smooth white for the topper, Papermania brown textured for matting and Core'dinations Tim Holtz Peeled Paint for punched leaves
• punches - small leaf (Woodware) and tiny cherry blossom
• Momento Rich Cocoa ink pad and stamp from Wild Rose Studio Everyday Greetings
• orange grosgrain ribbon from stash

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges that all have a photo for inspiration:

Colour Throwdown # 262 

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #65 -

Papercraft Star Challenge # 164

Aren't the colours gorgeous. I once consulted a colour therapist and was told that these were my colours. I was a lot younger at the time and had red hair ... I'm not sure that now that I have grey hair that the advice still applies. However, they are still the colours I'm most drawn to. 

You might have spotted the mention of snippets in that materials list. And using up some snippets is all the requirement needed to allow me to skip over to my buddy Di's challenge blog:

Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground - Week 92 

That's it for this evening. I'm exhausted so I'm off to spend an hour on the sofa watching TV with the EM before making it an early night. I'm well into a good book, Margaret Foster's The Memory Box, so I'm looking forward to reading a couple of paragraphs before falling asleep. 

I hope you are all having an equally entertaining evening too :)

Take care and happy crafting,

September Tag

Morning Folks,

I hope life is treating you well wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

I have a tag, made for a swap, to share with you today and it's my homage to the great man himself, Tim Holtz.

Needless to say, I had almost nothing from the supplies required for this month's tag but nothing ventured, nothing gained :)  I simply followed his instructions, improvising, adapting and substituting as I went.

For example, where TH used a manila label, I cut a scrap of white card to size and shape, and where he used a star patterned stencil, I substituted star-shaped sequin waste. Embossing paste, I had none ... so I made some up, a vaguely remembered recipe Ali Reeves mentioned during a TV demo some time ago, mixing PVA (white/Elmers) glue with cornflour (cornstarch) ... it worked perfectly :)  And that is pretty much how I continued ... I got pretty stumped on a few of the steps but, after cogitating and deliberating over the instructions, usually thought of a suitable substitute for almost everything needed to complete the tag.

One of Tim's mantra's is that we should 'embrace imperfection'. Well, I have, quite literally by including it on the tag ... seemed appropriate somehow given how imperfect the tag is :))

I won't say there wasn't times when the little grey cells felt defeated but it was a very satisfying exercise and a great way to use a few snippets of card. And at the mention of snippets, I am reminded that I can submit my tag to Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground - any excuse to visit the duck pond and feed the ducks :))

Materials used:

• scraps of white card from the snippet box
• Tim Holtz distress inks - Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers; Dried Marigold, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo and Black Soot
• dimensional paste made with PVA glue and cornflour
• sequin waste, masks from Special Touch and Crafter's Workshop and a plastic stencil for numbers
• white acrylic paint
• stamps - Craft Stamper butterflies, Denami Design dragonfly and the ruler from a sewing set that was free with a magazine, Artemio key, alpha set for letters - maker unknown
• gold embossing powder
• punches - circles in two sizes
• Archival Jet Black ink, VersaMark
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchats and black marker
• white American seam binding - coloured with distress ink

Edit Note: having been ordered by BJ to enter this on Tim Holtz' blog NOW ... how do I dare to disobey :) 
Thus, I'm submitting this tag to Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 - September 

It's dental check-up day, again :( Two appointments, one for the hygienist and the other for the dentist himself, groan ... I know it's essential but that doesn't make it any easier. Ah well, it will be soon over.

Hope you have something much more pleasant in your diary for today.

Take care and happy crafting,