Christmas Garland - Joyeux Noel

I LOVE Christmas, it is one of my most favourite times of the year! I ran my regular craft session at the weekend, and had some lovely ladies join me - here is what we made, beautifully accompanied by my cat Oscar:

I used a Tim Holtz die to create the rosettes, and the Vintage Market Alphabet for the letters - one of my go-to dies as it is so versatile. Paired with the rustic garden twine to hang it, and a touch of gold glitter on the letters, to complement the shiny red wrapping paper used. Sometimes it is all too easy to go overboard on adding sparkle/glitter/etc...

Classic warm Christmas colours: Very Vanilla, Old Olive and Red with a touch of gold - my theme for this year! I will start decorating the house properly soon, adding a few more decorations each week in the run up to the big day...

I hope you like it, I have entered it into 2 challenges:

http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/2011/11/o-christmas-tree-challenge.html - the challenge is to have a tree on your item, I am being a bit cheeky by doing an item you could put on your tree... Sometimes you need to creatively interpret challenges! ;)

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/11/week-131-pennants.html - the challenge is to create pennants/bunting or similar.

Happy Crafting...

Simply Stampin Challenge - #35

Morning all! I have had a bit of a problem with this weeks colour challenge - I finished my creation, set it up to be photographed, went into the other room to get the camera - and when I can back, found a very happy puppy with a new chew toy... Oops!

So had to quickly make a replacement, please forgive me if it is not quite as precise as it could be.

Anyway, onto the challenge itself, a colour combo featuring the following:

I Love this combination and would never have thought to use it myself - that is the really great thing about most challenges, they stretch your imagination and creativity. I decided to make a notebook, as a Christmas gift for a friend, after a conversation with Niki about 'to do' lists inspired me.

So my offering:

I love the layers of ripped card and paper, something I think I will be using more often in my makes...

And the back:

A close up of the binding inside the notebook, you can also see how the front cover is attached with tabs:

 Finally a close up of the amazing rhinestone brads available from Stampin' Up! You get 84 brads for £8.75 (28 each in 3 different sizes!) - being clear you can customise them so easily as well using promarkers/copics to make them match your project exactly. For this project I have left them clear, and used them to fasten through the 'hinges' of the notebook:

I hope you like my offering for this weeks Simply Stampin Challenge - why not pop over there yourself to have a look at what the rest of the Design Team has come up with, and maybe have a go yourself?

Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Strength and Hope

Inks: Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade

Card stock: Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Other: Top Note Die, Concorde Crush DSP, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Rhinestone brads, cuttlebug (non SU), hardware findings die (non SU), dimensionals, white copier paper (non SU).

Happy Crafting, and if you like what you see, please leave me a comment  - I love to read them!

Bx

Christmas Workshop

So this is a bit late as my class was actually in mid October, but I thought I would share with you anyway! For those of you who have not taken a class with me, these items were all made at one of my all day workshops, and we had great fun! Look out for my next all day workshop 'Birthday Bash' on 22nd January - book soon as places are limited...

We made:

• 1 Wreath
• 2 Gift Card Holders
• 2 Pillow Boxes
• 6 cards - in 6 different designs!

Here are a few close ups of some of the designs:

3D Bauball card makes use of the fantastic Ornament Punch:

This bird is stunning, I love that it can be vintage or contemporary depending on what you pair it with:

Pillow Boxes are perfect for packaging those tiny gifts such as earrings, and are handy to keep on standby for unexpected visitors:

I LOVE dasher!

Last but not least, this nifty little pocket is designed to hold a gift card - a bit more interesting than the ones you get given with it in the shop!

To list all the materials I used would take far too long, so here are the main stamps:

Dasher
Contempo Christmas
Delightful Decorations
Beautiful Season
Tags til Christmas

And the papers used were from the Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality Set, paired up with matching colours of card.

I hope you like it all, and if you have any questions, message me or leave me a comment!

Bx

New Class timetable out NOW!

Check out my new classes and timetable for Winter and Spring! There is something for everyone, so check out my craft club and workshops page or click HERE!

Bx

Simply Stampin' Challenge - Sketch 12

It is sketch time over at Simply Stampin' Challenge this week, and I found it quite a tough one, and it is a fairly simple layout, and like to embellish my creations! So the sketch is pictured below, and if you click it you will be taken to the Simply Stampin' Challenge page - why not have a go?

In the end I decided to make an ATC as I fancy doing a few more swaps in the near future - if you would like to swap with me then please get in touch! (An ATC: Artist Trading Card, is a small piece of artwork sized 2.5" x 3.5" that you can swap or give as gifts. I keep my collection in a little folder to inspire me!) Here is my offering:

I wanted to soften the edges of the 'thanks' slightly, so allowed the So Saffron ink to bleed over the edges of the Chocolate Chip outline a little, using a water brush to coax the ink gently. Here is a close up of the ruffled ribbon detail and bow:

Obviously I couldn't stop at just one ATC, and made a second to create a matching pair:

And a picture of the detail on the second ATC for you: I think the different sized pearls clustered in the centre of the flower are particularly effective...

I hope you like my creations, and please leave me a comment - I read them all and enjoy hearing your feedback!

I have also taken my theme and colours from two different challenges (click the name to visit their site): 

Color Throwdown: So Saffron, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla and Basic Grey. (I had everything except Riding Hood Red ink, so substituted Real Red, and added a touch of Chocolate Chip for some outlining, oh and some Daffodil Delight Ribbons...)

Stamping Sisters in Christ: A theme of thanks and gratitude - what could be more appropriate than friendship?

Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Delicate Doilies, For Everything.

Card Stock: Basic Grey, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Very Vanilla.

Inks: Basic Grey, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, So Saffron.

Ribbon: Daffodil Delight.

Punches: Notched Corner (non SU)

Happy Crafting... x

Puppy Dreams...

As promised here are some new pictures of Odelle: so I decided to photograph her today as she settled down for a nap. She has grown so much lately (now 13 weeks!), despite thieving some plums a week or so ago which gave her an icky tummy... Oops. She has had all her vaccinations and can meet new dogs as of next week, which should be fun!

Just drifting off...

 This is a comfy pillow...

I LOVE this picture of her front paws - think this one will be making its way onto a scrapbook layout some day soon...

 Oops, I woke her up by accident - what are you doing with that flashy light thing mum?

Big Yawn!

A close up of her special Guide Dog tag:

And finally all woozy after her nap with one ear askew!

I hope you like this little 'pupdate', please leave me a comment if you have any questions about what it is like as a first time puppy walker, or just want to see more pictures! 

Bx

Simply Stampin Challenge - Leaves

I bought a Stampin' Up! exclusive die called Little Leaves a while ago, and it seemed foolinsh not to use it with this weeks theme of leaves! As Christmas is approaching I decided to make the die cut into a branch of mistletoe, and partner it with some of the lovely new designer series papers.

The papers are from a set called Holly Berry Bouquet, which is a speciality set - some of the designs are glittered (the red stripe across the centre of the card is from the glittered papers). I have also added dazzling diamonds to the edges of the leaves, and to the mistletoe berries, to look as if they have a coating of frost. Here is a close up, where you can also see how I have added some dimension to the leaves:

I hope you like it!

Recipe:

Stamp Sets: A Comme Amie, Sanded

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi

Inks: Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi

Punches / Dies: Little Leaves, Scallop Trim Border, Crop-a-dile.

Other: Holly Berry Bouquet DSP, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Basic Rhinestones, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals.

Happy Crafting!

Simply Stampin Challenge - Colour Challenge

 This week the four colours for the challenge are: Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, and Soft Suede. I have made a sample napkin ring that could be used for any sort of special occasion, including weddings and other events. The rose itself is really dimensional and could be used to embellish almost anything - I might make some miniature ones and cluster them together to make a bouquet, add them to bags or scrapbook pages...

So my creation is below:

And a close up of the rose so you can see how I have edged each of the petals with glitter, and used my sponge daubers to create graduated colour throughout:

To create the graduated colour I have used the following combinations, from the centre outwards:

• Very Vanilla Card
• Very Vanilla Card inked with Daffodil Delight
• Daffodil Delight Card
• Daffodil Delight Card inked with Daffodil Delight
• Daffodil Delight Card inked with Peach Parfait lightly
• Daffodil Delight Card inked with Peach Parfait heavily - this makes the colours darken.

The photo isn't quite an exact colour match (having to rely on artificial lighting during these grey autumn days) but I hope you get the gist.

Recipe:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede.

Inks: Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait

Punches: Eyelet Border

Other: Designer Series Paper, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Cuttlebug, Flower Die (non SU although similar), sponge daubers.

Happy Crafting!