Another Christmas card

Well, last night's visitors didn't manifest quite as planned and I was free to play with my crafting. I'd thought of doing a stamped church window with die cut candles and poinsettias in front of it.  Bad news - I don't have a suitable stamp; good news - I found a printed window among designs from Making Cards magazine Christmas papers! The holly border at the bottom was printed on a blank sandy coloured scroll so I cut across the middle and used it behind and below the window, then cut off the identical border from the other end of the scroll and stuck it over the bottom of the candles. I cut and embossed the flames on scraps of yellow in place of the inbuilt red, and backed them with tiny scraps of orange for the centre. Judicious use of a sandy coloured pencil toned down some glaring white gaps, the candles were positioned to hide the joins....it isn't a brilliant piece of work but it gives me something to develop. And hey, it's another card! I also found another 3D decoupage picture of two candles so I'm in the middle of cutting that. And today I've stitched and beaded a panel for a February birthday card which I'll try to complete later in the week.

First two for 2013

I have started my Christmas cards! In my previous post I spoke about having a list of possible topics and that I had persuaded my friend Carol to join me; on Thursday she picked a card at random which said 'CANDLES' so here are the cards I have made. I have also signed up for the challenge on Split Coast Stampers and said I would aim for 6 cards each month - there's no obligation or pressure, just encouragement and an optional challenge if you choose. This month it is to use non-traditional colours, specifically not red and green, but I probably won't bother about that unless I happen to produce something appropriate. Ah, now I think about it, one of these does (half) fit!

I found this little 3D decoupage picture in the stuff inherited from a friend's mother and am really quite pleased with the result. The diamond background was cut with a Nestie die - second attempt because the first time I used a paper with a diagonal stripe and managed to NOT centre it! Then I decided the paper was too pale anyway, spotted the dark blue glitter paper in a file  and lo and behold, quite a striking card that took about half an hour to make. The silver peel offs give a nice finish.

By contrast this took a lot of time over the past 3 days, pricking the design then stitching and beading and finally mounting it on green mirri card. The red and green threads are Guterman Sulky and the gold is a metallic - possibly DMC but I've lost the label from the spool end. It's designed by Emelie (aka Emy), a talented Dutch lady and I have a lot more of her work lined up - I really enjoy these. There's a link to an online shop which sells her patterns in my sidebar.

Now to see what other candle designs I can produce before I see Carol on Thursday - I've just received the Marianne dies and have a vague idea in mind so will play with them tomorrow (we have visitors this evening).

Last card of the year

A friend celebrates her birthday on the 30th and I made this for her today. The snowdrop stamp is by Personal Impressions, cut with an inverted scallop Nestie and matted on the dark green cut with a normal scalloped Nestie. I coloured the leaves with Promarkers then (after I scanned it!) chalked the background in mauve. The sentiment was cut with Britannia dies.

That's it for this year, but a friend has agreed to join me in our own Christmas challenge starting on 3 January. I have a list of possible topics for Christmas cards and we'll pick one at random then make as many cards as possible before we meet a week later. We're both full of enthusiasm just now but with about six days still to go we'll have to see how long it lasts. Fortunately I don't have any birthday cards needed in January - my son is at present out of reach while touring Asia (thank goodness for Facebook and emails) so he will receive an ecard for his birthday on the 2nd.

The end is in sight...

Birthday card for my other crafty friend whose birthday is also on the 23rd. Background paper from Making Cards, image by Herro Arts stamped in plum archival ink by Ranger on mottled purple card. The sentiment is by JustRite Stamps using one of the Baroque Frames cut with the custom die by Spellbinders. And the whole is mounted on purple pearlised card. Now to add a quick insert sheet and I'll be ready to go and have a cup of tea with the recipient!

...and two more!

The elephant by Wild Rose Studio, coloured with Promarkers and the background chalked in pale green, is for our 'adopted' grand daughter's first birthday (her mother is our ex-daughter in law).

The second card is for one of two crafting friends whose birthdays are on Sunday 23rd. This really did just come together from bits picked up at random in my very untidy craft room - maybe I should leave it in that state, because when it's tidy I struggle to create! The 3D picture is from a booklet by Le Suh which was in one of several boxes/bags/tins a friend gave me after her mother died. It's probably not something I would  have thought to buy for myself but it is full of potential and I'm delighted to make use of it. The background paper is from the same issue of Making Cards as yesterday's kingfisher, and the words by Paper Bag Studios were stamped in Ranger Archival ink in Grape.

One birthday card down, 4 to go

Just a very quick post to show this kingfisher card, using background paper and image from Making Cards magazine plus a Nestie eyelet circle. I don't really like doing cut-and-stick designs but loved this combination so much I'm happy to leave it plain and simple and hope my brother-in-law likes it too (his birthday is Christmas Day)..

Almost there

Christmas draws ever closer and I am still trying to make up for lost time, making enough cards for my family and crafting friends and buying for everyone else! Here are the final designs for this year - still about half a dozen cards needed within the next couple of days, and then I can start to think about next year. Resolution #1: I really WILL start making my 2013 Christmas cards in January!

And Resolution #2 is to update my blog regularly.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have half a dozen birthday cards needed between now and the end of this year....where did I put all my Happy Birthday stamps?