Boxing Day - Second Post Today

Hi there Bloggers, hope you are having a great Boxing Day (26th December to those of you not in the UK).

Boxing Day in my home is a very chilled out relaxed day, leftovers from yesterday's turkey dinner, homemade soup and for dessert ?  a slice of Christmas cake as we were far too full to eat any of it yesterday.

A group of my online (and occasionally IRL) crafting pals do a Secret Santa gift exchange each Christmas and we each share pix of our received gift on Boxing Day.

Here's a pic of my (unwrapped) SS giftie received - what yummy packaging, almost too good to unwrap.

and here's the fabby contents of the package

What a great mask/stencil - I can't wait to play with it, it's going to be fabulous for using on Art Journal pages and for created background layers etc.  Love the little music stamp, again I can see loads of uses for it and the SMASH Book notes are super and will be appearing in a SB very soon I think ;o) 

Thank you so much Secret Santa x

Just for the record, here's the SS gift I sent out

Enjoy the rest of your day

Bring on the Chocolate !

Happy Boxing Day dear Bloggers, I really hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday, I certainly did, although tinged with a little sadness for the family members who were not around the dinner table this year.

Christmas can be a difficult time for those who aren't able to be with their loved ones and for anyone having to spend the time alone.  I am so very Blessed to have had some of my family with me to celebrate and enjoy a traditional Turkey Dinner. 

I know it's Boxing Day. but we do have a new challenge for you starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week our theme is 'Anything Goes' and our prize sponsor is Cedar Chest Designs.

I'm sure most households have oodles of chocolate around at this time of the year, mine certainly does !  My DT project for today also involves choccie bars.

 

This is a close up shot of one of the choccie bar wraps I made as small table gifts for pals at our Christmas meal.

 

Here's a shot of the full collection

 



This is an easy way to pretty up a plain old bar of chocolate and turn it into a nice little gift.

Using some scraps of paper from my stash I wrapped each bar, then added a strip of white card around to close off the open ends and prevent the bars from slipping out. 

I then diecut lots of layers, using the Spellbinders Poinsettia set of dies, from white cardstock.  Using a ball tool I added detail and curved the petals before stacking them up to create the flower.  The finishing touch was to add a gold centre to each flower using a gold Waco Pearlmaker Pen and Stardust Stickles added to the petals for a bit of sparkle and bling.

I hope my pals enjoyed munching on their choccie bars, I certainly enjoyed mine !

That's it from me for today, enjoy the rest of your Boxing Day - in my house it's a day of rest and relaxation after the frenzy of gift opening and cooking that goes on on Christmas day.  No doubt we will be watching new DVDs received as gifts and/or any of the TV offerings, lunch will be easy as we eat up the leftovers, so, a nice relaxed and chilled day for me.

Have a great day yourself.

Happy Christmas !

Happy Christmas Day dear Bloggers, I do hope you have a wonderful day to look forward to. 

I understand that Christmas can be a difficult time for many people.  Those who have lost loved ones or are far away from them, the many lonely people who are spending today alone and those who are coping with illness themselves or watching their loved ones suffer - my thoughts are with you and my heart goes out to you.

 To everyone, I send Love and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas.

Today, I shall be sitting down to eat Christmas dinner with my Hubby, Son and Dad.  This year there are empty seats at the table compared to previous years and we will all feel the loss today.  We shall have a lovely turkey dinner, eat far too much, but have a great day together.

I made these little treat boxes to put on our festive table and filled them with yummy chocolates. 

Again I've used my We R Memory Keeps pillow box scoreboard and Clearly Besotted Stamps stamp set and matching dies and scraps of SU! Baja Breeze cardstock to diecut the scarves.  SU! Peach Parfait ink to stamp the noses and BB ink for the buttons and scarf pattern. 

A set of Penny Black banner stamps and SU! Baja Breeze ink on white cardstock for the sentiments.

Enjoy your day and if you have taken the time to visit my Blog today, thank you so much I really appreciate it. 

Inkadinka Reindeer

Morning Peeps !   Just two more sleeps until the Big Day, is your life calm and already organised or still full of craziness and frenzied preparation ?  My world fits into the second category, but then it generally does so why would it be different at this even busier time of the year ha ha !

Today I'm sharing (yet another) Christmas card I made for this year

 



I created the base card using some nice heavy weight cardstock which is a little more 'marsh' green than kraft, but makes a lovely sturdy card.  It's C6 size but with the fold at the top.

The lovely lacy reindeer image is from a set of stamps by Inkadinkado, which I've had for a few years now and never tire of.  Stamped with Versamark and heat embossed using gold sparkle embossing powder. 

I then mounted the white image layer over a slightly larger piece of red mirri card and attached to the base card.

The sentiment was stamped from one of my current favourite sets by Penny Black.  Stamped using SU! Raspberry Ripple ink.

That's it from me, I'll leave you to continue with your Christmas preparations if you are like me, or continue to relax if you are completely organised !

More Pillows - Can You Ever Have Too Many ? !

Happy Saturday Bloggers - as it's the last weekend before the Christmas holidays I expect you'll be busy, busy, busy today !   I'm away from home, collecting my Dad to come and spend Christmas with us so I'm mega excited as I love to have him here with me. 

As part of the journey to collect Dad, I'll also be visiting my Daughter and seeing my Grandsons, which will be a bittersweet moment as it's going to be the very first Christmas day that I won't be seeing my Daughter since the day she was born, and the first Christmas that I haven't spent time with my Grandsons.  A very different Christmas for me this year, but my Son will be here with me as well as my Dad and Hubby, so I realise how Blessed I am compared to many people. 

I've pre-scheduled this post as I'm travelling so hope it publishes OK !

So, without further ado, let's get on to today's project, which is a couple more of the pillow box treat holders, which I've been really enjoying making since I bought my We R Memory Keepers score board.

Once again I've used some of this fabby text printed white cardstock which is perfect for box making. 

I also used the set of stamps and matching dies I purchased recently from Clearly Besotted Stamps.  I'm just loving them, all of the stamps and accessories are so cute and the dies cut very well - I can see endless permutations for future projects using them. 

I've used the cute reindeer image for these boxes.  Firstly diecutting the shape and then stamping the image onto it using SU! Raspberry Ripple ink.

The banner was also stamped with the RR ink using one of the stamps from a Penny Black stamp set, cut out and adhered to the pillow box. 

That's it from me today, short and sweet - hope you enjoyed your visit today, thanks so much for popping over here to my little bit of Blogland.

*** Celebrations ***

Happy Thursday Peeps, we've got a new challenge starting for you over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog today.  This week our theme is 'Celebrations' - of which there are certainly plenty at this time of year for most of us !  Our prize this week is sponsored by Whimsy Stamps.

Here's my DT project

In my book, celebrations just aren't complete without the addition of chocolate !  "My name is Wynneth and I am a Chocaholic"  ha ha !   So, today's project is pretty packaging for choccie bars.

Using some magazine freebie papers, I created a wrap the right size to cover the bars, then added a length of lush festive ribbon around the wrap to close off the open ends and stop the bars sliding out.

I created a poinsettia flower embellishment using the set of Spellbinders Poinsettia dies and red cardstock.  After diecutting each layer I used a ball tool to add dimension and make the petals stand up, then I layered them up.  The final touch was a gold centre made using a Waco Pearlmaker Pen.   I then attached the flower to the centre of the ribbon.

As a final touch, I created a tag by using an image from a Penny Black set of stamps, stamped in SU! Raspberry Ripple ink and fussy cut out.  I attached the tag just under the flower and, as I know what's inside the package, the sentiment was perfect !

Hope you've enjoyed your visit and like this method of turning a very 'ordinary' bar of chocolate into a super pretty little gift.

Enjoy your day, whatever you have planned.

A Herd of Reindeer

Good Morning Peeps !  I hope you are well and having a good day.

Today the project I'm sharing is the last batch make of Christmas cards for this year. 

 

 

This is just a small batch (5) of cards I made using a set of stamps and matching dies from Clearly Besotted.  I just love the fun images in this stamp set, there are so many different ways to use them with all the decorative options.  There are dies to match all the shapes, although the stamps can be used by themselves too.

 

Firstly I diecut the reindeer shape from white cardstock using my Big Shot, then stamped the reindeer image using Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto the shape.  I could have diecut the noses then stamped them with red and glued them on, but decided to just stamp them with red ink straight onto the already stamped reindeer image - this keeps the cards almost flat for mailing.  As the stamps are clear, it is really easy to line them up correctly for stamping onto the diecut shapes. 

 

I then attached the reindeer over a layer of red, and slightly larger white layer,  before attaching to the kraft coloured base cards. 

 

The sentiment was stamped using a set of Penny Black banner stamps (which I Lurve) using  SU! Raspberry Ripple ink. 

 

Once again, a nice clean and simple design and using my current favourite colour combo of kraft, red and white.

 

Thanks for visiting today, have a great day.  

With Love at Christmas

Good morning dear Bloggers.  Today I shall be finishing off the gift wrapping and writing my list for the last minute food shopping, which I'll need to do at the start of next week.  Not a lot of crafting time for me right now, but I have a few projects created over the past couple of weeks which I'll share with you in the coming days.  I warn you in advance that if you are in a state of  'Christmas card overload' my next few posts will probably make you groan !

Anyhoo, that said here's today's project

For this card I created the wreath using a Martha Stewart frond punch, punching out loads from two different colours of green cardstock. (whilst punching out the fronds, my MS punch broke into pieces - oh no !  it's one of my favourites and 'go to' punch for many uses.  I had to get online immediately to find a replacement, which luckily I did via Ebay although the seller was in the US.  It arrived very quickly which was fantastic). 

I seem to be having a few 'disasters' with my crafting tools at the moment, managed to cut through my Splodge Mat last week at the workshop, and now  'exploding' my favourite punch !   Hopefully I won't destroy anything else - for a while at least !

As a base for the wreath I cut a scalloped circle using a nestie and a scrap of light greet card which had sparkly dots all over (if you look closely you can just see some of the dots).  I then glued each of the separate fronds around the edge, ensuring I kept to a circular shape, to create the wreath effect.  I worked round three times adding layers of fronds applying glue to just the bottom tip of each frond for the top two layers to create depth and dimension.

I added a bow at the top, tied using a small length of narrow ribbon.  The sentiment in the centre was stamped using a Little Claire's stamp and SU! Raspberry Ripple ink, the 'heart' shape in the centre coloured using a gold Wink of Stella pen.  Using Frosted Lace Stickles I then added a snow effect to the top layer of fronds.

Finally, I attached the wreath layer to the base card, which had been covered with a piece of red and white striped paper. 

This is a very simple design, but I was pleased with the finished result.  As it's the card I made to give to my Hubby, it's not too 'fancy' or 'fussy' as he's not a fan of overly embellished cards.  He loved it, so that was a great result in my book !

Thanks for taking the time to check out my project today.  Have a great day. 

Festive Gift Bags

Good morning Bloggers, hope you have a nice day in store today.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but I just know it will get filled up, there's always plenty to do at this time of year !

Today the project I'm sharing with you is a couple of little gift bags - perfect for filling with a few treats for on the Christmas table.

 



Recently I treated myself to the We R Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punchboard and it does make bag making easier although I think it would be a great deal more useful if the width of the bags could have been adjustable as well as the height - the width is a fixed 2 inches and not adjustable.  It's nice to be able to make a gift bag 12 inches high (or taller if you have paper more than 12 x 12).  The built in punch for adding holes at the top of the bag is a good option, saves measuring and using a Cropadile or other punch, plus the holes are always in the perfect place every time.

Using some 12 x 12 Christmas patterned papers I created the gift bags using the punchboard - I cut the paper in half so the bag height is 6 inches, including the folded under base.  As I was using the Medium option on the board (you have the choice of SML), I trimmed the 6 x 12 paper to 6 x 11 before starting, as per the instructions.  I threaded a length of red and white twine through the holes punched on the board, to create the closure.

To decorate the front of the bags I stamped the blueprint snowman using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations stamp and matching die set.  After stamping the image using SU! Raspberry Ripple ink I cut out the body of the snowman using the appropriate die from the set and attached to the front of the bag.  I added a touch of clear Wink of Stella glitter pan to the images - sadly the twinkle doesn't show up in the pix but is a nice subtle shine IRL.

Just got to fill up these pretty gift bags with some nice choccies and they'll be ready for my Festive table in a couple of weeks' time.

Have a 'Crafty' day !

Workshop Doorhanger

Good morning Bloggers, hope your weather is better than mine - dark, dull and raining.... yeuk !  although it isn't too cold so I guess we have to be thankful for that !

Yesterday I was a very Busy Bee, craft workshop, Christmas haircut, finishing with Hubbs and I having a lovely meal in a restaurant in Plymouth. 

The morning saw me attending a workshop, run by Bernie Simmons as one of the Clarity South West Group regular events.  This workshop was based around making a door hanger and/or tags using Clarity stamps and other materials supplied by Bernie.  It was a fun workshop and Bernie had a couple of samples in case we wished to duplicate her designs. 

Well, you know me, I never follow a pattern/recipe/guidelines ha ha.... so opted for a sheet of vintage Christmas paper from the materials provided and this is what I created:

Front of Door Hanger

Back of Hanger

 

 



Using the MDF hanger as a template I cut out sections of the paper to fit, one for the front and one for the back. (during this procedure, I learned a very valuable lesson - NEVER use a craft knife to cut around a template whilst the template is on top of your Splodge Mat rather than your self healing craft mat Doh  ! - an expensive and not to be repeated error !)  I then used a number of Distress Inks to stamp a selection of Clarity images randomly over the top of the designer paper for each side. 

After this I used DIs to distress around the edges, then flicked splashes of water over, blotted with tissue then used a heatgun to dry all the inks.  The water splashes give a very subtle faded effect where the water drops fall as they lift the DI colour.  It's less noticeable on my design as the base paper was coloured - using this technique on plain card gives a more noticeable effect.

Finally I used Versmark to stamp the 'Peace on Earth' sentiment and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I then used a Clear Wink of Stella brush to add a subtle twinkly sheen to the Santa image and the leaves and sprays I'd stamped with DI.   I'm just loving the WoS pens right now, have you tried them yet ?  If not, you should !

After drying out the papers I then glued them to both sides of the hanger.   I wanted to add a gilded edge to the MDF to give it a nice finished appearance, so once I was home I used my Treasure Gold paste and Brush Bath to add the gilding.  I also applied TG to the petals and stamens of the two paper poinsettias to give them a vintage 'make-over' before attaching them to the front of the hanger. 

The back is much less obviously Christmas I think, so I'll probably keep the hanger on my craftroom door all year round, having the less decorated side on show once the festive season is finished.

Here's a final shot of the hanger doing what it was created to do !

The workshop was enjoyable and, as I have only a handful of Clarity Stamps, it was a great opportunity to try some I don't have.  There will be more workshops in the new year and I may well sign up for another one.

Thanks for dropping by to check on today's project.  I'm off now to wrap yet more gifts and put up the tree and decorations.  Have a great day. 

Christmas Catch-Up

It's Thursday again already !  where did the last week go ?  How are your Christmas preparations coming along ?  Everything done and having a relaxing run up to the Big Day or are you like me, still running around chasing my own tail to try and fit 48 hour's worth of work into 24 ?  I know it will all get done in time, but right now I just can't see how !

Anyway, as it's Thursday we have a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog.  This week our theme is 'Christmas Catch-Up' and our prize is sponsored by Whiff of Joy Stamps.

For my DT project I've made a small batch of cards - my last batch make of 2013 as all my cards have been written and most of them posted.  If I still feel in the Festive mood, I might make a couple more to go into my stock ready for 2014. 

For my design I used the fabulous Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Snowman Blueprint stamp and matching dies set.  I could have used the dies to create a layered image on my design but as the cards will be going through the mail, I wanted to keep them almost flat and lightweight to reduce the cost of postage - a serious consideration these days with prices so high !

I stamped the image using SU! Baked Brown Sugar ink, then added touches of Clear Wink of Stella sparkly pen - sadly the twinkle just isn't showing up on the pix but it is a very pretty and subtle effect IRL.  The image was then layered over a piece of red cardstock and attached to the kraft base card. 

Finally I used a stamp from a Penny Black set, stamped using SU! Raspberry Ripple ink onto white card and cut out before attaching in the bottom right hand corner.

A nice and simple design and I love the kraft, white and red combo - one of my favourite combos for this Christmas. 

Thanks for taking the time to drop by and check my project today, I'm sure you are very busy and I really do appreciate your support.

Have a great day.

Pengie Pillows

Happy Wednesday Bloggers, just a quick post from me today, got lots to get done and I'm out for my regular crafting evening with pals tonight.

Today's project is a pair of little pillow boxes I made to hold some sweeties/chocolates.

I recently treated myself to the We R Memory Keepers Pillow Box Punchboard.  It makes creating pillow boxes easy, however it would have been even more useful if it gave the flexibility of making wider/thicker pillows rather than only being able to make them longer.  You can make pillows up to 12 inches long (or longer if you have bigger paper/card) but I can't imagine what you would put into a very long and thin pillow box !  So far, my feeling about the board is that it is OK, but maybe I'll learn to love it the more I use it ! 

I had this lovely foiled cardstock with Christmas sentiments all over it in my stock, so used it to make the pillows.  The width/depth of the pillows is fixed by the board but I made them 4 inches long.

For decoration I used a really cute set of stamps and matching dies by Clearly Besotted - I love this sweet pengie and there is a great snowman and reindeer in the set too.  I stamped the image using SU! Midnight Muse ink.

I made the little tags using a set of stamps by Penny Black, stamped again using the Midnight Muse ink and fussy cut out.  The sentiment is just perfect as the pillow boxes are filled with sweeties.

Hope you've enjoyed today's project - off now to get more things done from my To Do list, one of which is to stand in line at the Post Office to send a parcel - hmph !

Have a great day.

Custom-Order Quilting

Happy Saturday Bloggers, got all your Christmas shopping finished yet ?  I'm almost there, just a few bits to get and the fresh foods of course. 

Thought I'd share a pic of my latest custom-order quilted table runner - fingers crossed they are happy with it !

I love the rich reds, green and gold of the fabric, they are perfect Christmas colours I think. 

For the quilters/sewists amongst you, the technical details:  I used the disappearing nine-patch design, which is one of my favourites. 

With all this sewing going on, not a lot of cardmaking happening right now, although I believe I have sufficient Christmas cards made ready to write and send out.  Card writing is my task for the rest of the day as some of them need to go into the post asap. 

Have a great day, whatever you have planned.

Eternal Flame

Happy Thursday Folks, we've got a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog today.  This week our inspirational theme is 'Eternal Flame' and our prize Sponsor is Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

Here's my DT project for this week.

I just knew this really lovely stamp from Whiff of Joy Stamps would be perfect for this week's challenge.  With her flowing robes and carrying a garlanded candle through the falling snow, she creates a great Christmas scene.

I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then coloured her with Copics adding just a few touches of light colour on her robes and then going over again with a clear Wink of Stella pen.  The Wink of Stella gives a fabulous sparkly sheen, but it's not showing up on the photograph sadly. 

The image was cut out using an oval nestie then attached over a fancy frame cut using an oval Spellbinders die.  I then used some of one of my current fave crafting products - Frantage.  I sprinkled a little of the white Frantage over the coloured image layer, then used a heatgun from underneath to melt it.  I just love how you can create the look of falling snow using this amazing stuff.

I created a background layer using an embossing folder which looks like falling snowflakes then attached the fancy framed image slightly offset to the right to leave room for the embellishments on the left.

The flower was created using a set of Spellbinders poinsettia and leaf dies and white cardstock.  After layering up the various sizes of petal diecuts I added a centre using a gold Waco Pearlmaker Pen.  The Pinetree bough, pinecones and twiggy branch were cut using Marianne's dies and the fronds punched with a Martha Stewart punch. 

Here's a couple of close up shots to show more details of the diecuts and the Frantage effects.

Finally, I added Frosted Lace Stickles over the petals, pinecones etc to create a snowy/frosted effect.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today and that you like today's project.

A Winter Scene

Today has been a busy one for me, hence the lateness in posting my project today, apologies.

This project started out as an idea for a card but that's not how it finished up, as you can see !

I used a Dee's Distinctively die to cut out the pretty snow covered cottage, cutting the main house and chimney from SU! Crumbcake cardstock and the roof, door, window frames and top of the chimney from scraps of white card. 

The trees were cut using a Marianne's die and I used a piece of magazine freebie paper for a background as it was pale blue (and sky-like) at the top with a strip of pattern towards the bottom. 

It was at this point that I decided to turn my design into a framed scene so created a frame from a piece of heavier weight card which I covered with a sheet of paper from a Marianne's pack. 

To embellish the frame I used more Marianne's dies to cut out a pine branch, pine cones and twiggy branch.  I dabbed SU! Whisper White ink onto the pine cones whilst they were still in the dies, to add a snowy effect. 

The little fence on the right was also cut using a Marianne's die, as were the holly fronds.  The larger holly leaves and berries were stamped using a Reflections stamp onto kraft coloured cardstock then coloured using ProMarkers before fussy cutting out.  I added Glossy Accents to the berries to give them dimension.

I added Stardust and Frosted Lace Stickles on trees, leaves, pinecones, fence, roof of house etc to add to the snowy scene effect.

Finally I stamped the Clarity 'Happy Christmas' sentiment onto a scrap of Crumbcake cardstock using Raspberry Ripple ink, then cut it out freehand into a pleasing shape before attaching to the frame.  I've had a few chipboard easels in my stash for a while and decided to attach my Winter Scene to one of them.  It's now sitting on my mantelpiece alongside the Twelve Days of Christmas House and Advent Calendar I made recently  I'm sure it'll come out each Christmas for the next few years as one of the decorations. 

Thanks for dropping by, hope you've enjoyed today's project.

It's a Pengie Kinda Day !

Hi there Bloggers, hope you've had a fabby and creative weekend - will you be joining the expected Mega Monday Online Shopping Frenzy ?  Or have you got all your shopping finished and are ready for the Big Day ?  Me ?  I've done some shopping online over the past couple of weeks and just have a few more things to get, but all of the gifts to wrap yet.

Today's project is another Christmas card, I'm going to enter this one for the current Rudolph Day challenge over on the Craftbubble II(and a half) Forum.  The theme this month is 'Festive Animals' - I think my Pengie can be described as a festive animal with his Santa hat and candy cane, don't you ?

The image is a stamp from Sparkle and Sprinkle in Ruskin, Florida - I picked him up on my recent visit to their store, I just couldn't resist him, despite the fact that I DO NOT NEED any more Christmas stamps !

I coloured him whilst working on my pal Kathy's table of craftiness in Florida on our recent trip over there.  I'm not completely sure but I believe I used a mix of Copics, ProMarkers and Spectrum Noir pens.  He then travelled home with me and was languishing in my box of coloured images just waiting for the perfect card to sit on.

I found this lovely red with white snowflakes card scrap in my box of scrappy card and papers and added some Washi Tape at the sides where the panel was too small for my base card.  I think it lightens the design and looks better than it would if the panel had covered the whole card front. 

I layered the image up on a scrap of SU! Garden Green cardstock and a scrap of lovely gold card which has been in my stash forever !  A length of pretty satin edged organza ribbon tied around and into a bow and a sentiment from Little Claires, stamped with SU! Raspberry Ripple ink, and the design was complete.  As a finishing touch, I added Glossy Accents to his feet/flippers, beak and candy cane, plus Stardust Stickles on his hat band and bobble

It's a fun little card which is fairly flat so should go through the mail for the regular postage cost rather than needing a large letter stamp.

Hope you've enjoyed your visit, do drop by again real soon.