Construction ....

.... time again!

I haven't made our Christmas cards for three years, twice because Jed designed a card in school and last year because I .... gulp, whisper .... bought them!  So I was quite excited by the prospect of making them again.  Had a design in my head and went about ordering the supplies back at the end of October, they arrived, I put them in a pile in the craftroom and they sat there for a few weeks until last Monday week ago, when I made the first one.  Very nice, very pleased - had a craft club meeting on the Saturday so I figured I would make all the components and make up kits to bring along and I'd get the whole lot put together in one go.  Oh Lord, what a palaver.  I spent the whole week making the kits, then went to the club and got only 20 .... TWENTY .... out of 50 done in the day.

But the story has a happy ending - I got most of the rest done on the Sunday and finished up on the Monday.  The second big job of writing the flippin' things is now also done (yay!).  Here's the product of all that sweat and tears:

The light is terrible, we've been having biblical quantities of rain here in Ireland lately.  The cards are white, not blue!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges: Our Creative Corner ("Wish upon a Star"), Creative Knockouts ("Winter Wonderland"), Moving Along with the Times ("To a Special Someone at Christmas" - all my relatives and friends are special!), ABC Challenge ("W is for Warm Winter Wishes"), Crafty Creations ("Happy Holidays") and Little Red Wagon ("Snow Much Fun").

Here's a side-shot of the card, showing all the layers:

And here are all fifty cards finished.  I always think at this point "Isn't it a shame to split them up"!!!

  Recipe:

Stamp: Hero Arts/Basic Grey "Nordic Holiday"

Dies: MFT "Stitched Mountain Range" and Mama Elephant "Lots of Stars"

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp "Falling Snow"

Font: YorkWhiteLetter dafont.com

Other: Bakers' Twine, texture paste, glossy accents.

Thanks for looking!

Another lovely ....

.... worldwide swap.

The November reveal for Card Chain Challenge is up on Deborah's blog.  This time, I received a card from Gail in Norway and I sent a card to Greta in Oregon (both places I'd like to visit!!).  Here's what I sent to Greta:

I spent some days thinking this one through, I had decided to use the little bird house stamp and the woodgrain paper, but getting it how I wanted took a bit of late-night wrangling!!  I picked lilac and yellow (not colours I normally use), coloured the bird house and stamped the background image, then meh!  Something was missing!  Then I thought about adding some stitching, so picked vibrant yellow thread and I think it just lifts the whole thing.  Here's a close-up of stamping and stitching:

Recipe:
Papers: MME "Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks"

Stamps: Hero Arts "Happy Hello", Hero Arts "Hello Circles", CC Designs "Birdhouse"

Other: Glossy accents, needle & thread

And here's the cute Gorjuss Girl card that Gail sent all the way from Norway - love that glossy black hair:

Thanks for looking, and if you'd like to join in the challenge, the January sign-up opens on 7th December.

One for ....

.... the old man!!  Hee hee, my husband turned 50 a few weeks ago.  How on earth did that happen, I'm sure it's no time at all since he was 40!  We went to a lovely place in Co. Meath with a group of friends last weekend to celebrate, and I was, as usual, up late the night before finishing his card.  Started with some lovely orange paper and a Tim Holtz hot air balloon stamp - but before long realised that the card was beginning to look like a hot air balloon trying to escape from the fiery pits of hell.  Back to the drawing board.  This is what I ended up with:

I'm entering the following challenges: Crafty Cardmakers ("Winter Birthday"), Craft Your Passion ("Anything Goes"), Creative Card Crew ("Sprinkle") and Papertake Weekly ("Let it Snow").

I used a new stencil (that I got for making my Christmas cards) and texture paste, combined with tiny black stars (made with a die that I also got for making Christmas cards - decided it's too much faff to cut out dozens of tiny stars!) covered in glossy accents, tangled up thread in two colours, and some more stars - here's a side view of all the dimension and texture:

Recipe:

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp Stencil "Falling Snow"

Paper: Basic Grey "Urban Prairie"

Die: Mama Elephant "Lots of Stars" 

Fonts: "Impact" and "Bambi Bold" - dafont.com

Other: Texture paste, glossy accents, Basic Grey button, thread

Thanks for looking - now I have to get on to start making the aforementioned Christmas cards - wish me luck!

Cards all around the ....

world!  I've noticed the Card Chain Challenge before, as you might have too, but this was the first time I've gotten organised enough to join. Due to some serious work commitments, our Card Chain Challenge hostess, Deborah, was forced to push the October Reveal back a few days until now.

I got a lovely card from Jo in England.  She sent me this gorgeous cat, with a very funny sentiment.  I love the colouring of the cat's eyes and the cheese.

There are various themes/a sketch/colour combination that the participants can choose to make their card.  I went with the theme of friendship, and my card winged it all the way to Robyn in Australia (very impressed with the postal system, it only took 8 days to get there).  Here's the card I sent to her:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic"

Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Simple Sunflower", Hero Arts

Font: "Throw My Hands up in the Air" - dafont.com

You can take a look at all the other participants cards by visiting Deborah's blog here and if you're tempted to become a link in the January chain (we skip December) you can click here to find out all the details.

Thanks for looking!

Hope you're having a ....

.... spooky evening!  Happy Hallowe'en to those who like it! I do!!

Here's my Hallowe'en mantel - I saw the bat thing on Pinterest, so I made a load of bats and decorated my office door at school the week before half term, then I took them all down and brought them home to do duty here.  I made the skull picture and put it in a nice (and cheap!) gold frame from IKEA.

And here are the pumpkins - Jed decided he was too old this year for trick or treating, but he wouldn't miss the pumpkin carvings.  We did quite easy ones this year as we were under time pressure.  His is Patrick Star from SpongeBob (a repeat from a few years ago) and mine is a sort of moon/skull hybrid.

Will be back tomorrow with a card.

Thanks for looking!

A first for me ....

.... I've made a card for Daisy's boyfriend's birthday!  He's not her first boyfriend by any means, but none of the others was around long enough to get to the giving-a-birthday-card stage!!

So I faffed around with bits of cardstock and stamps and made this:

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday and I'm also entering the following challenges: ABC Challenge ("T is for Two" - I've got two sprockets, and the number 22!!), Crafty Creations ("Don't be Blue"), Creative Inspirations ("Anything Goes") and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ("Wrap it Up").

I wanted to have some white pops on this card to lift the dark blacks and greens - so I white embossed the edges of the patterned paper and the holes that I had punched, and I attached the large sprocket to the card by sewing it on with white thread.  Here's a closer look:

Recipe:

Paper: Basic Grey "Oxford"

Stamp: Kaisercraft "chevron"

Dies: Spellbinders "Sprightly Sprockets"

Font: Arial Black

Other: White e.p., dymo label maker, white thread

Thanks for looking!

Thinking about ....

.... stars, specifically 3 small shiny red stars, at 6 o'clock in the morning!!

I woke up early this morning (most unusual for me!), and was thinking about the card I made last night.  I thought it was finished, but had a little niggly feeling that there was something missing.  As I tried to get back to sleep at 6am, I decided that three small shiny red stars would be just the thing.  So when I got up, I made them, left them to dry and headed to church, and when I came home I added them to the card.  Anyone else do this?  Or am I the only sad sack?!!!

The card is a thank-you for one of my husband's customers, and here it is:

I'm entering the following challenges: Cas-ual Chic ("Tic-Tac-Toe" - I've gone with stitching, colouring and distressing), Little Red Wagon ("Tags"), The Kraft Journal ("Take your Pick" - I've gone with stamped, tag and die-cut), Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ("Watercolour"), Craft your Passion ("Anything Goes") and Craft Stamper ("Take a Technique" - mine is stitching)

I haven't sewn on a card in ages and ages - it's too time-consuming, but this card needed that pop around the edges.  I used white ink to stencil on the kraft background, stamped and white-embossed the woodgrain and the flower, then coloured the flower with watercolour pencils.  Here's a side-shot:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Nook & Pantry"

Stamps: Hero Arts: "Hello Circles"

Stencil: Tim Holtz "Bubble"

Font: "Shelter Me" - dafont.com

Other: needle + thread, glossy accents, colouring pencils

Do you think the stars look right?

Thanks for looking!