12 days until Christmas ........

Happy Monday! ........

Well, that's my booster jab all done and dusted before Christmas.  Lets hope it's like the other two ...... no nasty side effects! 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I can't believe there's only one more before the big day ....... are you ready for it?  We did make a start on the all important Christmas gravy yesterday.  Bless Jamie Oliver for his delicious Get Ahead Gravy base ..... works a treat every year!

I've got some more Christmas cards to share with you today ....... batch making is a wonderful thing!

Here's that new die again, told you I would be using it a lot .........

Same card, just added a change of colour to the die cut sentiment.

The bunch of mistletoe is from a Julie Hickey stamp set called Under the Mistletoe ........ it fits perfectly on these 7x5inch cards.

I stamped and heat embossed in Platinum onto black cardstock, and then used pearlescent paints to colour it in

A few splatters of white paint onto the backgrounds and then I added the die cut sentiment ....... simple!

The gold one above is just coloured with Delicata Golden Glitz ink, applied direct from the ink pad.

The red and green versions were coloured with inks and then heat embossed with a sparkly clear embossing powder

And the white one was just glittered ....... so quick and easy.  The only thing that took the time was painting the mistletoe!

Here's another easy design, this time with an embossing folder ......... I'm loving black cardstock at the moment!

This embossing folder is ......... Holiday Greenery from Simon Says Stamp.  I've simply run it through the Big Shot with a piece of black cardstock.  I then used various inkpads (metallic) to add the colours, gently swiping each one over the top of the raised areas.

A little bit of mat and layering to frame the piece, and to finish I added a touch of Tim Holtz's Clear Rock Candy Glitter to highlight pieces of the greenery and of course, added my favourite die cut sentiment, cut twice, one coloured (Delicata Ruby Red metallic ink), one not, and then layered to give a shadowed look

Really easy cards ......... which is great if you've left things a little late like I have,  I love how they've turned out though.  

Wouldn't this make a great Christmas card ...........  can you believe Arthur's 3 month's old today!

and these are just a couple of photos from his first photoshoot ...... cute or what!

First family photo 💖

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.  

Time for a coffe and a mince pie I think

Cheerio until next time .......

Time for a twofer ........

Happy Tuesday .......

Well .... the To Do list is done! The craft related one is anyway ..... the one for the house move well, that's just getting longer everyday.  Like the shopping list for all the new craft releases .... but that's another story!

At least now that all my craft projects are done for next month I can concentrate on packing all my craft stash away (eeeek!!).  I even managed a little play time yesterday ..... and, made a birthday card for Chris.  He's 28 tomorrow!!

I've been wanting to play along with Darnell's brand new Blog Challenge .... the Twofer Card Challenge

You have to make two different cards, for two different occasions using the same stamps and/or dies, and follow the challenge theme.   Sounds easy enough .... who am I kidding!!  Sometimes I have trouble making the one card, never mind two!!
Anyhow .... here they are

Using the Clarity feather stamp ...... one for a birthday or a 'just because' card

and one sympathy card ....... not something I always have in my stash and unfortunately I needed one yesterday

Very clean and simple .... the feather was stamped onto black card using Versamark ink, and then I brushed over the top with Perfect Pearl Mica Powder. 

A simple sentiment stamped onto a piece of white card across the bottom ......

and the feather stamped on the inside for the finishing touch

My twofer sees the same feather stamp used to create the background ..... stamped in different colours of ink

I added my sentiment on a strip of white card across the centre

A few splatters of gold and silver ink .....

and the little JOFY birdie to finish off .....

He's been stamped, coloured with ZIG markers and fussy cut, and then attached onto the front with a little piece of folded acetate.  This acts like a spring and the bird actually moves about .... he's so cute!

Again I stamped the feather on the inside ....

The challenge has been running for two weeks and closes tomorrow so I'm a little bit on the last minute .... will try and do better for the next one!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
A quick trip to the post office with a box of DT samples to send on their way then it's full steam ahead with some packing.  Only 3 more sleeps until we get the keys ..... not sure if I'm looking forard to it or not!

Cheerio until next time .....

What a weekend! .......

Happy Tuesday .....

Well ... this week is flying by, which is great because hubby and I are off on holiday on Sunday .... whoo hoo!!!
We're off to Croatia, and Slovenia ...... we've never been before so we're really looking forward to it.
But it also means that I haven't got much time to spare this week ...... it's full steam ahead in the old craft room, getting everything ready for the beginning of next month.  Or at least that's what it should be ........ yesterday was the bank, haircut, trip into town with Lauren .... and guess what .... I didn't buy anything (there's a first time for everything!)

I'm off out again today ...... then the little man is here after school so, I guess Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ...... you'll know where to find me!  Let's hope Mr Mojo hasn't set off for Croatia early!!

The workshop at the weekend was fab .... the table was full and we had three new faces. The theme was, by request, Black Cardstock.

It's not everyone's favourite I know.  Some use it just for matting and layering which is great, black card creates the perfect frame, and really makes your designs pop. But, it's nice to use in other ways too. Here's a few ideas that we played around with ......

Keep things CAS, with an elegant look ........

No need for extra colour ...... let your stamped images do the work

Keep the sentiments simple too ......

If you want to add colour try using pearlescent paints .......

These were done with Starlight Paints from Imagination Crafts.  I used a beautiful white ....

And a pretty pink .....

Add colour in a different way .... by stamping on to white card and then using pens or inks/paints to colour and then fussy cutting to create a pretty embellishment ......

Use the same image to create the background ..... simply stamped and heat embossed

Then add the pop of colour on the top .....

Finally ..... something I don't do very often ...... smaller cards

These are 6x4 inches and so cute.
And yes ...... something else you don't see me use a lot of ...... mirri card!

 
I spotted this pretty design on Pinterest ..... so I can't take the credit for this. I think it was originally on the Papertrey Ink Blog.  I've just added my own little touch to it .......
I stamped and clear embossed the image inside the frame as well, to give a bit more interest to the background ...... I love the look of clear embossing on black card, it's so delicate and looks elegant

Tiny cute sentiments and a little bit of ribbon to finish off .......

The only thing I don't like about Black cardstock is ...... it's hard to photograph, especially when there's shine or sparkle on there!!!

Not only was it a great workshop weekend ...... hubby and I had a fab time at the Food Festival (we always do!)
I got the Christmas pud .... and a Christmas cake ....... and chocolates, fancy coffee, biscuits, delicious steaks, sausages, pies, locally made Chorizo, olive bread and the best BBQ sauce EVER!!!

This was just the first trip down there!!! The wooden sign in the background was for hubby ....

As always the event was a great success ..... and the weather held out over the weekend too!  Roll on next year.

Before I go I just want to say a HUGE Thank You to one of my Blog friends .... you know who you are!  I got the biggest surprise on Saturday morning when these little beauties arrived ........ aren't they soooo pretty! I love them!

And then ........ the perfect thing came along to try them out .....

Thank you Carol .... you know me so well!!
I have the best friends ever!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ....