A last minute Christmas card for the CAS Christmas challenge ..........

Happy Wednesday .........

How's your week going?  

February is almost done, less than a week and we're into March!!  Not sure I'm ready for it this year ...... it's my birthday month and it's a really BIG one!!!!!!   What's the saying ......... the more candles the bigger the cake.  It's going to have to be a BIG cake!!!!

Anyway, we're still in Ferbruary, and I'm playing along with the CAS Christmas challenge again ...... yes I've managed to sneak in another Christmas card!

Really quick and easy, and hardly any colouring required.  It's one layer too. so great for posting!

The theme this month is  ...... Winter Scene

The snow we had last weekend got me thinking about snowmen so that was where I started. 

I stamped this jolly little fellow straight onto my card base.  He's a really old Inkadinkadoo wooden stamp, so no MISTI but he always stamps beautifully so it wasn't a problem.  

I then added a touch of colour to him and his little friend using ZIG Markers

I created a mask with a piece of copier paper for the hillside and with that in place I stamped the trees in the background

I drew in the tree line with a black fine liner, added a touch of sparkle with some fine crystal glitter, and finished off with a stamped sentiment (that I did use the MISTI for ...... I didn't want to mess it up and have to do it all again!)

The snow we had didn't stick around very long, it never does here.  We didn't get chance to build a snowman.  

Thankfully though, the storms seem to have passed ...... for now!  It's still cold and a bit breezy though, but at least the sun is shining.  Mind you, it is half term here on the island, so we should have know the weather wouldn't be great this week!! 

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

Cheerio until next time .......

   

Supplies

Stamps: Snowman stamp from Inkadinkadoo;  Trees - Clarity; Sentiment was a freebie from a Craft magazine

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz for the sentiment

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Black fine liner pen; Quickie Glue Pen; Fine crystal glitter; Piece of copier paper to make the hillside mask

A Christmas card for a windy Wednesday ........

Happy Wednesday .........

Everyone OK? ........ I do hope so.  

We're hurtling towards the weekend again ...... at least the diary is clear for this one!  

I'm playing along with the CAS Christmas Challenge today ........  I'm still trying to make a start on filling up the festive card box!

The challenge this month is to create Winter Scenes ........ 

I just love die cuts for quick and easy cards.  This is from an old Stampin Up! die set which I think is called Hometown Greetings (not sure if its still available though)

I simply die cut the houses from white cardstock, and then added colour to just the tree using Distress Ink and a ZIG marker

Using Distress Inks, I then inked the top half of another piece of white cardstock.   To create the look of  a wintry sky I splattered the ink with clean water, let it sit for a few seconds to active the Distress Ink, then mopped up the water with a paper towel, removing some of the ink with it leaving this splattered look behind ........ giving the look of falling snow

A stamped sentiment underneath, and a touch of glitter on the tree finishes off my card.

It's it bit wintry outside today.  We're just about to batten down the hatches again as we've got back to back storms coming in over the next few days.  No ferries again today, as storm Dudley is beginning to blow a hoolie out there ...... it's freezing cold with the wind but the sun is shining ..... for now!!

  

This poor chap has managed to find a sheltered spot in the garden.   He comes in quite often and just wanders across the lawn.  He's being a bit careful today though, the wind is ruffling his feathers just a little bit!

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

If the weather's bad where you are, stay safe.

Cheerio until next time ......

Supplies:

Dies: Hometown Greetings (Stampin Up!)

Stamps: Christmas Time 3 (Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous);  A Winter's Scene (Julie Hickey)

Inks: Distress Inks - Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire (for the sky) & Peeled Paint for the tree; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz

Others: Brown ZIG Marker (for the tree trunk); Fine Crystal glitter

More Silver and Gold for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge .......

Welcome to the weekend! .......

This one is going to be pretty much like last weekend ..... more birthday celebrations!  I told you January was a busy month!

It's been a busy week too ..... most of it spent in the craft room, working with a new release coming soon, from Sweet Poppy Stencils.  New stencil designs and new stamp sets ...... you're going to love it! I'll be back with lots more details on that soon.

I did make time to play along at CAS Christmas again, before the challenge closes on the 24th  ....... well, all my festive stamps are still to hand so it would be a shame not to use them!

The theme is Silver and Gold ....... I love this combination!  Perfect for all sorts of cards, but works so well for festive designs ...... not easy to photograph though!!

I used the pretty Christmas Circlet from Penny Black ....... stamped and heat emobssed in gold, slightly off the edge of my card.

I then used a sparkly silver gel pen to colour in the leaves on the wreath, and Paperartsy's Gold paint for the berries ..... so pretty

A few gold paint splatters ....... to use up the paint ........ and a simple Christmas sentiment stamped in gold, inside the wreath to finish off.  

So clean and simple but very elegant I think ........ will definitely be making more!

Here's another very quick and easy card, and about as CAS as you can get .......

Stamped in silver and gold inks, and a tiny die cut star on the top ...... done!

Again, another one perfect for batch making!

More birthday celebrations this weekend, it's Chris's turn on Monday.  Won't be quite as busy as last weekend ......... this one was 30!!!!

There was lots of food and wine ...... dry Janaury was put on hold for the weekend!

At least I didn't have to cook .......

Things were a little quieter on her actual birthday .......  a meal out at our favourite place.

My little girl is growing up!!

Thanks for popping by ..... I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Cheerio until next time .......

Supplies

Stamps: Christmas Circlet (Penny Black); Berry Sprays (Woodware) for the Merry Christmas sentiment; Eclectica stamp set ELB10 - Lin Brown (PaperArtsy) for the tree;  Scribbly Christmas (Tim Holtz) for the Season;s Greetings 

Inks: Versamark; Gelicata Metallic ink - Golden Glitz, Silvery Shimmer

Others: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); Sparkly Silver gel pen; Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Gold (PaperArtsy); 

Starting early .........

Happy Thursday .........

Here we go again ....... New Years resolutions and all that!  Have you made any?  

The diet starts tomorow ........

I'm not going to leave my Christmas cards to the last minute this year ........

I'm going to get fitter ........ 

I'm making my Christmas cards early this year ........

I'm not going to buy any new craft supplies until I've used up some of what I've already got ......

HaHaHa!!!! .......... as if that's going to happen!  Not a chance.

I have made a Christmas card though ..... whoo hoo!!

Only because I'm playing along with the CAS Christmas Card Challenge.  

It's the perfect excuse to make a start on filling up the festive box again.

The first challenge theme of the year is ....... Silver and Gold 

All the decorations have been put away, apart from the ones still on my craft desk ..... the stamp variety!

This was really quick and easy to do. I used the Merry Christmas Color Layering set from Hero Arts.

I used the bold words from the set to create the bauble ...... stamped on black cardstock, and heat embossed with WOW's silver and gold embossing powders

I added a few silver and gold ink splatters to the background, and finished off with a bow made from a piece of gold thread.

Well that's the first one for the festive box done!

I haven't actually made any New Years resolutions this year, except I'm trying to have ..... I won't say completely alcohol free January because it is Lauren's 30th birthday on the 17th, so there will be a few celebrations then but, other than that, I'm going for a dry(ish) month!

I did make this though ........ again in silver and gold but it's not really a Christmas card.

I used some of that stash that's been mounting up in the craft room ...... you know, the stamps we have to have then when we have them we don't use them ........ yes those!

Heat embossed and splattered as before, with a little touch of silver gel pen

I'm going to link this up to Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Hmmm ...... maybe that's something else I should try each month ...... use something from the NBUS pile.   I'll kep you posted on that one.

Somerthing I hadn't planned for in the New Year was this .......

Yep! It's finally got me!  Hubby too.  He was first on Dec 30th (luckily we had nothing major planned for New Years Eve), and then me on Jan 3rd. 

We're both double jabbed and boostered thankfully, so it's not too bad.  I feel like I've got a bad cold, and I'm easily tired but other than that I'm fine  .......... it has taken me three days to get the Christmas trees and decorations down and away though!!!  

Hubby's not too bad either, he's actually working, from home of course.

We're currently in our 10 day isolation period.  Think I'll spend mine in my craft room.

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day and stay safe!

Cheerio until next time .......

Supplies:

Stamps: Merry Christmas Color Layering stamp set (Hero Arts); Happy New Year Clear stamp set (Whimsy Stamps)

Inks: Versamark ink;  Delicata Golden Glitz and Silvery Shimmer inks

Other: Gold and Silver embossing powders (WOW!); Gold thread; Silver Metallic Gel Pen  

Grey and Red for the CAS Christmas challenge ........

Happy Wednesday ........

It's the middle of a very wet and windy week here on the Isle of Man ..... not very nice at all.  It's definitely weather for staying warm and cosy at home ...... time to get the winter woollies out I think!

There's still quite a festive feel going on in the craft room after World Cardmaking Day at the beginning of the month (which reminds me, I must share the rest of my cards with you!)

My favourite festive stamps are out, there's glitter everywhere, and oooh, there's some new Christmas stamps appeared in there too ....... I wonder how that happened!!  Now I just need to decide what to do with them.

There's already a few cards in the festive stash, thanks to the CAS Christmas Challenge, and I'm playing along with another one this month

It's a colour challenge for October ...... Gray and Red

As I said, I do have some new stamps to play with but, I have to use this little guy at least once every year ......

Stamped in grey Versafine Clair ink, and coloured with a red ZIG Marker, this really was so quick and easy ...... one layer too, so great for popping in the post!

The sentiment was stamped in red, and I added a few snowflakes for a litle extra detail

A touch of sparkle to finish with some fine crystal glitter, and we're all done! Told you it was quick and easy.

Speaking of the festive season, the local garden centre is launching it's Christmas Display this evening ..... yes it's that time of year again! 

We'll be popping in later to have a look.  Well, I have new space to decorate this year, I need some 

ideas.  And, there's always room for a pretty new bauble, or two, on the tree!

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

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

Stamps: Snowman - a really old (but well loved) Inkadinkadoo wooden stamp (97347-LL); Sentiment - Wonderful Christmas (Inkylicious); Snowflakes are from an old StampinUp! set

Inks: Versafine Clair - Morning Mist; Versafine - Crimson Red

Other: Red ZIG Clean Colour Brush Marker; Fine crystal glitter; Quickie Glue Pen

We have internet again!!!!!!! ........

Happy Thursday ......

And what a happy day it is too!  We have internet, finally ........ whoo hoo!!!!!

It's been a real struggle without it ...... and a flippin' struggle to get it sorted!  

We've been with the same telecom company since we came to the island (that's over 10 years ago now ..... time flies!) and we have never had any problems before.  This time however, it's been one thing after another.  In the end hubby wrote a letter of complaint and voila! ......... things are now sorted.  

Hubby's happy, I'm happy and little man is extremely happy.  No more hot spotting, and fighting for the 4G signal.  We have Alexa again, and my printer is now happy that it's back on the wi-fi.  And, we don't have to watch Netflix and Amazon in 24 parts because the signal is buffering ....... it's great to be online again!

Hopefully things should get back to normal here on the blog too. We are going away for a few days so it will be a bit of a slow start craft wise, but we'll get there.

I'm playing along with the CAS Christmas Challenge again today ..... the big day will be here before we know it!

The theme is Decorations.

I love decorating the house for Christmas, and this year is going to be fun, finding new places for all my festive favourites.  You never know, I might be able to squeeze in a few new ones too! 

These little guys look busy.

Clean and simple, and quick and easy ..... perfect for all those Christmas cards.

I started with the sentiment, stamped in gold, directly onto my card base

I then stamped hedgie, three times over the top ........ I did use the MISTI to make sure I got the positioning right

I used my ZIG markers to watercolour each of the images ......

and added in a touch of metallic ink for a little festive shimmer.

I couldn't resist finishing off with a touch of sparkle here and there.

Well that's another card for the festive box done ..... now I just need top remember where I've put the box!!!

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

Time for a coffee and a little web browsing I think ..... I've some catching up to do!!

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

Stamps: Holly Day Critters (Penny Black)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Clear Startdust Gel Pen, Quickie Glue pen; Fine crystal glitter

It's Friday!!!!!!! ...........

Hello there ...... Happy Friday!!

I hope you've had a nice week. 

Mine's been all about packing boxes (OMG!  we have so much stuff!!), cleaning windows (we have a lot of those too!), emptying cupboards, and having a right old sort out.

I did find time to have a quick play with a gorgeous new embossing folder that has found it's way into my craft room (ooooh! .......fancy that!). 

I just couldn't resist running this through the Big Shot before it got packed away ......

How pretty does that look ...... perfect for quick and easy Christmas cards.

It's the new Poinsettia from the Slimline Collection of 3D embossing folders from Lisa Horton Crafts.  It also comes with a matching die to cut out the large centre flower, so that you can make it even more dimensional.

I've just used the embossing folder, run it through my machine using regular white cardstock ..... it's so pretty and detailed and doesn't really need anything else but,  I decided to add a touch of gold ink to bring out all the amazing detail on there. 

I simply took the ink pad and rubbed it gently over the top.

I added a simple die cut and a stamped sentiment and finished with a few gemstones. 

It says it's a slimline embossing folder but that doesn't mean you have to make slimline cards.  

My go to card size is 7x5 inches ........

 

I simply cut the embossed panel to fit my card, and the leftover piece I used to make a matching gift tag! 

I'm linking my card up to this month's challenge at  CAS Christmas Cards.  The theme is all about Poinsettias so perfect timing!

The last week or so hasn't all been about packing for the move, since we last spoke we've had hubby's birthday ...... a lovely meal out at our favourite place

Bumped into these guys on the way home .......

Then a rather fishy BBQ on Sunday ....... 2 whole turbot stuffed with parsley, dill, lemon, lime and orange ....... they were sooooo nice!

A monkfish tail stuffed with green pesto and wrapped in Parma ham ...... yummmeeee!

And  Asian spiced Brill ........ mmmm!

Lauren prepped the lot and hubby cooked!

Then of course there was THE match ...... we won't talk about that.  Great start, not so great result. 

 

We pick up the keys to our new place today so it's going to be a busy weekend. 

Thanks for popping by ....... have a lovely day, and enjoy your weekend.  

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Embossing Folder:  3D embossing folder - Poinsettia (Lisa Horton Crafts)

Inks: Delicata Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment stamping)

Other: Ink Me white cardstock (Hunkydory); Sizzix Alterations Thinlit Die (Tim Holtz); Red Glitter cardstock; tiny gold gemstones