Christmas Lamp

 

Good evening.

Once again, the lovely Beccy at Beccy's Place is running her 'Month of Holiday 

Cards' challenge. This is the 8th year, and runs all of November, with a different 

challenge each day. It is a great way to increase one's stash of Christmas cards, 

and Beccy is very generous with her digi prizes.

A few days ago the challenge was to create a card using up some of the 

pile of 'scraps' we crafters tend to accumulate. I decided to use scraps 

of 3 different papers from a 12 x 12 stack I bought 'yonks' ago. I also

used a cute little scalloped punch which I have also had for 

'yonks' and have only used twice...MY BAD!

It took me ages to carefully align the squares, so my finished base

would be perfect rectangle, but in the end I was quite happy

with the result.

A close up of the beautiful image, one of Beccy's, which was a joy to

colour with (as usual) my Promarkers.

My greeting is from a sheet of mixed font greetings.

  The matt and font are very shiny gold, although they look black.

Challenges I would like to enter:-

Beccy's Place - Day 18 'Scraps'

Colour Crazy #46 - Anything Goes (must be hand coloured)

I Love Promarkers #423 - Anything Goes (with option of 3 layers)

Stinkin' Inkers - Quilting  SPECIAL AWARD

Try It On Tuesday - Traditional Christmas Colours

Image - Beccy's Place 'Christmas Lamp'

Colouring - Promarkers

Dies - Spellbinders Floral Ovals; Classic Ovals

Punch - X-Cut Small Scalloped Square

Paper - Franchville 12 x 12 Stack Christmas Basics

Greeting - Art Stamps Australia

I must be off to bed as we have a big day planned tomorrow, entertaining visitors we have not seen since last Christmas.

Please stay safe in these difficult times, and until next time, thank you for visiting.

Hugs,

Jennifer.  xx

Santa Again

I had a lovely day today, my birthday. John took me to a beautiful

restaurant only about 5 minutes drive away. It is on the waterfront,

literally. It is built over the water, and has its own mini-marina, so

boat owners actually moor right alongside, then just walk a few

metres into the restaurant. 

Our darling kitty also celebrated his birthday today - 15 years old, 

and still very active. We don't know his actual birthdate, but it was

around Christmas, so I decided to let him share my birthday.

This is another of the cards I made using purchased Christmas cards which I 

then cut down (see previous post). The originals were very large cards, so 

I just used a portion of the image.

I sponged the poinsettias with Aged Mahogany distress ink, and the

foliage, twigs, and the DSP with Gathered Twigs distress ink. The

stamens are coloured with alcohol ink. I created the veins in the 

leaves with a small ball tool.

The greeting was on the inside of the original card.

Image - Cut from a purchased Christmas card

Paper - First Edition Christmas Village (I think)

Dies - Memory Box Woodland Branch; Marianne Poinsettia; X-Cut Leaf Strip; Tim Holtz Holiday Greens

There is less than half an hour of my birthday left, so I will bid you all good night.

Until next time, thank you for visiting,

Hugs,

Jennifer.  xx

More Candy Canes!

As promised, here is my 2nd card for tonight to let you know about the new challenge

at Crafty Little Fairies, hosted this week by the Pink Fairies. The theme this week is

'CANDY STRIPES'

Thank you to our lovely sponsor, who this week is

I decided to create an easel card for a change, and used this adorable mouse

as the focal point in my little scene on the ski slopes. I found this little cutie on

a freebie site, called Raising Our Kids...there are some 

truly amazing digi images there.

As usual I coloured my image with Promarkers.

A side-on view. The 'snow-drifts' are just torn pieces of card stock,

edged with Stickles. I also put Stickles on the die-cut and punched

trees, the punched snowflakes, and to represent falling snow.

The easel card fully opened.

Challenges

Cutie Pie #58 - 'Cute Scenes and Backgrounds'
Digi Makeover #117 - 'Snow Fun'
I love Promarkers #197 - 'For A Child'
Inky Impressions #137 - 'Winter or Snow'
Whoopsi Daisy - 'Christmas Using traditional Colours'

Until next time, happy crafting, and thank you for visiting,
Hugs,
Jennifer. x

Gardening Bear

Hello fellow crafters,
Greetings on a very cold Sunday night. We are never happy are we - after months of complaining about too much rain here in the Hunter Valley, we are all now complaining that we need some rain desperately.

I have spent most of the weekend catching up the washing, and making the invitations for our 40th wedding anniversary in 6 weeks.  We have invited 22 friends to dinner in a restaurant in our nearest town. My dear friend of almost 50 years, Diane (mentioned in my 1st post) is coming from Queensland. She was my Matron of Honour, as I was her chief bridesmaid. That feels like in another lifetime!

Everyone laughs at the size of the bear's feet. They certainly are large, but then he does need to have a good footing when he is walking around his garden, doesn't he. The image on my card has to be one of my all time favourites. It was given to me in a large box of stamps and assorted paper-crafting goodies, by a lovely young lady, Katie, who I have known since she was a toddler. She has moved onto other interests, including 3 beautiful children, and no longer wants to scrap, or make cards. Thank you again Katie!!!

The card is decorated on the inside to co-ordinate with the front.

Side-on view.

 The stamp is an old PSX one - I have lost count of the number of stamps I have by this now sadly non-existent company...they made such excellent quality stamps.

My new Cheery Lynn Victorian Corner Flourish, and Mini Butterfly dies were used for the first time.

I shall enter this in the following challenges...
          The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - In The Garden
          The ABC Challenge - 'P' for Pockets
          An Oldie But A Goodie Challenge - Things with Wings


Until next time...thank you for looking, and happy crafting!

Jennifer. x

Update on little 'Tiger' - he is now home from hospital, and I am thrilled to say that I will be minding him for a couple of hours on Tuesday morning.

Little Birdies

Hello fellow crafters,

Gosh, it's been a week since I last posted. I have been 'under the weather' - don't know what I caught, but I felt as if I had flu, without the snuffles part. Aching all over, zero energy, and just wanted to sleep...in fact for 2 whole days, I did just that, only waking long enough for a shuffle to the bathroom, and a big drink.

I apologise to anybody who has left comments on my posts while I have been unwell, and I have not thanked them personally. I think I have caught up, but would hate to think that I have missed someone unintentionally. As a very new blogger, I was just getting into the swing of things, but after a week off, I have to think hard to remember some of the things I have learned.

Yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday, and luckily I made her card almost 2 weeks ago. She lives in Tasmania, so I had to post it then...I don't know what Australia Post does, but sometimes mail to/from Tassie takes 4 days, and other times it takes almost 2 weeks! When I rang her yesterday morning, it still had not arrived!!!

My SIL does not like fussy things, so I kept her card 'less is more'.

Last year, when I was in London, I bought a packet of these cute little birdy puffy stickers at a tiny shop on Waterloo Station. I think it may have been called Paperchase? To keep my luggage within allowable airline restrictions, I removed most of the packaging from all the craft goodies I bought over there, never dreaming that one day I would have a blog, and need to know the brands of some products.

Unlike most of my cards, I kept the inside VERY 'less is more'.

Via another crafter's blog (Hi Liz) I have just discovered that my card is suitable for this week's Less is More challenge.

I have used this 9 square design in various forms for many years, sometimes using tiny torn squares of my own handmade paper with pressed flowers from my garden; little squares of tiny-patterned fabric cut with pinking shears; and in later years since purchasing my much loved Cuttlebug I have used larger squares, each embossed with a different folder. I borrowed the idea of using the little scalloped punch from Helen, of It's All Fiddle Fart.

Hopefully, I will have a more decorative card to show you tomorrow night, although I don't know if I will have a lot of spare time tomorrow to make one. We have a 3 hr. round trip to Newcastle for an appointment for John to see a specialist, and of course even though we get there on time, there is usually a long wait.

Cardstock - Bazzill, silver mirror card

Paper - unknown

Puffy stickers - ?Paperchase

Sentiment - computer generated - font 'Bradley Hand'

Punches - X-Cut by DoCraft 1.25" scalloped, EK Success scalloped corner punch

It's good to be back...thank you for looking...happy crafting.

Jennifer. x