Stamping Day

I'm holding a whole days workshop on Saturday 5th December at Upper Stoke Nr Norwich. We will be making lots of great gifts & cards using Stampin Up products. If you fancy getting away from the Christmas hustle & bustle then just let me know & I will give you more details.

Advent calender

This project is not using Stampin Up products but its what I have been slaving over for the past few days.

When my daughter Amy started school 4yrs ago, one of her teaching assistants was a crafter & she quickly found out I owned a Cricut machine. I was asked that first Christmas if I could cut them some numbers out for their Advent calender, which I willing did.

The next year I was again asked for the numbers as well as a circle for the numbers to go on. By the third year it was now could I design the calender in the shape of a Christmas pudding.

This year Amy has a new teacher fresh out of college so I thought I would not be asked for any involvement but I was SO WRONG. It appears that each new teacher gets briefed of my "artistic" skills so last week I was dully asked to produce the calender for this year but that I could choose the design myself.

As I'm so snowed under with Stampin up parties & trying to organise a Stampin Up crafting day for December, I did not have time to do the images under the numbers so I got the children to design these. As there are 24 children in Amy's class, the teacher wanted all the children to have the opportunity to open at least one day but they have to be good to earn this right. This is why the numbering is slightly odd as it is going to begin on 25th November.

I choose a simple Christmas Tree layout & this is the end result. The teacher & children just love it & cannot wait to start opening up their calender.

Here is a close up of the numbers which have all been embossed using my Cuttlebug & rubbed over with metallic rub ons. I attached the baubles using some Christmas themed brads I had lying around.

Santa is coming to town.......

I wanted to create a scene of the reindeer flying over Santa, so to create the skyline I sponged night of navy before overstamping the reindeer.

To add some sparkle I used a two way glue pen to add Dazzling Diamond glitter to the "snow".

Recipe
Stamps: Sparkly & Bright
Inks: Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Card Stock: Whisper White, Real Red
Paper: Retired hostess set

My girl did good

My darling daughter Amy has been skiing for about a year now & this weekend she took part in the club races.

Now when she takes part in friendly races, she does frustrate my darling husband Daron, as he feels she is not competitive enough but when it comes to competitive racing a whole new side of her comes out & this time she won a silver medal. We are just so proud of her.

Congratulation & more

To celebrate my up, upliner (if that makes sense) achieving a spot in top 10 SU demonstrator in UK I made this card for her.

The glasses image is from Cheers to You set. I initially stamped it on white card & coloured it in but I was not truly happy with the result so I then tried stamping it on Barely Banana instead & used the white gel pen on the glass parts & added 2 small highlights within the "champagne" itself as seen here.

After cutting the image out I added Crystal Effect to make the glasses more glass like.

Recipe

Stamps: Cheers to You #111037 (p33)

Fun & Fast Notes #113500 (p34) - Sentiment

Cardstock: Rose Red, Barely Banana

Paper: Rose Red Designer series

Ink: Basic Grey, Rose Red

Accessories: Crystal Effects # 101055 (p91), Rose Red marker pen, White gel pen #105021 (p91)

Scallop punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch

I liked the layout so much I made this version using the Christmas Jingle set & the Sparkling jumbo wheel.

Recipe
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Old Olive
Paper & Focal image: Christmas Jingle #117371 (p79)
Stamps: Background - Sparkling Jumbo Wheel #116444 (p93)
Sentiment - Punches Three (free level 1 hostess gift) (p11)
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories: Word Window punch #117406 (p89)

Hope you enjoyed these projects & to order anything I've used just email me at anytime. If you are wanting things for a Christmas present give your Wish List to your loved ones & get them to contact me. I will even gift wrap them so you cannot sneak a look.

Get Well Soon

I made this quick card for a friend of mine who has recently has been very ill. I based this card on one I received in a recent swap.

I've used the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set on this card. This stamp set is one of my favourites as I've found it to be so very versatile. I've stamped the flower image several times prior to reinking to give it the faded look & as I wanted my sentiment to be in one straight line rather than 2 lines as it is appears on the original stamp, I used my essential stampers tool - the stamp-a-ma -jig, (what did I do before owning this tool!!!) to position it correctly.

This type of card is great for using up those scraps you have left, as you do not need a whole card for its base, just an C6 card front which you fold in half, as you can see from the picture.

To add dimension to the card I used 3D foam to adhere the pot to the card & I also bent the pot around slightly. The pot comes from Always in My Thoughts stamp set.

Recipe

Stamps - Flower & sentiment -Pocket Silhouettes #111672 (p50)

Pot - Always in my Thoughts #111562 (p37)

Cardstock - Whisper white, Real Red, Not quite Navy

Ink - Not quite Navy, Basic Black

Paper - Rose red designer series

Accessories - Scallop border punch #113654, Stamp-a-ma-jig #101049, Real red 1/4" grosgrain

ribbon #110129, Nestabilities dies (own stash)

In this version I've used the whole image from the Always in my Thoughts set so you can see where the pot came from. The colours I've used this time are Old Olive & Barely Banana

Hope you enjoyed these projects & to order anything I've used just email me at anytime. If you are wanting things for a Christmas present give your Wish List to your loved ones & get them to contact me. I will even gift wrap them so you cannot sneak a look.

Long Service Award

Thought I'd share a picture of myself with you all today. It's of me at a recent ceremony to honour NHS staff for their service & dedication.


Here I am receiving my award for 25 years service in the NHS (I started when I was 2 you know!!!!). It really was a lovely night & I felt very special receiving my certificate & gift vouchers.
My Family also gave me a vase specially engraved to mark the achievement, which I will treasure always.

Decorations & cards

For the craft group I help run I decided to make some decorations for them to have a go at. I have to admit the majority of my efforts were scrapped from here & there.
Here are a few of my efforts:

I also made a couple of cards from a half finished deco.

Recipe:

Stamps: Punches Three (level 1 hostess), Tree Trimmings, Loads of Love. Lovely as a Tree.

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Card: Real Red, Old Olive

Paper:Think its a retired set but if anyone knows for sure can you let me know

Misc: Punches: Scallop square, Scallop oval, Oval

Fine Galaxy Glitter, Brads, Gems

Hope you enjoy & happy crafting

Sketch Challenge

I saw this sketch challenge in a recent crafting magazine & although I have been cardmaking for more years than I care to remember I've never actually done one of these before, so I thought now was the time to change all that.

Here is the sketch:

And here's my interpretation.I've used SU Loads of Love stamp set, unfortunately I do not own the accessory set YET! so I hand drew the driver. So you can now see why I was asked to drop art at school.

The Poinsettia was made using the 5 petal punch & one of the flowers from the Boho Blossom punch. I added some dazzling diamonds to the centre flower. To make the flower 3D I rubbed the petals with an embossing stylus whilst they were laying on a soft surface, in my case a thick soft mouse mat. Here is a closer look.To add to the Christmas look I've added tiny wreaths to the doors & Christmas trees in the windows. Recipe

Stamps: Loads of Love

Cardstock: Real Red

Paper: Christmas Jingle

Misc: 5 Petal punch, Boho Blossom punch, Diamond Dazzling glitter, glue pen, Marker pens

Hope you enjoyed & happy crafting