3 Candles and Some Christmas Scavenging!

Hello

Its been a bit of a gloomy week, weather-worn, but today the sun is shining and the sky is blue.  I'd almost forgotten what a blue sky looked like.
This week I even managed to add a midweek blog post - please scroll down and check out my Jaffa Cake box!

As ever, Friday is Daring Cardmakers Day so here's 

this week's challenge:

It's another Anything Crafty challenge this week, and our theme is
Shining Lights
Please join in and Light up the crafting world with us
We're thinking Stars; Candles, Lanterns, Chandeliers,
Candelabra, Fairy Lights.... 
We'd love to see your cards, tags, bags, boxes, table decor.....any kind of craft project is welcome.

 Visit the Daring Cardmakers Blog to see this week's DT creations

I gave my old Memory Box candle die an outing for this one.  I don't use it often as its so fiddly! 

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I started by using my favourite ever stencil (by The Crafters Workshop), with some Imagination Crafts glitter gel.  I'm not sure what's happened to this company, or even if they still exist - if not then that's a shame, because they created fabulous paints and other crafty goodies.

This lovely stuff dries quite quickly so by the time I'd die cut and built the candles, and cut the basic snowflake base I could get started on the rest.

I used red card saved from last year's Christmas Crackers for the candles, adding another chipboard layer behind for extra dimension.  Next I cut the shape again in red glitter card just for the wax runs.  The little candle flames were cut in gold card, gold glitter card, and the tiny red bits were saved from the step above. 

To give a bit of extra shape to the candles I ran a large ball tool on the reverse of each candle 

The curvy snowflake border die set by Bright Rosa is my favourite new Christmas die purchase this year.  I just keep coming back to it as its so versatile. 

This time I cut the 5 star base section from an embossed gold card (Tonic), and the extra separate snowflakes from various white and gold card types, plus a few in red.

I also added in some extra die cut and punched snowflakes

At the moment I've got a whole bunch of leaves and 'greenery' dies and die cuts out on my desk, so I thought I'd add some of those into the mix - I like the splash of green, it seems to lift the whole wreath.

For the holly berries I used a few different dies and a mix of cracker scavenged card and glitter card, plus some red half pearls and some red gems too.

To finish I tied gold twine around the top and made the gold tassel to hang from it.  I made a banner for the sentiment and glued it over the joins!

 That's all for today, I hope you like it. 
I would love to know what you save from things like packaging to use on your crafting projects - crackers are my favourite to scavenge from - the card itself is usually lovely and there's often ribbon and berries etc tied around them too.  My OH thinks I'm mad when I go through the cracker rubbish, but hey, why wouldn't you?

Thank you so much for visiting, I really appreciate your messages.  Hope you have a great weekend

Happy Crafting!

 

It All Popped Out!

Hello

I'm still trying (and to be fair, largely failing) to catch up on blogging some things I've made over the last month or two and failed to share on here.

This time it's the card I made a few weeks ago for my cousin's birthday.  He loves Jaffa Cakes and for him, one box is never enough...... so I made his card a special 'box' stuffed with them!

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Firstly I made the pop up box-card using Bazzill card, echoing the colours of the Jaffa Cakes boxes.

I hunted out suitable images on the internet and after a bit of resizing I printed them out onto glossy photo paper (to get that shiny chocolate effect) and glued them onto scraps of brown card.

Next I cut out parts of the images and arranged them on to the hinges of the card.  Some were glued directly onto the hinges, front and back pieces, others were attached first to pieces of card so that they would stand higher, or at different angles.

It's important to keep folding the box flat to check that most of the pieces can't be seen when the card is closed. 

This photo shows the card closed up and ready to go in the envelope

I kept the outside simple, just using coloured squares.  The band that keeps it closed is a strip of card wrapped around to fit closely enough not to fall off of its own accord, but loose enough to be easy to remove.  I die cut matching stars to decorate it, along with a banner and the sentiment cut a bit like the wording on the Jaffa Cakes box

I had fun making this, knowing that my cousin would like it, and knowing that he'd open it then shake his head thinking: "She's got way too much time on her hands.  She's completely mad!".  Part of the fun is knowing that he'll open the envelope thinking "Okay, lets see what's she done this time"

Anyway, that's my lot for today, thanks for visiting, leave a comment and I'll pop over to visit your blog asap!

Happy Crafting!

Natural, Gold and White

Hello

I hope you've had a great week.  So much for being a better blogger - it got to yesterday afternoon and I realised that contrary to my good intentions I'd not managed ablog post since last Friday. 

How's the Cword shopping going? Hopefully better than mine....

At least I've managed a few Cword cards this week, though not as many as I'd hoped.  

As ever, Friday is Daring Cardmakers Day so here's 

this week's challenge:

Natural, Gold and White
This week 'Anything Goes' and its a Colour Palette challenge
So, feel free to share any kind of craft project you
 fancy making, but with the beautiful
Natural, Gold and White colour palette, please!

 Visit the Daring Cardmakers  Blog to see this week's DT creations

I made a gift box and then, inspired by seeing some of the things the rest of the DT were making, I thought I'd make a card too.  I went on to make more cards, but as I sneaked a tiny bit of red onto those ones I'll share them another day

Infor

The ribbed Kraft cardstock I used for my box came from PDA Woodward 

The box die is by Spellbinders.  Its one of their steel rule dies and cut really well, I've had the die for ages, but shame on me, I've not used it till now. Whil;e the pieces were still flat I gut the snowflake aperture in all 4 sides and glued gold glitter card behind each face.

 My problem came when trying to tuck the flaps through the slots to close up the base  of the box - I just couldn't get them to fit in and sit neatly.  Maybe because this card is quite a thick one, I should try again with a Bazzill type card.  In the end I cut a square of scrap card and glued it to the base rather than throw it across the room in frustration!

I used my current favourite die set, the snowflakes set from Bright Rosa to add different gold and white snowflakes in the apertures.  I sealed the box with white satin ribbon, then made some snowflake streamers to hang from the bow.  Just more snowflakes, plus a couple of stars, glued back to back with gold twine between the layers.

Card Info

From the leftover Kraft I cut a strip to fit across the white card blank

For the tree I used a top layer of white glitter card and a lower layer of gold mirror card using an old Memory Box die.  I didn't want the tiny insert pieces to come out of the gold layer, so I kept them in place with some clear tape before removing the shape from the die.  I glued the layers together, offsetting slightly so the gold shows down the side as well as through the holes.

Yo finish I cut a gold pot shape, added a box on top, then decorated the tree with a variety of gold stars.  The JOY letters are from another Memory Box die set from a few years ago

 That's all for today, thank you so much for visiting, I really appreciate your messages.  Hope you have a great weekend

 

Happy Crafting!

 

 

 

 

I'm (not) Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hello!

How's it going in your world? 
At the end of last week we had a few days over in Southwold.  The flat has now had the best part of two letting years, but we've obviously had a lot of very careful guests staying there as there were only a couple of small maintenance jobs to do!  So apart from those and sorting out what supplies we needed to stock up for our lovely Housekeeper we were able to enjoy being by the seaside.  We reckon that "the sun always shines in Southwold" and although we did have one very rainy day, the sun came out for the rest of the time - how lucky was that for a November when half the country was being deluged and flood warnings were all over the place?
Walks along the pier and prom were enjoyed!

Over at the Daring Cardmakers the 'Have a Very Crafty Christmas' season of challenges continues and this week it's a 'Just Cards' challenge 
Christmas Songs and Carols
choose any Christmas Song or Carol as the inspiration for making your card. If you want to add a twist by making it a non-Christmas card then go for it! We’d love to see how you manage that! 

Visit the Daring Cardmakers blog to see what our designers have made

I wanted to use Bing Crosby's  "White Christmas" as the song for my card. The plan was to incorporate the eclipse idea and use some lovely sheet music paper from a digital collection I bought with this challenge in mind.  However that didn't quite work as I'd hoped, so I started over with a simplified plan. 
And then, even worse, I discovered that the 'A' from my much used and much loved Spellbinders alphabet set has gone missing.  I could cry! 😭😭😭

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Using a sheet of Bazzill Diamond White card, and unable to find the letter 'A' die, I resorted to cutting the CHRISTMAS letters out using my Silhouette Cameo.  Admittedly, cutting them all again 4 times in red card was a lot quicker on the Silhouette than it would have been with dies!

I cut down the white layer to fit the large card blank I'd made and glued it in place.  Once the letters were all layered up I added those in the gaps left.

Next I cut lots of Christmas trees using an old Sue Wilson set of dies and white glitter card.  I also cut them in plain white card several times so that I could layer them up and get lots of definition.

I arranged them on the card, keeping 4 back for the front layer.  These were then matted onto bits of chipboard before I added them to the card.

I added punched stars in a silvery white glitter card.

To pull it all together I added more red highlights with some shiny snowflakes and a piece of red eyelash fibre I found while I was looking for something else. 

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Sunny Southwold 

  

  Thanks for looking in today, please leave a message - I'll be sure to return the favour if your do 😊

Happy Crafting!

Soft Focus

Hello

Okay, it's time to give myself a good shake and stop feeling sorry for myself!  I can't do anything about the horrible Autumn Glooms and I've wallowed long enough - time to put it out of my mind and focus on something else.  Christmas is coming and all the glittery, shiny stuff it brings should help, shouldn't it?

First job is to catch up on blogging some things I've made over the last month or so, starting with a birthday card I made a few weeks back.  I had such a fun time making this one!

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I used a gorgeous Digital Download paper from OhLaChic set by Fox Digitals' LoveJunkJournals, via Etsy. I adore the soft colours and subtle designs.
I knew I wanted to make an eclipse card, and with the vintage mannequin design in the corner, and other collage style elements this paper makes a perfect backdrop.

I resized it to fit my card before printing onto textured Bazzill white card, then die cut the 'HAPPY' letters before adhering the paper to my card.
Next I die cut the letters 3 more times from plain blue-grey card and added the top layer of the patterned paper letters. These were then glued into their spaces on the card.

The flowers are made from matching pink, blue and grey cardstock, with stamens added to some.
Gold card was used to die cut some swirls, the body for the butterfly and the 'Birthday' word

The flowers were arranged in the corners with the leafy swirls tucked beneath

The butterfly was die cut from a second printout piece of the same paper.and layered over the butterfly that is on the paper design

To finish and pull the whole thing together I wrapped gold twine around the top of the card and tied a double bow 

I really love making cards like this, especially when the design on the paper and all the 'smudgy' colours make such a fabulously inspiring backdrop for adding all the extra bits and pieces.  
And of course, I love making little paper flowers and adding swirly elements to show them off.

Anyway, that's my lot for today, thanks for visiting, leave a comment and I'll pop over to visit your blog asap! In fact I'm off now to do some blog-hopping 
which I've also neglected recently.

Happy Crafting!

  

Baubles and Bows Gift Bag

 

Hello!

Even though I've still not come to terms with the short days and long dark evenings, I am trying to be more positive and having a bit of fun by doing lots of Christmas crafting.  In fact, I think I may be doing ok with Christmas card making for once and there's enough for them to graduate to being kept in a box, instead of a wobbly pile.

Over at the Daring Cardmakers we're into the second week of
 our seasonal calendar;

Have a Very Crafty Christmas

its a mix of card challenges and others where you can share any kind of crafting project on our given themes, so tags, bags, boxes or anything else you make.

This week is an 'Anything Goes' challenge and the theme is 

Baubles and Bows

So, feel free to share any kind of craft project, but it must feature 
Baubles and Bows, please

See what the DT have been busy with this week HERE

As I needed to get one Christmas gift ready really early, I thought this challenge would be perfect for making and decorating a gift bag to put it in.

I used digital downloads to print all the papers I've used for this.  The bag is a variation on a simp[le to make design I've used countless times.  I changed it a bit by creating a flap-over closure, which made the perfect place to add the giant paper bow, with a couple of silver baubles hanging down from the tie holes.

 

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I chose the wreath, the greenery and the snowflakes to use on my card.

I started by resizing and printing some digital designs from 'Karamila' (via Etsy), onto sheets of A4 Bazzill white card.  I printed on both sides of the sheets for the bow.
For the bow I used a large die set by Simply Made Crafts.  The shape of the bow wasn't what \I wanted for this project so I altered it so that the large loops sat more on top of each other.
 I used a very old Spellbinders die set to cut the Baubles from silver card and attached silver thread between the layers so that I could tie them on later.

The dies to cut the twirly pieces and the snowflakes on the bauble are also in the Bow making die set.

I do love making gift bags like this, they are so simple to put together and adapt to the size and shape you need.

 This one is about 15cmsH, 12cmsW and 4cms deep

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab things the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today
Happy Crafting!

Snowflake Wreath

Hello!

Still struggling with my Autumnal woes, but give it a week or two and the tilt towards Christmas will help things along a bit!

Over at the Daring Cardmakers the countdown starts this week, and we have a lovely new Guest Designer to add to the fun.

We always start our seasonal calendar with the first challenge in November and this year its a mix of card challenges and others where you can share any kind of crafting project on our given themes, so tags, bags, boxes or anything else you make. We're calling it:
Have a Very Crafty Christmas

This week though, we're sticking to cards and as it's the first day of a new month it's an 

Elemental Inspiration Challenge  

For November we have this lovely, Wintry mood board for you to play with.

Remember, you just need to pick a minimum 3 elements  from the picture to use when making your card.  If you choose to use the colour palette, then that would count as one of your elements.

 Visit the Daring Cardmakers blog to see what our designers have made

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I chose the wreath, the greenery and the snowflakes to use on my card.
 

I started by resizing and printing a digital design from 'Romantic Letters' via Etsy onto the lower part of a piece of A4 card - so that when I trimmed it down and folded it the patterned section would be in the right place!

For the wreath I used 2 nesting circle dies to cut the shape.  I cut the shape twice and glued them together and also added small pieces of chipboard to the back to add some dimension

Next I chose several bough and 'greenery' dies and vut them in a variety of greens, plus a few in gold and white to cover the base of the wreath.

I chose a few of my snowflake dies and cut them in white, gold and turquoise-blue and glued them in place.

To finish I cut a few holly leaves and berries, and made the 'Joy' sentiment, adding a red and white twine bow to complete the card.

Lots of die cutting and sticking involved with this one!

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today
Happy Crafting!