Merry Christmas!

 

 

Oh dear! My poor abandoned blog. I have been hopeless. The card above should have had a snowflake made with a lovely snippet of furry, flocked paper. Well it has...but I stuck it upside down!

 

I haven't really made any cards recently. I ended up making cold process soap instead and that led to me getting my safety assessments done and selling my soaps at fairs, online and in a lovely local shop. I did get a bit of label stamping done though!

 

 



 

 

 

My soaps have kept me seriously busy, but I do hope to get back to a bit of stamping just for fun! I have always been a serial crafter and I just have to follow where the latest obsession takes me. It's been great doing pottery this year followed by the all-encompassing world of soap. I do miss a bit of blog-hopping though, so will try to do more of that next year. That is my resolution!

 

I am dropping in at Pixie's Snippets Playground to send Christmas wishes to Di, Parsnip and of course, Dudley! Thank you for the lovely card, Di. I hope mine reached you! xx

 

Wishing you a lovely crafty Christmas and a very Happy New Year! April x

52 CCT Sketch Challenge

Hello! Over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week we have a sketch challenge for you. Our hostess Kaja has chosen this great design:

 

 

Now I have gone for trees, but there's no reason why you shouldn't change the elements. We just need to be able to recognise the sketch in your Christmas card.

 

I used the scribbly tree design from an old favourite - SU's Evergreen. The star stamp for the background is from the same set. I stamped the first tree in Old Olive and then left it for hours to ensure it wouldn't pick up any stray embossing powder from the second tree, which was stamped with Versamark and then embossed with copper embossing powder. I finished the card off with a strip of dsp and a couple of star sequins. I hope you like it!

 

We look forward to seeing your take on Kaja's sketch. Happy crafting! April x



52 CCT Technique Challenge

 

 

Happy Easter! Our challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week is a technique one:

 

 



I have to say this is one of my all time favourite techniques. I have used a Hunkydory stamp (Rudolph's Sleigh) with patterned papers from My Mind's Eye. The sentiment is from SU's Oh What Fun stamped in Calypso Coral and I have sponged the edges with Sahara Sand and added some Brights sequins.

I hope you will have a look at the DT's gorgeous paper-pieced cards and post your own festive creations! April x

52 CCT Colour Challenge

 
Hello! It's a colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and our hostess Julie has chosen a combo of green and white (with a nod to St Patrick's Day).

I really enjoyed stamping this misty forest of Christmas trees in Cucumber Crush and Mint Macaron. The tree and moon stamp is from Moon Gazer by Lindsay Mason (for Personal Impressions). Although it is meant to be a moon (complete with a moon-gazing hare!) I think it looks more like a pale winter sun here. I have also added some Glimmer Paper stars and a piece of washi tape as the finishing touches.

Such an intriguing colour combination to work with! I do hope you will join us. April x

A last gasp of an entry for Pixie's Snippets Playground (sorry Di and Parsnip!) The glimmer paper is a snippet. The Cucumber Crush card wasn't exactly a snippet, but it was an unloved piece of cardstock, if you see what I mean. I do like green, but Cucumber Crush is a bit too green sometimes!

52 CCT Sketch Challenge

Hello! Over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown , Julie has chosen a super sketch for us this week:

 

 

You are welcome to rotate the sketch (as I have done!) and add any embellishments you like. I decided to use this cute Penny Black stamp called Snow Family which I have coloured with Copics. It was a good choice as we had our very first snow this morning (sadly it didn't stick!) 

 

I do hope that you will join us over at 52CCT, April x

52 CCT Technique Challenge

Hello! It is my last week of hosting the February challenges over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and we have a technique challenge for you.

I've always loved stencilling since I was a child. I think there is something quite magical about the process! I didn't really plan my card (you can probably tell!) I just enjoyed messing about with a lovely Dina Wakley stencil and a pile of Distress Inks (Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, Mermaid Lagoon and Blue Print). The inky background is a mixture of Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Stains.

You are very welcome to make your stencilling the focal point of your card, or as a background feature. Either way, I hope you will join us! Happy Saturday! April x

52 CCT Theme Challenge

Hello! This week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is all about food! Christmas baking in all its yummy glory! I love this Christmas cake stamp from Woodware. I have coloured it with Copics and a gold Promarker. There is glittery 'frosting' on top, but I couldn't catch that in the gloom!

We are looking forward to your Christmas cake, mince pies, cupcakes, gingerbread, biscuits - anything festive and baked! Happy crafting, April x

52 CCT Colour Challenge

Hello! Here is my DT card for the colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where the colours I have chosen are blue, cream and gold. I found this lovely image at coloring-pages-kids.com. As soon as I saw it, I thought it would look great in shades of blue. I have coloured the image with Copic and metallic Promarkers and combined it with a piece of embossed, brushed gold card. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Pretty Poinsettia.

It almost reminds me of a Russian icon. I think my love of watching 'War and Peace' over the last few weeks must have inspired me! :-) I do hope you will join us and have a look at the lovely cards created by the other members of the DT. Happy crafting, April x

52 CCT February Sketch Challenge

Hello! I am delighted to be hosting this month's challenges over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I do hope that you will join us there. As it is the first challenge of the month, we have a sketch challenge for you:

 

It doesn't have to be a Christmas tree - any festive element will be great! I decided to use a Christmas tree that I had previously cut with my Silhouette. I backed it on some patterned paper and added it all to a Sahara Sand card that I embossed with stars. The silver glimmer paper sentiment is a die-cut from SU's Wondrous Wreath. Very quick and simple! See you over at 52CCT - April x

52 CCT Stash Challenge

Here is my DT card for this week's Stash Challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and I am very excited about it!

There was no foil in the stash, which is surprising because everything else seems to be there! I wasn't too sure what to do, but then I found a wonderful kit by Tonertex. I stamped the tree image using a retired SU stamp called Evergreen, then drew over the branches with the glue pen supplied in the kit. You leave it for at least thirty minutes to dry. In my case it was longer because I watched Sport Relief Bake Off (and howled with laughter at David James' cake, because that's exactly what my effort would look like!) You then simply apply a piece of foil and rub it. Ta da! Even the left-over piece of foil looked quite attractive...

I had thought that foiling had to involve machines or laminators, but I was wrong! I am now going to go round applying foil to everything that doesn't move...

 

 

Over-excited blobby incidents with the glue pen were disguised with 'baubles' and then today, T.L and I have chased sunbeams around the house to try desperately to photograph my tree so that the foiling is even slightly visible. Here is the aforementioned member of the creative team!

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with how my little card turned out. I do hope that you will join us! April x



52 CCT Colour Challenge

We have a rather unusual colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week!

Deborah's colour choice will definitely cheer you up if you are experiencing grey skies and cold weather at the moment. I used a free digi from a papercraft magazine and coloured it with Copics. The sentiment stencil also came free with a magazine, so it's a bit of a bargain basement card! I sponged the edges of the scalloped square with Carved Pumpkin Distress ink.

I hope you will feel inspired by the rest of the DT's cheery and bright Christmas creations! Happy crafting, April x

52 CCT Sketch Challenge

We are back for another year of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown! We are welcoming two new DT members - Kaja and Jacqueline (who make beautiful cards) and we have a whole twelve months of new challenges ahead! Deborah is this month's hostess and we are starting off with a sketch challenge:

I have used a stamp from Tim Holtz's Mini Holidays that I have coloured with Copics. I've added some glittery Pool Party ribbon and sequins and backed everything on to a piece of Island Indigo dsp and a Chocolate Chip card base.

We can't wait to see your interpretations of the sketch. Having a pile of cards ready to go at Christmas made me a tiny bit more organised than usual!!

See you over at 52CCT! April x

My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2015

Happy New Year! I've just found this great idea from Debby of A Scrapjourney - My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2015 via Pixie's Crafty Workshop. So here we go with my fave festive cards from the last year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bit of an animal/bird theme going on here, apart from Santa with his tree!

 

I'm still feeling very lazy after Christmas, but enjoyed an inspirational New Year's Day craft chat with Too Much Glue Sam over lots of lychee liqueur, toffee vodka and Panettone bread and butter Pudding (Yum!) We have decided on a number of new crafty enterprises this year, including Gilding, Brushos and Parchment craft. Very exciting! I do just need the mince pies to disappear first! 

 

Happy Crafting! April x

The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! Today I am lumping all my '12 Tags' creations together in a collage. It feels slightly creative without having to move too far from the mince pies. Hopefully normal crafty service will resume soon... April x

Final Funkie Junkie Creation!

Yay! My final make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This card was inspired by Linda's tag for Week 8. I have incorporated the banners, a tree and the swirly aspect of the original design.

I have loved this wonderful challenge! I just wish I had started earlier and it hadn't been such of a mad dash at the end. I really hope it happens again next year so I can take my time.

A massive Merry Christmas to all the kind people who read and comment on my blog. I hope you have a lovely restful (and crafty) time, April x

Festive Gift Card Holder

Here is my penultimate make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This gift card holder was inspired by Linda's last tag for Week 12. I was inspired by the holly leaves and that the tag is three dimensional.

Everything here is very snippety. The tag was recycled from my daughter's Secret Santa at school and the stars were cut from a bag. I coloured the ribbon with Distress Stains - Crushed Olive, Festive Berries and Old Paper.

 

I would like to send it over to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground for my last festive entry of the year. Thank you Di for all your hard work and kindness in running such a fab challenge blog!

 

Merry Christmas! April x

Another One!

My final tag of the day! Made for Week 10 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Such a stunning original tag by Linda! I have used the white and gold colour scheme, but my snowflakes are embossed on a tag that I first covered with gesso and gold embossing paste. I have rubbed a gold Gelato on the raised design. It reminds me of a plastered wall! I used the SU embossing folder, Northern Flurry and I've added a wooden snowflake embellishment. The end is nearly in sight! April x

Another Tag!

I'm running out of tag titles! Seriously, desperate times call for even more desperate measures - blogging more than once a day! I really need to get ahead with The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, or there is a good chance I will be fitting tag making around cooking the turkey!

This tag is inspired by Linda's lovely tag for Week 5. I was inspired by the background, the colours and of course, the tree. I started off by colouring my tag with a mixture of Soft Sky and Pool Party. I then spattered the tag with water and stamped the snowflakes in Smoky Slate. The tree was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with SU's pewter embossing powder. Depth was added with a Gelato and highlights with a white chalk marker. Both the tree and snowflakes are from Gossamer Blue's Get Happy and the sentiment is from SU's Endless Wishes.

There may be yet another blog post...At least it is distracting me from eating my own body weight in mince pies!

Another tree for Parsnip to climb over at Pixie's Snippets Playground! April x

Textured Tag

Time for more Funkie Junkie-ing! This tag is for Week 11 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I was inspired by the texture, colour scheme and snowflakes of Linda's lovely tag. My background was made by combining gesso with Cosmic Shimmer texture paste. When it was dry I applied a mixture of Distress Stains - Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blue Print. The Joy sentiment was cut with my Silhouette and coloured with a metallic marker. Some glittery snowflake and rhinestones were added to complete the tag!

Of course I am sending all this glitter over to Parsnip who is doing a very good job as Christmas waiter over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Thank you, Di for the beautiful card! April x

A Floral Tag

Here is another contribution to The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas challenge, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I was delighted to read that the deadline for completion has been extended until 27th December. I am determined to get there!

My tag is inspired by Linda's beautiful example for Week 4. I have also included some plaid and a flower - in this case, a Prima flower. I did a bit of background stencilling using my Tim Holtz Burlap stencil and the foliage was glittered up with some Cosmic Shimmer texture paste. The vintage style sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Bells and Boughs and I made a rustic looking bow from linen thread.

This is my final entry of the week for Pixie's Snippets Playground - two weeks now x 3 entries (I know Parsnip! I'm polishing my halo with an anti-static thingy as I type!!)

I have also just found the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog (clearly I have been living under a stone!) and would like to enter my tag in the 'Tis the Season challenge.

Happy Christmas crafting! April x