Plum in chocolate

Aren't these colours gorgeous. I bought a set of plum in chocolate papers and chipboard diecuts from Craft O'clock recently and had fun making this vintage style card. I added some cheesecloth, lace from Crafty Ribbons, a bark heart and roses from Wild Orchid.  I diecut the tag using a mini tag set from MFT, stamped a Little Claire sentiment and added some baker's twine.  I kept the embellishments mainly to the bottom as I didn't want to spoil the gorgeous flower pattern at the top of the paper.

 

Coffee

I made this one for a friend whose Birthday is today. As she doesn't like cute Making a card for her is always a bit more challenging. She loves coffee and I suddenly remembered I had a set of Laserlowe Love coffee papers. I used vintage photo distress ink, fussy cut the coffee and cake and layered using foam pads. The banner at the top was made using a stitched die from MFT.

 

A new snowman stamp!

My last Christmas card to share with you before Christmas. Yes I bought a new set of Whimsy stamps because of the two snowmen. I have this image as a coloured Sassy Cheryl digi and have always loved it so when I saw that Whimsy had released it as part of a set I had to buy it. I coloured it with Copics and used a pearl pen for the snow. I used the adhesive glitter card from Craft Label and Sue Wilson poinsettia dies. The sentiment stamps are part of the stamp set.

The number of Coronavirus cases is rising alarmingly so we have been staying at home this week, apart from an early visit to a local shop for a few things yesterday. We move into tier 4 on Saturday so we will be staying home anyway. Thank goodness for lots of indoor hobbies. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Have the best Christmas you can in these troubled times x

New baby January launch

Now that the Christmas cards are finished it is time to get some stock made in anticipation of craft fairs hopefully later next year. Lili of the Valley are having a launch of very cute baby and animal stamps in January. This is cute bear 1 coloured with Copics. I used the dotty method to colour him and am really pleased with how it turned out. I put down so much colour going over it to get it right. The papers are First Edition It's a girl. I used a stitched square die from The Works and Dovecraft pale pink 3D pearl effects.

I haven't had much time for crafting this week though I have been cross stitching in the evenings whilst watching Netflix. We have just finished watching The Crown which was very good. A real eye opener although it has to be taken as a drama and not a documentary so not all of it is 100% accurate I am sure.

We are going out for breakfast this morning to our usual little place where they only have 3 tables. It is one of the best breakfasts and we will be able to take a walk by the river too.

 

A snowman and penguins

What could be better than a snowman and and some penguins. This is the card I made for hubby and he loves it. I love using kraft, red and white.

Image - LOTV Snowman and penguins

Medium - Copics

Papers - LOTV from last year (no longer available)

Sentiment - LOTV

Dies - Memory box die coloured with DI vintage photo, Elizabeth craft tree (I think) (This is a great die in 5 parts which you can use to make different size trees)

Wooden snowflake coloured with vintage photo DI

I think I am ready for Christmas. Cards posted, presents wrapped, most of the food bought apart from vegetables. I have some very cute new digis from LOTV launching January so will be able to make a start on using them now.

Another snowman!

I used one of the many snowman digis by LOTV for today's card. The papers are some old Wild Rose ones called Frosted Lace. I used a MFT wonky stitched oval die and coloured him with Copics using chalk for the sky. The sentiment is LOTV and the stitched  snowflakes are Memory Box dies.  I used white glitter card as I also did for the trees. These are some new dies I bought in The Works. I had £1.35 on my loyalty card to spend and as there was nothing else I wanted I bought these which were just £3. I have lots of tree dies but these are quite different to the ones I already have.

 

A change from Christmas

I started sewing this a few weeks ago then put it to one side whilst I sewed some Christmas decorations. I decided to finish it this week and was pleased to see that most of the cross stitching was done so I finished that and then added the backstitch. The pattern is by Durene Jones on Etsy.

We are going out for breakfast at a local farm shop and cafe today where they have good precautions in place. We need to get a sack of potatoes and a few other things while we are there. We will be wrapping presents today and tomorrow then apart from fresh vegetables we are all ready for Christmas.

 

Penguin family

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on the card I posted yesterday which my Mum painted. Mum looks at my blog everyday and was overcome with the lovely things you said.

This is the card I made for her using Penguin family from LOTV. Coloured with Copics using a white gel pen for snow on the penguins. The papers are from LOTV last year, tree dies are Marianne and Joy and the snowflakes are also Joy dies.  The sentiment is a new one from Craft label. I used white glitter card and added some glitter to the snow for a sparkly card.

Painted by my Mum

 I have something different to show you today and it is the card my Mum painted for us. We are so impressed with it. I wonder how she knew of my love for snowmen! 😂😂⛄☃

In February my Mum decided to learn to paint with acrylics and had four 2 hour lessons. Bear in mind my Mum is 88 and hasn’t painted since she left school at 15. Then came lockdown so she decided to teach herself using a book and Youtube. We have been amazed at how much she has improved from her first painting. This card will be one to treasure.

Snowman for the tree

 

I decided to make this cross stitch snowman using a pattern from the magazine Kate kindly sent me (see hedgie card in Sunday’s post). He is supposed to have dangly legs but everyone knows snowmen don’t have legs! I really loved sewing him and am very pleased with how he turned out. I used my own colour choice to match the colour theme on the tree. I sewed the ribbon loop to the back of the perforated paper and then glued white felt to the back.

Here he is on the tree.

New trimmer

I wanted to buy a new trimmer and asked people’s advice on Facebook. I was thinking of getting a Fiskars one but several people recommended the larger Fiskars one, the Procision trimmer. I decided to go with that one and am so pleased with it. It has a self sharpening blade so need to buy new blades anymore. It is very sturdy and cuts like a dream.

I love the fact that it folds in half which makes it higher on my desk meaning it is better for my back, an added bonus. It measures in inches and centimetres whereas my previous trimmers didn’t have inches on them. When it folds out it is perfect for scrapbooking or cutting papers for cards larger than 6”.

Hedgie and present

I have a friend who rescues hedgehogs and loves craft especially anything hedgehog related. One of my blogging friends, Kate, very kindly sent me a cross stitch magazine as she planned to make something from it but decided it was too much for her. There were some small designs in the mag for tags and cards and I started off by following the pattern. However it came out so small I wasn't happy with it so that went in the bin and I made a bigger version using the pattern but adding in extra rows and stitches as appropriate. 

I used a MFT scalloped circle frame die and Go Kreate dies to create the larger frame.  The papers are First Edition almost Christmas and the glittered poinsettias are also from Craft Label. I used Crafter's Companion and Sue Wilson dies for the foliage.

James in a hammock

Having a little break from Christmas today with a sweet James card. This is one of the new coloured simply prints from LOTV called James in a hammock.  I had some Birthday money left from my Mum so decided to buy some new papers. This is from one of the pads, Home sweet home by Craft o'clock.  I also ordered a stamp set with 15% off so along with the bargain dies I recently bought I have bought more in the last week than I have all year I think.

I also used some Crafts Too butterfly and toadstool dies and a piece of cheesecloth.  Another Saturday night in and another movie night. We are working our way through the Harry Potter series and tonight is the 4th one, Goblet of Fire, a particular favourite. It is a long time since we have watched them so we are really enjoying them.  Enjoy your weekend.

Christmas masks

Those of you who know my love of snowmen won't be surprised by my choice of Christmas masks. I thought they would make a fun scrapbook page. I used products from Craft Label, almost Christmas papers, foil chunky alphabet and pieces from the Winter Sparkle decoupage pad.  

We certainly won't forget 2020. It was so nice to get out a little more this week. On Wednesday we went out for breakfast and yesterday we both had hot stone massages which were lovely. Prima Rosa opened yesterday, the vintage tearooms/gift shop where I normally sell some of my cards and gifts. Unfortunately they have all had to be removed for the time being to maintain social distancing but they will be back in there when things are back to normal. We are going there for a light lunch today.  We originally planned to go with friends, who like us don't see hardly anyone else. Of course being in tier two we can only go on our own.

As I won't be doing any craft fairs early next year I really must do more scrapbooking this Winter.  It is no good printing photos and sorting them into a scrapbook if I don't get the layouts made. So that's my plan, let's see if it works out.

New tree

 

 I haven’t been in the craftroom for a few days as we have been busy preparing for Christmas. All the cards are written ready and stamped for posting. A few were sent out yesterday. We decided to buy a smaller tree for our lounge this year and we are so pleased we did. The larger tree is up in the conservatory so yesterday afternoon was spent decorating them both. We went for a rustic look for the smaller one as it has snow and pine cones on it,  some of the decorations are handmade and I am so pleased with how lovely my new cross stitch reindeer look on it. 

I am currently cross stitching a snowman for it. It is a bigger decoration and I only started it a few days ago.