Christmas Panic

I'm beginning to get in to Christmas panic mode!  As ever, I'm behind with my preparations and although I have been busy stamping images and colouring them with my new promarkers (they ARE lovely), I only got around to making them into Christmas cards yesterday.  This photo shows just a few of the ones I finished but there were about 40 altogether.  This coming week is the last week of term and it's very busy at school, I think we have a concert every day but if I get chance I will upload some more pictures so you can see the images more clearly.

"Love your Stamps"

... that's what the workshop where I made this card was called. I went to the Make It craft show at Farnborough today. I usually try and do a workshop while I'm there and this one quite appealed as it was aiming to get you to look at all your stamps in new ways. We all have stamps that love when we buy them, use them a few times and then put them away never to be seen again. On this card the bear from Penny Black was stamped onto white card and then twice more onto brown bazzil card stock. The butterflies in the image were painted and the brown bears cut out and 3D'd with foam pads. We matted the background paper onto coordinating card and tied a ribbon round before attaching it to the card. The flowers were punched out of remaining paper and we used an embossing tool to give them some shape adding a self adhesive gem for the flower centres. I'm quite pleased with the result, a design I shall use again I think. :O)

Back to Birthdays

Christmas is over! and I now have some table back and a little bit of time as it is the school holidays so back to birthday cards. I rediscovered this QVC kit when i was clearing the table for Christmas dinner. The hedgehog images are stamps from the Penny Black range which I watercoloured, the shopper is a Jolly Nation image.. They were matted onto holographic card and coordinating papers. The butterfly card is finished off with some matching peel-offs and vellum attached with gem brads.

Orange!!

I had a bit of an orange moment with this one!! I love this Penny Black stamp, so cute. I coloured it with watercolour pencils and once again the finishing touch was a piece of satin ribbon. I seem to have caught this trend from a crafty friend!!

Two for Tea...

...or Tea for Two? A penny Black stamped image watercoloured and matted on silver mirri, mounted on some blue checked paper with a background paper also of blue both from K& Co, finished off with white ribbon. I like it! :O)

"In With the Old"

The challenge on the Funky Fairy blog this week is

"In with the OLD

Out with the new

Create an Item

That's just for YOU

Go through your stash

That you've had packed away

And fetch out those Goodies

To have a little play"

It inspired me to have a go, ( I've never got round to joining in any of the various challenges before though I've intended to many times).

I had a little dig around and came across some chipboard shapes. I covered the puzzle piece shape with papers from K&Co then I added some more of the stamped images that I came across the other day and watercoloured them as before( I really enjoy this new technique). The addition of a book ring has turned it into a keyring for the garage key which I am forever losing in the kitchen drawer.

Easter ATC's

As someone who does not get on very well with Rubber stamping I'm still not quite sure how I ended up joining in with the Rubber stamping monthly swap on Craftswap forum. I have to confess to cheating a bit as while the images are stamped it wasn't me who did the stamping. I colour washed the images with water colour pencils, a new technique for me. I really enjoyed it and am quite pleased with the results. Not sure how Lesley will feel about the inclusion of a baby elephant for the Easter theme though.