Craft Stamper Giveaway

Morning guys.  Well no snow to report as yet in our little corner of the UK although I know that they did have snow inland more.  Apparently we are supposed to have snow tonight and tomorrow but I'll believe it when I see it!!

Anyway I thought you might like to know that Craft Stamper are currently running a blog candy giveaway worth £350 so you might like to head on over to their blog and take a look!!  Simply CLICK HERE to go and find out more about it!!

In Anticipation!!

Morning folks!!  Just to prove that I do occasionally use my own Christmas stamps here is one of the cards that I sent out this year using stamps from my snowflake stamp sheet along with some of my favourite stamps.

Unfortunately it isn't often that I just get to make cards for the joy of it and usually I have to stick rigidly to certain stamps or materials but when making my own Christmas cards I can just go with the flow!!  The main (coloured snowflakes) that you see and the white background snowflakes are from my own snowflake stamp sheet. They grey snowflake swirl and the wording are both by Stampendous - not too sure if they are still available as they are a couple of years old!! And of course the large dotty swirls are by Denami - which you will already have seen a lot of on this blog.  I thought I'd be sensible and design a card that didn't need too much colouring in but unfortunately I just had to cut the snowflakes out as it looked so much better and then it looked even better if I layered a smaller snowflake over the larger one so in the end it didn't end up being a quick card after all!  (Nothing new there then!!)

Even though we live in the south east of England they are actually forecasting snow here for the end of the week - although I'll believe it when I see it!!  I'm still keeping everything crossed for snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as I have never known it to snow on either of those days and it would absolutely make my Christmas - I think I need to move to Scotland!!

Frost!!

In my last post I was saying that our Christmas tree has a 'frosty feel' to it well now we have got frost for real!!  It seems that the weather here has finally decided to become 'seasonal' and we had quite a hard frost last night - infact the fields and roofs are still covered with it!  Brrrrrrrrr!!

Actually it is really nice to see, as everywhere is sparkling at the moment!

So in honour of the cold I have decided to load up a cold looking card that I did some time ago in shades of blue.  These stamps are all by Denami Design and what I really like about these trees is that they are so quick to colour!  For this card I used a single tree and just stamped it 5 times and staggered them slightly so that they didn't look too rigid then coloured them using the Sakura Stardust pens. The snow mounds at the base of the trees were created with a light blue marker and softened with a water brush. All the stamps that you can see on this card are available from Stamp Addicts.

This afternoon I have been roped in to drive Mum around Bexhill so that she can hand deliver some of her Christmas Cards so I think that I will be wrapping up warm before I set foot outside my front door!

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Today I thought I'd show you a few close up photos of my tree after telling you all about the saga of putting it up yesterday.  The photos that I took of the tree as a whole looked absolute rubbish and didn't do the tree justice at all as it looks far prettier in real life!!  These will give you a taster of what it does look like though.

Here's a close up of the cute little snowman from above.

















This bauble is actually silver with white glittery snowflakes.
















And here's one of our snow balls!
















Another of our cute snowmen.














These snowmen baubles have been going for years and are really fragile!!


So as you can see our tree has quite a frosty feel this year.  As well as all the white and silver that you have seen we do have a few light blue/aqua coloured baubles on the tree too.

How Long Does It Take To Put Up A Christmas Tree??

Hi Guys.  You won't believe this but yesterday it literally took me all day to put up and decorate our Christmas tree!!  This year we went ahead and finally bought a new tree as our old one was well and truly past it.  Last year we had a real one but this year with all the upheaval that is currently going on with our extension we decided to have an artificial one for this year.  So about a week ago we went out and chose a new tree.  Well yesterday when I opened up the box I discovered that you have to assemble this tree branch by branch so that was my first challenge!!  Actually I've got to say that once I'd sorted out all the individual branches it was quite easy to do - it just took a long time spreading them all out as I was going!  My next challenge was putting the lights on it - I always find this the hardest bit as I either have too many lights at the top and run out before I get to the bottom of the tree or I find I haven't got enough lights at the top of the tree and have loads at the bottom so it normally takes a couple of attempts for me to get it just right!!  Anyway about four attempts later the tree finally had it's lights on and then when I stepped back and looked at the tree I realised that this tree required thicker tinsel than what we normally use on our trees so it was then a mad dash to the shops to try and find some thick silver tinsel.  About 90 minutes later I was back home armed with my tinsel and could then begin decorating it.  My final challenge was then threading up some new baubles that we bought last year so that I could actually hang them on the tree which was a really fiddly job!!  Anyway tree is now decorated complete with a couple of presents under it too.  I did take some photos of the tree which I will load up so you can see it but unfortunately the photos that I took don't do the tree justice at all as it is far prettier in real life!!  So with all this tree decorating I just didn't get chance to blog yesterday!

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As you already know I was at The Glitter Pot on Thursday teaching a couple of classes and I had such a nice day there so a huge thank you to the ladies who were on the classes for making it such a pleasant day.  One of the ladies brought along a card for my competition and also presented me with a present at the end of the day for under my tree!!  I won't embarrass the lady in question by naming her but she knows who she is and once again I send a huge thank you to her as it really made my day.  Whilst I was there I badgered the rest of the ladies on my class too about sending me a card so I'm hoping that they too will enter the competition.  I have had a few cards turn up for this and it has been soooooooo nice opening them up and seeing your wonderful creations!  And just before I departed The Glitter Pot I was presented with another present for under my tree - this time from the owners.  Then when I got home I found a couple of cards waiting for me too so all in all I had a wonderful day and really felt in the Christmas spirit!

A Sneaky Peek!!

Tomorrow I am off to The Glitter Pot where I am teaching all day so here is a little taster of what we will be doing in the afternoon.  This cute little bear is by Penny Johnson and I just LOVE it!!  Both classes are Copic marker based and there are still some spaces left so if anyone lives close enough and fancies forgetting about Christmas for a few hours(as neither of the classes are Christmas based)  then please do come along. It really would be lovely to see you. 

I've decided to move the details of my Christmas Card competition to the top of my sidebar so that my recent posts are more clearly visible. Fear not the competition is still open - you just need to click on the DVD picture to bring up all the details.  So far I have only had a few cards come through the post and I really would like lots,lots more so please do enter!  Besides at the moment you stand a really good chance of winning!! My aim is to have a room full of beautiful handmade cards so please do join in.

Adorable Doraline

I cannot believe just how quickly today has gone and not just today but the last few days - they just keep disappearing on me!!  Hence me being rather late with today's offering!  Anyway this is a card I made for The Craft Barn's blog but thought I'd pop it on mine as well!!.

This cute little squirrel is by Motivet and apparently  she is called Doraline!  I have stamped her using Brilliance and coloured her with Copics - see I am getting in lots of practise with my Copic pens!!  The background papers are by SEI and these can be purchased from The Craft Barn as well as the Motivet stamps and Copic pens.

Hope you like it!

With a bit of luck there'll be more from me tomorrow if the day doesn't miraculously disappear on me!!

A Blue Christmas!

Oops just didn't get round to posting this up yesterday!!  This was a card that I did for Stamp Addicts's Demo Day back in October using the latest releases by Denami Design.  I kept a cool colour scheme for this one as I wanted the card to feel a bit 'chilly'!!

Yesterday I went round to my Aunt and Uncles and they had got their Christmas Tree up and decorated and after seeing this card (of trees) it has got me in the mood to do ours now!!  However I have got too much on today so maybe tomorrow!

Anyway I hope you like the card.  All the stamps on this card can be purchased from Stamp Addicts.

Christmas Is Coming!!!

Oh how sad am I???  I am starting to get really excited now about Christmas as yesterday I braved the shops and did some more Christmas shopping.  It was lovely hearing all the Christmas songs in the shops and seeing the lights and all the store displays and I even met Father Christmas!! 

What is even nicer is that your Christmas Cards are starting to arrive too and yesterday I received my first card from abroad!!  Please do keep them coming as there is still plenty of time for you to enter the competition and it really is sooooooooooo nice seeing what you have made - I now can't wait for the postman to arrive each day! 

This card is very similar to one that I showed a while ago but with a different Sarah Kay image.  This particular one I designed some while ago for one of my classes at The Craft Barn.  The Sarah Kay image was stamped using Starlite Black Brilliance and coloured using Copics.  The papers are by SEI and are from their Christmas Mint collection.  All products can of course be bought from The Craft Barn.

Silver Greetings

Good morning everyone.  Well although I am not actually making Christmas Cards at the moment I still have a few to show you from what I made earlier in the year.  This particular card was one that I made for Stamp Addicts in October for their Demo Day.  All the stamps that you can see on this card are by Denami Design and can of course be bought from Stamp Addicts.  As you can see I decided to keep this card quite monochrome which (I think!!) looks quite stylish.

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Now I have a question which has nothing to do with card making whatsoever!!  It is a little known fact but I absolutely LOVE Take That - always have done!!  Much to the absolute disgust of some of my closest friends!!  Anyway because of this I watched the Children In Need concert thing on the telly that Gary Barlow and Take That organized.  I loved it when Lily Allen started singing Who'd Have Known (which is set to the tune of Take That's Shine) and then Take That came on and started singing Shine in conjunction with Lily singing Who's Have Known.  I have had a quick look on the internet to see if there is an MP3 download of this track with them singing together but so far haven't found one.  Does anyone out there know if there is one available somewhere or if it is going to be released?

Last of Tilda

Morning guys.  First of all my sincere thanks to everyone who responded to my question about storing Nestabilities - after receiving your comments I have decided that magnetic sheets (of some description) are obviously a must and I may see if over the Christmas period I can make some sort of book (using my Bind-It All) machine along with the magnetic sheets.  I'll let you know how I get on!!

Now that we are into December I actually WANT to be making Christmas cards - after doing nothing but since July!!  However working within the crafting industry nothing could be that simple and of course within this industry Christmas has been and gone and we are now onto other stuff!!  For instance I am currently working on cards for my next classes at The Glitter Pot which are on the 10th December - being that this is quite close to Christmas and most Christmas cards will have been made by then I am designing cards which are non-Christmassy!!  Once I have fnished those I plan to make a start on my next submission for Craft Stamper which will be for the April issue - so again a non-Christmassy theme for that then!!  See it is a topsy turvy world I live in!

Anyway here is the last of the Tilda cards that I made the other weekend when I was at The Glitter Pot (which is Christmassy).  Tilda was stamped using Graphite Black Brilliance and coloured using Copics, then I lightly rubbed a light blue chalk inkpad around the edges and added some subtle stamping using that same ink.  For the rest of the card I used My Minds Eye background papers which I embellished using the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  I hope you like it!!

We Have Frost!!

Instead of all the horrible wet weather this morning we finally had a proper wintery morning with frost on the rooftops and cars and with the sunshine on the frost it was all glittery and sparkly, just like a proper winter morning should be!!

However my posting today doesn't go with the weather at all but I wanted to show you another of the cards that I made a few weeks ago now for when Jill and I did our live TV show.  For this show we had some packs of vellum so I used my set of Fancy Flourishes to decorate it and then coloured my main image (taken from Funky Frames) to match.  As I'm sure you will remember my stamp sheets can be purchased from either The Stamp Man or The Craft Barn.

Talking of my stamp sheets, Jill is currently offering a giveaway of one of my latest stamp sheets to THREE lucky people!!  Click here to head on over to her blog to find out more!!  Also if you want to do some last minute Christmas shopping Jill is offering free postage on all orders over £10 over on The Stamp Man's online shop.  And talking of free postage The Craft Barn is currently offering free postage on all UK orders until December 21st and free postage on European orders over £15 so now is a great time to order anything that you have had your eye on! (Including my stamp sheets of course!!)

I am going to see if I can get myself a little bit more organised over the next few weeks and wondered if any of you out there have any great ideas on how to store the Nestabilities templates?  These pesky things keep slipping and sliding all over the place and keep mixing themselves up so if anyone has any ideas that they would care to share I'd LOVE to hear them!!

Christmas Card Competition

PLEASE DO ENTER AS I AM HOPING TO HAVE A ROOM FULL OF BEAUTIFUL HANDMADE CARDS THIS YEAR!!

This Christmas Card Competition is open to absolutely everybody!!  The prize will be one of my new DVD's (shown above) of your choosing plus a few of the cards that I made for that particular DVD. 

To make this competition fair I have decided that as I receive the cards I will allocate each card a number and then enter these numbers into a random number generator to pick a winner. 

The rules to enter are as follows:-

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  1. You need to send a Christmas Card that you have made yourself and that contains some form of rubber stamping on it. (Please note. You can send as many cards as you like in order to give yourself more chance of winning as each card will be allocated a number!!!)
  
  
  
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  2. For those with blogs - please write your blog address within the card as well as your name. (If you are the winner and I find that you have advertised my competition on the sidebar of your blog with a link back to my blog then I will include some extra cards and bits and bobs!)
  
  
  
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  3. For those without blogs - to advertise my competition please tell any of your stamping friends and family to enter. When sending your card entry, please write your name within the card and if someone  has told you about this competition please write their name also within the card. (If you are the winner I will send you the prize and will also send the person that told you about the competition a few cards and bits and bobs!!)
  
  
  
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  4. Your entry will need to arrive by Christmas Eve (Dec 24th 2009) to be counted.
  
  
  
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  5. By entering you are giving me permission to show your card on my blog as I will post the winning card up along with that person's name.
  
  
  
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  5. To enter simply click here to email me using the title of Christmas Card Competition and I will email an address to send your entry to.
  
  
  

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your cards!! :)

Weatherful!!

I thought that with all this 'wonderful weather' we are having in the UK at the moment (Not!!!) that this would be a really appropriate card to post up!!

I actually made this card a few months ago when we were having much better weather than we've recently been having!!

These little cuties and indeed all the images are by Denami Design and have been coloured using Polycolour Pencils.  The white circles were punched using a normal large circle punch and were then layered to scalloped circles that I cut using my Nesties.  Hope you like it!!

More Lilac!!

Morning guys.  The sun is actually shining here on the south east coast but I don't know for how much longer as yet more rain and wind is forecast for our area over the next few days!!  Like we need it!!!!

Anyway with the thought of all that gloomy weather I thought I'd post up a nice cheerful looking card - again which goes nicely with my new blog background!!

Quite a simple card this one as I just stamped the poinsettia 3 times and then coloured it using Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush.  The background was mainly stamped using Versamark with the grey images being stamped in Brilliance Starlite Black.  All the images are by Denami and can be purchased from Stamp Addicts.

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My thanks to everyone who has entered and enquired about my Christmas Card competition so far - I can't believe how quick off the mark some of you have been as cards have already been arriving which is great!! Please keep them coming as I am loving seeing what you have done!

Talking of competitions The Craft Barn are currently running a card competition too where you can win some Kadoodle Stamps. Click here to check it out!

More Magnolia

Oh my goodness my posts are getting later and later aren't they??  I had to go out this morning to do some mundane shopping bits and it took so much longer than anticipated that I am now only getting around to some computer stuff!!  Before I get too engrossed in all that I have to do I thought I'd better start by showing you a card that I did the other weekend when I was demonstrating with the new Magnolia Christmas stamps and the Copic pens at The Glitter Pot.  I quite like this card as I think it looks as if she is perching on the top of the background paper and she certainly looks quite Christmassy in her Santa's hat!

All the other stamps that you can see on this card (including the wording) come from the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  The background paper is by Fancy Pants and has most definitely been one of my favourites to use this year.  To get the white highlights on Tilda I used the Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque pen as I have found that this gives a really good dense white.  (If I get time I think I might make some duplicates of this card as well for some of my Christmas cards this year!!) All products can be obtained from The Glitter Pot.

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Before I disappear again for today I just want to remind you all that Jill (from The Stamp Man) will be live on Ideal World tomorrow at 12 midday along with Tracy (another Stamp Man stamp designer) so don't forget to tune in or to set your boxes as I am sure that they will have got some wonderful demos lined up for you to see!!