Winter Fields

Hi guys. So have any of you (in the UK) had snow yet?  We have had a few flakes falling but nothing of any substance yet!!  However for our region they are forecasting blizzards for Tuesday and Wednesday so we have been out and bought snow shovels and rock salt in preparation!!  Which of course will mean that we won't see a single snowflake now that we are all prepared!  Even without any snow it is absolutely freezing here as the current temperature is -1c - thank goodness for our log burner!

So with snow (and cold temperatures) in mind I thought I'd show you one of the cards we made at The Craft Barn last Saturday using one of the new Christmas releases by Sarah Kay.  Isn't she sweet?  This one is called Francesca in the Winter Field and being that she is so lovely I had to have her!  The background papers are by Prima and Bo Bunny and the ivy and snowflake stamps are from the Snowflakes and Candies clear stamp set by Personal Impressions and the wording is from Woodwares Must Have Xmas Words.

The image was stamped using black Memento ink and coloured using Copic markers. (Sorry can't give you the colours as this was a class card!)  The brown snowflakes were punched using a Martha Sewart edging punch from the Snowfall set.

All products used on this card including the ribbon and the self-adhesive pearls came from The Craft Barn.

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.  As you can see I opted to create a snowy ground by adding touches of blue here and there with the grass tufts peeking up through the snow.

Hope you like it!

My New Toy!!

Hi everyone.  Thank you all so much for the lovely comments you have left me under my last couple of posts.  I have so enjoyed reading them!  I will be round to visit you all just as soon as I can so don't think I've forgotten you!

After teasing you in my last post I can reveal that some of you were right in your guess and I did infact succumb to the Grand Calibur!  As soon as I saw this machine I just knew that I wanted it and of course with the VAT increase coming in January I had to have it NOW!!  Haven't bought any of the Grand Nestabilities yet to go in it though - even I have to limit my spending sometimes!!  They are of course on my wish list.

My poor Calibur hasn't made it out of the box yet but I'm hoping that perhaps I'll get some time to play with it in a few weeks time! After my classes on the 4th December at The Glitter Pot I will be taking a break from teaching for a little while so this should afford me some 'play time'!!

If any of you haven't seen this machine and the Grand Nestabilites you can check them out here.

Then of course after being at The Craft Barn yesterday I just couldn't leave there empty handed!!  No toys for me this time though but a great stack of white card - infact 150 sheets worth!!  The Craft Barn do a really nice weight of plain white card (300gms). It's not only great to make your base cards from but it is also a really brilliant white plus it is REALLY smooth so is absolutely great for stamping onto and using your Copic markers and best of all it is only 20p per A4 sheet!  Talking of Copics I had to have a few of those too as I want to start experimenting with the 0000's!!  I think perhaps that it is a good thing that I am taking a break from teaching for a while as it costs me a fortune going to these places!!  (However again I had in mind the VAT increase so of course it made sense for me to buy them yesterday - didn't it??  At least that is what I'm telling myself - lol!!)

On Friday it was the start of a brand new challenge over on The Stamp Man's Challenge Blog.  The DT have made some wonderful samples to give you some inspiration using Tim Holtz's stamps as the challenge is to make something Christmassy using Tim's products.  To find out more click here.

Meanwhile I hope to be back again soon as I have lots of card samples to show you!

What A Great Weekend!

Hi everyone.  Sorry that I've been missing for a bit but I'm currently having to limit my time on the computer!  I won't bore you with all the details as to why!!

Anyway I've found a bit of time to pop on here and I must say I had a lovely weekend (just gone).  No, it wasn't because I was at The Glitter Pot on Saturday - although of course that was VERY nice.  It was actually because Take That were on the TV on both Saturday and Sunday and I got to see all my boys back together again!  (I know I'm VERY sad!!)

Talking of The Glitter Pot...............I was there on Saturday taking a couple of classes and my thanks go to all the ladies who joined me for them.  At the end of the day I didn't leave empty handed and came away with a new crafting toy which I just had to have!!  Can you guess what it is???  Can you??  Can you????  CAN YOU??  Unfortunately I haven't had time to play with it yet though :(

Onto my card for today and I thought I'd enter this into the It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas challenge over on the Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge Blog.  As you can see I used that same Watercolour Resist technique for the pine needles!!  Just love this technique and it really is so easy to do. (Still not going to tell you how to do it though - you'll just have to look in the Dec issue of Craft Stamper!!)

All the stamps used on this card are by Penny Black - the main image is called Gift Of Giving, the pine needles and wording come from the Winter Whites and Greens clear set and the flourish is called Snow Scroll - all came from The Glitter Pot.

The paper came from The Glitter Pot as well but can't remember whose it is now and the snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch called Glacial Snowflake.

I stamped Gift of Giving in black Memento and then coloured her using the Copic markers.  I used Copics for the pine needles too. (I think this makes such a lovely wintery scene!)

Copics used -
Skin - E11, E00, E000, R20
Hair - E99, E35, E50
Clothes and holly- E49, E47, E43, E41, YG67, YG63, G40, R59, R37, R32
Gifts - YG67, YG63, G40, YG95, YG91, R59, R37, R35, R32
Sleigh - E47, E43, E41, R37
Background - E47, E43, YG67, YG63, G40, BG11, BG10, W3, W1, 0

Hope you like it!!  Don't forget to let me know if any of you give the Watercolour Resist background a go!!

Frosty

Hi guys.  Thought I'd share a card with you that I made using the 'Resist Watercolour' technique with Copic markers.  The snowman is coloured in the traditional way using Copics but the branches have been coloured using the new technique that I came across using Copics.

Some of you I know have already seen my article in the December issue of Craft Stamper showing you how to do this technique but for those of you who haven't you'll just have to buy the mag to find out how it's done!!
 
The snowman is called Happy Soul, the stamped snowflakes (on the green background), the pine branches and wording are all from the Winter Whites and Greens clear stamp set and the scroll is called Snow Scroll - all of which are by Penny Black and available from The Glitter Pot.

The white card was embossed using the Snowflakes folder by Crafts Too which came from The Craft Barn.

The large punched out snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch (Glacial Snowflake) and the smaller ones are a Woodware punch.

Here's a closer look at the main panel.  You'll find that I have used these same stamps in my magazine article too!  Hope you like it!

(By the way I'm also teaching how to do this technique this Saturday at The Glitter Pot. Click here for more details.)

An ATC Challenge

Hi everyone and in particular all you ATC'ers out there!!  I thought I'd pop on and let you know that The Craft Barn are currently having an ATC Challenge over on their blog so if you fancy a challenge and the chance of winning a little something pop on over there and have a look.  But be quick as it finishes this Wednesday!

The Stamp Man's Christmas Challenge

Hi folks. Today is the start of the Christmas challenge over on The Stamp Man's Challenge Blog.  I'm sure by now that most of you have already made a start on making some Christmas cards so why not pop on over to the Challenge Blog and see how you can enter the Christmas challenge?

This is the card that I made for this challenge using my Flitter Flutter Snowflakes stamp sheet (which is currently on offer over at The Stamp Man). I love the fact that the snowflakes are so easy to add colour to!  I started by sticking purple and aqua card to a white square card then I stamped and embossed the snowflake background (from this sheet) all over a piece of vellum using a white inkpad and detail white embossing powder.  (I just love the look of vellum as it gives such a soft look to your cards which I think is ideal for snowflakes!)

Next I stamped the large snowflake and one of the smaller ones onto white card using black StazOn. I coloured them using Sakura Stardust pens, cut them out and mounted the little snowflake onto the larger snowflake before mounting onto the card.

I hope you like it!

So Sweet!

Hi guys.  I thought I'd stick with my Christmas theme for today and show you a card I made for The Glitter Pots Xmas Spectacular Weekend. As you can see I had a go at doing an easel card!

The stamps are all by Penny Black and the main image is called Snow Kiss.  Aren't they sweet? I used a Crafts Too Christmas Greetings embossing folder for the sentiment and a Crafts Too Snowflake embossing folder to emboss the bluey/green card - both of which I got from The Craft Barn.

The snowflakes that you can see on the base of the easel card came from the Penny Black Winter Whites and Greens clear stamp set and the scroll on the main panel is called Snow Scroll.

I stamped the main image onto smooth white cardstock using Tuxedo Black Memento inkpad and coloured the image using Copics. (Digital Smooth card by Craftwork Cards is ideal to use to stamp and colour onto as too is the smooth white card by Personal Impressions that The Glitter Pot sells.)  The snowflake embellishments were done using the Glacial Snowflake Martha Stewart punch and a Woodware snowflake punch and decorated with self-adhesive pearls.

Here's a better look at the main panel.

Copics used:
Skin - E11, E00, E000 and R20 for blush
Hair - E99, E35 and E50
Clothes - E49, E47, E43, E41, BG09, BG34, BG10, R59, R37 and R32
Holly - YG67, YG63, G40 and R29
Bear - W3, G00 and G000
Background - W3, W1, B60, G00 and BG000

In my December class at The Glitter Pot I'll be showing you how to achieve just this sort of background behind Mimi and the Polar Bear using the Copic markers.  Meanwhile I hope you like the card!