Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hi guys!!  I just want to wish everyone who stops by my blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.  My thanks to everyone who has visited my blog, left me kind comments and also those who have opted to become followers.  It is so nice to know that I am not waffling on to myself!!

I have had such a lovely lead up to Christmas this year - not only have I had presents given to me from companies that I work closely with such as Stamp Addicts, The Craft Barn and The Glitter Pot but I also had a beautiful Christmas bouquet of flowers turn up yesterday from The Stamp Man and of course this year I have had some beautiful handmade Christmas cards coming through my letterbox.  So to everyone who has sent me a card or gift - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!  It has made this Christmas very special.

Don't forget that The Stamp Man are going to be running something very special on their blog starting from 27th December so if you can do stop by as not only will there be candy on offer but some awards too!!

Before I go this card is one of the designs that I made to send out this year.  I just love this Sarah Kay image she is so sweet!!  She was coloured using copic markers and then combined with SEI background papers - all of which came from The Craft Barn.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

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!!

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.

The Last Of The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Cards

As the title suggests this is now the last card that I made for The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Weekend using those Whiff Of Joy snowmen stamps and those Sarah Kay images that I have been showing you over the past couple of weeks.  All of these Whiff Of Joy snowmen images are just sooooo cute and the detail on them is amazing.

The snowman was coloured using the Copics and then masked off so I could stamp the trees behind him.  These were taken from the Stampendous Snow Spindle Lite clear stamp set and were stamped in Starlite Black Brilliance.  The wording was stamped in Brilliance Cocoa Bean and came from that Traditional Christmas Greetings clear stamp set by Woodware.  Lastly that lovely background paper is of course by SEI and everything can be purchased from The Craft Barn.

Seasonal Sarah Kay

Here is that adorable Christmas Sarah Kay image of her on the doorstep.  The detail of all the Sarah Kay stamps are just incredible which is why I like to colour them using my Copics as these give such a nice clean crisp look.

The background paper is from the Christmas Mint collection by SEI and both the paper and the stamp can be bought from The Craft Barn.

The wording was stamped out in Brilliance Cocoa Bean and was taken from Woodware's Traditional Christmas Greetings clear stamp set.

More Mrs Herb

Quite a traditional colour scheme for this card in red and green but with aqua paper added to make it more modern. This is yet another card that I did for The Craft Barn's weekend earlier this month. This Whiff Of Joy snowman was stamped using Starlite Black Brilliance and coloured with the Copic Ciaos and Spicas. The Spicas have small glitter particles in them which add a soft shimmer. These are pigment based rather than alcohol ink based like the Ciaos and they have a bullet tip so are great for detail work.

The background papers as you have no doubt guessed by now are by SEI and once again everything can be purchased from The Craft Barn.

More Whiff Of Joy

Here is Mrs Herb and her Baby.  This card was a real cheat to do as I simply stamped her onto white card, coloured her with my Copics and then placed her onto a piece of SEI background paper which has already got the sparkly snow and the trees printed onto it!  I simply then added some stamped and embossed snowflakes using Versamark and crystal embossing powder and then overstamped the greeting.  The snowflakes were taken from the Stampendous Snow Spindle Lite stamp set and the greeting from Woodware's Traditional Christmas Greetings stamp set. All products again are available from The Craft Barn.  Don't forget that The Craft Barn aren't allowed to put the Whiff Of Joy stamps onto their website so you will need to give them a ring on 01342 836398.

Back To Sarah Kay

Back to those Christmas cards that I have been having to make recently for today.  This is that cute Sarah Kay image that I showed you a few days ago but this time coloured in an entirely different colour scheme.  I did of course use my Copics again though and in the Colouring Technques DVD that will be released soon I show you how I colour my Sarah Kay images using these markers.

The paper is by SEI again and you can see I stamped and embossed the pink Bazzill cardstock using a snowflake image, Versamark inkpad and crystal embossing powder.  The wording and smaller snowflake were stamped in Brilliance Cocoa Bean.  The snowflakes were taken from that Stampendous Snow Spindle Lite clear stamp set and the wording is from Woodware's Traditional Christmas Greetings clear stamp set.  All of these products can be bought from The Craft Barn.

Heeeeeere's Herb!

Here's Herb again in a slightly different layout to what I showed you previously.  Once again I stamped and coloured him using my Copics and then masked him off with Eclipse Tape to stamp those Stampendous trees behind him.  He really is such a cute character.  To get those white highlights on his hat I simply used a White Opaque pen after I had done my colouring.

As you can see I used some more of that SEI background paper from their Winter Song range and stamped and embossed some pale green Bazzill card using a snowflake out of that Snow Spindle Lite clear stamp set by Stampendous.  The wording was stamped from the Woodware Traditional Christmas Greetings stamp set.

All the stamps, papers and products can be bought from The Craft Barn.

More New Christmas Sarah Kay

I think that this is most probably my favourite card from the cards I designed for The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Weekend.  I just love this new Sarah Kay Christmas image - I think she is sooooooo sweet!!  Again many of you at the Weekend Extravaganza agreed with me as there were only 2 left by the end of the weekend and therefore I was unable to use her for my classes last Saturday.  Once again I used these gorgeous SEI background papers which go so well with her.  She was of course coloured with my Copic Ciaos with the Clear Copic Spica added here and there to add some shimmer which the scanner didn't pick up.  If I get the time I would dearly like to do some more of these for my Christmas cards this year but we will have to wait and see on that!!  If any of you live near The Craft Barn you will be able to see this card and most of the others that I did for their weekend on display there. Meanwhile I'm afraid that I will be bombarding you with yet more Christmas cards for some while yet as that is what I am currently having to make!

New Sarah Kay Christmas

As soon as I saw this stamp I had to have it and I think other people thought the same as we ran out of this stamp last Saturday at The Craft Barn's weekend.  She is just soooooooooooooo sweet!!  I had hoped to use her for my class today at The Barn but because she sold out I had to opt for another one instead which I will show you in a few days time!! However even though I couldn't use this particular stamp I took the design of this card and just juggled it around a little for one of the cards we are making today.

I think these background papers by SEI suit the Sarah Kay images really well.  These particular papers are from their Christmas Mint collection.  The wording is from Woodware's Traditional Christmas Greetings clear stamp set and of course the image was coloured using Copics.

Hope you like it!!

Mrs Herb

Here's Mrs Herb enjoying a warming cup of hot chocolate - just what she needs on a cold winter's day!!  This is the last design of the Whiff Of Joy snowmen that I was working with at the weekend but there are two other designs in this range that I didn't pick.  As stated previously, if you go to the Whiff Of Joy website and look at their Winter 2008 range you will find all the different Herb snowmen there. Unfortunately The Craft Barn are not allowed to show the images on their website but they have got all of them in stock so just give them a ring on 01342 836398 to order any of them.  The trees and snowflakes are from that same Stampendous clear stamp set that I mentioned in the last posting and the wording is from Woodware's Traditional Christmas Greetings clear stamp set.  Mrs Herb was coloured using both Copic Ciaos and Copic Spicas and stamped with Brilliance Starlite Black. 

The background paper is by SEI from their Winter Joy range.  I have got to say that they have brought out some stunning designs this year and I want them all!!  Me thinks I will be buying a few more when I'm at The Craft Barn on Saturday!!  You'll notice that I embellished the actual paper by stamping one of the trees from the Stampendous clear set along the base of the card.  The fainter trees were stamped in Versamark and the foreground trees were stamped with Stone Grey StazOn as too were the snowflakes.

Thanks for looking :)

Mrs Herb and Baby

Today I thought I'd post up another of those Whiff Of Joy snowmen that I was demoing with at the weekend. These snowmen are just so appealing and are designed by Elisabeth Bell - I just love all the decoration on their bodies. The trees (that I stamped behind) are from a Stampendous clear stamp set as too are the little snowflakes that I stamped onto the background paper using a dark grey inkpad. To position the trees behind the snow people I stamped the snow people onto Eclipse Tape (which is a low tack masking tape), cut it out and placed over my main stamped image. This then protects my image. Next I stamped my trees onto the panel and then peeled away my mask to reveal the trees positioned behind Mrs Snowman and her baby.

The imagery was coloured using both Copic Ciaos and Copic Spicas. The background papers are by SEI which I then decorated further using snowflake stamps from that same Stampendous clear stamp set called Snow Spindle Lite. The wording was stamped using Stone Grey StazOn and was taken from the Traditional Greetings clear stamp set by Woodware.

All of the stamps and products can be obtained from The Craft Barn. Don't forget that they are not allowed to mention that they stock Whiff Of Joy on their website so if you want any of these fabulous stamps give them a call instead on 01342 836398

Having A Chat!

Well The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Weekend is now over with and I can return to normality (whatever that is!) for a little while!! I'd just like to thank everyone who stopped by my table over the course of the weekend to say Hi to me. It really was SO nice to meet you all and also to put faces to names!

My sincere thanks to those of you who gave me such lovely positive feedback. It is really nice for me to hear that I have been able to inspire or help some of you. (It really does make all the hard work worth while!)

As you can see I have posted up another card using a different snowman image. This is still Herb but this time he is having a heartfelt chat with the robin. This particular stamp was the most popular out of all of the Herb range of snowman stamps by Whiff Of Joy over the course of the weekend. The Craft Barn still have ALL of them in stock though (as they ordered loads to be on the safe side!) so if any of you must have him you know where to go! Unfortunately though The Craft Barn are not allowed to show the stamps on their website but if you go to Whiff Of Joy's website you can see the full range of Herb stamps and then contact The Craft Barn on 01342 836398 to order them.

As I was colouring with the Copics and because I didn't want a harsh black outline I stamped him out in Brilliance Starlite Black which is a soft grey and then coloured him using the Copic Ciaos first and added the Copic Spicas here and there for some shimmery accents, which I don't think the scanner picked up on! The background papers are absolutely gorgeous and are by SEI - these particular ones are from their Christmas Mint range and can also be found at The Craft Barn. I don't normally go for this type of colour scheme for my Christmas cards but I must say that I am very tempted to this year.

Anyway I hope you like it! There will be more to follow in the next few days...........

By the way if any of you live close enough and feel like coming along to my class this coming Saturday at The Craft Barn, you will be able to make a couple of cards using two other versions of the delightful Herb snowman stamps as there are still a couple of places left!