PPC Sketch #1

Good Evening All!

Wow, nothing for a week, then 2 posts in 1 day.

I haven`t had the chance to participate in any challenges for what seems like ages, so I thought I`d combine a special Christmas card with a brand new challenge at Picture Perfect Creations . Normally they do colour combos but this week they have given us a fab sketch to follow.

I have taken a few liberties with this one and swiveled the oval around to suit my sentiment and I`ve added a bow instead of a strip.

Please excuse the photograph, it`s dark outside now so I`ve had to use my lightbox and the lamps give everything a pinkish tinge. If I have time tomorrow I`ll redo it in daylight.

All the DP`s are from Papermania Silent Night Collection.
The main background has some of the words and images in gold foil and is gorgeous.
All the papers are matted onto gold mirri card hence the glare.
The sentiment is by Elusive Images from the Deck the Halls set, stamped onto washed stone paper from the DP set. I`ve cut it out with a nestie oval. The border is a larger nestie oval in plain green from the DP set. IRL it is quite a bit darker and is the same shade as the wording on the main paper.
I`ve finished off with some ribbon and a bow.
Although I`m disappointed with the photo I`m over the moon with the card. I hope PPc do more sketch challenges :)

I`m off to watch X Factor now. Tonight has to be the night that Wagner finally gets his marching orders, I don`t think I can stand another week of him murdering perfectly good songs.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

His & Hers Snowman

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I`ve been a naughty blogger recently I know. I can`t believe it`s over a week since my last post, where does the time go?
I`ve been really busy at home, doing extra hours at work and then too tired to do much crafting.
I do, however have a couple of cards to show you today. Well actually the same card in 2 colours but you know what I mean.

This snowman stamp is one that I`ve had from my early crafting days. He is called Frankie and is by Judikins.
I love him to bits and he comes out every year.

The background papers are both by Pink Petticoat and are Large Snowflakes and Pinstripes.
Frankie is coloured with promarkers and I`ve added some Glamour Dust to give him some wintery sparkle.
I`ve also added some white and silver ribbon and a bow from The Range and topped it off with a silver glittered snowflake.
The sentiment is by Anita`s and is a long stamp that I cut up and stamped onto a punched out tag.


Right, that`s it from me for now, really must get some crafting in while I have the time.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Poinsettia #3

Good Morning All!

And a happy friday to you. 
A short post today as I`m up to my eyes in dust and furniture that somehow doesn`t have a home now we are a wall less.

This is my 3rd and final (for now) card using the Poinsettia stamp. No doubt it`ll be well used again before Christmas.

  This time I`ve stamped onto bright pink paper and built it up as before.
The DP is from a create and craft cd set called Triple Treasures Christmas that I`ve had for ages and don`t use often enough.
I`ve backed it onto some gold mirri card to leave a thin border.
Once again I`m not happy with the sentiment, will have to do it again I think.
I`ve finished off with some bright pink flat backed pearls.

I really must leave it at that now, I`ve a bucket of hot soapy water and multi surface cleaner with my name on it before I go to work.
Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Poinsettia #2

Hello Everyone.

I have a day off today but I`m afraid I won`t get much crafting done as the house looks like a building site.
More about that later.
Todays card is another spin on the Creative Expressions Poinsettia Stamp.

 
This time I`ve stamped and embossed in gold onto Ivory Pearlescent paper. I bought a pack of mixed plains and pattered papers and card ages ago but haven`t used them until now.
I love the way this one turned out, I was worried that the stamp might slip but it stamped beautifully luckily.
I`ve used pattered Pearlescent card stock for the base card.
I cut a square of plain card and matted it onto some gold mirri board.
The poinsettia has been stamped the same as in the first one, and built up using silicone gel.
This time I used gold glitter in the centre.
The sentiment is by Papermania Silent Night Stamp set, stamped in clear ink and embossed in gold EP.
So there you have it, two cards, one stamp. Card number 3 will be posted tomorrow.


Right, my living room wall....
Eight years ago we downsized from a 4 bed house to a 2 bed much smaller house because we only had our son left at home. Both the girls had partners and homes of their own and I had visions of us rattling about in a huge house when we were old and doddery. The house we moved into is in a nice area and was more or less what we wanted but it did need some work doing on it. One of the first things we did was to remove the wall between the living room and the very tiny dining room. This gave us a much larger, brighter room and I loved it. Loads of space and a place for everything.
Then my middle daughters relationship fell apart and she came home. We had the problem of having an adult son and daughter and only one bedroom between them. Not ideal at all. After a few weeks of daughter sleeping on camper bed in the livingroom ( definitly not ideal) Alan decided that the only solution was to build the dividing wall back up and give the dining room to daughter as a bedroom. This worked well for quite a few months but then he had the bright idea of boarding out the loft for her to use as a bedroom. Brilliant! I get my house back.
A couple of years down the line daughter meets someone else and eventually moves out again which was when I took over the loft for my crafting. Soon after that son left to live with his in laws which was even better because then we had a spare room aswell. During all this time I had mentioned that I prefered the ` open plan`
look that we had before but it fell on deaf ears. Alan will be 56 this month and I know myself that things get harder, the older you get, so I didn`t natter at all.
Alan had some leave from work to come so he took this week off to paint the kitchen. Then, right out of the blue, on tuesday he asked me if I still wanted the wall knocking out again while he was off. I ummed and ah`ed for about 5 seconds and said yes, and there you have it, the story of my yoyo wall. I got back from work on tuesday tea time to find a huge open space and bits of plasterboard and dust everywhere and I couldn`t be happier.It`s not anywhere near finished yet but it looks fantastic already.
Right, I`d better go, he needs to turn the electric off soon to re route a cable. Catch up with you all later.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Poinsettia

Good Evening All.

It seems to have been ages since I last posted. I have been busy crafting away when time allows but I can`t seem to get my head around this working on a Sunday. It`s thrown me completely and, although I get a day off during the week, somehow it`s just not the same.
Still it`s happening from now til Christmas so I`m just going to have to get used to it.

I`m here really to show you one of  3 cards I have made using one of my favourite Christmas stamps. The Poinsettia Medallion stamp from   Creative Expressions was one of the first Christmas stamps I ever bought and although I buy new stamps every year, I always come back to this one. It is just so versatile as I will show you over the next few days.

Todays card is a Traditional Christmas card,

I`ve used Papermania DP in Burgundy stripes and Green Christmas Floral from the Silent Night Collection.
I stamped the poinsettia 4 times in clear ink and embossed in Detail Gold EP, onto Burgundy paper.
I cut the image out reducing the size of each layer and curled the petals with a bone folder.
I then built up the image using Silicone Gel.
Once finished I placed Amber Gems in the middle.

                                                 A side view of the built up Poinsettia.

The sentiment is also by Creative Expressions and stamped and embossed in gold.
I`ve cut it out with an oval nestie and added a gold bow.
I`m not 100% happy with the sentiment and might change it at a later date. IRL it does look a bit better than in the photo but I think it`s a bit dark so we`ll see. I`ll post another card using this stamp tomorrow.

Not a great deal to tell you at the moment really... Oh except Alan decided to knock the living room wall down yesterday....sounds dramatic but it`s all good really. I`ll tell you more later when I`m not so tired.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Picture Perfect Creations #37

Hello Everyone !

I recieved my prize from Megan at Picture Perfect Creations the other day for for winning the #32 challenge, thanks Megan, so I thought it was only fair that I made an effort to join in with this weeks challenge. As if I needed an excuse lol.

I love joining in with colour challenges as they always give you a combo that takes you right out of your comfort zone.Take this one for example, I knew I had to make the gray and pink the predominant colours because we all know how well they go together and the green wasn`t a problem at all, pink and green look lovely together too but what the heck do you do with Cajun Craze?
Take the easy option and use it very sparingly.
I think it`s worked but I`m not 100% sure yet.

I used Pink Petticoats. 
Elegant Flourishes in smoke because they remind me of the tendrils you get on Sweetpeas, Matted onto some pink card.
The image is Flourishes small Sweetpea stamp stamped in black and coloured with Promarkers.Also matted onto pink card.
I took some pale green and Cajun Craze card and punched both along the edge. After sticking them together I scored some lines along the length to give it some texture.

Now I know Sweetpeas are so out of season right now but I got a bit fed up of Autumn and Winter colours. I`m saving those for all the Christmas cards I have yet to make.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

OCC Challenge

Good morning and a happy thursday to you all!

I had a day off yesterday, determined to craft for much of it but as is often the case, the creative juices refused to flow. I did manage one card that I had started the night before.

This is the inspiration piccy from Our Creative Corner  for this week.

And here is my card,

I`ve tried to tie in the stripes from the duvet with the damask pattern on the lamp and the creamy yellow flowers are to tie in with the candles.

The DP are both from Pink Petticoat.
The sentiment is computer generated and is dark brown although it looks quite a reddish brown in the photo.
I really must make an effort to get some more sentiment stamps :o
The flowers and the gorgeous ivory ribbon is from a local haberdashery.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Curtain Call # 54

Good Morning All!

I haven`t had much chance to join in any challenges for a couple of weeks so I thought I`d grab the opportunity to make a card for this weeks Curtain Call 
while I can. 
This is the inspiration piccy and I just had to have a go with these gorgeous colours,

This is my take on it,

 Once again I`ve had to substitute the colours but I think I`ve got them pretty well covered.

I used Ivory card for my base.
The DP is  Pink Petticoat. 
Harlequin in Sweetcorn matted onto my version of Cajun Craze.
I`ve added a ribbon in what is almost a perfect match and that I already had in my dwindling ribbon stash.
The image is Papertreys Fancy Flourishes which I`ve stamped in Versa Colour Orange and heat embossed to give it some texture. I`ve added some ivory pearls and matted it onto cajun card.
The sentiment is by Flourishes, also heat embossed and punched with a tag punch.
Then I just added a huge bow to finish.
So a reasonably simple but colourful card.

I thought I`d give you another tip today. You must remember that most of these mishaps have happened over a number of years. It`s just when you add them up it makes me look permanantly dippy. Most of the time I`m quite sane, well some of the time....

" Todays Tip Of The Day"
Never climb down alluminium loft ladders in flip flops!
You just might lose a flip flop, causing you to lose your footing and take half a toenail off.
I did and it didn`t half flipping hurt. The language that came out of my mouth that day should not be repeated in polite company.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx