Last Two Letters For The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great Christmas, I am taking a few minutes away from the family to write this  post for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge

I picked Inch for "I" and Xylophone for "X" here they are.

Dashing off now to make dinner, it will be nice to get back to normal in a few days and have a little time to relax!

Happy New Year everyone, enjoy the celebrations

At Last Christmas Cards Completed and Sent - Time to Relax and Let The Festivities Commence

A quick post before the festivities begin to wish all my followers, friends, family and passers by a great big

HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a wonderful NEW Year

Sylv xx

Inspiration Monday - It's all Girly over at The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge

Good evening blogland, today is Inspiration Monday over at The Crafty Bloggers Network and here is my DT card for this week.  I hope you are looking forward to the Christmas festivities, I am all ready the tree is trimmed and the shopping done. 

The sponsors for this month's challenge are  Milk and Coffee Digi Images and the theme for the challenge is "Girly", we are looking forward to seeing your beautiful girly cards and projects.  Pop over to The Crafty Bloggers Network blog page and check out the fabulous DT samples for this challenge.

Supplies:

White linen card - Papermill Direct

Milk and Coffee digital image - Fiona The Fairy and Her Cupcake

Promarker Pens

Glamour Dust

Patterned paper, ribbon & button  from stash

Border cut out using Silhouette Cameo

Computer generated greeting

Die cut tag

Merry Christmas everyone, have a fabulous time and I will see you in the New Year

Best Wishes Sylv xx

Midway reminder - Christmas is Coming at The Twinchie Challenge

Good morning friends, followers and passers by, are we all organised and ready for the big day only 6 days to Christmas Day.  I hope you all have a wonderful time and Santa is good to you.  We are half way through the month and this is just a little reminder that the Twinchie Challenge runs until the end of the month so there is still time for you to get your Christmas Twinchies entered into the challenge.

A mixture of die cutting, distress inks, heat and dry embossing and stamping on these Christmas Twinchies.

I do hope you can find time to enter a twinchie before Christmas, but if not I look forward to seeing your twinchies in the New Year.  I am not running a challenge in January but will see you in February.   

I would like to wish you all

A Very Happy Christmas and New Year

Best Wishes Sylv xx

Platinum Pearlised Card - Table decorations and 25th card

A quick post to let you know about another great offer at the Papermill, A4 Platinum Pearlised Card 300gm, £7.50 for a small box, they are also offering free P&P on orders over £25.  Here are a few things I made for the DT this week.  As most of you will have made and sent your cards I  made something for the Christmas dinner table, a napkin ring and a place setting.

A few years ago I made a set of wedding invitations using thick vellum which I have quite a bit left and thought I would use some of it, it co-ordinated beautifully with the platinum pearl card.  Using a Tim Holts Christmas embossing folder I embossed the vellum and cut out strips with the word NOEL on each.  These were mounted onto the platinum pearl and added to the place card and wrapped round a napkin.  I cut small baubles using a Spellbinders nesting die from the platinum pearl, carefully embossed each with the word NOEL then swiped a white ink pad over the word to highlight it.  This was then added to the vellum matching up the NOEL.

I made the tree decoration in the same way, sewing the vellum to the card, added a charm and a white ribbon to hang it up.

I really liked the idea of the embossed vellum and thought the colours would be great for a 25th wedding anniversary card.  Using a flowery embossing folder for the vellum, white pearlised card (also from the Papermill) and the platinum perlised card this is what I came up with.

That's it for now, off to do some Christmas preparation and maybe wrap a few presents.  Life is hectic here so if I have not returned your comments please bear with me, and a big thank you for your support your comments are very much appreciated.

Party Time! and a great offer over at The Papermill

Good morning friends, family and all you wonderful followers,  What has happened to the weather?  it is very dull here and getting colder by the day.

Over at the Papermill there is a fabulous offer on white buckram embossed card, this is a good weight 270gm and has a fabulous texture.

 Midi Box: containing approximately

260 sheets for £14.00 

Mega Box: containing approximately

645 sheets for ONLY £31.00

(that's less than 5 pence per sheet) 

As well as the above special offer there is 50% off Luxury Artist Pads, but be quick the offer is only until the 16th December.

Here are a few samples using the white buckram card, the photographs do not do the card justice (too dark to get a good shot).  The party season is upon us and here are some party goodies.  An invitation and cupcake wrapper and box to put the cupcake in.

The box was cut out using the Silhouette Cameo, decorated with panels of red card and the special offer white buckram card.  The snowflakes were cut from the white buckram card using a sizzix die and a Poppystamp die, they were stuck together and a docrafts button added to the center.  I added some sleigh bells and bakers twine to the box handle.

The wrapper was cut in two parts, the inner in red card and the outer snowflake border from the white buckram card.  I layered 4 snowflakes together, attached a stick in between the snowflakes and finished with a button.  I didn't have any iced cupcakes but a Christmas cupcake with swirly icing would make a fabulous present to place in the box.

Check out the Papermill offer here, and take a look at the fabulous DT samples on Facebook and over at the Papermill Blog.

Sun, Sand and Sea at The Seaside

Good morning to all my followers, friends and anyone dropping in, it is slightly less windy here today but we do have brilliant sunshine at the moment, I hope you have not been caught out by the bad weather.  The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is nearing its end and the letter for this fourtnight is "S", my chosen word is Seaside.  Again I am at the last minute Christmas seems to take over and things I want to do get pushed aside or forgotten, I do love Christmas so although I am busy I enjoy what I have to do.

On to the Alpha Challenge, here is my page using a mixture of stamping, distress ink and Promarker colouring, and of course a post card which I downloaded from the internet.

A quick post today, back next week with "I" or "X", see you then.

Its one for the girls over at Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge

Morning friends, family and followers, another month and another challenge over at The Crafty Bloggers Network.  This month the theme is "Girly" and our sponsors are Milk and Coffee Digi Images.

Here is my DT card using one of Milk and Coffee's images.

I don't usually do girly cards but this pink creation was so much fun to make.  Using white linen card from Papermill Direct I made a 15cm square card blank, matted and layered pink card and pretty paper from a freebie paper stack.  I stamped a few images onto the patterned paper in  victorian velvet distress ink (postal marks).  The digital image from Milk and Coffee was printed onto white linen card and coloured with Promarker pens, the edges of the image were coloured with distress ink, attached to the card along with a computer generated sentiment.  The card was decorated with flowers, ribbon, die cut leaves, two hand made stick pins and pearls and sequins.

The other ladies on the design team have created some amazing cards with the Milk and Coffee images why not check out the The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge Blog to see what they have done.

Purple and Gold Rich Colours for Christmas

Hello blogland, followers old and new, I love purple and gold for Christmas cards and my DT makes for the Papermill's newsletter this week all use a fabulous 117gm purple cord paper which is on offer at £5.00 for 20 sheets.  You can find it Here in the Special Offers Section of the shop.  

Here are a few of the ways in which I used this beautiful ribbed paper
 

The first card, made using white linen card, was embossed  with an embossing folder which was free with a magazine.  I cut the bauble from an oblong of white linen card using a Memory Box die, attached some coloured string and a matching ribbon, this was layered onto a piece of the purple ribbed paper and attached to the card.

The second card was made using a card blank which I made from gold mirri card. Using the purple ribbed paper the design was cut using the Silhouette Cameo, folded and attached to the gold card using double sided tape on the fold.

This is a beautiful paper and I didn't want to waste any bits so made a cracker and place setting for the Christmas table.  The cracker was a free download for the Silhouette found using Google.  The cracker was cut out and coloured with distress inks in evergreen bough and  seedless preserves, stamped with Hero Arts flourish stamp and embossed with gold.  The cracker was made up and tied  at each end with gold ribbon, a strip of the purple paper was edged, stamped and embossed in gold and attached to the cracker.  The name tag was printed, coloured with the distress inks and a little of the embossed purple paper added.

This is a fabulous paper, to see more ideas and the DT samples follow the link for the Papermill Newsletter,

Papermill have a great mini giveaway over on their Facebook Page - To enter like their page and leave a comment on the giveaway post (the one with the image to the left!) and you could win one of our small boxes of card - filled with as many colours as you like!

Letter to Santa - Inspiration Monday Post

Good afternoon all, another Inspiration Monday over at the Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge.  This month we are in a festive mood with a theme for the challenge of "Christmas".  Pop over to the blog and check out the other DT inspirations and put your Christmas craftings into the challenge.

Our sponsor this month is Just Some Lines who are offering a fabulous $12 Gift Certificate for the winner of the challenge.

Just some Lines

Here is my DT card using one of the Just Some Lines image "Writing Santa".

Using white linen card from the Papermill I made a 15cm square card blank, added Docraft Christmas paper, red card embossed with a Tim Holtz Christmas embossing folder, my image coloured with Promarkers, die cut snowflakes (Memory Box) and lastly a digi image greeting.

Glamour and Glitz over at The Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge

Good morning blogland and welcome to Erin who joined my followers yesterday.  

We are half way through the month already, how time is flying Christmas will be upon us before we know where we are.  This month the  Challenge over at Show Us Your Twinchie blog is anything goes but we are asking you to Show Us Your Bling too, so come on get out the glitz and make some glittery twinchies.

For those of you who are wondering what a twinchie is, it is a 2 inch square piece of artwork.  An ideal way to use off cuts of card, die cuts, stamps, anything you want as long as it is a 2 inch square. 

Here are Just a few glamourous, glitzy twinchies to encourage you to have a go.

 Die cuts, acrylic pint, treasure gold, embossing and gems on these three.

Buterflies, glitter, gems, stamping and embossing on these three.

Come on ladies join in the fun and get out your glitz and glamour, there are still two weeks left to enter the November  Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge.

Preparing for Christmas - Santa Please Call Here

Christmas is around the corner and the Children are getting excited, now is the time to make the countdown calendars and door hangers, just so Santa doesn't forget to call!

each year I make a calender, Advent or Count Down, for the Grandchildren and also a door hanger for their bedroom doors, just so Santa knows where they are.

The door hanger was cut from pale blue card from Papermill Direct using a template from Serif Craft Artist, I added a digital backing paper from Pink Petticoat to the hanger before printing it out.  Once cut out the edges were coloured with a little distress ink then the embellishments were added.  The stamps used were from last years Molly Bloom Christmas Magazine, they were stamped, coloured with Promarkers, fussy cut and some glossy accents added to the sweets.  Snowflakes were cut using a Sizzix die and the printed name and words were cut out with Spellbinders dies and the edges coloured with distress ink.  A bow was made with gingham ribbon, some hessian string and a button, two sleigh bells were attached to the button.  A few sequins were added for a little bit of sparkle.

I have also made a start on my Christmas cards, I managed to purchase this bauble Memory Box die for half price so had to use it in my cards, here is what I made.

Cream hammer cardstock and kraft cardstock from The Papermill Direct were used, the embossing was done with a free folder from a magazine and the baubles were finished with some red ribbon from my ribbon box.

Lots more Christmas cards on the drawing board, I will be posting more shortly.

Thank you all for your great comments on my posts, I have been very busy lately with family visiting, so will try and catch up with my commenting on your lovely blogs over the weekend and next week xx

Wow - Check out the Offers over at Papermill Direct

Not one, not two but three offers over at Papermill Direct.  First a light grey pearlised 300gm A4 card at £7.50 for a box of 70-75 sheets.  Secondly A3 white felt embossed card £8.00 for a box of 70-75 sheets, and lastly the same white felt embossed card A4 Mega Box 550-600 sheets for £29.00.

These are a few things made with the grey pearlised card on offer,  an exploding gift box and a card made using the bits of card which were left after cutting out the box.  This 300gm card is wonderful to use on your Christmas projects, ideal for stamping onto and cuts really well on the Silhouette.

 

The exploding box, bubbly snowflakes and the main folded snowflake decoration were cut using the Silhouette Cameo as was the ornament and word SNOW for the Christmas card.  The snowflakes were cut using a Memory Box die.  A free music stamp was stamped on the outside and embossed with white powder.   I used the grey pearlised card and some white pearlised card for the box and decorations.  Blue crystals were added to the snowflakes to finish.

A DL card blank was made from white linen card and the sentiment printed at the top left hand side of the card, the sentiment is a digital download from Pink Petticoat.   Using a stamp from a set which came free with a magazine last year I stamped the reindeer in brown Archival ink and clear embossed it.  The snow was stamped with fields of sky, a stamp by A Stamp In The Hand Company, using Versamark and embossed with white powder.  Broken china distress ink was applied around the reindeer.   The letters were cut using the Silhouette, coloured slightly with distress ink and the letter W stamped over with the snow. 

Check out the Papermill blog and their facebook page to see the fabulous Christmas creations by the other DT members.