My Last Christmas Card for this year.....

Phwew! It feels good when you have everything ready for Christmas doesn't it? I have finished wrapping and decorating and all we have to do now is the dreaded food shopping! I think we are going to get up really early this year (6am) to do ours as last year it was so busy it took us nearly an hour and a half just to get out of the supermarket car park! That was no fun I can tell you. 

 I always seem to leave my Husband's Christmas card until last (I think it's because I just don't like making male cards!) but I have now manage to make it using this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch.

It's a nice easy one for me this week as any male card I make always seems to have at least one star on it.

I used another of my favourite sets (I think I use this set more than any other) Seasons of Love Tags, I just love this star! I made this little pleated circle in the middle using a strip of paper and a scalloped border punch and topped it of with the sentiment which is from the same set.

 The papers are a mish mash of scraps I had lying around. I couldn't resist adding a little beige seam binding bow from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop which is a bit feminine I suppose so I tried to 'man' the card up a bit with a row of copper brads. Do you think it is masculine enough?

I am entering this card into a few other challenges;

Charisma cardz - Last minute Xmas makes

Lollipop crafts - Happy Holidays

Crafts and Me challenges - Christmas

Stampin for the Weekend - Christmas

Crafty Boots challenge - Christmas
Jules Crafty Snippets Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting!

Sarah x

Allsorts Colour Challenge - Brown and Blue

WoooHooo!!! How excited am I?  Brenda from Allsorts Challenge Blog has asked me to be Guest Designer this week!!! Thank you so much Brenda!!

The Challenge this week is  Blue and Brown

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop is sponsoring the challenge this week with a prize of some ribbons, pins and a pack of my favourite crafting item at the moment - Doilies.

I decided on a card I can use for different occasions and I used a Haberdashery kind of theme for it.

This is one of my favourite little stamps and I just happened to have this lovely paper which has a vintage sewing pattern design on it. I thought it would work perfectly for the look I wanted. Of course I had to use one of these doilies, I dabbed some brown ink over it to give it a bit of an aged look and then used some rolled flowers cut with Kraft card.

 To carry on the theme I embellished with seam binding in Tile Blue and added a few pins.
 This made a nice change from all the Christmas cards I have been making lately.

Please pop over to the Allsorts challnge blog and see what the regular designers have made and why not join in with the challenge too!


Stamps - Waltzing Mouse
Seam binding, pins, pearls and doilly - Pretty Little Ribbon Shop
Rolled flower die - Marianne D


thanks for visiting
Sarah x

Gift card/money Holder.....

I like to make little holders or wallets for giving gift card or money at Christmas. This year I have mostly made stockings but for my Daughters I decided to try and make mittens instead. I spent all morning making just one of these as I had to make a template first. I found a mitten shape on the internet and printed it off, I then made the mitten cuff longer so that I could score and fold it to produce a lift up flap. Inside is a pocket for the card/money to fit into. I forgot to take photos of the inside but will try and add one tomorrow. 

I used some scraps of MME Lost and Found Christmas papers to cover the mitten and then decorated with a stamp from Waltzingmouse Around Christmas time set. I finished of with some Jumbo ric rac, a poinsettia flower and a loop of moss green seam binding. 

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out it looks really sweet hanging on the Christmas tree.

I'm entering this into the following challenges;

Jule's Crafty Snippets challenge

Charisma cardz - No Cards

Moving Along With the Times - Last minute Christmas

Crafty Boots challenge - Anything Goes

Dont forget to check out our challenge over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop blog - this month is Christmas with a Bow. 

Thanks for visiting

Sarah x

Christmas with a Bow.....

I wonder just how many bows we tie in the run up to Christmas?? An awful lot in this house that's for sure!! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a lot of ribbon would it?

So this month's challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog is just perfect -

 Christmas with a Bow

 Just create any Christmas project and include a bow. Simple! 

 

I had so many ideas for this challenge and I decided I would make an advent calendar out of 24 matchboxes, but time ran away with me and I didn't get around to buying the matchboxes in time so I eventually decided to do an altered project.  I have a big box full of items for altering in my craftroom and one of my favourite things is buckets (or should it be called a pail I'm never really sure to be honest! LOL) I had several to choose from but eventually chose a pale green one which I thought complimented the papers I wanted to use.  You can pick these little buckets up really reasonably in florists usually.

A little tip I would suggest if you have a go at one of these is to make a paper template for covering the bucket first as it may take a few fine adjustments to get the cut just right.  I then used a sheet of Melissa Frances Christmas paper which I have had for years to cover the bucket. I always use Letraset Studiotac tape for this type of project as it is fabulous for adhering all types of materials. I then embellished with a doily from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop ( these are my new favourite crafting item!!) and a Melissa Frances sticker.

  I finished off with some moss green seam binding for my bow and a few bells which I dipped in white acrylic paint and then white glitter for a bit of added festive sparkle. I made the little tag with another Melissa Frances sticker.

These are so quick to make and make a nice change from cards.  I plan to fill this one with candy canes, however my daughter says she plans to use it to fill with a few presents for her friend.

We really hope you will join us this month for our challenge, do pop over to the blog and have a look at what my team mates have made they are such a talented bunch of girls you won't be disappointed. There is a prize up for grabs too!

thanks for visiting!
Sarah x



A Tag......

So sorry I have been AWOL for a while, this time of year is so busy I have not had much time to make anything. Hopefully I will get back on track soon.

Last night I made a little tag for Claire's challenge on her Waltzingmouse blog.  I do love making tags (probably because they are quick to make!!) and everyone knows how much I love Waltzingmouse stamps so I stayed up late to create this one.

I used 3 different sets on this little tag, firstly I cut out the base with Labels one dies and stamped a border using Vintage Labels one set. (note to self - I must use this set more!!). I  then used Text It with rhubarb stalk memento ink on some red card before cutting a few poinsettia flowers out using a nesties set. I wish I had clear embossed the text as this morinng I realised it doesn't show up very well on the flower. Lastly I used Festive Foilage to stamp some holly leaves on various scraps of green paper and then cut them out to embellish the flower with.  I am hoping that Claire will start to sell dies to match this set at some stage as I use it loads and it would be a lot quicker than cutting all these leaves out.

I finished off with a velvet green brad and a large check gingham bow with a button.
Very quick to make.

Thanks for looking
Sarah x

Jolly Holly Days...

This morning I thought I would make a card for Jules Crafty Snippet challenge as I missed last week so I had a little rummage in the snippets box to find a few bits and pieces to make a Cristmas card. I am so glad I did as this card has turned out to be my  favourite Christmas card make so far this year!!  I enjoyed myself so much I made a tag to match, I'll add a piece of ribbon to the tag when I know which wrapping paper I will be using.

For this card I used a Spellbinders poinsettia set which I bought last year this is the first time I have used it.  I think they have released a new one this year which I prefer but I cannot afford another so this one will have to do! First I found a scrap of red paper which I stamped with a Waltzingmouse text stamp to add a little detail. I then cut several different flowers and curled up the petals slightly.  There is no leaf die in the set so I decided to stamp some holly leaves using a stamp from Waltzingmouse Festive Foilage. As you can see I used lots of snippets of green paper and I like the effect of using different colours and patterns.

I layered up some more snippets for the background and stitched it all together. the sentiment is another Waltzingmouse stamp (can you tell I am a bit of a fan of Claire's stamps?)

The tag just took a few minutes to put together using some of the smaller snippets.

I'm entering these into the following challenges;

Stamptacular Sunday - Punch It (includes die cuts)
Make it Monday - Anything goes
St Lukes Charity card Challenge - Christmas
Bunny Zoe's Craft Challenge - Anything Christmas with pearls (pearl brad)

Thanks for visiting
Sarah x

Leaves.....

The challenge at Less is More this week is Leaves...  and the dreaded one layer challenge.  I knew straight away what I wanted to make and which stamp set I would use.

This is one of my very favourite Christmas stamps which is part of the Festive foilage set by Waltzingmouse. I kept this vey simple by just adding some glossy accents to the berries and a small gingham bow to add a little bit of colour. I used my scor-pal to emboss the square border. 

Sorry the photo is not great I am strugglling to get decent photos at the moment. The light here is so poor, even editing with picasso has made little difference.

Thanks for visiting,

Sarah x

Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge # 4 - Buttons and Bows

Gosh I can't believe we are onto the 4th month of our challenges already!

This month over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge our lovely teamie Jane has chosen the challenge which is Buttons and Bows. I love this particular challenge as it is so versatile but  really great for Christmas projects which are my favourite!

This month the winner will receive 50 metres of bakers twine in 10 delicious colours.

My first project is a Christmas card made using another of my new stamp sets from Waltzingmouse (I love this set!) I have used button twine in red to hang the baubles from and some beige seam binding to embellish with.  I also used natural  button twine at the top of my card and finished off with some buttons from the brights button pack ( now at the bargainous price of 65p per pack).

My second project was made using a scrap of natural linen material that I had in my craftroom. I love hearts and we have several of them around the house, hanging on walls or on door handles. They are so expensive to buy now in the shops so I made a few thinking I would use them for Christmas decorations. (although my daughters have their eye on these to hang in their rooms so they may disappear before Christmas)

I embellished the hearts with gingham and satin ribbon, some buttons and a couple of bells which I dipped in white paint. I threaded some natual button twine through the hearts to hang them from.

Ribbons, button twine, buttons and seam binding all from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop

Do pop over to the blog and see the rest of the design team examples, there's so much inspiration to be seen. We'd also love you to  join in as we love to see your projects each month.

Thanks for visiting

Sarah x

Red and Orange

Red and Orange is the challenge at Less is More this week. I've not been able to join in for a couple of weeks so I was glad to have time to make this card. Orange is a colour I rarely use in cardmaking but I enjoyed teaming it with red.

I used this Hero Arts stamp which is a favourite of mine and it hasn't seen ink for a little while. I coloured with Promarkers and then used a sentiment from Waltzingmouse. Very simple but I like the finished result.

I'll be back early tomorrow with this month's Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge card.

Thanks for visiting,
Sarah x

New Stamps!!...

I'm still playing with my new Waltzingmouse stamp sets I bought recently, ooh I love them so much! This is another card made using the Seasonal Remedies set. Sorry I know I have been using this set a lot!

This set is so versatile, it has this tag stamp included  which is compatible with Spellbinders Small Labels die and I also used the Goodwill stamp in the centre. That is the fabulous thing about Claire's designs they are so easy to mix and match. I wanted to keep a vintage style so I used some lovely beige seam binding and bakers twine too. The papers are from my scraps box.

I'm going to enter this card into St Luke's Hospice charity challenge. Please do go and have a look at the blog, and if you can spare the odd card for this wonderful charity they are so appreciated. I sent a box of cards off this week so hopefully they have arrived by now. Oh and there are some fabulous prizes if you enter the monthly challenge.

Other challenges I am entering this card into are;

Papertake Weekly - Anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - Button (s)

Truly Scrumptious - bingo - ( embossing, ribbon and buttons)

thanks so much for visiting!
Sarah x

More Snippets...

I thought I would share one more Christmas card made with my new Waltzingmouse stamps, just let me know if you are bored with this stamp set yet. For this card I used a coloured WOW embossing powder, I really like this colour it is just right for vintage style cards.  WOW embossing powders are fabulous there are so many colours to choose from.

These papers are from MME Lost and Found Christmas I love them sooooo much I have already nearly finished the whole pack. I finished off with my favourite beige seam binding from the Pretty Little ribbon Shop and a little bell.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges;

Make it Monday - Anything Goes
Lollipop crafts - Anything Goes
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Borders and frames
Bah! Humbug! - Die Cuts


I'd love to know what all you folks do with your scraps of card left over from making 6x6 cardblanks. I know some people make 'scrapling cards' but I always have tons of these in my scraps box. Last night I made a lot of Christmas tags with some of them. I used Waltzingmouse Festive Foilage set and Say it Loud Winter Holiday sentiments. I used the pine cone stamps and also made some holly ones too. As these are made entirely of card and ribbon snippets I'm going to enter them into Jules Crafty Snippet Challenge.

Many thanks for Visiting,
Sarah x

Been AWOL....

Gosh I am a norty blogger, Sometimes real life just seems to get in the way doesn't it? to be honest this last week has flown by  so quickly, I don't seem to have achieved much.  I did get very distracted by my new Waltzingmouse stamps from this month's release. I bought 3 new sets and I have been having a lot of fun inking up two of them (haven't managed to open the third set yet) and trying out different Christmas card designs. 

I just love the Seasonal remedies set I have made a few cards but I won't share them all today.

This is a 5 x 5 inch card I made with some really old forest green cardstock, I then used lots of snippets of different papers and card. I haven't actually used any Christmas papers but I think I have got away with it - just. The ribbon is 25mm large check (you can find lots of different colours of this ribbon HERE)

The next card is made with my favourite stamp from the same set, I cannot put them down at the moment.

Again I haven't used any Christmas papers these stamps really work with any traditional design I think. This card is finished off with some Moss green seam binding, red bakers twine and a button from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop.

Challenges I'm entering this card into are;

Winter Wonderland - A Vintage Christmas

Charisma cardz - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Jules Crafty Snippets Challenge - use up your snippets

I'll share some more card with you tomorrow,

thanks for visiting.

Sarah x

White Christmas...

Gosh it's a week since I last blogged!!! Must try harder...  I've been a bit under the weather with migraine so I haven't been able to craft much. I'm feeling much better today so I got up early and  got out a new set of stamps  and got to work on a couple of Christmas gift bags and a card.

I was sent these sample paper bags and thought they would be ideal to alter for Christmas. I bought this gorgeous glittered vellum by Paperrmania recently - it is so sparkly and festive! I used some old glitter card and a sizzix snowflake die I have had for ages but rarely used.

 The embellishments in the centre are buttons from the Hobby House I cut the backs off and then used Glossy Accents to attach them. The sentiments are from my new Waltzingmouse sentiment set - Say it Loud Winter Holiday (love this set so much!). The ribbon is 38mm Sheer Ruffle Edge and it's so pretty!

I'm going to use these bags to hold perfume gifts for my daughters. I made one of their Christmas cards too this morning, doesn't it feel good when you manage to use some really old stash? I have two large boxes full of chipboard shapes and letters which I have had for quite a few years and I never use them anymore. I rummaged through and found some snowflakes too. I embossed the letters and snowflakes with white embossing powder and then embossed them again with this glittery embossing powder. They turned out really shimmery!

 Using a scrap of the vellum for the background, this card came together really quickly.   I haven't used a DL card for a long time  - we all love our square cards now don't we? Do you think I could spark a revival? Probably not  - lol!!!!

Challenges I would like to enter are;

charisma cardz - In Stitches
Ooh La La Creations - Let It Snow
Crafting when we can challenge -Christmas come early
The Crafty Pad - Monochromatic

Thanks for visiting!
Sarah x

Trick or Treat....

Sorry I've been AWOL this week but I have had a bad migraine for days and it's only starting to ease off now. Not much crafting done but I have been making these cute little mini milk cartons and decorating them for Halloween. So far I've made about 8 but I will need about 30 I think as we get lots of little ones Trick or treating round here.

I saw a die for these little boxes but it was quite pricey so I googled (what did we ever do without Google?)templates and found one HERE, it's very easy to make and I think it would also be good for Valentines  Day treats or Christmas.

I had plenty of old orange and black card to use up and I used any offcuts for the sentiments. The papers are mostly snippets of a Halloween pack I bought a few years ago, I can't remember what it was called but it is made by MME. I also use some old offcuts of ribbon. 

It made a nice change to make something other than a card.

Challenges I am entering these into are;

Simon Says Stamp challenge -Halloween/Goth

Crafts and Me - Orange
Stampin for the weekend - colours of Autumn

Paper Pretties - Halloween Inspired
Jules Crafty Snippets challenge -Use up your Snippets
My Time To Craft challenge -Orange and Black


there's still time to join in the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge - Anything Goes - HERE

 

Thanks for Visiting!

Sarah x 

Eye-let you into a little secret....

I've gone right off one layer cards!!!! This week at Less is More the challenge is Hearts (fabulous!!) unfortunately it is also one layer week (not so fabulous!).   I started off thinking I would stamp some simple hearts onto a card with a sentiment, easy I hear you say. Errmm no! I inked up a lot of heart stamps but nothing looked right, and cleaning up bright red ink was no fun I can tell you. I now have several red tinged clear stamps in my collection. So yesterday I sulked and decided I wouldn't join in with the challenge this week, and then early this morning I decided I wouldn't be beaten. 

I have been desperately trying to use up old stash and came up with the idea of using eyelets for my heart.  I have thousands of them but rarely use them so I got my silent setter out and started punching holes in my card. It took a while to set all the eyelets but I am pleased with the finished result. I added a scrap of gingham ribbon and a tiny key charm to finish off with. The sentiment is from a Waltzingmouse stamp set -'Sweethearts'.

Don't forget to join in with this month's Anything Goes Challenge at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop blog, you could win a ribbon pack in a colour of your choice.  We's love to see you enter.

Thanks for visiting
Sarah x

Distressed.......

Oooh I love a bit of distressing on a card don't you? I still use the edge of an old pair of scissors to do my paper distressing, but I am definitely going to put the Tim Holtz distressing gadget on my Christmas list this year.

This is another card to add to the box of cards I have been making for St Lukes Hospice (see the challenge blog here, why not join in it's for such a good cause) I have been using up some stamped images and this little Tilda has been left unloved in my craftroom for too long. I used Prima Pixie Glen papers and an old scrap of green paper for the embossing. I have only used this folder once before even though I have had it for years, I sanded over the embossing to distress it and I like the effect so I think I'll use it more often from now on.  I finished off with some prima hydrangeas, a couple of punched butterflies and some moss green satin ribbon from the green Pretty Little Ribbon Pack.
I used a lot of stickles on all the distressed edges and on Tilda's wings but I don't think that shows up too well in the photo.

I'm entering this into the following challenges;

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Sparkle and Bling
Deep Ocean challenge -Happy Birthday
Truly Scrumptious - Distressing
Creative Inspirations - friendship
Crafters Companion Monthly Challenge - Pink And Green


Don't forget to enter The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Challenge this month - ANYTHING GOES, you could win a Ribbon Pack in a colour of your choice. We'd love to see you enter!

Thanks for visiting
Sarah x

Let's hear it for the Boys...

A dreaded male card! Actually I made two of these one for my Nephew and one to send to St Luke's Hospice charity cards challenge.

I can't remember the last time I made a male card, I only ever make them when I really have too, but it's my Nephew's birthday this week so I need to get one in the post today. I found this piece of 12x12 paper (well half a sheet!) but I can't remember what company it's from. I thought it worked really well for a young man's card.

I used my Catslife Press 'Happy Birthday' stamp and finished off with 3 star brads which I have had for years but never use.

I'm entering this into a few challenges;

St Lukes Charity cards Challenge - Let's hear it for the Boys
ABC challenge - Anything goes
Make It Monday - Anything Goes


Dont forget to enter the Pretty Little Ribbon shop challenge this month - Anything Goes!

Thanks for visiting
Sarah x