With thoughts and prayers at Christmas

I always like to make a few Christmas cards that are suitable to send to people who need some support, perhaps they are poorly or have been bereaved, so I like this 'with thoughts and prayers at Christmas time' stamp.

The papers are from my offcuts box.


This is for:

Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Scrappy frogs: merry Christmas
Flourish timeless 93: just do it - get those Christmas cards done
Stamp man 9: Christmas
Creative inspirations 47: anything Christmassy
Stamp and create 7: 'tis the season - Christmas
ABC Christmas: X for Xmas
Gingersnap GC79: random redhead: stitching
Drunken stampers 42: stitching
Creative craft: starlight starbright
Wednesday stamper: stars
Stampavie 117: monochrome
ECP 25: red
Character cafe: embossing - the sentiment was stamped and heat embossed with silver detail powder
Stampin' sisters in Christ 65: clean and simple
Fairytale: everything goes

Playing again with alcohol inks

This card is for Treehouse 75 sketch:

Having used alcohol inks the other day for the first time in a while, I had another play, this time using a mixture of stream, meadow and butterscotch.

The base card is a black majestic one, which sparkles. The scalloped edged stamped image (I don't know what the image is - I received in a swap a while ago) and the gold miri surround were cut with nesties.

I've used the colour scheme for challenge 57 on Colour create: black, mint green, gold and cream.

This is also for:

Creative stamp friends 12: vintage
Stamps R us 9: sparkles and scallops
Simon says: sparkle
Secret crafter Saturday 109: sparkle & shine
The lollipop ladies 8: Jumping jelly beans - add some gloss - the alcohol inks on gloss card and the gold mirri
Little paper shop 94: all about the die cuts (nestie scalloped circles)
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Mr Darcy & Miss Bennet

For this card I've used sketch 108 on Eat, sleep, stamp:

From time to time I play along with the Cinema Saturday challenge - for their 100th challenge the film chosen is Pride and Prejudice, which was voted as the favourite of the past challenges. We were required to use 'a hint of lace' or more than a hint.

I've used papers and decoupage from Jolly Nation, some lace from my box, pearls and a couple of roses from Hobbycraft.


This is also for:

PaperPlay 45: ribbon, lace and flowers
Simple doodles 30: lace and pearls
Moving along with the times 71: nice and bright, add some flowers and ribbon
Creative stamp friends 12: vintage
Critter 40: texture
Kaboodle 44: recipe - 1 solid paper (matted behind the image paper), 2 patterned papers, 3 embellishments (lace, flowers and pearls)
Wee memories 31: dust off that patterned paper (I've had these PN papers for a long time)
Paper playtime 25: P.S. I love you (Pride & Prejudice is such a beautiful love story)

Post-it note holders

A couple of post-it note holders - always make a lovely little gift and sell well.

The first one is for:

Aly's challenge 29: music
Incy wincy's challenge 68: rock on

The second one features an Anna Griffin 3D flower:

This is for:

CCEE 1045: use store bought flowers
Design dollies colour challenge: grass green, baby pink and white
Off the wall 33, which gives this inspiration picture for the colours pink, green and white:


They are both for:

Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

WOYWW 76

It's Wednesday again and so it's WOYWW day (if there's anyone left in blogland who doesn't know what this is, then head over to Julia's blog to find out - and join in the fun and snooping!).

I should really be calling this WOYS(helves) today, because I'm not showing my workspace as such (nothing much on there yet today as I was making invitations for John's bowls club last night and they are all done and dusted - thank goodness, all 56 of them), but my shelves. Now I know that you've seen these before, but first I'll tell you about our granddaughters' visit.

The Sunday before last our DIL came over with two of our granddaughters and the first thing they asked was could they do some crafting. Fortunately, I'd already set aside a box of goodies for them to take home, so they got stuck into making some cards. After lunch they asked if they could do some stamping, so here they are:






So by the time they had finished, a lot of my stamps had been taken off the shelves - and there were a lot to clean!

I took this as an opportunity to re-arrange a bit. I' d said recently that I was a bit concerned because space had become limited on my shelves. Well, it's amazing how I sorted them so well now that there are some spaces for new ones (Christmas wish list is on its way).

The photos are dire because it's such a dull day, so there's flash reflection (if the sun happens to come out - a big IF, I think - I'll replace with better pictures).




I think I might try to get another couple of matching shelves because there are holes already at the sides and therefore I could create another layer, which would give lots of scope for more lovely stamps.

Thank you to all WOYWWers who visited me last week. I managed to get around to leaving comments for a lot, but failed on some - sorry, hope you understand - WOYWW is growing soooo much.

Have you visited my new Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog yet? I'll be starting weekly challenge in the new year, but, in the meantime, there is Christmas candy to be won - you've got to be in it to win it - I'd love to see you there.

Teddy bear notebook

One more notebook, this time featuring teddy 3D stickers, with DCWV pocket full of posies paper offcut.

This is for:

My Sheri crafts 31: teddy bears
Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Another purple notebook

Another BIA notebook, using a piece of paper that's been in my offcuts box for some time (not sure what it is - think it might be DCWV). The wired chipboard flowers are Papermania.

It's for:


One stitch at a time 39: your fave colour - using purple yet again - it really is one of my favourites
CCEE 1045: use store bought flowers
Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Girlie notebook

Yet another notebook, this time with a girlie theme - the paper is English paper company and the 3D stickers are unknown (think I bought them from The Works).

It's for:

One stitch at a time 39: your fave colour - using the purple/lilac range yet again
Italy on Sunday 57: red and purple
Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Lilac for you

A clean and simple card suitable for various purposes with a floral 'for you' sentiment, which is chipboard.

It's for:

One stitch at a time 39: your fave colour (another card in purple/lilac shades)
Rainbow lady 126: lest we forget - thinking of you
Stampin' sisters in Christ 65: clean and simple
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
CCEE 1045: use store bought flower

Another notebook

Another BIA notebook, this time using shades of purple - I love purple, although I rarely wear it these days - today is an exception though because I have a purple jumper on.

So this is for One stitch at a time 39: your fave colour. It's also for Inktegrity hump day inspiration 22: ribbons and flowers, also Moving along with the times 71: nice and bright - add some flowers and ribbon - the flowers are K & Co dimensional stickers, which makes it good also for CCEE 1045: use store bought flowers.

It's also for:

Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Piano notes

Another notebook made with my BIA. I think the black and gold paper was originally wrapping paper (it's been in my box quite a long time) - making notebooks like this is handy for using up those odd pieces of paper.

It's for:

Pixie dust studio 48: it's all about men/boys in our lives
Order of the opus gluei 80: men
Aly's challenge 29: music
Incy wincy's challenge 68: rock on
Annabelle: say it in gold (hope there is enough gold)
Our daily bread: anything but a card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Simply thinking of you

This is a simple 'thinking of you card' - one that can be used to send to someone who is poorly or bereaved. It's suitable for a man, so I'm linking for:

Pixie dust studio 48: it's all about men/boys in our lives
Order of the opus gluei 80: men

It's also for:

4 crafty chicks 11: with sympathy
Charisma cardz 45: sympathy
Rainbow lady 126: lest we forget - thinking of you
Stampin' sisters in Christ 65: clean and simple
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Simple lily for sympathy

For this card I've used on of my large foam stamps from QVC (these are such good value - they stamp very well), with a bit of copic colouring.

Sadly, this was sent to a lady in John's bowls club - her husband died recently. The insert said 'with deepest sympathy'.

I love the size and clarity of this image.


It's for:

4 crafty chicks 11: with sympathy
Charisma cardz 45: sympathy
Rainbow lady 126: lest we forget - with sympathy
Stampin' sisters in Christ 65: clean and simple
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Tickling the ivories

I really need to make a few more birthday cards - have very few in stock now. So for this one I've used the sketch on Everybody art 116:

For quite some time now I've been a fan of copics (those who visit regularly and see my WOYWW posts will often see my pots of various colours) - anyway, when we were in Maidstone recently I succumbed to buying some promarkers and think I could become as addicted to these (need to build up more of a collection).

I used some of the skintones to colour parts of this House Mouse 'tickling the ivories' stamped image - isn't it lovely? A dear crafting friend sent me some HM stamped images a while back (think I might need to try and get this stamp because I love it - I think I'll put it on my Christmas wish list).

Anyway, back to the card. The base card is a brown stardream that sparkles (which is why the photo had to be taken at an angle). I used a wide wired sparkly ribbon across the middle and two other narrower ribbons either side - it's a pity in a way that so much of the ribbons is covered by the large image, but nevermind. The addition of three prima pearls and a sentiment and the card was finished.

So now that I've got some promarkers I can take part in challenges that ask for them, for instance, Passion for promarkers 77 has the theme of the colours of old photoraphs - sepia or black and white.

Music is the focus of Aly's challenge 29 and Incy wincy's 'rock on' challenge 68, so I'm linking for those.

The theme for challenge 23 on Cards for men is 'animals' - I think this card would be fine to send to a man.

It's also for:

Pixie dust studio 48: it's all about men/boys in our lives
Order of the opus gluei 80: men
Just cute bears & friends 29: black, white plus one other colour
Town scrapper: two or more ribbons
Pattie's creations 4: birthday card
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Guest Designer on Ooh-la-la challenge 67

This is my second card as Guest Designer on Ooh-la-la, this time for challenge 67: Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.

I've used digi papers and toppers from 'Reindeer' on the OLL Joyeux Noel CD. I produced the topper four times and cropped each layer to produce a pyramage effect. I'm really enjoying working with these OLL backgrounds etc. Just the addition of the sparkly red bow and the sentiment and the card was done.

Please pop on over to Ooh-La-La and see all the fab crafting of the regular Design Team - and perhaps join in the challenge.

I'm also linking this card for:

Bah! humbug 44: Rudolph - reindeer
Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
There's magic in the air Magical Monday: glitter, ribbon & Xmas card
Stamp something: November digi day
Some odd girl 9: backgrounds (digi)
Bee crafty 42: Christmas 2
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Really reasonable ribbon 12: Christmas theme
Crafty pad 97: Christmas sparkle (on the bow)
Pollycraft 70: a glittery Christmas (sparkling bow)
Crafty Hos: fall colours (can be Christmas)
Scrappy frogs: merry Christmas
Creative inspirations 47: anything Christmassy/winter
Other lovelies 34: K for knot in the bow
Fairytale: everything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme
Cupcake inspirations 85:

Hope you have a wheelie good birthday, Son

It's one of my stepson's birthday later this week (I'm sure it's quite safe to show it here because I don't think he looks at my blog - and if his partner does, then please don't tell him).

Anyway, I've used the sketch for Cupcake craft 116:

I someimes find it difficult to make cards for family because I've been cardmaking for over ten years now and it can be hard coming up with new ideas. Steve is interested in bikes, so I know this will be appropriate (although I think I might have done a card similar to this a couple of years ago - oh yes, I've tried to keep scans of them, but have changed computers and some got lost). But I think it's sufficient different to be OK.

I've had the background sentiments papers and scalloped strips for quite some time, but they definitely come in handy sometimes. The image is a photo I got as part of a 'man' kit - lots of useful photos on all sorts of manly pursuits - they come in very handy too.

I'm also linking this for:

Pixie dust studio 48: it's all about men/boys in our lives
Order of the opus gluei 80: men
Sisterhood of crafters: birthday
Pattie's creations 4: birthday card
Dollies colour challenge: royal blue, pale blue, black and white
Tanda teaser 159: lt's do sporty
Challenge up your life 31: blue/green
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme

Fuzzy Santas

For these cards the backgrounds were printed from My Craft Studio Magic of Christmas CD and the Santa tags were from Poundland - the red on Sant's hat and nose is very 'touchy feely' - it's flocked:

These are for:

Mami doodles 14: fuzzy
Whoopsi Daisy: it's Christmas
Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
A crafty little place 64: red, white and green
Stamp something: November digi day
Some odd girl 9: backgrounds (digi)
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Bee crafty 42: Christmas 2
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme

Sepia Christmas stamping

These sets of cards were simply stamped using large foam stamps (these are such good value) with memento rich cocoa ink. These are for Cutie stampers: brown and for Aly's Sunday 29: music.

The second one is also for Something completely different: wings.

They are all also for:

Whoopsi Daisy: it's Christmas
Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Just add ink 43: just add Christmas
Stamp man 9: Christmas
Stamp and create 7: 'tis the season
Crafty Ann 27: Christmas card using non-traditional colours
No time to stamp 165: non-traditional Christmas colours
There's magic in the air Magical Monday: non-traditional colours & Xmas card
Loonie 118: one layer wonder
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme

Pink notebook

This is a notebook made using my BIA machine. The paper is Dreamstreet and the 3D flowers are Anna Griffin.

It's for:

Crafty Emma 12: think pink
Our daily bread 37: anything but a card
Kort o mania 27: flower power
Creative Friday 30: free theme
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes

Another fuzzy Santa

This card uses another of the Poundland Santa tags - the red parts are flocked, making it very 'touchy feely'.

Papers are artic frog ski bunny - 'snowflakes' is the theme for Spoon full of sugar 129, Speedy the cat (Mark's finest papers) 29, Die cut dreams Christmas club 43 and Crafty calendar 14, so I'm linking for these.

It's also for:

Mami doodles 14: fuzzy
Whoopsi Daisy: it's Christmas
Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Crafty Ann 27: Christmas card using non-traditional colours
No time to stamp 165: non-traditional Christmas colours
There's magic in the air Magical Monday: non-traditional colours & Xmas card
Freshly brewed: two or more patterned papers (yes, they look very similar, but there are two papers)
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme

Angelic green and gold

Neither the scan nor the photo really show the card as it looks. It's one of those that's so difficult to capture because of the shiny surface of the gold and green foiled card - so easy to get your own reflection on the card! The gold foiled card with green leaves was a piece left over from last year. The angel image is a rub on with glittered wings, put straight on to the green stardream card.



It's for:

Secret crafter Saturday 109: sparkle & shine
Flourishes timeless 92: glitter
Crafts and me 17: glitter
One powerful hour: little angels
Something completely different: wings
Whoopsi Daisy: it's Christmas
2 sisters 13: Christmas
Shelly's images terrifically thrilling Thursday: anything goes with Christmas
Crazy4challenges 63: Christmas
Lexi's creations 26: anything goes
Fairytale: everything goes
Iris' spot 9: anything goes
Lili of the valley 73: anything goes
Cute card Thursday 138: anything goes
Creative Friday 30: free theme