Happy New Year

I cant believe my last post was 1st Dec.  I was busy crafting after that but I made a mini album for my daughters future mother-in-law, Chris, who has become a good friend.  I made one 2 years ago and put photos of Elsie Rose in it, her first pictures, and as Chris has 6 grandchildren I thought she might like a mini album to put photos of them in and can carry it around in her handbag.  I will show you photos of it in a later post. Christmas is over now, thank goodness, but as I have had a bad cold since then I have not started crafting again yet.  I have lots to do this year as I am doing a lot for my daughters wedding in June, so not sure how many challenges I will be able to enter. The first thing I must do is a card for my son who's birthday is on the 13th. Must get my head together to do that.  When I checked my blog yesterday and other blogs I discovered I had won top 3 for my card Remembrance on The Male Room Challenge blog. Thank you so much DT that gave me a real thrill and has given me the impulse  to start crafting again.  I also had my Faux Frame Card showcased on Technique Time Tuesday. Thank you to their DT for choosing my card amongst the other wonderful entries and thank you so much for all the lovely comments I had for all my cards, they really make my day.  Now I have to try and get the winners badges on to my blog and I cant remember how to do it!!!  Oh how I wish I was computer literate. Will be back soon. Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas cards

I have a few friends who view my blog in general and for them and anyone else who may be interested here are a few more of the cards I made from my inky block backgrounds.

I used much more subtle colours on this card.  Not everyone likes bright colours...  I do.  It is of course brighter in reality, the photo has subdued it a lot. I might put some gems on the baubles to bling it up a bit. The embossing powder was a mixture of purple and silver so that the deer had a bit of sparkle on it, but of course it did make the image a lot paler

This is the same deer stamp but on the bright background and I did put gems on the baubles this time.

This is my favourite one I think.  I just love this leaping deer and the colours are my favourite too.  This one has come out well.

This is another soft one using the loopy tree embossed with purple.
The sentiment I have used on all the cards is from the Stampin' Up set Sassy Salutations
All the cards were mounted on textured silver card as I have lots of it so I thought I would use it instead of plain white card as its Christmas!!

I have really enjoyed the challenges this week, but I might not be able to enter any more for a bit as I must now concentrate on Christmas.  I want to make a mini album for a friend, and I promised my daughter a Christmas cake.  I expect all of you are flat out now. Good luck with your Christmas preparations.   Will be in touch again soon.  Viji. xx

Loopy Tree

Another rush today to get this card on the Make My Monday Challenge blog, Contemporary Christmas.  I finished it yesterday and thought I had till Sunday to get it submitted. Only just found out it is today. The card has been made using the coloured block method I used for  the 52CCT challenge but I decided to use softer colours. So this background has been made using Worn Lipstick and Shaded Lilac inks. The Loopy Tree stamp was stamped and heat embossed using white and the again in purple.  Hope you like it.

I was going to submit another one, but time is limited.  I had such fun making inky block backgrounds that  I ended up with 10 not 8 backgrounds which I made into cards last night. I will put some of them on another post so you can see them if you would like to.  It was really good fun making them all.  Thank you for this challenge.

Leaping Reindeer

Two more challenges to enter this week, then I may have to take a little break, so much to do and I'm out a lot next week.  I'll get there I hope.  I just had to enter the  52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week as the challenge is making a background using a block and spritzing it after inking it.  I learnt this technique a long time ago from a demonstration by Ali of Stamps Away.  I just love this technique as it is so quick and effective and I have used it a lot.  I had such fun making the backgrounds using different colours and layouts and ended up with at least 8 backgrounds. I decided to do very bright colours this time, so used Distress inks picked raspberry and peacock feathers, lovely colours. I then stamped different images on them, my favourite leaping deer, another little deer and a funky christmas tree.  I eventually chose a leaping deer.  I love him. I stamped the image with Versamark and heat embossed it using black sparkle embossing powder. Well it is Christmas!!
It has been a rush getting it all done as I only started this afternoon, so I hope I have chosen the right one.

I shall be entering a similar card for the Make My Monday Contemporary Christmas challenge. Once I have this card on the 52 CCT blog I can relax a bit and mount up the other cards and I will have another 8 cards for my Christmas stash. Great!

Winter Tree

This card I made for the Technique Time Tuesday  -  Faux Frame challenge.  I use this quite often although I don't quite make the frame the same way, but I did do it this time just as the video demonstration and I will use this technique again, especially as I now have my Cuttlebug out all the time!!! So thank you for showing us this way of making a frame.

I made the frame as instructions and sponged the background using Big and Juicy inks.  The tree is a stamp from the Stamps Away Tree collection, lovely tree stamps  I use them often.  I stamped it first in black and then again in versamark and heat embossed it using white embossing powder, slightly off centre so the black looks like a shadow. I sprinkled embossing powder in the sky and round the tree to look like snow and it is quite effective,(does not show up too much in photo.) I embossed some white card using a snowflake embossing folder and it came out really well. Pristine white it was and then the inevitable happened!! I turned the card over to put the tape on the back and when I turned it back it was all smudged with blue ink!!! How did that happen?!!! I was not pleased!!   I had to cut the smudges off and so the card became smaller, but it is still all right I think.  That always happens to me. I am afraid I am a bit of a messy worker! Silver bow and some gems were added for a bit of Christmas bling and there is another card for Christmas made.
I have suddenly realised how close Christmas is now, and so I am in a bit of a panic this morning as I am very behind this year and  have so much to do before then.  But I expect I am not the only one!!!  Hope your Christmas preparations are well ahead.

Winter Season

I was hoping to enter last weeks sketch challenge on Colours and Sketches but at the last minute I had to go to my daughters to look after my Granddaughter who was poorly.  It was lovely to see her again and as she wasn't too bad we had a lot of fun.  So this week I decided to enter the colour challenge and use last weeks sketch.  I have had the Stampin' Up set Four Seasons for a while now and have been dying to use it, so this was a good excuse.  It also made me get out my Cuttlebug, which I hardly ever use, because I cant be bothered to get it all out.  I'm so lazy!!! I got all my dies out too and had a good time playing with it.  I have left it out now so I can use it more often. Here's the card...

I don't think I am a very good photographer as this has come out quite pale. The colours are darker really. I stamped the image in Real Red as I don't have Cherry cobbler and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I coloured a background paper with Crumb Cake and had some Old Olive card.  I cut out the circles using my Cuttlebug and had a fancy edging die which I used on the strip of Old Olive card.  It has all been mounted on Natural White Stampin' Up card. The  snowflake stamp is part of the Four Seasons set.  This card is not as pretty as others on show but at least it is another one for my Christmas Card stash.  I am a bit behind with them this year.

It's Been a long time.

Its been a long time since I did any blogging!  I have done an awful lot since the last time.  I went away in my Romahome to Tenby and had a lovely time catching up with old friends and making new.  The weather was a bit dull but it could have been worse. When I got back I did the usual catching up with chores, seeing friends and family and getting my Romahome ready for winter.  Mainly dealing with lots of rust spots.  A very messy job.  Also my daughter was moving again so I went down to see her three weekends running to look after my Granddaughter whilst she packed loads of boxes.  I had a lovely time with Elsie.  She is such fun.  Now I think things will get back to normal and perhaps I can start crafting again.  I started with making the Remembrance card for the The Male Room Challenge and then made a birthday card for my ex. Here is the card I made for him.....

The stamp is from Stamps Away and is a lovely picture.  I did colour it all in with water colour pencils, but the colours dont photograph well.  All the hills and fields are coloured green, honest. I just sponged the background using inks from Stampin' Up and Distress Stormy Sky and various masks to form the background.  I love sponging the backgrounds.  It can be so effective.  I will put Happy Birthday on the inside as I didnt want to spoil the picture by adding it to the front.
I hope to enter more challenges now I up and running again, but I must concentrate on making Christmas cards and presents, then in the New Year I will be focusing on making things for my Daughters wedding, she is getting married in June and I will be very busy making the stationery, table decorations etc. I call myself the Artistic Director of the Maiden/Kirk wedding.!!!!   Should be fun though.  Cant wait.
I have been following your blogs and I must say all your cards are fantastic.  Wish I had your ideas.
Its good to be back. Thanks to everyone for their support, especially my friends Sue and Jacqueline.