Gearing up for Christmas

I haven't posted up any cards I have made on this blog for a long time. I have made the occasional one but not posted it here. Its just been one heck of a busy year Meanwhile I have continued to be utterly inspired by my copies of PaperCrafts magazine that I have been receiving that I have taken out a subscription!

However, I am a bit of a rubbish crafter as I see loads of stuff I like, papers, ribbons, embellishments etc & even buy some of them BUT so much do I love all the gorgeous products ..that I can't bring myself to use them & just love to gaze at their deliciousness. Does anyone else have that problem & how do you conquer it!?

So sometimes I make my own stuff ...papers, backing etc. While buying actual products that are meant to go together or complement each other gives a great professional look I also love the look achieved by those crafters who make their cards from scratch or out of more raw materials. Though I obviously need to keep practising on both counts.

So, anyway, I made the above christmas card for my 23 year old son who is a bit of a petrolhead! (sorry the photos are a bit rubbish). Inside I used an image of some sheet music edited to have the title 'Santa Claus is coming to town!' to create a little pocket into which I slipped some money as a gift. I decided to take my inspiration from The Shabby Tea Room 'A Kraft-y Christmas' challenge - I loved the very christmassy combination. I have enjoyed looking at all the great entries too & the amazing interpretations.

I made the newsprint by scanning actual advertisements and articles from some reproduction newspapers from the 1960s which were given to me as a present some years ago. The brown paper is from a paper bag, the image is one from Graphics Fairy & my 'star' for this challenge are Jim Holtz gears sprayed with glitter.

I hope to eventually post some pics of other cards I have made earlier in the year and over this christmas.

Roses and Pearls

The Shabby Tea Room have excelled themselves this week with their choice of inspiring challenge photo...


Gorgeous isn't it. I think I see some pink roses... my favourite thing.

So here is my card...

Here is a close-up...

Not sure if you can quite see it but I used my V and A stamp ...which is rapidly becoming a favourite of mine, to print on the heart shape I made. I then covered it with glitter.

I made the roses myself following a tutorial using a flower punch.


Thanks to the generous efforts of The Graphics Fairy for the image I used to make my backing paper and Carol Anne's Boutique for the rose and flower images. And thanks Shabby Tea Room for the beautiful inspiration!

School Time

Once again this week I have been frustratingly short of time for my crafty playtimes. So I thought I would try and combine the challenges from two of my favourite papercrafting blogs.

The challenge from The Shabby Tea Room uses the following photo for inspiration and asks for the creation of a project with a school theme


The Moxie Fab World challenge is to use this Moxie Fab photo for inspiration..

I used the school theme to create this card and used some of the more pastel colours from the crocheted afghan in the Moxie Fab photo...

The background paper is from Basic Grey ...I can't say exactly what its called because I seem to have managed to glue down on my card the bit of it which bears its name.

I thought the geometric design on the paper invoked a pattern one might draw with a compass but also echoed the geometric yet floral shapes on the afghan.

Given the crotchet in the MFW inspiration photo of course I had to include a Making Memories crochet flower ...and because they are so cute

I even had a go at crocheting my own flowers ...as a keen auto-didactic scholar of crafts I'll keep practicing!

The tag was made with some Making Memories paper from Chloes's Closet to which I added a lace bow and a punched butterfly stamped with some turquoise ink and edged with gold glitter.


Thanks to The Graphics Fairy for the handwriting and ruler image and Carol Anne's Boutique for the adorable schoolgirl and sheet music image.

It was indeed a challenge to combine the two challenges in this way but I hope it has added up to something nice.

Fresh and Fly

A V&A stamp was just right for creating the natural part of The Shabby Tea Room challenge...

Rouge

The colours in the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger challenge photo are rich, dramatic and... theatrical.

So this is what I came up with...



Apols for poor quality photo ...had busy week and only managed to photo it in artificial light with mobile phone camera.

BoBunny Jazmyne Terrace paper was perfect for the backing paper and images from Graphics Fairy completed the Moulin Rouge look which that photo inspired me to think of.

Birthday Card

My card-making time this last week has been taken up making an actual card for my actual sister's birthday...



I made an envelope too because of the rose it wouldn't fit in an ordinary envelope..

Bag, tags and teabags

What a great idea for a challenge from The Shabby Tea Room again this week. Tags!

One of my favourite things in all the world, after the shabby and vintage style in everything, is drinking tea... especially out in style (...more of which later).

So here is my project for this challenge:

I used a needle to attach some linen thread to a teabag at one end ...and tag at the other. I added a sentiment, stamped edges and distressing to the tags.

Here are the tagged teabags in a bag which I also made using origami, ready to give as a present to anyone who also enjoys their tea.


Here's a close up of the edging made with a border punch which I added to the bag along with a paper rose and a lace bow.


And here is a close up of the bag...

All you vintage lovers would love my favourite place to go for tea. It is the Westminster Tea Rooms in Southport. The waitresses and waiters dress in black and white, the walls are wood panelled, there are beautiful glittering chandeliers which elegantly reflect light off all the silverware used to serve proper afternoon teas. Even the music playing in the background is vintage ..1940s style.

Afternoon tea is served on beautiful three tier silver cakestands with china plates on them filled with cakes, sandwiches and scones.
Here is a photo of it which someone has placed online.

Here is a picture I took...