Countdown to Christmas - Day 19

Evening All

We had an unexpected visit from the littlest Grandchildren today, which was lovely.

The first thing they wanted to do was crafting, so I gave them the pile of Christmas crafty goodies that 'Auntie Weena' had given me on Saturday. Its amazing what fun you can have with some die cut snowmen, paper and glue.

Mummy needed to do some shopping so I went too, which saved me a walk into Horley. The snow has gone, thankfully, but has been replaced with pouring rain, so I am very glad not to have had to make that trip.

Here are a couple of cards made using one of Jane's Christmas Bubble stamps.

I mirrored all the bubbles and wreath with a circular card here

and plenty of glitter and glossy accents. There are even a few die cut circles.

This second card uses the same stamp set and white embossing,

but this time straight on to white cardstock.

Traditional red for the poinsettia on this one, and then glossy accents to highlight the circles. Unfortunately it doesn't show up very well in the photos.

Must get the last of the prezzies finished tomorrow. The Grandkids rather sidetracked me, in the nicest possible way, but if I am ever going to get things finished, I really must do it tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty hugs

Kimx

Best of Luck with Background Dies

Hello again,

I don't know what it has been like where you are, but it has been the perfect weather for crafting here........windy and pouring with rain. 

We woke up this morning to torrential rain, bins blown over and broken glass from the old greenhouse strewn around the garden. It's been too wet and windy to clear it up today especially since it is not in danger of hurting anyone. Besides which it's still blowing a gale so I might as well do the clean-up all in one go

So instead of cleaning today, I have been playing with my background dies in preparation for a crafty get together on Saturday. 

I have loads of larger background dies so it has been great fun trying to find lots of different things that you can do with them.

We all like to get more out of our supplies, especially when they are a little more expensive, like the larger style dies.

Here I have used my die with a rubber mat to create an embossed background rather than a die cut panel.

Same design, just different colourway.

I used the embossed panel across the card and then added a die cut floral image,

and a die cut sentiment which I covered with Glossy Accents.

I'm not seeing much let up in the weather here, so I can see more playtime in my future.

The physio came to see Mum again today, and while he is delighted with her progress, he has encouraged her to walk around the house at least every 60 - 90 minutes. I have been letting her do things for herself much more over the last few days, so we have agreed that I will just go in and nag her if she hasn't got up and walked around in the allotted time. It seems so harsh, but at least she agrees that it is for her own good.

Of course it will be much more difficult if I am out of the house for any length of time. You know yourself how easy it is to just sit and sleep when there is no-one else around, so I may have to rope in the rest of the family to take over on the nagging front at those times..........thank goodness for Facetime lol.

On that note it's time for another gentle reminder, and I need to get her pills ready so I will call it a day.

It's lovely to be back sharing things with you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Bubble Wreath

Evening All,

Another scorcher today, although it has thankfully ended with a bit of rain. Not as much as I would have hoped with the thunder rumbling around, and certainly not enough to affect the temperature at all. I'm not sure that I will cope if the whole of the summer is this hot.

I hid indoors on Sunday and finished off cards from Saturdays classes on Jane's fabulous Festive Bubble stamps.

They are a marvelous way of using up all those odd gems and glitter glues that you have kicking about.

I also used the die that is available to cut faux candi from the same silver card stock that I used for the matt to the panel.

Although this stamp is part of the festive collection, I'm sure you will agree that it works for any occasion.

I must be out of my tiny mind meeting up with a friend at the gym today. The trouble is that now she is retired she seems to have become busier than ever, and this was the only way and time that we could get together this week. They do say that retirees wonder how they ever found time to go to work, and she definitely fits that profile lol.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Stenciled Happy Anniversary

Afternoon All,

What miserable weather we have had again today so we have been stuck indoors. Still, they have been very good playing with their Sylvanians. It is such fun to sit and listen to the three of them role playing with all these little creatures. They also helped me get some washing on and sort the dishwasher so they earned some Youtube.

I have managed to update the blog with a list of the first few class dates, so here are a couple more cards made using stencils.

Once again I used my Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion to hold the stencil in place while I blended the ink through it onto the paper.

I then added a little sparkle with some glitter glue blended with a piece of Cut n Dry felt.

I layered the stenciled panel on to some dry embossed card stock.

Another lovely stencil and some blended inks.

Blending brushes, or stencil brushes are great for giving a lovely soft blended finish to the inks.

I die cut 'Happy Anniversary' from the stenciled panel and then stacked it onto several layers of black card stock before adding it back into the panel. 

I finished it off with some clear sparkle pen and a layer of glossy accents.

Need to go and rest my arm now, and take a couple more pain killers. Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I hope that you are having better weather than us. 

Hugs Kimx

Die Cut Flowers for Gill

 Evening Everyone,

Well our nice bright day, has turned into torrential rain, so I'm going to hide indoors I think. 

Since today is Wednesday it is time for my lovely friend Gill to set her weekly challenge at Christmas Cards and Papercraft Challenge over on Facebook. This week she is looking for Die Cut Flowers.

I delved into my box of cards and came up with a couple that I made in a class at the beginning of the year. I do miss my Saturdays teaching my group of lovely crafty friends.

The background to the card was created by running a stencil through my embossing machine and then sponging it with plenty of ink.

They really are the most fabulously useful things and so very affordable. 

You can use the debossed side as in the first card,

or you can use the embossed side as with this one. I then added the required die cut flowers and foliage, along with a stamped and embossed sentiment.

Same design just a different colour combo. 

I used Distress Oxides for all of them and then added some gilding wax to the finished panel to highlight the dry embossing.

I added some gems or glitter glue to the flower centers. I'm sure that Gill will appreciate the added bling.

This final card uses some die cut and heat embossed snowflakes. 

I die cut the snowflakes and then covered them in versamark ink before adding Frantage Embossing powder.

I hope that these will inspire you to dig our your floral dies and stencils.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

New Stamps from Woodware

 Evening,

Another really cold morning which didn't get much better all day, so let's have a card using one of Jane's fabulous new stamps to cheer us all up.

I created the background using Distress Oxide inks and an embossing folder.

I stamped and embossed this beautiful design onto it

and added some glitter glue once I had trimmed the panel down and added it to the main card.

I trimmed around the sentiment panel

and added it over some string.

There are some fabulous new floral designs in this new release. I LOVE them all.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Festive Hanging Berries

Evening,
Just a very quick post tonight, I'm absolutely shattered.

 This is a card that I made recently using one of Jane's new Christmas designs.

 Once again I think that this would make a good birthday card.

Of course you can't have Christmas without a bit of bling,

so I added some glitter glue around the central raised panel.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs Kimx

Smackdown Celebrations

Evening Everyone,

Just a super quick post tonight to share a couple of cards that I made last year at SirStampalot using the Smackdown Technique.

The background was created using the technique, distress oxide inks and a lovely Molly Blooms Dandelion stamp.

The colour palette was actually inspired by something that one of the ladies on the class made. I added a little blue ink to the flower centers and the card blank, along with a touch of glitter glue and pearls.

This card was made in exactly the same way only with a highlight of yellow this time.

The die cut sentiment is from my favourite, much used, set from Creative Expressions.
Stay safe.
Big Hugs
Kimx

Celebrations Challenge at CCM

Afternoon All,

It's my turn to host the challenge over at CCM this time and we are looking for Celebrations.

Now a 60th Birthday is definitely a good reason for a celebration, and this card was made for a friends sister.

The image is a Simply Print from LOTV called Time for You.

I printed out the image 2 to a page and then cut one out using a dotted circle die and layered it over a Tonic Floral Frame.

The other image was used to fussy cut the little girl and her hat. At this point I decided that I wanted some more of the flowers to embellish the card, so I printed the images out again (2 to a page) and fussy cut all the floral elements, hearts and butterflies.

The sentiment panel is a combination of stamps and a 60th die cut from glitter card using a Julie Hicky Numbers die.

I added the flowers, butterflies and tiny hearts around the sentiment and the rest of the card.

I also added some glitter glue and glossy accents.
I hope that you will find the time to join in with our challenge. I look forward to stopping by and seeing what you have come up with to Celebrate with us.
Stay Safe.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx