Humbug!!!!

Humbug!! That's not me by the way, it refers to my final make before Santa arrives. I have just finished making my last card for 2013 and thankfully I only make a special few for family and close friends. My final make just had to be with Stampotique stamps and I am also entering this into Stampotique Designers Challenge week 3 of anything goes.

The Christmas character I have used is "Oh Joy" some sarcasm there when you read the quote from Scrooge which I have cut from "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.

Background has been made with acrylic paints, stencil, Kaisercraft background stamps, washi tape and a bit of festive bling. Tree baubles are also Stampotique, coloured and covered in glossy accents to make them look shiny, the strings they hang on have been hand drawn.

Thanks for stopping by and can I take this opportunity to thank you all for your lovely comments throughout 2013 and wish you all a very very merry Christmas.

Love

Amanda X

May Peace be your gift at Christmas

Hi Everyone, I hope that you are ready for Christmas, needless to say I'm not, but for me every Christmas is the same and I seem to get there in the end, hopefully. The Christmas lead up does impact somewhat on my crafty time so for this weeks Challenge at Crafts4eternity I have made quite a quick Christmas card for our theme this week which is an "anything goes" week. So if you have time to play you can show us anything you like. One randomly chosen winner will win their choice of 3 Digi stamps from Crafts4Eternity.

I have used an already prepared gelli print and stamped my main image from The Lynne Perrella Collection LPC018 from Paperartsy.

 The trees have been die cut from packing tape that I used to clean my gelli plate with and then stuck to black card.

Sentiment is from Kaisercraft Christmas Quotes set.

The background trees and music script are from Tim Holtz stamp sets.

I have added a little bling in the stars above her head.

 

So if you can find a little time come along and show us what you are up to.

Love

Amanda X

Christmas Chaos at C4E

Hi and I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well, thankfully our challenge, this week at crafts4eternity is another Christmas themed challenge
"Christmas Chaos"
We would like to see anything with a Christmas theme, so I got the chance to add another card to my pile, be it a small pile.

My background has been made using my gelli plate with the snowflakes being made by pressing in Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder which has given a very subtle snowflake impression.

You might see it better here

 

the rest of the card is made up of several die cuts. I started by cutting into the card with Tims on the edge snowflakes which required a bit of precision cutting

 

other dies include Sizzix let it Snow sentiment

Spellbinders 2011 snowflake pendant

Alterations mini snowflake rosette strip die.

All have had a rough painting of Patina blue and some rock candy distress glitter.

A piece of blue burlap and a bit of bling in the centre finish this card off.

As we are all in the throws of our festive makings why not show us what you have made and join in with us for this weeks challenge.

I would also like to enter this card into this weeks challenge at

Make My Monday - Frosty Theme

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Let it Snow

thanks for stopping by

Love 

Amanda X

Anything Goes at Stampotique

For the month of December at Stampotique Designers Challenge blog

 it is week 2 of an "anything goes" month.

I have made a card using my newly acquired stamps "Snowy Fran" and "Bow Heart"

Background is a very subtle gelli print where I pushed Tim Holtz alterations snowflake into the paint prior to lifting a print, if you look closely you can see the snowflake impressions that this left.

The hearts are from Dylusions stamp set "Inbetweenies. I have coloured the hearts with festive berries Distress Marker, I haven't really got to grips with these but they are brilliant at colouring over acrylic paint so that'll do for me!!

Some of the hearts have had Rock Candy distress crackle put on them and some rock candy distress glitter, you can just about see it in this photo, or then again perhaps not.

For the sentiment "Snow in love with you!" I have just cut the words from an old book which just happens to be A Christmas Carol, not that you could tell, but it did allow me to find the Merry Christmas phrase, and then doodled around..

My main image has been stamped and cut from the same book paper

and she sits upon a piece of corrugated card that I have painted with blue patina which makes it look very icy, I have sewn this on for a little icy texture. The bow heart which hangs from her has had glossy accents applied and a dusting of rock candy distress glitter.
I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:-
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Let it Snow
and
Make My Monday - A Frosty Theme

Thanks for visiting and see you soon

Love

Amanda X

Taking a break from Christmas

Well I have had a lovely few days off and I have just chilled out in my craftroom, the time has also allowed me to sort my craft room out and I have done a bit of reorganising of things, why does that always take so long? I did have an afternoon with my gelli plate and I have used one of my prints to make this weeks DT piece for our new challenge starting today over at Crafts4eternity. Our theme for this week is a sketch (this can be seen at the end of this post) and this is my interpretation of that.

It was recently my birthday and with some of the money that I got I bought some of Lynne Perrella Paperartsy stamps, this image is from LPC006.

I stamped the image straight onto the gelli print and then mat and layered to match the sketch. I coloured in her cheeks with distress markers and added a little glaze to make them stand out.

  I have added some stamping using Tim Holtz text from Classics#4 in archival monarch orange , some washi tape and a dymo gun strip sentiment finish this piece.

Here is our sketch for this week if you decide to come and join in with us

I would also like to enter this card into this weeks challenge at

Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is make your own background

thanks for popping by and please feel free to leave a comment 

Love

Amanda X

 

You're A Star!!

A very special friend of mine has only recently found out that she is suffering from M.S.

 I unfortunately can't change that, but I can let her know how special she is by making her a little something, so this little Christmas make is for her, and it is because she is a "Star".

I have used an 8 x 8 box frame which I have distressed using acrylic paint and paperartsy crackle glaze. I have backed the piece with burlap which also has some gathered twigs distress on it. The stars are made from my newly acquired Tim Holtz 3D star die, what a nightmare but I think I have it sussed now!!! This 3D die gives you great dimension within your project.

Both stars were cut from the die using silver mirri card, then embossed with a cuttlebug Xmas numbers folder. I then painted over the lot with vintage photo and gathered twigs distress paint, wiping most of it away for the distressed look. The final step was to randomly add vintage photo distress embossing powder, trying to make them look quite rusty.

I added some rusty wire to the smaller one to represent 

it leaving a starry trail.

To the main star I added a Tim Holtz mini snowflake rosette cut from old Christmas carol sheet music.

Final touches were some little wooden stars which have been lightly coloured with gathered twigs distress ink and a little bit of bling, it's not Christmas without bling, and one of Tims Chrsitmas wordbands "Believe in the majic of Christmas" which has also had the paint and distress embossing powder treatment.

My final touch is the staple gunned kisses.

I can't believe how long it took me to make this but I can put most of the time down to mastering the die, eventually remembering I had a crease pad and the staple gunning, 2 hours to find that!!!!

She is coming over Saturday so I can hand my gift over then.

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:-

Country View Challenges - Bah Humbug

Try it on a Tuesday - A handmade gift or tag

Thanks for visiting I've loved having you here

Love

Amanda X

Another non traditional Christmas

As I sit writing this post this Monday morning I am relaxing in the thought that I am off work until next Monday, and I am going to spend my time of wisely... Crafting!! Anyway to start this week off I thought I would post a card I made last week. I made a couple of cards as potential candidates as my DT piece for this weeks challenge at http://crafts4eternity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/r152-non-traditional-christmas.html I didn't use this one in the end, you can click the link to see what I did post and even join in with us.

I seem to be in a "using up what I have" mode at the moment  as I found this piece of kraft card that I had stamped with distress paint using Indigoblu Bubbles stamps in my bit box. I then sprayed it with perfect pearls pearl spray to make it icy and sparkle. I then punched out the snowflakes which were scraps of gelli prints on packing tape which I had stuck to white paper.
I then simply added some pearls to the snowflakes and a Tim Holtz Chit Chat sticker.
Ok off to tidy up my messy craftroom only to make another mess, I don't know about you but I always have to tidy up before I make something new.
see you soon and thanks for visiting
Love
Amanda X

Having a Gelli Christmas

Friday is the start of a new challenge week over at Crafts4eternity and our theme for the week is

A Non Traditional Christmas 

we would like to see any Christmas project (doesn't have to be a card) with a non traditional theme, so a chance to use different colours, themes etc a little bit away from the norm.

For my design piece I have kept it quite simple and just used one of my stashed gelli prints that I did a while back.

Whilst I have used a sizzix Christmas tree die I think the design of the gelli print is very non traditional. 

I have torn some of the paper to create snow on the hills that the trees are growing on. A simple sentiment of "Wish" from Tim Holtz seasonal chit chat stickers and some punched stars complete the card.

The card has a lot of dimension as I layered everything using pinflair glue.

 

So why not pop over, break with tradition, and join in this week with us.

One randomly chosen winner will win a $6 gift certificate from Floppy Latte Designs.

Thanks for stopping by

Love 

Amanda X

 

Christmas Waves a Magic Wand

This weeks challenge over at Stampotique Designers challenge is "Early Christmas". 

The hostess this week is Nellie who like many of us, yes that includes me, leaves the making of Christmas cards far too late and December just becomes a mad dash of a paper and glitter fest.

I have used "Angel" by Stampotique. This is one of the first stampotique stamps that I bought and I haven't really used her, so I decided it was time to bring her to life.

Background has been created on linen cardstock with dylusions sprays.

Stamps used

Stampotique "Angel"

Kaisercraft "Magic of Christmas"

Crafty Individuals Santa's Sleigh

Card has been sprayed with perfect pearls mists forever blue & pewter (I can't capture the sparkle in the photo)

Card has been edged and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer thick embossing crystals -  Silver Shine

I have also embossed using a credit card to add some texture and ground Angel. Individual grains have been embossed in the top half of the card to represent the stars (again photo doesn't pick this up, dam these dark evenings)

All has then been mat and layered several times and mounted onto an 8x8 card blank.

thanks for visiting my blog and please feel free to leave your comments, we all love reading what others think and I can pop over and visit you if I know you have been.

Love

Amanda X

Winter Wonderland (of scraps)

Well I have been doing a lot of rummaging and sorting in my craft room, I was trying to find all my Christmas bits within many boxes and drawers, infact I discovered many things that I didn't realise that I had I suppose that's because they only come out once a year. I found a box of scraps that I had left over from several Christmas's so I thought I would try and put them to some use in my attempt to become more organised than previous Christmas's. This was all prompted by visiting my local craft shop "The Stampers Gallery" in Tarlton where I purchased a bag of natural linen type fabric Christmas tree's for £1.75 for 8.

I have again gone for a very natural look, following the colours of my last post, but this time to add that wintery feel I have included a little blue to just add that touch of cold and frostyness.

Other than my purchase of these super little trees everything else is just made up of scraps of papers,ribbons,burlap etc that I have had left over. I wanted this to have a great feeling of texture so have used a variety of items and have added machine stitching to add even more texture.

and here these little trees that inspired this piece

 

I started with a piece of Kraft card which I roughly painted with gesso. I then just started building up the piece with my scraps just creating my pattern, the hardest thing is to stop. Colours used are all distress paints  in picket fence,antique linen and stormy sky. The little trees came with the buttons on but I added picket fence paint and picket fence stickles to give them that wintery feel.

Finally I have added chit chat stickers to title my card.

I would like to enter this into this weeks challenge at Make My Monday where the theme is Contemporary Christmas.

thanks for visiting 

Love

Amanda X

Get out your Bling!!

Hi,

and today is the start of another weekly challenge at Crafts4eternity, unfortunately I didn't make it for last weeks challenge but I am back this week for our theme this week which is

"GLITTER & SPARKLE"

So as I said in my title, Get out your bling and pop along and join in, you can make anything you like as long as it fits in with our theme. 

I stayed a bit safe, and at this time of the year, a bit predictable as I went with a Christmas theme but at least that's one card made.............

My only issue was getting my sparkle to sparkle in the photo and that unfortunately was impossible, so I have added a couple of close ups that hopefully give you a better idea..

I love snow and in particular snowflakes 

Main image is Tim Holtz Blueprint snowflake heat embossed in white with rock candy glitter added, wooden snowflake painted with picket fence distress paint covered in rock candy glitter, silver snowflake charm painted with P.F. D.I. and then finally a Papermania shimmer dot.

 

Every stamped snowflake has a shimmer dot in the centre, even the tiny ones which hopefully you can see here, I told you there was bling. The background paper which is from lily of the valley Krafty Christmas pad was sprayed with Goosebumps clear texture spray, which you can justabout see,prior to me toning the kraft paper down with picket fence distress stain.

The addition of hessian and cheese cloth add more texture and hopefully add to the natural look and feel of this card.

The card has then been edged with picket fence distress paint and finally the sentiment is a Tim Holtz Christmas word band tied on with natural twine with a dash of picket fence paint.

So come on over and join us and if nothing else if only to display better photography skills than me. 

You could be our randomly chosen winner, who this week will win their choice of 3 digi images from the Crafts4eternity collection.

I would also like to enter this into the current challenge over at

Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Shabby Chic Christmas

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment it's lovely to know who's visiting and I can pop along and visit you.

Love

Amanda X

David Bowie Tribute....

Hi blog friends hope you are all having a great week so far. 

Another weekly challenge over at Stampotique Designers challenge and this week is a

 One Layer Challenge and trust me that is a challenge for me.

This weeks challenge has been set for us by the fabulous Samantha Read and Sam says;

"Hi Stampotiquers! I'm so excited to be your host this week and I'm inviting you to make a creation using just one layer. It doesn't necessarily have to be clean and simple, that's the challenge! I love lots and lots of layers but to achieve a sense of depth to a creation using no embellishments etc can really get you scratching your head and rubbing your chin! 

Most importantly have fun ;)"

For my make this week, if I can't use layers, I will use texture!! and as you will see from the sentiment this card is a tribute to the fantastic David Bowie and "Major Tom" Lyrics.

All this has been created onto an 8" x 8" kraft card

using

Stampotique stamps "3 in a round" & "Two Stars"

Tim Holtz worn alphabet

Prismacolour pencils white and spring green

Modelling Paste Winsor & Newton

Dylusions spray black marble

Perfect pearls - Pearl

Pan Pastels Phthalo Blue and Burnt sienna tint.

thanks for popping by, your visit means a lot to me.

Love

Amanda X