It's Rudolph Day again

I usually make Christmas cards for all the children in my class. Years ago the class was quite small and my cards were a bit more elaborate, however the past couple of years or so two classes have been amalgamated into one so the numbers have got bigger and as a result my cards have got less elaborate and quicker to make.  With Rudolph day a monthly event it has spurred me on to think about the design for this year's card a lot earlier than usual.  In the hope that if I start now I will get enough made for the whole class before December 25th I decided to be a bit more adventurous and have come up with a simplified exploding box design.

Materials Used:
Printer card
Do Crafts free Christmas background papers downloaded from web site
Away in a manger sheet music download
Christmas stamps (sorry do not know make)
tag dies
Memento Tuxedo Black
Derwent Studio pencils

Method:
I printed the sheet music on one side of the printer card and a starry paper on the other and used them to make up the box and lid.


Using the nativity stamp I stamped it in Tuxedo black onto white card, coloured in with the pencils and then cut out with enough extra card at the bottom to make a tab. I glued the tab to the base of the box.



With the greeting stamp I made a square to go on the front of the box. I used the left over card to make a double tag, the smaller outer one covering up a white blank on the bigger one. The tag will have the child's name on come Christmas!



The Rudolph Day challenge asks for two cards so I have added a picture of my first design, which I was not so keen on!



Thank you for dropping in.  Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter these cards into the Rudolph Day Challenge

Makes me smile

Much as I love winning prizes in raffles or randomly selected draws there is something extra special about winning something on merit. Over at 'Less is More' the challenge theme this week is 'Makes me smile'.  I would like to share a card, tag and matching wrapping paper that I made for the Crafter's Inspiration magazine competition last year. As I have not blogged it before I am hoping it will still be counted!  The reason it makes me smile?  Well I won runner up with it and appeared in the next issue of the magazine too!

The only rule for the  competition was that you had to make use of something that came in the free bundle of goodies that came with the magazine.  Being an avid stamper I used the lovely little dahlia flower head stamp to make my gift wrapping set.

All the items are stamped with memento rich cocoa and coloured with Derwent studio pencils.  The card and tag were made with kraft card and the wrapping paper with brown parcel paper.

[caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="604"] the card[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_517" align="aligncenter" width="604"] matching envelope[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_518" align="aligncenter" width="604"] the wrapping paper[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_515" align="aligncenter" width="604"] matching gift tag[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_519" align="aligncenter" width="604"] the complete set[/caption]

Thank you for popping in.  Take care

Pippa

I would like to enter this into the 'Less is more challenge - Makes me smile'

One set of stamps, five ATC's

Well Easter has come and gone and life in the vicarage is a bit quieter so I have a moment to share a crafting session with you.  I mentioned in a previous post that I joined an ATC swap group.  Each month we have a new theme and this month it is 'Spring is Sprung'.  The most recent edition of 'Creative Stamping' magazine had a lovely collection of bird and flower stamps so I decided to use them and only them to create five different ATC's.



The first one is just the leafy swirl stamped on the left side of the ATC, coloured with Spectrum Noir pens and dusted with stonewashed Adirondack using a stencil brush.  The wording was stamped onto a circle of card, edged with a black pen and lightly dusted with ink before being stuck on with gel glue.



The second ATC is made using kraft card, stamped with Archival Sepia, coloured with pencil crayons and distressed around the edges with Vintage Photo.



This one will be familiar to anyone who has read my previous post 'Spectrum Noir OTT?'  Details are there so I won't bore you with a repeat!



Number four is again on kraft card.  I bought an old novel from a charity shop that had some pages missing so was no use for reading anyway.  I tore a piece of the paper to fit the front of the ATC and then tore out enough of the centre to frame the wording.  the circular vine is stamped with meadow, the birds and words with sepia.  I carefully distressed the printed paper around the outer and inner edges with Vintage photo before sticking to the ATC blank.



Finally the one I am least happy with. The background is made by spreading Adirondack meadow and stonewashed onto a class mat and thenspritzing with a fine mist before using a piece of card to lift a print from the mat.  I cut the ATC blanks from the resulting card, stamped first and second generation using the meadow flowers and black archival ink at the bottom and the words and bird in the sky.

I had fun trying out new techniques and just playing about so getting reasonable results to send off for the ATC swap was a bonus.

Thanks for dropping in.  Take care.

Pippa

Spectrum Noir OTT?

I am still enjoying playing with my Spectrum Noir pens, they make so much more sense having done half my course!  At the ATC Swap UK this month's theme is 'Spring is Sprung' so I have had a start on it using some stamps which came with 'Creative Stamping' magazine and the pens.  The reason for the title? Well it took this many pens



to colour in this Atc!



I have just bought a new camera and I am still getting used to it, not being a photographer by inclination it is a little bit of a challenge!  I think I may need to sort out some better lighting!

To finish with here is a closer view (a bit too bright!)



 

It may be a while until  my next post.  With Easter comes a whole different set of busyness, especially in the vicarage!

Thanks for popping in.  Take care.

Pippa

PS Managed a better photograph!



 

A marriage made in heaven?

My eldest daughter celebrated a birthday on Friday.  I am not going to tell how old she is because I am in denial about my own age and she cannot possibly be older than me!

Of course I made her a card.  We are both Hunkydory fans and I love Clarity Stamps so decided to combine the two and at the same time use up some left over bits.



 

All the lettering is Clarity Stamps Letter Box kit, the rest of the card is Hunkydory.  I tried to match the colours in the background in the stamping, hence the grey and pink colour scheme.

Thanks for visiting.  Take care.

Pippa

I think I should have positioned the greeting a little lower though!

Dorset is beautiful wherever you go.

But don't let them hear you say that in Somerset! Today is Tim's day off so this morning it was gardening (for him) and making Easter cards, (late again), for me.  This afternoon as  it was a beautiful sunny one, we went for a walk around Lambert's Castle, a nearby Iron Age Fort now owned by the National Trust.  You can find the walk we followed on the National Trust web site. Here are a few photo's I took along the way.  If you are in the area it is well worth a visit.  There is also a shorter walk on the castle itself and a longer one which takes in Lambert's Castle and Coney Castle, another beautiful spot, especially in bluebell season.

[caption id="attachment_462" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Views from the top of Lambert's Castle over the Marshwood Vale[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_465" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Welsh Blacks keeping the scrub down.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_466" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Another stunning view.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_469" align="aligncenter" width="604"] The lovely little church at Fishpond Bottom.[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_470" align="aligncenter" width="604"] The Medieval fish pond[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_472" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Some of the hedgerow flowers[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_474" align="aligncenter" width="604"] View from the other side of Lambert's Castle[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_475" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Back along the bridle way[/caption]

Thanks for stopping in.  Take care.

Pippa

How long is 'a certain time'?

Today I read the instructions on my Collall All Purpose Glue; it's a woman thing. The trouble was they left me somewhat baffled, so along with the unanswerable question 'How long is a piece of string?' I would like to add 'How long is a certain time'. To enlighten you here are the instructions from Collall: Apply the glue, let evaporate for a certain time then press the parts firmly together, allow to dry.So you can see my problem!

Back to the original intention of this post, before I got side tracked by gluey problems, my contribution to the Less is More challenge which this week is a colour one - turquoise. It just so happened that my husband needed some 'thank you' cards following a recent birthday so incentive provided off I set.



Materials Used:
Clarity stamps - Celtic Square and Thank You
Memento ink - Tuxedo Black
Snippets of coloured card
Spectrum Noir Pens

Method:
First I stamped the Celtic Squares out on white card then coloured them in with Spectrum Noir Pens; the colours of snippets of card dictated the colours of the Celtic Squares. Once coloured in I cut the squares out and matted them onto the coloured card before mounting them onto an A6 blank card. I added a strip of the same coloured card at the bottom and stamped the 'thank you' on it.

This was a really quick card to make, just right for a batch lot .  The turquoise version is for the Less is More challenge but I did other varieties as well!



Thanks for visiting, come again soon!  Take care.

Pippa

If anyone does has the answer to 'How long is a certain time?' I'd love to know!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Less is More A touch of turquoise
Snippets Playground week 119

A bit late, but at least it is still April!

I have been taking part in a journalling challenge this year and had thoughts on what to do for my April pages right back at the beginning of March!  The problem is these thoughts are no good until they come out of my head and actually materialize as said pages.  So here they are at last!

Materials Used:
Clarity stamps - various and letterbox set
Clarity clouds stencil
Hills and mountains stencil
Adirondack inks - lake mist, slate and juniper
Archival black
Distress ink - black soot

Method:
Using juniper, lake mist, slate, black soot, and the stencils I created the background.


I then used a variety of Clarity stamps and black archival ink to create a little scene on each page. (The left hand page is now mostly covered with the journalling rain drops but there is some visible on the right hand page.)


Finally I printed out the tear drop shapes from the computer, distressed them slightly with the same inks used for the background, cut them out and arranged them on the page. Pages done!


Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

OK, new feature, that is what I did, now for what I should have done!
1. Put the hills higher up and make them further apart so the fields are bigger.
2. Worked out the positioning of the rain drops before stamping.
3. Started earlier!

Flutterby

After a few days of sunshine, more warmth and less rain we are back to wet and windy again.  So to cheer up a dismal dark and damp day here are some bright butterflies and a hint of sunshine in the background.



 

Materials Used:
white and yellow card
Clarity butterfly stamp
Clarity sunshine stencil
Spectrum Noir pens
Adirodack inks - lemonade, butterscotch
Distress ink - scattered straw

Method:
I made a 19cm square card base and distressed the edges with scattered straw. On a piece of the Clarity gelli plate card I used the sunshine stencil and the yellow inks to stencil the background, darker in the middle and lighter on the edges. With what ink was left on the bush I swept around the sun to lightly ink the white card. I then matted this onto piece of yellow card, and then attached to the card base.

Using the butterscotch ink I then stamped the butterflies around the card in a circle and anther set of butterflies on another piece of white card. This second set of butterflies I coloured in with the Spectrum Noir pens before cutting out and attaching on top of the card using 3d foam pads and raising the wings slightly to add some dimension.

This card fulfils the criteria for both the Clarity challenge this month, which is monochrome, and the Butterfly challenge which is yellow so I shall be heading off to both shortly to link my little offering.

Thanks for popping in. Have a good day and take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Clarity Challenge 14
Butterfly Challenge Spring Time At Last

 

Going round in circles

Over at Less is More this week the challenge is 'Round and Round'. One of the little ATC Clarity stamps I was fortunate enough to win a while back is the small version of the honeysuckle clever corner so I decided to have a play with it.



Materials Used:
Clarity small honeysuckle corner
small flowerhead stamp
small greeting stamp
Clarity dotty stencil
Distress inks: Barn Door, tattered rose
Memento ink: Rosebud, Cottage Ivy
White A5 card blank

Method:
Using the stencil and changing position after each colour I used the pink inks to create the dotty background in the middle of the card.
I then used the honeysuckle corner stamp and cottage ivy ink to build up the pattern in the centre first then extended it out, I also stamped in the corners of the card.
Finally with the rosebud ink I added the little flower heads and the greeting in the corner.

Sorry about the picture quality, still having camera issues!

Thanks for visiting. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter this card into the Less is More challenge 'Round and Round'.

MIA or MII?

Cannot believe a week has gone since my last post.  So I guess most people are familiar with the acronym MIA (Missing In Action) but  I don't think anyone knows the meaning of MII, probably because I made it up!  MII is Missing in Inertia!  There has been a distinct lack of mojo over the past few days so not a lot of craftiness taking place.  I have managed to more or less complete one project though so I will share that with you.

The school I work at is involved with the Archie Project.  This is a dementia awareness project run by Reminiscence Learning, a local Somerset charity.  The mascot for the project is a scarecrow called Archie.  On Monday we had an Archie day and everyone, including staff, came to school dressed as scarecrows.  I just about managed to finish knitting an Archie in time for the day.



 

His jacket needs the check sewing on and he is missing his animal companions and the flower on his hat but it was a short notice project and I think in the circumstances I did well to get most of him done!  There are three classes in the school and the head asked for an Archie for each class so I had better get the needles working fast!

Thanks for stopping for a while.  Take care.

Pippa