PoP #44 Midway Post - Blessings

The majority of people in the west have a good life full of blessings which, to be honest, are often taken for granted. For example the blessing of running clean water, enough food without the need to scavenge for it, warm clothes in the winter, cool clothes in the summer, a safe home with a roof to live in, money to spare. At this time of year, as Charles Dickens pointed out in 'A Christmas Carol', the contrast between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is especially noticeable. Shoppers loaded with shopping bags rushing past the homeless person sleeping on cardboard in a doorway. Now I am not suggesting that we all lose the festive spirit and feel gloomy by any means, I'd be the last person to do that as I love Christmas. What I would like to see is the Christmas spirit that comes from God's supreme gift to us in the form of his son Jesus, spread more widely abroad. While I do get a little cross about the number of charities that send out unsolicited mail at this time of the year - it was worse last year when we were still in parish ministry -I can appreciate why they do it. Generally there is an increased awareness of those less fortunate which some choose to ignore, but others will reach out whether financially or by volunteering at one of the Crisis Christmas centres. For those of you not in the UK Crisis provides support for homeless people and at Christmas they offer Christmas Lunch as well as the chance to access their other facilities. If you want to know more here is the link: http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/christmas.html

It is apt that the theme for this months PoP Challenge is Blessings. My prayer for you is that this Christmas will be a joyful time, surrounded by those you love, comforted if it the first Christmas without a loved one, supported if you are going through trying times but most of all blessed by the giver and source of all blessings, God, as you celebrate the day remembering that Christmas only exists because of Christ.

(Yes I know that Jesus is male but I made a female card in anticipation, well with both girls married now you just never know and we need some more girls to balance it out!)



Materials used:Imagine That Digi Stamps - Little Blessings
My Sentiment Exactly - Welcome To The World
PSX - Congratulations
X-Press It card
Versamark ink pad
silver embossing powder
designer paper
pink card
white A5 card blank
Copic pens

The image has been printed and coloured with Copics then fussy cut. The two sentiments have been stamped and embossed on the off cuts of card, trimmed and then edged with a black pen.

The card blank has been scored to make an easel card. The topper is made up with pink card with a mat of striped designer paper then the sentiment added and the crib attached with foam pads for a bit of dimension.

The inside of the card has been covered with pink card with a layer of the designer paper and the sentiment added with foam pads to form the stopper. The outside edges of the card have been edged with a black pen to match the sentiment panels.
We would really appreciate it if you joined us at Path of Positivity, the challenge is open until January 1st. You do not have to make a card, anything goes. The only thing we ask is that you make it clear how your project relates to the theme, just a sentence will be enough it does not need to be an essay, unless you want to write an essay on blessings for your entry. There are plenty of prizes on offer so why not take a look at our sponsors images for inspiration.

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:

• EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section from Décosse’s Dynamite Doodles, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the team deems most inspiring of the bunch.


• A $10.00 gift certificate from Imagine That! Digistamp, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

There will also be:

• A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse’s Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.


• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Please do join us on the Path of Positivity, we would love some company!

Finally I hope you have a very happy and blessed Christmas.

Thank you for dropping by. Take care.

Pippa

Mission Accomplished!

The final day of the Holiday Chaos Challenges at Bugaboo Stamps and this time it is Bingo with the option to use the provided freebie image.



I have opted to go diagonally across from bottom left to top right and to use the freebie image.



Materials used:
Bugaboo Stamps - Crabbie Cat Christmas
acrylic mittens stamp
X-Press It card
black card
red spotty DP
A5 card blank
Diamond Sprinkles - Glimmer Jewels
small gems

Crabbie Cat with the sentiment and the mittens images are printed/stamped onto X-Press It card and coloured with Copics then trimmed and matted on black card.  The fur on the hat has been covered with the Diamond Sparkles. The mittens are fussy cut.

The front of the card base is covered with the spotty designer paper and the matted image attached on top. The mittens are glued either side of the sentiment.

Finally 3 gems are stuck down the side of the topper from the top right corner.

I think I have covered the three areas:
3 layers - image, black mat, spotty paper
mittens - added to sentiment
gllitter/bling - glitter on hat, gems on side

And that is it - phew! It has been fun taking part in all the themes and I have used images that normally I would stay clear of, so quite a challenge. I rather expect that there will not be quite so many posts from now on, especially as Christmas approaches and all the preparations that go with celebrating the season.

Thank you for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter my card into:
Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 7 - Freebie Bingo

Digging out the oldies

Time for my entry in Day 6 of the Holiday Chaos Challenges at Catch the Bug and this time the theme is Flashback Holiday, the brief is to use old paper from your stash and an old image. Now I am not certain how you discover which images at Bugaboo Stamps are old ones so I have used a couple that have been in my stash for a while in the hope that that covers it.



Materials used:Bugaboo Stamps - Rudolph - rudolph
Bugagoo Stamps - AKV Santa Tree
acrylic greeting stamp
black archival ink pad
X-Press It card
stripey DP from stash
A4 white card blank

I have combined two digi stamps to make up my image, printed out on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics.

The mat is some stripey paper I found in my stash, not ever sure where it came from.

Once trimmed to size the image and the mat have been edged with a black pen before attaching onto the card blank.

Finally the greeting has been stamped at the bottom.
It's the last day of chaos today so I am hoping to get my last card made up in time to enter. The problem now is there is less time before the cut off, I am at work this morning and have some furniture to build this afternoon - never enough hours in the day!

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter my card into:Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 6 - Flashback Holiday

The Funny Side of Life

Holiday Chaos Day 5 is a funny photo inspiration:



This is my take on it.



Materials used:Bugaboo Stamps - JJ Xmas Cheer 'Tis The Season 
X-Press It card
red card
green card
Copic pens

For this card I decided to print the image and the sentiment as one topper. They are printed on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics then matted and layered onto red and green card before being attached to an A4 card blank.

Thank you for visiting. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter my card into the:
Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 5 - Funny Photo Inspiration

Pure as the driven snow

Day 4 of the Holiday Chaos Challenges at Bugaboo Stamps and the theme is 'Clean as snow'.



Materials used: Bugaboo Stamps - Two Snowmenacrylic greeting stampblack archival ink pad
X-Press It card
Copic Pens
silver mirri card
white card
snowflake embossing folder

The card blank is made by embossing snowflakes on an A4 white card.

The snowmen are printed out on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics before being trimmed and matted on silver mirri card.

The greeting is stamped at the bottom of the card with black ink

It is quite a challenge getting an entry done every day but I do enjoy the Bugaboo madness!

Thank you for popping in. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter my card into:
Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 4 - Clean as Snow

Tag - You're It!

Day 3 at Bugaboo's Holiday Chaos and the theme is a gift tag with red and white stripes.



Materials used:Bugaboo Stamps - Sign It SantaX-Press It cardCopic Pensred cardwhite cardsilver eyeletred ribbon
acrylic greeting stamp
black archival ink pad

Santa is printed on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics then fussy cut.

The tag is cut from white card and strips of red card glued on (I did not have any red and white stripey paper in my stash so had to make it!)

A silver eyelet is set in the top of the tag and a snippet of red ribbon threaded through.

Finally Santa has been added using foam pads for extra dimension.
Thanks for stopping by. Take care.

Pippa

I  would like to enter my tag into:Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 3 - Gift Tag  using red and white stripes

Holiday Chaos Day 2

Day two and the theme at Bugaboo's Holiday Chaos week is a sketch.



Here is my take on it.



Materials used: Bugaboo Stamps - Christmas SB OrnamentX-Press It cardCopic penssilver penembossing penclear embossing powder
silver mirri card
purple card
A5 white card blank
border die (x-cut I think)
acrylic greetings stamp
black archival ink pad

I reversed the image so that the little girl was facing into the card, printed her out at the size I wanted and coloured her in with Copics and a silver pen on the bauble. To give the bauble a bit of shine I went over it with an embossing pen and used clear embossing powder.

I cut the mat and the border strip from silver mirri card and used some purple card for the centre mat.

Finally I added the greeting at the bottom of the card.

Thanks for dropping in. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter the following challenge:
Catch the Bug Holiday Chaos Day 2 - Get Sketchy

Christmas is coming

One sure sign of the approach of Christmas is the glitter on the carpet. This week Bugaboo Stamps have started their week of Holiday Chaos. Day 1's theme is  'All that sparkles' so I went to town!


Materials used:  
Bugaboo Stamps - Ornament
white card
various glitters
silver pen
acrylic sentiment stamp
15cm square card blank
patterned silver mirri card
Copic pens
Wink of Stella Shimmer Clear

I made up a collection of ornaments altering the orientation and the size to get a variety. I then 'coloured' them with glitter and used a silver pen for the hangers. I used grey Copics just to add a bit of shadowing and used matching colour Copics to colour in the highlights on the baubles before adding a Wink of Stella over the top.

Finally the image was trimmed to size and matted on Silver mirri card then attached to the card base.
Now all I need to do is clear up the glitter that is everywhere!

Thanks for visiting. Take care.

Pippa

I would like to enter this card into:
Catch the Bug Christmas Chaos Challenge Day 1 - All That Sparkles

Counting the Blessings

It is the start of another challenge over at Path of Positivity and this month the theme is Blessings. Around this time of year it is easy to be so engrossed in all the preparations of Christmas (if you celebrate it), so much so that I forget just how lucky I am and how blessed I am. I have a lovely house, warm and cosy, clothes to wear and cupboards loaded with plenty of food.

All over the world there are countries being torn apart by war, famine and natural disasters. Even a walk in the streets of our cities and towns reveals just how many people are homeless and struggling just to get through a day at a time.

Charles Dickens summed it up in his book 'A Christmas Carol' with the words of the charitable gentlemen when they visited Scrooge: a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth.  We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.'

During this season of giving it is good to stop and count our blessings and to remember those who are a lot less fortunate than we are, whose concerns and needs put our niggles into perspective.

For my contribution this time I have chosen to make a Christmas decoration with an angel as the focus, after all an angel announced the coming of Jesus to Mary, the greatest blessing the world has ever had and will ever have until he returns to reign in glory.



Materials used:Décosse's Dynamite Doodles - Holiday Hoopla
square die set
circle die set
printer paper
blue small bead chain
snippet of white card

I printed out the papers and central image I wanted to use from the set. The papers are cut into squares using a die then glued to form cones. The cones are arranged on a circle of scrap card slightly bigger than the angel image.

Once the cones are stuck down and the glue dry I put the angel image on the top and added a small piece of the bead chain as a hanger.

This is a really easy decoration to make and something even children would enjoy. To make it easier for children just make bigger cones which also means you get a bigger wreath. I have kept mine plain but there is no reason why it cannot be 'blinged' up more with sparkles and glitters.

We would really appreciate it if you joined us at Path of Positivity, the challenge is open until January 1st so there is plenty of time. You do not have to make a card, anything goes. The only thing we ask is that you make it clear how your project relates to the theme, just a sentence will be enough it does not need to be an essay, unless you want to write an essay on appreciation for your entry. There are plenty of prizes on offer so why not take a look at our sponsors images for inspiration.

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:

• EITHER the Holiday Hoopla Digital Scrapbooking Kit OR five different mini kits (of six papers each) from the Christmas and/or Winter section from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the team deems most inspiring of the bunch.


• A $10.00 gift certificate from Imagine That! Digistamp, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.

There will also be:

• A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time frame.


• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Please do join us on the Path of Positivity, we would love some company!  Thank you for dropping by. Take care.

Pippa

December at Dragons Lair Designs

The first Friday of the month sees the start of a new challenge at Dragons Lair Designs and the theme this month is Christmas Wishes.



If you are anything like me you will still be knee deep in making Christmas cards so why not have a go at our challenge. If you need inspiration visit the blog and the Facebook Page and you will discover plenty to get you started.



Materials used:  
Dragons Lair Designs - Christmas Waves Quote Border
Dragons Lair Designs - Oh Christmas Tree Digi Stamp
Dragons Lair Designs - Holly Days Papers
X-Press It card
Copic pens
glitter glue - various colours
silver pen
A5 card blank

I printed out the Christmas Waves Quote Border and the backing paper on white paper. I have cut out the elements I wanted to use from the border and rearranged them which is why the words are at the top of the card.

The tree is printed out on X-Press It card and coloured with Copics and glitter glue. The stars have been coloured with a silver pen.

I have used 3d foam pads to attach the word magic and the tree onto the card. The green edge is done by running a Copic pen around the card before attaching the middle paper.



The Dragons Lair challenge runs until the end of the  month so you have plenty of time to get an entry in, so why not head on over and join in the fun. You will find inspiration from my team mates over there as well and I am sure they would appreciate a visit to their personal blogs. There’s a prize of a voucher to spend in the Dragons Lair Designs store for a winner who’ll be chosen by a random number generator.

You do not have to use a Dragons Lair Design to enter but it would be lovely if you did. There are lots of goodies to discover at the store to get you going. Here are some useful links for you.

• Dragons Lair Designs Store– A fantastic range of digital downloads


• Dragons Lair Designs Inspiration Blog– Bookmark us and come back regularly for inspiration


• Dragons Lair Designs Challenge Blog– Challenges starting the 1st Friday of every month with different themes, please come along and take part


• Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group– Even more inspiration, challenges, freebies and fun activities


• Dragons Lair Designs Facebook Page– Please do pop over and “Like” our page


• Dragons Lair Designs Etsy Store – Another location to get hold of our range of digital downloads


• Janette Padley’s Creations on craftsUprint– Yet another location to get hold of our digital downloads


• Dragons Lair Designs Crafts Group– selling buttons and bits and bobs

We’d love to have you join us in our Fan Group and post up some pictures of any creations you make using any DLD items.

Thank you for visiting. Take care.

A Work in Progress

Happy Advent to you all. I'll let you into a secret, I love Advent, the anticipation, the preparation, the secrets wrapped in colourful paper. But I am saddened that Advent is no longer allowed to be that preparation time. Already shops and houses are decorated, lights and trees up everywhere and then on the 26th of December most of them disappear like morning mist in the rays of the sun. Our tree remains firmly in the roof ready to make a grand entrance between 16th and 20th of December, depending on when the end of term is, and remains in glorious splendour until the 6th of January, sometimes beyond, this time dependant on when term starts. In my humble opinion the commercialisation of Christmas has robbed it of its magic as well as any meaningful religious remembrance.

I also love winter, at least the crisp, frosty and, even better, snowy ones. I don't like warm wet winters, somehow they leave me feeling cheated! This year we are having a bit of a frost end to November and it has been very chilly, at least by Somerset standards. One of the first things we had done in our new house was a little log burner put in the lounge. We only have a small house and our log basket is too big now so I decided to crochet one! I tried to pick out the colours in the brickwork along with some contrasting ones.

This is a work in progress as I had to order the lining material and interfacing. I will try to remember to post an update when it is completely finished though I warn you that may not be for a while yet!



This is my DT sample for December's Love to Craft Challenge.

I do hope you will come and join us, we welcome all kinds of handmade projects – from cards, tags, ATCs and scrapbook layouts to 3-D projects, mixed media canvases and altered projects – and even knitting, crocheting and jewelry! We want to see whatever you’re working on!

You may enter up to five different projects and combine our challenges with as many other challenges as you’d like! Winners and Top Picks are chosen by our design team and announced on the 10th of the month following the close of the challenge!

We can’t wait to see what you create! Hope to see you there.

Thanks for visiting. Take care.

Pippa