White layered Christmas card

Life's been very hectic the last few weeks, so no blog posts from me. I wanted to share the Christmas card we made at the last class of the year. This was really popular, and was made from lots of leftover bits of white card for the poinsettia & flourishes

The card was inspired by this photo from the lovely Bonnie. Do go and check out her blog as she makes gorgeous cards ....... and takes much better photos than I do lol!

And because I used lots of snippets - tons in fact, cos I cut all the class die cuts from my snippets box, I'm linking this to Pixies Snippets playground. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Yet more snippets!!

If you are a regular reader if my blog you'll know that I often join in with fun at Pixies Snippets Playground & that I'm on a mission to help Di reach 100 posts for her 100th blogaversary!

This is my 3rd entry for this week - I spent a happy few hours yesterday making my Christmas puds & turning a pile of snippets into Christmas cards :-)

Just need to add some glitter (Christmas card rules dontcha know!!) & I'm done. 

Happy blogaversary Di!

Debs xx

More snippets!

Over at Pixies Snippets Playground Di is celebrating 100 posts since she took over the  keys to the Playground. I'm on a mission to help her reach 100 snippet posts for her 100th birthday (she doesn't look a day over 90!)

So these are 2 diddy 4" cards made from snippets of Neenah card (always cut my waste into small die cuts for later stamping & colouring cos it's just so good for pro markers!) and leftovers from a pack of Papermania Christmas paper used in my last class.  

Aren't they cute? If you have a few minutes, do pop over to the Snippets Playground and check out all the other entries, there are some lovely crafty pieces on display. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Winter birthdays

I have a friend who has a birthday very close to Christmas and each year we try to make it completely separate from our Christmas get-together.

A few years ago she told me she didn't like 'winter' birthday cards that look like Christmas cards, so I made this for her birthday this year...

It's an easel card matchbox, so I can put a gift in the drawer. Perfect for posh choccies or a piece of jewellery :-). All the decoration is heat embossed using the WOW! Powders earth tones and metallics - lovely colours!

I uses tons of white card snippets for the panels & the die cuts, so I'm linking this to Pixies Snippets Playground, where Di is celebrating 100 Snippets posts!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Saturday workshop pics

The 1-day workshop on Saturday was such a hoot! Everyone had fun, relaxed & worked on their Perpetual Calendar projects. Here's everyone working hard in the morning

We had different generations working alongside each other which was lovely - you can see the open biscuit tin with not many biscuits left lol!! 

In the afternoon we tucked into home made mince pies - yum! As we headed towards the end of the day the pace picked up as people were keen to finish their projects - here's a pic of a couple near to completion....

I had a great time teaching the class, and was totally shattered at the end of it, with a sore throat from all the talking & giggles :-)

Thanks to all the lovely ladies who attended the workshop and made the day such fun

Debs xx

Birthday card & Friday funnies!

Made this card for a friend who's had a rough week & couldn't really celebrate her birthday.

The design is one i saw a long time ago when I attended a class. The flowers are paper pieced using snippets of pretty papers, so I am linking this to Pixies Snippets Playground. And next week will be the 100th Snippets Playground post, so do pop over and take a look here and maybe join in!

And for my Friday Funny - my moggy is a bit of a sun worshipper, like all felines. As the sun is pretty much non existent at the moment, he's found a new heat source to worship!

Who said cats were intelligent!!?! Linking this to Annie's Friday smiles cos it made me giggle :-) A few people post funnies ion a Friday that have made them smile - always up for a giggle me! And take a loo at Annie's amazing quilt that she made for Children in Need, with the help of a few bloggers!

Looking forward to seeing my lovely ladies tomorrow at our class, and I'll share pics of our jolly soon

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Woyww 232

Today's desk is pretty messy! On the left you have leftovers from sorting kits for this weeks classes. Just in front of my trusty cuttlebug is the beautiful Craftwork cards Vogue kit, which I've just used for a magazine project (not yet published so can't share yet)

On the right my brilliant snowflake punch, and a box of sequins, also leftover from sorting kits for this week (I'm rubbish at putting things away!)

And front and centre a pile of templates I'm working on ready for my Saturday 23rd workshop to make this little beauty!  (details here)

So, pop over to Julia's to see lots of other messy piles work desks around the world. 

Happy blog hopping!

Debs x

Purple reindeer!

After last weeks reindeer massacre (see here for details!) I decided I should try to restore the balance by making a quick reminder card. I searched hi & low for reindeer pics in my stash - think they've all run away in fear having seen what I did to their friends last week [sigh]

So the only reindeer I could find were purple & green (naturally!!) from an old mag cover kit (can't remember which one). Backing paper is a leftover piece printed from a Funky Hand cd, not really Christmas but if you squint they could be snowflakes :-). And the colours match perfectly, despite what the camera shows!

All white card from snippets, run thru a cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, and die cut into snowflakes. Purple card for matting leftover from die cutting something else ages ago. All finished off with liberal splodges of Stickles Crystal 

Off to checkout Pixies playground & see what others have done this week with their snippets!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Christmas Iris Folding - correction

So guess who forgot to photograph her projects before sending them for publication?? Honestly, if I had half a brain I'd be lethal!

These are my Iris folding Christmas cards, featured in Novembers issue of Making cards - pics of magazine pages rather than the actual cards!

I did notice a couple of typos in the magazine instructions, so if you are planning to make these:

BAUBLE - the gold top piece for the bauble is a 3cm square of card, lower edge trimmed to fit flush with the top of the aperture. Top edge mark in 0.5cm from either side, draw a diagonal line from each of these marks to lower trimmed edge & cut off the outer diagonals then fix to the card above the aperture.  

Also, VERY important! for both cards, the strips of paper need to be 2cm wide x 12 inch width. If using anything other than 12x12 paper, cut strips 2cm x 10cm for the bauble, and 2cm x 14cm for the tree. 

Do NOT cut the 4cm length given in the magazine!! These would be way too short!

Hope you enjoy making these, and would love to see any examples you make

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Reindeer massacre!

I bought these reindeer cookie cutters on holiday in Norway & I've been itching to use them! My logic was that the Daddy & Mummy reindeer would make mahoosive Xmas cookies, & the baby would be reserved for using with air dry clay on my Xmas cards - a twofer!!

But......the poor reindeer didn't survive the migration from the hot climate (aka the oven!) to the cool expanse (work top!)  The legs & antlers fell off :-(. Looks like a reindeer massacre!!!

The only recognisable little guy is this one & even he's got non-survivable injuries with that broken back [sigh]. 

Note to self - remember to trim extra dough away from between reindeer legs - this one definitely looks like a boy! Oooh-er!

I'm afraid they're all destined for reindeer heaven (yum yum!!) Linking this to Annie's Friday Smiles, cos it made me laugh!

I put my lunacy down to all the painkillers I'm taking for my ribs, and lack of sleep - sorry peeps!!

Debs xx

Perpetual calendar

This is the project for my all-day workshop on Saturday Nov 23rd in Chandlers Ford, Southampton (near Winchester, just off the M3)

It's a perpetual calendar, which means it can be used year after year - great idea! It's made up of small cubes and tubes that have dates and months on them, and it can be decorated in your choice of colours. 

All materials will be supplied, the workshop runs from 10am - 4pm and costs £30 - bring a packed lunch, or there's a shop nearby to buy something. 

It should be lots of fun, so if you live within driving distance of Southampton, why don't you come along? 

Please get in touch if you have any questions, or to book your place, my e-mail is in the sidebar. 

Hope to see you there!

Debs x

  

Woyww Halloween

This is my messy desk today - front & centre the offcuts of some bright colours from my snippets box - colours I rarely use, like purple, bright orange & lime green, but they are absolutely perfect for Halloween!!

And these are the Halloween cards I'm making with them!

I've used Spellbinders Ovals and Floral Ovals for the centre piece, and loads of offcuts of white card - I have an entire box of these, and it's used regularly! The stamps used are a Hero Arts Halloween set, and a Pumpkin and Aubergine Halloween set - lots of useful little images in there! 

This is a Wiper card, when you pull the sides, a little flag pops up with a hidden message - love it! We'll be making this at my classes next week - just need to add a few bats!

So I'm going to link this to Pixies Snippets Playground, then go off & see what's on other people's desks via Julia's blog hop. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Venice scrapbook layout

I'm slowly scrapbooking our lovely Med cruise from last October (was there this time last year - sigh)

This layout came about because I have several pads of gorgeous K & Co papers that mix & match, and have been used on other scrapbook pages. I keep all my offcuts tucked inside the original pad in an A4 cello bag, so I can always find then

The scalloped borders were punched from leftover strips using a Martha Stewart deep punch (Daisy I think). The photo mats, letters and one flourish came from offcuts of toning Bazzill card. The final flourish from a snippet of gold mirri 

So this one has to be linked to Pixies Snippets Playground, cos the embellishments were a veritable raid in the snippet box!

Happy crafting peeps :-)

Swing card

Sorry to anyone who checked my blog for class details - blogger is playing silly wotsits and won't let me update my class dates - grrrrrr!!!

This is the project for next weeks classes in Chandlers Ford, Southampton on Tues/Weds 

A great little Swing card - perfect for men! 

In the meantime, if you're interested in joining us, please get in touch - email & phone in the side bar. We have a happy group of ladies who meet once a fortnight to learn a new technique or project. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

More Christmas Dufex Stickers

Hi everyone, I've been out of circulation for a week or so due to a nasty case of having popped 3 ribs - had them 'put back in' last week - major OW!!! so been feeling a bit sorry for myself, still in quite a bit of pain and rather restricted in my movements, so not much crafting done.  But this weekend got back into the swing working on my sample for a 1-day Saturday workshop soon (watch this space!) and some snippets Christmas Cards :-)

I had a few holly flourish due cuts leftover from another Christmas project, and they'd been transported to & fro in a bag & got a bit mangled........

I couldn't bear to throw them away, so decided to chop some & add them to some Dufex stickers & snippets of card & mirri to make some bigger Christmas cards. some still look a little bent up lol!!

The background papers were leftover prints from a CD, that I'd part-used to punch flowers. The dark blue & mirri card stock used  to mat & layer are all from my snippets box, as are the punched white snowflakes. I finished off with a few dots of Stickles glitter glue to bling up the background & holly :-)

I'm linking these to pixies snippets playground, cos I used lots of snippets!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Beautiful butterflies

I was hit with crafters block this week when it came to planning next weeks classes - I had started working with one idea, but it just didn't come together the way I wanted. So I sat staring at the cat for inspiration - no joy, just communicated a telepathic message to him to jump up on my desk!

So I went back to my notebooks - ever since I started crafting I've kept notebooks with sketches, ideas & techniques I've seen & want to try - nowadays they'd be called something fancy like a smash book lol! But mine are tatty old spiral notebooks with scribbles & drawings & lots of arrows & notations :-)

Anyhoo - this was an idea inspired by something I saw on tv a year or so back. The butterflies are stamped in a circle. The outer border is stamped, then a circle of butterflies created by stamping & cutting out scraps of beautiful papers. 

Sorry for the waffle! I'm linking this to Pixies Snippets workshop, cos snippets were used!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Men's cards - hubby birthday!

I couldn't decide what sort of card to make Hubby this year so..........I made 3!!

One for his love of music, using some inchies stamps and music embossing folder 

One to reflect his love of clocks - the little wooden embellishments I've been saving for nearly a year! 

And one cos he loves his car, and driving - used an old scrunched page out of a Haynes manual - complete with oily finger prints lol! Used a twisted stacker topper of a Mustang, some metal bookplates to frame words, and some wheel trim & screw head brads. 

I had a lot of fun making these, hope they give you some ideas for men's cards!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Men's cards

This card is a mix of snippets & leftovers! When I use shop bought decoupage (in this case a stacker from Buzzcraft) there are usually too many layers. Problem for postage! So I tend to split them into 2 if possible, and this one is made from 'leftovers'.

The beautiful background papers are from the Wellington bear 12x12 kit - fab for men's cards, and great colours! The stacker and sentiment were mounted on snippets of dark red textured card, sadly the last teeny bits of this one [sigh]

Love the paper with the vintage rugby, football, golf & cricket balls - just perfect for this card :-)   Finished off with a few red card candi - again, they work really well for men's cards - pretty straightforward but a cute card. 

Linking this to Pixies snippets playground, now off to the dentist :-((

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Ink duster shadow panels

These are the samples for today's/tomorrow's classes. The main image is made by masking with post it's, using versamark to stamp the border, then dusting with Distress Inks. Then sponging black ink around the lower edges of the post it's to give shadows & give the illusion that the panels are layered. 

The background on the base card is then stamped using one of the main images & the same colours as on the topper - very effective!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Dufex stickers used!!

Hurrah! I have tons of these stickers that I bought years ago when I first started crafting & was attracted to anything shiny or sparkly. I have been challenging myself to use up old stash & leftovers/snippets - conscience tweaked partly by my growing mountain of stash & partly by the amazing work of the playmates in Pixies Snippets challenge.

Anyhoo.....it was proper wintry weather here yesterday, so I carted my snippets box, ribbons & some card stock downstairs & spent a happy afternoon playing in front of the tv while hubby sorted out his music collection   And these are the 3 so far....

The toppers are Dufex stickers (engraved metallic images) layered on mirror card & card stock. The background papers are all from my snippets box - the red one has big glitter polka dots and has been languishing in the box for many years, waiting for a chance to shine lol! Even the ribbons are from my scraps bag - the gold & green one rescued from a box of chocs :-)

Linking these to pixies playground and off to sort the washing while its not raining!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Cute Penny Black hedgehogs!

Had a lovely crafty evening with my friend Tracey couple of nights ago. She has acquired a huge stash of stamps from a lady who was getting rid of all her crafty stash, and so I had fun stamping off some impressions to bring home. This Penny Black cutie is one of them...... 

Background is a leftover piece cut off an old 12x12 - so old I can't remember the make! And the pink strip from my snippets box. Cut the Hedgie & matting layer with a Spellbinder & coloured the backing layer with a Pro Marker to match the main image. Finished off with a few card candy & some lovely paper flowers & leaves. 

Love the colours on this, & the Hedgie is so cute! I adore Penny Black images, but only have a couple of the clear stamp sets - have to remedy that!!

I'm linking this to Pixies snippets playground - hope I get in before the playground gate slams shut today :-)

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Woyww

The chaos that is my desk today....

The usual radio/spotty craft caddy top left. Then my duster brushes & heat gun. Centre desk you can see my mini album made at a workshop on Sunday with Hels Sheridan - finished off at home on Monday with embellishments, ribbon & more tags (that's why heat gun, duster brushes & ribbon scrap bags are still out!)

Finally front centre is a stash of Dufex stickers I bought when I first started crafting years ago. Back then I was a magpie - bought lots of shiny sparkly stuff which I don't often use now. My intention is to 'use it up' for mini cards like thank you's but so far only got as far as dragging them out of the basket lol :-)

So I've shown you mine......and if you're wondering what it's all about, take a peek at Julia's blog, she who hosts this weekly world tour. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Bits n bobs

This is based on a demo I saw this morning on Create & Craft. Lovely kit from Craftwork Cards but I have soooooooo many Christmas papers I didn't want to buy any more. 

These are from a Dovecraft pack I bought last year & have loads of off cuts. I store all my designer pack offcuts in the same pack as any remaining papers, do I always have snippets that match. 

This uses an easel card template I have, plus my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, and a whole load of offcuts & glitter glue lol!!

As I've used tons of snippets I'm popping over to pixies playground to see what other snippets makes are about this week, and as it's a Christmas card, I'm linking it to Crafty Hazelnuts anything goes Christmas Challenge

Thanks for stopping by

Debs

Live at Jodrell Bank!

Saturday night was great fun, but oh so cold! My sister bought tickets for my birthday for 4 of us to see the Halle orchestra play an open air concert at Jodrell Bank. Now, you'd think a concert in Aug might possibly rain, but would not be too cold?? Wrong!! It was flipping freezing! 

We still had a lovely time, the music was great, pre-show singers doing a medley of Rat Pack & show tunes. The dish itself is actually 76 metres tall and looked amazing......

That's the stage to the right of the dish, and here are the cold concert-goers!

And that was while the sun was still shining! Once the sun went down we had fleeces, coats & blankets and were still frozen - summer my foot! Oh wait, I couldn't feel my feet........

Later in the evening we watched that huge dish slowly turn to face us, to the strains of The Blue Danube - fabulous! Then there were lights & short films projected onto the dish 

And the evening finished with an amazing fireworks display, that I enjoyed so much I forgot to take any pics of it - doh!!

A great evening, well worth the shivers :-)

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

eBay stash!

I tend to buy a lot of my stash from eBay, particularly pre-loved stamps. I couldn't believe my luck last week when someone was selling off a load of Lili of the Valley stamps!

Only one appears to have been used - rest are absolutely pristine - and I got them at about half normal price - yippee!!

And this is them stamped up!

I have been in love with LOTV stamps for ages, and always drool over them at craft shows, but could never quite justify buying them as I couldn't see who I would use them for. At this price, I bought a batch to use for my craft class, with a Pro marker colouring session planned - and I get to play with them too :-). - watch this space!

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Woyww

My desk is a total disaster zone, so I thought I'd show you what I've been working on instead!

These are paper pieced from a lovely set of papers called 'Back to basics II'. If you hop over to Pixies Playground you'll see a lot more ideas of how to use snippets and leftovers. The stamps are by Helz Cuppleditch - aren't they cute?! This is what we'll be making in my classes next week :-)

If you're wondering why I mentioned my messy desk, visit Julia's Stamping Ground & join the weekly desk- hop around the world. I will be visiting those desks over the next few days to gain inspiration and giggles :-)

Thanks for stopping by

Debs x

Woyww and painted backgrounds

Hi everyone, I've been away from blog land and not participated in WOYWW for ages - combination of poorly knee & not much crafting being done! But thought I'd share my desk today.....

I've been playing with my Cosmic Shimmer watercolours (same as twinkling H2o's) to create shimmery backgrounds for stamping. And here's a close up of one in progress...

The background is painted in random vertical stripes with cheap emulsion (I used leftover tester pot) then when dry, over painted with 2-3 colours of the cosmic shimmer. Sheena Douglass demo'd this ages ago in C&C & I tried it once then forgot about it. Now I'm liking the effect v much!

Between keeping my craft room pristine for potential buyers viewing the house, and working on Christmas DT pieces I can't share yet, I haven't had any time for 'me' crafting lol! 

Off to visit other blogs in the weekly Hol around the craft desks of re world with Julia

Thanks for stoping by

Debs x

Sun -v- snow

I've been away for a while on my hols. I must be one of the only people I know who leave UK in a heat wave, to holiday in the Arctic!

I kid you not, we cruised to the land of the midnight sun, which is in the Arctic Circle - and yes, the sun stays up for 24 hours - thank goodness for blackout curtains!  We had snow, sleet, rain and a force 10 gale, all the time knowing family & friends were bbq'ing in the sun!! 

Still had a lovely time, seeing real live wild reindeer in their natural habitat was amazing. And the Norwegian fjords are gorgeous. 

So no crafting for a few weeks, and have to say its been so hot in my craft room I couldn't summon up much enthusiasm. But today made this stepper card

I'm hoping it qualifies as a snippets make to enter the challenge over at pixies playground, as the whole thing is made from a leftover aperture card. I bought loads of these in my early crafting days, but struggle to use pre-printed cards now, I prefer to stamp & decorate myself. These were too pretty to get rid of, with glittered butterflies, so I set to with the scissors & this is all that's left of the original card!

Going in the snippets folder for another day! And the centre stepper card will be the basis of my classes next week - a twofer!! :-) 

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend, whatever you're doing. 

Thanks for stopping by

Debs xx