My first Christmas Card for 2016 and an Update on my Planner

Hello everyone and welcome to my Blog.  I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

I am in shock!!!  I have actually made my very first Christmas Card for this year  ..  I think I might be really sick and just don't realise it yet!!  LOL!!

For a long time now I've been  trying to convince myself that I should be making Christmas cards right through the year and I have finally listened!!  I actually found a Challenge site for making Christmas Cards and that has given me the incentive to get cracking on this.  The site is called Christmas Card Challenges (surprise! surprise!  LOL!!) and the current Challenge is Anything Goes!

HERE is the link and here is my card ..

Used some Kaisercraft papers on this one and actually popped it through my sewing machine to stitch the edges.

The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard.  I simply painted it with a paint dauber and, while it was still wet, sprinkled it with some glitter.

Used crackle paste through a stencil and again, while it was still wet, sprinkled on some micro beads.

The larger bloom is the Carabella Rose which is available through Megs Garden.   It was pink originally .. I simply sprayed it with a mix of acrylic paint and Cherry Pie Dylusion spray.

The inside with some blank space for a personal message ..

.. and my first Christmas card for 2016 done and dusted!!!  So now I just need to stay focused and make sure I make at least two per month.  Then, hopefully, I won't be so rushed at the end of the year.
With that out of the way, I thought I would give you a little update on my 2016 Planner.  I haven't done a great deal on it yet but I have completed the dividers for January and February and decorated a few of the January weekly pages.  

This is the January divider ..

.. and the full month on two pages.

The little plastic pocket was meant to hold some photos but, as I keep forgetting to take photos (Duhh!!), I have inserted a couple of quotes instead.

So, on the full month pages I will record appointments and reminders, etc.

and then on the week pages, I will write about  those in more detail and, hopefully, remember to take some photos and place them in there as well.  By the end of the year, I should have a really good record of what we actually did.  

Here is the divider for February.

 The plastic pocket here holds the strips and quotes I will use for that particular month.  I have decided to colour code each month to match with the tabs on the side.

I was going to purchase a whole heap of Washi Tape to decorate these pages but , as that would be quite an expensive exercise, decided to simply use strips of scrap paper from my stash.  A little more work but will look just as effective and I get to use up all of those pesky scraps!!

I should point out that I'm not really happy with those dividers and I may yet decide to create some art journal-like pages instead.  Will have to see how enthusiastic I am whether that happens or not.  LOL!!

That's about all for now folks.  Just a reminder about the Christmas Card Challenge Blog.  Why not join in and start making your Chrissy cards now.  Would save a lot of hassle at the end of the year!!  HERE is the link again.

Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.  Happy crafting everyone!!

Take care and God Bless.

The Last of my Cards for Christmas

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Thank you so much for visiting.

This year has simply flown by and here we are with just two days to go til Christmas day.  Unbelievable!!  Happy to say though that I'm pretty well organised for the great day.  It does help that we are celebrating  at our son's house this year so I haven't had to worry about the meal or anything.  Really looking forward to it.

Well, I thought I would share a few more of my Christmas cards (seeing as I have nothing else to share at this point.  LOL!!)  Once again, these are variations of the original theme.  

The background is a little different on this first one.  I've still layered two sheets of DP (from

 Megs Garden of course) but, this time, I have torn the center out of the top layer to reveal the one underneath.  This is an idea inspired by Di Garling, an amazing scrap artist who creates the most stunning projects.  I visited her blog not so long ago and she used this technique on one of her scrapbook pages so, I thought I would try it out on a card.  I think it looks great!!  Thank you Di!!  You can check out her blog HERE.  

Did a little stamping on this one and also slightly changed the way I added the snow so as to make it look like its dripping (melting).  I have put snow on all of my cards this year, which may seem a bit ridiculous because we have been suffering through a heat wave here in Adelaide, but I really love the look.  Have to thank Pamelia Johnson for that.  I mentioned in a previous post that she has a wonderful step by step showing exactly how it's done and I'll give you the link again HERE.  Have to say, hers is so much better than mine, but I still love it!!

A bit of hessian ribbon added to this one and, once again, I have torn the center out of the top DP layer.  Also, I have been using some Quick Release Die Paper from Couture Creations while cutting my pine branches (it really works to release the paper from the die so much easier)   and, on this card I decided to add it to my branches under the flowers.

Added some deep red cotton ribbon on this card and again included the quick release die paper.

More of the hessian ribbon but, this time, no baubles, just a couple of berry sprays.

Using the same basic design made it so easy to make my cards this year and yet, just by changing the embellies and colours slightly on each one, they do look quite different.

This will most likely be my last post for 2015.  I am taking a little break.  I'll probably still do some crafting but, even if I do, I won't be posting anything until next year.  I want to take this opportunity to thank all you wonderful people who have visited my blog and especially those who have taken the time to leave me some comment love.  Thank you all for your support and encouragement and I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2016.

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!!
Take care and God Bless.
See you in 2016!!

More Cards for Christmas

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  I am also very pleased to welcome some new followers as well.  Thank you so much for joining me, it is so lovely to have you along on my creative journey.

I have some more Christmas cards to share.  There are three more cards in this post and, once again, they are all a variation on the same theme.  I am not going to bore you with a lot of photos as these are all very similar to each other and to what I've shown before.  

So here is Card No. 1.

Once again I have used Megs Garden papers for all of these cards with base papers and labels  from Kaisercraft.

This one has a half doily, some tickets, a die cut pine bough, flowers of course, and a bit of gold mesh some baubles ..  and some snow!! 

The insides are pretty much the same, just different papers.

Card No.2

This one also has the half doily as well as some strips of MG papers across the middle.  The same die cut, flowers and baubles, plus a little gold bow and a label instead of the tickets .. and more snow!!

Same inside.

Card No.3

Here we have some lace across the middle, same die cut, flowers, slightly different baubles and a couple of labels, one of which is made from some MG paper and almost hidden under the cluster .. and, of course, more snow!!

Much the same again on the inside.

I really wish the glitter would show up on the photos because it is really pretty!!

I had hoped to have finished all of my Christmas cards by now but once again fate conspired against me and I still have more to do.  I did manage to make all the ones that had to be posted, which I am pleased about but, I still need to make a few more which simply need to be hand delivered.  Next year I am going to try my hardest to make at least two Christmas cards each month, that way I should be  well ahead by the time December comes around again.

Don't laugh, I really am going to try.  LOL!!

Thank you so much for popping in for a visit and enjoy the rest of your day.

Happy Christmas crafting!!
Take care and God Bless.

Christmas Cards - Variations on a Theme #1

Hello everyone and welcome to my little  blog!!

A very special welcome to my new followers and a big thank you for joining me, I'm so pleased to have you come along on my creative journey. 

Well, it is December and another year has almost finished.  Where does the time go??  Is it just me, or does it really go by faster each year!  Getting scary!!

So, I'm back to share some more Christmas Cards.  Should have posted these a few days ago but better late than never!!  I don't have a huge amount of Christmas cards to make each year.  I really only make them for family and very close friends.  Everyone else gets the store bought kind.  Even so, it can get a bit hard to get them all done so, to make things easier on myself, I find a design or two that I like and then I just make variations on those designs (hence, the title on this post!!  LOL!!).

I have already shown the two designs I'm using this year in previous posts and here I am sharing two variations of one of those designs.

They are very similar as you can see, I simply use different papers and different elements.
The papers are mostly from Megs Garden's 'Tis Christmas Time' and 'A Musical Christmas' Mini paper packs,  although the base layer is from Kaisercraft.

This design has a wider back section so there is an extra piece on the side which is separate from, and yet still part of, the front view.  Means I can clutter up the front of it without having to worry where the heck I'm going to fit the greeting.  LOL!!

I gather a selection of flowers and also decide on which other embellies I want to use such as leaves, tickets, berries, etc.  All of these usually end up in a pile on my work bench ..

.. and then I simply pick out whatever I wish to use on the particular card I'm working on.

The insides of my card are pretty much the same.

So, that is card No. 1 and
here is No. 2

No lace on this one, just some strips of paper and I've used a half doily on the side.

The die cut pine boughs are the same, just cut from different paper.

Used some tickets again on this card but, used slightly different ones ..

.. and a different flower and bauble spray. 

Same greeting ..

.. and same inside.

Normally, I do use gesso quite a lot on my finished cards but here I've used a gritty texture paste and then, while it is still wet, I have sprinkled it with glitter.  It sparkles so prettily in real life.  Thank you again to Pamelia Johnson from whom I got this idea.  She has a great tutorial on the 'snowy' look HERE.

Well, there you are, two cards made practically the same, just with different colours and slightly different elements.

Thank you so much for stopping by and thank you so much to those of you who leave me such lovely comments.  I read them all and really appreciate them.  Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

Christmas Cards for Megs Garden

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.  So pleased you dropped in for a visit.

Christmas is nearly upon us again (where does the time go??)  so I am here to share some Christmas cards with you.
Megs Garden has some wonderful Christmas papers in the store which are perfect for any Christmas items you may wish to create.  There are Mini Paper Packs, Mini Papercrafters Packs, 12 x 12 Scrapbooking Papers, Collage Sheets, and so much more.  All of the papers are available in printed form but some also come as downloads, which means you could buy them, download them and start using them the same day!!  Awesome!!
These cards were created with Megs Garden's Mini Paper Packs.  These particular papers only come in the printed form but they are so gorgeous, I absolutely love them.

Card #1 made with 'A Musical Christmas'  Mini Paper Pack.

The paper I've used here is my fave from this pack .. love the stripes and the lush purple grapes in the corners .. stunning!!

The large bloom in the cluster and the small white flower are also from Megs Garden.  As is the lace.  All of the red flowers, and the lace as well were originally white.  I simply sprayed them with  some Dylusions Cherry Pie Ink Spray to change the colour.  It reacted differently on the lace but still came out quite pretty I think.

Added some Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paste through a stencil and, once it was dry, I used some diluted acrylic paint to enhance the cracks.

Cut the label shape from another sheet of paper from the pack and then edged it with gold embossing powder.  The '25' comes from a collection by Kaisercraft.  I used a circle punch to cut it out and then mounted it on some thick card for dimension.

The 'Merry Christmas' gold sticker came from my stash. 

 Decorated the inside with more of the same paper.

Once it was all assembled, I dabbed on some gesso in random places and then, while it was still wet, I sprinkled over it with glitter.  I also splattered the card with white ink to simulate snow.  We don't have a white Christmas where we live, but I just love the look.  On the Frilly & Funky web site there is a fabulous step by step for a snowy Christmas card by Pamellia Johnson. I didn't go as snowy as she does but I did use part of her technique.

Card #2 made with 'Tis Christmas Time' Mini Paper Pack.

Used my fave paper from this collection.  It has a gorgeous tartan pattern and I love the roses in the corner!!

Stenciled again on this card but this time I used Jo Sonja's Translucent Texture Paste.  I love that you can still faintly see the paper through it.

The leaf chippy is from 2Crafty Chipboard and the lace is from BoBunny.  Used another '25' circle as an embellie as well.

The flowers in this cluster are also available from Megs Garden.  They are from the Fantasy Flowers range and, once again, were originally white and sprayed with Dylusions Cherrie Pie to colour.

The word 'Noel' comes from a sheet in the 'A Musical Christmas' pack.  I simply cut out the letters and mounted them on card stock for extra dimension.

The inside decorated with the same paper as used on the front.  The quote is a cut-apart from Kaisercraft.

Added some 'snow' again on this card.  I did say I loved it didn't I??  LOL!!  I think I will be doing that on all of my Christmas cards this year.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my Christmas cards.  I urge you to go and take a look at the Megs Garden Christmas shop.  You will find so many wonderful items to use in all your Christmas crafting.  HERE is the link to the Christmas shop, and do take a look around the blog at all of the fabulous creations by my Team mates.  HERE is the link to the Blog.

Megs Garden products used

Papers
'Tis Christmas Time Mini Paper Pack
A Musical Christmas Mini Paper Pack
Flowers
Puffy Paper Flowers
Cherry Blossoms
Fantasy Blooms
Lace
3.5cm White

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
Happy Christmas Crafting.
Take care and God Bless.
 0x0x  Marg