Surprise!! Surprise!! More Christmas Cards!

Hello again everybody!!  Welcome to my bloggy space!

Only a few days to Christmas .. can you believe it??  Hope all your preparations are going well.  I am happy to say mine are pretty well done.  We are lucky enough to be going to our son's home for Christmas day so I don't have much food prep to do this year .. suits me to a tee!!!!  Only have two more pressies to wrap and I am finished!!  Woo! Hoo!  Now I can sit back, relax and simply look forward to the big day.  Nothing better than celebrating our Saviours birth with family and friends.

I'm sharing a couple more Christmas cards with you today.  I do actually have a few I haven't shared yet but I might leave those till next year as I'm sure you must all be getting tired of these.

Anyhow here is Card #1.
These two cards were not made in a batch so they are quite different from each other.

The papers are a mix of different Kaisercraft collections.

Added a Scrapmatts chippy!

Some Pomegranate Apples, Berries and a Pine Branch diecut.  I thought I had lost this die.  Looked everywhere and couldn't find it anywhere .. was totally devastated 'cos I love it for my Chrissy cards.  Then, I was looking for something totally different and, 'lo and behold', found it in the place I originally thought it ought to be.  Must have been having a 'man' look the first time, LOL!!  So glad it turned up!!

 

Some Aleene's True Snow ..

 .. a few star stickers and some paint splatters ..

.. and the usual on the inside.

Done!!

Card No. 2.

This one is all Maja papers!!

More diecuts (Memory Box Snowflake Spray which was cut up into separate pieces)  and some lace between the layers

A lovely, deep red bloom (Thank you Heather Jacob!!), some gauze and berries ..

.. and another Scrapmatts chippy!

A few gold star stickers ..

.. and more of the Aleene's True Snow.   Before the True Snow dries, I usually add some glitter but it is difficult to pick that up in a photo.

.. and another one done!!

Thank you so much for popping in and taking a look.
Not sure if I will do another post before Christmas so, just in case I don't, I would like to wish you all a most Joyous and Blessed Christmas.
May God's Peace be in your heart and home now and always.

Christmas in August #2

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  I hope everyone is having a lovely day.  

Our weather here in Adelaide has been really lovely the last couple of days.   I hope it lasts a bit longer ..  loving it!!

I'm back today to share another of my early Christmas cards.  This one is a little bit different.  I  haven't made one quite like this before but I really like it so I know I'll be doing it again.

The papers are from Kaisercraft.  I have so many of their 6 x 6 pads, I thought it was time to start using it up.  So, even though they are not Christmas papers per se, I'm finding them quite suitable for these cards.

 A little bit of stenciling ..

.. and a touch of glitter.  

The flower is a White Apple Blossom by Green Tara  which is available at Megs Garden.  I simply sprayed it with Dylusion Ink.  I think the colour is called Cherry Pie but, unfortunately, I can't put my hands on it at the moment.  Obviously wasn't put back in it's right place last time I used it.  Have to have a treasure hunt me thinks, LOL!!

Used the pine branch die again .. really love that for Chrissy cards!

Used a Distress Ink pad to colour the gauze underneath the cluster.  So easy to do!

Added a few prills too!!  Not easy to see but you can just make them out here I think.

The inside, ready for a personal message.

I was ready to add this to my stash of cards  but thought that side flap just needed something.  Had a light bulb moment  (Yes, I know, it's really obvious what should go there isn't it?? )  So I added a gold sticker sentiment .. (Duh!!) ..

.. and, 'Voila!'  Done!!

Thought I'd throw my hat in the ring with this one and entered it into a couple of challenges

Christmas Card Challenges # 36 - Optional Challenge - Angels
12 Months of Christmas Link Up # 20 - Optional theme - Christmas Confectionery 




Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look at my little creations.
Have a lovely day and enjoy the rest of the week.
Take care and God Bless.

A Christmas Card and some Holiday Pics

 Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my bloggy space.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Before I went away on holidays I mentioned that my mojo had gone AWOL and I was hoping that, when we returned, it would all be ok again.  Unfortunately that didn't happen .. the cobwebs are well and truly still in place.  I had started a couple of bigger projects that I was having problems with and still am not able to concentrate on them to get them right.  So, for a while, I am going to focus on just making cards and tags and maybe get back into some Art Journaling.   Hopefully, mojo will return soon, and then I can finish those pesky projects off .

So, I made this simple Christmas card .. and quite enjoyed it too!

The papers are from Kaisercraft and the top layer was cut using one of the new dies from Tim Holtz. 

Added a small piece of gauze under the cluster.  The baubles were taken from a cheap Christmas decoration and the pine boughs were cut with an Impression Obsession die.  Think I have used these items on every one of my Christmas cards this year.  Just love the look I guess.

I've had these gold stickers in my stash for years and am finally getting around to using them.  Simply stuck them on a small banner .. so easy.

The fabric flowers were hand made with some ribbon.  I followed a tutorial by Pamelia Johnson from
My Little Craft Things.  Mine are not as pretty as hers but I'm still happy with them.  HERE is the link to Pamelia's post which includes the video.

The inside .. with a little pocket at the bottom and plenty of space for a personal message.

Added a few splashes of white paint .. and that was it .. done and dusted!!

I set myself a schedule at the beginning of the year to make at least 2 Christmas cards each month.  Well, I'm way behind .. should have made about 10 by now but this is only No. 5.  Still, that's 5 more cards than I had at this time last year so I'm pretty happy with that.

Now, for those of you who may be interested, here are a few shots from our holidays.
We went on a Cruise to the South Pacific and these were shots taken at our first port of call.  This is the island of Lifou in New Caledonia.  It is part of the Loyalty group of islands.  I believe it is actually the largest one in the group.

This was taken from the ship as we were coming in ..

.. as was this one.

Have no idea what the place is called where we landed.  It was quite small with a few huts and a little market.  This little place did hair braiding .. not a good look for some!!  LOL!!  We had the option of going on different excursions but didn't bother this time.

It was really hot and humid so it was good to get out of the sun.  I bought a fan at that market  .. really needed it!  LOL!!

 

 There was no actual Port here so the ship anchored off shore.  We were taken in on the ship's Tenders.

Some passengers took the opportunity to go swimming.  The water looked amazing .. so clear and clean.

 In line at the jetty waiting to get back on board.  We didn't stay long, only a few hours (because of the heat) but it was really interesting and very enjoyable.

Hope you enjoyed this little look at Lifou.  I will share more photos of our trip in the weeks to come.  Have to say I love Cruising and we will be doing it again.  Probably not back to the South Pacific but we would love to go back to New Zealand and also do a Cruise around Australia.  One day!!

Thank you so much for visiting  and do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care, stay safe and God Bless.

Happiness isn't about getting what you want all the time. 
It's about loving what you have and being grateful for it.

2016 Christmas Cards #3

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope your day is going well.

At the end of last year I decided I would make at least two Christmas cards each month so that, by the time Christmas came around again, I would be well on the way to having my cards done.  Well, if you have read my previous Christmas card post (HERE), you know that didn't happen.  I have fallen way behind on that schedule but, I am trying to catch up. 
After posting the previous card, I actually surprised myself and got stuck right in and made two more.  Bit of a shock to the system actually but, I survived it .. LOL!!

As you can see, these two cards are very similar.  Similar design and similar elements, just slightly different colouring.  Papers used are from Kaisercraft's Holy Night 12 x 12 Paper Pad. 

Card No. 1.

The baubles and berry sprays are leftover from last years cards (it's great that I'm using these up and don't have to find a place to store them) and the pine boughs were cut with Impression Obsession Die 021-N.

Just to add a little interest, I tucked some gauze in between the circles ..

.. and, of course, I had to add some splooshes and splats of gesso.

The inside has a pocket on the right for a gift card or, I can just tuck a personal message in there.

So, that was card No. 1 ..

.. and this is No. 2.

As I said, they are very similar to each other.  Different colouring of course but this one has an extra paper layer and rounded corners.

The silver baubles were originally red.  I simply painted them with gesso and, while it was still wet, dipped them into some silver glitter.

Added a little gauze underneath the cluster this time and used some different flowers.

As on the first card, the right hand side is a pocket.

I used a different brush for the splatters this time and it went down a bit heavier than I would have liked.  Will have to go back to the old brush I think.

And there you have it, two more Christmas cards done and dusted.  Now that I've started the ball rolling maybe I can keep it going.  Maybe!  LOL!!

Thank you so much for dropping by and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care, stay safe and God Bless.
Live the life you have imagined.