The last of my Christmas Cards

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog space.  So happy you could drop by at this busy time of the year.
Can't believe it's only three more sleeps to Christmas.   Is it just me, or did this year go by even quicker than the last??
I have the last of my Christmas cards to share with you.  Well, the last for this year anyway.  Once again these are very similar to the previous ones I've shown you.   Same ingredients, just a little different in the arrangements!

Kaisercraft DP for the first layer and then Meg's Garden 'A Gentleman on Time' DP torn diagonally and placed over the top.  Added a bit of texture with Crackle paint through a stencil and dry brushed randomly with gesso. 

Used some gorgeous 2Crafty chippies again.  A Card Word Circle from the Christmas Set (coloured with Scarlet VersaColor and coated in Glossy Accents) and one of their cute little Mini Reindeers which was simply covered in silver glitter. 

A little bit of gauze  (coloured with watered down red acrylic paint) was placed under the cluster and the flowers and that gorgeous little piece of lace ribbon are all available from Meg's Garden.

Once again, the inside was lined with more of the Gentleman papers.  The two pockets were created to hold Gift Cards and a tag for the verse.

On the second card I've used Meg's Garden 'Correspondence' papers.

Distressed the edges as you can see and, again, randomly brushed everything with gesso.  I also added some dry wall tape and sprayed over it with watered down acrylic paint.

The bit of gold chippie you can see is a piece from 2Crafty's  Bubble Grid Panel.  It was cut from a piece which I used on one of my other cards.  I don't throw out odd bits of chipboard like this, you never know when they might come in handy

The flowers are all available from Meg's Garden.  The green one started out white and was a semi opened rose.  When I coloured it with watercolour paint it opened out as you see here.

The inside is also lined with the Correspondence papers and this card only has the one pocket for a gift card.  I will print the verse on a tag and simply attach it to the other side.

That's all folks!!!  The last of my Christmas cards for this year.
This will be my last post before Christmas so, from me to you, I hope you have an absolutely wonderful Christmas.  Lots of love and laughter around the tree with friends and family and lots of the things that matter most to you.
Blessings and joy to you all.

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.

oxox Marg

Christmas Cards #3

Hello again everyone!!  Hope you are having a wonderful day and thank you for dropping by!  I know how busy you all must be so I really appreciate you taking the time.  I'll make this post reasonably short and won't blather on too much.  (I hope)

Just sharing two more of the Christmas Cards I made this year.

For this first one I again used the 'Gentleman Collection' papers from Meg's Garden.

Gold embossed the edges and swiped some gesso in random spots but that is the only alterations I did with this one.  I've had that gold bauble vine in my stash since last Christmas and the white spirals is some paper covered wire I had which I just twisted around the end of a paint brush.

The tag is from Kaisercraft as is the stamp.

I've also had the burlap flower in my stash for some time.  I just sprayed it with some watered down acrylic paint and dry brushed it with gesso.

Different pockets on the inside this time.  One side was used for vouchers and the other held a tag with the message.  I'm afraid it got posted before I realised I hadn't photographed the tag.

The second one was made using Kaisercraft papers.

Did a bit of stamping with various stamps and added some micro beads before placing my cluster.

No pockets on this one.  Just a KC collectable on one side and the verse on the other.  The papers are from the Meg's Garden Correspondence Collection.

There you are, all done, and not too much blathering!!  LOL!!
Only a couple more to share  and I will do that in the next few days.
Only 7 more sleeps to Christmas!!!  Woo!! Hoo!!

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

More Christmas Cards

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So lovely that you took the time to visit at this busy time of the year.
Hope all your preparations for Christmas are going as planned.  I'm pleased to say that all our gift shopping is done, I only need to worry about the food now, and that's a worry enough all by itself!  LOL!!

Anyway, I am here to share another of my Christmas cards.  I didn't make many this year.  We have been so busy over the last few months and we've also been away.  Then, when we got back from our Cruise, I ended up with the most horrendous cold and had no interest in doing anything much.  Most days it was hard just getting out of bed.  Hate colds with a vengeance!!  But, I did manage to make cards for my family so here I am to share another one with you.

As in my last post, I haven't used Christmas papers with this one, I have again used paper from the Gentleman Collection from Meg's Garden.  This one is called  'A Gentleman's Auto'.

I love these papers but, of course, the image of the car was not really suitable for my card so I made sure I cut my papers around that.  I will use that image on something else.

The chippie below is a piece from the 'Bubble Grid Panel' by 2Crafty Chipboard.  The quote is from Kaisercraft's Christmas Carol Collectables.

I simply cut a small piece from the Bubble Grid  Panel, covered it in gesso and then painted the 'bubbles' with acrylic paint and coated them with Glossy Accents.

The inside was lined with the same 'Gentleman' papers.  I gold embossed the edges, did a little stamping and stenciling and created a pocket on the left to hold a tag.

The quote on the tag was found as a free printable on the net.  The back of the tag was left blank for a personal message.

One again, my cards are all very similar this year.  When you have to make a lot of cards for the same occasion it is simply easier to use a design you like and simply change the embellies.  Especially when you've left things as late as I have.  LOL!

To take a look at all the wonderful products in the Meg' Garden on line shop HERE is the link and to find a 2Crafty Chipboard stockist near you, simply send an e-mail to salesat2crafty@optusnet.com.au

Thank you so much for visiting and leaving me a little comment, I so love to read them!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Christmas with the 'Gentleman Collection' Papers for Meg's Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you dropped by.

I have finally started making my Christmas Cards.  Yes, I know, I have started them way too late, but my life has been a bit hectic over the last couple of months and hubby and I have been away on the most wonderful holiday as well so I haven't really cottoned onto the fact that Christmas is just around the corner.  Oh My Gosh!!!  Did I just say that!!  Yikes!!  I really do have to pull the proverbial finger out!!
 Anyway, back to the business at hand (before I totally freak out LOL!) I'm here to share a couple of Christmas cards that have been made with some sheets from Meg's Garden's 'Gentleman Collection' and I really love how they have turned out.  You all know that it is not necessary to use dedicated Christmas paper to make your Christmas cards.  For me, it's more about the colour and texture than it is about the designs so I decided that the 'Gentleman Collection' papers would be perfect.

Card No. 1

I did use a small piece of Christmas paper from Kaisercraft underneath but the top layer is 'A Gentleman's Auto' 12" x 12".  Did a tiny bit of spraying with watered down Distress Ink in 'Peeled Paint' and 'Pine Needles'.

Used some fabulous 2Crafty Chipboard  (Element Set 1, Card Word Circles - Christmas and Mini Reindeers) and a die cut  from Memory Box.  The lovely lace is also available from Meg's Garden.  

Love that gorgeous deep red bloom.  Meg's Garden has some beautiful flowers available in her shop but you should check it out on a regular basis as the stock does change from time to time.   To the cluster I added some die cut leaves, berries, gauze, the lace of course and some bits of twine as well.  

The inside was also decorated with the same paper.  Heat embossed the edges with gold and I created a pocket on the left hand side to hold some gift vouchers.  The right hand side was left blank so I could write the sentiment.

Card No. 2
This one is very similar to the first.  The sheet used here is 'Gentleman' 12" x 12" and I've just added some different colours and different embellishments.

Spread some crackle around on this one and inked it with 'Fired Brick' DI.  The tags are a freebie received with a crafting magazine.

Used the same type of flower and lace in the cluster but this time I added some dodo wire and different berries as well as a piece of  gold mesh and some die cuts.

The inside was decorated the same again just with different colours and different stamps and I've added a small piece of dry wall tape as well.

There you have it!!  My 'Gentleman Collection' Christmas cards.  As I said before, I am really pleased with how these cards turned out so I will be making all of my cards this year in the same manner.  I will be posting those up over the next few weeks so I hope you will pop back here to take a look.  In the meantime why not take a look at all the amazing creations from my Teamies over at the Meg's Garden Blog.  You can find it HERE.   To take a look at all the fabulous products Meg has in her online store, click HERE.

Meg's Garden products used
'Gentleman's Auto' 12 x 12
'Gentleman' 12 x 12
Dodo Wire
Lace 1.6cm white

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

Marg oxox

Our Trip to New Zealand #1

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

A little while ago I threatened ... oops ...  I mean, promised, to show you some photos of my trip to New Zealand.  Hubby and I enjoyed 14 days on a Cruise ship and I've finally downloaded some of the photos to my computer and thought I would show a few pics of our trip to Mt. Sunday.  For those of you who are Lord of the Rings fans, this is the place where they built the city of Eduras, the Horse Lords Capitol.

Because the harbor in Christchurch is not suitable for Ocean Liners anymore (after the horrendous earthquake of a few of years ago) we actually dropped anchor just off Akaroa, which is a lovely little French style seaside village.  

We boarded a Coach to travel to Mt. Sunday and these are a few piccies taken through the windows.

We stopped at Salmon World for morning tea where we enjoyed the biggest muffins we ever saw.  They were huge so hubby and I shared one and it was still too much.  They were delicious though.

Here we are just outside the valley where Mt. Sunday sits.  Love those snow capped mountains in the background.  If you ever have the opportunity to go to New Zealand don't hesitate ... this place is awesome!!

There are mountains all around this valley and the area is huge.  Makes one feel quite insignificant.

See that small hump in the middle there??  That is Mt. Sunday.  Not terribly imposing compared to the mountains in the background is it?  

That is a river you can see in distance, I think there are two running through this valley.  Afraid I was too overawed to really take in what our Tour Guide was saying.

When the area was first farmed, the workers used to come here every Sunday for a meeting.  No one's really sure what kind of meeting it was, could have been religious or perhaps they went there to gamble or just for a chat.  They used to ride their horses up there and would stay all day.  In time the place came to be known as Mt. Sunday.

This excursion was one of the highlights of our trip.  I  took a lot more photos than what I've shown here but I just picked a few of the best ones.

On our way back  to the ship, in a little place called (quite appropriately) Little River, our bus broke down.

We had to wait for another one to come along.  Luckily it was empty and our Tour Guide persuaded the driver to turn around and take us back to the ship.  Luckily too that we had booked this excursion through the Cruise Line.  We got back after the time that the ship was meant to leave but, because we had made the booking through them, they had to wait for us.  Would not have been much fun trying to chase it up the coast to the next port.

A quick shot through the bus window again as we got close to Akaroa.  Sorry it's so hazy but this was the best of the ones I took.

This wasn't our first stop but these are the first photos I checked.  I have a lot more photos to download and I will share them from time to time.  They won't be in the order that we visited places but I don't think that matters.  As I said before, if you haven't already been to New Zealand and the opportunity presents itself, don't hesitate, it is a fantastic place to visit.  The country is so beautiful and the people are absolutely wonderful.  Hubby and I had a fantastic time.  This was our second visit and I doubt that it will be the last.  Loved it!!

Hope you enjoyed my little picture tour and thank you so much for dropping by.  Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.