My Fabulous Give Away Prize from Helen Tilbury!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

Just a quick post today.  Some weeks ago I entered a give away on Helen Tilbury's Blog

 SCRAP ADDICT and I won!!  There was no skill involved, you simply had to leave a comment on the post.   Helen did a random draw and I was lucky enough to have my name pulled out!!  As you can imagine, I was pretty chuffed.

Well, I'm even happier now because my prize has arrived and I thought I would show you what I have received.

My first reaction was .. WOW!!

There's 2 pads of 7Dots Studio papers (have always wanted some of those).  Another pad from a different Manufacturer (who I can't name because I'm afraid I threw out the packaging and it's gone into the re-cycle bin)   and a Journaling Magazine.

A bundle of some different ribbons and 2 fabulous  Prima Stencils.  I know they will get used quite a bit!!

And, last but not certainly not least, an Ingvild Bolme Craft Knife and a Color Bloom Spray .. and all of this just for leaving a comment!!  Like I said before .. WOW!!

But wait folks, there's more!!

I also received this gorgeous little tag made by Helen herself!!

Woo!! Hoo!!  I now have a Helen Tilbury original!!  LOL!!

This prize is awesome Helen!  I can't thank you enough ..  you are so generous and such a  sweetheart!!  THANK YOU so much!!  Mwah!! oxox

If you missed it at the beginning of this post, HERE is the link to Helen's blog.  Check it out people, she is an amazing artist and you will find loads of inspiration there!!

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

Take care and God Bless. 

Happy Crafting!!

Variations on a Christmas Theme & Some Happy News!!

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  Thank you for dropping by.

I have some more Christmas cards to share.  Once again, these are different variations on the same theme.  Yes, I know, you're probably getting a bit bored with these but, this is what I do at Christmas time.  I find a couple of designs I like and then create my cards using different colours with slightly different elements.

In my previous post I showed Design No. 1 and this is design No. 2.  This time around I'm sharing three cards and all of them have a little pocket to hold a gift voucher.

Card 1

The papers used are, once again, from Megs Garden and from Kaisercraft. 

The flowers also came from Megs Garden and the bauble spray is from a cheap Christmas decoration.   The pine bough die is from Impression Obsession Dies.

The small label is from Kaisercraft.

The inside with the Gift Voucher pocket at the bottom and I added a verse to the top section before it was posted (mailed that is!! he! he!)

Card 2

 All of the cards have a bit of 'snow'  treatment.  In other words, some splashes of white ink, a bit of gritty texture paste in different places and then sprinkled with glitter.

 All of the red flowers were originally a different colour.  They have all been sprayed with Cherrie Pie Dylusion Spray. 

Another small label from Kaisercraft.  I mounted them on some thick card for extra dimension.

The insides were all decorated the same, just with different papers.

 Card 3

 As you can see, more of the same!

Some cards have stenciling.  This one was done with translucent texture paste.

Most of them have a piece of the metallic mesh behind the cluster .. some with red and some with gold.

 

So, three more cards done and dusted!!

Thanks so much for dropping by but, before you go, I have some happy news to share.
I entered the Feeling Sketchy Challenge with one of my Christmas cards (you can see it HERE) .. and I WON!!  I actually won the random draw and was also TOP PICK!!  So thrilled!!  Huge thanks to the team at FEELING SKETCHY .. I am totally chuffed .. Thank you ladies, you are wonderful!!!

But there's more folks!!!  The lovely Bev Code from TURTLE SOUP CREATIVITY & MAGAZINE, got in touch and asked me to submit some of my cards, etc. for the Christmas Issue of their on-line Magazine!!  Woo!! Hoo!!  I actually have a double page spread as well as one of my cards in their card section!!  Once again, totally chuffed.  It is a gorgeous mag and there are so many talented artist's work in there, I'm still pinching myself that I was included.  If you'd like to take a look you will find it HERE.  Thank you so much Bev for including me, I am over the moon.

Once again, thank you for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
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

Hello my beautiful visitors.  A very warm welcome to my blog, so nice to have you visit!

So, here I am, back again to share another Christmas card.  I have to give you fair warning, I will be sharing quite a few Christmas cards with you over the next week or so, I hope you won't get too bored.  (I'm really hoping you'll keep coming to visit regardless.  LOL!!)

This one is the very first one I made this year.  It was actually completed at the beginning of November!!!!  Shock!!!!  Horror!!!   Yes, I actually started making my Christmas cards  early this year.  Well, early for me anyway.  Some of you may remember that, last year, I started making them in mid December.  Talk about a rush!!  Anyway, got myself sorted this year and have made quite a few already .. Sweet!!!

The papers used are from Kaisercraft's Holy Night 12 x 12 Paper Pad.  I don't usually buy the 12 x 12 as the patterns, I feel, are usually too big for card making, but this one was ideal.  Traditional colours (which I love) and fairly basic designs.

Sprayed a bit of watered down acrylic paint on the base paper  (it actually is green although it doesn't look it here) and added a touch of texture with a stencil and some texture paste.

Layered some labels from another KC paper line and topped it with the lovely little word circle from 2Crafty Chipboard.  The chippie was coloured with Fired Brick Distress Ink and then covered in Glossy Accents.

Coloured a small piece of gauze with Distress Inks, my flowers with watered down acrylic paint and wrapped some twine around the top layer and finished it off with a couple of twine bows.

Decorated the inside with my usual strips of paper.  The chippy on the side (I have no idea what brand it is) was coloured with VersaColor stamp pads and then coated in Glossy Accents.

Can't believe it is less than a month till Christmas.  Where has this year gone??  Hope you are all staying on track with the preparations!!  We're actually going to our older son's house this year for Christmas and our oldest grandson is cooking the dinner!!  So looking forward to it, going to be awesome!!!

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

Happy Christmas crafting!!
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