A Purrrfect Wreath !

Now I`m not one to usually be so organized but this year I was determined to get a head start with my Christmas cards instead of waiting until the last minute like I usually do. So I had a play with my new Penny Black Christmas stamps that I got recently from Sir Stampalot. This is one from the set " Christmas Friends "

I`ve coloured with distress inks and used a Martha Stewart punch and Tim Holtz coredinations card for the holly, the nestie is labels ten and the paper is Fancy Pants. The scallop border punch is EK Success and the greeting and scallop circle are SU.
I love these little creatures especially the cats, this one reminds me of my Tessie when she was a kitten, always swinging on the Chrissy decorations LOL!

I`d like to enter this in the Penny Black at Allsorts challenge, this time around it`s "Get ahead for Christmas" which is exactly what I`m trying to do!
Thanks for stopping by my blog, bye for now and happy crafting xxx

p.s. I saw this on Fleur`s blog and thought it would be fun to play along,
the A - Z of me : -

A. Age: 42
B. Bed size: Double
C. Chore that you hate: Ironing
D. Dogs: used to have an alsatian/labrador cross called Tammy and a Jack Russell called Becky
E. Essential start to your day: Tea, not worth a damn before my first cuppa!
F. Favorite color: Sky Blue
G. Gold or Silver: Silver.
I. Instruments you play: Have played violin, clarinet, recorder, guitar and piano
J. Job title: Jack of all trades, master of none !!
K. Kids: none
L. Live: Spalding
M. Mother’s name: Nancy
N. Nicknames: Sussie by my family ( my best friend Sally calls me Mara !)
O. Overnight hospital stays: 1
P. Pet peeves: Bigotry, lateness, people who push in queues.
Q. Quote from a movie: " How do you like your Steak Sir " " Just knock it`s horns of wipe it`s ass and stick it on the plate son !" ( can`t remember the movie though !)
R. Right or left handed: Right mostly but a lot of things ambidextrous

S. Siblings: 1 brother 2 step brothers 1 step sister

U. Underwear: Big enough to cover essentials but NOT Bridgette Jones size !!

V. Vegetable you hate: Brussel Sprouts YUK !!

W. What makes you run late: I hate being late and hate people who are late so never !

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Chest, legs and foot.
Y. Yummy food that you make: Stroganoff and Lasagne

Z. Zoo animal: Tigers, my favourtite animals of all time.

Have a play along too !

Birthday Tea

This is a little project I`ve done for a friends birthday today and BOY! was it a labour of love ! The teapot is a great project but very fiddly to put together, especially for large fingered people like me ! But I think the end result was worth the effort.
The image is a favourite of mine, Tina Wenke from Stampavie - mouse on orange daisy. I`ve had a lot of mileage out of this one ! available from Sir Stampalot.



I`ve coloured with distress inks, the punches are punch-around-the-page set from Martha Stewart - eyelet lace which I`ve had for some time but my ones don`t seem to line up on the regestration marks on the top of the punch so I haven`t used it very often but I`ve figured out how to line it up now and put my own little marks on the punch so it`s easier for me ! MS punches are usually excellent I guess I just got the odd one in a million that was a bit wonky !
The gingham paper is Craft creations, the daisies are from Wild Orchid and the daisy leaf die is BossKut.

I`ve added a bit of Stickles - Diamond and some Glossy accents here and there to highlight.

The teapot is a template from MTME (you can find the link in my side bar)it`s a great project but like I said V fiddly !!
I`ve used Bazzill bling card stock as it`s got a bit more give in it and easier to manipulate without tearing when you bend it. The little charm is from The Ribbon Girl.

I`ve added some choccies to the teapot, mmmmmm Lindor my faves, they very nearly didn`t reach their destination ! LOL !



Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

One Man and his err..... Camel ?

This is another sample for Sir Stampalot from the new Molly Blooms Christmas range.
I`ve coloured with distress inks and added a bit of Stickles for bling !
The background is created using some cloud templates also from Sir Stamp, I cannot for the life of me remember what the make is as I threw out the packaging !
I needed a night sky as there are stars in the image so I just used a darker ink to sponge the clouds and I hope it gives the desired effect !
The glittered border is created by dipping my finger in some dries clear glue and rubbing in around the edge before sprinkling the glitter ( which is Pee Wee glitter )
I love the little camel on a string, again Clare Rowlands humour comes through in her great images !

Now I have the unenviable task of washing, housework and the bain of my existance.... ironing ! YUK ! so I`d better get on with it, the sooner it`s done the more time I`ll have to craft this afternoon. Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Nativity

Here is another sample I`ve done for Sir Stampalot with the new Molly Blooms Christmas stamps, I`ve coloured with distress inks and added glitter to highlight the angels wings and glossy accents for the star.
the background paper is Kaisercraft - Dec 25th Collection - Faith, flowers are prima and the leaves are punched from Martha Stewart holly punch using Tim Holtz coredinations paper - peeled paint, distressed the edges with a sanding block and folded them to give a bit of definition. The berries are from my stash, they were wrapped around the ends of a Christmas cracker I had last year ! (everything ends up in my craft box !)
I love the Mary and Joseph in this image, it reminds me of a typical kids nativity play at school, notice how she`s got the baby round the neck and Joseph has pushed her headress over her eyes ! classic !! Clare Rowlands ( molly`s designer ) has a knack for really bringing her characters to life with little details like these ... I love them !

It took me ages to colour those bricks in, why is it the more random you try to make things look, the harder it is, trying not to get two colour bricks the same next to each other without making it look like a pattern was really challenging ! hopefully the end result justified the effort, I had a lot of fun with this little scene anyway.
I`m off for a crafty get together with some friends tomorrow so I`d better go and put a few things together to take with me to do, maybe have a play with my new doohickey and Marianne dies.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Good enough to eat !!

Here is a card I`ve made for Sir Stampalot with the Gingerbread house from the new Molly Blooms Christmas stamps. I`ve coloured with distress inks and used Snow writer, Glossy Accents, Stickles - Diamond and Glamour dust to embellish.
The snowflakes are from the Marianne Creatables dies #LR0125, papers are Bazzill embossed dot and MME Stella Rose Gertie 6x6 papers ( which I love ).



The little sign post was created by first measuring the area inside the sign post and using my graphics programme on the computer typing in the sentiment and sizing it to fit, printing it out and then using a stamp positioner, stamped the sign post stamp over the top to make sure the sentiment was central, then colour, cut out and embellish. It was a bit of a faff but I think the end result was worth it as I don`t have any greetings small enough to fit in this little sign. It was such a cute stamp though from the mini Molly Blooms collection, I couldn`t resist it !

I had a lot of fun making this card but it took several days to complete as I had to wait for the distress inks to dry thoroughly before I put the Glossy accents on to avoid the colours running, then I ran out of snow writer ! then I had to wait for the snow writer to dry which takes several hours ! I hope the end result is worth the effort. I love this card and I am going to find it hard to part with !
I have a new bunch of Molly Blooms stamps to do samples with so I`d better get started, thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xxx