Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Last Christmas Card


My last Christmas card of 2019 is the one I made for my Mum and Dad that I leave at the crematorium along with their Christmas Wreath.

Although think of embossing in gold I love silver embossing which I have done here with Simon says Stamp Poinsettia Background.

I think everyone knows I love Christmas Foliage and Poinsettia Parade this year. I also used the Simon says Stamp Holiday Greeting Mix 1, it has the thinking of you at Christmastime which was perfect for my Mum and Dad's card.

The house is tidy and this evening the sweeties and treats will find their way into the living room along with some pressies to go under the tree ready for the big day. I hope you all have a Happy Christmas whatever your faith because at the end of the day its all about Family. See you in the New Year.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Fluffy Fairy



A bit of a rush to get a card for Mo's Dream Team this week but I was determined to make one this week after missing last week.

I using Mo's Fairy Faith image and I used a lot of my mixture of Fun Flock and Flowersoft to make a fluffy scarf and ear warmers.

The papers I think could be last years Carta Bella but its lost its front cover so no idea whose it is. I've used my favourite Poinsettia die from Simon says Stamp along with the Pine needles from their Christmas Foliage set.

Also I used the MFT Crochet Border for around my circle but it's a bit hidden. I found a load of Craftwork Cards Christmas sentiments which fit with the old Stampin Up punches.

Yes I do have the other fairy and its already coloured up to be made into a card.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Party Time

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is Party Time
We are showcasing Simon says Stamp this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!


I knew I was going to use SSS Party like a Panda and what better than one Panda but two.

That's when my mojo disappeared especially as the Postmen are playing with my Simon Says Stamp parcel which has my new die of streamers which would work with the Echo Park Lets Party patterned paper. I added the bow from the Simon says Stamp Candy Canes to match the red bow in one of the pandas now looking at the card I wish now I didn't bother with the Bakers Twine.

I made the frame round the Pandas with Simon says Stamp Stitched Squares and the square behind the image mat. The Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge wish you all  Happy Holidays and see you again in the New Year in fact the 1st January 2020.


Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Happy Christmas


First off a bit of an apology for being missing from Blogland, I am crafting but the stress of getting all my Christmas cards made meant I use same designs of already made cards. So that means I didn't make anything new, add a couple of days my body caught up with me and decided if I won't rest it would make me by making me feel exhausted.

It's always busy the first couple of weeks of December with trips out and a visit up North to see my Brother in Law and I now realise I need to plan for it better.

Even this card is similar to my base of my easel card I made last week for Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. I loved how the colours worked together and I had another 6 cards to make so this was the design I used.

The shadow Christmas word die is from Simon say Stamp, well I think all of it is Simon says Stamp.
Christmas Foliage, Poinsettia Parade and Wonky Rectangles.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Interative Christmas

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is Interative Christmas
We are showcasing Lawn Fawn this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!


The last two weeks have been pretty busy so rather than pull out of this weeks challenge I thought I would make an Easel Card with the fabulous Lawn Fawn Build a House and I also brought the Christmas Add On.


I used the Simon says Stamp Happy Christmas Shadow Die to support the easel card part and decorated with their Poinsettia Parade and the Pine Needle die from Christmas Foliage.


The Stitched Slopes and Hills are again Simon says Stamp and cut the trees from their Evergreen Circle.

Thats all for now I'm hoping to get back into the craft room tomorrow.

Saturday, December 07, 2019

Freshly sketch


This was card I made using a sketch from Freshly Made Sketch from a few week ago. I have this Simon says Stamp Inside Christmas Greetings sitting on one my acylic blocks so its nice and easy to use.

Also if you find my Simon says Stamp Christmas Foliage and Poinsettia Parade not far from each other. I think I made this card because I had a poinsettia going spare. Very simple but another one done.

Friday, December 06, 2019

DieCember


Oh my goodness I didn't realise that I hadn't schedule my DieCember post but its been a bit manic in our house. Starting from Friday last week I went to Portsmouth Historic Docks Victorian Fayre and the following day I went to an All Day Crop. I did come home earlier I was already feeling shattered from the day before. Found out my son's operation was brought forward to Monday, enough excuses lets get back to the card.

Once again the lovely folks at Simon say Stamp sent me a die so I could join in with all the fun, the die is the Large Outline Thanks. It was bit difficult to think of a different way of using it my head is full of Christmas. I decided to see how it worked out didn't realise that it cut thanks with an outline of the letters, clue was in the description Debby!

So I used the Echo Park  Hello Baby Boy paper pad which had this checked one but any would work just as well. I carefully place the die on the check paper centrally so I could use the waste for  background. Cut it in gold to give me an outline and with white making sure you save the little bit for A. I backed the white with gold to match the outline and also makes the mat slightly larger to fit over the hole.

Now where did I get the sentiment, I remember now Thoughtful Messages it was on there. Its not crooked thats down to the photographer ME.

Thursday, December 05, 2019

Candy Cane


I always colour this image the same with Red and Turquoise so for a change I decided to go purple and green.

The papers are some old ones that LOTV used to do and Mo's Season Greetings. I'm thinking my candy cane could Blackcurrant flavour.

Now I'm pretty sure I'm used a sketch which I why I've used two Simon Says Stamps sentiments, one from Tiny Words the other Inside Christmas Greetings, now I need to work out whose.

I decorated with the Martha Stewart Holly punch and pearls.

Wednesday, December 04, 2019

Traditional Christmas


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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is Traditional Christmas
We are showcasing Tim Holtz this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!


I've had this Nordic Winter die for a while and when people told me how fiddly it was to cut loads of bits put me off but to be honest I found it quite easy although I kept losing my bits white dots!

I cut out my cardstock to fit the die and inked round the edges with a black inkpad to give it a bit of depth. Then I put tape across the back so that it was just a matter of cutting the colours and dropping it into the revelent space.

I added a bit of May Arts Burlap Twine to keep the rustic look. I added a snowflake made with Simon Stamp Lea Snowflake die and stamped out sentiment from Tiny Words Christmas.


Since it was too bad making the background I chose to make another with a Scandi feel about it. I made the same has the one above but used white and red. It also meant less waste. This time I used two snowflakes Simon says Stamp Lea but also Marie Snowflake die. Oh and I used the Inside Christmas Greeting for the sentiment.



Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Three out of One Background


I got my hands on Whimsy Tartan Background mainly because I wanted Christmas paper is non traditional colours like Pink or Purple. I've decided to use this minting green colour to start with.
I stamped onto the coloured card stock now the plan was to make two cards with the stamped background at the bottom.

I cut a strip of contrast colour to give a finish look between the plain and patterned and then used the bow die from the Simon says Stamp Candy Cane die. I cut it twice once trimming off the bow tails to give a more 3d look.

I used the new Simon says Stamp Marie Snowflake and the Grace one in a matching colour. I wanted to try something different for my sentiment so I used MFT Fishtail Flag die along with Simon's Inside Christmas Greetings.


Once again I had this strip leftover so I wasn't going to waste it, I decided to use smaller snowflakes this time Simon says Stamp Maryann Snowflake but the rest was all the same.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Patterned Gnomes


Yes I'm loving the Simon says Stamp Gnome and there's another in their card kit for this month. I've used them with some leftover papers from last years Christmas papers. Also I had the Simon says Stamp Inside Christmas Greetings already stamped so I thought I would use that too.

I had a sparkly snowflake floating around my craft room so I used that on one card and some pearls in the large snowflakes on the patterned paper. Patting myself on the back for using up scraps and leftovers.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Snow Shovel


Another simple card made to look better by using one of Mo's images, this time call Snow Shovel.
Some old papers from Doodlebug and I thought this brick wall would be a great backdrop for my image.

My old Martha Stewart Holly punch and some Lawn Fawn Mini Snowflakes job done. Oh final touch the sentiment from Simon says Stamp Tiny Word Christmas.

Starting to feel more myself although the my twisted knee isn't at all happy and my bad foot not happy either but I have to fight through it I'm out on Friday to Portsmouth Victorian Christmas Fayre.
Saturday I'm at an all day crop that could be interesting if my knee doesn't start improving wish I knew how I did it.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Anything Goes

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is Anything Goes
We are showcasing Penny Black this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!


I feel a bit guilty about my card today, I planned to use this Penny Black Snowy Flight but had no idea what to do with it. I saw the robin and knew I should have it but all I could think of was making the backgound blue.

It didn't help not feeling 100% its that time of year with lots of bugs about and I'm on my second one, add to insult to injury I've twisted my good knee all of which hasn't helped my craftying mojo. So I simply cut out my robin with Simon says Stamp Stitched Squares and added a sentiment using Simon says Stamp Tiny Word Christmas.

I decided my berries are mistletoe so that is why they are white, coloured in with a Uni-Ball Signo White gel pen, when they were dry I dotted a black pen it was worth the effort. My robin was coloured separating and layered on top, that way I didn't need to worry about masking.


Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Christmas Floral Spray


I needed to speed up my Christmas Card making, colouring and layering take time so I got out some dies to help me.

First up is the Simon say Stamp Holiday Frame, which not only give a central point but the sentiment too. I did have to put a bit of acetate behind Christmas and add the centres for the A and R.

Finally I used their Christmas Foilage with Poinsettia Parade to make a floral spray, job done. Which colour do you prefer I think the red is my favourite.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Baby Shower


Can you believe that the baby in question is now two and a bundle of mischief. Alice in Wonderland is the mum to be favourite disney film so that was the theme.

My sister got me to make the keys and pocket watch for a display and she made the drink me tags. She made eat me ones too but somehow I didn't get one of those but I had to add them.

Therewas really a colour scheme so any colour worked.


A couple of close ups of each page.


Saturday, November 23, 2019

Simple



I had this new die from Elizabeth Crafts and thought I should try it out, it come with the snowflake border and a wobbly strip which you can use to place under the border for a different colour. That's far too difficult for me I just cut the white card and placed it on top of  a coloured card.

I trimmed down so I had a bit border on the side and a large one border at the bottom so I can stamped a sentiment from Simon says StampInside Holiday Greetings. 

Too simple maybe but that still two in more on the pile.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Filled with Joy


Remember the card I made on Wednesday for Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, well I very carefully cut the circle out of this background I made. At the time I wasn't sure how the card layout would be and it left me with this background, well I wasn't going to waste it and I'm really pleased how it turned out.

The background was made  the snowflake from the Simon says Stamp Holiday, embossed with white embossing powder. I stamped the Inside Holidays Greeting on a separate white bit of card and placed it behing the background.

To finish I used Simon says Stamp Christmas Foliage and Poinsettia Parade to make a floral spray.

Feeling pretty please with myself that I managed to make two cards out of one background.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Bauble Elf


I was in two minds whether to get Mo's Little Elf Kippa, mainly because I thought the elf would be too small to layer. Luckily I managed him but I wouldn't want one smaller.

I paper pieced the baubles including making a couple of more for decoration, I'm not sure whose but I've only a couple of blue ones left now. When you have only scrap left cutting out with a square die makes a good background and it helps that the Simon says Stamp are stitched.

I think the sentiment is an old LOTV stamp which fit in a couple of punches I have. Since it's so busy I left with baubles on the side with a bit of silver ribbon.

Need another 30 Christmas cards to finish for the year and its stressing me out, seriously I say every year I must make them all year round.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Starry Starry Night

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is  Starry Night
We are showcasing Stampendous this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!



The people at Stampendous also do the House Mouse stamps and I decided to use their Cardinal Bell. We don't get this bird here in the Uk and I decided to just to shadow the wings and leave it white.

But I made a night background with blending some blue using a Blending Brush but before I did I stamped the snowflakes from Simon says Stamp Holiday Greetings and embossed with white embossing powder.

I cut the background with Simon says Stamp Stitched Circle dies and backed with a bit of navy card. I embossed the white with the Simon says Stamp Falling Snowflakes stencil to give a bit interest in all the white.

Luckily I remember that the challenge was for Starry Night and I used a Simon says Stamp Holy Stars die with some White Glitter Card. Before I forget the sentiment is Simon says Stamp Tiny Words Christmas.

Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.



Thursday, November 14, 2019

Fa La La La


I'm far behind on my Christmas cards which is why my chose of Mo Image is a Christmas one lately. This chap is sooo cute and has to be used at least once, he's called Fa La La La.

Also because I'm behind my cards are pretty simple like this one. I made a frame using Simon says Stamp Stitched Frames, last years Christmas papers I'm guessing Echo Park. To finish Martha Stewart Holly Punch and Simon says Stamp Tiny Words Christmas.

Really short post mainly because I suffering from the lurgy, much to my hubby's glee I've lost my voice till about 11am so he gets some peace first thing in the morning.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Thanks

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Hi all and welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Thank you for joining us last week and we hope you will all join us again this week too.
This week the challenge is Thanksgiving/Thanks
We are showcasing Hero Arts this week, which just so happens to be Simon says Stamp Brand of the Month. You don’t have to use them to join in but if you have some we would love to see them used.
The lovely folks over at Simon Says Stamp are generously giving away a FABULOUS $50 voucher to shop at the  Simon Says Stamp Store! All you have to do is take out your crafty supplies, make something following this week’s prompt, and add a link in the Inlinkz at the challenge Blog. You can join 5 times so you could have 5 chances to win! How AWESOME is that!! All winners are chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! Woo Hoo!! Good Luck to everyone! The Design Team is looking forward to seeing your crafty makes and will pop around to visit you ASAP!


This is my second card for this challenge I didn't like what I made and now I've made the card monochrome I like it much better.

I used the Hero Arts From the Vault Bugs as you see there are some pretty butterflies in the set. I decided to use the Simon says Stamp Quilted Hearts Background stamp because I find it not too busy it would hide the butterflies.

I often forget I've got the SSS Dot Scallop Border die does make a simple card look more interesting, I've covered the dots since it worked better when trimming the pattern paper to fit ontop. To finish I used the Bold Thanks from Simon says Stamp


Do you use Instagram ?  If so please add  #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there too.

25 Days of Christmas Tags

Hi all and welcome to the start of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event hosted by the fabulous Tracey McNeeley aka In My Creative Opinion ! This is the 9th year that Tracey has hosted this event and Simon Says Stamp is thrilled to be joining in with Day 11!


Each day up to November 28th there will be a different company sponsoring with fabulous crafty give aways and prizes to be won PLUS the company design teams will be joining in with lots of gorgeous Christmas Tags for our inspiration!


By joining in with the event YOU could win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp! How awesome is that! ;-) 




I'm a firm believer that tags should be quick and easy and I decided to go for a white tag with a pop of red.

It also gave me another reason to use the Simon says Stamp Inside Christmas Greetings, I used the same sentiment for both of them but there are other suitable for a tag.

I used the bow from Simon says Stamp Candy Cane die but you need to position the sentiment so the bow tails fit all you will have to do what I had to and snip them off.

My Christmas floral spray was using SSS Poinsettia Parade and Christmas Foliage with some red gems.

Nearly forgot the actual tag is Stitched Dressed Tag.

 CLICK HERE  to visit Tracey's blog where there is more information about how you can win the fabulous prizes on offer!

If you upload your creations onto instagram please use the hashtag  #25DaysofTags2019






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There are lots of ways to win prizes and it is a little long winded so I am referring everyone to Tracey's blog for more info.

This is the info I received by email 


There are many ways that you can get a chance to win a prize. Prizes will be drawn from any or all of these things:
  1. Comment on the posts here each day on what you saw that inspires you.
  2. Follow the blog hop and comment along the way.
  3. Participate by creating your own tags. The rules for participating are simple, you MUST create a Christmas tag inspired by a tag you see during the event and you MUST state in your post the day and whose tag you were inspired by in order to be eligible for a prize. Enter as many tags as you like. 
  4. Don't have a blog but use Instagram? Create your project using these guidelines on your Instagram account:
  • You need to be a follower of my Instagram account INSTAGRAM
  • To win a prize you MUST create a Christmas tag inspired by a tag you see during the event and you MUST state in your post the day and the tag you were inspired by
  • So that I can find your work include the following hashtag #25daysoftags2019
  • Link up your IG tag here 

To keep  is fair for everyone, only one comment per post please. You may however create as many tags as you would like as long as you follow the rules. The more you hop along and comment and the more you participate the more chances you have of winning! The link up is only on this post (at the bottom of the page). I will keep the link up open until one week after the event is over to give you time to finish up. The contest and linky will close December ?, 2019 at 12:00 am (EST)! Prizes will be announced on December ? here on my blog.


Guidelines copied from the FB group 

25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS TAGS 2019 GUIDELINES 
1. Please create a Christmas Tag using products from the company that you are representing--Anything goes! 

2. At least two days prior to the date that you are guesting make sure there is a photo of your tag in the FB album that is designated for the company you are representing. Please add your name and your permalink to the comments for your photo. I will collect them there. PHOTO SIZE—Photos must be at least 800 px wide and please make sure that you leave some room for cropping. 

3. On the day you are guesting please post your tag and blog about the 25 Days of Christmas Tags event on your personal blog at 6:00 am (EST) with: • a link to the company you are representing • a link to my blog http://inmycreativeopinion.blogspot.ca • display the logo found in the album Event Logo here in the Facebook Group

 Thank you so much for joining me for the 9th Annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags