Sunday, 23 November 2025

50 Christmas cards

 I was asked to make a stack of 50 Christmas cards for our volunteers in work so that has kept me busy these past few weeks!  I had a bit of a production line going...some evenings prepping my card bases, some evenings stencilling and adding snowy silver splatters, some evenings sticking them all together, and most evenings with my pencils out! I can't deny that I'm glad to have them all finished. 

I mostly used these stamps from Gerda Steiner, with a few Penny Black carolers to mix it up a bit.  I made a few in our company colours of purple and green, but I'm 100% sure nobody will notice but me LOL.  I added chunky glitter to all their hats so they're nice and sparkly, as a Christmas card should be!

I made maybe half a dozen of each design, only took a few photos but they will give the gist of what I made...





Just add ink #774 - stencils/ dies

Fab n Funky #626 - all that glitters

Addicted to Stamps #506 - make your mark

Stamping Sensations November - Christmas 

Sparkles Christmas challenge #178 - festive wear

Sunday, 16 November 2025

Birthday card for Aunt Cilla

 Hi all, I've taken another break from my Christmas card order to make a card for my mum to her sister.  Mum has a beautiful rose garden with every colour of bloom, so I thought I'd send Cilla some roses from her garden!  

This Penny Black image does take a while to colour but it's worth it, though I'm never entirely happy with how I colour the vase, some day I'll take some time and learn how to do it LOL.  I happily found some DP which kinda matched the roses, I've added some metallic gold splatters to the background and then some pink, red and gold gems to pull it all together. 


Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #712

As You Like it - favourite embellishment - mine is definitely these little gemstones which I use on a lot of my cards for just a wee bit of sparkle 

Penny Black Saturday November - anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #724/725 - anything goes 

Tuesday, 11 November 2025

Cards for Sandra, Betty and Ryan

 Hi all, I've been missing in action again ... but I've been flat out making an order for 50 Christmas cards. Thankfully I'm on the homeward stretch now, so hopefully I'll be sharing them soon.  (And then I need to get a shift on with my own Christmas cards!!) I've also squeezed in a few birthday cards too so I apologise for not having any blogging time!!... 

This one is for my friend in work, my buddy for almost 35 years! I've used this tasty looking image from Lili of the Valley, coloured with polychromos and clear gloss added to the cherries.  I got my gold metallic paint out for the splatters in the background, spots on the wrapper and then touched up my die cut flowers too. 

Word Art Wednesday #724/725 - anything goes 

Seize the Birthday #316 - birthday+ fall treat (well a cupcake is a treat any time of the year LOL)

Just Us Girls #800 - anything goes 

This one is for my sister in law with this Gina K stamp - I love it, but it does take me an absolute age to colour...


This one is for my nephew (who works for an aerospace company) - I would have liked a more grown up image but this was all I had LOL 



Saturday, 4 October 2025

Think Pink!

 We've had a wild couple of days with Storm Amy passing by, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as Storm Eowyn earlier this year - still plenty of trees down and flooding in parts but I think the worst of the rain missed us.  i love how storms are named nowadays, it certainly makes them more memorable!

I'm back with another one of my little carolers, this time in pink. I hadn't intended to add the tag in the corner but it's covering an oops from my ink pad and the snowflakes are covering a splodge from my sparkle pen too!  They do kinda hide the circular stencil I used though. 



Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - think Pink

Simon Says Stamp Monday - trees

Addicted to Stamps #502 - Christmas 

As You Like It - square or not - I used to make A6 sized cards but always struggled to cut my base layers straight, so getting some square dies and going down the square card size was a godsend for me! 

Sparkles Christmas challenge #177 - non traditional Christmas colours

Here's a wee pic of Molly post-walk, not looking too impressed with getting caught in the rain! 



Monday, 29 September 2025

First Christmas card

 I am sooooo behind with my Christmas cards, but hoping this sweet set from Penny Black will give me the oomph to get going!  I reckon you'll be seeing a lot more of these carolers! 

I had a good root round my stash and found this old holly die and a wee sentiment to match.  Coloured with polychromos; clear gloss and glitter added to the bauble on her hat and the bells (?) on her top. A few red gems on the holly to finish. I used a snowfall stencil for my blue card and just coloured through the holes with a white gel pen.


Addicted to Stamps #502 - Christmas 

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes 

Just Us Girls #794 - use a stencil 


Layout inspired by AAA Cards #300

Penny Black Saturday September - spots or stripes 

Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Autumnal mushroom

 I'm back! Can't believe the end of September is in sight - we had a lovely dry summer (not much sun though!) and are not long back from a fab holiday to Spain with day trips to Barcelona and Gerona.

 I've had a bit of time off from blogging and haven't made too many cards this past couple of months but the darker evenings are here and it's time to knuckle down!  With the damp run of weather here there are lots of wild mushrooms sprouting up everywhere, so I thought I'd colour up this cutie from Creative Depot... I did have an unfortunate placement of my sentiment when it had a run in with a splatter of metallic paint! 


Layout inspired by CAS on Friday #318

Stamping Sensations September - CAS or anything goes

Make My Monday #261 - autumnal fall

Here's a wee pic of me on my jollies in Malgrat de Mar - my sister says this mural looks like it would belong on one of my cards!  There's even a Molly dog lying in front of the fire! 


And one of us in Barcelona, just off Las Ramblas...


Sunday, 13 July 2025

A three-fer!

 Here's 3 cards for the price of one LOL!

I made a card for my Aunt Jean, liked how it turned out, so amended it for my card to my sister, and then Mum was looking one for her friend (also called Ruth) for her 80th.  It's not very often I'll make cards virtually the same but figured I'd get away with it as none of them were likely to see the other's cards! 

My image is an LOTV stamp, coloured with polychromo pencils and then popped up on foam pads.  I've also added some splatters to the background with silver metallic paint.  For the numbers, I stuck an extra set together to make them a bit stronger and then covered them with gloss and lots of glitter. 

 

AAA Birthday #75 - summer birthday 
Word Art Wednesday #706/707 - anything goes 

Let's Craft & Create #221 - use a die

Seize the birthday #309 - food or drink

We've had a glorious few days with wall to wall sunshine and temps kicking 30 degrees - a nice change as we're usually on the wrong side of the Jetstream and miss all the sunny weather!  Molly was a nightmare though, no matter how much shade we created in the garden she'd find the sunniest hottest spot and cook there until we chased her into the house! Here's a rare moment of her in the shade... Back to normality tomorrow though as it looks back to usual and rain due.