BACK TO .................................

......................... Christmas!!!!  and the blooming temperature thinks it still is 'cos it's perishing cold, lol.  On my last post (ages ago I know) I mentioned that I was still waiting for one of my buddies to receive the Christmas card I had sent to her and which I had also sent to my 3 lovely CSQ friends.  Well, unfortunately it looks like it has been swallowed by our Royal Mail's big black hole so I'm going to post the picture now albeit really belatedly.  At least Sue will be able to see what she should have received.  You never know it could turn up in years to come as these things have occasionally been known to do, Lol!

All the stamps I used on the above card, except for the greeting, are Elusive Images, some from this year and the snowy cottage scene in the background from a previous year.  The greeting is a Clarity Stamp.

I am sorry I've been awol again but  I have been quite busy on the crafting front just not with things I can show yet.  Some has been DT stuff but a lot has been Wedding things for our daughter, Jenna, which I can't show yet either, mainly because everything is still in bits, lol!

Jenna and Tony have decided on an informal theme for the wedding of an English Summer Garden Party so there are to be no formal flower arrangements on the tables.  Instead we have collected some really pretty jugs, vases and even teapots to hold cottage garden type bunches of flowers.  We've also been collecting different sized jars which I'm going to decorate with ribbons and paper lace borders and these will have tealights in and the place name cards won't be cards at all but I'll show you all the different things nearer the wedding which is towards the end of May.  Coming up with designs that Jenna liked proved to be a bit stressful because she changed her mind a few times (easy to do when it's your Mum you're getting to do the making), lol, but to be fair I also found it a bit difficult to get my head around what she wanted.  Everything she tried to describe sounded such a mish mash to me I thought it was going to look totally unco-ordinated.  The lightbulb lit up when we went to a Vintage Wedding Fayre at a hotel in Harrogate and she started pointing things out to me ..........  then I finally GOT IT!!!!! ..... and I think it's going to look lovely .......... if I can do her ideas justice, ahem!  I'm now knee deep in pretty little rosettes (thank goodness for Mr Holtz and his rosette die) and before too long bunting will be on the agenda too.  We are hiring quite a few metres of bunting but the wedding venue is quite a large room and has a very high ceiling so we are going to supplement the bunting with some of our own.  I'll let you know how I'm getting on with things as I progress but this is a pic of some of the things I'm using.

Finally, for this post, something not so happy.  Immediately after the New Year, my Hubby and I had to attend a funeral so I had to make a sympathy card.  I fell back on my favourite technique of last year which I had used for my quick Christmas cards.  I said it was a useful technique you could use for absolutely any occasion by changing the colours and the stamps used and it is.

The stamp I used is a Lavinia one and the Distress Inks were Milled Lavendar, Dusty Concord and I think Stormy Sky.

Well, that's it for me today.  Hope you like my makes and I'll do my best not to take so long to my next post.
I really appreciate your visits and especially if you have time to leave a comment.  Stay well everyone.

Love and hugs
Lesley  Xx

PS   Don't forget you can click the pictures for a larger image and then you can see the subtle sparkle on the Christmas card.

A Bit of Sparkle and Shine

Hi Everyone,

I hope you're managing to keep warm and safe in this horrible freezing weather.  We and our neighbours have spent the weekend shovelling snow and chopping out ice to try and make our cul-de-sac accessible so that those of us who have to go to work could get out this morning.  I'm not one of those thank goodness but my Hubby is.  With great trepidation I took the dog to the park for the first time in a week today and came back having made my mind up that for once I'm going to be making a strong complaint with the high ups on our local council.  Apart from the main bus routes, hardly any roads and no pavements at all have seen a snowplough or a handful of grit!  The 5 inch thick ice is lethal to try and walk on and having injured a tendon slipping on ice at the beginning of the year I was petrified of doing a repeat performance.  Okay, sorry about the little rant but now I've got that off my chest I'll get down to more important matters like crafting, Lol!

My first make today uses one of the latest Crafty Individuals stamps which combines two of my favourite types of image - trees and swirls!  The card is made using simple stamping and matting and layering with just a couple of swirls cut with a Marianne Creatable die.

I stamped the main image and the single swallow on the background using Coffee Archival ink and just added Sakura Sparkle pen to the swirls and the swallows on the main image.

This next card uses an image from the Elusive Images Damask Reindeer set (UA4SP0263). I stamped the image with Onyx Black Versafine and then colours with Copics.  I added some ultrafine glitter which was very difficult to show on the photo and then layered it onto a piece of green mirri card run through my Big Shot in a Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folder.

It's very rare I use mirri card or glitter but the mirri does show off embossing really well.

This final card (3 in one post!!!!!!) was one I made recently for the Elusive Images Design Team using their lovely new stamp set called Family Christmas.  I kept almost to a monochrome colour theme using black, white and gold.

I stamped a holly sprig with Versamark and clear embossed on the black card layer and then stamped the main image using Onyx Black Versafine and touched in certain areas with a very fine paintbrush and Ecoline Gold.  That waterbased ink is absolutely gorgeous and looks like real molten gold in the bottle.  I was really pleased with the classy look of this card (even though I say so myself, Lol) so I decided to make it again this weekend as my Christmas card for my Mum.

Details of any of the Elusive Images stamps can be found by clicking on the Design Team logo in my sidebar and the Crafty Individuals stamps and the swirl die (which is from a set) and any of the inks used are also available at Graphicus.

As always, thank you for your visit and any comments you have time to leave so that I know you have stopped by and I can visit you back.  I've had a lovely time this past few days catching up with all the lovely creations my blogging friends have been posting recently.

Warm hugs to you all,
Lesley  Xx

PS   I keep forgetting to remind everyone that the photos are clickable if you wish to see a closeup.

Play Date Cafe and Elusive Images

Hello again everyone, Wow, me posting two days in a row!!!! That doesn't happen very often, in fact this is probably the first time, Lol!

The reason is the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week is being sponsored by Elusive Images and I and a few of my Team mates have decided to play along.  Each week PDCC give a colour theme to be used and this is the one we had to work to.

Glenda Waterworth (owner of EI) is the guest designer over on the PDCC blog so I'm off over there in a mo to see what she and their very talented Design Team have created for us.  This is the card I made using their colour story for this week and if you would like to know the details of how and what I used and also see what my friends have created, click here to go to the Elusive Images blog where you will find all the relevant links.

and a close up of the main detail.

The EI stamps I used are from a couple of years ago and I still love them but if you want to join in with the PDCC this week there are some of the latest stamps up for grabs so why not have a go.

It was double pleasurable for me to join in with this challenge because I have a lovely blog buddy over on the PDCC Design Team.  Suzanne is such a talented lady and is the source of a huge amount of inspiration as well as being a lovely friend into the bargain.  You certainly wouldn't be disappointed by paying her blog a visit.  Say Hi from me while you're there!

Hugs
Lesley  Xx