Chris's last Wednesday

If you have been following my blog for a while, you will know that Chris

(my sister-in-law) and myself get together on a Wednesday, most weeks of the year.

One week I go to her house and the following week she comes to mine.

We have done this for a number of years.

Today Chris has come over to mine for the last time this year, as she and David

are off to Australia for a whole month, to see their son Richard, who lives there.

So I won't see her until next year!!

She brought our Christmas card over, and I think it is beautiful,

so I asked her if could share it with you. She said yes, of course!

So here it is

 it looks quite inconspicuous

Front view closed

But when you open it - Wow!!

Middle - fully open

View from above.

Isn't this fantastic!  Behind the oval cut outs are pieces of Parchment/Vellum

and behind these are the die cut little houses from the

Hometown Greetings Edgelits  Die set.

I have put a battery night light behind the cut outs, and it looks stunning

in the dark, but alas, my photography skills are lacking, and I cant get a good photo.

Thank you Chris for this beautiful card, and for giving me the instructions

on how to make it - I wont mention that they are in German!!

I have started to make it and it is coming on nicely.

When it's finished I will post my version!

Meantime Chris,  have a fabulous time in Australia, and give Richard a big hug and kiss from me!

Christmas money wallets

Today I had a lie in (still not feeling 100% but needed to get up 

and do something rather than stay in bed and be fed up!)

I decided that I ought to make money envelopes for

 my Great Niece and Great Nephew's Christmas pressy money.

(That's Chris's Grandson and Grand-daughter).

Tomorrow will be the last time I see Chris until the New Year,

as she is off to Australia next week for a month, visiting her son Richard.

Here are the wallets

I have used :-

Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp set and matching punch

Merry Little Labels Stamp set and matching Everyday Label Punch

Little Letters Thinlits (Retired but just the right size for the wallets)

Quilted Christmas 6x6  DSP 

Real Red and Garden Green Cardstock.

Think that I have now got everything ready to pass on to Chris tomorrow.

I don't think I have been this organised in November before in my life!!

Bethlehem

Apologies for the absence, I have not been feeling well for a few days.

Luckily I was well last Wednesday, when I went to Lincoln  Cathedral

to see Lexie (my Grand-daughter) with her choir, singing With G4

on their Candlelight Christmas event.  It was fabulous, really thrilled to

be able to watch this performance, but it was a really cold evening 

and Cathedrals are not renowned for their effective heating systems.

Dont think I have felt really warm since!!

That aside I have made a few cards, darent get too far behind with 

my Christmas card making, so here's today's offering.

This card features the Merry Music Speciality DSP,

 the Bethlehem Edgelits dies and Night in Bethlehem stamp set.

For the star and the buildings I have used Matt Silver card

 rather than using the Silver Foil card, along with Black card stock.

The sentiment is computer generated on a White card blank.

I am really pleased with the result.

What do you think??

Star of Light - prototype!!

I have updated an old design by using the same Emboss Resist technique,

but using a different stamp to the original.

This is my prototype, so please forgive the fact that the star is wonky,

as is the sentiment!!  I was just trying it to see if it would work

with a filigree star instead of the original snowflake.

I think that it works well - this could well be a card 

that I can make a batch of, but I will need to wear rubber gloves,

as my thumb and fingers  are now a lovely shade of Night of Navy!!

The stamp set is Star of light, and I have stamped the star in Versamark

then heat embossed with White embossing powder,

I then applied the blue star background with a sponge and Night of Navy ink.

Finally I buffed the star with a piece of kitchen roll

to remove any excess Night of Navy Ink.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set.
--------
Here is the original Snowflake Emboss Resist card
stamped with Serene Snowflakes stamp set and Curly cute sentiment

This was made way back in November 2011 and has been updated
using newer snowflake stamps over the years.

Jean's Birthday card

Today is one of my Wednesday Crafting Ladies' birthdays - Jean,

and here's the card that I made for her special Birthday

Card closed ready for posting

Front view showing gate-fold

This is a gate fold card, made using the beautiful Whole Lot of Lovely DSP.

I cut out the flower with leaves from a different sheet of the DSP to the front one.

Stamped the sentiment from Happy Birthday Gorgeous onto a

die cut out with the Stitched Shape Oval Framelit in white,

then stuck this onto a die cut Layering Ovals Framelit in Tangerine Tango.

Added the matching ribbon and die cut Little Numbers 70 (retired)

and voila!!

I love the beautiful colours on this DSP

Happy Birthday Jean!!

And there's more.......

Yes its another  Dachsy Christmas card!!

Chris and I had a great day creating these cute little doggy cards 

the other Wednesday, using the Christmas Lamppost Thinlits dies and stamps Bundle

and the Ready for Christmas bundle of Stamps and Thinlits.

The  Lampost set was a bundle that I didn't own, but I have since placed an order for it,

can't wait to get this to make some more!!

Anne-Marie's birthday card

The other Thursday (9th) it was both my baby sister (Anne-Marie) 

and my Grand-daughter Lexie's birthdays.

I blogged Lexies card , but clean forgot to post Anne-Marie's card.

So here it is today!

I have cased the card that my Stampin Up sister Julie Wade made for my  birthday

and thought this would be ideal for little Sis (my nickname for Anne-Marie!)

The background stamp is from the Wood Words Stamp set

and the flowers and leaves from Painted Harvest,

The colour combo is Night of Navy, Soft Sky and White.

The leaves (3) and flowers (2 layered)were stamped and the flowers were fussy cut,

 the leaves were punched using the matching Leaf Punch.

The greeting is the Stylised Birthday stamp.

Another Dachsy Christmas card

Here is another of the Christmas cards that I made at Chris's the other Wednesday, using the 

Christmas Lamppost Thinlits dies and the Ready for Christmas bundle of Stamps and Thinlits.

I can't remember where the sentiment came from,  but I will check it out

and edit this post later.

Online Extravaganza!! Starts Sunday night

For the first 24 hours select stamp sets will have 20% off 

 A great opportunity to stock up on amazing stamps! 

So if you've had your eye on a stamp set and resisted (like me!)

now would be a good time to give in!!

Clock starts ticking at  Sunday 19 November at 11pm and ends 20 November 22:59pm.

The Online Extravaganza Sale has exclusive deals and 10-40% discounts 

on many current catalogue items, available from

 Sunday 19 November at 11pm UK time to Sunday 26th November 22.59pm 

Don't miss out on these - get in touch if you want anything ordering

The Stamparatus is coming!!

Whats the Stamparatus??
It's the Stamp Positioning tool that we have all been waiting for

 - all singing, all dancing!

Want to see it in action??

CLICK HERE

Want one??  

Contact me for details -email me on katemartin@sky.com, or leave a message in the comments and I'll get back to you!!

Congratulations

Today is our Stampin' Up! Teams' monthly Training - Julies' Jems.

My Stampin' Up! Mummy - Julie and one of my Stampin' Up! Sisters - Amanda

both gained recognition for their outstanding achievements over the last year.

Julie came in at #53 in the Top 250 Global Achievers

and Amanda came in #31 in the Top UK Achievers.

Great recognition for both of them, and I am proud to be part of this Team!

I have made both of them a Congratulations card to mark the occasion,

and I have scheduled this post for 10:30 a.m., which is the time

that our Training meeting starts, so they won't get a sneaky peek beforehand.

Here are their cards

Arty view




Stand on the mantlepiece view!!

The colour combination is a simple Berry Burst and White

Stamp set is Floral Phrases

Flourish Thinlits Dies used to cut flower and flourish.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH

SO WELL DESERVED!!

Christmas Lampost

Had a great time at Chris's last Wednesday and we made three cards!!

We are really happy if we make three cards as we tend to chat a lot!

... and then there's the coffee breaks and the lunch break!

Anyhow, here's the first card we made

Recipe:-

Christmas Lamppost Thinlits dies

Hometown Greetings Edgelits

Card Front Builder Thinlits Dies (trees)

Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

Black and White card Stock and Gold Glimmer paper.

Oval (retired) dies - as the Layering Ovals which are currently available

were just not big enough for the 6 x 6" card we had planned.

Wink of Stella added to trees.

Loveit! Love it! Love it!!!!!

Two more cards to show you later on in the week.

Variations on a theme

Was inspired by a make on Pinterest by a member of the Stampin' Up! Artisan Team

and ended up making 3 cards!  

All three cards made using the Watercolour Christmas stamp set

The middle card has a sentiment from Snowflake Sentiments

and this is stamped on Whisper White card punched with 

the Everyday Label punch, which is also used to extend 

the garden Green mat behind the sentiment.

Copper - version three

You have already seen the gold and silver version of this card.

One of my Wednesday Crafting ladies, Jean,

has made this in copper.

Great job Jean,

mmm, I wonder how many more metallic embossing powders I can find!!

Amanda's Bendi Foldy card

Amanda (my Stampin' Up! sis and friend) made a super

Bendi Foldy card, and she has simplified the making of it.

I have tried and tested this and can assure you it is very easy to make,

but don't you think it looks like it took ages to make??

Here's my version.

Front View

View from above

Isn't this just fantastic!

If you want the full instructions on how to make this,

visit  

AMANDA'S BLOG HERE

Lexie and Anne-Marie's Birthday

Today we celebrate the birthdays of my other Grand-daughter Lexie

(you may recall it was Ellie's birthday on the 4th!)

and my baby Sister Anne-Marie.

Here's the card I made for Lexie

It's another Eclipse card, but once again as the "Festive Birthday" DSP

(now retired) was very busy, I inked the edges of the letters

once they were raised up on adhesive  strip for more definition.

The DSP was matted onto Melon Mambo card, on a white card base, 

after the letters had been  cut out from the DSP, 

using the Large Letters Framelits dies .

Then the letters raised on adhesive  strips and outlined with

 a Melon Mambo Stampin' Write Marker.

Thought this was a nice bright and colourful card for our Lexie.

I'll show you Anne-Marie's card tomorrow.

Have a fabulous Birthday Lexie, see you later.

Snowflake Sentiments Z fold Card

Heres a card that I made on Monday when I  had a great time following

the video instructions from Sue Vine on how to make it.

It took several hours to make, but it was worth it in the end

Open view standing

Open view flat

standing - display view

Folded flat for posting

If you would like to make this card you watch the video

where you can find the instructions on

SUE'S BLOG HERE

Enjoy!!

Soft Sky Noel

Here's another coloured version of my Noel card,

this one is done using Soft Sky cardstock and 

Silver Glimmer paper for the letters and snowflakes.

Front view standing

Card flat

Think this is my favourite - can't think why!

Pete’s Birthday

Today it’s one of our golfing friends, Pete’s Birthday.

I just had to make him a funny golfer card didn’t I?

I really need to source some more funny golfer stamps -
if you know of any please let me know!

More Merry Patterns

Chris and I had a play yesterday with the free Merry Patterns stamp set,

which was offered free as a hostess gift with a qualifying order during September and October.
We tried two different ways of colouring the image.

Here's the card that I made .....

Stamp coloured using marker pens to produce the image

And this is Chris's card

Stag stamped separately to sweater and both cut out, then sweater stuck on top

Not sure which I like best, but they are both effective and make a fun, festive card.

Ellie's birthday

Today is the birthday of my first grand-daughter Ellie

who will be 24 today!  I can't believe she has grown up so quick!

Here's the card I made for her

K

it's not what I intended to do, but its how it finished up!

It started life as an Eclipse card,

using the Year of Cheer Speciality DSP that looks so luxurious in White and Copper,

and I cut out ELLIE using the Large Letters Thinlits

and I layered this onto a mat of the fabulous Copper Foil Card.

I then used adhesive strip on the back of the cut out letters

and stuck them back in place.

I used Versamark and Copper Embossing Powder to heat emboss

the greeting using stamps from the  Big on Birthdays stamp set.

At this stage it looked like this

But... I just wasn't happy with it, because of the reflection on the

patterned DSP, it was difficult to see that it actually said ELLIE

on it - so I cut ELLIE out again using Copper Foil and stuck it on top

 of the original raised letters.

What do you think?

Anyhow, Happy Birthday my darling Ellie,

hope you have a lovely day and will see you Sunday - tomorrow!!

My grand-daughters Lexie and Ellie

Jan's Birthday Card

You may have noticed that I seem to have a few friends who have the same name.

Today it's the birthday of my golfing friend Jan

(who was my Vice Captain at my Old Golf Club  - Sandhill)

Not to be mistaken from my crafting friend Jan,

 whose cards I share with you from time to time!

.....and here is Jan's Birthday card.

As you can see its another Eclipse card (which I quite enjoy making

as they are not too difficult to make.)

If Jan sees this, she will say that it's not her card, 

but because it was posted, before I had taken a photo of it,

I had to make another one so that I remembered the design!!

I have used the Beautiful Fresh Florals DSP

on a mat of Berry Burst card stock, on a white base card.

The word HAPPY is die cut out of the DSP, using the Large Letter Framelits dies

then the letters are raised up on Adhesive strips, to give the Eclipse effect.

The word Birthday is stamped using the Stylized Birthday stamp,

on white card which is layered onto a Berry Burst mat.

Hope you have a fabulous Birthday Jan

see you soon xx

Chris's Noel Card

Here's the card that I should have posted yesterday, but I had a busy day 

crafting with Chris, then I had my Wednesday evening Craft class.

I was a bit tired after that, so I watched The Apprentice (which I had recorded earlier),

then I went straight to bed!

Had a lovely day out catching up with my ex-work colleague Jo

(as opposed to my golfing friend Jo!) and we went

out for lunch, accompanied by Jo's mum and had a lovely time.

We spent an hour or so around a few shops, then back home.

My Craft class starts in a few minutes, so I had better crack on!

Here's Chris's version of my Noel card, hers is in red!!

Front view standing.

Card viewed flat.

Chris had a colour combo of Real Red, Garden Green and Very Vanilla,
with Real Red Glimmer Paper for the snowflakes and letters.

Lovely don't you think?

I'll show you my Blue version later this weekend.