Christmas Cards

A few weeks ago I showed a sheet of images (featuring a pair of Christmas Owls) that were to be used as Christmas Cards.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to play catch-up in making the cards for friends/family, and I think I am winning :)

Here are a couple of examples...

Featuring an Owl stamp (coloured with ProMarkers)  from Little Claire Designs

Featuring the Christmas Stamp from Imagination Crafts (coloured with ProMarkers) and free papers that were with various magazines

Featuring the Polar Bear (free with a magazine last Christmas; also coloured with ProMarkers) & a Little Claire Designs sentiment

WOYWW - 31 October 2012

Happy Halloween to all reading this post.

As today is also a Wednesday, Happy Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday to everyone to :)

Today I am working on my Christmas cards, well on the toppers to be more acurate.  I tend to create two types of Christmas Card for my friends & Family.  The ones that look good, but are quick & simple to make & those that also look good, but take longer to make are are more detailed.

The more detailed cards will go to those who I know will appreicate a great look hand made Christmas Card.

I decided that I would use one of the stamp sets I brought a couple of weekends ago and that the main image will be the card toppers...

I am using a corner of table with a piece of craft sheet under my images as I colour them just to make sure that no colour reaches the tablecloth.

 

Here is a closeup of the image, at the moment I have 7 images on the go (production style), the owls will be in shades of Brown or Grey. I have finsihed a couple and are really pleased with the results.  As soon as I have a picture of a finished card I will add it to my blog.

Merry Christmas :)

Merry Christmas to all who are reading this post.

In the 'T' household, DH is about to start cooking the Christmas Dinner - DH is so much better at cooking that I am LOL.

We have had a lazy day and even visited Lincoln Hospital at lunch time to deliver 2 tins of chocolate to the staff on duty at A&E as well as to the staff on the Surgical Emergency Assessment Unit.  We both wanted to say thank you & Merry Christmas to the staff who have looked after DH so well when he has visited both areas with his Kidneys stones.

It is at this time of year that my thoughts also turn to those people who do not have family or friends around them.  Christmas can be such a lonely & depressing time of the year. I also think about those families who are apart this Christmas - especially those in the Armed Services.  May your loved ones come home safe and sound and you get to celebrate a 'Un-Christmas' when you are all together.

I do hope that the Military Wives Choir is able to get the Christmas Number 1 as they are a truly inspirational group of women. Every time I hear the song it brings a tear to my eyes - it deserves to be Number 1.

Once again Merry Christmas & Best Wishes to all.

Christmas Tree Decorations

After the picture of the Christmas Tree this yesterday morning, this post contains pictures of some of the Decorations on our tree.

All of the decorations have memories attached, in previous years we have also added Gold baubles, but this year we decided to stick to a 'Memories Tree'.

So from the top...

Our Christmas Angel



In support of Help For Hero's we have our Christmas Airman



Felt Snowman made by me... the front pocket did contain chocolate money, but it never seemed to last very long



Under the Tree sits our Me-to-You Santa with his Sleigh & Reindeer

Decorations From Holidays Past...



Disney World, Florida 2004



Australia 2005








Nova Scotia, Canada 2006 (Did you honestly think we could have a Christmas Tree without Owls???)

 

Disney World, Florida 2010



Kennedy Space Center 2010



Venice, Italy 2011

The Best Thing About Christmas...

Getting up and going downstairs in the morning to be greeted with this sight...

Our tree is set with a timer to come on just before I head downstairs to make sandwiches/breakfast - I love the warm glow given of by the tree lights.

I will try to take some photo of the decorations during daylight.

Advent Calendar

As planned last night I went up into the attic and brought down all of the Christmas Decorations, including my Advent Calendar.

The calendar came from Denmark about 9-10 years ago, it was a fabric kit (with only Danish instructions - which were translated by my SiL) it was the first time I had really used my sewing machine.  This calendar has been used every year since.

Advent Calendar ready to receive chocolates...

Each of the pockets gets filled with 2 individual wrapped sweets, this year we have Celebrations :)

Every evening when DH & I are both home from work we each get a bit of chocolate - I think that it is the best time of the day.

Chocolates ready and waiting to be eaten...

WOYWW - but on a Thursday

Yesterday I took a picture of my workdesk, however was not able to get it uploaded to the computer & added to the blog.

Yesterday evening I started to make Tall Milk Cartons (made from 12x12 cardstock rather than A4 cardstock).  Each carton will hold a selection of travel sized toiletries as Christmas Presents.

Here is my first completed carton; it was decorated with Christmas paper from one of the Do-Craft paper stacks.

Christmas Envelope Book

Following the How To... create a Envelope Book I created I have now made a Christmas Envelope Book, this will be given in the place of a card... I just need to decide who to give it to :)

Front & Back pages

2nd & 3rd Pages

4th & 5th Pages

6th & 7th Pages

This book was created using 2 DL size envelopes, giving a mix of plain pages & pages with a 'Pocket'.  Over the next few months I hope to create more of these books.

LiM (1)

The Less is More challenge this week is a Sketch...

SKETCH

 

I found this sketch quite easy to work with & so far I have created 2 cards.

 

This is my first card, using a square of Christmas Paper mounted on white card.  I then took by 'Berry Red' ProMarker to 'ink' the edge of the white card.  Using the 'Berry Red' ProMarker I then coloured a Gold Peel Off to match the colours on the Christmas Paper.

 

Christmas Cards

Last week while DH was in hospital, I would get home each day and I needed to relax.  So I made a cup of tea and headed to my Craft Desk... I was amazed at the number of cards I created last week, so here are the Christmas Cards I created.

These 4 cards were created to a Sketch I saw on a Blog, 3 were created using just one peice of card stock cut into 3 sections, and the final 1 was created using a mix of 2 peices of card stock.  Each card then had a 'message' mounted using Pinflair.

At some point last year I brought a pack of 3 Christmas Decoupage papers for about 80p, now that I have found the answer for creating Decoupage (my fabulous Pinflair Gel) I made up the designs and added them to a card.  The tags came with the Decoupage papers and I added some co-ordinating ribbon.

Finally an Easel card, created from a 5x7inch card blank. Another simple but effective card.

Now DH is back home again, crafting time is limited to snatching a few minutes here and there.  However I have nearly finished my Stamp Catalogue and hope to bring some photos soon.

Christmas Easel Card

While hopping around various Blogs yesterday I found another challenge blog.

The 'Craft Us Crazy Challenge' has the challenge 'Anything Goes'

So here is my entry...

Based on a 5x7 Card, I used a selection of scraps & bits to create this Easel Card