Six on the 6th

I won't tell you how many days it is until Christmas... I'm trying not to think about it!  The only thing that I know for sure is definitely done though - the cards!  Thanks to the Six on 6th series at S J Crafts, I have a nice little stock of home made cards ready and waiting... Okay so they are not actually written or in the post as yet but they'll get there!

I was using the marvellous Elf Magic collection by Bo Bunny which at first sight is a very bright and child friendly range.  However there are some more muted and sophisticated designs in it to which makes it a great all rounder.

Here are my six for this month.
 

                    

                     
 
                     

The three on the left are simply one of the papers layered onto white card to create a great base on the card blank.  A stripe of coordinating paper and festive trim are then topped with a stamped image coloured with Promarkers.

The right hand side uses pre-made toppers and punched shapes on a design where the background papers are in thirds / two thirds and trimmed with silver or gold.

With great papers like this you don't need much on top so they came together really quickly.  Also the range of designs means you can get quite a different look each time.

I made a few more while I was at it because quite frankly I got carried away!

 How are you getting on with your cards?  If you've made any inspired by this series then don't forget to link up over at S J Crafts because you could be in with a change of winning a heap of stash.

I'm off shopping with my Dad today (wish me luck) and then I'll be cracking on with Journalling My Christmas.  Please leave a comment if you are documenting your December in any way and I'll be back next week with how I'm getting on with mine.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 233

My desk is messy this week!  And its no wonder because  things have been FRANTIC here.  I've given up with writing my NaNoWriMo for this November so lets just sweep that under the carpet for now.  We've been organising a cake and toy sale to raise money for the Phillipines (thank goodness our WOYWW friends Patsy and Peggy are okay) so that's set for later this afternoon.  Also my Dad had an accident with a bench saw and needs plastic surgery later in the week so we've been taking it in turns to look after him.  And I've also been making Christmas cards for 6 on the 6th at S J Crafts.  And I've been making festive soap for Christmas presents.  So I think I should be forgiven for the state of my workspace :-)

 I've had lots of parcels coming through the post because I've been busy doing Christmas shopping but I always have a little something in mind for myself and so back in the summer I pre-ordered the Christmas in a Box kit from Shimelle.  I am over the moon with it!  There is a set of Project Life stuff which I've never had before and some gorgeous papers so I am a happy girl, if I ever get time to use it!  

At the weekend (so the previous post) I shared details of my Festive Planner with a giveaway of a Christmas collection pack so please do have a look.

Is your desk tidy or messy?  Share pictures and link up with Julia for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Is there anything festive afoot in your part of the blogosphere?  I'm really getting in the spirit and loving it!

Bye for now
xx

6 on the 6th

Its my turn to share my cards for the 6 on the 6th series over at S J Crafts.  Sarah sent me part of the Simple Stories December Documented collection and there were some transparencies in there.  This gave me the idea to make some shaker cards.  I've never made one before and I made some huge mistakes but it was great fun using lots of glitter!

For some of the cards like this one, I used half of the unprinted transparency over the top of one of the cut-apart sheet cards.

In others, like this one, I layered a printed transparency over the top of a printed card.

I used some snowflake brads in silver and gold and in this one I used some smaller snowflake brads inside the aperture for added sparkle and interest.

I layered up the wonderful papers with some plain cardstock in some of the cards.  I also added some very old trim from my stash.  It felt wonderful to use sparkly bits as I don't normally do anything with sparkles or glitter!

It doesn't have to be a big shaker element to have an impact.  Here I used 2 different sized punches of the same shape to create a wreath effect over a circle sticker and layered up some more of the stickers on top of the printed card.

I think this one is my favourite with that gorgeous bow on the front.  I backed the aperture with a piece of white cardstock embossed with a swiss dot folder so that the statement remains clear.

Do you know that it is only 81 days till Christmas!  Time to get crafting people!  If you make 6 cards and link up to the 6 on the 6th series then you are in with a chance to win a prize.  You can enter as many times as you like to boost your chances and of course you have a wonderful head start on your card stash anyway so everyone's a winner!

What are you waiting for?  Go get that glitter!

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 226

It's all go here at Crazy Towers despite everyone thinking that I would have a lot more time in the day by now.  

I've been working on some Christmas cards for 6 on the 6th over at S J Crafts so you can see lots of Christmassy bits strewn across my table.  I'm not usually one for glitter but I was making shaker cards  and using gold and silver trims that I have been collecting over the years.  Most of them have come from Christmas crackers!  Am I the only one who collects "rubbish" to use in crafting?

You can see my new set of Promarkers there too.  Out of that Autumn and Winter 2013 set, only 2 had a problem so if you would to swap any existing colours from the normal range for any of these limited edition ones then please drop me a line.

Now I have to clear my desk and sort out a huge pile of family filing.  Bleurgh!

If you've got anything more interesting than filing on your desk then why not link up with this worldwide blog hop over at Julia's.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 224

My desk has been a hive of activity this week and it feels good!  I went to a crop on Saturday and worked on my Devon 2012 album notching up another few back to back pages.  On Monday I was all geared up to receive some Christmassy stash for 6 on 6th but it hasn't arrived (as of Tuesday night) so I seized the Christmas spirit anyway and started creating a Festive Planner.  I've made covers and dividers and I am just computing the inside pages so that I can make a start on organising this busy occasion.  With November set aside for NaNoWriMo and my OCD side telling me I have to be ready before December, this means I need to have all my Christmas presents bought and wrapped before the end of October!

I'm using the last few precious pages of My Mind's Eye "I Believe" from my Christmas Journal a couple of years ago.  My intention is that my planner can be refilled each year so I wanted to use really special papers on it that I will always love.  You can see some of the things I have been using to make it in the RUB at the top right.

I've set it aside for the moment while I work on a card for one of Louis's classmates.  I'm really enjoying playing with my Promarkers again and thanks to you lovely lot (and in particular Kate) I managed to purchase a few more (including the limited Edition Autumn and Winter collection) and they are on their way as we speak.  I hope the cheeky birthday chappy likes his cheeky monkey card.

Well that's all from me on this wet and windy "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday".  Don't forget to share your workspace too - because sharing is caring.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 223

Get set for a shocking pictre of my desk.  Not because it is messy, oh no, it is not for a change, but because I am still desperately waiting a replacement for my poorly camera lens.  Still stuck on full zoom and making life very difficult  to take pictures of anything bigger than 6 inches.  I took these shots by balancing the camera on my head to give it some stability and stop some of the blur (not wholly successful as you can see...) because of the DARKNESS so early in the day already!

I had a major tidy up on Saturday and put away loads and loads of things that were scattered across the floor and every other conceivable surface.  I thought it would help my extremely fragile mental health but I ended up spending all of Sunday in bed almost catatonic.  Actually getting on with some crafting has helped me though and I am gradually pulling out of it again. I think I was just exhausted by the constant battle against depression to be honest and all the things I have to do just to keep my head above water with it.

Anyhoo, this was part of my therapy...

....Stamping and colouring some Christmassy images for the 6 on the 6th series at S J Crafts.

Might have to have a little outing to get some more Promarkers this week.  I feel the need for some seasonal colours.  What colours wouldn't you be without at Christmas?

Of course I am sharing my studio / craft space / workroom / whatever as part of What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and you can join in easily too.  Might see you there :-)

Bye for now
xx

6 on the 6th (or the 9th..)

I might be catching up with my projects but things like cameras breaking and printers breaking and my head breaking are preventing me from feeling totally on top of things.  

I did manage to complete another set of 6 Christmas cards for the S J Crafts series (see the new button in the sidebar) which is now offering a lovely box of stash for one lucky participant.  Here is the photo of my six...

Yes.. I know... shocking.  I was standing up and holding the camera up over my head but this was the best I could do.  I took dozens of shots of them standing on the desk but that wasn't any better.  My new lens is going to cost me at least £80 and will be a few days before it arrives so this is it for now I'm afraid.

All 6 cards are the same design and the only difference is the background paper and the colour of the brads.  There are 2 with white based paper, 2 with green based and 2 with a metallic version of the green based.

I stamped and embossed the reindeer and mounted it onto some tartan type paper.  I still love watching the powder melt!

I cut 6 banners on my Silhouette and added them onto the background using foam pads.  I edged everything with Black Soot Distress Ink.

Each one has a brad from some very old stash and some Christmassy gold ribbon.

They didn't really turn out the way I had them in my head but I now have 12 cards ready to go and I have been using up some old stash along the way!  Everyone's a winner.

Bye for now
xx

Echo Park - Perfect Summer part 2

Back last week I showed a couple of sneaks of layouts I had made using the Echo Park Perfect Summer collection.  Here are those 2 layouts in full.

This first one details the character of Bella and how wise and wily she can be when she uses her personality.  I absolutely adored that air balloon paper.

I also really loved this wave patterned paper and the colours in the collection were perfect for Bella's dress in these pictures.  The postcard in the cut-apart sheet provides a great place for journalling with another one standing in for a title.

 The colours in this collection are so wonderfully bright that I couldn't stop using it and I wondered just how much I would be able to get out of it.  Check out the S J Crafts blog to see what other layouts I made, and I am still going!

Something very pink!

Everything went swimmingly on this layout.

Pockets of fun.

My favourite - stitching some sunshine.

Don't forget also that there is the 6 on the 6th series running on the blog there giving you lots of inspiration for Christmas cards.  There is also a prize available for people who link up their own Christmassy creations.

Bye for now
xx

Christmas in Summer...

Late or early?  You decide!  S J Crafts is running a Christmas card making event called 6 on the 6th to help us make a few cards a month and hopefully do away with that last minute panic.  Lets face it, the last thing we need in December is more panic right?!  

I'm very time poor at the moment so mine were fast and furious and all the same design.  I found these toppers in my Christmas stash from a few years ago and it was good to use up some older supplies.  They were just from a cut-apart sheet so I layered them onto red or green cardstock and then popped a ribbon or some Christmassy trim underneath.  They were then mounted on coordinating paper and then onto red or green card blanks.  

They won't be the best cards in my collection but I'm happy that I have made a start, albeit a little later than intended!

 I've also been working on some very summery layouts too using Echo Park's Perfect Summer collection.  Here's a sneak of the two layouts that appeared on the SJ Crafts blog today.

There are quite a few more to come from this collection because I wanted to make the most of using the bright colours in this wonderful weather.  Check back soon!

Bye for now
xx