Dancing On Ice

First, I wanted to say a big hello to all my new followers. It's always lovely to see new faces coming to view my blog and I really hope that I'll be able to inspire you all and that you love what you see, just as much as I love making them!!

So, for today's share...we're going Christmassy. As some of you know, I love this time of year and the thought of Christmas coming is always such a joy. For me, it's the preparation that excites me...choosing or making gifts to give to friends and loved ones, cooking the Christmas fare and stirring the Christmas cake mixture and finally, decorating the house and putting up the tree. I'm one of those people who always finds this a pleasure, never a chore!!

And this card and image from Lili of the Valley, is perfect to capture one of those moments...the little girl, dressed up all warm and cosy and coming home with her shopping, full of surprises for Christmas Day.

I used matts and layers of Bazzill card, which I punched using the Martha Stewart holly border punch, and backing papers from Dovecraft and these work so well, with the image, which once again I stamped with a Memento ink pad and then coloured in using Promarkers. For a twinkly effect and to give some texture to the flat image, I used Stickles glitter glue on the fur on her clothing, which looks stunning. As finishing touches, I used these beautiful mulberry paper poinsettias from Wild Orchid Crafts, some organza ribbon tied into a bow and a "Merry Christmas" greetings plaque.

Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful Thursday and that you're experiencing some of this lovely sunshine we're having in London at the moment. I'm off to work on some more Halloween goodies to share with you all!!

Take care, love Emma

xx

T'was The Night Before Christmas

So far, this week...has been one of those weeks and I actually feel like I'm living a scene from Groundhog Day but...as I always say ~ tomorrow is another day!! And even though the next couple of days are going to be manic due to some building work that is going to start in the house...I know that things WILL get better...it always does!!! :)

But there is one thing that went right and I'm sharing it with you today....hope you like it!

As soon as I completed this card, it just made me feel so Christmassy and I wished it was Christmas Eve already...mulled wine, mince pies and a roaring fire were the things that instantly sprung to mind. Together with scented candles burning and the Christmas stockings hanging on the mantlepiece, waiting to be filled with gifts.... If you hadn't noticed by now...yep, I love Christmas!!

So, how did I make this card? The first thing that I did was use one of Tim Holtz's ~ On The Edge dies from Sizzix and die cut the edge of a square card blank to give the ornamental border, which I then aged with Distress Inks. The stamp is from a kit that I purchased from QVC, a couple of years ago and I just think it is such a beautiful image and perfect for this style of card. I stamped it onto plain cardstock which, once again I coloured with Distress Inks. The papers are from Dovecraft and I punched them with Martha Stewart's holly border punch, then matted and layered them onto my card. The flowers and leaves are die cut using a Spellbinders Die and have a card candy centre in each. As a final touch...I added one of Tim's adage tickets....

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

Emma

xx

In the Pink

Well, I did tell you just how much I loved Sugar Nellie stamps and I was really pleased with all the stamps that I purchased from Funky Kits earlier this month and I'll definitely be going back for some more...how can I resist when they do such adorable designs. But out of all the stamps I did buy in January, I think I saved the best until last...and isn't it just perfect for this time of year?

These stamps give such crisp, clean images and are a pleasure to work with... Here, I stamped the image using a black Versafine ink pad and then coloured it in with Promarker Pens. I matted and layered the image onto co-ordinating papers in pink and brown and used some Distress Inks around the edge. The cardstock that I used is a normal square 15cm white card but using my rotary trimmer and a scalloped blade, I sliced some of the front of the card off and then just ran my ink pad around the edge of the card with some more Distress Ink. I covered the front and also, a section of the inside of the with some beautiful Kate Knight backing papers from Dovecraft and once that is done, stuck my matted image onto the front, slightly overhanging the cut edge. I added a final touch of pink satin ribbon, a bow, a greetings plaque and last but not least, a cute little heart shaped button.

May all your wishes come true...

Fairies and Art Deco ~ two things that I absolutely love. And this card, combines both those, with a dark black, magical silhouette of a stunning fairy image and the muted, elegant colours. It just feels very reminiscent of that magnificent and glorious period in time.

Once again, I used a "fancy fold" to make a normal A5 card into an easel card. I'm loving the look of easel cards and they really do make a card look just that little bit different.

The main image of the card was first handstamped using a Versamark Dew Drop Ink pad in Pearlescent Olive and Anna Griffin's rose background stamp. Then using Stamptivity's beautiful, Silhouette Fairy Stamps, I stamped with an Archival Ink in black and overlaid that image, onto the background. This was  then matted and layered onto a piece of black card, which I cut using fancy edged scissors to give a decorative edge and then matted onto a layer of gold mirri card.

On the background of the card, I used the wonderful backing papers from Dovecraft's Fantasy collection, which I made sure matched up on the top and bottom of the card to give a continued, flowing look to the design. As a final touch, I added a greeting plaque and some adhesive gems for that bit of sparkle that we all love.

Walking in the air...

For me, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Raymond Briggs' and The Snowman. Such an amazing piece of animation and wonderful illustrations, that were so simple but so very effective. Of course, when you think of The Snowman, the one thing that I think everyone remembers, is that famous song. I wonder, on how many occasions have you probably looked at the illustrations and caught yourself singing the tune? Me? I'm definitely guilty of this ~ many, many times....

These cards were made using textured papers and decoupage of some of the beautiful illustrations from Raymond Briggs' book. The main focal point of the card is a decoupaged image of "Stylish Snowman", all dressed up in his hat, scarf, trousers and braces. Each layer is individually built up using foam pads, to give depth to the image. I then cut out individual scenes, telling the story of James building his snowman and stuck those around the main decoupaged image. The finishing touch was a ribbon run down the side of the card and two small buttons attached with small off-cuts of ribbon, threaded through.