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We are home from a terrific cruise from Japan to Vancouver, via Alaska, on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth.

Needless to say I did not do any card making in that time, however I did attend some water colour classes on board. Cunard has run a watercolour class on each of the voyages I have done with them. It's a great way to spend time on sea days and this time the teacher was simply terrific! I learned a lot about techniques and  colour mixing so I thought I would share a few of my efforts with you instead of cards.

This kimono was from the first class, however it was my second attempt at it. The first one didn't quite work out as planned! It was great fun watching the paint do its 'thing'!

This was from a later class... the images were all drawn as well as painted (although I was copying images).

I'm not quite sure if this is a trout or a salmon. but I was quite pleased with the colouring...again it was a second attempt, the first was rubbish. However one does learn from one's mistakes!!

This one was begun on the ship and finished at home... I think I need some lessons on how to paint feathers!

However I really enjoyed working with the watercolours and think I'll have to try a little more at home!

Circles... well just one!

For the Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this month, the optional twist is to have circles somewhere or other!

I cut a circle from my front panel and looked through my stash of left over  backgrounds for something to put behind it. I came across this scrap of smooshed background which was just about large enough to put behind the aperture and the die cut trees. I played around with the die cut hillside of trees to see which part would look best in the space!

I decided on Gold for the sentiment to reflect a little of the gold glimmer in the background smooshing.

As always, I manipulated the front panel die by extending the cut a little in order to fit British card dimensions!  It's from a Simon Says Stamp double stitched rectangle set!

I love making Christmas cards year round as it's always great by December to have plenty of cards at hand.  I'm always amazed by how many designs I've forgotten about and  that's always a nice surprise!

Sentiment Only

The theme for the CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this month is to simply have a sentiment with no other image!

I went for a bold look with a black card base and a gold die cut sentiment from Memory Box. I toyed with the idea of putting a smooshed background behind the circle but then thought that a few tiny stars might just do the job instead!

I think that this might be a design suitable for a chap!

Do join us with your CAS design!