Bear Tree

 

As I was trawling through the internet some time ago I came across a stamp company which was new to me! It's an American company called Trinity Stamps and I was enchanted by this cute image of a bear holding a branch in which a partridge was nestling!

I think he's adorable!

As you may see there is a matching die also available, which I availed myself of! It was a fun, easy image to colour, I used a variety of alcohol pens for this.

I guess it's not too early to start on next year's Christmas cards.

Christmas Kickstart -  Anything Christmassy

AAA Cards Made in minutes and Christmas

ABC Christmas Y Your Favourite things  (matching stamps and dies)

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes

 

Christmas Blessings

This is my first card for a challenge for quite some time. 

Having used all of the Christmas cards I had made throughout the year, I thought it appropriate to start on next year's batch!

It's a simple card, using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, CASology's SNOWMAN and the fact that it is Christmassy for Christmas Kickstart.

Today is my daughter's 40th birthday, I didn't know that I could possibly be old enough to have my baby reach this milestone. She is a wonderful person, a supermum, a hardworking executive, about to start a new job in a matter of days and the best daughter in the world. 

Happy birthday Libby!

Winter Blues

For this card I used a piece of navy card onto which I had heat embossed a snowflake design with white embossing powder. I cut the gnome's hat and clothes from this and added a white beard and white nose. I played with the idea of a blue nose and a patterned nose or even a red one but decided to keep it white, but it is stacked, so that it is slightly raised from the rest of the die cut pieces. The gnome is from SSS, the aperture tree die from Memory Box and I can't remember the make of the sentiment.

The theme at Christmas Craft Creations this time is Winter Blues... so I just went with the colour rather than any other interpretation!

I hope that everyone is staying safe, these are such difficult times, but hopefully the advent of the vaccine will gradually start to get things back to normal!

Take Care.

 

WOYWW 601

Last weekend, it was good to see the animated faces of the crafters who look in on Julia's WOYWW  blog hop each week.

This week I'm not sharing a desk but just a bunch of Christmas do dahs from my home!

The tree is now on its 45th Christmas. My husband arrived home with it on the top of the car when we lived in Alexandria, Virginia in 1976. It stayed with us there for three years and then came home to Hampshire, where we have lived ever since. I did have one emergency call when I was teaching back in the 1980's, from our cleaning lady who was worried to death as the top half of the tree had collapsed over onto the floor. The central support of the tree is made up of two poles, which fitted together with a tube a bit like a toilet roll middle but made from tough cardboard. Over the years this had deteriorated and unraveled, so I took a quick trip to the hardware store and was given a little aluminium tube which fitted perfectly and has been used ever since. This year I had to give a little first aid to the  sections of bark, made from plastic, which separate the roundels of branches, but it's good to go for a few more years. The real question is how much longer I'll be able to scramble up into the loft to get it out and away again each year.

Since retiring we have loved to travel and I like to try to bring home tree decorations from places we have visited. 

 

Snowshoes from Quebec City

Mask from Venice

Emu from Australia

Cotton Flower angel from Georgia

Eagle from Alaska

This is our Christmas Nativity from Germany. The heat from the lit candles causes the windmill blades to rotate, so the characters move around too!. The trick is angling the blades so that they actually go forwards rather than backwards! 

Today I'll leave you with another watercolour of yet another Jack Russell.

Take care and stay safe everyone!

 

Wheat

I don't remember where these ears of wheat dies were sourced and I don't think I've ever used them before, which is probably why they had lain almost forgotten in a storage box of dies.I cut them from some craft paper which was a pretty good colour but rather flimsy, so I cut a second set from plain white card and stuck one set on top of the other.To add a little life to them, I decided to play with a few Distress Oxide inks to take away the one dimensional look of the die cuts. I stamped the sentiment, from Hero Arts, with the same inks as I had used on the wheat, drying with my heat gun between each layer.

The distressed square panel was dry embossed with a Stampin Up folder.

CASology

Freshly Made Sketches

I took a little liberty with the sketch this time using the bunch of wheat to represent the smaller of the two squares in the sketch! I hope that is permitted.

 

Merry & Bright

This morning I joined a Zoom session of crafters from around the world, who all contribute to a weekly blog hop called WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday). Folks take a pic of their crafting space and share it for others to have a snoop around. In fact it was how  met Mandi, the lady I began the challenge Less is More with back in 2011. Julia, the host began it and 600 sessions later it's still going strongly!

Anyway whilst the session was live I made this card, using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

I do love a simple sketch to follow and this is lovely one! The gnome is from SSS, the sentiment from SU and the snow embossing folder from Sheena Douglass.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

April 2020 White  Red

There's to be another Zoom session in a couple of hours where I hope to be able to see a friend from the US, connections permitting!

Technology is great, a) when it's working and b) when you understand what on earth is going on!

Take care everyone!

WOYWW #600

Today is a very special WOYWW as it's the 600th occasion on which such desks have been shared. 

Congratulations to Julia, for  her idea, time and care taken in spreading comradeship throughout the world... and thank you!

Head over to the Stamping Ground otherwise known as WOYWW HQ to join in the celebrations!

Well done Julia and I hope you enjoy your surprises co-ordinated by the fabulous LLJ!

 

I have actually had a bit of a tidy up, which is a rare occurrence for me. I can actually see a bit of my glass mat!

Today you can see the Christmas cards I made for my husband (who is the chairman of our choir) to send to the Vice-Presidents of the society. These include, the Bishop of Portsmouth, the previous conductor Jonathan Willcocks and and long serving previous Chairman, who happens to be a woman. Every year I have made white on white cards and this is no exception.

You can see that my supply of Distress Oxide inks is gradually increasing. I stamp a little of each colour that I have onto a chart to use as reference for whenever I need to choose a shade for whatever project. There is also a new pack of dies which I have just bought. They are empty leaves from Sizzix and I think they are really fab!

I somehow managed to miss last week's WOYWW, I didn't actually remember until Thursday, but in these strange times it's difficult to remember what day it is sometimes! Some people asked to see some more of my attempts at watercolours, well here is a salmon I did on my cruise From Japan to Canada.

At least it looks like a fish!

Well have a good day everyone and once more many thanks to Julia!