My Top 5 cards 0f 2011

 I posted my cards of 2011 by month yesterday, but today I am posting my favourite 5 cards ... you probably can believe how hard it is to choose so few favourites!

 If I was ever pushed into only picking 1 favourite stamp, it would beSugar Nellie's  Amelia ... I just love her.  I teamed her up here with Prima papers and use a mosiac technique ... loved the effect and will definitely repeat it.

 I LOVE these papers, they are my colours.  The image is one of Krista's digis, I just love her artwork.

 Those papers again!!! This time teamed with another Sugar Nellie, Hazel, she is absolutely adorable.

 Oh .. another Sugar nellie!!!  I do like arty stamps and the Leanne Ellis range are great for arty stamps.  This is Be One Traveller, and the papers are SU.

 Finally something a bit more vintagey, and my favourite colour combinations, blue and brown.  The stamp is a big Hero Arts stamp.

New Home

Its the last Sweet Stampin' challenge of 2011 and this week our challenge is "new beginnings" now that can be a new baby, new home, a wedding etc, just remember to include something stamped.

Our sponsor this week is the lovely Angela from Angel Crafts

Angela is giving one lucky winner a beautiful embellishment pack as the prize...these are lovely. you can check them out here and see what other goodies Angela has on offer, there's a fabby sale!!

I made this card for a friend who has recently moved house.  I used a house set from Waltzing Mouse stamps, love this set, but haven't used it yet ... quite new stash!!  I stamped the porch and popped it up onto 3d pads to give it a bit of depth.  Both the house and porch were stamped onto Bo Bunny papers and I added a bit of pencil to add some colour.  The house was cut out and layered upto Bo Bunny papers.  Finally some brads ... very simple really.

Challenges:

The Secret Crafter - anything goes
Delicious Doodles - anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop - anything goes
Scrapbook sisters - anything goes
Aud's Sentiments - anything goes
Bearly Mine - anything goes

For Fun - New

Allsorts - New Beginnings

2011 in cards

 I have been looking through my cards from 2011 finding my top 5 for Debby's top 5 starting tomorrow.  So I thought I would share 2011 in months ... favourite card for each month (or favourites!!!) ... I have tried not to be too Sugar based!!

 January

 February

 March

 April

 May

 June

 July

August

September

October

 November

 December

I'll be back tomorrow with my Sweet Stampin card and my top 5 cards of 2011 ... not shown them here!!!

A quickie ...

To be honest I have had the flower panel made for a while, just not found the time to do something with it!!

I found this painting on metal foil technique whilst doing Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas ... and did it scare me!!!  However I made a tag using the technique and at the same time embossed this panel.  I finally got round to finishing it off last week ... painting the details, distressing and embossing it.  Today i finally got round to putting it onto a card.  I do like the effect of the vintage photo embossed over the paint ... will be having another go at this technique.

Challenge -
The Stampman -use a technique you've not used before

A couple of tags ...

 I've missed my craft room!!  So i have been playing this morning, and made a tag ... but before i show you that I haven't blogged My 12th tags of Christmas.
 Here is T!m's ...

 And my take on it ...

 I did quite alot of adapting as I don't have the tissue paper (yet!!) . I stamped on the tag and them covered it with decopatch paper.  The tissue flower is made using 7 Gypsies Tissue paper, and I used rosettes and shrinkie plastic holly leaves rather than the doll (not my thing, the doll!).

Challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show - show a Tim Holtz themed tag

And here is this morning's creation ...

 To be honest I got a couple of sets of Tim Holtz's tissue tape a while back and have been stumped as to what to do with them, apart from use them instead of ribbon.  When I planned this tag i had the idea to use french print as the background .. the tape was perfect for this! I covered the tag in TH tissue tape (see pic below) and then distressed it using tea dye, vintage photo and walnut stain DIs.  I stamped stamps from Tim Holtz stamp sets onto card and then distressed them using vintage photo and broken china DIs.  Everything got the distressing tool treatment too!!The rosette is made by putting tissue tape onto tissue paper, distreesing it with Victorian velvet DI and then running it through the rosette die.  i haven't made a rosette flower using this media before, and had reservations ... but it worked!!
Finally I assesmbled the tag, and then stamped the sentiment directly onto the tag. 

 Challenges:
 Crafts and Me - anything Goes
Creative Inspiration - anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Grungy Monday - get out the tissues (sponsored by Simon Says Stamp)
Charisma Cardz - anything goes
Dutchdare Card Challenge - favourite things (Tim Holtz, distress inks)

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday

I have lost all sense of time!!  We have spent Christmas ensconsed in my parent's lovely warm cottage in the Lake District.  The weather has been foul so we haven't ventured out much ... no crafting but a book and a half demolished!! 

So it is Wednesday and we are back home this evening ... and I am about to do my Wednesday ritual ... blog hop my way across the crafting blogs of blog land, led by the fabulous Julia.
And here is my desk ...

Not really much ... my ipad on the page I am reading, T!m's compendium ... going to revisit some techniques this holiday before his new one comes out!!!  Rest of it is very tidy, as I left it on Christmas Eve.  I am not working until nest Tuesday so lots of crafting time planned :)))
 

My Christmas presents

I hope you all had a fab Christmas and the big man in ref bought you what you wanted.I was really lucky to get some stamps for Christmas ... Finally topped up my TH stamp sets and collected a couple more SU sets thanks to my lovely hubby, mum and my fab SU mama Susan xx

I also got Tim's Compendium of Curiosities so while we are in a very wet and windy Lake District I have something to read. Good job really as the Internet connection here is rubbish at the mo (I am sat at the top of Mum's road just to get a signal on my phone!!!).
So here are my stamps ...


I am off back down the lane for a cup of coffee and a dry off!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Pikestone Ln,,United Kingdom

My 5 favourite Christmas cards of 2011

I am posting this using my iPad ...and am in HTML mode so totally clueless, hopefully it will work!! These are my favourite makes from this year's Christmas cards.

For this one I used distress inks and masked the flourish text stamp, before stamping over it with a script stamp inked with bleach. Love the effect the bleach creates.

I love this collage Father Christmas and these bo bunny papers ... Gives a great vintage feel.

Another vintage card , this time using WMS holiday ornament stamps.

I love sepia and CAS ... Together they make great cards!

Aww and these penguins from Sugar Nellie are just adorable ... Definitely my favourite new Christmas stamp.

Something different

I thought I would do something different and alter another soup tin ...

 I used kraft coredinations cardstock and embossided and distressed it.  The flowers are cut out of linien using TH's tattered flower die, and then misted with Tattered Angels chalkboard and glimmer mist sprays.  I also treated the cardstock to some tattered rose glimmer mist.  Once the flowers were dry I added some glimmer glam and a pearl brad.  The lace was distressed using distress inks and the buckle added.  Finally a couple of grungeboard TH die cut butterflies, coated in silver acrylic paint and then dried with the heat gun so the paint bobbled.

 I am gonig ot take a wee break from blogging over the festive period ... so have a Merry Christmas everyone.

 Challenges:
Craft you Passion - things with wings
Stamps&fun=creativity - favourite material
My Mum's Craft Shop - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - bingo (glittter/sparkle/ fabric, brads)
Everybody Art Challenge - anything goes
Anything Goes - anything but a card
Dutch Dare Card Challenge - make it shimmer
Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes
Fabulous Friday - fabric
Stampin for the Weekend - anything Goes

WOYWW

 Well it is Wednesday and I usually love Wednesdays as it is mid-week ... almost weekend.  BUT I have had this cold, not quite flu thing for over a week now and am really fed up. I have hardly crafted for a week and not blogged much ... feeling pants :(
So it is Wednesday, time to share my desk courtesy of the wonderful Julia ...

 I have a cheap messy mat (stolen from my Mum!!!) and here are the masking tries  from the last few days ... not really creating, just playing with masks and sprays and inks.  I tried masking over alcohol inks and spraying with blending solution .... interesting, and needs more work!!! And a couple of tags in the background that i have inked and debossed and embossed (LOVE this technique from TH!!).

I only have today and tomorrow to work .. .girls and child minded children's school Carol service this morning, and tonight we have carols round the tree on our local green .. tomorrow is my last day of working for 10 days .. I cannot wait ... love the children, just need a bit of a break from 10 of them!!!!!

 So

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 

everyone xx

I am looking forward to rest, inky fingers and some blog catching up over the holiday :))))