Christmas Mice Card.

I had a little sort of my stamp drawers and found  this set of stamps.
I bought these gorgeous  mouse stamps many years ago and have never got round to using them. I think they are from craft companions but I can't remember what the set was called.
There was also a CD or DVD that you could purchase to go with them. If I recall the CD had scenes on that you could print off to use as backgrounds for these mice. Yep!  I bought that too.

Here are two tunnel cards I have created over the last couple of nights that I have been unable to sleep.


The tunnel  is created by scoring and folding  every 1/2 inch on the side panels  (3 of navy top and sides and one white the base)  to form a concertina and then interlocked the sides with the ends.

Once the concertina frame was formed I sponged some whisper white card stock ( the same size as the overall frame)  with daffodil delight ink  in the area I thought the lantern would hang.  (This will be the background.)

Then I sponged the surrounding area  with night of navy ink,  slightly overlapping the yellow. But not too much as I didn't want to turn the yellow green.
Once happy with the effect I stamped the large group of trees from the " Lovely as a tree" (stamp set from Stampin Up) in black ink and then again in white ink, almost directly over the black image to give the trees a frosted look. I then cut a frame and stamped it with white snow flakes from the serene snowflake stamp set again from S.U but  it is now retired.



For the larger card I took a different tack and cut a piece of navy card ( the same size as the overall frame)  and stamped snowflakes with white craft  ink then mounted the frame onto the background.

I cut some snow drifts in differing depths and slotted them in  between the ridges of the concertinaed base.

The Mouse family were stamped, then coloured in with markers and then cut out.
 I left a white tab about 1 cm square at the foot of each mouse for glue. I placed a small amount of glue on the front of the tabs and positioned the the characters tabs behind the snow drifts making sure the feet were in line with the top of the snow drift    they were standing on. Without this tab you would have to glue the the back of the shoes and stick them to the front of the drift. As the shoes are so tiny they may not support the characters as well as the larger gluing area of the tab.                                    

The lamp post also came with the mice and I made use of it in the larger card. But it was too tall for the smaller square card.

I made a navy frame and stamped it with snowflakes  in white ink. While the white ink was drying I cut a sheet of sheet of acetate the same size as the overall frame and stamped white snowflakes over the top half of the acetate using white Stazon ink. (As it will not rub off or smudge once it is dry.)
The acetate was then stuck over the aperture of the card and the snowflake frame stuck on top.
I guess with this one I could have added some glitter and turned it into a shaker card. But I thought it may have been a little too much.
When complete I made a book style cover for the framed scene to go in . No photo Because I haven't decorated it yet.

Sharon's Christmas card and gift

This card was sent to me by my lovely friend and guest artist Sharon.

Here Sharon has used the lovely as a tree stamp set to create this gorgeous card.   I love the circle accent  she has created by stamping a second image, punching it out, inking the edges and sticking it over the first image she stamped using sticky foam pads and carefully matching up the designs.

A very effective card yet very easy to do.

Thank you Sharon I will be having a go at this one in the near future.

The second gift I received from Sharon was this cute sweetie holder.  Here Sharon has topped off the bag with a cute punch art Santa.

 I have to say  when this arrived I had to text Sharon and ask where she got the narrow bags from.....I was very surprised when she text back and said they're in the stampin up catalogue.

I hadn't noticed them in there, so guess what's going on my next order.

Sharon sent me a third item but  when I photographed it I hadn't noticed a piece of sticky tape that had stuck to the bottom and was poking out a little making it look a bit odd so I will re photograph that and post later.

Three to share today.

Today I have been sat at home with big box of tissues and a large portion of self pity.It seems I have contracted a stinking cold and don't seem to be functioning properly, everything I touch or go near seems to turns to dust or falls over, so I have given up on the day, I am just going to share three cards with you then I am off to bed. Hopefully I won't blow up the computer before I get there.

The first card I want to share with you was made for me by my friend Sharon for Christmas.

It is gorgeous and it took pride of place in my lounge over the festive season. I love it. Thank You Sharon.

Sharon has used the Vintage wallpaper embossing folder from S.U, the Welcome Christmas and lovely as a tree stamp set.

The second card I want to share is this one using the pattern piece stamp and another sewing themed stamp set from SU, which has been discontinued, so I guess it doesn't matter that I can't remember what it's called.

I love these stamp sets, but not many people I know sew, so they won't get used very often.

I stamped the pattern pieces stamp onto tissue paper twice and stuck one onto some patterned paper and cut out some of the pieces.

The second, I stuck onto some white card and trimmed round the edges and mounted onto melon mambo card before layering everything up and sticking down.

And Finally,... as they say on the NEWS programmes my last card for today is using the pattern pieces stamp and the same set I can't remember the name of.

I used Cherry Cobbler card for the base and a small piece of yellow polka dot paper scrap of red, black and white card plus a small red button to finish.

Hope you like them.

Christmas card

Marina mist ink and card again, I do love this colour.

I used stampin up's "lovely as a tree" stamp set, daubers, "serene snowflakes" stamp set and the deer from the "winterpost " stamp set.

Another one from my afternoon cardmaking with my sister. Using Lovely as a tree stamp set, soft suede and close to cocoa ink.

I have made this one again since but this time I only used chocolate chip ink and grosgrain instead of the ribbon.

Tudor House Gift Box

The start of the gift box Cutting out the windows and adding the window scenes.

Ok here it is the gift box I designed and made for Sue who retired this week after more than 30 years at our school. As she is a lover of Doll's houses it seemed appropriate to make the gift box with that theme.

I have spent every afternoon for the last two to three weeks working on this secretly in school and almost jumping out of my skin every time somebody came to my door just in case it was Sue. It was her on one occasion, but I managed to head her off at the pass, so to speak.

I stamped the lovely as a tree stamp on the acetate windows using Black stazon ink and white craft ink on the black card for the moon and the mist reflections. I sandwiched some lace between the black card and the acetate with double sided tape.

The hanging baskets where made from pulp paper balls that I cut in half and using a hot glue gun I added three lengths of chain from a broken necklace. I glued and poked some purchased flowers into the balls punched some fern leaves glued them to wire and poked them into the balls. I filled in all the gaps in between with glue and flower soft.

After papering the outside of the box with brick effect paper I glued strips of balsa wood and grey card which I had painted dark brown onto the outside of the box.

The wall plaque was made from air dry modelling clay for the centre I used a mould and the lettering was done using an alphabet set of rubber stamps.

Most of the flowers in the Garden are made from flower soft on wire but for the bushes I used some grass darts which I spotted on my way back to school after lunch. So I picked them and brushed the wispy strands with PVA glue and sprinkled them with flower soft.

I used peel off s for the door hinges, coloured black with a permanent marker pen. The door handle is a black brad the key was a charm, which I used a black marker pen on then coated in PVA.

The grass is the fibre stuff used by model railway enthusiasts, you sprinkle it on to a surface that has been coated with PVA. Rather like applying glitter really.

I painted the inside lilac and stamped the inside with Stampin up's white craft ink using the Vintage Vogue stamp set. The ink took days to dry which was a little unexpected and disappointing.

The Gifts were placed inside the the house through the roof.

The back of the roof lifted to reveal all the gifts.

Sue loved it.