What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ~ 286

Wednesday again, and a short week for me this week as I’ll be off work Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.  With a bit of luck I’ll have some time to visit more of you this week.

On to my desk, in the throes of Christmas on Sunday.

I blogged about the cards that are there on Tuesday of this week.  I had quite a lot going on when I snapped the pic, lots of small packets of bought embellishments are on the desk, what with all the dies and cool supplies we have now I don’t find I use them very much these days.  The light was very bad the whole weekend as we had a big warm up, from -12C to +12C in two days and we had a lot of rain too.  Back to cold again now and our snow either melted or was washed away with the rain!  More where that come from no doubt!

Last Friday a bunch of us from the IT Dept at work went to a local senior centre where we served their Thanksgiving Lunch.  Some other colleagues had been at the centre all Thursday afternoon and prepared and cooked the meal.  I was in charge of helping out three tables of seniors with food (if they couldn’t get to the buffet line themselves), coffee/tea, water, pie and clearing dishes etc.  There were 18 tables in total.  It was a lot of fun but those old peeps ran me ragged for 2 hours, although I did get some hugs at the end!  When we all got back to work, Toyota provided lunch for us as it was also our free Thanksgiving lunch at work and we were missing it by volunteering, but our lovely HR girls made sure we got our turkey lunch too.  It’s something I’m looking forward to doing again next year, both the volunteering and the eating lol!  I’m on the right in the pic, with my arms folded

Off you (turkey) trot!   Many more desks to be viewed over at Julias!

Sarn’s Final Rudolph Day

Yes it is, but fear not, the lovely Scrappy Mo will be taking over next year for we can keep making our Christmas cards and keep playing along each month.  We have to make two cards each month, so I’m setting the bar high for this final challenge with Sarn as I made more than two… just!

 

Have a look at this lot, lol! Just call me Miss Over-Achiever 2014!

 

Simple cards made with a large Hero Arts script cling stamp, stamped in Distress Inks in Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough, covered with Versmark ink and heat embossed with Holographic embossing powder and then cut into four pieces.

Each piece was backed with coordinating card that had been edge punched in a festive theme and popped on to a small size card blank.  Like many folks I have lots of little bought embellishments that I rarely touch these days, what with the advent of all the wonderful dies and things, so I took the opportunity to use a few of them up.

I repeated the set using small kraft card blanks this time and I’m really happy how they came out.  They were made over a couple of weekends, with the stamping and embossing done last weekend and the putting together done this weekend, but overall they didn’t take long to make.

 

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blanks from Michaels (kraft) & The Paper Studio (White) ~ Various red scraps from unknown sources ~ Scraps of greeny and bluey shades of Bazill card
• Stamps: Hero Arts Be Jolly cling
• Ink: Distress Ink Festive Berries & Evergreen Bough ~ Versamark Embossing Ink
• Embellies: Tim Holtz Holographic Embossing Powder ~ Prima & Hero Arts Poinsettias ~ Jolee’s Boutique Snowflakes & Christmas Tree ~ Recollections Epoxy Snowflakes.
• Tools: Heat Gun ~ EKSuccess & Martha Stewart Punches

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Challenges:

Rudolph Day ~ Make More Than One Christmas Card

Sister Act Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Extra Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Completely Christmas ~ Anything Goes w/Embossing

Crafty Catz ~ Winter

Pixies Snippets Workshop ~ Use Up Your Scraps (the red card and some of the greeny card)

Less Is More ~ Jingle All The Way

Collecting The Tree

I do love Penny Black stamps, they bring a smile to my face each time I pull one out to colour in and they will never get old either, they’re stamps that I come back to again and again.  I haven’t used them a great deal this year though, so yesterday, late in the afternoon, I pulled out a couple of clear sets, stamped a few images and started to colour them in.  This is how the first one turned out.

I have a new laptop and it’s Windows 8.1, the new Photo Editor sw that comes with Office seems to be over-saturating some of my photos.  I’m sure it’s just because all of the settings have changed and I have to find my level again.  These are all what the auto adjust did to the pics.  Do you think they look over-saturated or do you think they look OK?  I know everyone’s monitors are different so you may all see different things anyway!

So, on to the card. The little hedgie is from the clear set The Wonder and I coloured him with Prisma pencils and a little Crystal and Yellow Stickles.  The star also has Glossy Accents on it, after the Stickles dried.  It was cut out with a Go Kreate die and edged with Antique Linen Distress Ink whilst it was still in the die.

The papers are all from Memory Box, the little strips were scraps and they were all edged with Walnut Stain DI.  The tree dies are Marianne and they were also edged with Walnut Stain ink as well as being stamped with an Inkadinkado script stamp and Antique Linen ink.  The Snowflake Corner die and the brand new Joy script die are both Memory Box, and the little Poinsettia die is from Memory Box’s sister company, Poppy Stamps.  I used vellum and spotty paper to cut it out and added a little gold gem.

The LO is based on the current sketch at Friday Sketch Challenge.

Card Recipe:

• Card:Kraft Blank from Michaels, cut down slightly ~ GinaK Pure Luxury White
• DP: Memory Box ~ Papermania (red spotty and red vellum)
• Stamps: Penny Black The Wonder clear set ~ Inkadinkado Script
• Ink: ColorBox Wicked Black ~ Distress Ink Walnut Stain and Antique Linen
• Embellies: Yellow and Crystal Stickles ~ Glossy Accents ~ Gold Gem ~ Prisma Pencils
• Tools: Go Kreate Die ~ Marianne Tree Die ~ Memory Box Snowflake Corner and Joy Script Dies ~ Poppy Stamps Small Blooming Poinsettia Die

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Challenges:

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Challenge ~ Getting Ready For Christmas (Collecting The Tree)

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Extra Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Hazel’s Patterned Paper  Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Friday Sketch Challenge ~ Current Sketch

Sister Act Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long ~ Anything Goes

Pixies Snippets Playground ~ Use Up Your Scraps (Memory Box scraps, red, kraft and green card scraps)

Addicted To Stamps And More ~ Make Your Mark

Weekly Christmas Card Challenges ~ Photo Inspiration

Bunny Zoe’s November Challenge  ~ Snow

Merry And Very Bright

Hello all, back again with another Christmas card to share, a quick make this time, so I’ll be quick in telling you about it.  I used the sketch at Sketch Saturday, the colour combo is from Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and the image/sentiment is inspired by the lovely girls at Winter Wonderland.  That lot all conspired to make this!

The large sentiment is from a Recollections clear set and it was stamped in Brilliance Ivy Pearlescent then covered with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Tim Holtz embossing powder.  That powder has really been my “thing” this year!  It was mounted on to green card that had been put through a Fiskars crimping tool.

The kraft card was also crimped and then swiped with a white ink pad.  The pink card was embossed with two different Cuttlebug embossing folders and the third piece used a Darice embossing folder.  The only “embellishment” is the Memory Box Corner Bow dies which was cut from the green cardstock that the large sentiment panel was matted on to.

Very simple indeed compared to yesterdays card and another flat one for the Christmas card box, it’s only 30 days away peeps!  Scary huh!

 

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank from Michaels ~ The Paper Company Pink, Green & Kraft ~ GinaK Pure Luxury White
• Stamp: Recollections (they don’t name their stamp sets)
• Ink: Brilliance Ivy Pearlescent ~ Versamark Embossing Ink
• Embellies: Tim Holtz Holographic Powder
• Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Memory Box Corner Bow Die ~ Heat Gun

 

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Challenges:

Holly Jolly ~ Colour Choice (Pink, Green, Kraft, White)

Sketch Saturday ~ Current Sketch

Pixies Snippets Workshop ~ Use Up Your Scraps (It’s all scrap bits)

Allsorts Challenge ~ No Design Paper

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Extra ~ Anything Goes

Christmas Cards All Year Long ~ No Patterned Paper

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland ~ Let’s Get Sentimental

Completely Christmas ~ Anything goes with Embossing

Dreaming Of A Cute White Christmas

It’s House Mouse.  How could it not be cute!

I received a little package in the post this week from the wonderful people at 1-2-3 Stitch out in Utah with some new goodies that I’d purchased.  One was the cute House Mouse stamp that you see used here, and the second thing was the fabulous Memory Box New Castle die that I also used on this card.  I won’t be pressed to admit if anything else was in the parcel though!!!

I did tell you it was cute, did I not?  And I’ve got a few pics to share cause I like it so much.

 

 

 

The image is called Bootie Babies and I coloured it up with Prisma pencils and a bit of Frosted Lace Stickles.  I think it’s a fantastic image that could be used for a number of occasions including Christmas, new baby, engagement or wedding.  Of course, I bought it with Christmas in mind!  The image was cut out with a Spellbinder’s Scalloped Oval die, threaded with thin white ribbon and embellished further with little drops of Liquid Pearls.

The card has no DP’s, only white cardstock which was embossed with a large holly leaves embossing folder from Cuttlebug and two smaller pieces were embossed with a Darice Snowflake folder.  The edges were all dipped in Versamark ink and embossed with Tim Holtz Holographic powder.  I covered a couple of small white card scraps with the Holographic embossing powder and then cut out the Memory Box snowflake and the EKSuccess corner pieces from that.

 

Here are a couple of close ups of the snowflake, above, and the bow I tied (with the Bow Easy, I’m not that good lol!), below.  I also added a Stickled single white rose form WOC to finish it off.

 

 

As a final touch, I added some sparkly clear gems.  And I almost forgot to say, the sentiment is from a free set from a UK card magazine.

 

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank from Michaels ~ GinaK Pure Luxury White
• Stamps: Stampendous Cling House Mouse Bootie Babies ~ Unknown set from UK card magazine (sentiment)
• Ink: ColorBox Wicked Black ~ Versamark
• Embellies: Prisma Pencils ~ Tim Holtz Holographic EP ~ White ribbon from stash ~ Stickles Frosted Lace ~ Gems from Michaels ~ Wild Orchid Crafts rose ~ Perfect Pearls in Pearl
• Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Embossing folders from Darice & Cuttlebug ~ Spellbinders Scalloped Oval Die ~ Memory Box New Castle Snowflake Die ~ EKSuccess Punch ~ Heat Gun

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Challenges:

ABC Christmas ~ W for White (if the coloured image is too much, please disregard)

Allsorts ~ No Design Paper

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Extra ~ Anything Goes

Buckwell’s Crafty Challenge ~ Use Ribbon

Sketch & Stash ~ Current Sketch (plus new stamps and snowflake die)

Pixie’s Snippets Playground ~ Use Up Your Scraps (stamping card and two small embossed pieces)

Christmas Cards All Year Long ~ No Patterned Paper

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge ~ Sparkle

Papertake Weekly ~ Girlie (Lots of sparkle!)

Gruffies & Guests ~ Anything Goes w/the option of Christmas

 Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland ~ Add A Sentiment

Penny Black and More ~ Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Stampendous Challenge ~ So Thankful (As a non US citizen living over 3700 miles away from my home and family, I’m truly thankful for the good friends we’ve made in the USA and the wonderful bloggy buddies who visit me frequently.  I’m also ever so grateful that I don’t live in Buffalo!!!!!)

Time Out Challenges ~ Embossing with the twist of Sparkle

Completely Christmas ~ Anything Goes with some Embossing

Uniko Design Studio Challenge ~ Christmas Anything Goes

Stamp And Create ~ Ribbon or Bows

Bunny Zoe’s November Challenge ~ Snow

Simply Create Too ~ Snow, Snow, Snow or All White

Meet The Parents

You met the Punchlings on Sunday, now you can meet their parents.  This is the second card I made using punched paper circles to make 3D ornaments, this one uses a 2″ punch.  It doesn’t sound much bigger than the 1″ I made the punchlings with but the results are quite surprising size wise.

This card is 5″ x 6.5″ and as you can see, only two baubles fit, any more and it would look too crowded.  I used red washi tape for the bauble “ribbons” and also to frame the sentiment.  I also used the Memory Box Precious Snowflakes die but only used the bow part again.  The sentiment is from Penny Black.

The instructions for making these baubles are to punch out three circles from scrap patterned paper, score and fold them in half with the patterned side innermost, glue three of the halves together and use something like a clothespin to hold them while the glue dries.  Then when you’re ready, apply a little glue to the back and stick them to your card.  Very simple and quick to make.  They will also fold flat for posting which is a big consideration these days.

 

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank from Michaels
•  DP: DCWV scraps
• Stamps: Penny Black Caroling Penguins Cling Set
• Ink: ColorBox Sapphire Silk
• Embellies: Red Washi Tape
• Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Memory Box Precious Snowflakes Die

 

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Challenges:

Pixies Crafty Workshop ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Hazels Christmas Extra Challenge ~Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland ~ Let’s Get Sentimental

 

Moonlight Wishes

Back again with a sweet and very simple little LOTV card, one for my lovely friend Di I think!  Miss Pinkness herself, lol!  Thanks also for your concern about our snowy weather here, luckily we don’t get the “lake effect” snow like they do in Buffalo and places like that, so we’ve only got about 3″ on the ground.  Just enough to make it look really pretty but not enough to be too hazardous for driving and getting about.  It’s supposed to warm up again at the weekend and be above freezing with rain instead of snow so it might all get washed away anyway.

So back to my card, I coloured her with Prisma pencils and matted on to pink scrap card.

I didn’t mean to colour her in pink, I must have been channeling Di!  Every time I go to colour something it seems to end up that colour no matter what my intentions are!  I also used various Stickles too.

The sentiment is from Penny Black and was popped up on a bit of foam tape.  And that’s it, very clean and simple.

 

Card Recipe:

• Card ~ Blank and pink card from DCWV
• Ink: Martha Stewart Hibiscus ~ Image was stamped by a friend
• Stamps: LOTV Moonlight Wishes ~ Penny Black Winter Wonders clear set
• Embellies: Prisma Pencils ~ Stickles Xmas Red, Fruit Punch, Crystal, Frosted Lace & Yellow

 

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Challenges:

Pixies Snippets Challenge ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Hazel’s Christmas Extra ~ Anything Goes

Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long ~ Anything Goes

LOTV Challenge ~ Merry Christmas

Cute Card Thursday ~ Stars

Weekly Christmas Card Challenges ~ Colour Combo or Anything Goes

Simon Says Monday Challenge ~ To The Moon

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – 285

Hello Peeps – We’re back again for the weekly deskhop with Julia and all her friends.  I was MIA last week, busy, knee deep in stuff, whatever, I don’t recall!!  The weeks are whizzing by in such a blur at the moment, that’s all I know!

My desk this week is from Sunday as it’s been too cold to go in to my room when I get in from work since then, it seems a waste to heat the room when I’m only going to be in it for an hour or so before I get dinner and then spend the rest of the evening downstairs.  And by too cold I mean it’s been well below freezing here the last couple of days (think -12C before wind chill type of temperatures), and we’ve even had a light dusting of snow with the promise of a bit more later this week too.

 

I did get about six Christmas cards made at the weekend and another eight started, I really only need a few more now and I’m done making them.  Next will be the writing of them which is always the hard part!

That’s it for me this week, keeping it short so you can pop around more desks!

Good News / Bad News

It’s a kind of a good news/bad news situation here.

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The good news, most definitely, is that we’re finally done raking the leaves for this year…

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The bad news is that we’re done raking the leaves for this year because Winter has arrived!

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Possibly the worse news is that we’ve skipped December and January and seemed to have landed in the middle of February as it was -12C outside this morning with a wicked wind making it feel more like -22C.  In fact we haven’t actually been above freezing during the daytime for six days, although it was only just on the cusp or just below, and not much colder than that at night either until yesterday.  It makes me wonder what February has in store for us!

Chin, chin.  I’m off to get a warm cuppa and sit by the fire.

 

Punchlings!

I’ve coined a new term!  Punchlings, love it, it sounds so cute, and I think that these little fellows are really cute!  I may have gone a bit overboard with the Perfect Pearls Mist spray, but apart from that, I really like them, and a fantastic way to use up little scraps too.  Let me know what you think.

I made little baubles out of scrap paper and a 1″ circle punch. scored them down the middle, inked the edges and then glued them together using wet glue and a clothespin to hold them together while the glue dried.  I made the baubles with three 1″ punched circles.

The green branches are a Marrianne die and were cut from two colours of scrap green card, although I covered them first with Picket Fence Distress Paint and then a good spray of Perfect Pearls Mist, so you can’t actually tell one from ‘tother any more!  The baubles are hung using the bow and leg from the Memory Box Perfect Snowflake die and more scrap card, this time red.

The snowflake is an mdf one, part of my blog winnings earlier in the year, it had a number of coats of the Picket Fence Distress Paint and then a spray with the Perfect Pearls Mists too.  The sentiment is from a See-D’s set, it was stamped with ColorBox Merlot ink but the card sucked most of the colour up so I went over it with a red glitter pen. A few little pearls finished it off.

Fun!  I enjoyed playing with my punchlings, and I’ll have another card later in the week with this same technique.  Inspiration for these little punched baubles was found on Pinterest.

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Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank bought at a UK craft show ~ TPC red and green scraps
• DP: Various scraps, mainly DCWV & Papermania
• Stamps: See-D’s Whimsy Tree set
• Ink: ColorBox Q Merlot
• Embellies: Red Glitter Pen ~ Picket Fence Distress Paint ~ Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl
• Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Memory Box Perfect Snowflakes Die ~ Marianne Pine Branch Die ~ EKSuccess 1″ Circle Punch

Challenges:

Pixies Crafty Workshop ~ Use Up Your Scraps

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Hazels Christmas Challenge ~ Go Green

Crafty Hazels Christmas Extra Challenge ~Anything Goes

Winter Wonderland ~ Christmas Decorations

Simon Says Monday Challenge ~ Ornaments

Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar Challenge ~ All About Christmas

Bearly Mine ~ Christmas Cards

Stampin’ Sensations ~ Christmas

Cute Card Thursday ~ Red & Green

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge ~ Colour Challenge (I used red, green & white)

Sweet Stampin’ Challenge ~ Use Dies

The Paper Shelter ~ Snowflakes