Advent Calendar.

Hi there, I've been madly trying to get this advent calendar finished before December 1st and I've finally made it.....just!!

I started this ages ago, I've had the box part painted and glued together, then painted the inside of all those boxes and stuck them together. It seemed to take forever to finish those little boxes though! Each one has patterned paper adhered all the way around then the front piece is attached, the little half-circle finger hold has to be cut around (I found curved nail scissors were best for this), then sponged with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress ink.....oh, then the numbers had to be stuck on......whew!

If you are wondering, this is a kit Advent Calendar by Kaisercraft. It comes in a flat pack and you add your own paint, patterned paper and other decorations. The wooden pieces, reindeer, sleigh, presents in the sleigh and free-standing tree, are also by Kaisercraft, I painted them with acrylic paints and spritzed with some glitter sprays. The presents in the sleigh are covered in patterned paper and backed with red foil.

Included in the kit are raw chipboard numbers, which are a bit large, I only used them on the 6, 12 and 21 drawers, the other numbers are a mixture of glitter stick-ons, Thickers foam, MM rub-ons (a bit tricky to apply once the box is made up!) and tiny stick-ons.

I needed something else in the bottom left corner as it looked too bare, so I made some little 'gifts' out of patterned paper and tied with ribbon.

Patterned papers are all from the Kaisercraft 'Tis The Season and December 25th ranges.

OK, let the countdown begin!!

Pickled Frog!

Here's a fun card I made for my DH's birthday this Thursday! The image is from Sparkle'N'Sprinkle, coloured with Copic Markers. The greeting is by Hero Arts.

I'm entering this card for this week's AnnaBelle Stamps challenge - Say it with .....Buttons and Bows. Well, OK I only used one button and one bow, but who's counting!

I had some cream coloured twine which didn't match the black and white ribbon (from AnnaBelle Stamps), so I coloured it with a green Copic Marker and it matched the button perfectly!

I don't think my DH will be enjoying his birthday quite like the frog did though!

Going Dotty!

Hi there, my card today is for Scrapbook Boutique's November Challenge - using the photo as inspiration and adding dots & spots.

The pine bough stamp is from Hero Arts, I've stamped it several times using Tim Holtz Crushed Olive and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks, the greeting is by Denami stamps - I've had this one in my stash forever, but I love the font!

The scalloped edge is a die-cut from the Kaisercraft Christmas Carnival collection, and the ornament is a puffy sticker from the same product range. I used a silver gel pen and ruler to draw my thread and bow.

Just used a CAS design similar to the card I made last week, hope you like it!

A very blingy Christmas!

I seem to be getting into the swing of Christmas card making at the moment, here's another one today! This one is a bit "out there" with a very different colour scheme and lots of bling! I used this weeks' challenge from Annabelle Stamps - Say it in.....Lime, Black and White.

I couldn't find a piece of lime cardstock that looked right so made my own with a piece of canvas paper and some lime acrylic paint, I even found some ribbon that was a perfect match in my stash. The canvas paper is textured so I was a bit worried that my stamp wouldn't imprint properly, but it turned out OK. I even heat embossed it with some glitter embossing powder.....although you may not be able to see it very well unless you click on the photo to enlarge it. I found some forgotten about black glitter cardstock, I thought it gave a nice elegant look to the card. The card looks much better IRL, I couldn't really capture it properly with my camera.

I also glitter embossed the greeting. Stamps are both by Kaisercraft.

CAS143 sketch challenge

Hi there, here's a card I've made to fit CAS143 sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I've made a vintagy Christmas card, the large holly stamp and the greeting is by Kaisercraft, the smaller holly stamp is by Inkadinkado. The images are stamped with Memento ink and water-coloured with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. Old olive cardstock by Stampin' Up. My lone embellishment is a single red Kaisercraft rhinestone to dot the "i" in Christmas.

I think I should have stamped the large holly just a little to the left, otherwise I'm happy with this card. Hope you like it!

Glitter Tree.

Just another quick card today........it's all I seem to have time for lately!

Kaisercraft tree stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia, then sponged with Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive Distress Inks, then cut out and glittered to within an inch of it's life!

DP by AED (Alison Ellis Designs), sentiment from Pink Paislee.

This is another entry for Annabelle Stamps say it with .....sentiments challenge.

Thanks for your visit today!

More about Feed Readers

Just thought I'd post a couple of screen shots as an addition to my post yesterday regarding feed readers, in case I was confusing you with what I was talking about.

The picture above shows the FeedDemon reader, I find the soft colours are much easier on my eyes than the stark white of the new version of Google Reader (see screenshot below). The blog list is also easier to read on FeedDemon and I can see the scroll bars to go down my list. You cant see the scroll bars on Google Reader until you run the mouse over them, which is a nightmare to use on my HP Touchpad as my finger is used instead of a mouse.

What do you think, I'd love to hear your opinions?

RSS Feed Readers?

I'm guessing that most people who read blogs have them organised in some kind of a RSS feed reader, the most common one being Google Reader.

If you use Google Reader, what do you think of their new interface? Supposedly the makeover is to make it more user-friendly! I don't know who they tested the new interface on but they couldn't have got it more wrong - and from what I've read on the Google discussion groups, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of users who agree with me! All that white space is just too hard on the eyes, and as for those narrow disappearing scroll bars.....pfft!

I decided it was time to search for a new RSS reader and have discovered one called FeedDemon. I downloaded the free version, but there is another paid version which is ad-free and has other features. I don't really need the other features and the ads aren't annoying, so I'll stick with the free version for now. After using it for a few days I quite like it. It was easy to import all my feeds from Google Reader and I like the way you can set it to show various views of your feeds - I have mine set to show unread items, but you can set it to several other views as well. It's fast to use and I can also make comments on blogs without having to open a separate window. I can also switch between FeedDemon and Google Reader and both readers update the feeds that I've already read. I guess the downside is that it's only available for Windows computers and it uses Internet Explorer as it's browser. I'm using FeedDemon on my desktop computer, but I can't download it to use on my HP Touchpad because of the different operating system it uses.

If anyone uses a different RSS reader and likes it, I'd love to hear about it too!

Another vintage Christmas card!

Hi again, here's another Christmas card, I've made it to fit the following challenges:
Annabelle Stamps - Say It With.....Sentiments.
Basic Grey - Anything Goes. (Wassail and Blitzen patterned papers used)
CPS Sketch #242
The Pink Elephant - Distressing.(Distressed PP and Distress ink sponged on the images.)



CPS#242



 

The Basic Grey papers are from the Wassail and Blitzen ranges, some oldies I still have in my stash.

Stamps, ink and the flower embellishment are by Kaisercraft. Images are sponged with Tim Holtz Old Paper Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you're having a great day.....it's VERY hot here today!

Vintage Santa

Hi there, just another quick card today.........thinking I better get a move on with my Christmas cards or I won't get them all done on time!

I've used this weeks sketch ABS043 from Annabelle Stamps - I flipped it on it's side.

The stamp is by Crafty Individuals, I stamped it in Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and distressed it with some Tim Holtz Old Paper Distress Ink and given Santa's hair and beard a little bling by coating it with Ranger Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

Patterned Paper is by AED - very glittery! Cardstock is Stampin' Up Almost Amethyst, I've also used silver mirror board as a mat for the image and PP, dark blue organza ribbon is the only embellishment.

Hopefully the close-up below shows the bling on Santa a little better.

This card also qualifies for the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes plus add some bling.
Crafty Individuals - Winter Wonderland.
The Pink Elephant -  TPE123 Distressing.

Thanks for looking, as always I appreciate any comments you might leave me!