moving swiftly on...

So, anyway, no sooner has the dust settled on Christmas than birthday cards begin to appear. First up, is one for my buddy Mandy.

Now, I think it's fair to say that she has a serious bear fetish - well, maybe not fair as she doesn't know I'm writing about it in a blog. But she has, really. So as soon as I have completed the annual Mums' Nativity Challenge I plunge headlong into the bi-annual Mandys' Bear Challenge. This involves me frantically trying to remember what I did last year and come up with something completely different. As I am a bear of very little brain (sorry) it's not flipping easy!
Seriously, you can only buy so many bear themed rubber stamps and this is where digital images are an absolute godsend. They are cheaper to buy than rubber/clear stamps, and instantly available, so no desperately mugging the postman 'till they arrive. They're easier to store - but don't forget to back them up - and can be re-sized or flipped to suit your project. Best of all, there are hundreds of them out there, and lots of them are free.

This little guy is a Lili of the Valley design. He's been printed, coloured, fussy cut and mounted onto a square of cardstock with 1mm foam tape. This, in turn, was mounted onto the card blank with 1mm foam tape. At which point, I decided a border was required - typical - and carefully doodled a quick one with a pen.

My copic colouring is not the best, but I love doing it, and practice makes perfect.

Highlights in his eyes and on his nose have been picked up with a Sharpie paint pen, and I think he is one cool bear.

I used:

Neenah solar white cardstock from Crafters Companion for the image.

basic white cardstock

13.5cm square card blank

Memento dual ended maker from Buddly Crafts

Lili of the Valley image -  James Peeping

Copic pens from Sir Stampalot

Sharpie fine paint pen

See you later,

Janet x

And now for something completely different...

So, anyway, we have these two lovely grandsons who are bringing their parents to stay with us for Christmas. Cameron is 7, and Daniel will be 5 by the time he gets here, and we are looking forward to it more than I can say. Our son completes the party, so it will be a full house - and all the better for it.

Christmas cards have all been finished and sent for the year, so as a last hurrah I decided to make stockings for the boys. I found a pattern on about.com., designed for people to make and send a Christmas stocking to an American serviceman serving overseas. It's maybe 8" tall,but can be enlarged if you like. I decided to stay small, and it's just right for what I wanted.

So I went from this...

...to this...

...surprisingly quickly and easily! I was particularly suspicious of attaching the white cuff to the body of the stocking, but I managed to get it right first time, not always a given when me and my sewing machine get together.

Just for the sake of peace on Christmas day I made a couple of tags so we all know exactly where we stand and whose is what, so out came my trusty die cutter, and here we are ready for filling.

Happy Christmas to one and all, now I'm looking forward to the next Seven Hills crafts challenge in the New Year.

See you later,

Janet x

I used:

Red and white fleecy fabric from Cottontail Crafts, Settle

Kraft cardstock

glitter paper - fab stuff, I got it at Artworks in Nottingham

Silver cord - Artworks again

Memory Box Upper and Lower case alphabet dies

Take one small packet of buttons...

 So, anyway, I was in my local craft shop and I saw this little packet of loveliness. Now, my dear old Mum has very strict views on Christmas cards, which challenge me every year to produce a nativity themed card. I have managed to slip a few angels in occasionally on the grounds that they were definitely around on the night.

Having purchased said little packet of loveliness, I then had to do something with it. First job was to snip off the plastic loop on the back so I was in with a chance of sticking them to something. What followed was what I can only describe as an explosion in a craft room!!!

How do you run out of space when you have a whole room? (The owl cushion on the floor is my keeping-the-feet-warm device, by the way.)

Eventually I came up with this:

It is completely different to anything else I've ever done, but I rather like it. The main challenges were:
How do I stick the darned things to the card? - I was on my way out to the shed to beg silicon sealant from my Husband when I remembered that I am the proud possessor of a hot glue gun, problem solved.
The Holy Family were levitating en masse, not a good look. Hmm. Need to ground them - aha, a bit of old string, separate the strands, snip them into workable lengths, add some matt medium to stick, et voila - straw.
Large bare space it the top RH corner, just asking for a greeting. Could I find anything suitable? Absolutely not. I ground to a halt at this point, and decided a clean up was in order to clear my head, during which I unearthed a new copy of Simply Cards and Papercraft that I bought for the lovely set of Altenew stamps and dies..with the perfect greeting for my card, hurrah!

The stable is made up of strips cut from a piece of kraft cardstock stamped with a woodgrain stamp and mounted on 1mm foam tape.

So Happy Christmas Mum, and I'm off the hook for another year!

See you later,

Janet x

Kraft cardstock
Versafine Smokey Grey inkpad
Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamp
6" card blank
Patterned paper background freebie from Making Cards magazine
Hot glue gun
Claudine Helmuth matt multi medium
1mm foam tape
piece of string
Memory Box Star of Wonder die
scrap of glitter card
Free Altenew greeting stamp from SCAP magazine
Versafine Majestic Blue inkpad
Ranger Frosted Crystals embossing powder
Heat gun

better photos...

Note to self - don't take photos at night with the lights on, even if they are supposed to be daylight bulbs...

twofer...

So, anyway, I now have three Christmas cards sitting proudly on the sideboard, and I still haven't finished making mine! It's the same every year. Hence making multiples of one design, it's quicker! I also cheat, a lot, by using images that were supposed to be cards last year. Or is that being organised? I've only just thought of that.

One of my favourite stamp brands is Penny Black, and this image is Sweet Snowman, one of the Slapstick stamps. I was having a colouring session, and used Distress inks on the left hand image, and Copics on the right hand one. I really enjoy colouring with both, along with my Polychromos pencils - it just depends what I fancy using at the time. I like to press a Distress inkpad onto an acrylic block and pick up the colour with a damp paintbrush to paint an image stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on watercolour paper. I find that the Versafine works fine on Neenah Solar White cardstock for Copics too, even though it's not supposed to!

Anyhow, two images duly coloured, and now for the cards.

This one has a faux - stitched border, with a tiny button at each corner that has a scrap of black embroidery thread tied through it. It's mounted onto a 13cm square of an Echo Park patterned paper with 1mm foam pad, and I used a 13.5cm card blank. A bit of Stardust Stickles and a dab of Glossy accents finish him off.

Next is the image I coloured with Copics. I need way more practice with them, but I love the way you can blend them. Well, I love the way other people can blend them, anyway!
Again, it's a 13.5cm card  blank, and the image is trimmed and mounted onto it with 1mm foam strips. A few die cut snowflakes from a Memory Box border die, Stardust Stickles on his bobble and a Glossy Accents nose, and he's done.

Better get them sent now...

See you later,

Janet x

P.S.  I used a Gelly Roll clear Stardust pen to twinkle up the ribbon on the parcel.

On the first day of Christmas...

So here is the first of my Christmas cards for this year. I know, bit late, but I tend to make 6 of each card and keep it simple - ish...

I started with a digital image, printed out onto Neenah Solar White cardstock from Crafters Companion. I have no idea where I got the image from, cos I've had it for ages. All I can say is I think it's called "The King".

Having had a lovely time colouring with my Copic markers, I stuck the image to a blank made from a 10.5cm x 29cm piece of 300 gsm cardstock scored at 14.5cm, using double sided tape.
I cut an oval aperture from a piece of 10cm x 14cm cardstock and embossed it with an Embossalicious embossing folder, them mounted it onto the card using 1mm foam tape.
Tim Holtz dies "Holiday Greens" provided the holly and pine I used to embellish the card, which I cut up to frame the aperture and provide the two leaves for the tiny tag. The tiny red gems are Papermania, the greeting is one of a digi set from Lili of the Valley.
That just left a bow made from some silver embroidery thread to finish off the greeting, and there we are!

It sounds like a pretty quick process, coming up with a card design, but it actually took me 3 days!!

Now for the next one, I'll try and remember to make a note of exactly what I used in a more organised fashion.

See you later,

Janet x

Hello!

The view from my craft room...so lovely.

Hello, I'm Janet, and I'm The Contented Crafter. I'm new to this blog malarkey, so I think I'll stick to my tried and trusted method of Making It Up As I Go Along, and see what happens!

I've been card making for about 10 years, since my Lovely Daughter wanted me to make her wedding invitations.We moved to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales earlier this year, and I simply want to share the cards I make.

First up, a pop up box card that I intend to enter for the Seven Hills Crafts monthly challenge.

The theme is "your favourite Christmas film, song or carol", using at least one item bought from Seven Hills. 

I've used MFT Jingle All The Way stamps and dies, and coloured the images with Copics - looove Copics - The sentiment is Paper Smooches, stamped with Brilliance ink on vellum, and the musical notes are a Memory Box die. A Martha Stewart punch provided the holly leaves. Santa is, of course, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. And no, it didn't all come from SHC, I have no pride when it comes to buying card making stuff, and will acquire things from wherever I can!