Another Christmas card for the stash – FF08

Posted on May 12, 2013 by justsomestuffimade

Hi all

So there’s been a bit of a blogging hiatus over here – oops! – but I’ve still squeezed in some crafty time, so it’s not all bad ;)
A bit of card making, a good bit of cross stitching (not so easy/ fun to blog about) and even a scrapbook layout. All a (very) welcome relief from a busy time we’re having at work lately. Shan’t bore with that though ;)

I guess I will share a few of my makes in the next few days…
And here’s the first!

A Christmassy card for the new Festive Friday challenge – FF08, ‘Sweet’.

Here’s my card:

Christmas card Festive Friday challenge FF08 gingerbread Waltzing Mouse Rescue Remedies

I instantly thought of the ‘Sweet’ stamp in my Waltzing Mouse ‘Rescue Remedies’ set. OMG I love that set too much. (Is it possible to love it too much? Maybe not actually!)
I diecut a corresponding kraft label (Nesties label 4) and then stamped and heat embossed the ‘sweet confections’ design in white.
It’s not very Christmassy on it’s own but I think it’s a good complement paired with this fun gingerbread men paper (which was in 6x6pad free with a craft mag ages ago, ‘Quick Cards Made Easy‘. Even more fun that I’m now lucky enough to be doing some commissioned design work for this mag!).

Christmas card Festive Friday challenge Waltzing Mouse stamps Rescue Remedies

I accented it with a bit of new crafty goodness – I did a little shopping to treat myself this week ;) The new ‘Mint Julep’ collection from Basic Grey was begging for me to indulge, including the fabby textured self-adhesive fabric tapes. Such pretty vintageyness and fabric tapes too – what’s not to like?
So a couple of spotty bits of this tape here, then just a few button and sequin accents dress my card up in style for Christmas. And I gave more of a festive touch inside too…

Christmas card Festive Friday challenge FF08

sorry the gold shinyness is a devil to photograph :(

More of the gingerbread man paper, a Christmassy greeting too (just with a matching gold peel-off, ancient Papermania stash still going strong)… and another couple of sequins to keep the sparkle going ;)

Hope you enjoyed seeing this one – thanks as ever for stopping by and for your kind comments. So thoughtful ;)
Take care for now then crafty pals, Rx

Posted in Cards, Challenges, Christmas designs, Cuttlebug, Fabric, Nestabilities, stamping, Waltzing Mouse Stamps | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Christmas card make – recycling challenge!

Posted on April 21, 2013 by justsomestuffimade

Hellooo!
Just stopping by with a quick festive idea I’ve made. Yesterday we were out for the whole day (very tiring but fun!) up in London for an exhibition at the British Museum – Life and Death in Pompeii & Herculaneum.
But today, I’ve managed to squeeze in a bit of crafty time, before I have to hit the chores ;)

For some reason I was feeling like doing a festive make (again!) and I was inspired by the new challenge over at Jingle Belles: to use a recycled element in your card.

Christmas card challenge idea recycled polka dots

shame yesterday's lovely sunny weather seems to have vanished and I'm back to photographing in the gloom!

I was digging around to find something to ‘upcycle’ and found a heart garland motif that I “harvested” from a card that was sent to us last Christmas. It caught my eye, with a little bit of red foil accent for the berries. To good to recycle in the regular recycling bin – recycling it on a new card would be great for this beauty!
When it comes to taking down the Christmas decs, I can’t resist stashing a few embellishments and trims off cards that are destined for recycling – or is it just me who does that??!

Christmas card challenge idea recycled polka dots

Well I thought this 3D embellie could be nicely repurposed with a bow and gem added, taking centre stage on a card.
This lovely spotty paper from the Simple Stories ‘Sn@p – Color Vibe’ 6×6 pad on the kraft card blank is a fun touch to my upcycled Christmassy card. Then I layered up my garland focal, fussycut it and just added a ticket-style sticker greeting (Simple Stories – Handmade Holiday)
Done.

See you soon pals, Rx

Posted in Cards, Challenges, Christmas designs, Use Scraps | Tagged | 5 Comments

RSS feeds – replacing Googe Reader

Posted on April 14, 2013 by justsomestuffimade

Hello there…

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been ‘experimenting’ with a couple of new RSS feed serivces… Now that Google have announced their Reader service is going to be closed down, I’ve been looking for other options for keeping up with my (long!) list of blog feeds.

I wanted to use a service that would be easy to transfer my RSS feeds, and also that has a similar feel to Reader (so ideally not a ‘flipboard’/ -zine type reader). I tried Feedly, which was very quick to set up, but was missing a couple of functions that I liked.

Now I’ve decided that Bloglines is a better option for me. It’s free, importing my feed data was very simple, and I’ve been able to set up the preferences how I like them ;)
I’m happy to say that it’s been very easy to get the hang of too… Yay!

If you’re looking to keep justsomestuffimade in your feed, then either of these, are definitely ones to tryÂ
If you subscribe to my updates by email, I think that’s still working fine.

Thanks for following pals! I’m off to spend some time with my Bloglines feed and see what you’ve all been up to lately. See you later, Rx

Posted in Misc | 1 Comment

CAS Christmas card – glittery Santa!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by justsomestuffimade

Hello crafty pals – how are things today? Good, I hope!

I had time for some crafty fun today… As you’ll see, I was inspired by some challenges….

Nat’s weekly prompt, over at Kool Kitty Musings: week 15 – use words as the focus

plus… CAS-ual Fridays CFC98 – All that Glitters

and… Festive Fridays FFC06 – Retro theme Christmas

Yes, as you can tell my card for today is a festive one… my stash of Christmas makes is building up nicely, considering it’s just mid-April!! Something I’m very happy about, as I know the pressure will be off later in the year ;)

Here it is then:

Christmas card CAS challenges retro Santa thickers

I’ve gone Clean And Simple of course, for the CAS-ual Friday inspiration… and just used a retro Santa cut from a piece of October Afternoon paper (‘Holiday Style’ 8×8 pad), popped up over some OA twine, and the focal point words are American Crafts Thickers (which sadly appear to be discontinued now) – all sparkly and festive, so what’s not to like?!

Check out the blingy-ness! Ho, ho, ho!

Christmas card CAS challenges retro Santa thickers glitter

In other news:
- Had a lovely day out yesterday, visiting the new Egyptology exhibition at Bristol museum. Fascinating. Followed by a yummy lunch.
- G is off on an exciting trip for work, for a tour of the LHC, or for the non-initiated/ no-science geeks among you ;) that’s the Large Hadron Collider, in Geneva. The mega-underground tunnel particle physics thingie, where they discover bosons and whatnot. (Well, I am jealous and wildly impressed by this and if you’re not, then I maybe can partially forgive you, but since it is a trip-of-a-lifetime, then I am only partially forgiving you, ok?)
- Took delivery of new crafty stash this week so more fun is due. If the chores will allow me a little time to myself. Look out for more cards over the next few days…
Heading back to the crafty den for a little playtime now, before I have to succumb to all the housework that is calling my name ;)

See you laters, Rx

Posted in Cards, Challenges, Christmas designs | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Kraft card for a Play Date Cafe challenge PDCC176

Posted on April 8, 2013 by justsomestuffimade

Hello there ;)
Here’s a quick card share, inspired by the latest challenge at the Play Date Cafe PDCC176
Love the neutral palette…
Here’s my card:

Play Date Cafe card challenge PDCC176 kraftI raided my JBS stash in effort to find some neutral bits to include, but alas…. I don’t have much and what I do have… all red and blacks ;)
I went for a kraft card blank and a diecut patterned layer (Nesties ‘Labels 1′). I layered a GCD Studios cutout element with ‘Pure Goodness’, and add the rest of the sentiment with OA woodgrain-effect alphas ;)

Play Date Cafe card challenge PDCC176 kraft buttons

The cute button tab is an upcycled embellishment, cut off a clothes tag from my fave shop (White Stuff!)
Those buttons are too adorable to go to waste.

Play Date Cafe card challenge PDCC176 kraft buttons

Plus… a bit of a corner accent with patterned paper banners cut from the scraps pile (yay!) and a punched butterfly (Martha Stewart), using gold paper – as inspired by the cutlery in the graphic.
A few pearls (Kaisercraft) and linen twine (SU) – also inspired by the graphic – finish it all off.

Thanks for looking, Rx

Posted in Cards, Challenges, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Use Scraps | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment