Elzybells Teddy and Tree - a Christmas card at last!

Hi blogging friends

At last, a CHRISTMAS card to share.....and it's another teddy bear card LOL!!  Just a very simple design/layout as I do feel a bit rusty having not made very many cards this year. 

This very sweeeet little teddy is a retired Elzybells stamp.  Elizabeth Bell who ran Elzybells Stamps UK is now a designer for Penny Black Stamps and they have brought out a number of Elizabeth's designs over the past year so I am really hoping that they will bring out some more Christmas ones as I always get asked where people can buy the Elzybells stamps.  Please note that I am unable to stamp images to share due to copyright.  Occasionally I see Elzybells stamps on EBay but not often!  Anyway, I am digressing as usual.......

The image was stamped on Watercolour paper with Versafine Onyx black ink and watercoloured with watercolour pencils and a small round paintbrush.  I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk and added some brown/grey chalk along the bottom of the image.

I added some Glossy Accents to the red baubles (not that you can really see it) and some Gold FlowerSoft using Aleen's tacky glue to the tinsel on the tree.  I had quite forgotten I had bought gold and silver FlowerSoft and found it when I was tidying up my craft room.  Here is a wee close-up: 

The designer paper is by Kaisercraft and is very sparkly and glittery in real life; you can probably see a little of the sparkle in my photos.

The green satin ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.   I also found some jingley bells when I was tidying up so added one with some gold cord just for a bit of fun as the card jingles when you shake it.  I added Fray Stop to the ribbon and cord ends to stop them from fraying.

I could have gone crazy with lots of embellies but wanted to hold back on them because I might give this card to my husband as he is the sort of guy who doesn't mind cute images like teddy bears and a bit of glitter or sparkle - but obviously I wouldn't tizz a card up too much for him.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

Crafty Catz Challenge Blog Challenge #159 - Make it sparkle  I hope the glittery designer paper and the gold FlowerSoft is sparkley enough

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #99 - use something more than 6 months old   Everything on my card is more than 6 months old.

Winter Wonderland Challenge - Oh Baubles! - make any Christmas project with baubles.

My loved one has a swag of medical appointments this coming week so I probably won't be posting again for a week - plus we are waiting on some test results which we get this coming Monday.  Hopefully, all the results will be good as there is nothing to indicate otherwise yet it is hard not to be nervous about them. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fab weekend!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Elzybells Teddy with tree (retired)

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer paper:  Kaisercraft Be Merry Collection

Accessories:  140lb watercolour paper, Faber-Castell and Lyra watercolour pencils, small round paintbrush, gold FlowerSoft, Aleen's tacky glue, gold bell, Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Circle and Scalloped Circle nestabilities, Glossy Accents, Bow Easy, Perfect Layers Tools, green satin ribbon, gold cord, Fray Stop (for the ribbon ends), cardstock - red and green

Christmas Stitchery

Hi blogging friends - and welcome to my newest followers who have joined me in the past month or so - thanks for following me

One of my other passions is embroidery and stitcheries so I thought I would share a little Christmas project that I finished a while ago:

I bought this little kit when I went to a Craft Show (and them promptly forgot about it.....!) so it has sat in my stitchery box for goodness knows how long!!  The original designer was Melissa Grant of Giggle Buttons.  Giggle Buttons has since been sold to another lady and the Giggle Buttons trading name no longer exists and is now called CheraBella Buttons.   Please note I have never bought from CheraBella Buttons so I am not recommending them - I am simply passing on the information in case you are interested. 

The Christmas Tree is a ceramic button which came with the kit and if you peer closely at the top, bottom, left and right sides of the burgundy diamond, you will see that I stitched on some tiny little gold and burgundy beads. 

I blanket-stitched around the burgundy hearts and the words were embroidered in burgundy stranded cotton using backstitch with a french knot at either end of the words.

The only things that didn't come with the kit were:  the border fabric, the fabric backing (I just used calico - from Spotlight), the batting (inbetween the top and bottom layers of fabric - from Spotlight), the wire hanger (from EBay), sewing threads for sewing the various pieces of material together (from Spotlight), and the mini green clothes pegs (from Riot Art and Craft - about $2 for an assorted pack of colours).

Finished size is 5-1/4" square or 13.2 centimetres/132 millimetres if you are metric.

Thanks for stopping by

Jocelyn

Wild Rose Studio Milton with card - a thank you card

Hi blogging friends 

On my last post, I gave you a sneaky peak of a card I had been working on and now that the recipient has it in their hot little hands, I can share it here on my blog:  

The recipient has been such an amazing support to our family whilst we have been going through some very tough times caring for our loved one since the beginning of February this year.  Words almost fail me to know how to thank someone so special who has sent tons of positive and caring thoughts and prayers our way; uplifted us when we were despairing; encouraged us and lovingly understood the emotional rollercoaster ride that you go through when a loved one has a life-threatening illness; and, now, at the end of our loved one's treatment and in the recovery phase which is very challenging and very full-on, continues to shower our family with love and ongoing emotional support.   We are so blessed to have this person as part of our lives!  

I LOVE this Milton Bear image by Wild Rose Studio - but that wouldn't come as a surprise to those of you who have been following my blog for a while as I am so crazy for teddy bear images LOL!!  I stamped Milton onto Watercolour paper and coloured him with Watercolour pencils and a paintbrush.  I used a white eraser to rub back some of the colouring to add a few highlights where I felt it was needed.   I added some Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the envelope and added some blue chalk around the image for the sky and brown plus green chalk for the ground.

The gorgeous designer papers are called 'Bella!' by Sarah-Jane Paperz (distributed by Fynmark Australia) have been in my stash for over a year and I originally bought them from Spotlight.  I have never seen any other dp's by this designer so I don't know if they were exclusive to Spotlight or not (??).   I really love the gorgeous, warm colours in the papers....happy sigh.....even my hubby thought they were beautiful!   The top left-hand fancy corner was diecut using one of the Cuttlebug Vintage tags dies and one of the dp's. 

The cotton lace on the side panel was originally white but I dyed it with a teabag to make it look 'old' and match the dp's.  I attached the lace in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  I also added some Fray Stop to the cut edges of the bow so that they wouldn't fray.

I used my Perfect Layers Tools to matt all the layers with a 1/8" border.

Check out that gorgeous brad which is also by the same dp company!  Isn't it beautiful?!  The brad came in a set of 12 brads - some square and some round.  Here is a close-up piccy:

I still have the sentiment stamp (which is a clear stamp) on my stamping block but do you think I can remember what set it is from?  Nope - my brain has turned to mush....but I will update this post when I find out.  The sentiment panel was diecut with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities.

I used my EK Success Arrows Border punch to punch some tiny hearts (they are the leftover punchies which look like tiny hearts to me) and glued them on around the sentiment then added a little bit of Kindyglitz to them.

I decorated the card inside to match the card front which should be self-explanatory.  I added a Scor-Pal line just above the mustard cardstock punched bottom border so that I had a straight line to butt my designer paper up against.

Challenges:

I am entering my card into the following challenges -

The ABC Challenge - A is for Appreciation - where they would like to you to make a thank you card or thank you gift for someone you appreciate, and

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes - with the optional extra of making a card or project for Christmas (obviously I didn't do that part of the challenge!).

I have a couple of other thank you cards in the pipeline for a few other amazing people; hopefully, I will be able to share them soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Wild Rose Studio - Milton with card - CL058 - clear stamp, Sentiment on card front - to be advised, Sentiment on card inside - Darcies #11872 wood-mounted

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer paper:  Bella! by Sarah-Jane Paperz - Spotlight

Accessories:  Perfect Layers Tools, Bow Easy, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Vintage corner die, dimensionals, Faber-Castell plus Lyra watercolour pencils, 140lb watercolour paper, small round paintbrush, Bella Bradz, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, fray stop, Scor-Pal, Spellbinder oval + scalloped oval dies, tea-dyed cotton lace, Kaisercolour chalks

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border (tiny hearts around sentiment), Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge (for card inside)