Another parchment Christmas card

I have made this one before ( here ) but I have made it again with some differences.

 This time I did portrait instead of landscape and used a different central image (but still from La Pashe).  Last time the border was done around the image but this time the image has been done separately and glued to the aperture and the whole has been stitched to the green backing card.

I found some old peel-off sheets of gems and borders and decided to do a little titivating.  All to celebrate my new 'eyes' - which reminds me that I must go and do my third lot of drops for the day.

Carol
xx

The border pattern was by Gwen Paxton and was in the Parchment Magazine in Dec 2009

More Christmas 2019

As promised here is a Christmas card made in parchment using parts of the Groovi plate 'Tina's Henna Corners 2'.  I had used it earlier during a lesson here.

It has made a slightly unusual card - certainly very different to my usual makes.

The jury is still out.  My son says he likes it. Well it was paraded in front of him and poor lad couldn't say much else - but I am still not sure. Perhaps it just isn't 'Christmassy'.

Carol
xx

Christmas 2019

Sorry about this but I have started in earnest on my Christmas cards.  I have various things coming up during the year one of which is an op for cataract removals so I am getting on whilst I can.

I have been using my La Pashe CD's .  I copy and paste them into my own graphics programme so that I can add borders and sentiments. I then print out each one twice so that I can do a little decoupage ( only one layer) and fimally sprinkle a little glitter.

I must confess to having used these images before but I do love using them and as long as I don't send the same ones to the same people I should be OK.....for a while at least.

Carol
xx

Yet another for the Christmas Box

Same pattern but a different look

The dies I used for the tree decorations are by Marianne. They have a whole series of these itty bitty dies and I think I have at least a dozen by now. I love them - so useful.

Hugs
Carol

Another for the Christmas card box 2018

Yet another selection of colours and what is supposed to be a deep red backing sheet but, disappointingly, it looks more brown than red.   I have added some red gems to go with the red in the tree to brighten it a little.

I have more of these already pricked out and I have sent off for some more coloured threads. I like them all to be different.

I hope everyone is enjoying a good weekend.

Hugs
Carol

Christmas card for my sister

My sister doesn't follow my blog so I am quite safe. I wanted to do something personal for her but am having to do very simple parchment. The white poinsettia had already been made and the leaves punched out.  The writing is from a Groovi plate and the border (by Wendy Walters)  is a favourite which I can cope with as long as I take my time.
Hope she likes it.

Take care.
Hugs
Carol xx

CD Sunday - Christmas Present - chosen by Pamela

Good Morning.  I hope it is a little warmer today than it has been . I am beginning to wish that I hadn't had a Smart Meter fitted as you can now see in £ s d exactly what the heating is costing per day.
For our challenge Pamela has chosen another Christmas theme . Hopefully you are all still making Christmas cards so you are sure to have something that qualifies for our theme.
Here is my offering:

This is from an old favourite CD that I have had for some years now - Crafty Computer Paper Co - Card Kits and Pieces CD.  Sadly it seems that this company no longer exists.

Everything for the card has been printed from the CD.  The lovely young lady is delivering her  present to a lucky someone.  One of my favourite embellishments on this CD are the 'dried' orange slices. They are very realistic and so evocative of Christmases gone by.

Please visit CD Sunday and look at the lovely cards by the rest of the team.  Please also don't forget that CD Sunday is now on Facebook so if you can't enter via a blog you can now via email and  Facebook. 

Keep warm and well.
Hugs
Carol
xx

More for the Christmas Box

Some stitched ones:

Now  a second stamped on parchment card using a Nellie Snellen clear stamp.

I added three of my parchment Poinsettias instead of the Christmas Roses that I used in the other card and the background comes from a CD.

Bauble Tree

I have been playing with a new PCA plate. I love the style - very new and modern and would be good with different colour combinations.  It is a lovely easy plate to use and the border is particularly good.

I have some more new PCA plates on order from Australia and I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with them. This kind of parchment work  is OK for me as it is not as hard to do as traditional parchment ( poorly hand still) but you can still acheive some good parchment with style.
Hugs
Carol
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CD Sunday - Christmas Things with Wings - chosen by Jane

Hi to everyone.
A new challenge starts today and this appropriately Christmassy one has been chosen by teamie Jane.
But before I show you what I have done for this challenge thank you to those who joined in my 'Take a stamp' challenge.  I will choose my Top 3 later and will have a gift for the winner.
So here is my card for Christmas Things with Wings:

I used Magical Christmas Moments CD- Created for Cupcake Crafting by Sharon Duncan

The main image and the mats and  background all come from the CD but the sentiment with the perching singing birds is a  die cut - as are the bird perching on 'Holly Lane' and the leaves at top left.
I enjoyed making this one especially trying to get the colours right'.
The image is No: 23 and the backing papers come from the Colourblend Glitter section. There are some beautiful images on this CD and worthy of being used many times.

I hope you will join in with Jane's challenge and I will see you on your Blog.
Hugs
Carol
xx

PS

Now that it is up and running I can tell you about a new place that is showing our challenges- Facebook - so we now have three places for entries - the blog, by email and now a new Facebook page!
Our teamies Jane and Pamela have been working hard to acheive all this. This has taken a little while and you will have to excuse any funny looking postings on the Facebook page as there has been some experimenting.

Here again is the link to CD Sunday Blog Challenge and there you will find  the details you need.
Carol
xx

Link to CD Sunday on Facebook

More Christmas 2017 and Parchment

I am afraid I am having to reduce the amount of 'true' parchment work that I can do whilst my hand is so troublesome but I am adapting and managing  with what tools and gadgets I have.
For this card I stamped onto parchment using Stazon ink and a Nellie Snellen stamp called 'Christmas Time'.   I then centred the image onto an oval grid and embossed and pricked out the border.  The grid was designed by Alison Yeates and purchased from her company Kingfisher Crafts.

I then embossed parts of the stamped image to enhance the snow and even coloured the deer.  The sentiment was embossed using a Groovi Plate.

Having got all this ready I then realised what an awkward shape I had made to fit on a card.  I die cut a larger oval from blue card as a backing and fixed with brads.   I fiddled with this for a long time trying to decide how to present it.  In the end I removed the blue oval background and attached it to a larger piece of blue card cut to fix to a white landscape card - with a small white edge showing.
I then played about with some Christmas die cuts for decoration but nothing looked right.  Then I found these two bows with tails which looked perfect to me.  A couple of Christmas roses are the finishing touch.

I think it has a hint of Wedgwood about it and I hope you like it.
Hugs
Carol
xx

More Christmas 2017

Firstly here is a new stitched wreath.   I have used white card die cut with one of my favourite dies for the stitching and the first mat.  The stitching pattern is from here.

Secondly here are two parchment cards. They have both been made using borders that I completed some time ago whilst I was still able to do concentrated parchment.  I then found images to use in the centres. This first one is an Angel from a Tattered Lace grid. I have then sewn the parchment to the card using beads..

Here is the last one. The pre-made border as before and another Tattered Lace design from one of the grids. The bow was made using a Groovi plate. This time I used red brads to fix the parchment to the backing card and then put it behind a scalloped window card. Then decorated the frame with peel off glitter.

Jolly Christmas - pattern by Judith Maslen .....with a tweak or two

Yes I have been tweaking again.  I love Judith's patterns but if there is a design with a half square or a Moon tool used on the border you can be sure I will make a pig's ear of it and it happened again.
I had spent ages colouring and embossing Father Christmas and I didn't want to lose him so I did the same as I did with the Owl.....took him out. (Parchment expression) and then redid the background with a scallop tool and a Star tool.  I then glued Father Christmas back in place with Perga Glue.   The bow I decided I would like 3D so instead of tracing the one Judith had drawn I made one using a Groovi plate.
If anyone is interested the link to Judith's site is in my sidebar and the pattern number is jm068-3
Hope you like it.
Hugs
Carol
xx

Just finished another Judith pattern - 'Christmas Morning' - jm068-2  so I thought I would post it here.

Love them both.
So more hugs
Carol
xx

Yet another card for the Christmas box

This time I have been playing with dies.  I cannot remember where I bought this die.  It might have been from The Art of Craft but I am not sure.  I enjoyed playing about with it and deciding how to use it.  It couldn't be simpler and I like the look.

The black card is spotless but the little specks you can see are glitter. How ever hard I try I can't get rid of them
Hope you like it too.
Carol
xx

p.s.
Whilst having a coffee this morning I decided to go through my stash of die packaging  to fnd where the die comes from and I have found it.
It is a Nellie Snellen die -   in the series Shape dies - Christmas Window Scene -2 (SD131).  I think I did buy it at 'The Art of Craft' - my very favourite Aladdins cave. I have added the link.

More for the Christmas card box

At our last Parchment lesson we were using a couple of Groovi plates. We were also given an unusual card shape to use with our finished work but I decided not to use that yet and I made an easel card for my image.

This is the Groovi plate we were using ........

.............but I didn't use the centre motif, I used the Merry Christmas wording from another plate.
We all did various interpretations and added our own bits and here is mine.

I made the large bow for the 'stopper' and that pattern came from the same plate as the small bow in the centre.
As you can see I used ooodles of gems. TG  I know where I can get replacements from Amazon at a very good price.  Ask and I might tell!

Just off to finish an ATC for a swop next month.
Love you to leave a comment if you can as you are passing by.
Hugs
Carol
xx

Layering stamps by Nellie Snellen

I have fallen in love with a set of stamps.  Christmas layering stamps by Nellie Snellen. I have been using them with my Tim Holtz stamping platform and I did more stamping yesterday than I have done in a year or so.
Yesterday I made a dozen Christmas cards and here are some photos:

Here are  three individual ones as close-ups;

I think they make great cards. Hope you like them.
Hugs
Carol
xx

More for the Christmas box

I found this image on the net. It was unamed and unclaimed so I do not know to whom to give credit. I printed it onto parchment, embossed it from the back and did one of my favourite borders which is very simple but I think effective.

Carol
xx

Christmas Snowman from La Pashe

A simple parchment border.  The Snowman has been embossed from the back and he has been backed with a square of snowy background card from La Pashe. The lovely brads and  silver supports are from Nellie Snellen. I used a simple silver peel off greeting. There wasn't room to emboss one into the parchment.

Two very different cards

This first card is for this Christmas.  The image is printed straight from a La Pashe CD onto parchment and then embossed at the back. The border was found in an old Parchment Magazine (2009) and was designed by Gwen Paxton. It proved to be a tricky pattern and I accepted the help of a couple of fellow parchers at our last Wednesday workshop. I finished it this evening and here it is:

This second card is so so different,  I was playing about with  'A Very Important Date' folder on MCS. I had something in mind as a Birthday card  and this is how it finished. I have one layer of decoupage to add but it was too hot this afternoon and it was making me fractious. I will add it later.

So a couple of very different cards but additions to the box.
Hope all are well.
Hugs
Carol
xx

CD Sunday - 'Sketch' - chosen and designed by Moi

I decided to choose a Sketch for my challenge theme because the Blog hasn't had one for quite a while and I think I have only ever done one sketch challenge before and that was on CD Sunday.

So here is the Sketch:

and here is the card in parchment that I made for the challenge:

The Robin is my own watercolour painting executed some time ago now when I was attending Evening Classes.
I scanned the painting and then printed it on to parchment paper and then embossed in various places to give it life.  I then made a border around the image to make a smallish topper.
Then I used a Groovi plate to give me the larger square and I traced the Merry Christmas sentiment on all four sides rather than just the one and then gave it all the same border that I used on the topper.
The larger backing square comes from a  Robert Addams Cd - Let it Snow.  The two layers were then attached to the backing card with brads - the two groups of three to match the sketch.  Also to match the sketch are the two circles and these are my own parchment flowers with fancy brad centres.

I enjoyed making this card and I hope to see many different  interpretations of the Sketch design. Please though don't forget to use a CD somewhere in your design and let us know which one you have used. More things to read here.
Thank you for looking.
Hugs
Carol
xx