12 Days of Christmas ATCs - Days 10, 11 & 12

Day Ten


Gold card this time with a gold debossed decoupage.

How different is this?  Much brighter IRL.

Thank you Alexis.

Day Eleven

Another of these cheerful chappies - he's so cute!

The Icon of Christmas!

Thank you JanW.

Day Twelve

My final card.  I managed to find a silver embossed piece of the masterboard and attached a silver striped square of card with an ornament.

An absolutely stonking card for opening on the 25th!   

IRL it is AMAZING!!  Love it!

Thank you so much Kate.

Thank you Mel for finding time to sort out all these swaps and send them out to us so that we have a great personal build up to Christmas......I have so enjoyed finding all these marvellous creations.

WOYWW #447....the After Christmas One!

That's it then!                   Was it good for you?!                     Worth getting up for?

Yes, on all counts for me ........

I spent Christmas Eve with DDN.   We opened presents .... then friends joined us for pre evening drinks and canapes .... while they all went on to the evening's entertainment, we came home and watched tv in the comfort in our home.

Christmas Day was spent over at Little Soldier's house .... nuff zed?   Lots of love and laughter ..... long time since we have had such a wonderful day.  Took me right back to when our children were smaller.......

But you're here to see my desk -nothing on there at the mo but it looked like this earlier ......

What is it?

It's the other side of this ...... 

Which, before wrapping, looked like this ......

Which, after unwrapping, looked like this .....

I videoed DDC as she opened up this present but lost all the photos.....typical but believe me, her face made all the effort worth while!

The actual figures belonged to my Mother and are treasured by DDC.  Every year she brings them out and says - wish I had a stable for them ......I've looked all over and no luck ... 
This year the look on her face galvanised me into action, no more years searching for a stable, I was making one!!!
I had some squares of thick cardboard in my stash - as one does!  Using parts of the 'surprise present' as a template, I cut the pieces for the building so that they would slot together.  I printed out some wood effect papers, glued them to the cardboard and then attached some 'greenery' I managed to purchase from my last minute shopping spree.  I really didn't think I would manage to get it into a usable state on time .... did you know that sometimes glue can take 'a g e s' to dry!! lol
Really made my Christmas ..... along with my gorgeous pressies and Little Soldier's first understanding of Father Christmas!

Next time we meet up at Chez Julia's it will be 2018 ..... and it will be all downhill to summer!!!
I pray that the good Lord will bless each and everyone of you with health, peace, love and joy during this coming year.  

December Theme Swap

Angels


Looking at these angels now they are finished and trying them against the ATC cards, it turns out that they are slightly too long.
After reviewing the angels, I thought I had better think it out again!



so I did ......


My first angel was folded and shaped papers, the card was a blue/yellow gelli print.  I managed to find some feathers, in my stash, to match the papers and attached them to the blue/yellow background. Before I attached the angel I punched out a gold circle as a halo.  
Very retro!

I used a pink/red gelli print for the background on the second card.  In my stash, I have some beautiful 'snowy' fibre paper from which I tore two strips and attached one to each side of the card.  I fussy cut an angel image found in my files and attached it slightly at an angle to the card.

I did not want to part with this card!!
Sometimes you have to have a bit of naughtiness in your life ......


I printed out the image twice, once using plain paper and once using a matt gloss paper.  
I fussy cut both images, found the matching feathers, then decided on the gelli print background.
I attached the feathers with a glue dot, spreading them across the card, then added the paper image with a glue stick.  Once it had dried, I found that the stems of the feathers showed through the image.... oops!  

Reviewing the situation....!

I added the second image with DS foam strips and outlined with silver and brown pens.

I received the following well behaved cards!


Collaged and glittered.
Thank you Kate.

Gorgeous hand painted Angel.

Thank you Gwyneth Rose.

Lovely collage with a gem.

Thank you KathleenK.

 

Tis Christmaaaas!

Happy Christmas to you all.

May God bless you with peace and joy at this wonderful time of the year.

December Colour Swap

Christmas Colours

Love these cards, I know that they are very busy but .......

I have had this ribbon for yonks so I am definitely very pleased to to use some of it up.

I cut each square of pattern along the gold bordered frame. and found some peel offs to go with them.

Some of the masterboard was attached to three ATC cards and cut to size.  I added the ribbon using a pritstick and set them all to one side to dry.

I decided to add lots of tiny peel offs sentiments to each card and also on the corners of the ribbon.

I was left with rather a large vacant space at the top of these last two card so, using a promarker pen, coloured up some oblong words and added them to the space.

A few stars in the corners and a border string .... all done.

I have received the following cards:

Beautifully embossed Stag.

Thank you JanW.

Shiney, shiney, very, very shiney .....

Thank you KathleenK.

Beautiful colours.

Thank you Margaret.

12 Days of Christmas ATCs - Days 7,8 & 9

Day Seven



 I used a textured card for this background and attached this gorgeous image of Father Christmas.

Collaged and that beautiful tiny stamp added.

Thank you Kathleen.

Day Eight


I covered a base card with some festive paper and added this little felt decoupage.  I have several of these charming fellows and really had to stop myself from making lots of these cards!!

Love this cheerful Father Christmas! Hope that's my sack ...

Thank you Barbara.

Day Nine

Another piece of textured card but with a decoupaged and debossed Christmas stocking. 

I am in awe of this work of art - beautiful .... and the envelope .....

Thank you LizS.

12 Days of Christmas ATCs - Days 4,5, & 6

Day Four

It seemed to me that, as most of the wording was showing on this piece of masterboard, I just needed to add a silhouette peel off and a gold/red star.

A beautiful blue creation with silver highlights.

Thank you Lin.

Day Five

I added some gold fibres to the top left corner of this card and then attached the spotted gold card to which I had added a tag.

Surprisingly another tag was added to this vintage background.

Thank you GwynethRose.

Day Six

I rounded the corners of this gold card, added some red/gold peel off greetings then added some of the holly leaves to the corners.  
Those red centres look so pretty but they are jolly difficult to attach, they stay on the sheet after you have removed the gold peel off .... 

This is a super collaged card - love it.

Thank you Mel.

November Swaps

I made these cards into Christmassy ones as I am not sure if I will have time to join in the December swap for the Forum, besides which, I have made more than I need for a different swap.


I have added these tags to a piece of masterboard I made when practising stamping and embossing.

This tag looks perfect set on a piece of shiny red card.

Another tag set upon another piece of the masterboard.  I added the date tag which nearly overflowed the card!!

I have enjoyed using up this masterboard and I shall have another 'practice' soon.

I received the following cards:


Fibres, peel offs and diecuts.
Thank you Hazel.



Believe it or not, there is not one piece of lace on this card!  It has been cleverly heat embossed and small velvet die cuts added.  So clever!
Thank you Michelle.

One of my favourite stamps, with sparkly letters and ribbon roses. 

Thank you Gilly.

WOYWW #446 ....... The Almost Christmas One!!!

So let us gather here -Chez Julia - to take time out with a cuppa and celebrate all the rushing, writing, wrapping, creating, posting and all the general mayhem of Christmas - and only four more days to go .....

First off I want to apologise to those of you who thought that the stamp on my desk was bought as shown.
NO
I customised it especially for my friend.


This is the original stamp.

This is mine after I had cut out the Christmas word. 

 I just wrote in 'Birth' on the card ..... see below......

Once again I do apologise if I misled you.
Onto my desk .... with all cards done and posted I now have time to get down to the 'secret pressie' for DDC.  Unfortunately it will have to wait for her birthday as it appears there is something else that she is desperate for, has looked all over for and is still looking .... Crafty Mom to the rescue methinks.

On my desk you see the start of a really concentrating hands on creation ..... I hope!! 
If I can make a half decent job of cutting out this really, really, thick cardboard so that it will all clip together how I want it to, then I will be papering and decorating over the weekend so that it will be ready for Christmas Day.  I'll let you know next week when all will be over and we will have cleared most of the mess and be hurtling into 2018...... have you noticed that not many people walk or dawdle nowadays .... we're always in a hurry .....
Just a thought.
PJ and I had a lovely day on Friday putting up the tree and it was so worth it all when Little Soldier came round on Saturday!  Here we are waiting for the train .....

......It eventually comes out of the tunnel and travels round the front of the tree and back into the tunnel.  
Grandma LOVES this train (it's ancient like her!) and she works all the sound effects from the control box ..... every day..... for at least five minutes!  lol
This scenario has built up over the years, birthday and Christmas presents combined - for once I didn't mind not having a birthday present, just a big Christmas one!!!  
I have called a halt to it now, I think the village is big enough..... 

Here's a good question ..... What is grey and has four legs and a trunk?

A mouse going on holiday!

12 Days of Christmas ATCs - Days 1, 2 & 3

Once again we are having an ATC swap for Christmas.  I have made up my small parcel from a large batch made earlier on in the year.  I will try this again next year - if I remember! - as it has been great to just sort through and then label.
My received cards come in all sorts of packaging so I have included some of it in the photos.

Day One

The Background is cut from one of my Christmas masterboards.  I added a cutout of a bauble and attached it centrally across the card.  
Raffia ribbon wrapped around the lower edge and a peel off star attached in the top left corner completed the ATC. 

I received this super card, die cuts on festive paper.

Thank you JanW.

Day Two


The masterboard as a base and small images added.

Decorated robin on silver background.  Love it.

Thank you Kate.

Day Three

A red die cut tag backed onto a small piece of green paper was attached to a gold base card.

I added the peel off sentiment at an angle across the top of the tag.

Such a lovely stamped oval attached to a stripey background.

Thank you PaulineY.

That's the first three days opened ......... this is an added bonus to my Birthday (when I open the first card) and I love it!

More to come.......