2015 Calendar

Hello Friends

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas :)  I am in Scotland visiting my family it has been great. I am loving being home.  I brought some of my crafty things with me so I was playing around today with them.  I also found these calendar books at one of the craft shops so I decided to make up a wee calendar. The timing is perfect with the New Year right around the corner.

 I used one of my favourite stamp sets called Your Wings Exist. I only had my coloured pencils on hand so that is what I used. I also bought this lovely floral ribbon and  burlap from the pound shop the other day so I used them to create the background then glued it all together. 

 When 2015 arrives I hope it is a happy, healthy and creative one for you and your families.

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

 Hugs

Mandi xox

Challenges
 Friends With Flair
Word Art Wednesday 
Simon Says Stamp Wed Anything Goes

Believe Angel

Hello Friends

I hope you are all having a great week! I meant to be packing today but I am crafting instead! We leave for Scotland on Thursday yikes!  I have an excuse though! It was my birthday yesterday and guess what I got?? Yes new stamps and paints from my hubby :)

 I just love this Angel so much I kept eyeing her on the Unity site. Then my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said stamps of course ha :)  She is from the October 2014 Kit of the Month called  Love & Joy For the Holidays.  So I inked her up as I wanted to squeeze in another card for the Be Inspired Challenge. I used the Peerless water colours that I got too they are so lovely to work with. I will write more about them later.

I made another one with more vibrant colours. I love how this one turned out too :)

 I hope you like my cards how pretty is she I love her so much :)

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.

Mandi xox


Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Wed

Kraft Stars

Hello Friends

I made this quick card for Friends With Flair today. I love kraft card and white so I went with that and used my favourite Christmas sentiment kit from Unity called Silent Night . I trimmed it with some glass stars and ribbon. I really like it I hope you do too!  I am heading out the door very soon I have a million things to do today but I wanted to get this up first.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Have a great weekend

Mandi xox

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Wed

The Snowman Card & Candle

Hello my lovely friends

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate it.  I am still making Christmas presents. Here is another one I completed today. I absolutely LOVE The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. If you have not seen this Christmas animation you really must. I grew up with it in Scotland and it is a family tradition. We always watch it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or sometimes both. My American husband had never seen it before we met.  He watched it when we were home for Christmas one year and he loved it.  Here is a wee clip of it from YouTube.

Anyway I have had these stamps for a while so I dug them out and made some cards and candles with them. They no longer sell the exact set I have but they have very similar ones Here. Anyway I hope you like my wee gift set.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today

Mandi xox

Snowy Night

Hello Friends

I wanted to squeeze in another quick card for the Take It Make it Challenge over at the Craft Stamper Blog. The challenge is to use a non Christmas stamp. I used a tree/branch stamp and heat embossed it with white embossing powder to make it snowy. Then I created a background with my distress inks.  Once it was dry I Versamarked the entire card and sprinkled clear glitter embossing powder over the top. I love that it created  snowy/starry effect without much effort. I love the colours in this card they blended together beautifully.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.

Mandi xox

Supplies - Unity Stamp Company Create Today & Sending Christmas Blessings
Distress Inks, Concord Grape, Peacock Feathers & Midnight Sky. VersaMark Ink.  White & Clear Glitter Embossing Powder.

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp - Wed 
Artistic Inspirations  Challenge 119
Eureka Stamps 
Crafty Calender Challenge - Christmas 
Card & Scrap Christmas Cards 
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes 
Pan Pastel UK - Cold & Frosty Colours 
Friends With Flair 

Noel

 

Hello Friends

I wanted to make a card for this month's Craft Stamper Take It Make It  Challenge. I love this challenge it always pushes me in to making something I would never normally make. This month  you have to use a non Christmas stamp to make a Christmas themed image.

 I had to really go through my stamps and have a good think about this one. I finally came across this flower stamp. I thought it would make a good tree. I started off with some watercolour paper. Then I cut out a triangle stencil and  stamped over the triangle with the flowers using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  Next I  got out my distress inks and went to work.

 I LOVE purple and I don't use it nearly enough so I went with that and and turquoise. I mashed about 4 different distress inks together to create these colours. Once the ink was dry I sprayed it with water and let the water marks dry in naturally to create that snowy effect behind the tree.  I then mounted it on to some silver glitter card  a white card base. I added some gems in the middle of each flower to create tree lights. Finally I used the same inks on to the sentiment and stamped it underneath.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you like my card :)

Mandi xox

Stamps - Unity Stamp Company Flowers - Hey Girl KOM & Sentiment - Silent Night

Inks - Distress Inks - Concord Grape, Raspberry Preserves, Peacock Feathers & Broken China.

VersaMark Ink,  Silver Glitter DCWV Paper, White Embossing Powder & Gemstones.

Believe

Hello Friends

I hope your are all having a good week :) The days are running away from me I have been so busy this week!! I just had some time to make a quick card with this new stamp set I got from Unity it is called Silent Night. I love these Christmas words I plan on making my Christmas cards with them.

I was at Michaels last week I discovered this glittered burlap. I had NO idea you could even get glittered burlap.  I totally fell in love with it and I wanted to buy it in every colour but I resisted ha! I only got red and gold so I thought the red would be perfect for my card today. It is much more glittery in real life it is hard to  catch it in the picture. It is a really easy card to make. I hope you like it I love the jingle bells :)

Thanks so much for stopping by  to visit my blog :)

Mandi xox

Challenges
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge
Unity Friends With Flair
Crafty Calender Challenge Christmas

Christmas Candle

Hello Friends

I am getting into the Christmas mood and have been making some presents this week. This is one of them! How cute is this?? I have wanted to try  stamping on to candles for a while.  I thought this wee girl stamp would be perfect for my candle. This stamp is called No Greater Gift  from Unity she is so cute.

It is pretty easy all you need is a candle, some tissue paper and wax paper. All you need to do is stamp and colour your image on to the tissue paper. Then cut around it. Place the image on to your candle and get some wax paper and put it over the top of the image.Then very gently heat the wax paper with your heat tool you will see it melt the tissue paper into the wax. I absolutely love the way it turned out. I think it will make a really nice Christmas gift :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by

Mandi xox

Challenges
Unity Friends With Flair
Unity Be Inspired Challenge
Crafty Catz - Christmas Challege 255
Simon Says Stamp Monday  - Ornament
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
Crafty Calender Challenge Christmas

Peace On Earth

Hello Friends

I was just playing around with my stamps and made this tag with one of the newest releases from Phyllis Harris. This one is called Faith Of A Child.  I love this wee girl. I am not entirely happy with the outcome of the tag but I am going with it anyway :)  I used gesso to create the snow at the bottom and top of the tag and the rest was water colored with paints.  I added some glitter accents over the snow and the rays. The sentiment was heat embossed  with red glitter embossing powder. Finally I added some stars and tartan ribbon to finish it off.

Thanks for visiting

Mandi xox

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge  - Stars
Unity Stamp Co  - Friends With Flair
Word Art Wednesday Challenge 158

We Will Never Forget 11/11

Remembering those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom today. I made this cross card with poppies on it. I was inspired by the poem Flanders Fields.

 Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

Christmas Eve

Hello Friends

I hope you are all having a great day.   I know it's Halloween but I skipped it and went straight to Christmas ha! My absolute favourite holiday ever is Christmas.  Yes I am one of those annoying types that wishes it was Christmas all year round ha! I love everything about it.  I have had this thing in my head for months about making a Christmas room using my stamps. I had no real idea how that was going to happen. But when I saw this little Phyllis Harris girl stamp a few weeks ago I knew she had to be in my Christmas scene.  Everything apart from the tree ( a dollar store find) and the rug ( fabric scrap) is made using Unity Stamps. The brick from the fireplace is an embossing folder but the actual fire I made with my stamps.

 If you have been following my blog you know I am totally in love with turquoise and pink right now. So I wanted to follow that theme for my Christmas scene. This totally took me back to my childhood playing in my doll house when I was making this. Who does not love doll houses?? I actually still have mine it is in my Mum's attic back in Scotland.

So to make this I started off with the corner of a cardboard box. I cut it to give me two walls and then I shaped the floor into semi circle. I then covered them with paper to create wallpaper and a carpet.

 I stamped my dog and girl and coloured them using my alcohol inks. Then I added a little bling collar on the dog using ribbon and rhinestones. On the girl I added some glitter accents. Once they were both dry. I glued some match sticks on the back of them to enable them to stand up.

If you would like I can come back another time and give you a tutorial on how to make the fireplace. There is actually a little battery operated tea light candle behind it so it flickers like a real life one would. Let me know in the comments if that is something you would like.  I just did not want to bombard my post with lots of information and pictures all at once. The bricks were created using an embossing folder. The flames were stamped separately using distress inks then finally I added some glitter to finish it off. The stockings were heat embossed using white embossing powder then coloured with distress inks.

So I hope you enjoyed my little Christmas room. I absolutely loved making it I really did. It only took me a few hours once I got started. So I will leave you with a little story I created after I made my scene. Oh and I named this little girl Holly and the dog Chester for the sake of my story :) So let me set the scene for you.

 It was a cold and snowy Christmas Eve.  Holly was busy wrapping presents and putting them under the tree. Dressed in her favourite pink and white sparkly dress and cute little matching boots. It was cozy and warm inside.  The fireplace was glowing in the corner of the room. Chester the dog sat in his prized spot soaking up the heat. He was smelling the air.  The scent of home made cookies radiated the house. Stockings were neatly hung on the mantle waiting to be filled with toys. Holly did not know how she could possibly sleep tonight knowing that this was the night Father Christmas would be arriving.

Thanks for visiting - Enjoy

Mandi xox

Supplies 
Unity Stamp Company 
 Dog - Brandy & Emma Forever Friends
Stockings - Hung By The Chimney
Fire - Simple Things
Girl - No Greater Gift
Wall Hanging - Tidings of Great Joy
Fire - Brick Embossing Folder
Wall -  Teal Strip Paper
Floor -  Gold Paper & Scrap Fabric for the rug.
Tree - Dollar Store Christmas Decor, Beads I had laying around.


Challenges I would like to enter

Simon Says Stamp Wed - Anything Goes  
Unity Friends With Flair 
Unity Be Inspired Challenge  -  Used The Colour Scheme
Crafty Catz Challege 253 Anything Goes 
Word Art Wed - Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays C187 - Anything Goes
Stamps & Fun - No Cards
Pink Elephant Challenge TPE274 - Anything Goes