A Merry Christmas - Vintage Style

Hello friends

Today I'm sharing a more unusual card with you. 

Last year I was approached by a company to produce a series of cards using some vintage postcards/pictures.  The plan was that they may want to produce them on a bigger scale.

Unfortunately that wasn't to be, the poor company, like so many others 

has suffered in this economic climate.

It does mean however that I can share with you some of the cards. 

Here is the Layered Poinsettia again! 

For the picture frame I used Lattice Rectangles and Classic Rectangles.

The background paper is Graphic 45 - Christmas Emporium,

I stamped the base section with a music stamp and added my elements.

Today on the 'to do list' - the garden, craft, shopping and I have a horrible feeling that 

ironing pile is creeping up again - oh to have little ironing fairies that visit while I sleep...! 

Have a brilliant weekend friends - what are you up to?

It's....Friday Die Day!

Hello friends

Who keeps putting time on fast forward??

Before I know it Friday is here and that can only mean one thing...

Friday Die Day!

This week I'm answering a request to showcase Exquisite Circles.

These dies are part of the Spellbinders™  Majestic Elements.

You receive 6 circular dies that offer a variety of cutting, piercing and embossing - no two circles are the same.  Brilliant to be used on their own or layered. 

Here are all 6 stacked inside each other.

 And this is how they look individually.

 Firstly I've chosen three dies to cut/emboss.

I placed them onto my cardstock and secured them with some removable tape.

This is the finished result, the embossing is beautiful. 

 Next I chose to use two further dies, placing them in the middle.

 The result is a pretty shaped aperture and a rather splendid decorative embellishment.

 I succumbed to a tag..again!

Luggage tag stamped with script stamp and a tiny piece of pretty lace adhered to the bottom.

I chose to cut a piece from one of the circles. 

Then added the decorative element. 

Topped with vibrant green Foliage and Spiral Blossoms Three. 

Some close up photos. 

Superb dies, so many options - I've only used two of the die cuts on my project but imagine a 

scrapbook page.... I also think cut in burgundy/red they look a little Christmassy too!

A little newsflash: a space has become available on the Christmas Tags class on 27 October.

These classes were the fastest to book up, I think it may be my reputation with tags! :)

For this tag class we are using special tags from East of India and Authentique - Festive paper stacks.

If anyone is interested, please email for full details: christine.emberson@blueyonder.co.uk

Have a wonderful weekend..guess what I'm doing...crafting!

I do intend to tidy the garden too, say goodbye to the summer flowers, plant some bulbs 

and risk scratches galore when I trim back the blackberry bush!

Take care friends.

Christmas Gift Bag

Hello friends

Remember me saying how much you may see of Layered Poinsettia....

here it is again and this time inked with blue - brhhh makes me feel a little cold looking at it!

This is one of my envelope gift bags and for the closure die cut I used 

Labels Twenty Two.

Again it is a project for Make Christmas Cards Magazine and using the freebie

papers and little tag.

Now something else to tell you all -

Cosmic Shimmer Glue is now available in my Amazon shop but the lids have changed from the image pictured there.  Apparently it is due to customer feedback.  The lids are now the screw on smaller ones.

If, like me, you like a nozzle applicator please hold on to the ones that you have, 

they are interchangeable - I checked this out - I was rather concerned about my nozzles!  

(Oh my, that does sound strange!)

Also, for those who missed it - the flower I used on yesterday's tag was

Bauble Blossoms One  - they have been featured on a Friday Die Day here.

Also apologies if I confused anyone with asking you to cross over to Scrapbook Adhesives blog,

no I don't have two blogs - I design for Scrapbook Adhesives and twice monthly post a project on their blog.  Goodness, I don't think I could keep up with two blogs every day! :)

As for the stamp it is an A6 Alpha Writing - makes a change from script doesn't it. I hope to be stocking these A6 stamps along with the photo corners in my Amazon shop fairly soon. 

I'm all organised for tomorrow's Friday Die Day.

I've received a few more requests for certain dies and I have them on my list. 

Always feel free to ask - as long as I have the dies I'm sure I can make a tag with them! :)

Have a great day.

A Tag Today!

Hello friends,

What's this??? A tag on a Wednesday!

I think I ought to re-think the project for Friday Die Day - I don't want to overdose you on tags!

Today's crafty project is for Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L™.

This is somewhat summery after the recent Christmas projects.

This time I'm showcasing how brilliant the photo corners and E-Z Squares® are.

I enjoy using the photo corners on pages and tags, I've yet to use any on an actual photo!

Little bit of a secret....If you happen to make an Amazon purchase through my shop a few Scrapbook Adhesives products somehow fall into the parcel before being posted out -

a nice mystery!  :)

The flower is created from Bauble Blossoms One

If you have time, I would very much appreciate you clicking over to 

the Crafty Power Blog and leaving a comment, it truly helps.  

Thanks to you, my followers, we are really making a difference of promoting 

Scrapbook Adhesives here in the UK.

It's super sticky stuff!

Quick mention to Yorkshire Sue.  Following on from Friday Die-Day - Sue mentioned she does not own any of the Motif and Accent range of dies, are there are any others that could be used in a similar way?
Well I got thinking about this and realised Edgeabilities would work brilliantly too,
especially if you put in some of the decorative inserts.
I'm off to try that soon....

Take care friends, back tomorrow.

Christmas Greetings, Class News and Haircut!

Hello friends,

A bit of a long blog post today...

Here comes a Christmas card!

Again this one is featured in 'Make Christmas Cards', I did quite a few for that magazine!

The magazine comes with these papers and some die cuts - the sentiment and tag is included.

I added an Eyelet Circle and Layered Poinsettias - in lovely traditional red.

Again a simply constructed card - perfect for batch making. 

Shame I'm not heeding my own advice here! 

Other news:

Christmas goodies are arriving at the crafty studio ready for classes....
I thought for some of my classes,  it would be a nice treat for each person to have a
paper stack of papers to use and then any leftovers are useful to take home,
(plus I love shopping and get carried away when ordering papers!)
For the Christmas Plaque class on 24 November we are using Echo Park - Very Merry Christmas
(there is one place left on this class).



For the Festive Full Day class on Sunday 9 December I've chosen Simple Stories - Handmade Holidays -
it is a 12 x 12 paper stack full of 12 sheets of patterned paper, 2 sticker sheets,
photo overlays and more, (there are two places left on this class).

Due to popularity of the Advent Frame class, I am running it again on Sunday 4 November.
Here are advent frames in production.

And, in case your curious and booked on the Christmas Tag classes we are using the beautiful
 Authentique - Festive paper stacks.

Now to the Bella haircut ....
Before:

 After:

Yet again I have to do a double take to check it is Bella!
So quite a lot of news today - as always any questions or if you would like to book a class,
please feel free to email me:
christine.emberson@blueyonder.co.uk
Have a lovely day dear friends.

Haircut Day!

Hello friends

It is the start of a new month and a new week and I have lots of things planned,

thank goodness for lists! 

First off this morning Bella is going off to the hairdressers.

My friend visited yesterday and decided to make use of some scraps of twine on my craft desk...

I will post a picture tomorrow with her haircut, I'm sure she will appreciate being able to see properly! 

Now for the crafty item:

Following on from yesterday and the book recycling, a further card using some pages from Dickens.

This time I decided to use the book pages to create a flower - Anemone Flower Topper

and just a strip of text behind the pretty Tear Drop Circle - I had forgotten just how lovely those dies are!

A tip if you are using very old book pages that are delicate and some are like tissue paper, 

adhere the pages to some paper or cardstock first, then die cut etc - 

it strengthens and saves on any frustration if it begins to tear...

I obviously learned this through experience! :)

Have a great day dear friends.