With a grateful heart

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the US and, although we don't celebrate it in the UK, it strikes me that at the moment it is important to give thanks for all we have. I am lucky to be healthy, have 2 amazing children, a rewarding job and lots of great friends. So many people in the world live in poverty and in the midst of war that I am so grateful to live in safety and comfort.

This card has been made using Trimcraft First Edition Falling Leaves papers. The leaves have been cut from the papers using X Cut leaf dies and distressed with Walnut Stain distress ink. The sentiment was a free download from Trimcraft (they have a set of toppers and sentiments available here). I have finished off with some Dovecraft Glad Tidings Pearls

Thank you for visiting and commenting today. I hope all of my American visitors have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Cathy x

Vintage Reindeer

Good morning. It seems winter is finally here- I've just come back from the school run and, for the first time this term, we had to wrap up warm. My boys have new Star Wars hats and gloves, so were happy to wear them.

This colder weather makes me feel more Christmassy but also reminds me that I still have lots of cards to make. This little card with its vintage feel is a good template for the quick cards I need to make now- simple yet still stylish.

The papers are Trimcraft First Edition Christmas Wishes- I love this red and brown combination. The reindeer and sentiment stamps are from the Dovecraft Glad Tidings Clear Sentiment stamps pack. I've stamped the deer and sentiment using Vintage Photo distress ink onto Creative Expressions Milk card. I've used the distress ink on the edges of all layers to achieve a vintage look. The twine and pearls are also from the Glad Tidings range.

I would like to enter this card for the Fantasy Stampers Traditional Christmas Challenge.

Thanks for visiting today and for all your lovely comments. Cathy x

My Besties UK Same but Different for November

Hi everyone. Can't believe a week has gone by without blogging- such a busy time of year! Today we have a new Same but Different post over at My Besties UK. This time I got to choose our digi so I chose this gorgeous girl with her sack filled with love. You can buy this digi here in the My Besties store.

Pop over to the My Besties Blog to see all the DT cards, they are really fantastic. If you comment on the post, you will be in with the chance of winning this lovely digi image.

I love blue and silver for Christmas cards so chose that colour scheme for my card. I also wanted to use my new Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens. They are really fantastic, particularly if, like me, you're not a fan of using glitter but love sparkle. I used the Clear Sparkle pen on the hat, cuffs, boots and snowflakes and Solar Red and Emerald Green on the hat decoration. You can really see the effect in this picture:

The rest of the image has been coloured with Spectrum Noir markers:
Skin: FS2 FS4 CR2
Eyes: LG5
Hair: TN1 EB1 EB2
Hat and Dress: TB1 TB3 IG1 IG2
Bow and Boots: DR1 DR2 DR3
Sack EB1 EB2 TN1

To make the card I have used Crafter's Companion BeBunni Christmas papers and silver card from the Create and Craft Member's Gift. The snowflakes were cut using Spellbinders Dies (2012 set I think). The ribbon is from Next and I've finished off with some Papermania gems.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
Scrapbook Stamp Society Challenge Anything Goes Option Ribbon
My Besties 3D and more Anything Goes with a Bestie
My Besties Meet at the Scrapper's Corner Challenge #18
Crafts Galore Encore Use a Stamp or Digi/ DT call
Spectrum Noir November 2015 Challenge

Thanks for visiting today and for your comments, I really do appreciate them. Cathy x

Back to the North Pole

Good morning everybody, hope you've had a great weekend. Today's card is a simple little Christmas card made using the Trimcraft North Pole collection with a few embellishments from other Trimcraft Christmas collections.

I began by inking the edges of a square of background paper with Tea Dye distress ink and added it to a kraft card blank. I cut two banner shapes, one slightly larger than the other, and added these to the left hand top corner.

I took a wooden tree shape, from the Dovecraft Christmas Basics range, and decorated it with some pearls from the Glad Tidings range. I first saw Dawn Wheeler do this when she demonstrated Trimcraft products on Create and Craft and love the effect.

I finished the card with a bow, frame and mini peg.

Thank you for visiting today, I really appreciate all your comments. Cathy x

Happy Birthday Mum!

It's a very special day today as it's my Mum's 70th birthday. I thought I'd share the 2 cards I made for her.

The first one is from my sons, made using Trimcraft Dovecraft Back to Basics III and Serendipity ranges:

What makes this card a bit different is that the picture is actually a fridge magnet. I wanted to find a way to make this great picture into a keepsake and this worked well. Full details are in my Trimcraft gallery

The second card has been made using the new Crafter's Companion Downton Abbey CD-Rom:

This CD is fantastic, especially for fans of the show as my Mum is. I have chosen papers and a topper from the Dowager Countess Violet selection and added lace and pearls. I love the quote on the tag- in my opinion Violet has all the best lines in the show.

We will have a busy evening celebrating this special day and will be repeating it all again soon as my Dad is 70 in 8 days time!

Thanks for visiting today, I appreciate all of your comments x

My Besties UK November Challenge

Happy Monday everyone. October has been and gone so quickly. November is my busiest month of the year, with birthdays for my mum, dad and husband, followed by my youngest son on 1st December, but I do love this time of year.

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at My Besties UK and this is my DT card. Our theme this month is Anything Goes  with option Gold, so I chose this festive My Bestie Image no 008, which is available to buy here. Please pop over to the challenge post to see the other DT cards, as they're all fabulous, and we look forward to seeing lots of lovely entries this month.

I have coloured the image with Spectrum Noir markers but have also used Wink of Stella in Gold for the dress and hat, so they sparkle. The Spectrum Noir colours used are:
Face FS2 FS4 CR2
Fur and Boots EB1 EB2 EB3

The papers I used are from Trimcraft's Jingle All The Way 12x12. These papers are really beautiful, with some foiled pages, so I kept other embellishments simple. I added a gold ribbon and bow, some sequins and some pearls to finish.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge Christmas
Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Use a Digi

Thank you for visiting and commenting today, I really do appreciate it. Cathy x