The Craft Room, Derby: Friday with Christmas Gleaming

Friday

Friday with Christmas Gleaming

Good morning, I cant believe it is Friday already, the weeks are speeding along.

So after the announcements yesterday, Derby is now in the highest tier possible. So we still cant visit friends and family and we still cant fly out to Cyprus. But we can stay safe and hopefully enjoy many more Christmases with lots of folk in the future. I can go out to Cyprus next year when the weather is warmer and it is safer to do so and that is something to look forward to.

I have had a very busy week in the Craft Room. A very talented Stesha Bloodhart created a baubled card using Christmas Gleaming stamp set from Stampin' Up! that I had to try my hand at and this is the result.

I adore them so much. They feel so posh and modern that I had to try in a different colour.

This is pretty peacock and I have a just jade card on the go now, which I hope to finish later today.

To make the cards

I started by stamping out the holly and berries, two ornements and the words on Shimmery White card in versamark ink, sprinkling with black embossing powder and heating them all up.
I punched out the baubles.
I cut out the holly with a small border and I cut out the sentiment.
I prepared a base card in Basic Black A4 card. I timmed a coloured mat to 3 1/4" x 5"
I cut out a piece of Very Vanilla card to the same size 3 1/4" x 5" and put this through my die cutting machine inside the Subtles embossing folder which makes the Very Vanilla look as though it is very textured.
I stuck the coloured mat and the Very Vanilla on an angle to to card base. I tried doing this not at a jaunty angle (and trimmed the Very Vanilla down to fit) but didnt like it as much.
I squoze the coloured ink pad so that I had ink in the lid and picked this up very lightly, with the water painter. I started off at the edge of my bauble and worked my way to the middle. Trying to be sure that the outer edge was a lot darker than the middle.
I squoze the Basic Gray ink pad and coloured the holly leaves in, the same way.
I scribbled a black stamp n write marker on to the lid of the ink pad and used that just at the inner points of the holly leaves.
The berries were coloured the same as the Baubles.
I stuck the baubles onto the card using 3d pads (dimensionals).
I used retired black pearls to decorate but you can make these yourself by colouring in the basic pearls with basic black Blendabilities. You must leave them to dry though before handling.

If you have any queries about these cards, please do let me know. I am always happy to help. If you would like to purchase any of the products to create your own cards, just click on the item and it will take you to the Stampin' Up! shop and you can find out a few more details.

I have also added lots of inserts to my cards, something that I totally forgot to do. It is also a job that a lot of crafters hate doing, including myself but, I have done them and now all our Christmas cards (apart from the one from me to Paul) are ready to be written.

The gold mirror is now a silver mirror after been painted a thin layer each day. We put it back up on the wall yesterday and it is just perfect. I am so pleased that we did this, not only saving a lot of money but the satisfaction of knowing that we did it is great.

However, I do need another silver mirror for the hallway that is due to be decorated in the new year mmmm.

I am doing everything that the hospital have told me to do for my Rhumatoid Arthritis and to loose weight but the weight is still going on, half a pound every couple of days which I really cant understand. I am walking lots, eating at lunch time instead of tea time, eating fruit and veg but it doesnt seem to work so today I am starting a calorie controlled diet. I have done lots of research, have book and pen and Alexa and am following an app on the ipad. Lets see what happens over the next 4 weeks.

I wanted to share that the postman delivered our very first Christmas card today.

It is made by Susie, thank you so much. I shall add this to the Christmas page on my blog too. It is lovely and really appreciated.

Well it is nearly lunch time so I will go and make a start on the chores. Thank you for having a read and if you need any help with anything crafty, get in touch. Have a fantastic Friday x