New Cards

Dare say you will all be very busy, with the last minute preparations for the BIG day. We have almost come to the end of our celebrations, for this year, only a birthday one later this week. My birthday years are now on the reverse! LOL.There have been so many dinners out, that my husband assures me it's weigh-in next week - will not be too happy with the results, no doubt! Oh well, it's only once a year, thankfully.

Well today I thought I would step away from Christmas cards and share some random ones that I have made. Do hope you enjoy.

I made this birthday card for Hamilton, our grandson, who is travelling overseas  with his family. They are in China at the moment and as Hami has always shown a love for history etc, he will no doubt be enjoying himself. They were all pretty excited, as they are visiting a good number of countries and are having Christmas in Switzerland. Maybe, a white one! We do miss them, but are thankful that we can to be in contact all the time.

I am rather fond of these Tilda stamps which I coloured with my Kaiserfusion Alcohol Pens. A friend cut me out this frame and I thought Tilda would look rather cute sitting in it. I am sorry, but I am not sure what the name of this one is. For the border at the bottom, I have used a Martha Stewart border punch, called Doily Lace Edge.

One day, we were at our friend's home and she had these cute serviettes, with owls on them. Of course, my imagination went wild. As a result, we have this window card with the googly eyed owl sitting in it. I have used an older collection from Kaisercraft, called Suga Pop. I did set a challenge for the other ladies as well, and  the results were fabulous. Pity I can't share them here.

This will be my last post for the year, as we are heading South on Monday, to enjoy time with our families there, over the festive season. Thank you all so much for the support you have given me over this past year via emails, texts and comments etc. I so appreciate you all.

 Trust you will all have a fabulous time over Christmas, do drive safely if travelling, and enjoy your time with family and friends. That to me, is the best part of the season.

             The star that guided the wise men,
              Has long since faded and gone,
              But the light from that first Christmas
              Keeps shining on and on.

Trust you will all know God's blessing, not only for the Christmas season, but throughout the coming year.

Betsy  xxx

Birthday Cards

A lovely Sunday evening to all my friends. As we are heading up to Christchurch early in the morning, thought I would add this blog tonight, just showing you some cards I have made for the birthdays in our family.

This card was made specially for our lovely oldest grand-daughter who has just turned twenty. Having recently purchased a Heidi Swapp Minc foiling machine, I had to try it out on this card. I certainly am having fun with it, only need more time! This collection is a Christmas one called Christmas on Market Street, from My Mind's Eye - it is stunning with it's gold accents.

Heidi has just turned twelve, so I made her a easel card with a Kenny Image on it. The scalloped circle shape is a Marianne Design die, LR0112 and I have used a Spellbinders Labels die for the sentiment.

This last card is a random one I created. Another Spellbinders die, Timeless Rectangles. The papers are of course from Graphic 45, Secret Garden, which to be honest, I hate cutting into. I love all their collections so much.

Must away and sort myself out for our early start.

Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting to you all and many blessings,

Betsy  xxx

More Christmas Cards.

A special hello to all my blog friends.

Well, the countdown is certainly on now, not long until the BIG day. Really, it is only one day in the year but we all seem to feel the pressure, as it gets closer. In the old days, when living on the farm, we had to have the swedes planted by the 25th ( the bosses orders!). My husband was always a stickler when it came to that one and even now, that we are supposed to be retired, we still seem to have deadlines. Oh well, one can be thankful we can still enjoy all the hype and be so appreciative that we can celebrate a wonderful gift that was given us, that first Christmas morning.  "For unto a Son is born, unto us a Son is given." Praise God!

Now today, I thought I would share another three Christmas cards which I have recently made.

This is a 5 1/4" square card, made with the Indigo Blu six inch papers. Card making is very simple when using these, all one has to do is add a few embellishments. The poinsettia is a Penny Black one which I really enjoy using.

Again, using the same papers and the same die for cutting the poinsettia. The leaves for this ones are a Tattered Lace one, as well.

Now, for this card I must admit, I found the idea on Pinterest. What did one do before we had that amazing site!! The embossing folder is one from Couture Creations, Tied Together, CO724399. I have embossed then added pearls. The poinsettia die is a Tattered Lace one. For cutting the sentiment I have used Antique Labels One, from JustRite. This was in a gift I received from Simply Cards, a few years ago. for a competition I entered. The stamp was as well. I do like the effect of using the gold mirror card. Thanks Pinterest.

Must away and prepare the next Christmas kit, for Artfull Crafts. We are having the Christmas Celebrations on Saturday and it is always a lot of fun.

Happy crafting ladies, don't get too stressed out with all the preparations and many blessings to you all.

Betsy xxx

A Couple of Kid's Cards

Hello everyone.

A quick post this morning as we are getting rather snowed under at the moment. Christmas always seems to do that to one and as we get older it takes longer to get things accomplished. Oh well Betsy, stop complaining and get on with it!!

Today I am sharing some cards that were made for orders, and specific orders at that! Hope you all enjoy.

Grand -dad had to have a card for MacKenzie, who is turning three and she is fond of the Wiggles. I went onto the net, found a picture, printed it out twice and 3'D it. My Cherry Lynn Step Die was used to cut the base card and I must say, Grand -dad was very pleased with the outcome, as I hope MacKenzie was. Well, as much as a three year old could be!!

Solomon is a little Nepalese boy, who I found out after I had made the card, was turning six. I'm sure he didn't mind that his age wasn't on it. This is a Kenny image that I had in my stash.

As you will notice this card isn't a kid's card but I am going to show it anyway. I have used the lovely Ma Cherie Collection from Kaisercraft and the rose has been cut out using a free die from a Tattered Lace Magazine. I have sprinkled glitter on the top of the rose which I am rather pleased with. A 5 1/4" very simple card. The butterfly is cut from one of the accompanying papers.

Trust all your Christmas plans are coming together - not long now ladies!

Thanks so much for stopping by, happy crafting and may you all know God's blessings.

Betsy  xxx

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit!

Hello ladies on this lovely day. Spring has really sprung today after a rather cool weekend but still we managed to get our BIG weekend over mostly, before the rain came. It has been very busy and even though we all enjoyed it, it is nice being back to normal once again.

Today I thought I would share a couple of cards that I did with the ladies at Artfull Crafts, one Wednesday morning, recently.

Kaisercraft's Holly Jolly collection was used and we made a gate fold card. The poinsettia was cut out using the Tattered Lace die, the border was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch and the sentiment stamps are from Kaisercraft as well. It is held together with a belly band.

Now, I must admit I saw this one on Pinterest and loved the simplicity of it. It is a Penny Black poinsettia die, both a solid and lace. I have cut out the solid, three times, placed them on the card then sprayed with Heidi Swapp Colour Shine which has left a rather stunning gloss.Sorry it doesn't show too well in the photo. After cutting the lace one three times I have placed them on top, not centred, with mounting foam. The sentiment is also from Penny Black. The frame is a Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8.

That's it today, do hope you are all well and enjoying what you are occupied with. Thanks for taking the time to check this out. It makes it well worth while when I get your e'mails, comments etc. Thank you.

Happy crafting and special blessings to all,  

Betsy  xxx

 

Playing With New Dies

Good morning all. It is so nice to be back in touch with you again, for another week.

It sure is a busy time of the year with Christmas fast approaching but it is also a lovely time being able to be with all the family. One of our families are heading overseas this year, for their holiday, so we are going to miss them but know they will have a fabulous time. To all intents and purposes, at this stage, we are going to spend time with our Dunedin family, at Wanaka - they have taken pity on the OLDS - so we are looking forward to that.

Here in Geraldine, it is perhaps the busiest week of the year as we have an Arts and Plants Festival weekend and the town sure comes to life. I am tied up with the patchwork display which is always fabulous. It is held in the beautiful St Mary's Church and it is a lovely display of all the quilts etc we have made over the year. We are tired by the end, but we sure enjoy all the hype.

Now, here are a couple of cards I have recently made using some new dies, I have recently acquired.

This is one of the recently released dies from Kaisercraft. I loved it when I saw it at the Retailer's Days in Australia, so was pleased when it arrived. It makes a lovely edging down the front of a card. The sentiment die is a Spellbinder's Label die and I have used Heart's Ease Collection from Couture Creations.

We had a friend over card making with us one day recently and she had this embossing folder which was a free with one of the Card making Magazines. It is lovely. I have embossed it using Pearlized card and it is a lovely effect. The leaves behind the flowers are a die from Couture Creations which, after putting through the E' Bosser, I cut up. I know I will get a lot of use out of this die, as one can never have too many leaves!

All today ladies, I must go and get some groceries and I broke the last needle that I owned for my sewing machine, so will replenish those as well. I can't complete the cushion I am making until I do so and I need it for the display.

Blessings to you all and happy crafting,

Betsy xxx

Christmas Cards.

As I turned the calenders over this morning, the thought came to my mind, how did we get so far through this New Year? I sure don't know where this year has disappeared to - seems to go faster as one gets older!

 Anyway, we are just almost at Christmas again, and today I would like to share a couple of cards which I have made. Dare say, most of you will have your stash completed by now but if not, these are two simple cards which can be put together in a hurry. All that is needed, is some different papers.

 The collection I have used for theses cards is from Indigo Blu - it was a 6' X 6" pad, I cut the paper down slightly as I prefer a 5 1/4" square card, I then fussy cut another sheet and 3D'ed it over the first. Added a Kaisercraft Season's Greeting Die sentiment, punched out some snowflakes and for the poinsettia flower I have used the Tattered Lace, Christmas Florals Die, DO95.

Again, I have done something very similar, although I did punch round the edge of the paper using a Martha Stewart punch. Very simple, but I think they make rather a nice Christmas card. There are two sheets of the same paper in each pad, hence I was able to do the fussy cutting. A double bow and some snowflakes were all that was needed here.

Thanks so much for stopping be ladies and I do hope this gives some more ideas. Happy crafting and blessings to you all. Until next time.

Betsy  xxx