Royal Mail Christmas Wishes

 The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #126 is now live!   As always Anything Christmas Goes so I hope you'll join us!  We love to see your cards and be inspired by you and I hope I can inspire you a little!

This is my latest creation, a small token of respect to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  Say what you like about the British Royal Family (and plenty of people have been saying quite a lot lately) -  Queen Elizabeth II was a remarkable woman who dedicated her entire life to public service and always with grace and dignity.  Her grace and dignity will be sadly missed in today's world!

 With all the talk about the changes that will be made now there is a change of monarch - the coins, the stamps, etc. - my mind wandered to the little red mail boxes populating kerbsides up and down the length of Britain which are all emblazoned with the monongram of the late queen.  Will they be replaced?   "Royal Mail" was privatised a while back as I understand it so would they replace them with ones bearing the monogram of the new king?  I doubt it!

But it got me thinking that with a few tweaks, this "Briefkasten" die from Charlie & Paulchen could be used to make a Christmas card and pay my respects to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the same time!  I'd been meaning to break out this die anyway in the run-up to Christmas because sending and receiving Christmas cards has always been one of the delights of Christmas for me - I would write our family's Christmas cards from my early teenage years (mum bought me a "calligraphy" pen just for the purpose - what a clever mum)!

I cut three mailboxes and stacked them up for dimension. and ran around the edges with Black Soot DI!  I just cut out a gold "E" and and "R" from the smallest alphabet die set in my collection.  The II in the middle were negative pieces left over from the "R".  It really should have had a crown above the II but I didn't have anything that small.  However the top of the mailbox has a sort of crown which I cut again from gold, trimmed and added to the top.  

The "queue" of letters trying to get to the mailbox were cut from two dies from the same set.  They have little heart and star cutouts so I backed them with a piece of red card and popped on foam tape.

My biggest problem was finding a sentiment to go with it - "Merry Christmas" seemed too trite!  I decided on this sentiment from Waltzing Mouse Seasonal Flourish which seemed to strike the right tone given the sombreness I was trying to convey - though it is very large and quite tricky to accommodate!  I suppose a sentiment isn't always necessary but I like to add them!

I'm entering my card in NBUS Challenge #43 because I used this NBUS "Briefkasten" die.

I'm so glad you visisted my little corner of the internet and I do hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you take the time to leave a comment I am especially grateful - not only will it brighten my day, but it will also let me know you were here and how to find you! 

Kate

Comfort

 

I needed one of those cards we all dread making - a sympathy card.  Luckily I had a container filled with flowers and leaves I'd cut previously so this card came together quickly.  

The leaves and flowers were cut using the Tim Holtz Funky Foliage die set, the Sentiment was cut from off-white card stock using the Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Comfort set and coloured with Orange and Purple Alcohol Markers and I used the Tim Holtz 3D Woodgrain Texture Fades Folder to emboss a piece of Kraft card stock which I then lightly distressed with Gathered Twigs DI.  The more I use this embossing folder, the more I love it!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Four Season Challenge

Let's Squash it Challenge #25

The Card Concept #181

SSSWednesday Challenge - Fall Colours

CYHTP  - no twist

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #557 - Autumn Colours

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate

Christmas Cheers

This card is one of a set I'm making for some Australian friends!  They would meet up on Friday evenings for zoom cocktail meetings during the pandemic.  We joined them a few times but unfortunately it was Friday morning here so a little too early for cocktails!  But we enjoyed a coffee and their company - especially as everything seemed so uncertain at that time!  

So, I thought Christmas cocktail cards would make a change from the snowy themed cards I usually send them - after all it is summer in December down under!  This set only arrived a few days ago and I've spent many "Happy Hours" since then preparing these little cocktails.  My fingers were a right mess but fortunately distress inks wash off fairly easily!   

The "glasses" were cut from scraps of acetate packaging and stacked for stability.  I used glossy accents to adhere the stacks and I added a coat to the top as well.  This set comes with the most adorable cocktail accessories - citric slice and segment, olive, cherry mint and what cocktail would be complete without a little paper umbrella!  Initially I kept the martini simple but it looked too plain so I added a little holly from Tim Holtz Winter Foliage (though it would probably taste awful)!

The "bar" was just a scrap of kraft card stock which I used a deckle edged die to cut the sides and then ran it through the "Lumber" 3-D Texture Fades folder.  I then ran come gilding wax over the top.

The first half of the sentiment was computer generated and a stacked "cheers" die cut was added to complete it with the top layer in gold!  I wanted to foil the computer generated part but I guess the finish on this paper was too rough and because the sentiment was quite small, the foil was barely discernible.  I decided to foil the whole panel (using a cheaper brand of foil) in a last ditch effort to make the sentiment more golden because that had worked on a previous occasion.  The whole panel now has lovely gold flecks through it!

Here's the inside!  I was going to stamp "from our house to yours" to continue the sentiment but the font was too elegant for such a light-hearted card and then "from our bar to yours" popped into my head so I generated that on the computer instead!

Instead of attaching the glasses to the panel with adhesive, I thought it would be fun to create fridge magnets.  I added magnets to the back of the "glasses" and corresponding magnets behind the front panel.   

Here's a video so you can see what I mean!  You'll also get a better sense of the golden finish!

I'd like to to enter the following challenges

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge #614 - for someone special!

Peace on Earth Challenge #25 - Anything Christmas Goes

The Holly and Ivy Challenge #125 - Anything Christmas Goes

NBUS Challenge #43 - The Happy Hours set is new and had it's first "Use"

SOS Challenge #480 - Leaf Me Alone (Holly and Mint leaves on my cocktails)

Snippet's Playground Challenge #438 - I collect snippets of acetate from packaging and used these for the "glasses" as well as other snippets (especially that gold, it's too expensive not to save the snippets)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes this week!

Just us Girls Challenge #652 - "Scraps" - Scraps of acetate were used for the "glasses"!

Cheers, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you go away with some ideas for creating special Christmas cards for the special people in your life!  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and can then return the favour!  

Kate

Ok, but First Coffee

 

I am really excited to bring you October’s challenge over at 613 Avenue Create where the twist this month is  But First…Your Favourite Beverage!  We'd  love to see your beverage inspired projects but if you'd prefer to play without the twist, that's fine too!

Our sponsor this month is Mirtillamente and I’m using her But First Coffee image because for me, it has to be coffee!   

I’ve printed the image onto some off-white card and die cut it with the Lil’ Inker Coffee Talk 2 die.   What you see is actually three mugs stacked.  I removed the handle from the top one so the mug stood higher than the handle.  Removing the handle also made it easier to distress all the edges.   I removed all but one of the mug contents and coloured that with Distress Inks and then reinserted it into the mug!

Then I applied versa mark and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to make my mug look more authentic!  Because the coffee was at a lower level, applying the Versamark was difficult, so I ended up finishing this off with Glossy Accents.  I add a few gold beads to the coffee because they remind me of Demerara Sugar.

I created a simple little scene with a brick embossing folder, a snippet of red gingham and a doily!  I don’t normally make square cards - they cost twice as much to send!  However they are nice format to work with, especially a small one like this!  

I’ve used an embossing folder to create the brick wall background so I’d like to enter the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge!

I've also used some snippets in the card so I'm off to the Snippets Playground for challenge #438

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate