My last few Christmas Cards from 2021

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? We had a quiet one as usual. My back is playing up a bit still. So I can't craft for too long and I am working on a project for the beginning of February. I am sorry I have been neglecting my blog. 

Was looking back through my files of cards and I found three that I hadn't blogged. All the images for these cards were drawn by our daughter. 

I often ask our daughter to draw images of our friends especially if they are keen on particular characters. These friends enjoy Star Trek.  

This was the image our daughter drew for this couple's wedding last year. I made it into a Christmas card this time.  

This is the Christmas card I made for my hubby. He challenged me to make a simple card and that is what I did. Though when he opened the card I did have to remind him of the challenge. Our daughter drew the Snowmen for me. 

I hope the start to your New Year has been good. 

I am hoping to do a bit more crating soon. 

Have a lovely week 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

A Set of Four Christmas Cards

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? We have had a busy few day. There are still issues with the care we have set up for my in-laws. I am sure everything we get sorted out soon. 

When I have been feeling like crafting I have been making Christmas cards. I find these the most restful things to make. I have done a lot of colouring lately and that helps too. 

I was given some old cards that all matched. They were used to make new cards and I used up lots of off cuts of patterned papers. 

There were lots of scraps left over so I made a Snippets background for one of the cards. 

This was a great way to use up some things that had been hanging around my craft area for a while. 

I actually think this is the first card I made. That paper is so pretty. 

There we have the  four similar cards. I still have more I would like to make. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Snowmen for Beccy's Place

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I do hope that you had as good a Christmas as you could with the current restrictions. We unfortunately had to self-isolate which meant that the meagre plans we had were curtailed even more. It has meant that we cannot go out for walks. We are so glad that we have a garden. I cooked a nice meal which we enjoyed together and we had a WhatsApp video chat with the family. On Boxing Day we started an online Murder Mystery which is lots of fun. We are allowed out on Wednesday. The NHS app has a count down. 

This is my last post of the year for Beccy's Place I am lucky enough to be one of her blog contributors. I was given the Snowman Encore digital stamp set to work with. 

I made my own backing paper with some of the snowflakes from the set. I used a gel pen to add extra dots. 

Beccy's Blog is a great place to visit there is lots of inspiration, competitions and there are free images as well. Click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

This is the Snowman Digital stamp set. There are a lot of images here. The image set is available HERE. 

Here are some of the snowmen. They were coloured with my Polychromo pencils. I used a sentiment from the set too. 

Here is a second card I made. This little snowman is so cute. I used my Polychromo pencils again. 

Here are the cards together. They have all been sent now. I did have a few cards left over this year. I also did much better with the sizes only one needed a large letter stamp. 

Have a Happy New Year

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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John Next Door Shutter Card Die set

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I have just finished two weeks of invigilating. The kids we have worked with have been very good and have coped with the difficult circumstances we have all had to deal with. I am posting on a Saturday as I have some news that I have been sitting on for a while. 

Back in the summer I applied to be a Guest John Next Door Angel for the month of September. Well that didn't work out. A bit later on a received and email that I assumed would tell me that too many people had applied and that I hadn't made the cut. Well I was wrong I was given the chance to be a Guest Angel for November. In October I received my dies and I had a great time making cards with the Shutter cards die set and the Poppy Heads dies. 

The dies were released on Hochanda yesterday and they proved to be very popular. I tried to make a range of card with the dies to show how versatile they could be. 

I will start with the Christmas cards I made. All the dies and papers I used have been designed by John Lockwood aka John Next Door.  

This card was shown in the Facebook Live the day before the release. By accident I made this card open the other way to most of them. It works just as well. 

Here is a more straight forward Christmas card. 

Here I made a Christmas card with Sam's Circles die set. I used the flags that came with Shutter Card die set. 

Here are the Christmas cards together. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Challenge 516 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Challenge 83 a the the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 28 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #81 - Anything Goes - Sponsor Geko Galz

 Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

Thank you for sticking with me for the second post of the day. This one is for Challenge #81 at the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge blog. The theme of all our challenges is Anything Goes and the sponsor to this challenge is Geko Galz.  Oh boy did we have some fantastic images to work with. 

The set of images I used is called Gnome for the Holidays and it is available HERE.  There were so many images in the set I just couldn't stop making cards. 

The store is a feast of delights. Click on the logo and you will be taken there. 

Aren't the gnomes cute and they worked so well with my stash. 

This card even recycles an old card. 

I made a Snippets background for this card. 

He is just so cute. I do like red of Christmas cards. 

This is a background I found. I couldn't resist adding Santa and a moon. 

They work on tags too. 

Here is everything together. There are lots of cards for my stash. 

Have a great week. 

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Up-Cycled Christmas cards

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you had a good weekend and the start of your week has been good too. I probably ought to start with a bit of an explanation. I have been a bit quiet on my blog lately. The death of my friend hit me quite hard and I have found it hard to focus, not helped by me getting a cold. I have a lot to get ready in the next couple of months my husband is 60 this year. I am still crafting but mostly it is things that I can't share just yet. Thank you to those who haven't given up on me. I am still around.

I am  trying to keep up with  my Christmas card makes. At the end of a craft session I try to fit in a couple.

This is one of my up-cycled Christmas cards. I liked the image on the old card. I trimmed it to fit so I could in some mats and layers. 

I do like to see robins on Christmas card. 

I used the Ivy Spray die from the John Next Door range. I added glitter for some extra sparkle. 

This is a small sentiment die from the John Next Door range. 

I had time to make another simple card from another card. 

That's another two for my stash. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

The June Rudolph Days Challenge

Challenge 443 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

Challenge 187 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Challenge 52 at the Holly and the Ivy Challenge blog

Challenge 11 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 445 at the Fab 'N' Funky Challenge blog

The L and M Challenge at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog L for Little Robin

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Christmas cards made with Recycled Packaging

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? What things have you been up to. Our neighbours have finally replaced the broken fence between our properties. I have been holding back from doing any planting in our front border in case in got trodden on. Now I have the delightful prospect of working out which plants to put in.

I have challenged myself to join in with the Rudolph Days challenge every month. The challenge is for Christmas cards and starts on the 25th of the month and runs until the end of the month. I was doing quite well with making Christmas cards earlier in the year but just so much else to do I haven't made so many. If it wasn't for the Rudolph Days challenge I might not have made any. I really don't want to be making them at the last minute the way I did last year.

I was looking for something in my Christmas stash and I came across some packing for some slipper socks that I had saved. I love the snowflake border around the edge of the panels I matted and layered the panels. 

I found a square image for the top of the card. 

The sentiment cut with a John Next Door die fitted onto one of the flaps. 

The second card was made in the same way. 

I cut a sentiment with a Creative Expressions die in white glitter card. 

This snowflake was on one of the panels I added a die cut snowflake over the top. 

Here are both cards together both made from the same packaging. 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The April Rudolph Days Challenge

Challenge 434 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

Challenge 183 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Challenge 48 at the Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 9 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Snippet Busting Christmas Cards

Hello My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How is your week going? Tomorrow I start back on my weekly trips to Winchester. There is a lovely shop there called C&H fabrics. There is a coffee shop and a craft department. I am looking forward to visiting both again.

I have been having a bit of a think about my blog. I have had an unofficial schedule that I have been working to. The consequence is that I have made too many cards over time. Last year I was given the opportunity to donate cards that I didn't think I would use to a coffee morning raising money for a charity. This meant that I had a good clear out.  The long and the short of it is that I will be only posting when I have something worth sharing. I am still on some design teams and I will still be entering competitions. I will also continue to visit all my crafty friends blogs. I will be around.

One of my friends who goes to a craft class gave me a lovely handmade card. I liked the design so much I decided to have a go at it myself. It is a great way to use up all sorts of snippets of which I have many.

It is a very simple design and the cards I made are A6 in size. I used my guillotine to cut the strips of paper. All those bits of paper I had been saving could be used.  I cut a piece of white card and covered it with the strips this way it could be neatly trimmed. I started with the centre strip and worked out from there. This design is so easy to adapt to any size. 

The sentiment is the one I used a lot last year from the John Next Door range. The two mats were cut with two Sue Wilson dies that came from the centre of a larger die. 

I had so many snippets I made 10 cards. Last year I made a few mistakes with my Christmas cards. Firstly I was making them right up to the last minute I hadn't made enough. Secondly I  made too many big cards that needed large letter stamps. These cards are flat and small. I might make some more as I have lots more snippets to use. 

Enjoy the rest of the week. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

The January Challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper  Challenge

Challenge 43 at the Holly and the Ivy Challenge blog

Challenge 419 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 343 at Pixie's Snippets Playground

Challenge 6 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 175 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

The A and B Challenge at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog A for Anything Goes

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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Hunkydory Christmas cards

Hi My Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

How was your weekend? We had a fabulous time at Destination Star Trek at the NEC in Birmingham. If you love Star Trek you will understand.

As you might know I have been struggling to get my Christmas made this year. I bought a copy of Cardmaking and Papercraft that had a free Hunkdory Christmas papercraft  kit. I loved using this kit. I made quite a few cards.

This one was my favourite I used the snow globe and one of the backing papers. 

There was a set of robin cards. I love seeing robins on Christmas cards. 

Here is a selection of cards with snowy scenes. 

The I made cards with deer on.

I made all of these cards in one session. There are some bits of the kits left so there will be at least another couple of cards to come. A lot of these cards will go to the Brownie Coffee Morning my friend is organising. 

Have a great week. I know a lot of people are on half term this week. 

I would like to enter the following challenges: 

Challenge 408 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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A batch of Poinsettia and Snowflake themed Christmas cards

Hello my Crafty Blog Friends and Visitors

I hope you had a good weekend. Ours didn't go exactly as planned. We did  eventually get to the 60th birthday party in London. We arrived in the right road and we knocked on the house we had been given the number for. Only the person there knew nothing about a party, he was very nice about it. We went off and stood some way off and tried to phone - no luck. Just then our friend drove by and stopped and told us the right address. The number we had been given  was 8 out. Later we got home to news that our son-in-law had fallen on his arm arm and was in pain. On Sunday our daughter took him to A&E and he came home with in a plaster. They suspect he has broken his elbow. So we popped over to them to visit.

A little while ago I mentioned that I needed to make a batch of Christmas cards for the people that my husband works with. Eventually I came up with a design and I managed to get them finished yesterday.

In the background is some gorgeous Crafter's Companion patterned card. Over this I place the Snowflake Square die from John Next Door cut in white glitter card. 

This is John's Happy Christmas die cut in gold with a black shadow. 

I used the poinsettia dies and the matching stamps to make the poinsettias. The dies and stamps make so many flowers at a time. I still have some left to use on another project. The ivy die was cut in green glitter card. I only used one die cut ivy on each card I snipped them apart so more showed around the flowers. 

Here they all are together. They aren't exactly the same but I think they make a nice set. My husband is pleased with them. He did ask for 10 but being me I made 12 just in case. Of course they won't go to waste if he doesn't need them. 

Enjoy the rest of the week 

I would like to enter the following challenges:

The October challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge 

Challenge 405 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

The September Challenge at the Merry Christmas Challenge blog

Challenge 168 at the Crimbo Crackers Challenge blog

Challenge 77 at the A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge blog

Challenge 3 at the Merry Little Christmas Challenge blog

Happy Crafting

Hugs Jackie

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