Christmas Cards

 My Christmas cards are all made and mostly sent. Here are some that I made this year.

I'm now doing a couple of Instagram Advent challenges, so I've decided not to finish my 365 Somethings challenge of mini collages. I managed to get to 315 and there just aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week to fit in everything I want to do. 

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm so grateful for all the wonderful support I receive here. I will try to do some blog visiting myself this week.

Alison

Madonna and Child Christmas Cards

 Hi Everyone.

I recently had a sort out, and found some beautiful stamped images that my blog friend Lynne/Stampingandbeyond sent me a few years ago. The lovely Madonna and child image is by Oxford Impressions.

I decided to use the images for some more Christmas cards. I simply paired them up with some of my monoprints, and added some gold lace.

I'm linking my cards to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 23.

Thanks for visiting,

Alison

AEDM Day 11

 Hello All.

I'm not sure if it was a side effect from my jab, but I woke up feeling nauseous today.

I felt a little better this afternoon, and managed to make some more Christmas cards. I'd better think about sending my overseas ones off soon, as time is marching on.

I made 8 cards today, 4 of each colourway. It brings my total to 51 so far, only about 20 left to make. Fortunately, not all of them are posted!

I'm linking up to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 11.

Thanks for visiting.

Alison

Some More Christmas Cards

 Hello All.

As promised, here are some more Christmas cards I've made.

These ones were inspired by Leandra Franich's post on the PaperArtsy blog. They're very similar to Leandra's cards, but I added some round teabags and watercolour paint splashes to mine.

A close up of one...

These next cards were inspired by Anneke De Clerck, also on the PaperArtsy blog. They are pretty much a copy of Anneke's cards, I only had black wire to hand though, and the stars are Carabelle Studio stamps.

I'm linking up to Leah's Art Every Day Month challenge Day 3.

Thanks for dropping by today.

Alison

Christmas Card Time

 Hello again all!

It's that time of year again! I've been making a start on my Christmas cards.

Here's what I've made so far...

The Madonna and Child image is an old Artistic Stamper stamp, no longer available. I used water-soluble crayons to add colour. 

The holly is hand-drawn over watercolour on one, and on the bottom one I painted the holly, then added sketchy black pen outlines. Lots of splatters on all of them naturally. 

I made a few of each of these 3 designs.

And here are some baubles that I painted with watercolour, then added paint pen doodled designs, and black pen outlines on some.

I made some with warm colours too. I spent a fun evening doodling in front of the TV.

Wishing you all a happy weekend. Thanks for dropping in.

Alison

Joy To The World

Merry Christmas To You All!

Love & Blessings,

Alison xox

Kasia's Advent Calendar - Day 8 - Snowflakes & Doilies

Hello Everyone!

Here's my page for Kasia's Day 8 prompt of Snowflakes & Doilies. I'm also linking up to Yvonne's Words & Numbers theme at Art Journal Journey.

Bits of book page and teabags for the background, then I cut a snowflake and used it as a stencil with paint. I then glued my 'snowflake' to the RH side, added stencilled numbers in green, some Christmas traditions layered on washi tape, black watercolour pencil outlines and paint pen splatters.

Happy second Advent Sunday, and wishing you all many blessings,

Alison xx

Christmas is Coming!

Morning Friends!

It's official, I made my first Christmas card of the year! Garden Party Challenge on Instagram's latest five prompts are...

Rectangle card with white background

Grey + One colour

Bottom left

Trees

Dots

This is what I came up with. Very minimalist for me! I used a tree stamp by Artemio, and some PaperArtsy Sara Naumann word stamps. Splatters courtesy of a blue Posca Paint Pen.

I also have my latest Artist Trading Stamp to share, and today's theme is Holidays. Our holiday destinations usually involve mountain hiking. Those little stick people are us with our walking poles! Hahaha!

I'm linking today's art to the Art Every Day Month Challenge.

I'm off for my woodland walk shortly, have a lovely day!

Alison xox

Memories From Boxing Day 2018

Hi Everyone!

Here's another art journal spread for Elizabeth's 'Tis The Season Challenge at Art Journal Journey, featuring my Boxing Day memories this time.

The left-hand page was a gelli plate print, so I drew some baubles, then painted with Pine Grove PaperArtsy Fresco acrylic around them. I outlined the baubles with black paint pen and Stickles glitter glue.

The other page has teabags, scrapes of the green acrylic, red stencilling, Stickles crosses and my memories.

Hope you're having a lovely, creative day,

Alison xox

Memories from Christmas Day 2018

Happy Boxing/St. Stephen's Day Everyone!

This morning I got up early (6.15!), and whilst the memories were still fresh (not easy when you have menopause brain!), I created another art journal spread for Elizabeth's 'Tis The Season Challenge at Art Journal Journey.

I have exactly the right amount of double pages left for the remainder of December, so I'm going to try and post every day.

Here's a closer look at the textures, including book page and painty scraps, teabags and sparkly mesh fabric...

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

Light Of The World...

Christmas Blessings to you all!

Another page for Elizabeth's 'Tis The Season Challenge at Art Journal Journey, inspired by singing my favourite worship song at Midnight Mass last night.

Alison xox

365 Somethings & Kasia's Advent Calendar Challenge 2018

Merry Merry Christmas Eve to you all!

First of all, I have the final page to share for Kasia's Advent Calendar Challenge. For Day 24, she asked us to write down our Christmas wishes.

I made a grungy page with collaged book page scraps and teabags, scrapes and spots and stencilled paint. My Christmas Wish is for Peace and enough food and water for everyone in the whole world.

And, here are my teabags for 365 Somethings Week 51.

Christmas trees cut from Gelli Plate prints, cut into four pieces, then mixed up. I added some sequin stars to the tree tops.

Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Christmas and 2019!

Alison xox

More Christmas Crochet

Good morning lovely blog friends!

I made these little crochet star Christmas cards especially for my lovely group of crochet friends. They are such caring friends, and we have a lot of good times and laughs on our Friday mornings together.

I'm entering these cards in That's Crafty's 'Anything Goes' Challenge.

Wishing you a happy Wednesday,

Alison xox

Kasia's Advent Calendar Challenge - Days 16-18

Hi Everyone!

Here are some more art journal pages I've created this week for Kasia's challenge.

Day 16 - Remember the colours we chose at the beginning of the challenge. It was suggested that we choose a palette of colours and a stencil, so that we could quickly reach for them without having to decide what to use.

Day 17 - The ways we bring Christmas into our home. I'd like to enter this page in Elizabeth's 'Tis The Season Challenge at Art Journal Journey. 

Day 18 - Things we are grateful for.

I hope you are having a stress-free week, full of festive fun!

Alison xox

365 Somethings 2018 - Week 50

Hello Folks!

Today, I have seven more pieces of teabag art to share with you, for week 50 of IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I stencilled some snowflakes with paint, then simply stapled a little collage of fabric or tinsel with a postage stamp (torn from envelopes containing Christmas cards).

Only two weeks left of this wonderful challenge!

Happy Monday to you all,

Alison xox

365 Somethings Teabag Art - Week 49

Hi Everyone!

Here are my seven arty teabags for week 49 of IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge.

I went back to my favourite little collage technique of stapling some scraps to the teabags. The stars were punched from Gelli Plate prints, and I added a glitter glue outline to them.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Alison xox

Christmas Crochet Angel

Hello Everyone!

I found a free crochet pattern for an angel on Pinterest, and used fine crochet thread and a 2.5mm hook to create one. It was a tad fiddly, but I may have to make some more.

I mounted my angel onto teabag paper, then onto some music paper, and made this Christmas card for our friends Meg and Frank.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Alison xox

Christmas Remakes

Morning Folks!

I received a Christmas card order from a friend, and she really liked this one that I made last year, so I made a couple more in different colours for her.

The background is made with Dylusion Spray Inks and a Crafter's Workshop snowflake stencil. I die-cut two Tim Holtz Tattered Doilies, glued them together, and triple embossed with Frantage Aged Gold & Silver EP. The message stamp is by The Artistic Stamper, inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The ribbon was coloured using the same Dylusions inks as the background.

Which is your favourite?

I'm entering my cards in Country View Crafts' Christmas Challenge.

Have a lovely day!

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 48

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Today, I have some more teabag art for IHanna's 365 Somethings Challenge. These ones are for Week 48, and are a little bit festive, in fact they've already been turned into Christmas cards. I have to admit I made a whole load more, as they're small, flat and cheap to post.

I hunted through my stamps, and found 7 different star designs. The two top and two bottom are by Birgit Koopsen for Carabelle Studios. The middle left is Crafty Individuals, the middle centre is Dina Wakley, and the middle right is by Seth Apter for PaperArtsy. They're all stamped on various Gelli Plate prints.

Thanks for dropping by,

Alison xox

365 Somethings - Week 46

Hi Everyone! Thank you for all your kind messages on my last post. It appears I have an autoimmune condition and will have to take medication indefinitely. It's good to know what I'm dealing with, and hopefully the damage won't be too bad.

Today I decided to try out some festive designs on my teabags for Week 46 of the 365 Somethings Challenge. They may well end up on Christmas cards!

Thanks for visiting,

Alison xox