Forgotten Friday 43- Winter Wings

Hi Folks, I hope that you all had a great Christmas, and are looking forward to the New Year ahead. I have had a lovely time with family and friends, in spite of struggling with a trapped nerve in my arm. I had a cortisone injection just before Christmas, which sadly hasn't eased the problem at all. I have had lots of help from my family though, so it hasn't all been bad.

I have had a forced break from crafting due to the sore arm, and my project today has been the first for several weeks. I have chosen to use lots of neglected stamps for this card. I have decided to make two Christmas items a month for my Forgotten Friday projects at least, to keep me prepared for Christmas next year. Sadly, the Bah Humbug blog won't be running for a while, and I want to make cards all year, as I started to this year, by following their blog. So, if you want to be organied like myself, then join me in making Christmas cards twice a month, and use some of your neglected stash along the way.

I have used some never inked Jo Capper-Sandon stamps for this project, although not typically Christmas themed. You would hardly expect to see a dragonfly in the Winter! I have also used her large and small mushrooms, a stamp from the Judikins Botanical cube, and a tree from the Chocolate Baroque 'Aboretum Design a Tree' stamp set. All of these stamps are neglected stamps, so I have been very good this week. I masked everything off, and then coloured the background with Distress Inks. I coloured the images with Polychromos pencils, then added a touch of Stickles to the dragonfly wings.

If you have time this week, why not have a trawl through your stash, and make something with a forgotten item or two? Leave a link to your project in my comments, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look.
Have a very Happy New Year all of you, and thanks for all of your support this year. I look forward to crafting with you in 2012, thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 42- It's been a while

Hi Folks, it's been a couple of weeks since I've done a Forgotten Friday post, and I'm really not expecting any of you to go rushing out to make something to join in this close to Christmas. The makes that I'm going to show you today are coincidental, not specifically for this post either. We are all so busy at this time of year.

Unfortunately, I haven't been that well recently, so crafting has been almost impossible for me, which has been really frustrating in the lead up to Christmas. I am buying a lot of my cards this year, but listening to a lot of other people, I'm not the only one. I hope that you aren't all feeling the pressure of the season too much. Hopefully you will be able to approach the big day ready to wind down, enjoy some time with friends and family, and that you can relax for a while. I know, I'm not ignoring the fact that there is a huge dinner to cook on the day, believe me! However, I have three helpers who do the vegetable peeling and the washing up, so I have learned to delegate!

Anyway, on to my projects this week. I have been making a book card with my card class for the last couple of weeks. It wasn't meant to take so long, but the construction was a little involved, and then the front needed decorating. I then showed them how to make the TH pine cones, so it became quite time consuming. My project was based on a project taken from the Whiff of Joy tutorial blog, there is a great 'how to' video on the blog. I have used a neglected Martha Stewart punch to make paper lace to decorate both the inside and outside of the project, colouring the card with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

I then embossed a favourite Chocolate Baroque holly swirl stamp in gold onto my background card, and then added various green Distress Inks. I then stamped an unused LOTV angel stamp onto an oval of card, which I had already coloured slightly with some of the green inks. I coloured the image with Coloursoft pencils. I added some more of the paper lace, and two of the pine cones and foliage from the same die, which I had inked with Pine Needles Distresss Ink.

My second project is a Birthday card that I needed to make for a twenty year old this week. I wanted something quite vibrant to reflect her vivacious personality. I used some Distress Inks patted onto my craft mat, spritzed with water, and dragged my card through the colours repeatedly, building up the layers. I then sprayed a Crafty notions white spray over the top to knock the colour back slightly. I then stamped an IndigoBlu crackle stamp over the top.

I stamped 'Ella Bella' from IndigoBlu onto the background, using Archival black ink. I added some lovely sari ribbon that my crafty friend Lesley had given me, I have been hoarding this for an eternity, and the colours are gorgeous. I then added a silver butterfly that I had coloured with Stream and Wild Plum alcohol inks, again, a neglected craft item. To finish, I added some tiny flat-backed self-adhesive pearls on the image. I have lots of these, but rarely use them.

If you feel like making something with your forgotten stash, please leave a comment, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look. However, please don't feel guilty if you are too busy this week. Thanks for stopping by, xx