Monday 3 December 2012

Fir and Card Trees

We went up to our local Garden Centre on Sunday to choose our main Christmas tree.The weather was perfect....so cold and frosty. There were also some real Reindeer there which certainly drew in the crowds.
Comet and Dancer had just finished eating and were snoozing in the sunshine ;0)
There were as always lots of lovely trees to choose from.




We selected one about 7' tall and it was will be delivered during the week. We will pot it up and decorate it next Saturday....I just love getting out all my ornaments from over the years and will be adding my little gingerbread man my Mum bought me at Harrods.











I have also been creating some Christmas tree cards. I was really lucky to win some stamps from the UK based company, Visible Image and I had time for some crafting at the weekend. I decided to go back to my crafting roots and have a play with messy stamping...and what fun I had. I first tried some embossing using their Santa and reindeer stamp, which I already own.  I then made a whole sheet of backing paper using green and red distress inks. I had forgotten what fun it is to get inky fingers




I also won a lovely poem stamp which I will use another time.


I made the backing sheet on the far right using Kraft paper, it gave a lovely richness with the distress inks. I love the way you can blend the inks together.














These 2 focals have been stamped with  blue pigment ink and then clear embossed.

So I will share with you for my card challenge today one of my finished tree cards.




For this card I stamped directly onto the red/green backing sheet I had made and then added white embossing powder which I melted with my heat gun. I love the way some pink/red/green highlights shine through.




I really love this effect. I matted the stamped focal onto red card and mounted it onto some fun robin backing paper. I added a Lili of the Valley sentiment, a ribbon and some hand punched holly leaves.I also used plenty of glitter glue on the snowflake.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Visible Image Christmas challenge
Stamping Sensations  Treemendous
The Ribbon Girl Christmas ho ho ho
Penny Black Allsorts It's your choice
Pretty Little Ribbons Shop It's Christmas
Totally Gorjuss Anything goes with glitter #160





There are only 22 sleeps to go now.

I have my last silversmithing class tomorrow and I hope to finish most of my present shopping afterwards. I wrote and posted most of my cards on Saturday so things are ticking along fairly well.

We brought in our little Christmas tree from the garden yesterday. We managed to keep it growing from last year. With the wet summer it really thrived. We call it our chocolate tree and I put on its lights and some of the chocolates last night. There is something quite magical when the fairy lights twinkle in the darkness. It is standing in the hall and I can see it from where I am typing this. Christmas really is here now.

All is well in Jane's World ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

30 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous bit of stamping Jane. The cards are just stunning! Thanks for joining us at Stamping Sensations this month.
    Pinky

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  2. It was fun going back to my stamping roots Pinky! Thanks for visiting,
    Jane x

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  3. Gorgeous card the trees are fabulous as is the colours. Caroline xxx

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  4. Wow so many great photos here Jane. Fabulous pic of the reindeer and your little tree is just gorgeous! Love the way you have used our Christmas Collage stamp, brilliant stamping and the colours are fantastic! Thank you for entering it in our Christmas challenge over on the Visible Image blog. Good Luck! Helen xx

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  5. Glad you enjoyed your visit Helen, thanks for my prize...your stamps are such fun to work with,
    Jane x

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  6. Wow, your cards are getting more amazing all the time! I can imagine how cool it would be to be on your card list and receive one!!
    ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
    *M*E*R*R*Y* *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*
    ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. Thanks Teresa, I made all but 12 of the cards I sent this year....they take soooo long to do which is why I start them so early.Merry Christmas ;0)
    Jane x

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  8. Awe I love the reindeer, they're beautiful! :)
    You're really getting into the festive mood Jane.
    I love all your inking fun, the red and green backing sheet is lovely such a brilliant effect. The blue images are great too.
    Enjoy your evening,
    V xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  9. Reindeers are fascinating creatures aren't they Jane. An old school friend who used to present One Man and his Dog got married a couple of years ago just before Christmas and they had a reindeer drawn carriage to and from the church. It was certainly something different.

    You made a fabulous card with the VI tree, the colour the fabulous and it reflects your 'chocolate tree' perfectly.

    Thanks so much for sharing with us at Penny Black and More and Stamping Sensations challenge is this month.

    The die you asked about is a spellbinder label, I'm pretty sure number 23.

    B x

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  10. Hi Jane, What lovely card work. I love all the inking and especially the Robin backing. I love picking out the yearly Christmas tree also, not yet for us, maybe next weekend. We normally put our big tree up 2 weeks before Christmas : ( I would like it up now but HB says it will be dead by xmas. (he may have a point)
    I really loved seeing the reindeers, they are so sweet and sleepy!
    Have a nice week, xoRobin❤

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  11. I know, dear friend, it's the best Jane-time of the year now!!! It's wonderful to see your tree soon (and that little one is the cutest!) as you know how late we take ours in, on 23rd only... So I can enjoy yours here whole December!

    Beautiful cards, I really like those water-color-looking colors from red to green, really beautiful!

    Happy December days dear friend!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  12. Good morning Vivienne,those reindeer were super cute. We walzed last night...such fun. My house is beginning to look a lot like Christmas :-)
    Jane x

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  13. I would love to have seen that wedding Brenda..how magical. I will add your label die to my wish list,thanks.
    Jane x

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  14. Hi Robin I find it I keep watering our trees they last until 12th night with minimal drop. We buy the Nordmann variety. Merry Christmas enjoy your festive home,
    Jane x

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  15. I would struggle to wait until the 23 rd Dear Mia. Enjoy mine :-) Merry Christmas my fellow Mrs Christmas :-)
    Jane x

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  16. Dear Jane, what a fun post! I love to see reindeers and your chocolate tree looks magical!
    Your new cards are beautiful and I really like the way you have painted them - those running reindeers on the sky are super!
    Thank you for Christmas feeling which I can't find easily here.
    x Teje

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  17. Thanks so much Teje there is plenty of festive spirit for you here.....enjoy...ho, ho, ho :-)
    Jane x

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  18. So glad everything's happy in Jane's world :) Love the card. It's always fun to see what you've created.

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  19. Hi Jane,

    I've never seen a real reindeer - what a great idea, my boys would be hyper excited to find them at our local garden center! Love your little chocolate tree, as well as our big one (which we'll buy in a week or so) I plan to buy a small potted one, I wonder if it'll also last in the garden?

    Lovely card, I do love a bit of embossing powder.

    Bethx (thelinencat)

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  20. I only just realised you then did your card into Pretty Little Ribbons challenge as well Jane, so belated thank you.

    B x

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  21. Hi Beth, I also saw Reindeer at Ruxley which is more your way? They are very gentle creature, I loved them. Our chocolate tree not only survived but thrived just in the pot we bought it in under the magnolia tree in the garden. Give it a go, there is nothing to lose at all. We find our last about 3-4 years and often only die if I forget to water them during a hot summer...no chance of that this year ;0)
    Jane x

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  22. I loved seeing the reindeer :0 Your new card is lovely, Jane...I think that the effects you've created work really well and look so perfect for the fir tree theme.
    Wishing you a happy festive week!
    Helen x

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  23. Hi Jane...Your cards are beautiful as always...and when it comes to crafting sometimes the old ways are less efficient but definitely more fun, aren't they? It often feels so wonderfully authentic to use old methods too!
    Beautiful reindeer and your pretty tree is making me feel I need to get a move on around here and so I shall leave you now!
    Hope you have a great week and thank you so much for calling by and your lovely comments...it made my day!
    Susan x

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  24. They were lovely souls Helen...I can just imagine them pulling a sleigh. Thanks for liking my stamping, I had green and red fingers for the rest of the day!
    Jane x

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  25. Hi Susan, before I started using Promarkers I only ever stamped using embossing powders...it really was fun to go back. Making the green and red backing paper was new though and I loved the effect, I will certainly be doing that again soon. Enjoy getting your decorations up, not long now.
    Jane x

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  26. Gorgeous cards and LOVE all your photo's too! Great to see you at Totally Gorjuss this week, hugs Samantha :0)

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  27. So gorgeous, Jane!
    Thanks for joining us at Pretty Little Ribbons challenge this month.

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  28. Beautiful cards and love the photos too.
    Thank you for joining in the It's your Choice challenge over at Penny Black and More @ Allorts and good luck x Susan x

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Jane x