Magic Christmas Memories

One, two, three, one, two, three... keyboard test :). Well hello crafty peeps and a very happy New Year to you all! It's been a while since I last blogged... I hope you have been keeping well.

I don't get to craft much these days. My crafty mojo seems to come and go as it pleases and it's not always possible to catch it at a convenient moment lol 😀. It seems though that it tends to make a brief appearance around Christmas and the festive period so I thought I'd share my most recent Christmas themed make with you. 

This scrapbook layout took me a year to complete from when I made my background... I know! 😱 I guess, the creative process needed some time to mature ha ha ha. 😵 Luckily this sketch gave me an idea how to finish my layout.

I absolutely love this photo of my Dad and the little me (many many moons ago!) saying 'hello' to Santa. I wanted to create a page that would reflect my memories of Christmas when I was a child. 

In Poland, Christmas celebrations start with a festive family dinner on Christmas Eve and that's when we also get our Christmas pressies from Gwiazdor (a Polish equivalent of Father Christmas). It was my family's tradition that, before we sat at the table, my brother and I would always go outside to wait for the first star to appear in the sky. When it did, it was time to start our celebrations. 

In that short period of time that we were outside Gwiazdor would always visit our home to leave presents under the Christmas tree. As you can imagine the arrival of that first star in the sky always had something really magical about it.

NB. I've got no idea what used to happen on cloudy Christmas Eves where we couldn't see any stars... I don't recall having to sit outside all night so there must have been an alternative plan of some sort ha ha ha!

For my background I used a Sleigh & Reindeer (Dreamweaver) and a star background stencil and various embossing pastes from Dreamweaver. I also added some lovely shimmer with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist.

The wooden planks have been 'freestyled' from patterned paper, inked with distress inks, and embossed with wood texture embossing folders. I've not tried this technique before, and I love how these came out. The texture is just fab! 

The beautiful chippies are from Dusty Attic and I painted them with DecoArt paints. I secured them to the page using my trusty Adhesive Sheets.

I die cut some poinsettias and added lots of foliage to embellish my page. I also fussy cut a handful of lovely elements from old Christmas cards. I layered them using 3D Adhesive Dots.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed walking down the Christmas memory lane with me. That's all from me for now. Till next time... 

Big crafty hugs

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I am entering the following challenges:

Country View Challenges Jan 2022 - Your Year to sparkle and shine

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Something New

The Scrappy Sketches - Mapka

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#lovely Plum Crazy Tag

Re-edited: I am absolutely thrilled to say that my tag has been chosen as one of the winners of the Dusty Attic's November Moodboard challenge!!! Yay!!  :)

Hello my lovelies,

I hope you're managing to keep away from the wind and autumnal chill and are crafting away something fabulous instead :).

I'd like to share a little tag I created, having a deep plum v autumnal vibe in mind.

I don't get much time (or mojo, sadly...) to craft these days but I was totally bowled over with the Dusty Attic's November moodboard inspiration photo. I love all things purple and the yummy plums on the collage got my creative juices going. Oh, and what about that yummy looking cake with the beautiful leafy crust? So 'Thank you' Dusty Attic for such a delicious inspiration to get me crafting again! Yay! :)

I just couldn't resist it, so I thought I would try to create something for their November challenge. The DT are actually all playing with notebooks this month but that wasn't where my creative muse was taking me, sorry! And since she's a very capricious lady I had to follow the path she was leading me on lol :).

The patterned paper base of my tag includes some stamping and  'double (or triple even?) embossing'. First, I debossed the tag with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then I embossed the impressed image with Garnet Grenat embossing powder. Then I added some stamping with the Brush Stroke stamp and embossed it with Rose Gold powder.

I also decided to paint some artificial leaves with DecoArt paints to wrap my bouquet of 'harvested' flowers, berries, foliage and frilly grasses.

The flowers and the tag were tinted with Merlot spray ink and I generously sprinkled my harvest bouquet with Mini Prills and Twinklets Diamond Dust. I also added a #lovely chippy from the Dusty Attic Hashtag Sayings #2 set. I heat embossed it with Honey Miel and Rose Gold powders.

Main supplies:
Stampendous: Brush Strokes stamp, embossing powders in Honey Miel, Rose Gold, PEARLustre Garnet Grenat
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L: 3D Foam Squares - Black, Dual Tip Glue Pen, Extreme Double-sided Tape
Dusty Attic - Hashtag Sayings #2
DecoArt: Metallic Lustre - Champagne Ice, Americana acrylics in Country Red, Royal Fuchsia, Dioxazine Purple, Bittersweet Chocolate, Snow White
Distress Inks: Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Aged  Mahogany, Forest Moss, Black Soot
Memories Most - Merlot

I might have gone a bit crazy with my embellies but hey, who was I to argue with my creative muse if that's what she craved?! lol :)

That's all from me for now, my Friends! Thank you for stopping by and for any lovely comments you may wish to leave to let me know you've been!

Have a very creative week!

Big crafty hugs




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I'm also entering the following challenges:
Frilly and Funkie - A Harvest of Gratitude challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes
A Vintage Journey - Paper Stash

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Crow's Woes - A Story of A Halloween Raven

Re-edited: Yeeppie!!! I am a Designer Spotlight with this project over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! Yaaay!!!

Happy Halloween to all!

I haven't blogged for a long while but I've finally been able to find some crafty time and the inspiration came for this Halloween themed project! Just in time to join in the finale of 31 Days of Halloween!

I've decided to alter an old photo frame for this handsome fella. The stamp I used is the Raven Background from Stampendous. I took the inspiration from the JUGS #417 Challenge Photo:

The autumnal colour splatters, the bird theme, feathers...

The frame was first painted with DecoArt's black gesso and then treated with random dollops of alcohol inks in a range of colours.  When the inks dried I applied some Dazzling Mettallics wax in Iced Esspresso to highlight the raised areas, along with a touch of Cherry Red acrylic paint.

I also framed the image further with Black Glass Glitter from Stampendous.

At the top I added an ornament cluster with hidden bat wings, mystic medallion and raven's feathers, complemented by a smaller ornament at the bottom with a scull and crossbones. All straight from the pantry essentials for witch's brews and potions... :).

If you'd like to indulge in more Halloween inspiration, do also have a peek at my Halloween lantern and Halloween Witchcraft tag projects. And make sure to check out of the spookylicious projects over at the Stampendous blog with the links to the whole month's worth of Halloween inspiration!

Thank you so much for stopping by and for all your lovely (or terrrrrifying!) comments! Happy Halloween!

Big crafty hugs!




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I would also like to enter the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Frilly and Funkie - Trick or Treat (bat wings - treat for a witch)
A Vintage Journey - Crazy for Autumn Colour
Country View Challenges October - Mixed Media With Autumnal Hues 

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Stampendous and DecoArt - Medialicious Blog Hop Finale!

Hello! And welcome to our Stampendous and DecoArt blog hop finale! We have been hopping (and hoping!) all week to bring you the latest, most awesome products, techniques and inspiration projects! I hope we didn't disappoint and oh boy, I have been drooling over the projects shared by both DTs! If you've missed my Steampunk heart card, that I shared on Monday, you can check it out here. Be sure to check out other projects shared this week as you don't want to miss out on this treat and on the fabulous prizes!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Here's what you need to do to enter into a draw for the Mega Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, please see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details. Want to see all that’s in each prize package? Take a look below:

Stampendous:

ASCRS07 Cling Handle with Care

ASCRS08 Cling Skuldoggery

ASCRS09 Cling Unexplained

DecoArt:

Quinacridone Magenta

Cobalt Turquoise Hue

Cobalt Teal Hue

Primary Magenta

Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

Paynes Gray

Carbon Black

Titanium White

Prussian Blue Hue

Phthalo Blue

Quinacridone Gold

Diarylide Yellow

Pyrrole Red

Green Gold

Primary Yellow Media Mister

Titanium White Antiquing Cream

Patina Antiquing Cream

8oz Bottle Lamp Black Americana Acrylic Paint

Now, onto my today's make. For the focal point I used my all time favourite butterfly stamp from the Butterfly Trio set which I die cut using Butterfly Die Sets die. I stamped it with Sepia Archival ink and painted it with diluted acrylic paints.

My background was stenciled with paints over the Mandala Stencil and I added some stamping with the Script Lines and Andy Skinner's Unexplained Stamp Set. I distressed my background panels with paints and distressing tool.

The sentiment is from the Bible Promises Perfectly Clear Stamp Set which I heat embossed with Detail Black Embossing Powder.

My butterfly was inspired by this gorgeous canvas from Kirsten Sheridan. The little plastic spoon was painted with acrylic paints before it received a Fran-tage Magic treatment with Copper Lux Mix and Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter. This is how it looked before the paints/Fran-tage make over...

And that's after the make-over...:-)

To finish off my card I added some splatters with Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold.

DecoArt paints used: Americana Country Red, Bittersweet Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Island Blue, Golden Straw and Media Fluid Acrylic Quinacridone Gold (perfect for vintage rusty makes).

Other Supplies:
Inks: Spiced Chai StazOn Mini, Sepia Archival, Jet Black Archival, Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Papers: Authentique Latest & Greatest, BazzillBasicsPaper Ambrosia
Adhesives: Multi-Medium Matte, E-Z Runner® Grand Dispenser, 3D Foam Squares - Black, Small

Here's the full line-up of the blogs playing today:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

Katy Leitch

Mark Gould

DecoArt Blog

I hope you've enjoyed today's post! Thank you for stopping by and for all your lovely comments. Have a fabulous weekend!

Big crafty hugs



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Stampendous and DecoArt - Meant To Bee Together!

Hello and welcome to our new Stampendous and DecoArt blog hop! This is not the first time these two fabulous companies play together and it certainly will not be the last time. They share this special bond and (media) mix together perfectly. They have Attitude and they are perfect for altering every-day items! :-) Yes, they are meant to Bee together... but more on that in a moment...!

And since we are having a blog hop, we are going to treat you to droolingly gorgeous inspiration from both teams as well as SUPER AWESOME PRIZES!!!

Here's what you need to do to enter into a draw for the Mega Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, please see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details. Want to see all that’s in each prize package? Take a look below:

Stampendous:
ASCRS07 Cling Handle with Care
ASCRS08 Cling Skuldoggery
ASCRS09 Cling Unexplained

DecoArt:
Quinacridone Magenta
Cobalt Turquoise Hue
Cobalt Teal Hue
Primary Magenta
Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide
Paynes Gray
Carbon Black
Titanium White
Prussian Blue Hue
Phthalo Blue
Quinacridone Gold
Diarylide Yellow
Pyrrole Red
Green Gold
Primary Yellow Media Mister
Titanium White Antiquing Cream
Patina Antiquing Cream
8oz Bottle Lamp Black Americana Acrylic Paint

Now, onto my inspiration project. This is a card I made with one of my totally mixed media-licious backgrounds I shared a while ago on Instagram. I spent an afternoon playing with my Creative Palettes and layering paints onto scraps and Mixed Media Papers. I did some stenciling with sequin waste and bubble wraps as well as lots of stamping with bottle caps and building blocks. Whatever was to hand! In addition to regular white, gold and black acrylic paints I also used DecoArt Americana Acrylics in: Bright Yellow, Yellow Light, Pink Chiffon, Carousel Pink, Cadmium Orange and Country Red.

For my focal image I used Stampendous cling Time for Love which I stamped with Jet Black StazOn ink onto acetate and I coloured the image on the reverse side with Papermania metallic pens. I cut out the heart and mounted it onto the card with DODZ-3D so it would look as if it's floating above the detailed background, without getting lost within in. And you can still see the background layers between the cogs and rivets of the image :).

I also added some more stamping with the Honeycomb Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamps Set and I threw in a few cute little heart cogs for good measure.

That's all from me for today! More inspiration is waiting for you here:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Alison Heikkila

DecoArt Blog

Don't forget to leave some love on the participating blogs to be in with a change of winning one of those amazing prize bundles! Thank you for stopping by today and for all your lovely comments. Good luck everyone!

Big crafty hugs




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A Light-Bulb Moment - A Christmas Wish to All Part 3

Hello Friends! How have the first weeks of 2017 been for you? Mine quite eventful, to say the least, but all in a good way! The Christmas tree and all decorations are gone now but I still have a Christmas/winter project left to share with you. This make is part of the Christmas lights trio I created for the Craft Stamper Magazine and you might have already seen my Altered Christmas Lantern and my Decoupage Christmas Candle. If you haven't,  be sure to check them out!

This is an upcycled large light bulb turned into a Christmas bauble ornament. After painting the bulb with Chalky Finish paints,  the image was transferred using a dry decoupage technique with Adhesive Sheets rather than through a traditional way of wet decoupage with decoupage glue. Then I heat embossed it with Kaleidoscope powder and coloured it with Inktense pencils, before sealing it all with matte varnish.

There's lots more of wintery and snowy inspiration on the Stampendous blog this week. Be sure to check it out!

Supplies:

Stampendous: Snow Queen; Crystal Micro Glitter, Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter; Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder; Spoonful of Pixie Dust
Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®: 3D Foam Snowflakes; Adhesive Sheets 4"x6"
DecoArt Americiana Decor ® Chalky Finish: Everlasting; Vintage
DecoArt Snow-Tex, DuraClear Ultra Matte Varnish
Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Die: Tattered Poinsettia
Derwent: Inktense Pencils
Large light bulb
Seam binding ribbon
Pearl lace
Cheese cloth
Spray of foam berries
Decorative pins
Tissue paper

Thank you for stopping by and for your lovely comments!

Big hugs




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Seasons Givings Giveaway Blog Hop - Year 5

Hello Friends, I am absolutely delighted to be again taking part in the Seasons Givings blog hop. This is the fifth year running of this fabulous initiative started by our talented hostess Latisha Yoast. This is a wonderful blog hop to say 'thank you' to all our blog readers and followers for their time and kindness whenever they visit our blogs.

My blog had been a bit neglected in this last year and I am really sorry for being such a bad blogger in the recent months. My attention and focus were very much directed to finding my own feet in the new job, settling in the new house and I've started professional studies, too. Somehow these things have exhausted my creative muse which was hiding somewhere reappearing only occasionally and for very short moments. But even with such infrequent posting I have been really touched to see that many of my blog friends remained in contact and for that I want to express my heartfelt gratitude ❤❤❤.

This blog hop is so fabulous for two more reasons. The participating blogs wil be sharing some wonderful crafty inspiration as well as offering some delicious giveaways as a way to say 'thank you'. So be sure to visit them all to see what gems and treasures are waiting for you there!

My inspiration for you is this mixed media canvas panel which I created at the back of this Retro Girl With Attitude project that I shared a while ago.

Supplies:

Stampendous: Beautiful Braid Rubber Stamp, Peacock Background Stencil, Creative Palette Rounds

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L: Black 3D Foam Tape, Thin 3D Foam Squares - Black, 3D Foam Pennants, Home & Hobby Extreme Double-Sided Tape - 1/4"

DecoArt Americana Acrylics: Ocean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Bright Green, Antique Green, Light Buttermilk

Spectrum Noir markers:
Hair: LY1, LY3, GB1, GB3, GB7, GB9, GB10, EB7
Face: FS1-FS5, CR2, CR3, CR6, IG1, IB2
Blouse: JG1, DG1, CG2, CG4, GB2, GB10

White and gold chalk markers, Sakura Clear Star pen, black chalk pencil
Tim Holtz Idea-Ology - Small Talk stickers

Now,  onto my giveaway:

The package includes:
Cling rubber stamps - Stampendous
Adhesives - Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
mulberry paper roses

Stampendous cling rubber stamps: Lion Reader, Pajama Cat, Lion Crown, Unicorn Forest, PenPattern Cake, Snowy Sled, Tin Man Reader, Sir Toad, Birthday Jazz Cats, Lion With Lamb, Eagle Rock, Picnic Ants, Bundled Kitty, Puppy Pals, PenPattern Frog, Hippo Cycler, Amazing Shoes, Snowman Warm Ears, Newspaper Pup, Hedgehog, Running Horse, Patriotic Painters, Hanging Jeans, Teacup Sailing

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L: Mounting Squares (clear), Black Photo Corners, Clear Photo Corners, Click 'n Stick Mounting Squares, White Photo Corners x2, 3D Foam Easter Shapes, 3D Foam Party Shapes. Thin 3D Foam Squares - White

To enter my Giveway simply leave a comment at the end of this post letting me know what your favourite achievements or memories in 2016 have been - crafty or otherwise. I have quite a few ones to cherish, we moved onto a new house, I started a new job, we visited my family in Poland in the summer, my best friends have welcomed new arrivals into their families... just to name a few! :)

You do not have to become a follower of my blog to enter this giveaway but I would be delighted if you chose to become one :). You can follow my blog via the Google Friend Connect ('Join this site' button in my sidebar), on Bloglovin' or by subscribing by email (or you can enter your email in the sidebar gadget).

You can enter until midnight (GMT) on 6th January 2017 and I will draw the winner on the 7th January 2017 :). I will endeavour to contact the winner directly - please be sure I can easily find a way of contacting you back - either via your blog or by leaving your email address with your entry. If the contact is not successful, I will draw another winner/s.

You can also find me on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr :).

Ps. I have another surprise giveaway on my Instagram profile so be sure to check it out,  too! :)

So here's the list of who's joining in with the Fifth Season of Givings!:

Lawn Fawn
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Reverse Confetti
Taylored Expressions
Paper Smooches
Neat & Tangled
Technique Tuesday
Clear & Simple Stamps
Richard Garay
My Sweet Petunia
JustNick
Stamp Simply Ribbon Store
Sunny Studio Stamps
Inchie Arts llc
Scrapbook Update
Buttons Galore
Latisha Yoast (our lovely hostess!)
Julia Stainton
ChariMoss
Cristina Nunez
Wanda Guess
Vera Yates
Amy Tsuruta
Mary-Ann Maldonado
Lori Craig
Lydia Fiedler
Jenn Shurkus
Lisa Henke
Dina Kowal
Libby Hickson
Emily Leiphart
Cindy Lawrence
Kelly Klapstein
Erica Houtghton
Elise Constable
Julee Tillman
Lee Murphy
Lisa Arana
Giovana Smith
Karen Baker
Lindsay Amrhein
Dana Joy
Marcie Sharp
Megan Hoeppner
Alicia Thelin
Asia King (you are here!)
Debbie Seyer
Yvonne Van De Grijp
Tenia Nelson
Michelle Woerner
Christina Griffiths
Lori McAree
Barbara Anders
Jill Hawkins
Veronica Zalis
Leigh Penner
Margie Higuchi
Amy Coose
Melody Rupple
Karen Letchworth
Heidi Ramsey Blankenship
Jennie Harper
Jodi Collins
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Gracie Chavez
Stephanie Klauck
Savannah O'Gwynn
Terre Fry
Neva Cole
Maria Levine
Misti Oblander
Ceal Pritchett

My biggest thanks are going to Latisha for organising and hosting this fantastic event!

Now,  it's only time to wish you all a very happy New Year,  full of love, happiness and kindness to and from others. And of course, may this new year be full of creativity and positive energy to achieve the impossible!

Big hugs

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