PaperArtsy Christmas Card

I thought I would post an image of the card I made last Christmas. Seeing that I make about 80 of them I am always faced with the same challenge to make a design that
a) does not take forever to make and

b) does not cost a fortune to produce! (It's the monetary challenged thing again).

I bought the ready scored card base & envelopes to match from a stall at Exeter Westpoint last year, I seem to remember they were a bargain - Creative Stiches & Hobbycrafts - the show is on again this coming weekend and my boss has said I can take a holiday day on Friday to go, he's a star! Anyway, I digress.
The backing paper is actually wrapping paper and the corn dolly type star embellishment was from a pack of Xmas decorations, both from IKEA purchased the year before! Don't you just love it when you get an idea that makes use of your stash?
I stamped the image (Paperartsy Xmas plate 3, I really love these stamps and like them even more because I was lucky enough to win them in a competition) with a clear embossing pad onto plain white card stock (10 per sheet I think) and dusted red & green coloured chalks on the surface for a sort of grungy faded aged look and cut them out. I cut the wrapping papers with a decorative wheel on my Fiskars paper trimmer (another lucky win!), which saved an awful lot of time and attached the pieces of raffia in a criss-cross fashion to the front. I then mounted the stamped image onto the front with 3d foam pads and attached the star with silicon glue for strength. I printed out an insert on the computer as below.
I was pleased with the result considering it cost me very little to make, and I still have some of the paper & the raffia left!

Have an Arty weekend.

Just in case you can't read the small wording on the insert it says

" Star of the East, the horizon adorning!

Make a Moo or Two - Budapest

I seem to be doing a lot of firsts this week. Now I have found this site Make a Moo or Two through a link on another blog (don't have clue which one!). I do love a bit of grunge as you can probably tell from the moo's I have made here for this challenge on the theme of Steden van Europa/Cities of Europe which will only just be in time before the next one starts!!

All the images are my own. I was lucky enough to go to Budapest a couple of years ago, somewhere I have had a romantic notion about for years, and it did not disappoint. It was another trip with the girls and I would recommend it to anyone. I watch TW1 in the morning before I go to work to see the mountains of Austria, which I also love, and they show Budapest as well, it's nice to dream.
This is all done digitally, I am sorry if that does not count but I could not see anything that said it can't be and as soon as I saw this idea I couldn't wait to try it out. Anyway, I usually tweak my designs digitally and then get round to trying to replicate them in the real world! The horse statue is actually on the Buda side of the Danube and the Church is on the Pest side. The stamp is from my husbands collection he has had since he was little and I digitally extracted it for this layout.

Have an Arty day - wish it was in Budapest - ah well I will just have to dream.

Arty Girlz Challenge # 52

I am so new to this and this is the first time I have posted anything at Arty Girlz. Just found this blog and thought I would give it a go as there is so much to enjoy here. As I am monetary challenged I do my best with limited funds. Here is a hybrid card that uses digital designs that I have printed out. The background paper was a freebie from Scrapgirls.com, unfortunately I have lost track of where the others were from, very sorry. I printed out the Birthday wishes onto Safemat and made an insert to match. It says "Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Therefore, drink wine and be saved!"

Have an Arty day!

Christmas Blog Candy

Just been over to visit Crafters Kitchen and see there is some christmas blog candy on offer. Why not go and pay a visit and post a link yourself? There are some lovely designs to see whilst you are there.

All you have to do is answer a question - What is your favorite Christmas Eve Preparation?

This was my answer what will yours be?

"Christmas is great I just luuuurv it!! On Christmas Eve believe it or not you will find me boning out a turkey, stuffing it and cooking it. Yes I know life's too short but honestly it is worth the effort and you can't beat a warm turkey sandwich on Christmas Eve. Oh dear I'm salivating already!!!!" http://crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/ (Entries now closed)

New Baby Tag

Life just gets in the way of spending time crafting - Monday to Friday at work and before you know it Saturday & Sunday have vanished into thin air and it's Monday again. I still have not finished my little baby project but I have finally done the tag element that is to go on the front. This baby will be 2 yrs old before they get it if I'm not careful! I have been working on my Christmas card design for this year and that is finalised so that's a relief now all I have to do is make 80 of them. I could post a picture of that but it would spoil it for my friends so I will post a picture of the tag instead. I have used two of my own design digital papers on this. Hope you like. Have an Arty week!

Bebe Button Quilt

As I said the other day I have been working on a hybrid project for a new baby and the digital designs for it have been ongoing for a while. As the parents did not want anyone to know if their bump was a boy or a girl (not even my friend who is the Grandma was in on the secret!), I decided to go with the flow and try to design some papers that would be equally suitable for either. It has been a bit of a challenge!

Voila! Here is the first digital paper I am making available to you from this collection. It is a JPEG image and although you could grab the image by right clicking/save as etc you will find that as it is only 72 dpi it will be pixalated if you enlarge it and what’s more it has my copyright logo on it!

Soooooooo I have made it available in all it’s glory at 300 dpi, just click on the image to go to the download area. Please enjoy using it but don’t forget the copyright rules.