Have a wonderful Christmas Everyone

may you be Blessed :)

Salt - John 3:16

This fortnight at

Salt it's Esthers turn to set the challenge and she chose,

The verse John 3:16 'For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believed in him shall not perish but have everlasting life'

I really enjoyed this theme, immediately thought of a piece of religious icon art

so I found this one on google images, & printed it off,

I love the way the Baby Jesus has His hands open and inviting,

ready to give the perfect gift.

So after I printed off my image, I glued it onto another piece of card, added all the little dots, then using a lead pencil drew ontop of all the lines (giving a sort of embossed look)then I went over all of those lines with a black pigment pen. Next I cut around the shape, then using embossing powder I double embossed the paper image, so now I had a lovely shiney durable piece of embossed paper. Next step was to tape it to two layers of felt, which I then stitched on my sewing machine and trimmed. Sewed the ribbon onto the back at the top and bottom, and threaded the star onto the ribbon (the star is a Vintage Brass Star from a Military Uniform)

Anyway, make sure you pop on over to the SALT blog and see what the other girls have done with this Challenge, they are all so beautiful!

And we'd love to see what you create too :)

mummy dear

Remember my question about the

Vintage Optical Lens...

Well.......... Ta Da!!!
Thankyou all for your wonderful ideas, it was

Ann Lederhose

who first suggested using a Watch Crystal, in my comments so Ann can you email me your address and I'll post you a little vintage optical lens to create with, I'm sure you'll come up with something wonderful, If you haven't ever been to Ann's blog pop on over she Makes the most Gorgeous Scrapbook Layouts :)

Thankyou all so much for your ideas, I'm sure you not only inspired me with your thoughts on how to seal the back of this little lens, but inspired one another too

This picy shows how I finished off the back with the watch crystal like Ann suggested.

Oh and that sweet little image is from

The Stamping Queen

it's a Collections Ephemera Photographs card

Stay tuned, I've just gotten some slightly different lens

So I might need a little help with them after Christmas ;)

have a happy day, I know I will cause I've got myself a new necklace :)

A Most Spendid Blog

I just have to share the most Splendid Blog with you all

You really must go and look, and enjoy Sandra's Blog

It is So Delightful, and if you have little ones, show them too

Sandra Evertson

Enjoy :)

DCM weekly dare - inside & out

At Daring Cardmakers this week

it's my turn to dare you all

I dare you to take the design of your card to the inside as well as the outside.

Add a little finishing touch to match the theme on the outside, or Surprise the receiver with a flap, foldout, decorated journal block to write on,or one of those pop-out delights.... It really adds so much to a card when there is attention to detail on the inside as well as the outside. I know some of you are finished your Christmas cards already so this week it's Any theme, Christmas or not But make the inside count too :)

My freind Jo, had a little baby girl this week

**** Jamali ****

and I made this card to celebrate her birth

I carried the Vintage Imagery through to the inside, along with a touch of gold.

Bits used are - Basic Grey PP from SAW, Collections Ephemera Photographs & German Scrap from TSQ Collections Rusty Word, key charm, brads, string,Distress Ink, and my sewing machine.

So have you DARED to DARE yet?

Come on I DARE YOU!

freedom has no key

the lovely theme this week at

Gothic Arches

is sparkling wings

so I made this arch for it :)

the wings are quite glittery, the photo doesn't really show them to their best.

Freedom has no key, so fly...... fly away.....

When I Daydream.....

You may remember last week I made the cover for

'My Dream Book'

a little DT project I'm working on

for The Stamping Queen

Well today I made the 1st page

using more of my scrummy DT supplies

This page is stuck onto the back of the front cover

Once again I used a page torn from an old book that I distressed with 'walnut stain' Distress ink, Then I used that delightful Designs Galore image (vintage children 010), Collections words, German Scraps (GS-LFB) all from TSQ . Other bits I added from my stash are Maria George Crystals, and American Crafts Minimarks rub-ons.

I'm really enjoying reading all of the ideas in your comments about the Optical Lens,

thankyou to all who are coming up with ideas :O)

You're all so clever,

You are still able to add your ideas in the post below

(infact I'd love you to add to the ideas)

as I haven't started my creation yet.

Gillx

a little help please.....

I'm just after a little bit of advice....

I have these super cool Very Vintage Optical Lenses

and I would so love to make myself a cool piece of Altered Art Jewelry

Now I've got the most charming image I want to put behind it

But my problem is, I don't know how?

Ofcourse I could just stick it on there, but the paper would be exposed at the back, and well you know what jewelry is like it turns over doesn't it..

I can improvise I guess,

I thought of sticking a big button over the back,

or a cool old penny

I'd just love to know what others do...

What do you do?

Oh yes, I have a spare!

if I use your idea

and it's first on the list

then I'll post you a lens

for sharing your idea

Gillx

DCM weekly dare - candy stripes

This week at

Daring Cardmakers

It was ourSaffa who set the dare!

I love the stripey candy sticks that are around at this time of year so inspired by this I challenge you all to create a card featuring stripes of some kind, the occasion is up to you but you must use some form of stripes on your card. Maybe stamps, or paper, or ribbon...

So maybe I took Saffa's dare a little bit too literally

But my kids love it :)

and all want me to give it to them for Christmas, lol!

Make sure you pop on over to the main dare blog

to see what the other DT have come up with for this

SWEET DARE ;o)

So have you dared to DARE yet?

Come on I dare you!

EDIT 8th Dec 8:49am

thankyou all for your lovely comments,

I just wanted to add, that the Candy Cane isn't an original idea of mine

I've seen it used before like this, only I used a real candy cane :)

The newest challenge on

SALT

is set by Casey

We all love celebrating Christmas because it is a time for us to stop, remember and praise God for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. HE IS the true meaning of Christmas.

Not presents, not parties, not decorations, etc. JUST JESUS!!!

I made another 'skinny' page for Georgia,

to reflect this theme

The words I have on my skinny are

Jesus, light of the world

Shine through the darkness bright as the day

Jesus light of the world

Shine in our hearts and show us the way tonight

Who is this Child in the manger?

Kings bow down and angels sing

The Lord of the universe has come here to save us

A precious offering

All the heavens above and the earth below

Are filled with the light of Your love

This is part of a song written by Mark Lee and the Music is by Third Day

the song is

Jesus,Light of the World

from Third Day's Christmas album

THIRD DAY

CHRISTMAS OFFERING

my first Skinny Page

This is my first contribution for

Skinny Saturday

the theme this week is

Beauty

So I've decided this will be the first of many little skinny pages

as I loved making it sooooo much :)

I've used 'lily' once more from Karen O's beautiful range of collage sheets, Hero Arts wildflower stamps,Autumn Leaves flourish stamps, making memories alpha stickers, little sticky pearls and some maria george crystals.

My Georgia has already claimed this one,

and has asked for a 'whole' book of skinny's now that she knows what they are :)

DCM little extra - buttons & bows

this weeks little extra at

Daring Cardmakers

is another Santa's Little Helper themed
"Buttons and Bows"

Just in case you're one of those super-efficient types who've made all the cards they need already, you can still join in with a non-Christmas card for this one.

So here's mine, I chose Luke 2:11 as my inspiration

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you

He is Christ the Lord

my card is a bit symbolic

the fleur de lis represents the trinity

the crown, the birth of the King

the red, the cross the path of the King

the music, Joy of Christmas

So it's a busy time isn't it, but too busy to make a card...

NEVER!

come and play along with us at DCM

I DARE YOU!

White Christmas

I made this arch for this weeks

Gothic Arches theme of Winter

Seems so strange thinking about Winter in Australia at this time of the year, I've always loved the thought of having a White Christmas, and that's how my arch came about.

that lovely image is another from Karen Owen's delightful vintage images

I really enjoyed this theme :O)

My Dream Book - Front Cover

This is a little Design Team Project
I am making with some of my scrummy bits from
The Stamping Queen
It is a little Altered Art Book
and this is the Front Cover
I hope to have some spare time over the next couple of weeks to keep working on this and show you as I make the following pages
The following are all bits out of my DT supplies and all available from TSQ
Collections C0387 Chipboard house & frames, C0806 Ephemera Photo's small & C0841 Vintage Ladies, Collections C0405 Strip words, Stamp-it Laura Koh 003LK stamp, latch & hook Fancy Oval H19, for the BG of this house I tore a page from an old book and destressed it with Distress Ink. My plan is to make a series of little 'house pages' for a sweet keepsake.