'Tis The Season

Hi everyone, how's your Christmas preparations going?

I managed to get my tree up at long last, and have been experimenting with my camera, in an effort to get some artistic shots.

Not absolutely sure I've got what I want here, but at least there's room for improvement.  I think I've got a little too much glare on the glass in the foreground.  But the 'bokeh' effect of the tree in the background is nearly there.  I'll keep trying.

~ Edited ~
From the photo above, I've taken part of the bokeh effect on the tree, and made some digital designs in Photoshop
I used several brushes, and effects to create several different designs that I might use for background papers.  It's also got me thinking about what else I can do.  I'll keep you posted.

Let me know what you think.  Do you design digital papers, and how do you do it.  I'd be interested to know.

Vintage Christmas

Hi everyone.

I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far. I'm absolutely shattered after starting full time work again last week.  I'm working at John Lewis in Peterborough, and with all the Christmas shoppers I haven't stopped. 

I'm still trying to get on with my Christmas cards, but took a break today to put up my christmas tree, and I must say it looks beautiful.  I'm going to take some photos using my Canon DSLR so I can experiment a bit more with the techniques I'm learning.

Anyway back to my card.  I don't very often make vintage looking cards, but I'm so inspired by some of our Scandinavian friends I thought I'd give it a go. 

I used Close To Cocoa and Bashful Blue ink with the Lovely As A Tree stamp set from Stampin' Up!  The base card is Very Vanilla.  I also used a corner stamp from Stempleglede which I adore.  I've distressed the edges of the card, again something I don't usually do. 

The snowflake was made using the Winter Wonderland Cricut cartridge which was kindly lent to me by my lovely friend Louise.  I urge you to take a look at her blog, she makes the most amazing creations.  Thank you Louise, I'm loving this cartridge, and might buy it myself yet.  I added some sparkly glitter to the trees, and pearlised dots to echo the scrolls.  Thank you for taking the time to visit, and take care.

Truly Scrumptious Challenge 22

Hi all

Wednesday's challenge from Truly Scrumptious is here again.  Doesn't time fly.  This is the last one for this year, but we will be resuming again in the new year.

This week we have a super sketch, and would like to see you use some vellum on your creations.

I've used a super cute Manga Christmas image.  Coloured with alcohol markers in christmassy green and red.  The cardstock is from Stampin' Up!  My vellum element is the snowflakes.