Origami Christmas Tree

Yesterday Jules posted a brilliant tutorial on how to make an origami Christmas tree, which had been taught to her by a lady called Jo Unwin (for whom unfortunately I don't have a link.) I couldn't wait to try it, and here's the card I made with it.

I used one of the big (8" x8") square cards from Craftwork Cards for the base and stamped it with an Elusive Images stamp from the Grungy Brocade set. The patterned papers, including the one I made the tree with, and the sentiment, are all from the Artylicious Season's Greetings CDrom from Graphicus. The three little snowflakes were punched with a freebie punch which came with the December 2010 issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. Now, one might suppose that magazine freebies are not usually of the best quality, until one realises that this punch is made by Tonic Studios, and it actually works really well, as you can see by the detail.

I was very pleased with how the tree turned out, thanks to Jules's clear instructions, so if you fancy having a go too, hop over to Jules's blog and try it out.

Serendipity!

"Drat!" I thought, when I dropped my Memento Rich Cocoa dew drop ink pad, ink side down of course, on to the pristine sheet of white paper I was just about to stamp on.

Then, "Hmm," I thought, "that looks like a petal." So I dropped it a few more times.

Then I cut out the shapes and made a flower!

Papers: Basic Grey (Capella), punches: Martha Stewart, sentiment: Personal Impressions.

Had a funny old week, busy at work, and then decided to catch up with various little jobs which I've been meaning to do for ages but somehow never got round to, mostly sewing and mending. Yesterday was such a glorious day weather wise that we decided to go out for a walk, just a few miles around our local area, but it was good to get out and get some fresh air and exercise. My pre-new year resolution is to get more exercise! I spend far too long on the computer. I'm sure that the act of switching one on enters you into a time warp, so that you think you've been there for half an hour, but in reality it's more like three hours! I'm sure many of you will know what I mean!  Anyway, we both enjoyed the walk & I took some photos along the way, including this beautiful holly tree, such a lovely shape and laden with berries, in the local cemetery.



If only the weather was like that every weekend! Hope you all had a good one too.



Deja Vu!

This is a photo I took seven years ago, in Cumbria, just up the road from where my daughter used to live. It was early in the morning, the sun was just rising, and a flock of sparrows alighted in the brambles for a breakfast conference. They sat there obligingly while I took the picture and then flew away again.

Earlier this year, Paper Artsy released their Hot Picks 1005 stamp set. Click on the link and you'll see why I had to buy it! Got it on Saturday at Sir Stampalot. Here's what I made with it today.

I coloured a background with Distress inks, then stamped the birds in black Brilliance and clear embossed. The flourish at the top is also from the Paper Artsy set. The chipboard twigs and leaves are from Crafty Individuals. Again, coloured with Distress inks, as are the additional punched leaves.. To make the tag, I stamped just the outer border from a Hero Arts ticket stamp on to the back of a Making Memories ticket, then stamped the Paper Artsy "Secret Garden" inside the border. Just a bit too late for all the recent "Autumn" themed challenges!