Sleepy Sunday

Had the usual toss/turn night, then fell asleep and woke up at 8 a.m.,  so warm and toasty in bed that I stayed there...  well I took a peep out of the curtain and it looked grim... 

When I finally woke up the sun had come out!  So it was up, out and at 'em... I wish!   Had my usual Sunday morning,   reading paper with cup of coffee,   getting dressed,  then bacon butty time,  stretch brain with crossword... then off to crafting.

Got a fair bit done today.   Made some tags,  more cards and got a bit more of the Christmas/birthday present done.

This effort was from yesterday,  took me an age to put together.  Much faffing was necessary.  Used dylusions for the background,  then added more distress ink,  some stamping,  frantage... it was endless!    Then using the Slice glue, intended for the glass plate (to hold the card in place) I used a peel off with some gilding flakes for the nativity scene.   For the frantage I sprinkled some silver glass on,  I was then intending to heat it from behind the card, tried that it was taking an age so sprinkled on some UTEE,  just a light dusting, and it sort of gave the silver glass a 'key' to hold on to, and made life much easier.  I added a few more peel offs, the wise men and the stars, the large star was stuck to some silver mirri then cut out.

Next was some brayering.  I got this stamp set last year, a very simple set of stamps but so effective.   I got brave and used my pilot pen to add some interest.   Just happy that the super smooth takes the brayer nicely.     It is also good to keep my hand in with the brayer.  I am wondering what difference the splodge mat will make,  I've watched Barbara Gray use hers,  and can see that it does help, but then again she is the expert.  I've also tried just inking up the central bit of the brayer,  and that does make a difference, keeps the ink to a minimum. Brayering is really about adding ink in small amounts, not slapping it all on at once.   Never use a hard brayer, go for the speedball,  it is more forgiving.

And my Christmas cards!  More of the simple stuff.   The stamps are from Indigo Blu,  it is a lovely set.    I used peel offs for the sentiment.  Inside is stamped the sentiment at the top of the blog, also included in this set, so you can see why I bought it!   These will be the family cards,  need to make one for mum as well.  Or I may buy one - yes, shock horror,  but I often like the verses in the shop cards. 

I'm still wondering what I did with all my Christmas embossing powders, I had a tinsel range which were lovely to use, but they seem to have gone AWOL.  And I have now searched through all the Christmas stash.

This is a tag, and a mix of two sets of Indigo Blue Christmas stamps.   I wasn't sure if they'd work together, but they seem to.   Santa and his reindeer have been embossed, and on later versions I added the Merry Christmas.   No brayering,  just some cut and dry stuff.   Hey, whatever works! 

I do need a new craft mat,  mine is now on its last legs. 

The craft mat has also seen much better days,  and it was a fancy one!   May go for one of those glass cutting mats.   Well think that just about covers my crafty weekend.    Back to it tomorrow,  a few more cards,  and two in need of finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by