Let’s have coffee …

I have the following quote printed it out and keep it below my computer screen in my craft room… …

We are all cups,  constantly and quietly being filled.  The trick,  is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the Beautiful Stuff out.”

isn’t it lovely?  . . .  It’s by a gentleman called Ray Bradbury, an American author and screen writer, and I just love it.  And today came the perfect chance to share it with you because …

I’m forever inviting you to come and have a coffee with me, so when I saw last week that ‘Kanban Cards’ had brought out a fabulous new collection of die- cuts, papers and cardstock, I had to have some of it.  It would have been so rude not to!

To be honest, I fell in love with it.  The colours are just beautiful.  The quality is really great and it gives you such scope to play around with.

I made a card today using some of it and as I was making it I thought …  “it’s AGES since I’ve done a ‘giveaway’, so perhaps this would make an ideal card for that very thing!”

I made the card as a 12″x 6″ – so quite a long card.  On a base card of white, scored and folded, and then topped with a sheet of Kanban foiled heavy weight paper.   I added some wide, Satin, pale coffee coloured ribbon, topped with some deep brown seam binding.

On top of the ribbons,  I used two toppers and a sentiment from the kit.  The coffee cup topper I layered on top of a vintage looking doily, made from cotton, with cotton crochet lace all around the edge.  I bought a pack of these little doilies from a pound shop about 8 years ago and originally bought them to make little pouches of dried lavender.  I still have a few unused ones left.

The duo coloured bow (to the right hand)  has a dazzler fixed to the centre to bring a touch of sparkle and colour to the card.  If you look carefully under the bow, but above the satin/seam binding ribbons, you can just see a golden circle of leaves and vines.  This is a chipboard die cut, which I coloured up with gold embossing pad and then a combination of gold emboss. powder and gold glittery embossing powder.

The spoon …  well that began life as one of those plastic spoons they give you in coffee shops or Mc.Donalds.  I never use the spoons, but keep them with the thought that they might come in useful. And look!  One did!  🙂

Finally … inside.  One of my sheep (craft room buddies) wanted to show you what was inside…  I told him:  “No, absolutely not.  Get out of there you rascal!”. . .

He seemed determined, as he backed himself into the middle of the card.  I knew what he was up to.  He was going to give one great big JUMP and open the card to show you what was inside, but I wanted to keep it a secret known only to the person who won the give-away  . . .   so I chased him around the craft room, caught him, and he’s now safely back where he belongs … under my craft room computer monitor, with the rest of the flock.  tsk, tsk!

So anyhoo ….  If you’re a follower of The Cobweborium Emporium blog,  and would like to have your name ‘thrown into the hat’ and be in with a chance of receiving this card then please just leave a comment below with the word:  ‘GIVEAWAY’  – either at the start or the end of your comment.

To make sure that all is fair,  I’ll get the Random Number Generator to choose the number.

If you’re the winner then you have a choice:-  You can choose to have the card for yourself, in which case I’ll write the card to you, sign it and send it with love. Or …  you can choose to receive the card un-written, so that you can write it and send it to someone else.

But … If you don’t want to enter but still want to leave a comment or have a  chat,  then that’s fine too.  You really don’t have to get involved in a give-away.  Any comment which doesn’t have the word ‘GIVEAWAY’ won’t be entered.

NB:  Please  DON’T  put your real name or address in the comments box.  I need to look after your privacy and security.

Happy Thursday, by the way!

We’re heading to the end of October now, after this it’s just a walk to Christmas, and although I have got a few Christmas Presents tucked away …  it’s only a few and I really do need to get a wiggle on with the buying.  I don’t want to be left with only the stuff the shops have left over!

I also have to get a very BIG wiggle on with making Christmas Cards!  Maybe I’ll start in a couple of weeks time and cross my fingers.  It worked last year.  And the year before.  And the year before that too.  Need I go on or are you getting the idea?  lol.

Right … I really must stop yacking and let you get on with your day.

I wish you a blessed, calm, comfortable, happy Thursday! 

(I saved that last photo from this card,  just so I could use that right there … )  😀  Toodles!

EDIT on 30th October 2017 to add:

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  NO FURTHER ENTRIES ARE BEING TAKEN.  Please see the post on 30th October 2017 to find out the winner.

Thank you to all who entered.  Watch out for the next giveaway soon. ~ Cobs. x

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#InkTober2017 – If the Hat fits, Wear It!

Well since we are in the Bewitching Month of Ghosts, Ghouls, and adorable little ones dressed up in their finery …  I thought I’d better get in the mood, so I ‘inked’ a Witches Hat while the Witch was wearing it …. but she’s only allowing you to see her Ruby Red Lips!  She’s clever like that.  Magic!

I made this inking for #InkTober2017 on a Postcard!

I bagged a bargain of over 90 Kanban Postcards for just £3.99 a few weeks ago in a Create and Craft sale.  The postcards came in a selection of 3 different sizes, with sweet little pictures on the address side,  and a simple, decorative background on the other side.

Since I like to use postcards quite often in crafting projects, it was a no brainer.  I jumped at the chance of buying them, as they were such a bargain.

They’re rather good quality and very thick, so I knew that they’d take the ink without it bleeding through to the other side.

The Witches hat was first drawn with an ink pen, then I filled in the colour of the hat using black writing ink as I wanted to ensure that the writing I was planning to team with the hat were the exact same colour of black.  The ribbon band on the hat was made using teal coloured Drawing Ink.  (The buckle was added with a fine paint brush, using copper drawing ink)

#InkTober2017  – If the Hat Fits ….

The Witches Ruby Red Lips were coloured with an Ink Pen in a deep red colour.

I added highlights where the light would naturally hit the hat, using a silver drawing ink, applying it first with a brush and then moved it around with my finger tip.  I’ve taken the next photo with the flash on, so that it really showed up where I’d added the highlights.

 

#InkTober2017 – Taken with the flash turned on, so that you could see where I added the highlights.

Once the hat was inked and the lips were in place … I first pencilled out the words (to make sure I got them in the right places), and then inked them.  The highlights on the letters were all done with a Gelly Roll Pen.

Finally …. I dabbled some black ink on my glass mat and added a few drops of water, then picking up a little ink on my brush I spattered some ink over the card.  I then did the same with some copper ink.

Of course … any Witch worth a cauldron, wouldn’t be complete without a Wand!  ….

#InkTober2017 – The Wand was also made by Cobwebs from The Cobweborium Emporium

The Wand  was one I made a while ago, meaning to put it for sale, but it got packed away when we were moving house and was never sold.  I came across it, along with a couple of others, fairly recently, so thought I’d include it as the Witches Wand to make the whole thing ‘complete’.  All she needed now was her black cat.  Which I have (Alf Capone) … but it’s so difficult to photograph black cats!

Anyhoo …  as I am want to say …  That’s all there was to it!  🙂

Happy Monday!  May your day be blessed with love and may you bless someone else with your own love.

 

 

 

The First Christmas Card of 2016

I finally did it.  I jumped in and made my very first Christmas Card of 2016.  I don’t in the least feel anything like it’s coming up to Christmas, but there was a little niggle forming inside me telling me that I really should do SOMETHING,  and I think it was simply because other blogs have all started featuring their own Christmas cards.  It kind of made me feel like I was being a total lay-about.  Like that pupil in school who never turned in their homework.

So I did my first Card for Christmas this year …  but with a twist.  It’s not the normal ‘opening’ card with four sides (front, open left, open right and then finally the back).  Nope.  This one is made on a great big post card (as you can see) which measure 21cm long – or for those of us who still work on the fabulous, can’t be beaten, original measuring system in the UK – that’s 8.25inches.

The Post Card doesn’t open up.  Instead I cut a stand for the back of the card which folds out, and makes the card stand up all by itself.  If you can’t imagine what this looks like …  go back to your school photos, the ones which came in a mount.  On the back of those mounts was a fold out stand, with another little bit to it which then folded down, and locked the stand in place.  Well that’s exactly the same as the stand on the back of this card.

I totally forgot to take photo’s of the making, apart from one .… so this is all I’ve got to show you how it all came together …  so I’ll try to tell you, but if there’s anything I miss or anything you want to know, just ask away in a comment.

I began by tearing up some corrugated card, and then some paper which I’ve had in my stash for a while, pale beige with white snow flakes on it.  I distressed and inked the paper and fixed it onto the card next to the corrugated.  Added some Polyfilla in appropriate places and in order to give it all that frost appearance, I added, to the Polyfilla while still wet, some Mica Flakes;  Chunky glitter, and some very fine glitter dust.

I used a mixture of Polyfilla (yes the type you use on the walls – but buy the flexible Polyfilla in the tube – so that it doesn’t crack and flake) and in some places (along the top) a little dimensional paste, in order to achieve the snowy, icy look I was after.

The Father Christmas ‘postage stamp’ you see in the top right hand corner, is a stamped image, which I stamped onto some brown paper and then fussy cut out.  Then added the white berry twig, twisted into a wreath.

While that all dried I used some Buff It  (by  Pinflair) in red and gold, to the sleigh.

I cannot recommend Buff It highly enough.  It’s a fantastic product, which you use very little of, and mix it with a tiny bit of water.  If, while you’re working on your project, the Buff it on your plate, or tile or glass mat, dries up, you simply add another little tiny drop of water, and it all starts working again.  It dries super quick.  You then buff it with a soft cloth (I use a dried baby wipe) and it positively gleams!  You can find it HERE on the Pinflair website.

Then I began to build up the elements . . .  using the holly and berries (which are made from felt), and the red tinsel (which I curled) along the bottom.   The Poinsettia flower and leaves are made from a set of dies – (which I bought from a fellow blogger about 3 months ago).  I cut the flower itself out of red card, but the leaves were cut from three different shades of green card.

I wanted everything to have that crisp, icy look,  so after I put the flower parts together, I dragged a tiny bit of dimensional paste around the edges of some of the petals and leaves, and using some Tonic Glitter Accent in Fresh Snowfall I ‘iced up’ the flower & leaves.  This Tonic Glitter Accent in their Fresh Snowfall,  is ‘like’ a Stickles (only in a much bigger bottle) but this particular one, in the Fresh Snowfall, is very thick.  Very sticky, and sets hard.

While everything was drying I made some ‘gifts’.  These gifts took me ages!  Bits of paper and card.  Tiny bits of bakers twine. Sticking the paper down without sticking the whole thing to my fingers!  Ugh!  I popped the presents into the sleigh then turned my attention to making ‘snow’.

I found some fabulous little tiny round dots which twinkle like a million stars, in The Range (in the UK – sorry to folks in other places) when I went shopping last week and fell in love with them.  I wish I could show you how fabulous they are but I can’t get a photo of the twinkles.  They look more like sequins in the photos, but they’re really nothing like them at all.  So so lovely, and, would you believe, all made from a tiny bit of plastic.

I added Christmas Red Stickle ‘berries’ to the wreath surrounding the Father Christmas stamp and some Red and Green ribbon and string bows at the left hand side of the card.  A metal silver charm in the shape of a snowflake hanging from the berry wreath, and some more red tinsel around the seating area of the sleigh.  Aaaaand  that’s all there was to it.

So there you have it  … I’ve made my first Christmas Card!  I have no idea who I’ve made it for as I didn’t have anyone in mind while I was making it, I just knew I wanted to make a Christmas Card on a big Vintage Style Post Card, with a sleigh on it and some tinsel.  After that I just kind of winged it!  But have to admit that when I stood back and looked at it once finished,   I loved it  …  and hope you like it too.

Have you made any Christmas Cards yet?  I’ve done a little Christmas Shopping, but making cards just …. well, it still feels too early for me.  Tell me what you feel about it.  I’d like to know that I’m not alone in this feeling … but I’m starting to think I am.  eeeek!

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