Tags, tags, tags......

I always run out of tags! Just had to run up a few for the final last lot of presents before Santa arrives....

Turkey is finally cooked, ham is ready, stuffing is done, salads are nearly organised, lists are done, table is set.....not! Family are here and the table is needed but it will be set by lunch time!

Merry Christmas folks!

Hope it's a good one for you

Unstampabelles is running the last week of its challenge to 

#75: Zentangle your way to Christmas.... 

TWIST make a non-traditional item

Prize

Emboss folder, diecut and some sparkle

I grabbed some waste cardboard from packaging and some dies from SU

You can see one side was a dull white - the other brown: I didn't even paint it

A sharp pen, some quick scribbles and a piece of string and hey presto, four tags!

You too can Zentangle!

It does not have to be a Christmas card or tag - anything can be drawn on with a tangle!

You have a week to enter

Please - not stamps. 

One Week !

What happens then? The big man in the red suit rides into town on a sleigh filled with presents and starts handing them out to people. Meanwhile his reindeer, who have pulled the sleigh, eat up the goodies left for them by the eager girls and boys. When the big man has finally wedged his way back out of the chimney - I did mention he climbs down your chimney.... they fly away for another year. If you have been naughty - he only leaves you a lump of coal under the Christmas Tree you have so beautifully decorated and put up in the main room; if you have been good, you get a present......

BUT.....you have to BELIEVE IN SANTA! Otherwise all of the above is obsolete. I did mention that I have been very good and I BELIEVE didn't I? (There is a big box with my name on it hidden in hubby's workshop and I think it is a Foiling Machine so I definitely believe!) Hopefully, it will not snow that night.......at least not here, as we are in the middle of summer and climate change is strange but not that strange please.

OK, I have been rambling, but as I cannot talk about the Ashes I had to talk about something.....

We are still midway through the challenge at Unstampabelles to

#75 Zentangle your way to Christmas.... 

TWIST make a non-traditional item

Prize: Random Number Draw

Emboss folder, diecut and some sparkle

I always need gift bags so that is what I ended up doing: putting a Zentangle I made onto a paper bag I had acquired whilst at the Dentist! It has the name of the practice underneath the drawing.

I saw the tangle on Pinterest and sort-off copied it a bit - as best I could

I used gold pens and pink and yellow pens with the fine black.

My stars are wobbly and my sweeps and swoops and swags are clunky and don't flow as well as they should but I was still quite pleased with my work so took the page out of my workbook and added to it a Christmas sentiment sticker - not a stamp!

Hubby was impressed. 

It will hold a medium sized parcel/present

I have a back issue so standing and wrapping really puts me under pressure. I like using the bags as not only do they look good, I get rid of them, people often reuse them and they are easier to pack. People also have something to take the loot home with as well! Or, if you are the Grandson, take the loot to the bedroom and hide the candy!!!!

You have until the end of December to enter the challenge and it does not have to be a Christmas item!

You can enter 

HERE

Hello Peeps - week two in December and week two into the challenge at Unstampabelles

#75 Zentangle your way to Christmas.... 

TWIST make a non-traditional item

Random Number Prize

This is not my photo but I cannot find where I got it from now

I know it was taken only a couple of weeks ago

It is the Derwent Valley this river flows past our house but it's a lot wider and bigger than this stream!

Since the month began and Summer officially began we have had rain and cold weather - the river would be running a bunker here now!

I made another card out of a tangle I copied from one in Pinterest

I drew my star tangles onto watercolour paper

I then spritzed it with water and sprinkled Colour Burst paints onto the wet surface
 I lay a sheet of card over this and pressed to pickup some of the excess and then dried it off

I will use this sheet for a background for another project

The wooden word was first painted white and then had some layers of Smooch indifferent colours added - I think it started off light blue!

I cut the card to fit a gold blank and then raised the word

I think it looks OK

My stars are a bit wonky though - I am  never good with symmetry

This could be a Christmas card or it could just be a card for inspiration 

Why not tangle yourself something and enter it in the challenge at 

Unstampabelles for December!

Trying Zentangling again.

Weather Report: after a record hot November, the first day of summer was heralded in by rain and cold weather - floods and major storms in some places of the mainland. We got rain - lots of lovely, wanted rain.

Outside the craft room door just a while ago - poor orchids are drenched!

I am sitting here wearing my mother's old cardigan to keep warm.

(She died a long time ago and this cardi is the last one she knitted - I love it)

Oh well - good for crafting!

At Unstampabelles this month, the challenge is to create something using a Zentangle pattern  - whoa, Zentangle! "What is that," you cry.

Can you remember we did this last Christmas too?  Here is a reminder of one of my past attempts are using the Zen Tangles to decorate.....

Well, I like to think I have improved since then!

I have been practicing -  at random intervals - and feel a bit more confident

I found I like adding pencil colour

The twist at Unstampabelles this month is to

Make a Non-Traditional item

This could mean many things but I chose to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colours and themes.

I used a wooded word for my sentiment -sprayed it white and then added some Starlight Metallic paints but it was still too light so I added a blue spray and dried it with the Embosser - it bubbled and I loved the effect!

This photo was taken in the doorway of the workshop, out of the rain  - slightly different colours out of the direct light too!

By itself in the middle of my tangle the sentiment got lost so I backed it with the same card I used to back my tangle. To create the tangle, I used a bit of  Dyon, Chainging and Keeko -no, they are not errors in naming; it seems zentangling uses weird names for each tangle type. 

This was a practice piece but I cut it from my book to make this card. 

It is a sort-of copy of one of Beckah Krahula's and comes from her book 

One Zentangle a Day -a 6 week course

Well worth purchasing if you are interested. 

You can make a card, a tag, a bookmark, a cover for a book, a present (a set of cards?) , zentangle onto an ornament or a any surface that is suitable. Just don't use a stamp please. 

Happy tangling!

December Challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies

Hello Again Peeps!

How busy are you all? Yep - me too!!! This post will be short and sweet!

Don't want to boast too much, but this place is 20 minutes away from us:

One can always stop for a drop, eh?

Riversdale Estate offers a warm and unforgettable experience, with the family the sixth generation to work and contribute to the property. Enjoy the magnificent views, European interiors, cellar door, and superb French Restaurant.

More tips: 
http://hobartandbeyond.com.au/news-posts/winery-tastings-tours-cellar-doors-southern-tasmania/

Image: instagram.com/riversdaleestate

Ok, what is next?  Well, in fact: Hilde at 

Crafting with Dragonflies has asked us to make a last minute quick card  - 

but to glam it up a bit - 

all done that on the the 24th, right?

Kaiserkraft St Nicholas paper pad

A SU icicle in gold and some bling.

Gold always glams things up doesn't it - plus bling of course!

Hope all is going well with you and yours

Cheers,

Merry and Bright at Eclectic Ellapu

Don't you love that this year Spring was sort of air-brushed out by nature and summer swung in with a bang! Hot days and nights in November? Whoduthunk!

Something to look at?

We know it is undignified to boast so we won't say anything about this snap. We won't mention how warm it is in Tassie right now or how this water is so incredibly crisp and clean and how it really is true that you can find a beach and have it nearly all to yourself. Nope, we shall remain humbly quiet and just keep it all to ourselves 😉
Image: www.instagram.com/carmelboyd_

This month at Eclectic Ellapu, we are asking that you get your creative on for:

Christmas - can be a gift or anything festive

Well, that opens a lot of doors - I am sure you can all get your teeth into that one! Are you like me, knee deep in Christmas cards or are you someone who has made yours all earlier in the year and can now relax? I made a card of course - another one for the pile - in fact I made two of these and may make more!

They fold flat for postage and I can get two out of one sheet of A4

The circle cut from them can then be used for a tag!

A die cut, some vellum and a bit of judicious stamping - oh, and a strip of washi!

I like the fact that I can put a light behind them too

They make up quick - and I will as I said make some more and put them into a gift pack

I will include the small candles too

So, what are you waiting for?

Get creative!!!

Birthday Present Tag

Well, we have been home a week since our little trip away and we have had settled weather with blue skies and 30 degrees every day. Garden is getting a little frizzles but it rained overnight so I don't need to water today, thank goodness.

This is one of my photo's taken last week at a place known as The Gardens on the East Coast of the island. It was blowing quite strongly from the north - unusual for that time of year. This place is the bottom of the Bay of Fires.  It is all so beautiful there. 

On to the challenge at Unstampabelles

I made a very quick tag for the birthday present and to fit the current challenge at Unstampbelles. It still has five days to run so you have five days to get into it - only two entries to date and a grand prize!

 It's all about the cake.... 

TWIST use mainly the primary colours 

RED, YELLOW and BLUE!

This is the random number prize - an embossing folder

Cheerio!

It's all about the cake.......

....not, apparently, over at Unstampabelles, where we are currently midway through and there are no entries, despite there being a good prize. It seems that the crafters are all too knee deep in Christmas cards perhaps or that there are no layouts with cakes or no cards with cakes or no multi-media stuff featuring cakes or indeed - anything else that might have a cake on it!

It might be the twist - to use mainly Primary Colours - but you can get around that pretty easy I have found.

I freehand cut the icing shapes but I found the idea for this on Pinterest so it is not my original idea.

I used a variety of embossing folders to give the icing some texture and depth....and the cherry has been covered with Crystal Effects. It too was hand made. 

The card is a gift card - so not that big

and it has a bit of acetate, also embossed with a wood embossing pattern to give the impression of a cup cake pattie

A gift tag for a birthday present.

I went away for a few days on a driving holiday with hubby. We went up the East Coast of Tassie and across to a small seaside town called Bridport. We had one night at Bicheno, on the East Coast.

In the early morning, when I was sitting on the deck of our accommodation enjoying my first coffee of the day, I had a visitor. 

One young kookaburra (or kingfisher)

Playing again.....

This time I saw where someone had used multiple diecutting to create layered effects without bulk. I liked it so had a go at it - mine is a little clumsy and I need to workout how I am going to cause the diecut to stick without getting a thick die cut or glue everywhere....think I finally got it sorted, more on that later.

I used the same colour way as the example - gold and purple - but different dies as I did not have the one they used. I also used scraps to try and clean up the workspace!!

SU provided the sentiment stamps

Different look depending on the light bouncing off the page

This one was the first one and the bird was a surprise cut!

I didn't realise I would get a border.....

My 'greenery' is really green icicles...

The flowers were used after the event to try in fix some problems!

It's a good technique but I need to practice it more. 

Crafting with Dragonflies - 2nd November Challenge

Hello Peeps - hope life is serene enough for you.......

A beautiful shot of the river near the historic Clarendon Estate.

For more info, see:
http://heritagehighway.com.au/nile/
Image: instagram.com/camdenfishing

I went travelling this week - away for a few days with the hubby - here is one of my photo's; perhaps not as serene as camdenfishing's photo....

...but the white wine was lovely, and so was the candied fig and vanilla icecream!

Overlooking the Hazards at Coles Bay, East Coast Tasmania

Back to crafting and 

What is happening at Crafting with Dragonflies lately?

Firstly, who else is knee deep in Christmas cards -  or have you all give it away now and use you mobile phone and messenger instead? 

I prefer the postal method but it does cost a bit these days!

I have forsaken posting large cards and keep them for the hand out variety instead.

Hilde wants us to make a Christmas card in non-traditional colours.

Mine is a small card that fits folded into a small envelope for posting. 

How is navy, light blue and deep pink? 

Non-traditional enough for you?

This card was the result of a freebie set of dies and stamps and a magazine photo for inspiration

It was an attempt at a Frame-shaped z-fold card.

My shape is not the same one they used - I adapted the idea 

Mine is a bit smaller than the frame used in the magazine

WARNING:

You have to cut through three layers of white card at the beginning in some areas and that is a bit difficult - required extra shim pressure (using bubble wrap) and multiple wind-throughs the Big Shot to get it done. 

I also should have measured the three layers and made my middle layer narrower but thems the breaks when you are copying a photograph rather than following the recipe. 

It was fun to make and quite quick really.

You can enter your non-traditional card over at 

Crafting with Dragonflies