Kasia's Advent 2019 Challenge

I haven't blogged for a long time, nor crafted much lately either, but in December I took part in an Advent challenge which I finally completed yesterday, a few weeks late but got there in the end!  I was pleased to use up a lot of stash I have had for a long time and didn't need to buy anything new.  I thought I would pop the pages on here for a few friends to see, if I can remember how to do it!!

Christmas Card

I haven't blogged for a year and wasn't sure if I would still be able to, I see there are a few changes on here since I last visited!  For one reason and another I haven't crafted much for a while, and didn't manage to get any Christmas cards made last year but have now joined a Facebook group to make a Christmas card a week throughout the year.  Well I won't be able to keep up with that and I don't need 52 hand made cards anyway but thought it would give me inspiration to get me started again!  This week the theme is Pink so here is my card - first one ready for Christmas this year!

Pretty Butterfly

The new challenge on Moo-Mania and More for the next 2 weeks is 'Inspired by a Song'.  I am useless at remembering song titles so had a look through my iTunes playlist and found Pretty Butterfly by Andy Williams which was ideal as I love butterflies!  Luckily I had a stamp small enough to fit on my moo!

Frosty Winter

I came across a Moo challenge blog while looking at a friend's blog called Moo-Mania and More and remembered how much I loved making these, it must be about 8 years since I have made any so thought it was time I made some more!  I don't have much space or energy these days so these are just right!  The current theme is Frosty Winter so I used one of my lovely little tree stamps, a couple of Tim Holtz words and punched some snowflakes from a Martha Stewart border punch.

Twelve Month Challenge - December

We have our last verse to use for The Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge and I am pleased to say I have just about kept up all year!  For this one I took the easy option and used stickers to represent the 'chilly' bit, and found some snowy background paper that looks a bit sleety!  It has been an interesting if not challenging challenge this year and a lot of thinking outside the box but it has been fun!  Looking forward to seeing what we have in store for next year! 

Here also are all my pages for the year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Twelve Month Challenge - October and November

I missed the deadline for October on The Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge by a day or so, but I have managed to do November's page in good time, so here they both are!  Life has been very challenging for me in many ways this year and not in a craft sense unfortunately! but I have managed to keep up with this one and only challenge and am looking forward to seeing what will be doing for next year soon!  Again I have been able to use my lovely Crafty Individual tree stamps which I love, and a few embellishments and stickers that I have had for many a year in my stash!!  Always good to use old things as I very rarely buy anything new these days.

Twelve Month Challenge - September

We have got to September in The Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge and luckily this month there were no added extras as I am finding these more difficult at the months go by with not having the appropriate rubber stamps to use!  As I am not a fan of shooting birds I missed out the guns but found some bird pics to put on plus some grapes for the fruit bit of it!

Twelve Month Challenge - August and July

I didn't manage to get July's page done in time for the deadline on The Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge as I have been in hospital, but I have now caught up with both July and August.  I am struggling a bit to find the right images for this poem, especially August, but won't give up!  I decided to use yellow backing paper to represent the corn fields and some botanical stamps as I don't have any corn ones!  The tractor I printed from the computer, the one I had picked first was a lovely vintage one but my printer decided to not print it out very nicely so went with this one instead!

Twelve Month Challenge - June

We have our next rhyme for June on The Craft Barn's Twelve Month Challenge and this time I had a suitable stamp for the extra challenge which was to add a posy of flowers!  I used one of my favourite Crafty Individual stamps for the main image as it is of children and so therefore fitted the bill!

Twelve Month Challenge - May

We got our next rhyme for The Craft Barn's 12 Month Challenge a few weeks ago and I've finally got round to getting my page done.  Real life is certainly giving me challenges at the moment let alone trying to do crafting challenges!  I wracked my brain for this one as I don't have any sheep stamps at all but then remembered some papers with sheep printed on so decided to use a bit of that!  I added some stickers from my massive collection and a bit of stamping and got there in the end and before the end of the month too!

Twelve Month Challenge - April

We have been given our verse to use for the Twelve Month Challenge for The Craft Barn  for April and we also have to use a primrose or daisy.  All was going well with my page until I dropped an inked butterfly stamp on my daisy edging so had to cover it up with a daisy sticker which luckily I had in my stash!  Never mind, it got a couple more stickers used up which is always my aim!  I also had a nice surprise when I checked on the blog this morning and found I was the random winner for last month!

12 Month Challenge - March

We have our new verse for March on The Craft Barn's 12 Month Challenge, and this time we have to use a mad hare and a daffodil - also to see if we could make it dance but I failed on that one!  I am finding these challenges a bit more of a challenge as I don't have the appropriate stamps to use so am having to print off some images to use.  Luckily I had a daffodil stamp so could still include my favourite technique which is stamping!

Song Title Challenge - Somebody to Love

Our song for February on The Craft Barn's Song Title Challenge is Somebody to Love by Queen.  I knew I had just the right stamp to use for my altered beer mat with this cute Crafty Individuals stamp of the little girl and her dog!  I also managed to use up 3 out of my thousands of Prima flowers that I don't seem to use much these days but 'had to have' when they all came out years ago!  We have to include the words and who sang it on our work.  I feel this has turned out a little drab but maybe vintagey!

12 Month Challenge - February

The Craft Barn's 12 Month Challenge is a line each month from the poem The Months by Sara Coleridge.  Together with the verse for February we also have to include a cherub and hearts.  I found this a bit on the difficult side as I think this is one of the rare occasions I don't have a suitable stamp in my collection and had to resort to Googling free images!  I sat at my desk for a while trying to think how to bring this all together as the stamp I chose to use for a lake doesn't really go with my cherub image but in the end just went with a mish mash collage and used some peel offs and rub ons to complete my page!

Song Challenge - Let it Snow

Another new challenge from The Craft Barn is a fortnightly Song Challenge where we are given the lyrics to a song and have to theme our work on them.  Again I have decided to go with beer mats for my base, having had a break from them last year!  The song this time is Let it Snow and I used a lovely Crafty Individuals stamp for this one.

12 Month Challenge - January

It is a new year and we have a new challenge from The Craft Barn - the 12 Month Challenge.  Every 3 weeks we will be given a verse from Sara Coleridges's Poem, The Months.  Also there will be something else to be included and this month it's a bird in wellies!  So please excuse my feeble attempt at drawing some wellies as even though I am convinced that somewhere I have a stamp I cannot find it anywhere!  I have decided to go with the same format as last year's challenge as I have enough blank pages left from it to do this year's and again I intend to use a mixture of backing papers, stamps and embellishments from my stash mountain to try and reduce it!

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - P

We have finally reached the last letter in our year long challenge on The Craft Barn and I have managed to keep up just about!  I've been ill since Christmas but have managed to summon up enough energy today to make it into my craft room so I can get this page made and the challenge completed!  Our letter is P and I went for Petals so I could use some of the stamps from my collection and as always a couple of extra P words from my Tim Holtz book of words! I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and am looking forward to the new one for 2017!

Happy New Year!

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - M

Here we are with the penultimate letter on The Craft Barn's year-long Alpha/Dictionary Challenge, which this time is M.  I quickly made this page as time is short of course!  I was going to go for Man because I have several manly stamps but then decided to go for Motor as I know I hadn't used any motor car stamps for this challenge!

I would like to wish everyone who visits me a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - Y

Nearly at the end of The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge and yay I am up to date!  Our letter this time is Y and I chose to use Young for my word as I have an appropriate stamp in my Crafty Individuals collection that is just right and I haven't yet used it for this challenge - had to check back over all my pages just in case!  I also noticed afterwards that I had used yellow backing paper but this was entirely unintentional!

Alpha/Dictionary Challenge - I and V

I am finally up to date with The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge.  Our new letter is I and the word I chose is Ice.  The backing paper I used has an icy look to it and if you click on the image you can see it is shimmery and shiny and I added Pine Needles Distress Ink as I always feel this is a wintry colour! The image I have used is an old favourite stamp that makes me think of a frosty icy day!

For my V page I decided to pick Violin as I remembered I had an appropriate stamp in my fairly large stamp collection that I don't often get to use!  Also the 2 flowers are violet in colour so I added those, and I then remembered that I do actually have a stamp of Violet flowers but it was too late by then!   I am now up to date and hopefully will stay that way until the end of the challenge!