Anything but a Christmas card ......... how about a decorated candle?

This weeks LOTV challenge is 'anything but  a Christmas card .....  mmmmmm, what could I make for this challenge, a birthday card? a thank you card, a box? no, I decided to try and make a decorated candle which had been lying in the cupboard since last year.   Andrea and I usually spend Saturday afternoons crafting together, but she is in agony with her back, so much so, we had to ask the out of hours Doctor to visit us today and prescribe various types of pain relief - she's now a little bit more comfortable, and I expect she will fall asleep soon with the cocktail of pills he's given her.  So I had to craft on my own which wasn't quite the same - get well soon Andrea, love from Mam xx

I stamped the LOTV image onto white tissue paper then coloured it in with Copics.  I chose darker colours as  I thought lighter ones wouldn't show up so well.  I cut out the image as close as I could and laid it on the candle - amazingly, due to static I suppose, the paper clung to the side of the candle.  I cut a strip of grease proof paper and put it over the stamped tissue then firmly held it tight at the back.

Now, there was one teeny weeny problem, the heat gun we have had for years and years was chucked out a year or so ago, so I had to try the hair dryer - and it worked!  I used the highest heat, and wafted it about until I could see the wax change colour - I think next time I will just heat straight onto the tissue paper.  I had a couple of dribbles, but they smoothed down OK.

After I had added my favourite Stardust Stickles to my image, I decorated my candle with some 38mm cream guipure lace 7mm shockin pink satin ribbon, rose leaves and 30mm pink two tone mulberry roses, all from here. 

This candle will be a little gift for someone but I will make sure they know that if they were to light it they must remove all the lace, flowers, ribbons etc, and take great care if it burns down past the tissue paper, as it may burn.

See you soon and don't forget to pop over to the Ribbon Girl blog on Sunday when I will announce the winner of the Pink and White Colour Challenge and also the Reindeer Give Away!!

Mary G x

Lilac and Pink Colour Challenge

This is the card I made for the new Colour Challenge No 8 over at the Ribbon Girl Blog - this months colours are Pinks and Lilacs - there's a fab prize of a collection of ribbons, lace, felt and embellishments from the Ribbon Girl shop plus a £10 LOTV voucher from the lovely Laila and Lisa over at Lili of the Valley - and if you missed the launch of their new boy stamps, get yourself over now before they're all gone!

I wanted to make a pretty thank-you card for the Marie Curie Hospice where my late brother-in-law received such wonderful care in the last months by the very caring and devoted staff and I decided to attempt an easel card with heaps of flowers, bling, ribbons etc. As we're still crafting out of plastic boxes while the building work continues, I spent most of the time walking back and forth looking for just the right paper or embellishment!  I used one of our new Molly Blooms stamps - this one is 'Molly Sitting' which I coloured with copics and carefully cut out.  I added Stardust Stickles to enhance Molly's dress and I used a nestie to make the lacy background, then embossed a circle of white card with roses using a cuttlebug folder and used digital papers (Christmas Kitsch) from Sweet Shoppe designs.  I love our new rhinestone and pearl  flourishes and choose the very sparkly rhinestone flourish for the front of the card.

and spent ages arranging the Wild Orchid roses, blossoms and rose-buds with punched foliage from Martha Stewart punches and also added 25mm satin ribbon. I must say that I am having more success placing my flowers and leaves now that I am using incredibly tacky glue from Wild Orchid - it allows me to move everything around until I'm happy with the result.

I used one of the straight lengths of diamante from the rhinestone flourish to make the 'stop' on base of the easel card and added more Wild Orchid flowers (pretty blossoms and rose buds) plus some leaves from my facvourite Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Inks.

I had such fun making this card, and those who know me won't be surprised to learn that it took me nearly a full day to complete and the rest of the day to admire! lol