Hello friends, and Happy Tuesday!
Hope you are having a creative week. I feel like a broken record saying that the heating has once again broken down but yes, it’s true. So I am back to multiple layers and wrapping a cat or two around my neck till the engineer can look at it again. It is amazing how much more you eat when you are really cold all the time! It’s all I can think about is hot food, hot soup, and of course endless cups of tea lol. I made some small changes to the website – websites are for tweaking after all – and it’s now snowing on the homepage if you want to look. Today I have a card to share with you and some lovely tea photos, as well as a Scottish delicacy!
today’s art . . .
Today’s art is a wintery card made for one or two current challenges. It’s not snowing here but I guess it’s cold enough so the weather has influenced my card design today. Oh and the giant crocheted snowflakes on my desk were made by a friend, and usually reside on the Christmas tree – I just pulled them off for the photo!
I thought I would add some snow to this photo too, but that’s as much snow as I want to see here, pretty though it is to look at.
This card started out with my painting this watercolour background on some A4 watercolour paper and then stamping the trees using Stormy Sky Distress Ink and an older TH stamp set. In my stash I found these previously die cut reindeer and decided they would be perfect for the scene.
Also found in my stash was this wooden embellishment which was originally a kind of burnt orange glitter which I thought was a weird colour for Christmas so I painted it white and covered it with a white Stickles.
These little deer were layered up so they are more dimensional. I also chopped the antlers off the one on the right and made that one a doe. They are both outlined with a dark blue Pitt pen to make them stand out more. I also painted a shadow under their feet and the trees using some watered down Distress ink.
I also added these sparkly white snowflakes from my stash and some Stickles dots to the sky background for snow.
I cut the panel down to 6 x 8.25 inches so it’s a pretty big card lol, and made a card base to fit it out of some 12 x 12 cardstock. Last thing to do was just add some dark edges using a Distress Archival pad and that was the card done!
t stands for . . .
If you are joining us this week for tea, read on. If not, jump to the bottom of the post to see what challenges I have entered this card into this week.
Rooibos Tea
This one has almonds and papaya and little sugar snowflakes and sugar silver balls
Fruit Tea
This one has dried fruit mixed with warming spices, star anise etc
Rooibos Tea
This one also has almonds vanilla and is supposed to taste like a Bakewell tart ( I LOVE Bakewell Tarts)
Black Tea
This one is a black tea mixed with mulled spices
Scottish Tablet
Some of my homemade Scottish Tablet. I always make this at this time of the year for family and for gifting
Black Tea
This one a black tea mixed with cinnamon, ginger and has little sugar snowflakes and red and gree sugar Christmas trees
You might wonder why I am sharing so many teas this week, well it is because tomorrow I am celebrating INTERNATIONAL TEA DAY! Now you might know this already but since 2005 this day has been celebrated on December 15th, but since 2019 there is another International Tea Day observed by the UN on May 15th – May being chosen since tea production begins in May in the tea producing countries. I chose to celebrate the original one but sometimes if I remember I also celebrate the new one in May – any excuse to drink more tea! So this is my selection of teas I have chosen to celebrate with and I am drinking these five teas this month and they are all delicious. I put the teas into these little white dishes just so it would be easier to see the details as they have all had things added to them.
Scottish Tablet is a bit like a sugary, melt-in-the mouth type of fudge. It’s a very traditional sweet, often seen in the same company as Scottish Shortbread, and can be served after dinner with a nice pot of tea (or coffee) but is often just eaten on its own at any time. The sugar content is very high and is probably terrible for your teeth but it is delicious. There are many recipes out there, good and bad, and there are many companies who make it here, so it is readily available in shops that sell confectionery. It’s a temperamental beast but I have perfected my recipe and technique over the years with lots of taster sessions along the way lol. I make this for Christmas and gift it to friends and family. I have to wrap it all immediately else I would eat it all and then have a sugar high all day haha.
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients
watercolour paper, cardstock, Mijello watercolour paint, Pitt Pens, Stickles, Distress Ink, Distress Archival, TH stamp set, TH die, snowflake embellishments, wooden embellishment,
Challenges
Altered Book Lover – T Stands for – tea gift, art journal advent, stamp carving and challenge wins,
Funkie Junkie – Yuletide Delights December Challenge
Country View Challenges– Christmas Anything Goes December Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Cold As Ice – 13th December Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Cold As Ice – 8th December Challenge
Tag Tuesday – Anything Christmas – 13th December Challenge
Try It On Tuesday – Snowflakes – 7th December Challenge
You might also like these December posts . . .
I am so far behind with visits – I hope you can forgive me. I love how you made this card, it’s always good to use up what there is around. Love the sparkle that you captured so well.
I had planned on making Scotch tablet for my sons again this year but can’t lay my hands on the recipe – no doubt it will turn up after Christmas! Making cookies instead!
So sorry to find that your heating still isn’t fixed – one of my sons had different guys back – with different solutions each time – for over a week. Thank you so much for joining us at Try It On Tuesday, Chrisx
Fabulous project ! Thank you so much for joining us over at Country View Challenges’ ‘Christmas, anything goes’ Challenge. Corrie X
Ellie I love your Wintery card (and the tablet looks delicious too!) Thank you for joining in with our challenge at The Funkie Junkie Boutique blog x
Oh no, I hope you get that heating back on soon!! I love your gorgeous tag. The background is just beautiful and the added sparkle makes it pop! Thanks so much for taking time to share with us at Tag Tuesday.
<a href=https://pinkysworldsuprojects.blogspot.com/>Pinky</a>
What a lovely card. Thank you for taking us through the process of making it.
I love the tea mixes, especially the rooibos mixes. I buy those when I can, but they don’t sell them locally, so when I’m on holiday, I look out for those.
I have never had Scotch tablet. In fact I have never heard of it. Is it soft? It sounds yummy.
You ask if I have read A Town Like Alice. Yes, I have and it is one of my all time favorites. I read it when I was young, and consequently became a Nevil Shute fan. I have read all his books.
Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca
Very sweet card! Thank you for joining us at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!
Elle, I so wish I had known Tea Day was coming up! You are so prepared with fun tea and treats. Well done! Love your card and how you altered the buck to make a doe. Very pretty. Hope your T-day was fab. Hugz
I tried the rooibos tea a long time ago. I can’t remember if I liked it or not. 🙂
Your card is fabulous, and I love how you made it snow on the photo. You must not be electronically challenged as I am. LOL Happy T Day!
Beautiful snowy card! The deer are just darling. Thank you for joining the Funkie Junkie Challenge! ~Janna
Your card is very pretty and has a great wintery feel about it. I’m not much of a tea drinker – I do drink it in Britain and also in Turkey, but there I need a lot of sugar to go with it.