Guest Blogger Of The Month - from the SDD Facebook Group

 Hi Everybody!

Time for this months Guest Blogger spot to find out something about a member of the Stamping Dragon Design Facebook group and showcase some of their work using SDD items.

This month we are featuring group member Gwyneth George.

Here is what Gwyneth has to say:

Some of you who are regulars to this blog may well be asking yourself - "How come she's doing a Guest Blogger Showcase spot on "The Dragons Den" when she's been posting to the "Pick of the Week" spot as Design Team Member, as well as doing a pictorial tutorial on the this blog, already?"

Well here's a little bit of background info. for you:

I've been a crafter of one sort or another for most of my life (a variety of crafts not just cardmaking as those of you who have visited my own Blog Crefftau MAES MIERI Crafts Blog will already have seen).  But being forced to take early retirement because ill health and worsening disabilities some three years ago meant I could give more time to my crafting, to plan ahead, and have fun and relax making things when I'm able, rather than have to rush projects because they were needed and weren't ready, because work and other considerations had got in the way.

Not being able to work also means that I have more time, (though quite often not the health or energy,) to sit in bed with my laptop and browse around, and get involved in crafting forums and groups on the Internet.  This contact with other crafters has been great because I realised that there were lots of crafters who, like me, had health/disability issues, and when I said that I was unable to craft because of aches and pains there were others out there who understood.  And of course all this browsing around means I could see all the wonderful crafting items that are available as well as gain inspiration from other very talented crafters. 

I joined the Stamping Dragon Designs Facebook group around 9 months ago - because I'd come across Janette Padley's lovely dragons, (and other digital downloadable items) on craftsUprint and then found out that there was this group on FB for dragon fans.

A short while after I'd joined, all the FB group members were asked if they would like to do a one off, Guest Blogger, showcase on this blog.  After thinking for a bit, and considering whether it would be something I'd be able to commit to and be able to see through to completion, I decided to put my name forward - after all, it was going to be far ahead in the future, and I could start working on it way before the date.

I was given this mid-November Guest Blogger slot! - and so I started thinking about what to do as a project for the blog with lots of ideas flitting through my mind - although I have to admit that it was only some six weeks ago that it actually clicked with me exactly how I was going to make my creations.

But then:

A few months ago, I was approached by Marleen and asked if I would consider becoming a regular member of a small Design Team on this blog.  Because of my fluctuating health issues I was rather reticent to do this - but after some persuasion (Marleen is very good at persuasion LOL - she explained that I would only need to post every few weeks, could take my pick of digi-stamps from a list provided to work with so could pick things that inspired me, and could prepare several projects and posts ahead of time, when feeling reasonable, so that if I was having a bad spell I wouldn't need to stress about not being up to doing a project and post) - I found myself agreeing.

So there you have it - I was scheduled to do a Guest Blogger Showcase posting here on The Dragons Den before I was approached to become a Design Team Member doing my regular "Pick of the Week" postings, and rather than shuffle everybody's slots around it was decided that we'd stick to the original "Guest" schedule and I'd take the opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself.

For my projects for this post I decided to make a "Christmas Recipes" box and matching Christmas card.  The box has cards inside for writing out favourite Christmas recipes on one side and putting photos on the other - though I haven't done this yet.

Stamping Dragon Designs Item Used:

Pennys Pudding digital stamp

Christmas Around the World digital kit

Christmas Recipe Box

I used the large sheets of cardstock to score, cut and stick together to make the box and lid.  I printed and coloured in the “Penny” image.  I also printed out the backgrounds and other elements I needed from the kit, at the right size for my box, and cut, matted and layered, and stuck these on my box and card, finishing off with holly leaves from my crafty stash and some glitter glue.

 "Rysetiau Nadolig" is Welsh for "Christmas Recipes" - one bonus of using digital stamps and kits like you can find in the Stamping Dragon Shop is the ability to make your creations in any language (being able to make Welsh cards when the Welsh ones in the shops were more expensive, and with less choice, than the English ones was one reason why cardmaking became one of my main crafts).

 Even the back of my box is decorated.

I've made little cards to go in the box.  This one is for "Pwdin Nadolig" - "Christmas Pudding".  I'll put a picture on the front of the cards and the recipe on the backs.

Christmas Card

After printing everything out, and colouring in the digi-stamp, I cut out and then matted and layered the pieces.  I used a Perfect Layers ruler to get an even, small, border.  I stuck everything together with a variety of sticky mediums to give different dimensions.  Some glitter glue was added for a twinkle, and a peel-off greeting “Nadolig Llawen” – which is Welsh for “Happy Christmas” was also added.

 I used a clear glitter glue on the sauce over the pudding and red glitter glue on the holly berries.

I hope that you've liked what I've shown you in today's post and will come back daily to check out future posts on various themes that are posted practically daily.

Gwyneth

Feel free to leave a comment below to let us know what you think