Thursday 28 November 2013

I Like Big Bows And I Cannot Lie

There's just over a year between my 2 daughters,
so, when they were growing up, I got used to making 2 copies of everything,
It's a habit I can't seem to break :-)
Here's their Christmas cards.


 I know they love this wide, stripy ribbon, so that was my starting point.
Then I kept things simple by adding the fussy cut penguins, coloured in traditional red and green,
with a sprinkling of glamour dust.


If you're a fan of ribbon, and let's face it, who isn't,
then check out Crafty Ribbons
They are having a Christmas Advent Event, starting on Dec 1st.
There will be lots of inspiration from their DT
and the chance to win some fabulous prizes along the way.
xxx

Challenges.
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes With Ribbon
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Anything Goes

Stampendous 'Yule Penguins', coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust.
Wide Ribbon. Sequins.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Merry and Bright

Now, be honest, do you blog your disasters?
Here's one of mine.
Ok, it's not a 'bin it' card, 
but I will be happy when it has slipped off the page.

 I got so carried away with glittering and sticking the little letters on
that I forgot to add the 'merry &' sentiment on the bottom  layer.
Adding it on the top, doesn't really look right, does it?



I did have fun playing with glitter though 
and found an easy way to make the letters.
I covered small squares with double sided tape,
peeled the backing off and pressed the glitter onto the sticky tape.
Then I die cut the letters.

Challenges. 
Allsorts - Bring On The Bling
Crafty Cardmakers - Clean & Simple




Monday 25 November 2013

One Frosty Morning

I am so behind today.
I should have been doing the washing and ironing,
but I got sidetracked.
Fed up of rubbish photos of my cards, I decided to play with the white balance on my camera.
3 hours and hundreds of photos later, I think I might be getting the hang of it!!
Can you see a difference?
The answer you're looking for is 'yes'  ;-) 


 This is my take on this week's Sketch Saturday.
I cut out a circle, and created a snow scene with my landscape die
and some dp.
I sprinkled some glamour dust on the landscape and then added a felt reindeer, a little sentiment, some bling and twine.


Challenges. 
Sentimental Sundays - Winter Wonderland + A Sentiment
CAS on Sunday - Winter Theme

Memory Box Landscape Die.   Circle Nestie Die.   Glamour Dust.
Sentiment from Woodware 'A Winter's Day' Set
Red Felt Reindeer.  Pearl, Sequins, Gems

Saturday 23 November 2013

'av a reyt good Christmas

Hooray... it's the weekend.
Today I am sharing a fun card with you, 
that I made for my SIL and her hubby.
They live in Castleford - hence the sentiment ;-)


My jolly Santa is a digi from Make It Crafty.
He's coloured with Copics and glitter, cut out and popped up on foam pads.

I saw the semtiment on the net somewhere and it stuck in my head.
I knew it would be perfect for them, so I made it up on my comp.
and printed it onto Kraft card.



I just want to say a HUGE thanks to all my visitors.
I have had such a lot of really lovely comments recently
and I appreciate you taking the time.
I see some of you have added Google+,
I have no idea how that works,
and it's proving difficult to find your blog link on some of your pages,
but I will get round to you all, eventually :-)


Challenges.
Winter Wonderland - Photo Inspiration (a cheery Santa)
Aud Sentiments - Any Sentiment (2nd entry)
Sweet Stampin' - Cause for Celebration. Congrats on your 4th Birthday xxx
Stampin' for the Weekend - Feeling Festive

Friday 22 November 2013

Holiday Cheer


Afternoon everyone.
I hope something has made you happy today - 
for me it's been the little things - 
like smuggling in an almond croissant, when I'm supposed to be dieting (shhh..)
actually being in when a parcel arrived and not having to treck to the parcel depot,
but most of all, it's for my new Tescos having hand held scanners - 
no more unpacking and repacking a trolley full of groceries :-)
 
Here's another simple reindeer card for the pile.
 
I know a lot of you make this size card, (approx 106 x 148mm) 
and I bought some Papermania cardstock especially to make some.
The trouble is the card is just too flimsy - it's 216gsm.
Which cardstock do you use?

I ended up trimming down a larger card base that I had, 
and used my papermania card as a strip, down the side.
  
 
Challenges.
Crafty Girls - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments - Any Sentiment
Charisma - Christmas
ABC Christmas -  W for Winter Wishes
Less Is  More - Use Designer Paper in a CAS Way

Hero Arts 'Holiday Cheer' Stamp and Die Set.
Red Papermania Cardstock.  DP Prima 'North Country.'
Twine, Button, Sequin
 

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

I had real fun making this card,
despite all the fiddly cutting and sticking.
Although, I admit, by the time I was finished
me, the desk, the floor and the dog were covered with Glamour Dust :-)


 I used the fab digi Christmas wreath from Bird's Cards,
printing it out in 2 shades of green card.
I cut out some of the leaves from the lighter green, sprinkled them with glamour dust
and added red gems, as berries. 
Then attached them to the darker base with foam pads.
I also added some punched, glittered snow flakes and tiny silver stars.

I finished the wreath with a satin bow and red jingle bells.


Challenges.
City Crafter - Use a wreath
Stamping Sensations - Christmas (2nd Entry)

 

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Reindeer Rock

Hello everyone.
Today I'm showing you a card made with my new 'Holiday Cheer' set, from Hero Arts.


This is a great stamp and die set with a couple of reindeer, trees and snowflakes.
I wish it had a seperate die for the little reindeer's jersey,
but, I guess I will have to try paper piecing that bit.

I played along at Seize the Sketch, substituting their star for my reindeer and tree.

I tried stamping my sentiment with white ink, 
but because the card is textured it didn't come out too well.
It filled in nicely with a sparkly gel pen and IRL it's pretty and glittery. Honest :-)



Challenges.
Seize the Sketch - #8
Dream Valley Challenges - Clean & Simple
Created with Love - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Christmas

Monday 18 November 2013

I'm only a morning person on December the 25th

I don't want to cause a panic,
but it's only 36 days til Christmas.
36 days !!
How did that come round so quick?

I really need to get on with making Christmas cards this week.
So, I am trawling the net for Sketches and inspiration :-) 

Here's my card for CAS(E) this Sketch


I went for the obvious option with this sketch,
but it just leant itself to using the 25th.
I even managed to add some ribbon - 
I LOVE ribbon, but I'm finding it difficult to know how to add it to CAS cards.
You would not believe how often this bow was off and on again.


Challenges.
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon
Totally Papercrafts -  Clean & Simple.

Spellbinders label and circle dies.  Memory Box numbers die
DP is Digital Design Essentials, Digitally Smitten.
Punched snowflake covered with Diamond Dust
Sequins, pearls, gems.  Grosgrain dotty ribbon.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Party girl - just add wine!


 Help!!   Please send cake :-)
I have withdrawal symptoms.
I need to squeeze into that LBD for Christmas,
so I am on day 5, of a 1200 calorie a day diet.
 
Best to stop dreaming of cake and keep busy, in my craft room.


Now, if I looked like this Mademoiselle Noel I wouldn't complain.
You can see, she's just on her way into the city,
to party the night away.

IRL there's lots of sparkle on her fur trim
and the edges of the city scape.




Challenges.
Sketch Saturday - Sketch #284
Penny Black & More - Anything Goes
Penny Black Saturday - Sparklers
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes

DP: Digital Design Essentials, Digitally Smitten   
Stamp: Penny Black, Mademoiselle Noel, coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust
Die: Memory Box, Cityscape
Emebellies: Red Sequins, Whispy Twine.

Monday 11 November 2013

Today New Job, Tomorrow The World!

Shhh.... come closer.
I'm taking a chance and sharing this card with you today,
for my dd Annabel, who has been head hunted and
 starts a fabulous new job next week.
Let's hope this arrives before she pops in here :-)


I CAS(ED) this Sketch , which I found a bit tricky this week.
But I sat at my desk playing with paper and embellies until something came together.
Normally I plan my cards more, so this was a new thing for me!


Challenges.
CAS(E) this Sketch - #53
ABC Challenge - Y for Yellow. I know it looks a little orange in my pictures, but IRL it's yellow!!
Crafty Girls - Anything Goes
Simon Says - Keep it Clean & Simple

freckled fawn 'today' frame and dew drop.   'good luck' stamp, wild rose studio
dp, pink petticoat chevrons and apples in 'daffodil'.  die cut heart with glamour dust.  sequins

Saturday 9 November 2013

Penguins are cool!

Hello there,
 hope you're all having a good weekend.
I can't believe we're in the 2nd week of November already.
I need to buckle down to make some more Christmas cards.
Here's one more for the pile.

Finances are tight here, but I allowed myself 2 new stamp sets for Christmas cards.
This penguin is from my first purchase - Stampendous Yule Penguins.
Who could resist this cutie?
Plus, I think the set is versatile for guys, girls and couples.


 I played along with Seize the Sketch

I wish you could see how totally gorgeous that glitter ribbon is IRL.
 It hurt to cut into, I can tell you and I have left it out on my desk, just to look at.  
I need to get out more!!  ;-)


Challenges.
Seize the Sketch - #7
Cute Card Thursday - Animal Magic
Crafty Little Fairies - Christmas In November
Top Tip - Seasons

DP - Dovecraft 'Christmas Fancy'         Stampendous 'Yule Penguins'
'Let it Snow' from the Penny Black Christmas Critters set
Copics.  Glamour Dust.  Sequins.  Ribbon.

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Winter Nights and Fairy Lights

Hello everyone...
I've been busy working on handmade Christmas prezzies (top secret stuff)
but I finally found some time to make a card.

I used my new Christmas lights die, from Memory Box.
I have to say, when I ordered this die, 
I didn't realise just how tiny the lights would be.


The lights are cut from white paper and  coloured with Copics.
I drew the 'wire' with a glitter pen
 (it's much more sparkly than the photo shows)
and then I spent an infuriating amount of time, 
trying to pick up and glue the tiny lights on.


Challenges.
Less Is More - dark background with a splash of colour.
Simon Says - Keep It Clean & Simple
Allsorts - Christmas Cheer
Papertake - Anything Goes (optional Christmas theme)

Black card.   Sakura gelly roll pen, 'clear star'   Memory Box Christmas lights die.   Copics
Sentiment stamp, Catslife Press stamped in Memento 'moonlight white'