Saturday 29 October 2016

Tickled Pink

I really had to get the old, grey matter firing this week,
to play along at Muse Christmas Visions.

My bin was quickly filling up with inky backgrounds and
*brilliant* ideas, when I came across this large die.



I took the ombre style of the muse card as my inspiration,
and pieced the die with pink shades.
I don't have a bauble stamp or die, so I used a dog instead!!  :o)
Then I stamped my sentiment and added some sequins to
echo the snowflakes.




Avery Elle - happy howl-idays and merriest sentiments.
MFT - diagonal stripe sentiment die.    Copics.   Sequins.


Thursday 27 October 2016

Arctic Love


Don't you love it when a plan comes together?
This little stack of penguins makes me happy.

Most of my Christmas cards tend to be one-offs, 
but I think this one has made it to the production line.


This was very simple to put together,
just stacking my penguins in the shape of a tree.
It looked a bit plain at the design stage,
so before sticking down the penguins with foam pads
I sponged a little ink around, as a background.


Challenges


Mama Elephant - Arctic Penguins, coloured with Copics + Labeled Messages
Avery Elle - Postage Stamp Dies.   Colour Box Ink - Glacier Ice
Star from MFT, Oh Christmas Tree embossed with Wow Gold Metallic

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Reindeer Leap

 Hello
I'm sharing a simple card today,
that I think would be good for mass production with just
a change of background colour.


After cutting my panel with a postage stamp die,
I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it.
(You can't really tell from these photos, but it does catch the light beautifully)
Then I added my reindeer, popped up on foam pads.
I chose a bright blue spotted background which kind of
gives this a masculine feel.




Avery Elle - Postage Stamp Die and Merriest stamped in VersaColor Lagoon Blue
Hero Arts - Reindeer    DP - MFT Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots



Friday 21 October 2016

Be Merry


Hello.

Today I'm sharing a simple card


Cornelia's card is a real stunner and I took inspiration from
several of her design elements.

I used green and gold as my colour palette,
with gold embossing to add that metallic element.
I tried to put a reindeer next to my tree, but the size just didn't fit well,
so I opted for that little penguin instead.
Then I placed the sentiment in a similar place to Cornelia's
and sprinkled a couple of sequins.




Crafting Tip: I was so tired of all my scissors being sticky from cutting
foam tape that I raided the garage. 
I came across WD40. 
Sprayed it on the scissors - left them for half an hour and then wiped it off. Wow! 
I now have super clean and non sticky scissors :-)

MamaElephant - Arctic Penguins & Labeled Messages
MFT - Oh Christmas Tree stamped in Versacolor Celadon
Wow Metallic Gold Embossing Powder
DP - Echo Park, Bundle of Joy
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Rectangle



Thursday 20 October 2016

Oh Christmas Tree


Hello.

Merry Monday has a PLAID theme going on this week,
that got me rummaging through my, not inconsiderable, paper stash.

I wasn't sure this pale plaid would work,
but after stamping my trees in similar colours
 I kinda like how it turned out.




MFT - Oh Christmas Tree
Sentiment - WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays
Versacolor - Bisque/Celadon.  HeroArts Color Lights.  Altenew Evening Grey.
DP - Papermania Blueberyy Hill
Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders and rectangle.
Avery Elle Postage Stamp Die.

Sunday 16 October 2016

Holiday Cheer

My husband  budget allowed me to order 2 full sets
of stamps and dies for this year's Christmas cards.
And here's what I chose - 
O Christmas Trees and Deer Friends from My Favorite Things.
Now, I need to stop looking at other Christmas goodies.
Let's see how that goes!


I've played along at the Seven Hills Crafts Challenge,
where, this month, there are three different colour themes to choose from.
I've gone for the peacock greens, and tried to get as close to those colours as I can.

I built the background up using stitched hillside borders,
then framed it with the postage stamp die.
I don't do a lot of embossing so I had a tricky time with that sentiment.
This was my second try. On the first go I discovered that wiping my black card with the talc pad thingy ( ??)  left a residue on the textured card that wouldn't brush off.  It ended looking a like chalk board. Does anyone know what I mean,
and  is there a way round this?
I ended up embossing without using it, but got a few, stray flakes of powder
scattered about.

Lastly,  I added my die-cut trees and reindeer, popped up on foam pads.




My Favorite Things - O Christmas Trees and Deer Friends.
Avery Elle Postage Stamp Die.  Lawn Fawn Hillside Borders Die.
Versacolor - Lagoon Blue and Celadon.  White Embossing Powder.  Copics.

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Retro My Deer


This card is the reason 
why my dh has no ironed shirts to wear for work.

I had to google RETRO for this week's Merry Monday Challenge,
and I may have got sidetracked by some retro clothing sites :-)

Anyyhoo - what I took away from the images I saw, was that
turquoise, red, gold and brown seem to predominate.
So that's what I chose as my colour combo.


I tried to keep everything simple so that the colours would
speak for themselves.
The hardest thing was stamping my sentiment on that textured card.
I had to go back over it with a fineliner.




  • MFT deer friends, stamps and dies, coloured with Copics.
  • Avery Elle postage stamp die
  • Bow - Wplus9 heartfelt holidays, stamped in Hero Arts butterbar ink
  • Spellbinders nested ovals
  • Sentiment - Crafty Impressions, christmas baubles sentiments

Sunday 9 October 2016

Dream BIg


Don't let the simplicity of this card fool you.
It took me forEVA !


The Less Is More theme this week is 
Dreams
and it's also the dreaded one layer challenge.

I practiced stamping this design on scrap paper before
holding my breath and stamping straight onto my card blank.
Looking at it now, I wish I'd stamped the elephant a little higher.
Next time :-)

Supplies.
Lawn Fawn ABCs - Violet's and Smitty's
Elephant - SSS Elephant Love, coloured with Copics.
Stars - Winnie & Walter Big Bang Confetti
Leaf element - WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays
Ink - Hero Arts Color Lights.




Saturday 8 October 2016

Dasher

Hello.
Today I'd like you to focus on my overall card -
the great layout - the cute reindeer - the green polka dots
and ignore the fact that 
my reindeer has a tree growing out of his derriere!!


Note to self : check placement of elements before attaching.

I've used my new reindeer set from MFT, which is Christmas based,
but I think I will be able to use it year round with different sentiments.
The layout is courtesy of 
Freshly Made Sketches




MFT Stamps & Dienamics, Deer Friends.  Coloured with Copics.
Lawn Fawn Polka Dot DP
Avery Elle Postage Stamp Die

Thursday 6 October 2016

Yappy Christmas


Hello.
I've just read that it's only 79 days til Christmas.
Eek!
I need to crack on with my holiday cards - 
here's another one for the pile.


It's my first time playing along at Muse Christmas Visions,
where each week there is an inspiration card to spark your creativity.
I've followed the overall layout from Kimberly's card, with a
centre circle, one image and a sentiment.



Inspiration card from Kimberly Wiener


Supplies.
Avery Elle - Postage Stamp Die. Falling Snow Die. Happy Howl-idays 
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Hillside Border.
Spellbinders nested circle.
Copics.

Wednesday 5 October 2016

I {heart} eggnog latte


Pumpkin Spice is good, but nothing beats an Eggnog Latte.
The countdown is on :-)


Colouring is hard.
I haven't used my Copics for an image like this in a while,
and I'm a little rusty, so don't look too closely :-)


Challenges.

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

Whiff of Joy Stamp, Henry Mouse - coloured with Copics.
Lawn Fawn, Violet's ABCs alphabet stamps.

Monday 3 October 2016

Bear Hugs

Hello.

Is this lilac?
I thought it was, until I saw the other entries at Less Is More.
Hmm... let's just say it's pale lilac :-)


I wanted my bears to look like a boy/girl couple.
The bear with the scarf looks like a guy to me anyway,
so I just added a heart and hair-bow to my 'girl' bear.
I coloured them, adding the turquoise accents,
and popped them up on foam tape.

The sentiment didn't stamp great on that textured card, so
I went over it with a black fineliner.

Then I had to stop myself from adding any embellies, or a border - 
Less Is More ! 


Challenges.

Less Is More -  Turquoise & Lilac

WPlus9 - Friends for all Seasons, Fall - coloured with Copics.
The little hair bow is from the WPlus9 Unforgettable set.
Sentiment - Clearly Besotted, Round Roses

Sunday 2 October 2016

Cool Digs


Eek! My dd, Maria, has just moved in with her bf.
Let the adventures begin
 :-)



I do love making slider cards - they're so much fun,
and not nearly as difficult as you would expect.

To create this card I've used the MFT Dienamics Surf & Turf dies.
Normally, I would use a penny for the slider, so I wasn't sure
how the little circle dies would compare,
but they worked perfectly and without all that extra weight.


Fingers crossed the video plays.
If not you can see my card in action on Instagram at m1csp



Challenges.

Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes + A Sentiment

Supplies.
Mama Elephant, Arctic Penguins.
Avery Elle - Home Sweet Home Stamps, Falling Snow Dies, Postage Stamp Die.
Lawn Fawn - Stitched Hillside Borders
MFT Dienamics - Surf & Turf.      Copics.