Fav Christmas Cards of 2010

Debby is holding a fun candy draw for anyone who posts their 5 favourite Christmas cards from 2010.

It's lovely to see everyone's little group of cards, reflecting their style of card making using different designs and stamps. 
Here are my 5 favourites...

This Meljen image makes me smile and was perfect for my 'Bah Humbug' brother.

I love the way the 'candle wax' turned out on this Cuddly Buddly image.

I went for non-traditional colours when I used this Sassy Studio girl.

It doesn't often occur to me to layer up different stamps, so I was happy with the way this card turned out - and the glitter is just gorgeous IRL.  ( Pollycraft digis )

And.. last but not least, this cute Penny Black Hedgie. This turned out to be a great design to make quite quickly and I made about a dozen cards like this in red and green.

Totally Papercrafts #47 'Time to Party'

'Tis the season to PARTY

so head on over to Totally Papercrafts and enter our last challenge of the year, where the theme is 'Time to Party' ,
chosen by the fabulous Ria.

Our sponsor this week is the Secret Crafter and one lucky winner will

get to choose 3 of their wonderful Digi Images.
(entries must be in by 8pm Jan 6th)

Please don't forget to check out the amazing cards from my teamies.

As soon as I saw the 'party' theme I knew I wanted to use this tequila girl from Bugaboo and, because a girl can't go to a christmas party without a bit of glitz, I added some fine pink glitter to her dress.

Digi Stamp - Bugaboo, JJTequila and Shoes, coloured with Copics.

Design Paper - Kaiser Craft - La Di Da.     Fine Glitter is making Memories Shimmer.     'Party' was die cut with Sizzix, Bug in a Rug Alphabet.    Streamers were cut on my Slice, 'Parties' design card.

Can you tell the odd one out??

Just a quick post today, as things are getting busy here. So far I have 5 'to do' lists and, as long as I don't LOSE a list, I will be fine.  :-)

I just wanted to share my good news with you - I am so excited -  I have been asked by Janet at PINK GEM to be a guest designer. From January 8th the Pink Gem challenges will be fortnightly.

Congrats to my other GD'ers   Sandra at Cherry Pickin's and Katie at Both Sides of the Paper.

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All I Want For Christmas

Ta da.... drum roll please....    

this is my last Christmas card this year.... fingers crossed ;-)

I used some of the fab, digi images from Pollycraft, to create a little fireside scene - coloured with Copics and a sprinkling of extra fine glitter. I found this Art Institute glitter at the bottom of my Christmas box and can't believe I haven't used it before - it looks really beautiful IRL.

I made the sentiment on my comp and added a punched snowflake, covered with Diamond Dust. Finishing off with some little white gems. Simples!

Challenges - 

Stamp with Fun - Christmas

Bunny Zoe's  Crafts - Sparkle and Shine

Digital Tuesday - Sparkling Christmas and Digi

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Christmas Card

 

Digi Images -  Pollycraft - Fireplace, Marley's Bauble, Mimi's Gift

DP - Memory Box, Spiceberry

Christmas Crackers

Well, one day we were knee deep in snow and the next, it was completely gone!! Like magic :-)) Don't worry if you're missing it though - we could have it all over again at the end of the week!!!
Here's a couple of Christmas Crackers to show you - I made them using Karita's tutorial in the Christmas Magnolia Ink magazine. I have put an envelope with money inside mine, but they are a really good size for a small present - (very) roughly the main body is 7" x 2.5".

Try as I might, I can't get the ends of my top cracker to stay pushed out, but it still looks ok!

Challenges

Stamp Something - Digi Day.     I have used Cuddly Buddly Digi Images.

Cuddly Buddly Crafts - The Icing's on the Card.    I added Star Dust Stickles glitter to both images and the edges of the leaves, punched the flowers from glitter card and sprinkled Diamond Dust on the snowflake.

CES Challenges - Anything BUT a Christmas Card - I know it 'Christmassy' but it's Not a card!!   ;-))

Allsorts - Last Minute Christmas

Just Cute Bears & Friends - Anything BUT a Card

 

Digital Images - Cuddly Buddly - these were freebies available here  but check out their shop for some more adorable images and tons of crafting goodies.      DP - My Mind's Eye, Signature Christmas.

Totally Papercrafts #46 Paper Piecing

Hello everyone... hope you are all well, and, if it's cold where you are, I hope you are keeping wrapped up warm at home. It's time for the new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts. HUGE thanks to everyone who joined in last week.

This week the challenge is being hosted by the wonderful Sarah and the theme is

Paper Piecing

Our sponsor this week is Sew Many Cards and one lucky winner will get to choose 5 digi images, so I hope you will play along. Head on over to the blog to see the fabulous work of my teamies.

Stamp - LOTV Deck the Halls, coloured with Copics, paper pieced and with some added stickles glitter.   DP - Dovecraft, Fancy Christmas. Papermania white gems.   Snowflakes punched and covered with Diamond Dust. Sentiment from Craftwork Cards. Ribbon and charm from my stash.

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Deck the Halls

Well, I thought taking pics of glittery cards was difficult - it's easy compared to trees and fairy lights...lol**

No cards today folks... just a few pics of my decorations - much prettier IRL.. honest injun!!

Christmas Cash !

For some people in my family ( mainly the teenagers! ) cash is the best option at Christmas. But, if that's what they are getting, I at least want it to be in a pretty walllet. Here's my very quick and easy cash wallet....

 I used a piece of card approx 160mm x 235mm - scored along the long edge at 55mm and 95mm and with one end punched.  Fold up along the 55mm score line and stitch the sides,  a few mm's from the edge. This will make your wallet big enough for a £20 note. Then fold the top piece down and decorate.

For the band, which keeps the wallet closed, I used a piece of card 335mm x 22mm. (I had to join pieces, but the middle stamp covers this up).

Challenges.

Fussy & Fancy - Anything But A Card

Secret Crafter - Christmas

 

Design Paper - Memory Box   Fa La La Stamp - Catslife Press.   Martha Stewart Lace Border Punch. Ribbon from my stash.

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I'll just hang around the mistletoe, hoping to be kissed!!

Woohoo!!! I am soooo excited!   It's time to get the Christmas decorations up. I am waiting for the tree to drop a little before I start trimming it, but I have the fibre optic tree going, my christmas presents boxes on and strings of lights all over the floor that need checking. I better put a call into the National Grid, for when I flip the switch tonight!!!  :-))

Here's a card I made for my daughter and her b/f.   I just love these cute, kissing bears.

 I found the 'charms' in the jewellery section of my local craft store - these three came together on a piece of card, complete with the ribbon. They are made by Cousin and called 'Trinkettes' and they have some for sale on the Docrafts site.

 Challenges - 

Stamp Something - Christmas Colour Combo.  I went for the traditional red and green, but also tried to give the card a more modern feel.

Secret Crafter - Christmas

Image from Digi Stamp Boutique - Eddie and Jemima Xmas Kiss, coloured with Copics. Polar White flower soft on their hats and boots and some little white gems for their buttons.

DP is Dovecraft, Fancy Christmas.

 

Totally Papercrafts #45 Christmas Punch !

Hello everyone... hope you are all well, and, if you have snow, I hope you are keeping wrapped up warm at home. It's time for the new challenge over at Totally Papercrafts. HUGE thanks to everyone who joined in last week.

This week the challenge is being hosted by the wonderful Heidi and the theme is

Christmas Punches

So dig out those punches and get crafting... we can't wait to see what you come up with.   Here's my project  -  a Christmas Countdown.   It was 36 days till Christmas when I made this, but now we are down to 

22 sleeps till Santa

This is a really easy card to make and you could use it for a countdown to anything... wedding day, special holiday, retirement day!! lol**

I die cut the squares and added numbers cut on my Slice machine. Then I punched holes in them, and the card and attached them with some blue cord.

The weight of the numbers makes the card want to splay out, so to stop this, I cut a strip of card, scored and folded at each end, and attached it to the insde of the card. If you also score across the centre of this strip you can fold the card flat for storage, or posting.

DP -Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy.   Martha Stewart, Lace Border Punch.    Numbers were cut on my Slice Machine.   Snowflakes are a XCut punch, covered with Diamond Dust.    Text made on my comp.

Snow Day

 Hello everyone... I do have a quick card to show you, but first the 'Snow Bulletin' - are you having fun in the snow yet?? I won't be venturing out anywhere today - the roads are pretty much blocked and it's starting to come down again. I feel a film day coming on!

Here's a photo taken from my back door this morning - since then we have had another few inches of snow - 

and Suzie is beginning to get lost in it.

Here's my CAS card - another quick make to add to the pile.  I would like to enter it for the following challenges..

Papertake - Sketch. (I did rotate the centre elements, so that my image would fit).

Allsorts - Monochrome

Digital Tuesday - Animals at Christmas Time.

Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes

Digital Image - freebie from Ladybug and Friends        DP Dovecraft Christmas Fancy
Pearls and ribbon from my stash.    Snowflake covered with Diamond Dust.

Stuff it !!!

It's been one of those days today... nothing has gone right and 3 projects have already ended up in the bin!

Maybe I should stick to cooking - I seem to be doing ok with that.  Yesterday I tried making this Chestnut & Cranberry Roll. This was fantastic... a real hit and even though mine wasn't quite as neat as theirs, it still looked fab at the table.

Just beware of the recipe - I didn't read it before I started and ended up with my two rolls, plus extra for stuffing a turkey! 

For this week's sweet treat I made some Biscotti. It's much easier to make than I thought it would be. Here's the recipe I used. I added glace cherries, instead of the dried ones, and substituted chocolate chips for the raisins.

I made a little sleigh to hold some Biscotti, and even tough I'm not very happy with it, I thought I would show you it, because it's a cute, little gift idea. I got the Sleigh template from Clear & Simple Stamps It's designed by Sue Berker. Take a look at her little Sleigh - it's just so elegant.

Challenges...
Winter Wonderland - 'Shape Up'.   Not sure if my entry has to be a card, or if this is ok???
Fab 'n' Funky - Anything Goes
A Spoon Full of Sugar - Anything Goes

Totally Papercrafts #44 Non-traditional Christmas

Morning everyone.... Wow!! You all loved our Snow & Snowflakes challenge at Totally Papercrafts. last week. We had a fab number of entries, so, if you joined in, head on over there to see if you are the lucky winner, or maybe one of our Top 3.

This week the lovely Carol is hosting our challenge and the theme she has chosen is

Untraditional Christmas

So, step away from the reds, greens and golds and let's see something different.
Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp

Here's my card - Black & White - so definitely not your usual Christmas colour combo.

I found this sweet freebie image over at Ladybug and Friends ( scroll down the page for a full sheet of freebies).   I kept my colouring to a minimum, just adding a little grey shadow and some stickles glitter.

The DP is Papermania Mono and I coloured the gems with a black Copic. Ribbon was from my stash.

This was a very simple card to put together, and in real life it looks very striking. It's growing on me, but I'm not sure if anyone else would appreciate a black and white Christmas card!

Challenges...

Creative Cottage - Untraditional Christmas Colours

Skating on thin ice.

**Happy Thanksgiving**   Hope everyone that is celebrating today is having a lovely time.

Here in Yorkshire, we had a smattering of the white stuff this morning and it sounds like there is more on the way for the weekend!
Here's a card that I was asked to make for a friend of a friend. All they asked for, was that it said 'to both of you', so I hope they like this.

 I don't have many 'couples' stamps, so I was happy when I found these freebie skaters from Cuddly Buddly. They are coloured with Copics and some gold stickles glitter. I also used a gold glitter pen for the skates.

Challenges... 

Creative Inspirations - Red, Green & Gold

ABC Christmas - X is for Xmas, with the optional extra of flowers.

ABC - I is for Ice (& Snow)

Cuddly Buddly Digi Image.    DP is Memory Box, Misteltoe.    Merry Christmas stamp from Catslife Press.

Leaves made with a XCut punch.  Gold stickles glitter.  Blooms and Ribbon from my stash. Lace border punch, Martha Stewart.

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Relax ... it's your special day.

Have you joined in with the Christmas Blog Hop, over at Wild Rose Studio? There are lots of fabulous prizes up for grabs along the way, and an awesome GRAND prize too. All you have to do is make a card using Dawny's sketch ( you can use any image you like) and collect a phrase from the hop. Simples!

Here's my card using Dawny's fab sketch.

I have used the wonderful Ronnie Relaxing image from Pollycraft. You can find him in Pollycraft's sidebar and all money raised from his sale goes to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

I paper-pieced the chair and then added Ronnie on top, coloured with Copics. The background was distressed with inks. I also added a little glossy accents to the biscuit packets and his cup.

Challenges...

Wild Rose Studio - Dawny's Sketch and Blog Hop

Pollycraft - Blue

Crafty Emma - If you have donated to the Yorkshire Air Amabulance you can get an extra entry to Emma's Fundraising Candy, by making a card with one of the 'Ronnie images'. See Emma's blog for the full details.

Top Tip Tuesday - Layer on Layer - Check out Anne's great tutorial on how to paper-piece digi images.

Digi Stamp - Ronnie Relaxing from Pollycraft.    DP Daisy & Dandelion, A Winter's Tale.   Papermania 'Scrolls and Sentiments' stamp set.   Glossy Accents.    Card Candy.

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Believe in the magic of Christmas.

Morning everyone... hope you all had a great weekend, whatever you were up to. I did absolutely nothing..

apart from my bit of baking, I just vegged out in front of the TV...  :-)

Oh, yes and I did manage to find time to put together this simple card.

 This is still one of my fav. stamps of the season, even though it takes me forever to colour it. The background sheet is really blue and the head dresses ( what are they called?? ) are green, but that's kind of hard to make out in my photo.

Challenges - 

Lili of the Valley - Glitter and Glitz.   I added glitter around the edges of the red card, and at the feet of Mary & Joseph. Their head bands are drawn with a Glitter Sakura pen.

CES Challenges - Lovely Lace

Create 4 Fun - Sketch ( I rotated it, to suit my image)

Stamp - LOTV, Mary and Joseph, coloured with Copics and stickles gliter ( frosted lace). DP is Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy. 'Believe' is a Making Memories Velvet saying.  'Merry Christmas' is Making Memories Chipboard sticker.

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I also want to say a HUGE thankyou to Emma,
for the fabulous Candy that I won.

Look at all these amazing goodies.

At the moment Emma has some Fundraising Candy up for grabs.

If you make a donation to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance
you could win a $20 voucher, provided my Mo's Digital Pencil.

Check out Emma's blog for all the details and to see how you can get an extra entry.

The ratio of people to cake is too big !!!

First Year of High School...   Form 1T... Home Ec. Room 17...      That was the last time I made a swiss roll!
So, I thought I was long overdue to give it another try. Of course, these days the humble swiss roll has been transformed into a 'roulade'.

This was really De.lic.ious. 

  The sponge just melted in your mouth.  The cream had a little hint of orange,

so you might want to add more zest or flavouring to yours.  I did mange to swirl the icing on top to give it

some resemblance to a log, but if you had some little decorations to put on there too, this could be a real show stopper.

I also made up a batch of mince pies - I hate mince pies, so I can make as many as I like, safe in the knowledge that I will not stuff my face with them!!!
BIG thanks to the wonderful Julie, who gave me the link to this White Chocolate Fudge recipe.
I added some dried blueberries to mine, and whilst it looks ( and tastes) wonderful, I think the crunch of the added nuts would have been better.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

xxx

Totally Papercrafts #43 Snow and Snowflakes

Morning everyone, have you all started your Christmas shopping?? I haven't got a thing yet - give it another week and I will be in full blown panic mode :-)

To keep your Christmas projects rolling along we have a great new challenge for you on Totally Papercrafts this week. I chose the theme, and I would like to see....

*SNOW AND SNOWFLAKES*

So, add some sparkly, glittery snow to your project, or a snowflake, or 2.    I can't wait to see what you come up with.    Check out the fabulous work of my teamies - they have done an awesome job this week. And pop over to Squigglefly, who are this week's sponsors, with 5 of their wonderful digis up for grabs.

Now, since December is fast approaching, I thought it was time to make an advent calendar for my girls. I have seen this idea, to use matchboxes, on my blogging travels and thought I would give it a go.

Here is what I started with - my design paper ( Memory Box ) and 24 small matchboxes, that were glued and taped together.

If anyone has any idea about what I can do with 10,000 loose matches, let me know!!   :-))

The Virgo in me is screaming that the matchboxes aren't perfectly lined up, but I shut her up with a chocolate biccy!!!

Once the matchboxes were all glued together, I added a piece of card to the top and bottom. I covered the matchbox sides with the same card and some design paper, using a different paper on the 'drawer' fronts, and adding a pearl brad to each one. The numbers are stickers.

Then I decorated the whole thing with some snowflakes cut on my Slice machine and covered with Diamond Dust. The cute penguin on the top is from this week's sponsor, Squigglefly.

Of course THE BEST thing about this project was researching the sweeties to go in the drawers. They are very small and I had to munch my way through a lot of rejected choccies. :-))  I finally came across a box of Milka chocs, where I could fit 2 in each drawer, with a few left over for sampling!!!

Finally, I added this cute Catslife Press stamp

to the bottom of the box.

I hope you give this project a go - it's really very easy, just a bit fiddly and time consuming, but I would love to see your versions.

xxx

Deck the Halls

Is it time to put the Christmas Tree up yet???    I can't wait    :-)   We all troop off together to get our tree - like the Griswolds in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ( A must watch film for us over the hols ) - except our tree comes from the local DIY store, not the wilderness!!

This cutie is James Bear, Deck the Halls, from LOTV. He's coloured with Copics, baby blue stickles on his tinsel and some glossy accents on his star and baubles. The DP is Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy and the text stamp is from a Penny Black, Christmas Critters set.
I found these pretty little star charms, that I had completely forgotten about - I can't even remember where I got them from, but Bunny Zoe's Crafts has a great selection of charms.

 Challenges - 

I followed Arielle's fab sketch over at The Pink Elephant.

Pollycraft - A Glittery Christmas