Christmas Stag

Hello.
I fell in love with these dies when I saw them. They include the cute, stag with his antlers, and a winter floral arrangement. Easy to put together, they make a really lovely card.

I'm starting to get my head around using these tiny dies. I just need to invest in a glue that doesn't need a shot putters biceps to squeeze some out of the bottle!

Challenge

Time Out 

• spellbinders floral stag die
• mft stax rectangle dies

'Tis The Season For Ribbons And Bows

Hello.

When I'm just about to finish a card, I'm in the danger zone. Usually, I drop a stamp on it, smudge a sentiment, or glue something where it shouldn't be glued. This time I excelled myself. I stuck my panel down at a funny angle - deliberately. Why? Why would I do that?

Apart from that slight aberration my card was kept simple for the Less Is More Challenge. I stamped onto my card panel, did some soft, copic colouring, and added 'snow' with a white gel pen.

Less Is More

• colorado craft company - christmas presents
• copics

Deck The Halls

It's almost time to deck the halls - and these three, little hedgies are getting an early start :o)

I was short on time in my craftroom this week, so I kept  my card very simple, and dug out these cute, little hedgies that I have had forever.
They still stamp beautifully though and need only minimal colouring.

Color Hues Color Challenge

penny black - christmas critters, coloured with copics
pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
my favourite things - snowglobe sentiments
stickled gold glitter

Sprinkled With Joy

Hello.

Who is thinking about Christmas Baking?

I am already trawling through Pinterest in search of easy recipes, that look amazing, that I will probably never find time to make!

I did find time to make this 'baking' card though...

I adapted the stitched die for this card. It is really 3 even parts, but I cut off one 'bar' and put it back in a horizontal position, so it fitted my theme better.

The cute, little elements were stamped and die cut, and coloured with copics.

Challenge

Inspired By

I was inspired by the baking theme, and the red and blue colour combo

lawn fawn - sprinkled with joy
mft stamps - tri frame cover up die
copics

Dancin' St Nick

Hello.
Argh! I made a card for last week's Freshly Made Sketches and then missed the deadline :-(
So, today I'm getting my entry in early.
Here is a Dancing St Nick...

This Santa is a bit fiddly to put together, but very cute and fun. (If you want to see him dancing check out my Instagram.)
He's popped up with foam tape, as are the trees, and placed on a die cut 'snowy' background.

Ooops! I've just noticed I forgot to add some glitter to the fur on his hat.

 Challenge

Freshly Made Sketches

I've replaced the shapes with my trees, Santa and sentiment.

spellbinders - dancin' st nick / holiday haul

lawn fawn stitched border
avery elle - falling snow die
mft stamps - snowglobe messages

Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew

Hello.
My first foray into card making - back when dinosaurs roamed the earth - was with cross stitching.
So it was really nice to get back into some stitching, using this gorgeous die from Spellbinders.

I went for a cool, blue theme with some added gems for a bit of sparkle.
This is a great little project to do whilst watching TV.

Challenge

Moving Along With The Times

spellbinders - stitch fanfare

sentiment - concord and 9th - tiny trees
wow white embossing powder 

Waiting For Santa

Argh!
It's 12C in here today, but I am determined NOT to put the heating on.
I am wrapped up in thermals and a pom pom hat :o)   Who else is holding out?

I need to step up my Christmas card making, so here's another one for the pile.

I do love this cute pup and his little mouse pal, waiting for Father Christmas, but it's tricky for me to colour. Those curtains - don't look too closely - absolute nightmare!

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

This is their final challenge of 2022.
Hope you all enjoy your well earned break. Thanks for a fab blog and for all
the amazing inspiration throughout the year.

colorado craft company - on the lookout

copic markers

pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle die

It's Spooky Season

Hello.
The last few months have been really tough, but helping us through, are our 2 gorgeous grandsons, one of whom is celebrating his first Boo this season  :o)
Here are the cards I made for them.

These were simple cards to put together - just a little distress ink blending for the backgrounds and then adding the die cuts. These cute ghosts definitely look like they're ready to party!

Challenge

Inspired By

I was inspired by the Halloween theme, and the purple, black and white colour scheme.

mft - ghostly greetings / stitch alpha dies

distress inks - wilted violet / seedless preserves

lawn fawn - violet's abc

memory box - twiggy tree

Have A Roar-Some Birthday

Hello.
This month the AAA Birthday Challenge would like to see your favourite technique.
My favourite is die-cutting. Simple, I know, but I would be lost without my trusty Big Shot machine.

Here's a card I made for a special birthday girl.

• distress ink a background panel and splatter with black and white paint
• add die-cut 'Happy Birthday' in gold glitter paper
• add die-cut car  - I snipped off the roof to make it a convertible, piled it up with presents and swapped out the animals for a driving dinosaur :o)
  
  
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Challenge

AAA Birthday

• my favorite things - special delivery / cute caravan / babysaurus / 
• my favorite things - happy birthday script die
• pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
• distress ink - salvaged patina
• copic markers

A Truckload Of Happiness

Hello.

I've always loved die-cutting, but finally being able to get my hands on some of these fabulous spellbinders sets has taken me to a whole other level. 

Here's a truckload of happiness, for the Christmas card pile.

These are so much fun to work with, and I'm even starting to get to grips with using such tiny pieces.
To create my little scene I've also used a falling snow, and a scalloped edge die.

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps & More

• spellbinders - holiday haul / sending you
• avery elle - falling snow
• mft - stitched scallop border

Have A Cozy Birthday

 Hello.

How do you go back to crafting when your heart is broken?

My brother died suddenly a couple of weeks ago, and I'm finding it hard to focus on anything.

Here is a card that was on my desk ready for posting.

This little, cozy room was created just from die cuts

Challenge

Seize The Birthday

Anything Goes Birthday with a CAS Topping

• mft couch potato / potted plants / fundamental furnishings
• take a seat / decor & more

Sending A Truck Load Of Happiness

Hello.

Today I'm joining a special challenge collaboration. Color Hues are celebrating their 2nd Birthday with a navy/lime combo and are being joined by their sister challenge, Seize the Birthday.

I've used this cute spellbinders set, with the truck and gift box. It's a bit fiddly sticking some of those tiny pieces together, but definitely worth it. The truck was then popped up with foam tape and the sentiment added. Simple!

Challenges

Color Hues

Navy & Lime

Seize the Birthday

spellbinders die set - holiday haul / sending you
mft stax rectangle dies

The Cutest Reindeer Of All

Hello.

Today I'm sharing some Reindeer with you.

I watched THIS cool video from Jennifer McGuire and Lila, about making cards with small die cuts, and just had to give it a go. I don't have any silhouette dies, so I struggled to find something that might work, eventually coming across this reindeer. It's a bit big, but I think I got away with it.

• die cut lots of reindeer from snippets of design paper and white card
• layer the reindeer with the design paper on top (I used 2 layers of card and 1 of dp)
• stick the reindeer onto a card panel, leaving space for your sentiment (because my reindeer were so big, I ended up adding the sentiment with foam tape)
• trim off the reindeer pieces around the edge of the panel.
• attach panel to card base, add sentiment

I recommend watching Jennifer's video. This was just a simple version of her technique, she also shows how you can die-cut in plain colours and stamp a design on top. Plus other variations.

Challenges

Inkspirational

• hero arts - reindeer set
• mini snowflake from wplus9, stamped in distress ink salvaged patina
• various snippets of christmas dp

A Winter's Tale

Hello.

Vellum, is the challenge at Less Is More this fortnight. Hmm... it's not something I use often, so I went off down a Pinterest rabbit hole - and ended up none the wiser ;o)

In the end I opted for a very simple, vellum overlay, very pretty IRL, but a bit of a bugger to photograph!

This is one of those cards where a stamping platform really comes into it's own. It allows you to make sure that you're images line up perfectly.

• die cut 2 panels. 1 in white card, 1 in Vellum
• stamp both with Versamark ink and white heat emboss
• colour the image on the white card (I used Zig watercolours for that soft effect)
• stamp a sentiment
• line up both panels onto your card base, punch a hole through the layers and add a brad

 The Vellum panel pivots on the brad to reveal the soft, watercoloured image below.

Challenge

Less Is More

One main image with lots of clean space
Minimal layers
Minimal embellies

Quick and easy

• woodware stamp - a winter's tale
• wow white embossing powder
• zig clean color real brush markers
• brad

Find Me Where The Trees Are

Hello.

Today I'm playing along with the Color Throwdown Challenge, where the colours are mustard, navy blue and turqouise.  Not an obvious Christmas combo, but I needed to crack on with my holiday cards, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I think it works. What do you think?

• stamp and die cut trees (attach trunks/pots/stars)
• die cut panel from blue card and add some white acrylic splatter
• attach trees to background with foam tape, add sentiment and some stickles glitter
• layer onto another stitched die cut, and then a card base.

Challenge

Color Throwdown

• concorde and 9th - tiny trees
• distress ink - mustard seed, faded jeans, salvaged patina, brushed corduroy
• pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
• wplus9 - sentiment - heartfelt holiday
• stickles gold glitter - wow gold embossing powder (stars)

Merry Christmoose

Hello.

Nancy has chosen a chocolate and mint duo, for the Color Hues Challenge. Now, that's definitely a combo I can get behind. I love chocolate chip ice-cream and I can't pass a box of matchmakers!

I've used the combo here for a Christmas card.

 

I offset the mint letters onto the gold glitter ones, to create a kind of shadow effect. I hope the gold is allowed for the challenge - I'm calling it a Christmas neutral  :o)
Then, I stamped and die-cut my moose, coloured them with copics and  another touch of gold stickles glitter and popped them up with foam tape.

Challenge

Color Hues the Color Challenge

Chocolate & Mint

mft - stitched alpha in salvaged patina distress ink
clearly besotted - merry christmoose, coloured with copics
gold glitter card, gold stickles glitter

pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle