Spiced Lattes

Yay!
It finally rained here - and the heatwave broke. 
Thank God for that.
I think the whole of Yorkshire managed to get some sleep last night :o)

I am so ready for autumn.

This card is just for fun. I saw a similar idea on Pinterest and wanted to give it my own twist.

The little pumpkins were die-cut, coloured with Copic markers and given faces and legs. Then I attached them with foam tape.

The sentiment was stamped with the tiniest alpha set I have - which is obviously missing the letter 'E' - 

so I made do with an 'F' and a black pen  😄

Challenge

Simply Clean & Simple

August Challenge

Anything Goes CAS - Optional Nature Theme

• spellbinders - fall gnomes (pumpkins)
• mft - strike up the band (legs)
• lawn fawn - sprinkled with joy (faces)
• stampendous - tiny alpha
• pinkfresh studio - diagonal stitch rectangle
• copic markers - white gel pen

HOPPY EASTER

Hello.
I'm stretching my stamps today, and using this Christmas presents bunny,
for an Easter card.
I think it works!

I wanted to keep this nice and simple, with a small, stamped sentiment.
But that frame had a mind of it's own and the top piece stuck down all wonky!
When I went to lift it up the card ripped and half of it stayed behind on the DS tape!
I managed to stick most of it back down,
but the banner was a good cover up for the ripped piece!

Challenge

Freshly Made Sketches

• colorado craft company - christmas presents
• stampendous - mini alphabet
• clearly besotted - basic banners
• pink fresh studio - diagonal stitched rectangle
• copics
• mft - rectangle stax

 

HOMES FOR CHRISTMAS

Hello.
Today I'm sharing the cards I made for my daughters'.
They only live 12 miles away, but they're both in a Tier 3 and we are Tier 2,
so no visiting is allowed!
We are hoping we can at least get together for a few days over Christmas.

In my ideal world, we would all live next door to each other, so the pooches can run around from house to house :-)
So I created our street, with a house for each of us, wreaths on the door, snow on the roof, and, of course, dogs at the door!

That's my little monster Buster the Border Terrier in the middle,
with Indie the Staffy, and Ollie the Puggle.

It was fun trying to create 3 different houses from the stamp set, and irl the porches and trees are all popped up for a 3d effect.
I also changed up the colours for the second card.

Challenge

WaterCooler Wednesday

wplus9 - neighbors coloured with copics
trees - mft beast friends
wreaths - stampendous holiday home
sentiment - altenew hug me
distress ink tumbled glass
glamour dust

 

HAVE A COOL YULE

Hello.

Nope...    still not tired of these bear stamps :o)
(Is it possible, do you think, to use the same stamp for ALL your cards?)

I masked off a rectangle on my card base, and inked it up with some distress ink - fading it out towards the bottom.
My next step is usually to drop or smudge the sentiment, but I avoided that by using my stamping platform for a nice, crisp image.

The bear was coloured with copics and popped up on foam tape, and I added some white pen 'snow' and a few crystals for a bit of bling :o)

Challenge

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

• sugarpea designs - hey winter coloured with copics
• stampendous sentiment - yule penguins
• distress ink - tumbled glass
• 
  

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Hello.

Here's a new home card for those crazy enough to move house
in the middle of winter.
(you know who you are).

I had fun with this card.
Imagine being all warm and cosy in your new home with the snow falling thick and fast outside.
Perfect.

I started by embossing the sentiment and using distress ink for the background,
then added the stitched hills and other elements.

The snow splatter was added last, so that it covered the trees and home.
I'm not great at that splatter stuff, but I love how this turned out.

Challenge

Addicted to Stamps and More

Supplies 

Sentiment - Clearly Besotted, Home Sweet Home

Trees - MFTStamps, Oh Christmas Tree in Versacolor Turquoise and Cocoa

House - Stampendous, Holiday Home, coloured with Copics

Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders.

Distress ink - Peacock Feathers

Snow is falling

I am so excited for Christmas.
Is it too early to put my tree up? 🎄🎄🎄
I don't know how much longer I can hold out :-)

 - and when did we get emojis?
Have we had them for ages and I've only just noticed??
Questions, questions  :-)

This is my card for the Muse Christmas Visions challenge.
I've followed the overall design, keeping it pretty simple and adding some background interest.
My elements are fussy cut, with minimal colouring.

Muse Christmas Visions 

card by Chriss Blagrave

Stampendous - holiday home
MFT - stitched scalloped rectangle
Lawn Fawn - stitiched hillside border
Avery Elle - falling snow die

Miss You 2

I was disappointed this morning.

Where was the 4ft of snow that I was promised?

There's not a 'thundersnow' storm in sight   - 

all we have is a slight dusting of the white stuff  -  *sigh*

Maybe tomorrow...

Here's another penguin 'miss you' card for my daughter.

I played along with this week's MUSE challenge.

I know it looks like I've cut my heart die in the wrong place ( not central )

but honestly, that was deliberate. I wanted to give myself a little extra room on the left,

for those cute penguins.

 

Inspiration from the super, cute MUSE card by Julie Beech.

 

Supplies.

DP - Lawn Fawn, Let's Polka

Mama Elephant, Arctic Penguins, coloured with Copics.

Nestie Heart Die

Bow from Clearly Besotted Make A Wish

Sentiment - Stampendous, Happy Messages.

Gems.

Miss You, Love You

Hey there, I have a super, quick card to show you today,

using my new penguin stamps.

This was going to be a Valentine's card, but then I thought the 'miss you' sentiment

was just perfect for a card for one of my daughters.

I played along with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch,

and Pixie's Playground.  

This is a great sketch for using up those little snippets of papers and card.

Supplies.
Mama Elephant, Arctic Penguins Stamps and Dies.
Sentiment - Stampendous, Happy Messages
Lawn Fawn, Stitched Border Dies
Sequins

A Very Big House In The Country

It's been a chilly 13 degrees in the kitchen recently, and I've taken to wearing my gloves!

Have  you ever tried using your phone with gloves on - it's impossible!!

Time to turn the heating on, I think.

Here's my card for today.

I stamped a little, forest landscape and added a big, red house.

 

I could just picture, being snowed in, in that red cabin -

with all the family there, a roaring log fire and lots of great food and drink.

Sounds like fun :-)

Normally, I would throw glitter at this little scene, but I wanted something a little more subtle.

so, I used a thin, glitter pen to add some moonlight sparkle

to the trees and landscape.

You can just about see it on the photo below, it's a little more sparkly IRL.

 

Challenges.

Merry Monday Christmas - Silent Night

Muse - Therese's Inspiration Card

 

Supplies.

WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays - Stamps and Dies  Stampendous - Holiday Home Stamp Set

Memento Inks - Lady Bug/Grey Flannel/Black  DP - DDE Digitally Smitten.    Sequin/Gem

Sakura glitter pen

Make it Bright

When it comes embossing, I'm a liability.

I usually overdo it and end up burning the paper.

This is why I only have a few powders - white, clear, gold and hot pink!!

Hmmm.. hot pink! I never  thought I would use that - and then I saw the challenge at

Merry Monday Christmas Cards.

NEON

 Someone is getting a bright card this year :-)

After stamping and embossing I needed a little image, or just something to add  interest,

and, after a rummage, I came across this little, chipboard bird.

I inked it up and covered it in hot pink embossing powder.

I had to retrieve the bird from under my crafting table a few times,

when the embossing gun blew it about, but I finally got it done and stuck down :-)

 

It's not easy to photo bright colours - IRL that pink is glowing :-)

 

Supplies.

Sentiment - Stampendous 'Holiday Home'

WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays.

Versacolor Ink - Mint/Pink

Embossing Powder - Personal Impressions Hot Pink

Chipboard Bird.   Sequins.

Nordic Style

Hey there,

here's my attempt at a Nordic style card for

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown

 I used some of my smaller stamps to create a repeat pattern, and

my first thought was to simply add this stamped panel to the card base,

but it looked so flat like that. 

In the end, I stamped my sentiment onto the card base and  then cut my patterned piece in 2

and added it top and bottom.

For a little more interest I re-stamped the stockings and mugs, fussy cut them,

(shame there's no die for these little pieces)

and attached them with foam pads.

Supplies.

Stamps - Wplus9 'Heartfelt Holidays' /  Papermania 'Tweet' / Stampendous 'Yule Penguins'

Sentiment Stamp - Pink Gem Designs

Memento Ink - Rose Bud  / Bahama Blue

xxx

A little birdie told me

Hey everyone,
just a quick post from me this afternoon.
The sun is shining and I'm going to have a couple of hours, in my garden chair, with a good book.

First - here's my MUSE card for this week.

As soon as I saw Marion's inspiration card, I knew I wanted to use this stamp.

It's part of a larger stamp set so I've overlooked it before, but it is kinda cute.

I layered the image onto some blue card and then some white card

and popped it up on foam pads.

I was brave, for once, and stamped my sentiment straight onto my card base ;-)

  

Challenges.
 Muse #77 Marion's Inspiration Card





Supplies.
Stamp - Forever Friends 'Sports' Set, coloured with Copics and Stickles Star Dust
'Hello' Stampendous, Happy Messages.
Sequin/Gem

Spring Flowers

Hey there. 
Just a quick post from me tonight, with a little thank you card.

I know you've probably all made your own backgrounds before, but this was new to me.
I used a rectangle nestie, and an outline of my text stamp, to make a mask. Then I stamped the flowers at random. After removing the mask, I stamped the sentiment and then coloured the flowers with my Copics.
For a bit more interest,  I outlined the flowers with little dots and added some glitter.

Challenges.
Less Is More - One Layer, Thank You
One Layer Simplicity - Fabulous Flowers
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
A little Bit Crafty - Flower Power

Flower Stamps - Stampin' Up Doodle That
Sentiment Stamp - Stampendous, Happy Messages
Copics, Stickles

What a hoot!

These little owls dropped onto my mat just one day after I'd ordered them.
How's that for service?
And so, of course, I wanted to play with them straight away.

In my haste, I botched up cutting the blue card (on the left side)
but just ignore that bit ;-)

My inspration came from this week's MUSE card,
and I'd also like to enter Stephanie's 'in flight' challenge, at Clearly Besotted - 
after all, the little owl is her creation :-)

Owl stamp from 'You're a Hoot' Clearly Besotted set, with co-ordinating die.
Hello Stamp -Stampendous 'Happy Messages'
Memento dew dropnink in, rose bud, summer sky and dendelion.
Scrap of woodgrain paper.  Sequins and gems.
 
 

Let's Chill

This is my 2nd post of the day

and I'm sharing another Christmas card with you.

I thought this would be a good 'guy' card,

with it's cool, blue tones.

I still managed to add plenty of bling though,

using a gel glitter pen on the tree and reindeer's jumper,

and a scattering of sequins and gems.

Challenges

Seize the Sketch #9 ( I just flipped it)

CAS-ual Fridays - Create with 8  ( I used 8 gems/sequins)

Addicted to Stamps - Holidays

Hero Arts 'Holiday Cheer' Stamp and Die Set, coloured with Copics .

Sakura Glitter Gel Pen.  Sentiment from Stampendous 'Cool Yule' Set.

Digi Paper was a fabulous freebie from Mel Stampz

Sequins and Gems

 

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

Totally Papercrafts - Add A Bow

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

Wide Ribbon. Sequins.

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.