Away in a Manger

Hello everyone, it's a damp and dreary day here today, so I am practicing my 'photography with flash' skills !!
Here's another card to add to the Christmas pile..
This is the first outing for my LOTV stamp - isn't it just adorable - I really tried hard to do it justice with my Copics.
I have also discovered my new favourite thing... a little Sakura Stardust pen,
that I got from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. It so easy to get a nice, thin line of pretty glitter - check out Mary and Joseph's headbands.

 I would like to enter my card for the following challenges...
Papertake Weekly - 'Favourite challenge from the last 3 years' - I just love Dawny's sketches, they are great to follow and really make the stamp the star of the show, so I chose one from June (No. 43), that I didn't get to use first time around. Papertake also have a fabulous Birthday Blog Hop, so pop on over there and join in the fun.
Winter Wonderland - 'Jesus is the Reason for the Season'. Warning: Do NOT look at their Christmas Countdown Clock... you will panic... :-)
Allsorts - 'Inspiration from a Song Title' -   Away in a Manger

Stamp - LOTV Mary and Joseph,  coloured with Copics and  Sakura Stardust Pen
Design Paper - GCD Ella Blue.
Snowflakes - Cut with Slice machine ( Fa La La Card ) and covered with Diamond Dust.
Blooms - XCut punch, edged with Sakura Stardust Pen, with pearl centres.

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Dear Santa... I can explain!!!

I am so glad I saw the challenge over at  Winter Wonderland, to make a 'male' Christmas card,
it reminded me that I need cards for my male relatives and friends.

This one is for my nephew.

I followed Dawny's great sketch from Papertake Weekly.How do you stick your papers on??   My new role of double sided tape is about as much use as a chocolate teapot, so this is stuck down with Pritt Stick. I thought it might warp the paper, but it looks ok so far.  I am hoping that when I come to use the card it will all still be in place.

The Pollycraft Santa was coloured with Copics. I added Flower Soft (polar white) to his beard and coat trims and a couple of small brads as buttons. The I layered him onto the card with foam pads.

Challenges I am entering...

Winter Wonderland - A Male Christmas Card

Papertake Weekly - Dawny's Sketch
Creative Inspirations - Christmas in September  (October now, I guess!!)

 Charisma Cardz - Christmas Crafting.

Digital Stamp - Pollycraft Santa.
Fa La La Stamp - Catslife Press, coloured with Copics and edged with stickles glitter.
Design Paper - K & Co, Peppermint Twist.
Polar White Flower Soft.  Small Black Brads.

Two presents are better than one!

Just got time to post my second Christmas card of the weekend, 

before I open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and settle down for a night slumped in front of the TV!

I was VERY naughty last week, and despite being totally skint, I persuaded hubby that I NEEDED some Christmas stamps.This is one of three stamps that I chose from the gorgeous selection at Lili of the Valley.

It's coloured with Copics and some gold stickles glitter.

Challenges - 

Fussy & Fancy - Mindy's fab. Sketch

Stamp with Fun - Stuffed Animals

Winter Wonderland - Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly + Red/Green

Stamp -  Lili of the Valley - Xmas Ted presents for 2
Design Paper - Memory Box, Spiceberry
Holly leaves cut with Slice machine - Fa La La design card, for the berries I coloured the pearls with a Copic pen.
Sentiment - Craftwork Cards
Martha Stewart border punch.

Ribbon from my stash. 

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One Frosty Morning

I so wanted to try this challenge over at Winter Wonderland.
I thought that using
'NO DESIGN PAPER'
would be easy.... silly me!!
This took me ages!

I was going to pick a couple of my fav Xmas card designs
and make more of them nearer the time.
I think this one will be good to use -
it won't take long to run a batch of these off and I could
always try it with a different stamp.

I would also like to enter this for Stamp Something's
'CHRISTMAS IN JULY' Challenge.

Stamp - from Woodware 'A Winter's Day' set - coloured with Copics
Stickles Glitter 'Crystal' added around the edges of the papers and on the stamp
Large Silver Pearls from Crafty Emma's Store
Ribbon from my stash.
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Cinder Toffee and Winter Wonderland Challenge

Mmmmm.... cinder toffee.
Not only is it delish,
but it makes your kitchen smell gorgeous.
:-)
As soon as I saw that this week's
Winter Wonderland challenge
was an 'open' theme,
I knew what I wanted to make.
I needed a place to keep my Christmas treat recipes
all together,

So I have covered a little notebook.
As you can see, I threw all my sparkle and glitter at it...lol*

The first recipe inside is for the Cinder Toffee -
so easy to make and a real favourite here.
In fact, I had to be quick to take the photo,
as the toffee was disappearing fast!

Recipe.
Small plain notebook.
Design Paper - K & Co Peppermint Twist.
Die cut 'Bug in a Rug' letters covered with Glossy Accents.
Punched snowflakes covered with stickles glitter.
Adhesive pearls, card candy and ribbon from my stash.
xxx

Sledging Hedgies

I made 2 attempts at this card for the

Winter Wonderland,

'Sleigh Bells Ring' challenge.

Ths first one is the card above,

and I'm not really happy with it.

I distressed round the stamp with brown ink -
what was I thinking?

And then tried to cover it all up with blue chalk,
and got carried away!
The ribbon isn't straight and neither is the text.

Not good!

So I tried again.

I'm not much happier with my second effort.

I think my mojo has disappeared today!

But it's a simple design that's good
when you have lots of Christmas cards to make.

Recipe
Stamp - Penny Black, Christmas Critters,
coloured with copics and stickles glitter.
Not sure what make the DP is, it's from last year's stash.
Happy Christmas stamp is Pink Gem
I punched the snowflakes from glitter card

Ribbon from my stash.
xxx

Frosty the Snowman

Afternoon everyone,
I am struggling today.
It was my birthday yesterday
and one thing I can say about getting older,
is that the hangover lasts longer!!

If you're looking to build up your stash of Christmas cards,
Winter Wonderland has a great sketch this week,
with a 'Frosty the Snowman' theme.
There is also a lovely prize,
donated by Lesley, so pop on over there and join in.

I always need lots of Christmas cards,
so I find it a good idea to make a few at a time and
get a little assembly line going.
I made these 3 cards using the same sketch,
just changing the colours of the papers.
Recipe:
Stamp - Pink Gem, Mimi and Snowman,
coloured with whispers pens and stickles glitter.
Design Paper - Daisy & Dandelion, A Winter's Tale.
Sentiment from Craftwork Cards.
Sizzix die cut swirl.
Punched snowflake and sticky pearls
from my stash.
xxx

Piece of Cake!

Just as soon as I headed over to

Winter Wonderland this week,

I knew that I could have some fun
planning my Christmas table.

Oh yes, I can hear some of you say, 'it's a bit early',
but do you know there are only
114 days 'til Christmas!!!

The challenge this week is to make a table setting.

Well, every table needs a centrepiece,
so I decided to make this 'cake'.

Each little cake slice easily opens up,
and I was thinking of filling them with
sugared almonds.

The template for this cake slice came from
splitcoaststampers.
Sorry, I can't add the link, because their site is down right now,
but it should be up again soon and then you can search their site for it.

I used K & Co Peppermint Twist paper.
It's nice to use a double sided paper like this,
so that you can see a pattern when the slices are opened.
Then I punched some snowflakes,
covered them with diamond dust
and stuck one on the top of each slice.
A nice piece of ribbon holds all the slices together.

Don't forget to head over to Winter Wonderland
and check out the gorgeous projects
from the DT
xxx

Christmas Bird Houses

I have had so much fun today, making these little bird houses
to hang on the Christmas tree.
I thought they would be great with some chocolate or sweeties inside.

You do know there's only 151 day to go !!

These are for this week's Winter Wonderland Challenge,
which is to make a tree decoration.

If you're a christmas fan like me, then you too will just love this blog,
so hop on over there and check out the fabulous creations
from the DT.

I used the excellent template from Nichole Heady
complete with easy to follow tutorial,
and just added a little, lace border to the roof edges.
The cute robin stamp is from Pink Gem Designs,
with the main part of the stamp masked off.

Design Paper is K & Co Peppermint Twist.

xxx