Peace and love at Christmas

This is a Sizzix Bigz die and embossing folder combination, and I cut and embossed the dove with Cordinations paper, and sanded it to try it out. So it sat in my box of bits until now. The gorgeous paper it is on was some that I think I was given and I don't know who it is by, it has the same colour in it as the bird, and has faux stitching. The sentiments were cut with Xcut dies, and are covered in glue, I hope it eventually dried clear as it should. This was a really quick card to make.

I stamped the envelope with PaperArtsy stamps and coloured the images with Promarkers, getting inky finger prints on the envelope as you can see.

This stamp is from the same set, the envelope got creased when I carried it with me in case I needed one to give on Boxing day, and I nearly gave it away today - but forgot to take it with me!

I used the sentiment block from the same set inside, haven't taken a photo of that.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Gals - anything goes (Wed)

Die Cut Divas - warm and cosy (Dec)

Less is more - Homespun (Sat) Withdrawn as 5 challenge rule exceeded and not enough white space.

My time to craft - Last minute Christmas (Sat)

Crafting from the heart - #92 anything goes (Mon)

Simon Says - make it sparkle (Wed)

Don't eat yellow snow!

 Happy Christmas to you all, I have had a good day with the family over for lunch and family staying and all went to plan I think.
This card was for my hubby, he needs a laugh! The digi is from Dr Digi, it is coloured with Promarkers and die cut with Spellbinders dies. Paper is Dovecraft I think.
The ribbon is exclusive to Crafty Ribbons.
When I showed it to my parents they said it was lovely, I had to get them to look more closely at the image haha!

Inside is decorated too, and I printed off the sentiment.

Challenges entered:

Die Cut Divas - warm and cosy (Dec)

LOC - #109/110 Anything goes (1st Jan)

Papertake Weekly - last ever challenge Let it Snow (Tues)

Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge (5th Jan)

Winter Wonderland - bingo, ribbon, animal snowflakes (7th Jan)

Cute Card Thursdays - #405 anything goes 

Creative Card Crew - #103 Anything goes (12th Jan)

Polkadoodles - anything goes (15th Jan)

Digi Chooseday - anything goes (19th Jan)

Awards.

Ike's World - Santa is coming (28th Dec)

Oddball Art - Winter or Christmas (14th Jan)

Oddball Art

Oh Christmas tree - not!

This evil snowman had a great idea, to spray Flossie the sheep green and decorate her as a Christmas tree! When I saw Flossie on another blog I had to go straight to Dr Digi and buy her, and I also bought the snowman. The spray can and light bulbs were freebies, and I snagged a few more freebies too. Lights are All Dressed Up, and I used Promarkers to colour my fun scene! Ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons and the layers are cut with Spellbinders, paper is Dovecraft.

It has been commented that Flossie is a strange zoo animal, and I would like to point out that the ABC DT examples included a shepherd holding a lamb! Also there are such things as petting zoos for children over here, I believe there is or was one at Longleat where you could find lambs to pet, then again Flossie could just be the Lion's dinner!

Challenges entered:

Ike's World - Santa is coming (28th Dec)

Crafty Gals - anything goes (Wed)

Crafting by Designs - anything goes (Dec)

Die Cut Divas - warm and cosy (Dec)

LOC - #109/110 Anything goes (1st Jan)

Papertake Weekly - last ever challenge Let it Snow (Tues)

Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge (5th Jan)

ABC Christmas - Z is for zoo animal (6th Jan)

Winter Wonderland - bingo, ribbon, animal snowflakes (7th Jan)

Cute Card Thursdays - #405 anything goes 

Creative Card Crew - #103 Anything goes (12th Jan)

Oddball Art - Winter or Christmas (14th Jan)

Sing loud!

Here is the card I made last night for my grandson. The first thing he did when he got to our house was sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas extremely loudly!

The little boy is a Molly Blooms stamp, "We Wish You..." is an Indigo Blu stamp, and "The Best Way...." is a Kaisercraft stamp. The verse is die cut with a Spellbinders speech bubble, the panels of paper are die cut with Spellbinders too, the spotty paper was a freebie and the music paper is from a Craftwork Cards pad. The image is coloured with Promarkers and Stickles Ice Diamond on the fluffy bits, and finally some ribbon from Crafty Ribbons.

Can you tell what it is yet? By the way he said he liked the box best and played inside that for hours!

Challenges entered:

Ike's World - Santa is coming (28th Dec)

Die Cut Divas - warm and cosy (Dec)

LOC - #109/110 Anything goes (1st Jan)

ABC - X for xtreme (Tues)

Papertake Weekly - last ever challenge Let it Snow (Tues)

Love to Scrap - #68 anything goes (3rd Jan)

Cute Card Thursdays - #405 anything goes 

Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas Challenge (5th Jan)

That's Crafty - anything goes (11th Jan)

Creative Card Crew - #103 Anything goes (12th Jan)

Oddball Art - Winter or Christmas (14th Jan)

Polkadoodles - anything goes (15th Jan)

Digi Chooseday - anything goes (19th Jan)

Catching up - Little Claire geese.

I've tried to stick to bought card blanks for speed, and to use them up. Also they come with envelopes so no scrabbling round to find the right one. I had this shaped card (that I had cut earlier) lurking on my desk and decided to use it. The stamped geese are a Little Claire stamp, and they were coloured with Promarkers and die cut with Spellbinders, as was the card blank and paper layers. Papers are DCWV I think. Ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. I think this is a special Christmas card, my favourite so far, and I will give it to my best friend for Christmas.

I have entered the following challenges:

Sweet Stamping - Merry Christmas (26th Dec)

Crafting from the heart - #91 anything goes (28th Dec)

Little Claire - Special Christmas card (Dec)

Cards Galore - anything goes (Dec)

Crafting by Designs - anything goes (Dec)

LOC - #109/110 Anything goes (1st Jan)

Papertake Weekly - last ever challenge Let it Snow (Tues)

Simon Says - make it sparkle (Wed)

Love to Scrap - #68 anything goes (3rd Jan)

That's Crafty - anything goes (11th Jan)

Pile it on - Winter/Christmas (9th Jan)

Polkadoodles - anything goes (15th Jan)

Catching up - Penny Black tree

I had stamped this Penny Black tree and heat embossed it, then die cut it with a Spellbinders oval die a number of times. I found this gorgeous die cut sentiment using a new die I bought earlier this year which is an IO die. Decided they were perfect together - but then I couldn't find the die to cut some more! I spent hours looking until the early hours, resulting in only two complete cards that evening.

I searched for that die again the following night, and gave up and used some Xcut dies instead. Not as pretty but another 6 cards ready!

I have entered the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturdays - Christmas (Dec)

Vintage Stamping - Trees (Dec)

Simon Says - make it sparkle (Wed)

Pile it on - Winter/Christmas (9th Jan)

Polkadoodles - anything goes (15th Jan)

Awards:

Crafting by Designs - Here comes the Holidays (Dec)

Catching up on Christmas - Doodle Dragon robin

I love this Doodle Dragon robin. I haven't been able to get in the mood for Christmas. I had maybe a dozen cards left from last year or made this year, but I need more. So I got out the digis that I had already coloured with Promarkers and die cut last year, or maybe the year before and this is one. It was ready mounted on the fancy Spellbinders Label as well as coloured, I just added some paper and a stamped greeting that was also in the box already (Hero Arts?). The paper is from a Craftwork Cards pad and is designed by Steph Davies. 

Like my Yankee Candle jar top? I can't get it to work with all cards, and there is a trick to getting them to actually stand up on this one, which is to open them so the other half counterbalances the front!

I've entered the following challenges:

Crafting from the heart - #91 anything goes (28th Dec)

Cards Galore - anything goes (Dec)

Crafting by Designs - Here comes the Holidays (Dec)

LOC - #109/110 Anything goes (1st Jan)

Love to Scrap - #68 anything goes (3rd Jan)

Crafty Cardmakers - #154 Snow (6th Jan)

Pile it on - Winter/Christmas (9th Jan)

Quirky Christmas and DT call reminder

 I have managed to make one card, I've been in bed for a week with a virus or flu, not sure which! It is Quirky Reminder time, I didn't make it for the challenge due to computer problems, then getting sick!
I have used two cute Bugaboo images, they are one of our three sponsors this time, Skinny Bird Candy Cane and Skinny Bird Ornaments, they go so well together to make a scene.
The papers are: red and green striped from Craftwork Cards in a pad called Christmas Post, and the Merry Christmas Robins are from My Mind's Eye and the pad was a freebie with Card Making and Papercrafts magazine last year I think.
The ribbon is an exclusive from Crafty Ribbons and the digi and panel are cut with Spellbinders dies.
The images are coloured with Promarkers, with added glitter glue and Flowersoft in Polar White.

The other sponsors at Quirky are Ditzie Designs and Digital Delights so hop on over and see some more and play along to win some great prizes.

Also Bugaboo are having a 50% off sale on Christmas digis right now!

Don't forget Your Quirky Needs You! We need more Quirky teamies to keep going, we have a few applicants so far, if you would like to apply please let me know.

I've entered the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers - Nearly Christmas (Tues)

Crafting by Design - get ready for Christmas (Wed)

Fab n Funky - Christmas (Wed)

Crafty Ribbons - Frosty Christmas (Thurs)

Creative Card Crew - 101 It's cold outside (Thurs)

Pile it on - use red and green (Sun)

Christmas Card Challenges - anything Christmas goes (Sun)

Graph'it Markers - Christmas (4/11 Dec)

Challenges Won.

Catch the Bug - sketch #319 3rd place.

Quirky's still all white - alright!

It's reminder time at Quirky Crafts Challenge blog, and our sponsor is Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet who kindly provided images to the team to work with.

I chose to use this wonderful Snow Deer Scene by Ike's Art, and this is a set containing the main image that I used above, the scene with no deer, and both deer separately so that you have a lot of options for using different elements of it, or even decoupaging it.

I coloured the deer with ProMarkers, and as the challenge is everything white except for the image, this image is perfect! I added a little Ice Stickles glue to the snow on the trees and bushes and the ground to give that icy sparkle effect. The image is cut out and mounted on a scalloped panel die cut with Spellbinders Grand scalloped rectangles, then mounted on a white card blank made from textured white card. I used a Papermania Christmas Words set of dies to cut Christmas and Greetings from glitter card, and that is simply it.

My second card features the beautiful New Baby image, also by Ike's Art, which I die cut with an oval die then mounted it on to a die cut pearlescent frame both dies are from the same Card Maker set by Spellbinders. I coloured the image with ProMarkers. I added a small bow of pretty white ribbon from Crafty Ribbons, and die cut the word "Love" (with a Spellbinders die), which I think is all you need.

Please come and see the other gorgeous examples from the team and play along with us at Quirky Crafts, you could be a winner and win some of these wonderful images from our sponsor. Any CAS cards which have a lot of white space will work fine too.

I have entered the following challenges:

Snow scene

Tuesday Throwdown - Christmas in July

Papertake Weekly - build it up (Tues)

Addicted to Stamps - #154 CAS (Wed)

Cute Card Thursdays - pets/animals 

My Time to Craft - Christmas in July (Sat)

Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes #34 (Sun)

New Baby

Crafty Gals - To Die For #29 (Wed)

Inspiration Destination - #43 anything goes (Wed)

Crafty Ribbons - anything goes with ribbon #124 (Thurs)

I love Promarkers - CAS (Thurs)

Glitter and Sparkle - use something beginning with B - baby's feet image (Sun)

One Stitch at a Time - children #242 (Sun)

Moving along with the times - baby baby (Jul)

Fab n Funky - no patterned paper (11th Aug)

Christmas in July reminder time

I was late again, I am late again - but here I am at last. It has been a hectic week, (It was my Big Birthday Tuesday and we went out last weekend and on the actual day in the evening, and have still been driving to visit mother in law then sorting things out for her return home tomorrow, and making a late card for my Daughter in Law) they all seem like that recently. How did I have time to go to work?

Over at Quirky Crafts we are playing Christmas in July, and we have three lovely sponsors, Crafty Ribbons, Bugaboo and Limited Runs.

My first card features an image from Limited Runs called Trees on a Cupcake, I thought I would coloure these in modern colours with my Promarkers - I think my bright green is running out because I use it so much.

I die cut the image and panel behind with Spellbinders card creator dies. The ribbon is one of the exclusive ones from Crafty Ribbons.

I added some Ice Stickles glitter glue which is still wet here.

 This cute image is called Puppy - enough reindeer from Bugaboo, he comew with the sentiment and together they make a very cute card. Just look at the tears welling up in his eyes because he can't be a reindeer!
 I coloured the image with Promarkers and a gold pen for the bells. Again this is die cut with Spellbinders Card Creator dies. The paper was a freebie with a magazine. The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons.

From Bugaboo comes Stella - Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays, I find Stella (and Gus) so very amusing, I hope the recipient of this card does too! This is an 8" X 8" scalloped card blank, but all the images for all 4 cards were cut out the same size with Spellbinders card creator dies, and yet they are all on different size card blanks. I coloured Stella with Promarkers, the papers are by My Mind's Eye (the top paper with little house scene) and Papermania, and the "Keep Calm" ribbon is a Crafty Ribbons exclusive which seemed perfect with the sentiment.

My last card features another of the Limited Runs cupcakes, this one is called Snowman on a Cupcake lol. Again I coloured it with Promarkers, die cut it with Spellbinders card creator dies and added Ice Stickles which are still wet here. There are 3 different ribbons from Crafty Ribbons on my card. The spotty paper is by My Mind's Eye.

I added three buttons to the side, I just thought I would, maybe I need some the other side too.

Come on over to Quirky Crafts Challenge blog to see some more wonderful examples and to play along and maybe win some great prizes.

I've entered a few challenges, different cards into different challenges so none of them breach the numbers rule:

Papertake Weekly - Christmas in July (Tues)

Passion for Promarkers - fancy that - Snowman on a cupcake (Tues)

Tuesday Throwdown - no patterned paper

Addicted to Stamps - make your mark (Wed)

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - furry creatures

Creative Fingers = #87 Anything goes (Fri)

Daring Card Makers - no black, no neutral Trees on a Cupcake (Fri)

Creative Card Crew - die cuts (Tues 21st)

Digi Chooseday - Christmas in July (Jul 28th)

The Ribbon Girl - any image (Jul)

Challenges won:

Catch the Bug - Christmas in July Jingle all the way 

You better be good, you better be nice....Santa Claus is coming to town - Quirky style

I am so late, it is gone 1:00 in the morning and I really really need my bed now. I was late to bed last night 2:00 in the morning in fact, and had to get up at 7:00 and all because we were helping at the Cannon's House fete and having a stall which I really needed to prepare cards for - not that I really sell many, normally only 2 or 3 but I felt I had to get as many ready as possible, and take display racks etc.

Anyway it is challenge time again at Quirky Crafts and we have three great sponsors, Crafty Ribbons, Bugaboo and Limited Runs, what a great combination! The challenge set by Lyn (we are so pleased she is back with us) is her favourite Christmas in July and it is a great time to start on those Christmas cards - if only I can keep it up!

So I started with Stella Note to Santa, it was too funny and I couldn't not choose this one! I know a few Stella's, maybe I am one!

I coloured the image with ProMarkers, die cut it with a Spellbinders postage stamp style die with matching ribbon slider which I hand wrote on. I added two ribbons from Crafty Ribbons amazing range of Christmas ribbon, much of which is exclusive to them. I added a bit of Ice Stickles glue to the white fluffy bits of Stella's outfit, and added gold gel pen to the baubles. The paper is by My Mind's Eye.

My second card features one of Limited Runs great cupcakes, from a set of two called Penguin Set Cupcake, the other cake has a blank sign. I coloured the image with ProMarkers and die cut it with a Spellbinders die, mounted onto a die cut rectangle of red. The Singing Penguin ribbon (which I really love) is a Crafty Ribbons exclusive. The snowflakes are all Spellbinders die cuts, and again I added some Ice Stickles in Star Dust to the image. I can't eat cupcakes but I can never resist the wonderful Limited Runs ones!

So now I can go to bed, at 1:30am hope I get a lie in! You, on the other hand, might like to hop over to Quirky Crafts to see some wonderful examples by the team and play along with us to maybe win great prizes.

Now to enter some challenges:

Inspiration Destination - #40 anything goes (Wed)

TTCRD - anything goes (June 30 - Jul 6)

Addicted to Stamps - anything goes (Wed)

Crafty Ribbons - anything goes (Thurs)

Coffee, chocolate and cards - seeing red (Fri)

Creative Fingers = #86 anything goes (Fri)

Crafting from the Heart - #67 anything goes (Fri)

Winter Wonderland - all that glitters (Fri)

Crafty Cardmakers - Sentiment  (Sat)

Sketch Saturday - sketch #368

Christmas card challenges - colour combo or anything Christmas (July 20th)

The Ribbon Girl - anything goes or stars and stripes (July)

Challenges won or top 3 etc:

Cute Card Thursday - we love cake 

Merry Christmas to you!

Well here it is, Christmas day and all of the fuss will soon be over. We are ready, just about. The dogs are bathed, the bathrooms cleaned and the towels washed, the rest of the house is clean, the beds are made. Shopping is as done as it will be, presents wrapped and labelled, I just have one box to decorate, a special box for a special boy. It will contain some second hand Thomas the Tank Engine track and a Sordor mine and is an extra present that will live here for when Kenny visits.

I think most of the presents under our tree are for Kenny, and Richard has added his presents, they are not all ours. Awaiting our visitors to open them.

This card is made from a Unity stamped snow peeps image that I stamped and coloured, with Promakers, last year and a Spellbinders die cut frame that I made when I got this die, they seemed perfect together. The paper is a freebie from a magazine. The sentiment came with the snow angel, and for this frame I attempted to add white through the die with my Sharpie white paint marker. This was the second attempt, the first was far messier. I think this will be a card for next year. The ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons, and I added snowflake eyelets to the corners to let the lime green card show through.

I have entered the following challenges:

I love Promarkers - anything goes (Jan 6th)

Creative Card Crew - anything goes (Jan 6th)

This is Kenny's card, he loves any sort of vehicle so Santa in his snowmobile by Dustin Pike seems like a good choice. I coloured the image with Promarkers, the paper is Papermania/Docrafts, the ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons.

Inside the card.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenges, anything goes - Docraft paper.

I needed a couple of gift card holders and made them with perlescent card and the WR Memory Keepers envelope tool, which made the perfect size holders. I added a couple of images I had stamped and coloured with Promarkers last year. The geese are a Little Claire stamp, and the sheep is a Penny Black stamp.

I haven't decorated the back.

I have entered the following challenges:

Allsorts - last minute gifts (Sat 3rd Jan)

Puffin away and candy redraw for the 3rd time!

I am puffin away! I suddenly got the cleaning bug, fed up with mountains of paperwork and stash I have set to work to clear it!

I have redrawn my blog candy for the 3rd and final time, and the winner is HEIDI! 

Congratulations Heidi!

Heidi contacted me via Facebook, she cannot comment on this blog, but she is over the moon with her goodies.

My card today features a Meljen image called Bundled Little Puffin, and I bought him in the December 50% off sale that Meljen is having, couldn't resist this little cutie!

I coloured him with Promarkers and Graph'it pens, and added some Stickles glitter glue. Cut him out with Spellbinders dies, added some In My Mind's Eye paper, and some ribbon and mounted it all on a gold card blank.

This card is Puffin' into the following challenges:

Meljen Designs - Holiday (Thurs)

Moving along with the times - Christmas climate (Thurs)

Fussy and Fancy - Holiday (Thurs 11th Dec)

Daring Cardmakers - red and blue (Fri)

Allsorts - Animal magic (Sat)

Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes (Dec 15th)

Pile it on - anything goes/Christmas holidays (Wed 17th Dec)

Creative Fingers - #59 anything goes (Fri?)

Crafty Cardmakers - Christmas - (dec 28th Jan 12th)

Quirky Shake it Up

Monica set us the challenge to Shake it Up, over at Quirky Crafts. I used the Snowman Shaker card set from our sponsor The Cutting Cafe. I don't have a working electronic cutting machine right now so I printed off the PDF versions and cut it by hand. There is a reason I don't do this - I am rubbish at cutting by hand, either with scissors or knife, and I used both here.

I also used the Fun With Frosty the Snowman set, and I picked one of the sentiments to use in the snowman's tummy. I coloured the elements using the computer. The shovel is not attached! He is quite cute, if very imperfect!

I didn't fully understand how to use this file, now I have seen Monica's fantastic version, which I wish I had seen before I started, I will do better next time. All I can say is Sorry Regina :(.

Maybe I should have just done the colour palette, see below. You can choose the colour palette, the shaker element to your project, or combine the two.

My conclusions: 1. Should have used the colour pallette and avoided any hand cutting.

2. I so need a new electronic cutting machine!

Hop on over to Quirky Crafts to see much better examples, and to join in the fun!

Frosty is shaking it up into the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - anything goes (Tues)

ABC - Y for Yuletide (Dec 15th)

Crafty Boots - Merry Christmas (21st Dec)

Pile it on - Christmas holidays (Dec)