Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! Today I would like to share the Christmas card I made for my husband, which I never publish ahead of him opening it on Christmas Day.

This card is quite similar to a few others I have made this year though it is bigger (8" x 8") ... a sparkly Christmas scene. I have deliberately incorporated both Santa's sleigh and a squirrel ... my husband loves wildlife generally and adores squirrels!

I cut a large square of stamping card and created my background with Distress Oxide inks and circle and hill masks. I then stamped the trees, background script and Santa sleigh using a variety of shades of ink and 1st/2nd generation stamping, and stamped the squirrel  building up the colour gradually with different inks on my stamping platform. I added a little fence and gate for a bit more interest, then highlighted everything with my Sakura Stardust pen, and the snow banks with holographic glitter and my Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen. I matted the finished panel onto glitter card and an old LotV paper, then added my stamped sentiment panels plus a teeny gem. Finally I added my Posca pen "snowflakes" ... it ended up snowing a bit more heavily than I anticipated!!  Here is an angled pic to show the sparkle!

I also stamped the inside of the card, to make it a bit more special for him!

... and the envelope ...

Stamps: Lavinia Fairy Fir Tree 2, Fairy Fir Tree (Small), Red Pine (Small), Christmas Tree Group, Red Squirrel, Cedar (cone), Gate and Fence, Winter Magic; Visible Image Christmas Eve (sleigh, stars, moon), Uniko Christmas Wishes (sentiment); Me to You (husband sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Medieval Blue, Morning Mist, Pinecone); Versafine (Vintage Sepia);  Spectrum Noir Harmony die ink  (Bordeaux); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Papers: LotV.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Christmas Crafts All Year Round (December) - Waiting for Santa - TOP PICK

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge #626 - Anything Christmas Goes

Festive Fridays - Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #130 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #157 - Something Seasonal (6th entry)

Sheepski #69 - ‘Tis the Season (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Party Time (3rd entry) - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Sparkles #143 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours (2nd entry)

Use Your Stuff #473 - Anything Goes - Christmas Edition

Word Art Wednesday #575/576 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

I'd like to finish by wishing all my visitors a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year, and to say thank you for your visits and kind comments during the year.  

This is my last card for 2022 - I'm taking a little time away from blogging for the festive season, but I hope to be back for a whole new year of blogging challenges in January.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #708/9

Hi everyone, it’s Christmas Eve, and time for a new Allsorts Challenge - the last one for 2022! Thanks to everyone who joined in with my challenge theme last week .. it was great to see all your entries 💕

Today we have a 2 week challenge so that the DT can get some well earned rest and family time over the festive period, and we'll hopefully be recharged and ready to go for 2023!  Brenda has chosen the theme and it is

*** Clean and Simple (CAS) ***

The festive season is a busy time for many people, but if you get even the smallest amount of crafting time we hope the CAS theme will enable you to join us.

We are finishing the year in style with not 1, not 2 but THREE fab prizes for this fortnight donated by our lovely patrons:

First a stamp set from AALL & Create

Secondly a stamp and die set from Highlight Crafts

Finally we have 3 digi images of a winner's choice from Ruth Hamilton Design

Here's my card for this fortnight, using a new Visible Image stamp set I treated myself to in the Black Friday sale 😍

This card really is as simple as it gets … I stamped the focal image onto a square of card using two colours of Versafine Clair, stamped the smaller background stamp to add a little interest, then added a stamped sentiment and couple of teeny heart gems 💕 Finally I edged the image panel with black marker pen and matted onto two matching colours of card stock.  

I have to say I’m really impressed with this stamp set .. the large flower has a real wow factor, and there is another flower, background and wording stamps waiting to be played with on another occasion! 😍

Stamps: Visible Image - Where Flowers Bloom; 

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Charming Pink, Summertime).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Color My Heart #528 - Anything Goes

Crafts Galore Encore #106 - Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar (December) - Anything Goes

Dare 2B Artzy (December) - CAS (Clean and Simple)

DL.Art (December) - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams (December) - Anything But Christmas

Gem of a Challenge #26 2022 - Anything Goes

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2251 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #575/576 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Hope you can join us for our last challenge of 2022, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team, and remember that you have 2 weeks to enter this time - the challenge will close at 12:00 noon GMT on Friday 6 January 2023, and we will be back on Saturday 7 January with the first challenge of 2023.

Until then, wishing you all a 

🎄🎄🎄 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 🎄🎄🎄

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Getting ready for Christmas

… that’s what James the Bear is doing as he puts up the Christmas tree. He is such a darling image, looking so festive in his Santa hat … maybe he is preparing for the teddies’ Christmas party?

I stamped my image and coloured him with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, then die cut him out using a stitched square die. I stamped the sentiment, then matted my image onto a slightly larger die cut of red linen card stock, then onto a background paper and a red cardstock border. I finished off with Quickie glue pen and holographic glitter on the ground and James’s hat, a teeny red heart gem and a gingham bow.

Stamps: LotV James Christmas Tree; Uniko Christmas Wishes;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Memento Ink (black); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); holographic glitter;

Papers: LotV;

Tools: Stitched square dies from Amazon.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge #625 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Festive Fridays - Christmas  - WINNER

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2251 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Papercraft Challenges #89 - Decking the Halls - TOP 3

Passion For Markers #670 - Use Die Cuts (2nd entry)

Scribbles #115 - Not a Creature Was Stirring (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Party Time (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Party!

Winter Wonderland (December) - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #575/576 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

That’s all from me for today … take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Red, Gold and Green

Good morning everyone, all my Christmas cards are finished and either posted (though God knows when/if they will arrive), hand delivered or waiting for me to see the recipients over the next couple of days; so today I’d like to share an ATC I made for the Visible Image December swap over on FB. The theme this month was traditional Christmas colours, and the rules are that only VI stamps, stencils and dies can be used.

I cut a piece of stamping card 3.25” x 2.25” and stamped/ heat embossed the tree and Christmas  numbering. I then created the background by sprinkling on brusho ink and spritzing with water. I then applied red and gold gems to represent tree baubles, edged the panel with gold Posca pen and matted onto standard ATC size card … that’s it!

Stamps: Visible Image Christmas Tree, Distressed Christmas;

Media: Brusho ink (Vermilion); Versafine Clair (Shady Lane); Versamark; gold and clear embossing powders;

Gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

ATC’s With a Heart - Christmas - TOP 3

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge #625 - Anything Christmas Goes

Creative Moments #241 - Christmas/Winter Celebrations

Dream Valley #284 - Christmas (2nd entry) - WINNER

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #130 - Anything Christmas Goes

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2251 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Monday) - Party Time

Sisterhood of Crafters - Traditional Christmas Colours (Red and Green)

Winter Wonderland (December) - Anything Christmas Goes

Word Art Wednesday #575/576 - Anything Goes - TOP 3

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well, and you’re not getting too stressed! Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #707

Hi everyone, this week it's my turn to host and choose the theme for the new Allsorts Challenge, which is

*** Anything Goes with option O Christmas Tree! ***

If you are lucky enough to have completed your Christmas makes you can go with the A/G option, or if like me you are still making a few last minute cards I hope you will be inspired to join us!

This week we have 2 lovely Christmassy prizes that have been donated by one of our regular entrants (who wishes to remain anonymous) - so a big thankyou from the team! They are this beautiful stamp set and cute Woodware stamp.

Here's my card for this week - it is the special A5 Christmas card I made for my husband’s aunt. 

I’m still enjoying making snowy scenes with my various Lavinia fir tree stamps, and now I also have a Visible Image Santa’s sleigh and reindeer I’m all set to create the sky on Christmas Eve!

I cut a rectangle of stamping card and created my background by blending Distress Oxide inks through a large oval stencil while using masks for the moon and hills. I stamped trees within the oval using a reverse oval mask, and a mixture of 1st/2nd generation stamping; then stamped further trees and branches to frame the scene, and the Santa sleigh. I highlighted everything with my Sakura Stardust pen and Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen, then stamped two lanterns and created a halo of light round each one with a yellow Posca sparkle pen.  Finally I stamped my sentiment, edged the finished piece with black and matted onto purple glitter card and my card blank before adding my Posca pen “snowflakes”.   

Here’s an angled pic which attempts to show the sparkle (it is VERY sparkly!!)

I also stamped the envelope to co-ordinate using some of the same stamps plus additional stars and moon from the Visible Image set.

... and the back ...

Stamps: Lavinia Christmas Tree Group, Fir Tree 1, Red Pine (Small), Fairy Fir Tree (Small), Fern Branch, Small Lanterns, Bird Collection; Visible Image Christmas Eve (sleigh, stars, moon); Uniko Christmas Wishes (sentiment);

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserve, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight, Morning Mist, Medieval Blue); Posca pen (white); Posca sparkle pen (yellow), Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen (clear).

Tools: Press to Impress oval stencil, Lavinia moon mask.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Alphabet Challenge - S is for Snow - TOP 3

As You Like It - Anything Goes for Christmas

Country View Challenges (December) - Christmas (5th entry)

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (December) - Holiday

Scribbles #115 - Not a Creature Was Stirring …

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #157 - Something Seasonal (5th entry)

Sheepski #69 - ‘Tis the Season (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Ice Cold

Stamping Sensations (December) - Anything Stamped with option Winter Wonderland  (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #573/574 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. I'll be back on the Allsorts challenge blog on Friday with my winner and top 5! Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Contemporary Christmas Trees

Hi there, today I would like to share a Christmas card I made in contemporary colours as part of a last minute batch for neighbours and/or my husband’s workmates. This one was actually inspired by a shop bought card I received!

I stamped a row of foreground Christmas trees using Warm Breeze, Charming Pink and Verdant Versafine Clair, with background trees stamped with 2nd generation Morning Mist.  I “grounded” the trees by scribbling a line with my Quickie glue pen and then applying holographic glitter, and blinged it up a bit more with my Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen. I stamped the sentiment, edged the panel with black pen and matted onto a large snippet of coloured card stock (I used various snippets for the other cards in the batch). Finally I added a co-ordinating sparkly gem and Posca pen “snowflakes”. Here is an angled pic to show the sparkly snow.

Stamps: Lavinia Fir Tree 1; Uniko Christmas Wishes;

Media: Versafine Clair (Warm Breeze, Charming Pink, Verdant, Morning Mist, Nocturne); holographic glitter; Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen (clear); Posca pen (white).

Challenges I would like to enter:

As You Like It - Anything Goes for Christmas (3rd entry) - TOP 3

C.R.A.F.T. #661 - Christmas - The Last Stretch (2nd entry)

Crafty Catz #618 - Anything Goes with option Last Minute Christmas (2nd entry)

Dream Valley #284 - Christmas

Krafty Chicks #641 - Christmas (2nd entry) - TOP PICK

Scribbles #114 - The Most TREE-mendous Time of Year - TOP 3

Snippets Playground #443 - Anything Goes With Snippets

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add Some Sparkle (4th entry)

Sparkles Christmas #143 - Non-traditional Christmas Colours - SPOTLIGHT WINNER

Word Art Wednesday #573/574 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Here is a picture of the whole batch. I was really pleased with how efficient these were to produce!

All of these cards will be hand delivered - all my posted cards were sent well over a week ago, though who knows when/whether they will arrive?? We have hardly received any though the letterbox so far this year ... even on non-strike days the postman often doesn't call, and I can't help but speculate that with the cost of living, cost of postage and postal turmoil many people aren't bothering or are really scaling back this year. Such a shame as I personally get a lot of pleasure both from making/sending and receiving them. 

Hope everyone is keeping safe and warm in the vicious wintry weather conditions we’re experiencing here in the UK. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Red, red robin

Hi everyone, today I'd like to share a Christmas card that I made using some of my newish Visible Image Christmas stamps. 

This started out as an individual card, but I found it to be pretty straightforward to stamp in batch using my stamping platform, so I ended up making 4 very similar ones.

I cut a square of stamping card and stamped my robin, then branch and berries. I masked the robin and branch so I could stamp the background script, then removed the mask and coloured the robin, branch and holly with Distress Ink and Oxide. I stamped the sentiment, matted the image panel onto red cardstock, then finished with white Posca pen spatters for snow, glitter brush pen on the robin's tummy, a teeny heart gem, and Glossy Accents on the berries.

Here is an angled picture to show the dimension on the berries… it should show the robin’s sparkly tummy, but sadly the photo doesn’t show that up very ell !

Stamps: Visible Image Christmas Robin, Distressed Christmas;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Barn Door); Distress Ink (Vintage Photo): Versafine Clair (Pinecone, Nocturne, Morning Mist); Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen; Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

As You Like It - Anything Goes for Christmas (2nd entry)

The Card Concept #185 - Christmas Greetings + Inspiration Photo (2nd entry)

(I was inspired by the green/white/red/brown colour combo)

Christmas Kickstart #69 - Anything Christmas Goes

Classic Design Challenge #12 2022 - Anything Goes

C.R.A.F.T. #661 - Christmas - The Last Stretch - WINNER

Crafting Happiness #137 - Christmas - TOP PICK

Crafty Catz #618 - Anything Goes with option Last Minute Christmas - TOP 3

Crafty Friends #162 - Traditional Christmas Colours

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge #624 - Anything Christmas Goes

Creative Inspirations (December) - Festive Foliage - WINNER

Incy Wincy (December) - Christmas (2nd entry)

Krafty Chicks #641 - Christmas

Let's Craft and Create #190 - Anything Goes with option Inspired by a Song

(When the Red, Red Robin)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #157 - Something Seasonal (4th entry)

Moving Along With the Times #149 - Christmas 

Peace On Earth #29 - Anything Christmas Goes

Shopping Our Stash #485 - Holly and Ivy

Simon Says (Monday) - Holiday Cheer (4th entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add Some Sparkle (3rd entry)

(Sparkly gem and robin’s sparkly white tummy)

Sweet Stampin’ - Christmas Creations

Taylormadecards4u (December) - Christmas

Winter Wonderland (December) - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #573/574 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Here is a picture that shows the mini batch I made ... love getting the most out of my stamps and out of a particular crafting session. I feel as if I'm on the home stretch with the Christmas cards now!

That's all from me for today - take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Allsorts Challenge #706

Hi everyone, the weekend is here already, which means another weekly Allsorts Challenge. This week Lolo has chosen the theme and it is

*** Anything Goes with option Let it Snow ***

So we would love to see all your entries so long as they follow our simple rules, but would particularly enjoy seeing your snowy scenes .. and with Christmas just around the corner what's not to like about that?

This week we have 2 great prizes on offer from Oakwood Direct 

They are this lovely Stampendous stamp set and a stencil:

(Stencil designs will vary)

Here's what I made for this week.

I decided it was about time some of my older LotV stamps saw ink again, so I reached out the cute “Snow Family” and went for a vintage sepia look… I actually CASE’d one of my old cards from back in 2013 here.!!

I coloured the image with Promarkers and Flexmarkers then added holographic glitter to the snowy ground and the snow children’s hats, and Liquid Pearls to the snowflakes. I die cut the coloured image with my stitched dies and edged it with Distress Ink in keeping with the overall vintage colour scheme. I layered up my image with kraft coloured snowflake papers and dark brown cardstock, with pearlescent white die-cut snowflake borders and brown gingham ribbon. Finally I added two LotV grungy Christmas sentiments stamped onto snippets of kraft card. 

here is an angled pic to show the sparkle.

Stamps: LotV Snow Family, Christmas Grungy Sentiments;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo); Memento ink; Versafine Clair (Pinecone); holographic glitter; Liquid Pearls;

Papers: LotV. Krafty Christmas;

Tools:  Memory Box die “Frostyville Border”; stitched square dies from Amazon.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Country View Challenges (December) - Christmas (4th entry)

Creatalicious #248 - Anything Goes with option Christmas in Non-Traditional Colours

Creative Knockouts #482 - Snow Much Fun (2nd entry)

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity #157 - Something Seasonal (3rd entry)

Passion For Markers #670 - Use Die Cuts

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2249 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Holiday Cheer (3rd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Add Some Sparkle (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (December) - Anything Stamped with option Winter Wonderland  (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #573/574 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Hope you can join us this week, and I look forward to seeing your entries. Don't forget to visit the challenge blog to see more fab inspiration from the rest of the team. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs,