I Spy With My Little Eye #21

Hi everyone, the past month has flashed by and it’s the third Wednesday in the month again, so it’s time for a new I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time … please do check over on Ellie’s blog to see if you are one of our top picks. 

This is our last challenge of 2024 as we will be taking a little break over Christmas - it will end at the usual time but then we will be back in January. Please see the end of this post for full details.

I chose the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something for Christmas ***

This gives you the perfect opportunity to crack on with your Christmas makes …. and if you’re in the fortunate position of having finished all your Christmas cards already, you could always make a start on them for next year! Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here.

This month we are delighted to have Helen as our guest designer, so please click on her name to visit her blog and see her fabulous Christmas creation. 

Here’s my project for the challenge. Speaking of next year, I am currently working through designing pages for my 2025 Lavinia calendar, and here is my page for December - it is an extended version of a Lavinia scene on a card I published here.  The fairy village is getting ready for Christmas - snow sparkles on the roofs of the cottages, and fairies decorate the Christmas tree on the village green while Annie and Edward watch on. One of the mice has gotten over-excited as he clutches a bauble, swinging from the nearby lamp post … perhaps he’s imbibed a drop too much mulled wine!!

I cut a piece of stamping card 19.5cm x 14.5cm and  started by stamping the little cottages and lamp post, adding paper masks as I went along. I then added a torn paper mask to the bottom half of the card to form a snow line, and created the night sky and light around the lamp post by blending Elements and Spectrum Noir dye inks. With the masks still in place I then stamped a variety of fir trees behind the cottages using 1st and 2nd generation VFC. I removed the paper masks and added more blended Elements snowdrifts by blending Elements, then stamped the central Christmas tree, Annie and Edward and my naughty mouse! I added a gold embossed star to the top of the tree, then positioned the fairy foragers  to look as if one was placing the star on the tree. I drew baubles  in the hands of Edward, the mouse and one of the fairies (I masked the lantern she usually carries), using a black fineliner pen and my White Orbs stencil

I coloured the Christmas tree using fine brushstrokes of watered down Olive Elements, and coloured the baubles with Sakura Stardust pens which I also used on the fairy wings and Annie and Edward’s lanterns. I watercoloured the cottages and street light with Zig pens, then added Wink of Stella to the Christmas tree and street lamp. I stamped a fence and gate in brown and perched a little robin on top (no it’s not one of the latest robins!) which I coloured with red and white Posca pens, then added holly in 2 corners to frame the scene and coloured the berries with red Uniball and Stardust pens. I added snowy accents everywhere using a mixture of Signo and Posca pens, and added Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to give it some twinkle. 

Finally I added Posca snowflakes (no spatters!), blended dark blue Elements around the edges to add depth, and edged the finished piece with a dark blue marker pen.

Stamps: Lavinia Meadow Cottage, Woodland Cottages, Small Dwellings, Christmas Joy, Fairy  Fir Tree 2 (Small), Red Pine (Small), Small Pine Trees, Street Light, Annie & Edward, Tilly & Tango, Fairy Foragers, Gate & Fence, Holly, Bird Collection, North Star Mini; 

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Della Blue, Violet Chalk, Dark Denim, Sundance, Olive); Spectrum Noir Harmony dye ink (Pink Tulip); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone, Acorn, Portobello, Shady Lane, Rainforest); Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolour pens; Versamark; WOW metallic gold embossing powder; Sakura Stardust pens (Red, yellow, blue, turquoise); Signo pens (white red); Posca pens (white, red); Wink of Stella; Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: Lavinia White Orbs stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #116 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

52 Christmas Card Throwdown (November theme) - Sparkle (2nd entry)

ABC Christmas (November) - W is for Watercolouring (3rd entry)

Allsorts #807 - Anything Goes

Beccy’s Month of Holiday Cards - Holiday Themed (5th entry)

Classic Design Challenge #11 2024 - Anything Goes with option Bells and Baubles

Country View Challenges (November) - Winging It (3rd entry)

Craft Rocket #120 - Christmas and/or Winter (3rd entry)

Daisy Chain #91 - Christmas and/or Winter (3rd entry)

Double D - Get Ready For Winter

Dream Factory #134 - Christmas Again?!

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #11 2024 - Anything Goes Fantasy (3rd entry)

The Holly and Ivy #172 - Anything Christmas Goes (3rd entry)

Lavinia Creative Challenge (November) - Time to Sparkle (5th entry)

LeighSB Designs #34 - Anything Goes with option Falling Into Winter

Outlawz (November) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone

Peace On Earth #76 - Anything Christmas Goes (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Monday) - Emboss It

Sisterhood of Crafters - Landscapes (2nd entry)

Stamping Sensations (November) - Make It Magical (3rd entry)

Try It On Tuesday - Sparkle All the Way (2nd entry)

Unicorn #104 - Christmas and/or Winter (3rd entry)

I am really enjoying decorating my calendar - each page takes several hours (this one took about 4!) but it’s very satisfying when a page is completed. I definitely need to start speeding up though if it is to be finished by the end of the year! 

Don’t forget - this is the last I Spy Challenge for 2024. It challenge will end at the usual time on Sunday December 15th at 23:59 US Central Time, but there will be no new challenge in December so we will be back with you on Wednesday January 15th 2025, when we will also announce our December top picks.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,