Snowflakes Gone Wild

Can't seem to get away from snowflakes... Snowflakes Gone Wild is this week's Challenge at Saturday Spotlight and since it's snowing again today I've got out the snowflake DPs and played with a digi image from Shirleys2Girls. I've used this week's Sketch Saturday Challenge sketch and I'm also entering Mr Penguin for Fussy & Fancy's Winter Challenge.

I printed my digi out once onto white cardstock and once onto some Craftwork Cards DP with silver snowflakes. The image is coloured with Copics, cut out and added to the background. The main DP on the card is more Craftwork Cards silver snowflake paper, the textured linen style card has more snowflakes embossed into it with a Cuttlebug folder and there are 3 more felt snowflakes attached to the card just in case there weren't enough :). The sentiment is from Woodware, it's a clear stamp so I've shaped it to fit the circle.

Here we are with more snowflakes falling and Sweep taking a flying leap for the door:

Aqua & Red Willow, Part III

And here's the third in the series, just in time for the Whiff of Joy Challenge - I hope :). This time I've followed Mojo Monday's sketch and included some stitching, which is this week's challenge at Just Us Girls (JUGS). The papers, as before, are free downloads from Summertime Designs. I've added a ribbon onto the strip paper that I used for the top border and a setniment from Craftwork Cards. The stitching is a couple of wavy borders done on my sewing machine. Willow is coloured with Copics and her candlelight has Glossy Accents on it.

Whew! I found this colour combination very tricky and I still think my second card makes Willow look like she's in a football strip :), but I've got there in the end with all three.

Willow writing recipes

Hmm... yesterday there was some definite thawing and it was much warmer; we hoped for some improvement and sadly we didn't get it. There was just an inch or so of new snow, but this was enough to delay the school buses and with my older son doing an A Level this morning being late was not an option. So I drove a bunch of exam teenagers down a road that is now not gritted due to the government's cutting the routes treated and returned to collect them a few hours later, which wasn't conducive to a productive day at work. Tonight's bad news is that only contingency routes will be gritted, which doesn't even include the main road north out of the village, which leads to my nearest craft shop (oh and Sainsbury's) :(. OK enough whingeing and on to my card.

Whiff of Joy has a challenge to use aqua and red this week, I've seen some beautiful cards using this colour combo but it's one that gives me a lot of trouble. I couldn't find any DP in my stash to help me but eventually found some free downloads from the generous Summer Driggs with the required colours. They are Christmassy papers so I've used the winter 09 stamps. Having found the DP I coloured three images and hope to post the other cards tomorrow, they're not complete. I've based this card on the Sketch Saturday Challenge and I'm also entering it for Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge which asks: What's new? I bought the stamp in Whiff of Joy's pre-Christmas sale and haven't used it until now, so it was uninked and new. Love the stamp, just haven't had a chance to play yet...

Willow writing recipes is coloured with Copics and edged with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I paper pieced her top from DP, avoiding the snowflakes on it. I then needed to paper piece her apron as otherwise it looked odd for it to be further away if you know what I mean! The sentiment is Craftwork Cards, as are the embossed scalloped borders. I've moved my Prima flowers off centre as otherwise there wasn't room for them on my card. Oh, the scalloped card is also from Craftwork Cards. More aqua and red tomorrow, is it just me who thinks they look like the colours of Best Mate (the racehorse) or West Ham football club? :). Keep warm everyone and let's hope the white stuff goes soon.

Hot Chocolate - yes please!

The weather is cold and snowy and hot chocolate sounds really inviting - if the delivery of milk gets through the snow to the local shop that is - the shelves have been bare for a couple of days, but today the newspapers arrived in the village, which has to be a promising sign :).

Amazingly there are two challenges this week themed to hot chocolate so I reached for the first Whiff of Joy stamp that I bought - Willow with hot chocolate, which is still one of my favourite stamps. This cards was made for the following Challenges:

• Simon Says Hot Chocolate
• Quixotic Challenge - Hot Chocolate
• ABC Challenges - L is for Layering - lots and lots of layering
  
• Corrosive Challenges - a few of my favourite things - favourite embellishments of flowers and ribbons
• Fussy & Fancy - New - Gorgeous new Prima flowers that I won in blog candy from the generous Belles & Whistles
• Sketch Saturday - great sketch from Simonne
• Charisma Cardz - colour combo of pink, brown, cream & toffee - yum!

I'm really pleased with the look of the card, Willow is coloured with Copics and a white Inktense pen. The gold & white stripy and spotty papers are from Craftwork Cards, as is the gingham ribbon, the flower DP says "the paper element" and has been maturing in my stash for a few years :). The beautiful Prima flower came from blog candy, isn't it stunning? There are multiple layers of brown shades of cardstock matting the papers as well as a little bit of gold mirricard on the corners.

A is for Angel

I'm playing along at ABC Christmas Challenge, with the intention of having a good amount of Christmas cards done in good time for next year! The first Challenge is A for Angels, with the added option of a charm. I've left off the charm as I had a real shock when I posted a lot of cards this year as so many needed extra postage thanks to my embellishments :). I've based the card on a sketch challenge by Caz at Cute Card Thursday. Caz says it's only her second sketch - great sketch Caz, thanks.

The angel stamp is a Lili of the Valley stamp. I stamped it onto watercolour paper with the intention of using Distress Inks, but when I coloured it this morning I reached automatically for my Copics. They are meant to be best used on smooth paper, but I found they were ok on the textured paper though the colours were much brighter and stronger than usual. The angel is cut out with a deckle-edged Nestie and her wings painted with Glossy Accents. The music paper in the background is another Magnolia Christmas DP that I didn't cut into before Christmas, isn't it beautiful? Sentiment from Craftwork Cards, ribbon from stash.

Warm wishes for Whiff of Joy

I'm still in Christmas card making mode here, this uses a stamp I got from the Whiff of Joy Christmas sale and didn't get a chance to use before Christmas :). For some reason I had a struggle with Bev's sketch for the Whiff of Joy Challenge and I'm not sure I've really nailed it...

Papers are DCWV, sentiment is from Craftwork Cards. Image coloured with copics and Glossy Accents for the candlelight. Ribbon from my stash.

Warm wishes and a Happy New Year to everyone :)

Bling - or why is mirricard so camera shy?

I think mirri card must be the hardest thing ever to photograph - this card looks a lot better in real life, I promise. I took loads of photos and these two poor pictures are the best I can do :). No chance of another try, this is the final Christmas card (I hope) and went through a letterbox tonight...

The image is an exquisite digi freebie from Fred She Said that I have decoupaged and glittered. Background is papers from Dovecraft matted onto navy card and that dratted mirri card that looks so good until you try to take its picture. Sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

This card is for Corrosive Challenges' Bling theme and also for Digital Tuesday's Let it Snow challenge - lots of snowflakes in the DP and the digi could be a fantasy flower, or it could be a snowflake - what do you think?

Nearly there!

I finished the first Christmas card list and now I'm finishing the second list - the ones I forgot first time round or got cards from someone I didn't expect to - am I the only person disorganised enough to have two lists? LOL! This is a quickie card for our new neighbours, the stamps are Artemio clear stamps that I bought from Made by You in Swindon. Papers is DCWV and the sentiment came from Craftwork Cards, as did the scalloped card.

There are a few last minute Christmas challenges around so this is entered for:

• Stamp Something Challenge - Holiday Somethings
• My Time to Craft Challenge - Yuletide Wishes
• Simon Says - Merry Christmas
• Crafty Creations - Traditional Christmas (red green and gold)
  

Snowflakes inside and out

Well tonight it's snowing a little here, not settling but I had to make a quick snowflake card!

Last night I went to Stamp Attic's Christmas party and succumbed to Tim Holtz stamps at 10% off. Wendy tells me she also has free p&p until 18 December so if you're after Tim Holtz stamps now is the time to get them:).

This week has been real madness but I had a quick play this afternoon with the snowflake stamp and made a card following Papertake Challenge's sketch for this week. Basic Grey's Challenge is to use the colour combo of cream, pink and blue, which fits the Eskimo Kisses papers to perfection. I'm also entering Stamp Something's Winter Wonderland themed challenge with it.

Snowflakes were white embossed onto white card and Memento, Adirondack and Distress inks applied with a sponge over them. I've added some pearl gems to some of the snowflake centres. The lovely felt snowflake border comes from Stamp Attic, it stands out better in real life.

Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses papers and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards. Looking forward to playing some more with the stamps :)

Digi the Penguin

Shirleys2Girls had a fun Digi Day Party over at SNR Cardiverse, it's not too late to join in the fun. If you join the group there's a free digi image available until Monday night of a cute penguin. I've used him to make this quick card which I'm entering for the Secret Crafter's Saturday Challenge which is SNOW this week. I'm also entering Mr Penguin into Corrosive Challenge's Walking in a Winter Wonderland Challenge.

I've printed him out once onto card and once onto Glimmer Misted paper and popped the coloured image up on foam pads. I've added Flowersoft snow to the ground and to the background as big snowflakes. The papers are Basic Grey and Craftwork cards, image coloured with Copics and cut out with Nestabilities, velvet ric rac and brads from stash.

Sparkly reindeer

Yesterday I got virtually nothing done from a long list of plans including card making. My friend had a special outing to London with her visually impaired elder daughter and, once up there well out of reach of home, got a call from school to collect her younger daughter who was unwell. So I picked up Miss Suzie and tucked her up for a short nap, from which she emerged full of beans and ready to colour :). Suzie was with me until quite late in the evening and I promised her that I'd put one of the cards she made onto my blog. So if you scroll down you will find a very nicely coloured House Mouse card :). We both had a great time but Suzie definitely won the crafting session, with a big batch of cards while I'd finished about half of one:)

I've managed to finish up a card using the adorable Whiff of Joy of Wee the gnome with reindeer, which is based on the sketch at Corrosive Challenges this week. The reindeer has black Stickles for sparkle on his hooves, a sparkly Stickles red nose and more Stickles on his antlers and on the snowflake, as Sparkle is this week's Whiff of Joy Challenge. I'm also entering the card into Cupcake Craft's Challenge of a Christmas Carol. Now I'm never sure that Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is a carol as such, but I'm hoping it will be accepted for the purposes of the challenge!

Card recipe: Whiff of Joy stamp coloured with watercolour pencils and Stickles. Background has Distress Inks sponged on. Paper from Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses and spotty DP from stash. Sttiched with sparkly rayon thread, snowflakes cut from Nestabilities dies, sentiment from Craftwork Cards.


Suzie's card:

Another to add to the flock of angels

Here's another of those beautiful angels from Michelle Perkett, this is the Holly Angel again, done in non-traditional colours this time, what do you think? Image is coloured with Copics and a silver marker pen, the background is painted with Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Dusty Concord. Background paper is a magazine freebie, sentiment and the scalloped card are from Craftwork Cards.

I've made this card for three challenges:
A Spoonful of Sugar - non-traditional Christmas card
Allsorts Challenge - Purple
Cute Card Thursday - swirly girly

Holly Fairy

There seem to be wonderful new digi-artists to discover each day. Another new-to-me is Michelle Perkett, who has made beautiful rubber stamps for some time that I coveted, but which weren't easily available in the UK. Michelle specialises in detailed, glamorous angels - this one is the Holly Fairy, though I think she's more of a poinsettia fairy :).

I've followed the sketch for Sketch & Stash, who want new and old stash listed: New stash is the image and the card candy (bought at the NEC). Old stash is the Stampin Up papers I've used and the watercolour paints that I used for the background.

I'm also entering this card is Stampin' for the Weekend's Challenge, which is to use the traditional Christmas colours of red, green and gold. I like the way the traditional colours still work with a less than traditional image here.

Image coloured with Copics on a watercolour background, Stickles, Glossy Accents and Flowersoft "snow" added. Papers from Stampin' Up, card candy from Craftwork Cards.

My Grafico Challenge #26 - Dotti images

It's time for My Grafico's Challenge again! This week the DT was given images from the Dotti Stamp Set which is this week's challenge prize. To enter the challenge you can either follow the PIEChallenge (see the challenge blog for details) or the sketch - or both! I have Pink, Embellishments and Icicle Stickles, which makes mine a PIE card but I've also followed Mary's sketch.
I've coloured Dotti with Copics and lots of Stickles glitter. I trimmed an inch off the front of my card and used a Martha Stewart lattice punch on it. Inside the card I put a strip of silver mirri card and pink card. The DPs are Twenty-ninth Street, card candy from Craftwork Cards, sentiment from Elusive Images and ric-rac from my stash.

Snowfight!

Here's the second Phindy O'Neill card that I made, of course it was predictable that I would get this image, I'm a sucker for anything with a dog on it :). I've used Jeanette's sketch from Friday Sketcher's Challenge this week, which allows the image to be the star of the show and I'm entering it in Simon Says Challenge of Animal Antics - my second entry. Simon Says also asks that we remember the animal charities this Christmas. Our two rescue dogs certainly don't let us forget :).

I've got some Aleen's glue for my Flowersoft ths time, which seems to work better, I have a lot of trouble with Flowersoft moulting as soon as I finish my card. I think this works better...

Image coloured with Copics and Promarkers, Polar White Flowersoft snow added. Sentiment and card candy from Craftwork Cards, ribbon from stash, Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses papers.

Phindy's Place - a new digi artist - Setting the Stars

I've come across a new-to-me digital artist called Philomena (Phindy) O'Neill who is a children's book illustrator. Her work is charming and great fun to create with. I bought an image from her and made a card that I'll blog tomorrow, but in the meantime this image is a free one provided to Phindy's Papercraft Planet group, Phindy's Place. The image is for a challenge called "Setting the Stars", you have until tomorrow evening to enter - the prize is a $10 gift certificate to Phindy's Store.

I've based my card on the very attractive sketch at Papertake Weekly's Challenge, scraping in just before the deadline - I hope!

My angel is coloured with Copics and Promarkers, with two colours of Stickles added to the stars and her wings. I've added peel-off gold stars to the background, something I haven't used for ages. Would you believe I misread a challenge and thought I should use them. When I checked it was a challenge to use rub-ons, not peel-offs - doh! But I think they look good and it made me get out some unloved, neglected stash :). Papers are Stampin' Up, Christmas sentiment from Craftwork Cards. The sentiment, gold card, peel-offs and gold ribbon all look the same shade in real life, I'm not quite sure how they all look so wildly different in real life!

SSSS - Sketch Saturday meets Simon Says

Sketch Saturday has gone very circular with this week's sketch challenge that I've used here :). I'm also entering my card for Simon Says Challenge this week, which is animal antics and for Janet's Corrosive Challenge, which calls for embossing. I've used my Creative Expressions Christmas set, white embossed onto card circles I then sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Midnight Blue. Card blank is from Craftwork Cards. This was a very challenging card to photograph!

The Cosmic Shimmer is, umm, shimmery, the ribbon is metallic silver and the DP, from Craftwork Cards, has metallic snowflakes :). I think this is one of those cards that looks better in the flesh, hope you can see the general idea.

Create4Fun - Bev's sketch

I've come across a new to me challenge blog called Create4Fun, which has a very usable sketch by Bev. I've used it to make a fairly straightforward Christmas card, using Papermania stamps that I bought at the NEC. I stamped the group of smaller trees several times in blue Stazon onto pale blue cardstock, as well as the bigger tree. The bigger tree is cut out and mounted onto 3d pads. All the trees have scribbles of gluepen and glamour dust as well as stars on the top, sorry this doesn't show up too well in the photo. The two fabulous metallic papers are from Craftwork Cards, silver ribbon from stash. All the metallics make it challenging to photograph, sorry :)

My Grafico Challenge #24 - sketch or sewing

This week's challenge at My Grafico is to either follow Melissa's sketch or to add some stitching, real or faux to your project. The winner of the Challenge this week wins a fun digital set from Cupcake Cuties called Funky Monkey, which the DT have used on all our projects.

I've been contrary and used the tree motif included :). I've paper pieced it with Papermain DP that I bought at the NEC, and coloured the heart with Copics and then Glossy Accents. The background is cut out with Nesties . The rest of the papers are also Papermania, apart from the torn brown wrapping paper that I've added to highlight the rustic look. Card candy is from Craftwork Cards and I've added some zig-zag stitching to my card.

Be sure to check out the rest of the DT, they have made some brilliant cards and don't forget to enter to win this fun set of digis.

Dreaming of a Bling Christmas

Sketch Saturday Challenge has a lovely sketch to follow this week which looks great to use for a special card. I've chosen one of the gorgeous new Christmas release stamps from Shirleys2Girls, available here and set out to use as much as possible of my new stash from the NEC :). This week's Allsorts Challenge is to bring out the bling - I certainly think I've done that :). Crafty Cardmakers are challenging everyone to Stamp Something so I'm also entering that.

The image is coloured with Copics and lots of Stickles and Glossy Accents added. I've cut it out and added it to a circle. The scalloped card, all the papers used (which are all pearlised) and the sentiment are from Craftwork Cards. I used my new Martha Stewart punch for the side borders, snowflakes are punched from plain white card and the ribbon is from stash. It's a bit OTT, but I hope you like it :)