Red Robins in the Round

 

 This pair of robins from Fred She Said is a favourite traditional Christmas image for me.  Here it is coloured with Copics, edged with Distress Inks and added to Memory Box DP and a couple of scrolls from my Memory Box die.  This card is for the following challenges:

Sketch'n'Stash - sketch

Corrosive Challenge - with a flourish

Scrappy Frog - something that flies

One Stitch at a Time - Christmas

Little Claire's - Christmas

Bah! Humbug - diecuts

Crimbo Crackers - anything Christmas

Simon Says - anything goes

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Hmm... it's time to start on the Christmas cards soon, I'm sure I had a lot more made this time last year!  This uses a lovely set from Stamp Addicts that I've been sent of a Partridge in a Pear Tree, complete with tree, partridge, sentiment (not this one) and solid and outline pears, making it easy to use in lots of different ways.  I brushed and brayered glossy card then stamped my tree in Stazon, with Distress Ink pears.  I decoupaged my partridge onto the tree, he's also inked with Mustard Seed Distress Ink to match the pears.  The vertical strips are embossed with snowflakes and the pear DP is Basic Grey from Nook & Pantry, couldn't resist combining it with the tree:).  The card is a large, shaped Craftwork Cards blank.  Lovely sparkly ribbon came from Really Reasonable Ribbons.
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch 'n' Stash - sketch with the DP being old stash and the stamps new
Basic Grey - anything goes
Hooked on Craft - things with wings
Mark's Finest Papers - emboss it (white strips)
Secret Crafter - make a scene
Bah Humbug - something new (stamp set)
Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge - shaped cards
Aud Sentiments - anything goes
Papercraft Journey - anything goes

A Chilly Chickadee

It's absolutely perishing here but at least we only had a light dusting of snow.  It's a day to be indoors crafting and I didn't enjoy doing the outdoor chores at all!  I've made a card using one of Fred, She Said's lovely pre-coloured images from the Christmas Bird Series.  This is the Chickadee, I've printed him 3 times and decoupaged him as well as the pine branches.  His head and wing markings are highlighted with Glossy Accents and I've added some "snow" to the snow Tracey already drew, using Liquid Pearls.
I've turned this week's Midnight Madness sketch on its side and followed it, adding lots of stitching, snowflakes punched from pearlescent card, ribbon, a sentiment from Craftwork cards and a few more branches.  It's hard to see but there's stitching around the image on its frame too.
My card is for the following challenges:
Midnight Madness - sketch
Craft Your Days Away  - texture
The Crafty Pad - snowflakes
Bah Humbug! - feeling the blues
Crafty Sentiments - Christmas
Simon Says - let it snow!

A City Christmas

I've a couple of cards to show you today, here's the city one, country card coming up later.  This card began life as a one layer card, inspired by my blogging friend Chrissie's awesome card here.  It's just the most beautiful card I've seen for ages, however while I love tree stamps and have a whole forest of them, I wanted to do things a little differently.  So I decided to use the Hero Arts city stamp I bought a while back which hasn't yet got inky.  But you don't need to look too closely to see that this isn't a one layer card...

I masked off the card, used my duster brushes and Distress Inks, stamped the buildings.  It looked gorgeous.  Then I took off the Post-Its and saw that my gorgeous scene was upside down on my card!  I have now done one that I'm happy with but the next few had silly mistakes on them.  So I trimmed this with a little of the white  either side and gold embossed a Sheena Douglass star on it.  Hmm... looked like the stable in Bethlehem was now a skyscraper... rapidly added Santa in his sleigh:).

The DP is Artylicous from the Spirit of Christmas CD, the sentiment Craftwork Cards and the lacy MS punch was a present from my very kind friend Val.

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
CD Sunday - lavender and lace
Wagsnwhiskers - lavender and lace
Truly Scrumptious - sketch
Stamp scrap and doodle - no flowers at all
Fussy and fancy - non-trad Christmas colours
Bah Humbug - lovely in lilac

Home for Christmas

This is a tiny Christmas card, just 4" square, with another Hobby Art scene from the Jenny Mayes stamps.  I've matted and layered a few times and then simply used some embossed white card to follow this week's Challenge at Inspirational Card Sketches.  There's a HUGE holidays challenge and blog hop at Simon Says this week and I'm entering my card for their challenge.  Bah Humbug Christmas Challenge asks for a card using your favourite medium - mine is stamping and watercolouring.

Scene uses just 2 stamps and is watercoloured with some glitter added to the snow.