Doing the hokey pokey

You can get such fabulous effects with these intricate dies but - oh- you do have to do a lot of poking bits out!

You can't see it, but these shapes were cut out of white glitter paper . The filigree dies are both Memory Box. The deer is my old faithful Non-Sequitur stamp, embossed in silver.

I'd like to enter this for:
Fashionable Stamping Challenges To die for
Christmas Card Challenges Die cuts

Still cute?

It used to be so simple: cute baby + Santa hat = cute photo. Now , after 5 years, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a good photo of my son. Out-takes included funny hand signals, strange grimaces and sticking his finger up his nose to annoy me.

Eventually I managed to get a decent shot. I cut the background out (TV in the background didn't look too festive) and mounted it onto gold.

This card will be going out to just a few close family members.

Swing on a star

I seem to have injured my back (maybe when I slid down an icy hill the other day!) but the show (aka Christmas card-making) must go on!

Here I used a Molly Bloom stamp with a Sizzix die cut star and a fancy die cut circle (Marianne I think). I coloured the boy with Promarkers and paper-pieced his hat and scarf.

I’d like to enter this for:

Raise the Bar Challenge – Blues and White
Jellypark Challenges – Stars are shining brightly

Christmas Bus

I’ve just checked back and seen that I made my first Christmas card back in July…and yet still I’m having a last minute panic!

My partner is a classic bus enthusiast (oh yes) and so I always make a couple of bus themed cards for his friends.

Here I made a Penny Black bus stamp look Christmassy (I hope) by paper piecing with Christmas paper and adding red and gold.

 I’d like to enter this for:

Fab n Funky Challenges – Non Traditional Christmas

Totally Papercrafts – For the boys

Another Wreath

Here's another card using the Penny Black wreath stamp. This time I stamped it in Versamark clear ink and brushed over with gold Pearl-ex . Then I stamped again in Ivy Brilliance ink and used the same ink with a little Blade Rubber holly stamp, which I stamped randomly-ish around the wreath. Finally I coloured the berries red.

I'd like to enter this for these challenges:
Charisma Cardz Christmas
Moving along with the times Clean and Simple
Craft Challenge Christmas

Sentimental Scene

This week's CD Sunday challenge is Oh Christmas Tree and I searched all my craft CDs for Christmas trees but none inspired me. I decided instead to make an old-fashined scene , featuring a Christmas tree. This room scene is from My Craft Studio Setting the Scene Christmas CD. The mother and child are an A Day for Daisies digistamp that I coloured in , cut out and stuck into the room.

I used the sketch at Christmas Card Challenges. The Christmas tree backing paper is from the same CD and I stamped the sentiment onto the same paper. Finally, I added red glitter glue  to the baubles and the sentiment.

Wreath

I've been playing around with this stamp , Berry Wreath, from Penny Black. I stamped it three times in Distress Ink - Forest Moss, Bundled Sage and Barn Door. The sentiment is from a Papermania (I think) acrylic set.Finally,  I added pearls .

I'd like to enter this for:
Penny Black at Allsorts It's your choice.
Papercraft Star Holiday Greenery
Less is More  Red and green

Ski Sunday

This little ski-er (LOTV)  is making an appearance on my Christmas cards for the second year. I like rediscovering my Christmas stamps , don't you?

I coloured him with Promarkers and paper pieced his clothing. All the papers and the brad are Bo Bunny Powder Mountain and the tree is a Sizzix die.

I'd like to enter this for:
Oldie but Goodie Challenge Let it snow
Raise the Bar  Bundled up

Robin

I was a bit stuck for ideas for the CD Sunday challenge Inspired by Nature, until I was inspired by one of the participants, Sue T .

Sue had used a robin image from La Pashe and had really made the reds stand out by using a blue background. Well, I didn't want to totally copy her in the same challenge(!) but I wanted to think of another way to make the reds the focus of the card.

First I found the image on La Pashe Just Inklined and,using the colour boost tool in My Craft Studio, changed the black lines to a sepia colour. I coloured the image in with Promarkers keeping everything to neutral (from the skin-tone set!) except the red.  The music paper was also from the La Pashe Cd.

Mirror, Mirror

This mirror card is so mirror-ish that it was hard to get a photo. In the end I used the self-timer on my camera and just had to accept that my house would be reflected in it!

I used a Magenta stamp, stamped in Damson Distress Ink and cut out three times. The sentiment comes from a acrylic stamp set - think it might be Woodware.

I'd like to enter this for:
Artful Times - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz Christmas- no green, gold or red