Festive 48 - Week 42

Here's a CAS Christmas card , using a Paper Artsy angel, masked and overstamped with Kaisercraft grid stamp. I added a stamped sentiment and 3 square gems. Sounds like a five minute make doesn't it? I don't know where the time goes when I'm crafting!

Just to recap, I have challenged myself to make a Christmas card every week , and post it here (to make sure I do it!) . If I do this, by the beginning of December I will have 48 Christmas cards. I have also issued an invitation to anyone who would like to join me by linking up ONE card each week. 

This link up is always 'Any Christmas Card Goes'. 

Thank you to everyone who's joined me so far. I love seeing your cards. 

I'd like to enter:

ABC Christmas Challenge  uncoloured image 

Perfectly Rustics  holidays 

Addicted to Stamps holidays  

Red Rubber Inspirationals  stay focused on stamping. 

Allsorts  Christmas 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Fortuitous Collision

Ah, dear Reader, the fortuitous collision of a day off,  and the delivery of some newly purchased stamps!

This card was made using the Design a Tree set from Clearly Besotted stamps, a background text stamp from Hero Arts, and lots of  Distress inks.

I'd like to enter:
Inspiration Destination  anything goes
Cheerful Stamp Pad fall colours
Try it on Tuesday colours of autumn
Little Red Wagon  krafty
Less is More  newsprint

Birds of a Feather

I thought I'd take a rest from Christmas cards and join in some non- Christmas (or Halloween!) challenges.

The theme for this card was set by Time Out  -  'birds of a feather flock together' . I didn't have to think too long before I remembered this stamp but it took me ages to find it! (Note to self: must downsize craft stash!).

The spots on the birds made me remember I'd seen a 'dots' challenge at Love to Scrap.  I carried the theme through with a spotty embossing folder and a spotty label stamp (Stampin Up) , which I punched out and stamped a sentiment in (Sarah Hurley).

You may notice I haven't credited the brand of the birds stamp. That's because the packaging has long gone. Which brings me to the 'Shop in Your Craft Room ' challenge at Simply Create Too . All the stuff I've mentioned is old stuff, as is the vellum I stamped the birds on, which has been gathering dust for a while now.

Santa and his reindeer

I've made quite a few Christmas cards lately, in addition to my 'one a week' commitment, so I will upload a few over the next few days.

This one is made from a pre-coloured image from Dollar Graphics Depot - I printed it , cut it out and inked it, layered it on papers and stamped the sentiment.

I have a few more of these images that I'll be making into cards later on.

I'd like to enter:
Jingle Belles Rock  creature
Wags n Whiskers stripes
Crafty Hazelnuts  Christmas Challenge  hat
Glory Of Christmas santa

Pinspirational Challenge 127

There's a Halloween picture at Pinspirational  this time, and here it is:

I used a digi , kindly provided by sponsor Dilly Beans , to make a CAS card for a child.  I coloured the images  with Promarkers, paper pieced the clothes and added a doodled frame. The sentiment and paper are by Basic Grey. 

I hope you'll come and join us at Pinspirational, where there are great prizes to be won. 

Make My Monday - Shabby Chic

Our challenge this week at Make My Monday is 'Shabby Chic' and I hope my card hasn't got too much shabby and not enough chic!

I used some patterned paper for the background , layered with some corrugated cardboard that I painted white. I stamped a die-cut butterfly and a sentiment ( Paper Artsy) and added a pin, pearls and flowers.

We'd love to see your shabby chic projects at Make My Monday. 

I'd like to enter :

Craft Hoarders Anonymous layer it
Crafty Calendar   bingo - flowers sentiment blue
Brown Sugar  anything goes
Pink Elephant  anything goes

Inkspirational Challenge 68 - Owls Photo.

Here's my DT card for the latest Inkspirational challenge, and here's the photo:

So I didn't go for a highly original interpretation but I like owls! Although the card is overwhelmingly orange, I used a range of distress inks on it.  The owl and branch were cut on my electronic die cutter and I stamped flowers and leaves by Paper Artsy.  The circular shape card and the circular flowers are supposed to reflect the crocheted circles on the owls.

I hope you will come over to Inkspirational  and join in. We have a wonderful Guest Designer, Maura  and great inspiration from the rest of the DT, so I'll see you there.

I'd like to enter:
Use Your Stuff  Pet  - Okay, I don't have an owl (or any pet) but both Harry Potter and Florence Nightingale did.
Love to Create fall colours
Craftroom Challenge  make your own background
Stamping Sensations warm autumn colours
Sparkles Forum  autumn colours

Festive 48- week 41

White on white can be hard to photograph, so I hope you can spot the tree and reindeer in the blizzard.

Just to recap, I have challenged myself to make a Christmas card every week , and post it here (to make sure I do it!) . If I do this, by the beginning of December I will have 48 Christmas cards. I have also issued an invitation to anyone who would like to join me by linking up ONE card each week. 

This link up is always 'Any Christmas Card Goes'. 

Thank you to everyone who's joined me so far. I love seeing your cards. 

I'd like to enter:

Moving along with the Times white only Christmas 

Allsorts embossing 

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas  something forgotten/unused - the background embossing folder was found when I was a rummaging for a different one - I can't even remember when I bought it! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Green Snowy Trees

Stepping up the Christmas card making now!

I was inspired by a card by Tracey Metcalfe in the November issue of Making Cards (pg 79, if you've got it). However, I used quite different materials and methods to get a similar look.

The background is alcohol inks and I stamped two triangular Hero Arts trees with green acrylic paint. Then I stamped the 'snow' with white ink and a Bo Bunny distressed dots stamp, and embossed it with glittery embossing powder.

I'd like to enter:
Artful Times - Green
Stamplorations stamps and embossing
Fashionable Stamping Challenges weather forecast
City Crafter a piece of sky
Addicted to Stamps  holiday

Creative Cutting Challenge - Anything Goes

It's time for another challenge at Creative Cutting Challenges  and it's 'anything goes' .

I made a Christmas card featuring an angel svg from The Creative Pointe.  Unfortunately the photo doesn't show that the wings and halo are encrusted with glitter. Behind the angel I placed an arched window by Monica. 

We'd love you to join our challenge at Creative Cutting  - all you need to do is use an SVG or similar electronic cutting file  and tell us what you've used.  See you there.

I'd like to enter 
InkyChicks Christmas 
Papertake Weekly super fly 
Crimbo Crackers  anything goes 

Make My Monday - Halloween

This week at Make My Monday our challenge is Halloween.

For my DT card I used a digi called 'the dark forest' by Delicious Doodles , and I coloured it using purple, green and yellow Distress Inks. The witch and bats are a cutting file by Valerie Wilson. I embossed the purple card and sanded it.

Please come and share your spooky creations at Make My Monday. 

I'd like to enter
Try it on Tuesday  spooky
That's Crafty spooky
QKR Stampede   the witch is in
Simply Create Too  Halloween

Festive 48- Week 40

Do you notice anything about my title today? Yes it is week FORTY of 48! Only eight more weeks before I need to write in the cards and send them off - which , perversely, I don't really enjoy. I much prefer making them!

This week's card is a decoupage scene, for which I used a decoupage set from Papermania Christmas CD , and  I've pretty much used it as it came, just adding glitter, glitter paper and a sentiment.

Just to recap, I have challenged myself to make a Christmas card every week , and post it here (to make sure I do it!) . If I do this, by the beginning of December I will have 48 Christmas cards. I have also issued an invitation to anyone who would like to join me by linking up ONE card each week. 

This link up is always 'Any Christmas Card Goes'. 

Thank you to everyone who's joined me so far. I love seeing your cards. 

I'd like to enter:

CD Sunday  Christmas 

An InLinkz Link-up

Scrapping 4 Fun Guest Designer

It's my pleasure today to be one of the Guest Designers at Scrapping 4 Fun, for their 'anything goes' challenge.

My daughter asked me to make a graduation card for her friend. The terrifying thing is , as my daughter is graduating at the same time, I will have to think of another idea (bigger and better!) for my daughter's grad card!

The silhouette of the grad jumping is a free SVG file(sorry will post a credit if I find out where I got it from)  and I made the 'yay' on my electronic die cutter. The papers are old magazine freebies and I added 3 glittered stars,

I hope you will join in with the challenge at Scrapping 4 Fun . 

I'd like to enter:
Creative Card Crew black cardstock
Inspiration Destination  anything goes
Aloha Fridays dies
Imagination Crafts anything goes

Make My Monday - Numbers

At first glance, this might look like I've used Halloween papers - I don't know why I combined orange with black, as this is a birthday card and in fact, the papers are from a 'school' theme range.

This is my DT card for Make My Monday , where the theme this week is 'Numbers'.  At the end of the month one of my male colleagues turns 60, and, as he's a maths teacher, I made this card for him.

I hope we can count on you (haha) to join us at Make My Monday this week.

I'd like to enter:
Crafters Cafe black , orange plus1 (white)
Aloha Friday  dies and punches
Pink Elephant  black, orange plus your pick (white)

Inkspirational Challenge - Purple with Grey / silver

We have a colour challenge at Inkspirational  - purple with grey or silver.

For my DT card I used a bauble stamp I got free with a magazine. I had to play around a lot to get the intensity of purple I wanted. I used several inks and some plum Twinkling H20s and I sprayed everything with water for mottled effect. Then I used silver embossing powder to emboss the stamped image. Finally, I sprayed it with glitter.

In the end I made three cards - here are the other two:

This final one is the wrong colours for Inkspirational but I enjoyed doodling strings for the baubles and as a frame.

We would love you to join us at Inkspirational  with your purple and grey project. We have a wonderful guest designer, Lynda, so do come over and take a look.

I'd like to enter:
Crimbo Crackers  anything goes
ABC Christmas Challenge tree ornament
Crafty Calendar  bingo  - embossing, sentiment and sparkle
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas  anything goes

Festive 48 - Week 39

You may recognise the reindeer and papers as a recent freebie with a UK magazine (can't remember which). I masked the reindeer and added a keyboard and some musical notes - don't ask why- I just had them on my table and thought it would be nice! I added a border, punched snowflakes and stick on gems.

Just to recap, I have challenged myself to make a Christmas card every week , and post it here (to make sure I do it!) . If I do this, by the beginning of December I will have 48 Christmas cards. I have also issued an invitation to anyone who would like to join me by linking up ONE card each week. 

This link up is always 'Any Christmas Card Goes'. 

Thank you to everyone who's joined me so far. I love seeing your cards. 

I'd like to enter:
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge  christmas 
Holly Jolly Christmas 
Christmas Stampin All Year Long lots of snowflakes 

An InLinkz Link-up

Leafing an Impression

When you get started on the autumnal cards, it's so hard to stop isn't it?

Here, I melted copper embossing powder and pressed a Non Sequitur leaf/text stamp into it, For the background I use white embossing powder and various leaf stamps and inks. The final layer is crimped card sprayed with gold mist and I added twine, pearls, a brad and a stamped sentiment.

I'd like to enter:
City Crafter  leaves
Little Red Wagon  giving thanks
Shopping our Stash  autumn colours

Migrating Geese

One of my favourite sights and sounds of autumn is the migrating geese.

Here I used a Tando chipboard arch and frames. I painted them and built up layers of paint, ink, gold misting spray and stamps (leaves and script) . Then I clear embossed the leaf stamps ( Hero and Stampin Up) and slapped more ink over the top for a subtle resist effect. The geese were cut out on the Silhouette electronic die-cutting machine.

For the frame I used a brickwork stencil and randomly inked through it. Then I sprinkled parts of the inked areas with copper embossing powder.

I'd like to enter:
Artful Times Arches
Stamplorations embossing
Fashionable Stamping Challenges  anything goes
Use your Stuff  fall
Craft Hoarder Anonymous fall

Creative Cutting Challenge - Halloween

The new challenge at Creative Cutting Challenge is Halloween. I made a pop up card using the cat from Halloween Set One from The Creative Pointe .

The front of the card

We'd love you to join our challenge at Creative Cutting  - all you need to do is use an SVG or similar electronic cutting file, make a Halloween project  and tell us what you've used.  See you there.
I'd like to enter:
Come and Get It  Halloween 
Crafters Cafe die cuts
Crafty Creations use orange
Fab n Funky  Halloween
Seema Crafts Halloween 

Make My Monday - Children or Babies

This week's challenge at Make My Monday  is Children or Babies, and as you can see, I made a 'new baby' card.  The image is cut from a piece of Graphic 45 paper and almost everything else is things I had lying about - die cut rose, heart and circle, a punched border, lots of pink ink, and pearls.

I hope you will come and join in at Make My Monday .

I'd like to enter:
Just Add Ink  baby
Simply Create Too special occasion
Just Us Girls celebrate 

Festive 48- week 38

While I've still got the 'Nordic' paper out , I made this. Actually there are three papers from two different sets that were magazine freebies. I thought using the red panel would show up the paper piecing on the clothes better. The image is a digi by Heather Ellis. 

Just to recap, I have challenged myself to make a Christmas card every week , and post it here (to make sure I do it!) . If I do this, by the beginning of December I will have 48 Christmas cards. I have also issued an invitation to anyone who would like to join me by linking up ONE card each week. 

This link up is always 'Any Christmas Card Goes'. 

Thank you to everyone who's joined me so far. I love seeing your cards. 

I'd like to enter:
Papertake Weekly  oh how cute
Fab n Funky  Christmas 
Jingle Belles 3 designer paper 
Completely Christmas  ag

Mod Squad holiday 

An InLinkz Link-up

Brilliant Balloons

I set out to make a card for a man - but actually, I think it's turned out quite unisex.

The balloons are from Forever Friends Celebrations CD- I made them into a bunch and laid the sentiment (same CD) over the top. I printed the image, die-cut it and layered it with some die-cut glitter paper. I embossed the base card with a chevron embossing folder.

I'd like to enter:
CD Sunday  birthday card for a male.
Squirrel and the Fox birthday
Crafty Catz birthday