No Peeking

The theme at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers this month is gnomes. As I got an idea in my head that I thought would work best with more than one gnome, I finally caved in and got some more gnome stamps. Pointy Hat Gnome has long been the sole representative of his clan and he's a bit too big for multiples to feature comfortably on a standard card! I picked up somebody’s crafty de-stash set on eBay featuring some of his smaller brethren.

They may not look threatening but gnomes can be a determined bunch — perfect for protecting the gift pile and making sure there’s no peeking before the big day! Gnomeland Security is a serious business and they’re not about to stand for any funny stuff. Head gnome Herbert is raised up a little (courtesy of some card scraps) just to reinforce his status, especially as he’s not the biggest gnome on the block.

 

I think this could work for Christmas or birthday as the gnomes are not in traditional festive colours. Funny how you see things on the photo that you’ve not noticed “in person” — I’m thinking I’ll go back in with a fineliner and make their little eye dots black since I stamped with a dark brown ink, I think it might bring a little more character to their faces.

 

Stamps: 

Christmas Gnomes (Paper Boutique) 

Funny Accessories (Katzelkraft, no longer with us) 

 

Paper: Bristol board

 

Ink: Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

 

Other:

Copic markers
White paint pen (Posca)

Computer generated sentiment 

Corner chomper

Here’s the link to the challenge with all the details, there are still a few days to play: 

Christmas Kickstart — mid month already!

My first card for this month’s Christmas Kickstart challenge featured a robin in snow. For my mid-month card I thought I’d keep the snow but switch to a rather different bird so may I present: penguins in snow! 

Cute as they may be, they presented a serious challenge when it came to photography — for some reason they absolutely did not want to be captured for posterity. I had four separate photoshoots with them and realised when I deleted all the photos off the camera having finally got a usable one that there were 84 pictures 😱 

The penguins were stamped on white, coloured with pencils and fussy cut. I stamped the image on the black panel as well and added heat embossing for the flakes above their heads and the snow around their feet. Some white pencil adds a bit extra snowiness and a die cut flake gives the sentiment a bit of a lift.

Stamps:
Bundled penguins (Stampendous)
Merriest Christmas Wishes (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board , smooth black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Detail white embossing powder (Wow)
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Stitched rectangle die A6 size (Paper Rose, one die cut modified to fit a longer sentiment)

Thanks for stopping by! Jo and I would love for you to come and join us with your festive birds if you’re getting ahead with your Christmas cards:

 

 

Robin in the snow

I’m delighted to be undertaking elfin duties at Christmas Kickstart this month, especially as the theme is right up my alley — thanks for inviting me Jo! I think bird images are beaten into second place only after florals in my stamping stash so Season’s Tweetings is perfect for me to don the pointy ears and elf hat and join Jo in celebrating birds in winter!

As the current We Love Stamping challenge is All Creatures Great and Small I’m joining in there, too.

I had a new robin image waiting to see ink for the first time so he came out to play. They’re lovely to see all year round but really come into their own in winter, supplying that little flash of vivid colour when everything can seem a bit drab and monochrome. 

Linda has been using some pretty ombre card bases recently — perhaps those were in my mind when I sat down to make this as I used some Pan Pastels to create a soft ombre winter sky for my robin. The gentle snow is just paint pen dots and splodges and I added a tiny bit of snow to the branch with the same pen. The robin is coloured with pencils and as I stamped in a brown ink I used a fineliner to make his beady little eye black. A nice big sentiment and my usual rounded corner finish it off. Light and flat for easy mailing!

Stamps:
Into the Wild (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Pan Pastel (Pthalo Green Tint, Turquoise, Blue)
Paint pen by Posca (White)
Corner Chomper
Black fineliner

We’d love for you to join us with some wintery bird life on your cards, here’s the challenge link, it would be great to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

  

The juggling gnome

The current challenges at Christmas Kickstart, Lost Coast Designs and Time Out combined in my head to make this! While hats (CK) lead naturally to  thoughts of gnomes (LCD), the sweet treats called for at Time Out maybe weren't such an obvious fit. I woke up thinking about gnomes juggling candy canes or peppermint candies and decided to see if I could make it happen!

PH gnome usually has his hands by his sides — not an obvious position for juggling. I stamped and cut him out, performing some micro surgery by cutting off his arms and then drawing new ones for him on the card base. He's obviously come to no harm since he's managing to juggle five objects, no problem.

I had no candy cane or peppermint candy images in my stash so I took a deep breath and drew one. Having managed one that looked OK, I scribbled on the back and transferred it five times to some cardstock, coloured and cut them out.

I used my long-neglected Pan Pastels to give a tiny bit of background colour, stuck down gnome and candies, stamped a sentiment and scribbled a little bit of snow under his feet with Enamel accents then sprinkled on some glitter. A fineliner border gives a bit of definition between the die cut panel and the card base.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Sentiment from Foxy Christmas (Woodware)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Stitched rectangles A6 size dies (Paper Rose)
Coloured pencils
Pan Pastel (Pthalo Green Tint)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (White)
Glamour Dust by DecoArt (Crystal)
Black fineliner

 Thanks for stopping by!

Brimming over with joy

This month's theme at Christmas Kickstart (where host Jo is being ably assisted by elf Gail) is hats — hats on their own, hats on people, hats on critters — if it's Christmassy and there's a hat involved you're good to go!

Retro Rubber are playing tic tac toe and it's a wintery one as things got out of kilter with their enforced change of platform so I'm playing there too — right hand column (tag, holly, rhinestones) and also bottom row (die cut, snow, rhinestones). The holly and the rhinestones are both tiny but they're there on the snowman's hat band. The Hero Arts set (holly and sentiment stamps, word die cut) has been in my collection since 2017 I think.

This is the first outing for the snowman die from the Cool Yule set. I went very much my own way though — I used the nose intended for Santa to make a tangerine rather than a carrot nose, didn’t use the monocle and replaced the star accent for the hat with some stamped and fussy cut holly with tiny gem berries. The eyes are Enamel Accents, I drew on a wiggly mouth and he’s wearing the scarf that belongs to the reindeer in the set rather than his own bow tie!

Stamps:
Joy Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts, had mine since 2017)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Softly Falling embossing folder (Stampin' Up!, retired)
Tags dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Copic markers
White pencil
Posca pain pen (white)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Nail art gems
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

A woodland Christmas

The current challenge at Christmas Kickstart has us coming Out of the Woods. As soon as I saw the theme I knew I wanted to christen this stamp set and in particular this handsome stag. When I then saw We Love Stamping has a wildlife theme I knew it was meant to be.

This is very nearly a one layer card, just the sentiment strip is separate. I stamped and masked the stag, used a circle mask and stamped the pine bough and berry sprig then inked over with some Bundled Sage Distress ink. I remember seeing somebody (not sure if it was a member of the Katzelkraft DT) use the pine and berry stamps to make a sort of designer paper. It looked lovely so I took the same sort of approach here. I stamped in red and then went over the stems with a dark brown fineliner, intensified the berry colour with a Copic and added tiny white paint pen highlights. 

I then swapped to a circle stencil and added some blue around the stag. Everything is coloured with a mixture of Copics and pencils. I used a copper gel pen to doodle and give the circle some definition and also used it along the edges of the sentiment strip.

Stamps:
Out of the Wild (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)
Adirondack by Ranger (Red Pepper)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic markers
Spica glitter pen (green)
Copper gel pen
White paint pen (Posca)
Black fineliner

Here are the challenges if anyone would like to play along too!

 

 

Cold toes?

I had a plan for joining in at the current Lost Coast Designs challenge where the team would like us to make it funny. Then I saw the current Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge theme of Cold and this idea popped into my head and refused to go away until an attempt at making it had happened! The original idea might still get a look in before the month ends, we’ll see.

It’s a version of an age old joke but I thought the expression on the dog’s face fit it perfectly, poor wee thing! Wording is computer generated, it’s a bit situation-specific for anyone to make a stamp, I reckon! Torn paper snow, paint pen dots (I probably should have splattered but I didn’t think of that in time!) and my usual rounded corner finish it off.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Les Chiens (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Kraft, scrap of white

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
White paint pen (Posca)
Corner Chomper
Black fineliner

Deck the halls

A second card for the February Christmas Kickstart challenge where we've been invited to a sing-a-long! I'm combining with Retro Rubber this time who are back after a break while they changed platform. Use stamps older than a year and you can play along, too!

This turned out a bit rustic, a bit vintage but quite festive, I think. Retro Rubber has a tic tac toe challenge at the moment — I chose the middle line of kraft, free choice (I went with fussy cutting), embossing. I think my song for Christmas Kickstart is reasonably obvious!

After fussy cutting the stamped holly, I decided the card needed something a bit extra. Although it's at a different scale I thought the die cut holly sprig worked OK and it had the advantage that the leaves were small enough I could overlap the sprig onto the sentiment panel without obscuring any of the pretty lettering. I hand drew the veins so it was closer to the style of the stamped holly.

I've given the lettering a tiny bit of sparkle by using a Spica glitter pen to trace over the edges of the stamping.

Distress ink in Antique Linen always goes well with kraft and it just softens the edges of the white sentiment panel a bit. 

Stamps:
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us —  I've had the set at least a decade)
Holly (magazine freebie stamp, I've had it at least five years)

Paper:
Kraft
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Memento Luxe (Love Letter)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Moonlit berries embossing folder (Couture Creations)
Square Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Copic markers
Red Spica glitter pen
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions) 

 Thanks for Stopping by!

All together now...

This month Christmas Kickstart is inviting us to a sing-a-long - make a card inspired by a Christmas song or carol. I'd recently found this little sentiment stamp (it's so old I don't remember where it came from; it's grey rubber and I have a very faint bell in my head that says Elzybells but if anyone knows, shout out!). 

The sentiment was really crying out for an image with two or more characters and when I remembered this jolly little crew tucked down the side of the Christmas supplies box they seemed like good candidates.

We recently visited a National Trust property (Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, worth a visit if you're in the area) and they had some lovely cards in the gift shop that had a slightly debossed area for the image. I figured I should be able to do that to add subtle interest to a one layer card. Took me a while to work it out but I got there in the end!

I cut some lightweight chipboard with a rectangle die and used a bit of low tack tape to keep it centred on the card front then turned it over and ran a stylus round the edge. I did it on a blank card base so that if I messed up, I hadn't ruined a carefully coloured image!

Image is coloured with Copics and topped up with just a few pencil details and some copper gel pen for the stars on some of the packages. 

Stamps:
Holly Jolly (Penny Johnson/Stampavie)
Sentiment stamp unknown (possibly very old Elzybells)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers 
Black fineliner
Coloured pencils
Copper gel pen

 

 

Pretty in (festive) pink

I got an idea into my head for another way to play along with the Christmas Kickstart Dreaming of a Pink Christmas challenge. Several frustrating hours later, the initial idea was a distant memory and the lovely piece of alcohol ink background (with silver mixative) I’d made was die cut into several baubles. Even then, only one of them made it onto the final card. Maybe pink and what was essentially a piece of patterned paper was just toooo far out of my comfort zone!

I wanted a skinny frame and didn’t have anything suitable so I used nesting rectangle dies, found it still wasn’t really skinny enough so trimmed a bit off the outer edge. I found some washi tape that has an interesting “tarnished silver” look to it and used that to cover the frame.

The branch is built up of one small stamp used several times to make a larger bough. I added a few freehand extras as well, just to fill it out a bit. My go-to embellishment of tiny nail art gems make an appearance in two shades of pink and three sizes.

Still not quite convinced I like this but it might grow on me.

Stamps:
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Pale pink glossy

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Picked Raspberry)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Silver leafing pen (Krylon)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Vintage Ornament die (Impression Obsession, no longer with us)
Copic Various refills (Fucshia and Sugared Almond Pink)
Silver Mixative (Ranger)
Washi tape

Pink Christmas

It might seem odd that my first card of 2026 is a Christmas card but I’m going to make a determined effort to play along with Christmas Kickstart this year so I hope I’m starting as I mean to go on. Jo’s guest elf this month is the lovely Chris Lawler who has chosen a colour theme — pink! Not a colour I naturally gravitate to but I did my best to embrace it!

The Christmas wording dies got their first outing here so I’m playing at Die Cut Divas too where the theme is New. Although I’ve had them a while this is the first time I’ve even opened the packaging so I hope that counts! I used them to cut hot pink glitter card to stick to an inky background then stood my fussy cut bear on top of the wording, I hope she's light enough on her feet not to squash it! 

I sprinkled a few tiny die cut stars and some white pen dots around the place, mounted with a broad border and called it done. The confetti die used for the stars is ancient (I’ve had it at least ten years) but very useful! The bear’s raised paw has a couple of layers of cardstock scraps behind it so it’s a got just a wee bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Pink glitter card 
Bristol board 

Ink: 
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Rosebud)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)
Adirondack by Ranger (Raspberry)

Other:
Stylish Script Christmas Wishes dies  (Lisa Horton for Creative Expressions)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bold and bright

I had a second black card base on my desk after colouring PH Gnome as Santa (here) so decided to have another play. This time I heat embossed the stamped image in gold to get all that lovely grungy detail on the base. Again, I stamped the image on white, coloured and fussy cut it then lined it up with the one on the card base. The tips of the leaves are slightly raised with scraps of card for a bit of dimension.

For some reason I decided that die cutting individual letters to make up the sentiment would be  a good idea — I won’t be doing that again in a hurry! Still, it’s given it a bold and graphic feel which seemed to suit the image. I used a couple of light grey Copics at the base of each letter to give a very slight ombre effect. I decided to make the text deliberately “wonky” as even the teeniest discrepancy in either baseline alignment or spacing tends to scream at me if it’s supposed to be straight.

Stamps:
Inked Holly (Visible Image)

Paper:

Raven black
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Detail embossing powder (gold)
Tim Holtz/sizzix Alphanumeric Classic Lower dies
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Corner Chomper

I’ve just discovered the We Love Stamping challenge (I’m slow on the uptake!) where this month’s theme is red and green so I’m playing along there with this card.

Christmas roses

In a change of pace — something more on the elegant side and very die-based compared to my usual stampiness! I’ve had this set for years and barely used it so thought it was about time it got a proper workout.

This started life in my head as a white on white creation with a silver sentiment.  I couldn’t make the florals look anything but bland though (I don’t know how others pull it off for gloriously chic creations!). I ended up going through every sort of colouring medium and eventually binning them and starting again! This time the flowers are cut from red card, edges inked with Distress and a little bit of detail added with a white pencil. The rest was cut from white and coloured with Copics with a tiny bit of pencil on the holly veins. 

I heat embossed the gold sentiment then added the frame and assembled everything in the corner, using scraps of card to vary the heights, and finally called it done. 

I confess it reminded me why I don’t do this style of card very often — it doesn’t come naturally and takes me longer than seems humanly possible 😂 It’s a good job I know the intended recipients will appreciate it!

Stamps:

Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Red

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark
Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door)

Other:
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Branch die (Craft Emotions)
Stitched square frame dies (Paper Rose)
Detail embossing powder (gold)
White pencil

With so many die cuts, it would be rude not to join the Die Cut Divas’ Christmas/winter challenge, don’t you think? Click the graphic for all the challenge details. 

More kraftiness

I enjoyed colouring Sidoney the dog on a kraft card base a few days back so when I set out to make a card for cat-loving friends I decided to go the same way. The standing cat is coloured to look a bit like the all white one they have now, her curled up companion bears a passing resemblance to their previous cat. Neither of them would stand for the antics of that pesky rodent though!

I’ve used another of the fantastic Katzelkraft sets I bought recently. These are such fun to combine in different ways. I did have plans to use the wrapped gifts from the accessories set as my friend’s cat is an avid box fan, if there’s an open box, she will be sitting or standing in it without question. In the end though, I couldn’t resist a little scene with the cheeky mouse teasing his two opponents. 

I wanted a Christmas tree in the scene but didn’t have a suitably sized stamp in my stash so I decided to have a go at drawing my own. I sketched it on some scrap paper first to make sure my limited drawing skills were up to the task, then scribbled pencil on the back and transferred it to the card, drew over the faint pencil lines with a fineline marker and coloured with pencils. The garland (or string of tiny lights if you prefer to think of them that way) is just dots of paint pen. I think it turned out OK!

Stamps:
Les Chats Russe (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Foxy Christmas (Woodware)

Paper:
Kraft 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen (white)
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

As my little mouse is definitely showing some sass, I’m playing for the first time at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where this month’s theme is “Cheeky Christmas” — click the image for challenge details!

Santa Sidoney

Another quick card for the pile of last minute Christmas cards (although the masking took much longer than it had any right to do, I’m out of practice!). 

Having only just got round to using these stamps, I ordered some more Katzelkraft in the That's Crafty Black Friday sale. I  subsequently discovered that Katzelkraft ceased trading in the spring so I went back and ordered a few more! I’m really sad, not only because I’ve not long started building a little collection of their stamps but because one of the reasons for the closure is the cheap knock-offs flooding some of the better known online shopping platforms  ☹️ If you know anyone tempted by such “bargains”, please try to talk them out of it, it’s killing genuine businesses, many of them small concerns run by passionately creative people who deserve to be properly rewarded for their time, energy and creativity.

So, with that off my chest — Santa hat from the accessories set stamped and masked, Sidoney stamped to suffer the ignominy of having to wear it and then everything coloured with pencils. Stamped sentiment with a few paint pen dots and my usual rounded corner to finish it off.

Stamps:
Chien Sidoney (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Les droles d’accessoire (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Foxy Christmas (Woodware)

Paper:
Kraft 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen
Corner Chomper

Why not join in at Christmas Kickstart if, like me, you’re playing catch up?! As Jo says — if it’s Christmassy, link it up!

Going gnome for Christmas

I’m gradually getting back into the swing of cardmaking as I increase the amount of usable worktop in my craft room! And I’ve found my two favourite black inks so things are looking up. I’m concentrating on getting a few Christmas cards made so at least a few folk will get a hand made card this year  

Lost Coast Designs has an “anything goes” challenge this month so I'm playing along there as Pointy Hat Gnome is doing his very best Santa impression — I even gave his hat a pompom topper! Jo is sticking to her December tradition at Christmas Kickstart of “if it’s Christmassy, link it up!” so PH Gnome is putting in an appearance there too. Links to both challenges at the bottom of this post.

I did start off colouring directly on the card base with pencils but I couldn’t get the colours quite as vivid as I wanted so I stamped and coloured on white cardstock then fussy cut and stuck him on. 

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafters Companion)

Paper:

Raven black
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Blac)

Other:
Detail embossing powder (silver)
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Corner Chomper

If you’re still in Christmas card mode, why not come and play?

One night only...

I'm sneaking in under the wire for November's Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the theme is Just Add Antlers. Jo and her seasonal elf always come up with something fun!

Rudy was quietly minding his own business, walking through town when he spotted this poster for his namesake and favourite band - Rudolph and the Reindeers! He stopped to gaze up, dreaming of being in the audience, perhaps even being picked out and invited up on stage... a guy can dream, right? If Courtney Cox got to join Bruce Springsteen, anything might happen.

That's one thing I love about these silhouette die cuts, you can imagine them facing either way!

There's a tiny bit of glitz on this, I use a red glitter pen over Rudolph's name, the snowflakes and the date. 

Stamps:
One Night Only (Woodware Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Cryogen White 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Momento Love Letter

Other:
Reindeer Family dies (Paper Rose)
Spica glitter pen (red)

Only a few hours left but if you're quick, here's the challenge link!

 

Something silly!

Tap, tap, tap -  testing, testing, is this thing on? 

Hello! I'm dusting things off in here and seeing if I still remember how to do a post having just about established that I sort of remember how to make a card! I've been parted from my craft stuff for longer than I care to think about by a house move that got complicated, I won't bore you with the details.

To ease back in I thought I'd do a challenge - I've been keeping an eye on a few even while I couldn't make anything. Lost Coast Designs is always fun and the current challenge has a festive theme so I'm playing there as I've just managed to locate the box of Christmas supplies!

Albert is quite excited about the festive season, although he's still insisting that his breakthrough equation should take centre stage. He's chosen an oversized hat so he doesn't have to flatten his hair too much. Stamping, masking, colouring, a bit of fussy cutting and a die cut panel - see, I've remembered at least some of the fundamentals!

What I haven't done is found the camera or set up photo editing software (new computer as well as a house move!) so excuse the slightly rudimentary camera phone photo.

Stamps:
Einstein (Carmen's Veranda)
Ho Ho Ho (Visible Image)
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
It's My Type (Ma Vinci's Reliquary, no longer with us)

Paper:
Cryogen White 

Ink:
Hero Arts Soft Granite
Versafine Onyx Black
Momento Love Letter

Other:
Stitched Rectangles A6 size dies (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Fineliner
Corner Chomper

If you're feeling festive with your stamps, why not pop over to Lost Coast and join in - you can use any manufacturer's rubber or clear stamps to play along if you don't have Lost Coast or Carmen's Veranda stamps to play with (see the rules page for full details).

So square

The lovely Shabneez is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers today. She’d like to see squares — square cards, lots of little squares as design elements, however you feel like incorporating squares!

I couldn’t really get going with anything this week so decided to add a Christmas card to the stash. Jo’s Christmas Kickstart has a green theme this month so I chose to play along there too. 

Santa’s dachshund has put on his best green sweater to deliver his Christmas greetings. He has lovely green trees in the background, too (dog masked before stamping trees). He’s on a square card with an inner square that looks surprisingly dimensional! I drew round a square die with a fineline marker then added some smudged charcoal pencil in the corners. His sweater has some squares in its pattern, too. 

This cute stamp was one of the Katzelkraft bargains I got ages ago but I’ve only just got round to using him — he made my hubby smile when he saw the card waiting to be photographed. There’s a lady in our village who has a dachshund that loves a fuss, Betty (the dog, not her owner!) has the softest ears you’ve ever felt, they’re like very expensive silk velvet!

Stamps:
Chien du Pere de Noel (Katzelkraft)
Lovely As a Tree  (Stampin’ Up)
Sentiment from an ancient set (MSE)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)

Thanks for stopping by!

Whatever the weather

Kirsty is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like to see all things weather-related.

I'm hoping I’ve gone for something unseasonal as I’ve chosen snow! I know it’s been unseasonably mild just recently and I hope we’re not going to pay for it with the sort of weather we had with the “beast from the east” a few years back. That was late February…

My stash of Christmas cards was almost nonexistent for 2023 so I’m determined to try to make a few more throughout the year this year. With that in mind I’m also joining Jo’s Christmas Kickstart where Gail is this month’s elf and the theme is “out on a limb” — things you’d find on a tree. My little birdie is literally out on a limb. She has a coating of Spica glitter pen for subtle sparkle too. 

Stamps:
Merriest Christmas Wishes (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Bahama Blue, Love Letter)

Other:
Copic marker
Spic glitter pen (red)
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

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