Non Traditional Christmas

Over at The Love! - Handmade cards, ATC’s & other Crafts group on Flickr there's a fun challenge for October. It's to make a holiday project in non traditional colours. I have to admit I usually make my Christmas cards in traditional colours, but with this challenge decided to go a bit wild (for me:)) with colours and used a lot of black which is another colour I wouldn't usually use on Christmas cards.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Ornaments Stamp & Cut and Vintage Post (sentiment)
Die (My Favorite Things) - Pierced Rectangle Frames

I die cut the frame, adhered it with foam pads to a panel of black glitter card and again used foam pads to adhere this to my card base. Then I coloured and added Wink of Stella to baubles images my friend Linda sent me (thanks again, Linda!) and added bows made from baker's twine. I really enjoyed trying out different colours on my Christmas card so will definitely make a few more Christmas cards this year using non traditional colours.

Critter Christmas

Oh where did that weekend go?! Just before I head to work I want to set another Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda. This week I’m going with Critter\s Christmas so the card should have any type of animal\s on it.

For my card and tag I inked up a funny reindeer image from Art Impressions. As soon as I spotted the reindeer with the wobbly bottom I had to get it – I know some of my family and friends will get a laugh out of that fella when they see him on their Christmas cards.

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Embossing Folder – Snowflake Scroll (Darice)

After stamping, colouring and cutting out the reindeer I adhered him to a card panel that had been embossed and stamped with the sentiment. Then I cut out and coloured an extra bottom which shakes as it’s been adhered to the larger image with an action wobble.

I had to add a little sparkle so out came diamond stickles to go on the bells.

Next up I made a matching tag. Even reindeer are taking selfies now:)

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Dies - Film & Polaroid – (Greeting Farm) and Romantic Rectangles 2 (Spellbinders)

Linda has already set her challenge here - it's a good one and one of my favourite techniques!

Linda's One Layer Challenge

Earlier in the week my friend Linda set a challenge to make a one layer Christmas card. I rarely make one layer cards but it was fun, and I have to admit a little challenging, to give it a go. Midweek I was in the process of making a card and as there was a lot of colouring left to do on it I brought it into work on Friday to finish it at lunchtime. Then what did I do - left it in work by mistake! So this morning I started again from scratch using the same images but made a less "busy" card which I think I prefer to the one that's still sitting in my drawer in work.

I started by heat embossing the sentiment in gold and then stamped a mix of images on part of the card. After that I used Promarkers to colour the flowers and pine cones. I wish I was brave enough to try a bit of splattering but after dropping an inky block and messing up what was my first attempt at this morning's card, I left the card as it was.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Color Layering Dimensional Bird, Very Merry Christmas and Build a Wreath by Lia

To finish I just added diamond stickles to the flower centres - hopefully it's okay to do that on one layer cards!

Next up was the matching tag which I think I'll redo as I wrinkled it a bit when trying to flatten it after it got a little warped from heat embossing. Lol it has been a day for stampy mishaps so I think I'll try my hand at something else today!

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Color Layering Dimensional Bird, Very Merry Christmas and Build a Wreath by Lia

Not a Christmas Image

It's time again to challenge my friend Linda to make a Christmas card and this time I'm going with the theme of making a card on which the main image is not a Christmas related one.

This week I've made a card for a friend who is mad into golf. I think she'd play golf on Christmas Day except for the fact that her club is closed! For my main image I used a fun golf martini stamp from a set Linda gave me recently - thanks again Linda! The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added a sprig of holly for a festive feel.

Stamps: Fore Retirement - Impression Obsession, Woodland Wreaths (sentiment) - WPlus9 & Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado
Die: Elegant Ovals (Spellbinders)

The top part of the glass and the flag are popped up on foam pads for extra dimension and I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the glass.

For a matching tag I treated the die cut golf ball as if it were a Christmas pudding by topping it with a sprig of holly.

Dies: Golf Ball and Tee - Taylored Expressions & Nesting Gift Tags (Docrafts Xcut)
Stamp: Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado

Linda has already set me a challenge for this week. You can see it here. Oh I think her challenge is the most difficult type of card for me to make - hope I can come up with something that's even semi okay!!

CAS Christmas

It's time again to set a Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda and this week it's going to be a CAS Christmas card. I have to say CAS cards are definitely a challenge for me but I thought I'd give it a go anyway this week. I see Linda has already posted a challenge for me here on her blog - can't wait to make a start on something!

After die cutting a window and stamping a sentiment on a panel of white card, I added a little elf peeking out of the window. I adhered an embossed circle to the card base before attaching the panel with foam pads. To finish I applied stickles to the trim and bobble on the elf's hat. It was such a quick and easy card to make especially as I had the elf image already coloured with Promarkers and ready to go on a card.

Stamps - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts) & Woodland Wreaths (WPlus9)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

For my matching tag I used another elf image from the same Hero Arts set and sandwiched baker's twine between the embossed circle and a backing circle.

Stamp - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

If you'd like to join in on Linda's challenge and/or mine we'd love you to add a link to your card on either of our blogs.

Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Welcome to The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge Blog Hop. Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker loves to colour and she is hosting her fifth 30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE. The premise of the challenge is to colour something everyday even if it’s for just five minutes. It doesn’t matter what you colour or what medium you use. It's such a fun challenge and a brilliant way to make sure that you take a relaxing break for yourself during the day.

Even if you can't get to colour every day you can join in at any time while the challenge is on. You will find that Kathy encourages you along the way to stretch your creativity a little bit more and to feel successful with your colouring. You will learn so much from Kathy and pick up lots of tips and techniques. More details on the challenge can be found in Kathy's blog post here and in Kathy's video here.

I first got to know Kathy through the Hero Arts group on Flickr and from the start she has amazed me with her sheer creativity and fabulous colouring skills. Today Kathy has assembled a blog hop to give your creativity a jump start. Along the hop you'll meet Hero Arts artists, friends and Hostesses.

You should have arrived here from the blog of my very talented friend Linda - can't wait to see what she has coloured and created! A full list of all the blogs on the hop can be found here on Kathy's blog. At the end of the hop you will find a fantastic GIVEAWAY from my favourite company Hero Arts - two shopping sprees of $25.00 each! Winners will be randomly picked from the blog comments of the blog hop - good luck! I have comment moderator switched on so please don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately.

Often when I stamp an image for a card I stamp off a few extras for the future in case I need to make a card in a hurry. I have a drawer full of these stamped images ready to go. For when I'm out and about I also keep some stamped images in one container and in another container I have images that I've fully cut out and are ready to colour along with others that have just been coloured. It makes it easy to grab some things when I have the opportunity to cut out or colour. Often when I'm sitting in my car waiting for my kids to come out of school I'll be cutting out and/or colouring. It's amazing how much you can get done when you're just waiting around!

From the time I got Hero Arts Spice Market Large Petal Background I've had great fun colouring it and have used it again and again on cards. Below is a card I posted a while ago which shows what the full image looks like on a kraft base and coloured with pencils.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & Type (Hero Arts)

This time I wanted a brighter look so stamped part of the image on a scrap of white card and coloured with Promarkers. After cutting out the piece I adhered it to the top of the card. The sentiment was die cut three times and layered.

Stamp - Spice Market Large Petal Background (Hero Arts)
Dies - Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Well after making that card it seems like I was bitten by the colouring bug and went on to stamp the image again using up more card scraps.

I went with cool blues and greens for the first card

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

and then used a mix of warm colours for the second.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

I have to say I really enjoyed taking some time to lose myself completely in colouring and would encourage you to do the same and join in on Kathy's The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge if you haven't already done so.

Now it's time to pop over to the next stop on the hop where you'll be visiting the very creative Cheiron. Enjoy the rest of the hop and I'm looking forward to going hopping too!

Happy Birthday Rocket

I wanted to make a birthday card with a space theme for a two year old boy so pulled out a cute freebie stamp set (Rocket Thanks) that Hero Arts recently gave out with orders.

After stamping and cutting out the rocket, I coloured it with Promarkers and added stardust stickles to the flame. The star background was made by applying distress inks (salty ocean, peacock feathers & faded jeans) to white card and stamping the stars in faded jeans distress ink.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Rocket Thanks, Fantastic Birthday & Tiny Star Background
Die (Tonic) - Advent Drawer Deco Die

I die cut numbers out of the side of the card base and added a panel of acetate behind the number two so that I could inlay the birthday boy's age. As I wanted it to appear that the rocket flame had ignited the number, I coloured it in the same colour as the flame and applied stardust stickles.

I'm submitting this card into Allsorts' Numbers Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

Another Makeover

I wanted to do another makeover on a card and picked this CAS card I made a little while ago.

Stamp set (Hero Arts) - Missing You

This time I wanted to stick with the same basic design but decided to add a blast of colour and include some hand stitching. After cutting a card front from kraft card, I stamped the sentiment and funny bird. Once the stamping was completed, I hand stitched a frame using embroidery thread. As I wanted some dimension on the card, I stamped the bird again on white card, coloured with Promarkers and added it to the card with foam pads.

Next it was time to add some sparkle and sheen to the bird with stickles on the crest, glossy accents on the eyes and wink of stella on the body.

I'm submitting this card into Hero Arts Makeover Challenge.

Cow Wrangler

I wanted to join in on a couple of Simon Says Stamp Challenges - the Make it Masculine Challenge and Flickr Challenge #20 with this cute and summery inspiration photo:



The greens in the inspiration photo made me think of the cows here out on the lush green pastures during the summer and the smiley sun in the photo inspired the cartoon cow and circular window. For masculine cards I usually try to keep things fairly plain and simple but like to throw in some humour and texture at the same time.



Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp)
Dies - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp), Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn) & Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

I die cut the card face using the rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes and then die cut the circular window. The die cut grass was layered behind the window and I used a piece from an old pair of jeans for the background. After stamping and colouring the cow I paper pieced the sentiment in orange because it's so often used for stitching and tabs on jeans. Once the cow was complete I nestled him in the grass and adhered the card front to a kraft card base.

Moo-tiful Birthday

Barb over at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Group has come up with a yummy colour combination for Flickr Challenge #17. Here are the colours we have to use -



The colours don't have to match shades exactly, so in the end I substituted a hot pink for the rose pink as I have lots of hot pink card which I never seem to use and thought it might go well with the other bold colours. Hopefully the bold colours I used won't hurt your eyes too much! I wanted to make a colourful background for the fun cow from Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Farm Animals set and made it with scraps of card and a die from WPlus9's Quilt Cuts 2 set. Instead of messing with a glue stick I find adding a large sticky label behind the frame of the quilt block is a quick and handy way to adhere the small pieces.

Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals set (Simon Says Stamp)
Die - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9)

After stamping and cutting out the cow, I added some colour and shading.

Then I paper pieced the birthday banner and birthday hat. These days I can't seem to make a card without adding clear Wink of Stella and on this card added some shimmer to the hat and banner.

I'm Nuts About You

I thought it would be fun to join in on Simon Says Stamp's Clean and Simple Challenge and as I wanted to make a card for my hubby, pulled out one of the cute animals from Hero Arts Missing You set.



Stamp set - Missing You (Hero Arts)
Die set - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

After die cutting the rectangular panel with a die from Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes set, I stamped the sentiment. I then punched the tiny heart, applied a layer of clear Wink of Stella and adhered it to the card. The squirrel was stamped twice. I coloured the first image fully and just coloured the main body of the second image. After cutting out the pieces I needed, I layered the images with foam pads to add some dimension. Then I stamped and cut out the nut, and again used a foam pad to stick it onto the squirrel.

Dotty Gift Bag

I'm joining in again on the Spots n Dots Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp's Flickr Group.

I wanted to make a little gift bag so had a rummage through my patterned papers and came across a Recollections set called Today Tomorrow Forever which has a lovely mix papers including dotty and wood papers that I wanted to use for this project. Recently I bought Lawn Fawn's Goodie Bag die and used that to die cut the little bag. It's such a quick and easy way of whipping up a bag in no time - love it so much! Then I cut a panel of wood patterned paper, and from it, die cut the goodie bag handle and used the banner from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes to finish the shape.

Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp) Die - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

After adhereing the banner to the bag I stuck a little branch on the banner and tied the bag with raffia. I stamped the chicken from the Birthday Farm Animals set, coloured it with Promarkers and did a bit of paper piecing.

As the paper I used for the bag has glitter on some of the dots I thought I'd add a bit of sparkle to the chicken using clear Wink of Stella. I tried to capture some of the sparkle on the chicken's head in the photo below.

After having very mild weather over Christmas, it looks like we're having our cold snap now. It was -3C this morning when I went out and we're due some snow tonight - brrrr!

Bookmarks

I love making bookmarks so when I recently came across Clearly Besotted's Book Worm set, I had to snap it up.

Stamp set - Book Worm (Clearly Besotted)

So this morning I had a little inky time and decided to start making bookmarks to give along with book presents at Christmas. These bookmark have already been taken by my hubby and younger son so I'll have to get cracking on making more to go with pressies!

To start with I cut panels from kraft card and added stitched edges with Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes dies. After stamping and cutting out the images, I used Promarkers to colour them. Then I embossed the sentiments, adhered the images and added yarn to finish.

I'm submitting these bookmarks into Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge. Hope you are having a great weekend. At the moment I have a cold that I can't seem to shake and as my older son said sound like I've sucked on twenty helium balloons! Hopefully I won't sound too much like Minnie Mouse when I go into work tomorrow:)

Mark's Monster and Messing with Paints

Earlier today I had fun messing with watercolour paints to make backgrounds. I squirted some watercolour paints from tubes onto my largest acrylic block and added only little splashes of water as I wanted to paint to remain thick and add texture to my panels. Then I squished panels of watercolour card onto the block and ended up with a batch of panels like the ones below.

Lol I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with some of them (the odder looking ones may end up being die cut into butterflies or sentiments!) but I used one of the orange panels to make the background for my card. I stamped Hero Arts Tiny Star Background on the panel in barn door distress ink and embossed the sentiment on a piece of black scrap card. As I don't have any monster stamps I asked my son Mark to draw a few for me. After seeing one of the bigger guys I thought he would be perfect for a sorry card.

Monster image by Mark
Stamps (Hero Arts) - Tiny Star Background & Everyday Sayings

I coloured the monster with ProMarkers and gave him a spotty look with the blender pen. To finish I just added some glossy accents to his horns, eye and tooth.

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

There's No One Like My Favourite Artist

Unfortunately, I can't draw but I did ask my favourite artist, my son Mark, to draw some quirky images for my cards and I'm delighted with what he came up with!

Dog image - by Mark
Stamps - Critters at the Dog Park (Lawn Fawn) & Woodland Creatures (Hero Arts)

One of the first images he drew for me was this dog that I just love. After colouring the little guy with ProMarkers I added some glossy accents to his eyes and nose. For the oval panel I die cut some grass and added it to the blue background. The bones and paw prints in the background and the sentiment were embossed. To finish I just added a couple of enamel dots to the sentiment panel.

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp Emboss It Challenge.

Love Tangle

I thought that the antlers on the cute little moose from the Missing You set were calling out for something to be tangled on them. Hopefully for some of my Christmas cards I'll dangle Christmas lights on them, but for the moment the moose is tangled in love.

Today I ended up making two cards, a mini one which is 3 inches square and a normal sized one. They are basically the same card but there's a little difference in the hearts.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Missing You & Celebrate Everyday

To start I stamped the moose and then the sentiments. The moose were coloured with ProMarkers and to make the images/sentiments pop a bit more I went over the outlines with a fine tipped felt pen.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Missing You & Celebrate Everyday

Then I stamped the hearts and added some hand stitching using embroidery thread. To finish I added glossy accents to the eyes and on one heart a bit of colour and some diamond stickles.

I'm submitting these cards into Hero Arts One Layer Challenge and A Blog Named Hero One Layer Challenge.

I Ruff You Shaker Card

I haven't made a shaker card in a long time but wanted to make one using two cuties from the super cute Critters at the Dog Park set by Lawn Fawn.


Stamp - Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park
Dies - Lawn Fawn grassy border and Spellbinders picot edge circles

To start with I die cut a circle of blue card, stamped the sentiment and die cut the grass piece using Lawn Fawn's grassy border die. After stamping and cutting out the dogs, I coloured them with ProMarkers and added a few dotty highlights with a white pen before tucking them in behind the grass. Then I punched out lots of hearts and added the top layer of acetate and a ring of card to contain the hearts.

I die cut two Nestabilities picot edge circles to make the card base, scored a line across the the back circle about 1/4 inch down from the top of the solid base. Adhesive was added above the scoreline before sticking it to the card front. I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp Shake It! Challenge and Virginia's View Die Cut Challenge.

I wish I could say this is a photo from my own garden, but it's a photo from the 18th century walled garden in Russborough House which I visited with my Mum yesterday.

The house isn't far from us and I've visited it many, many times over the years but this was the first time I've ever seen the walled garden open. Seemingly it's open every Wednesday and Saturday between April and September - it's well work a visit. We had a lovely time strolling around the garden looking at the various trees, shrubs, flowers and fruits. The walled garden is being brought back to its former glory by a group of volunteers who are doing an amazing job. I'm half thinking of volunteering as I couldn't think of a nicer spot to while away some hours gardening.

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Hope you are having a wonderful weekend too!

Trio of Crazy Critters

I can't tell you how much I love the crazy critters and funny sentiments in the Hero Arts OWH Missing You set. Every time I look at the images I have to smile:) The set arrived here last week and I've lost track of the number of critters I've stamped, cut out and coloured. I've been having lots of fun doing that but decided I better put some on cards and I ended up with a trio of cards - I think I have the makings for over 20 more cards!

First up is the funny moose. After colouring him with ProMarkers I just added a little Glossy Accents to his eyes and some dots to his tummy.



Stamp set (Hero Arts) - Missing You

I must have been in a dotty humour because I added rainbow stripes to the sheep's fleece and dotted it with a blender pen.



Last up is the bird with his fun mohawk. Again he was coloured with ProMakers and got the dotty treatment on his tummy.



I'm submitting these cards into Simon Says Stamp Clean and Simple Challenge, A Blog Named Hero Layer Cake Challenge and Hero Arts Sketch Challenge.