Brrr! Icy Christmas

My second upload for today is a wintery Christmas card.  I think this one has a really cold feel to it. 

I used a digi stamp by Digi Stamp Boutique for this card.  I love this cute image!  I coloured it using Polychromos pencils (my medium of choice at the moment - I am using them so much I am going to need some new ones soon!)

The background papers I have used on this card were a bargain from Poundland.  I saw them mentioned somewhere and was lucky enough to get there before they had all gone.  I have got five different pads and I really like them all.  They are really good quality for a pound as well.  They are about 6" x 8" and there are 32 sheets to a pad, but I reckon you will have to be really quick to find any still left, as I first saw somebody post about these about a week ago.

I kept the embellishments to a minimum on this one, as I wanted the image to be the main feature, so I just added some wooden snowflakes and a few pearls.  As this is a Christmas card it had to have soem glitter, so I glittered the snowflakes, parts of the hat and scarf and bits of the sea with crystal Stickles.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts - anything Christmas
Challenge up Your Life - snowflakes
Inkspirational - word prompt "CHILL"
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - got the blues
Creative Corner Challenges - winter
Dream Valley Challenges - winter animals

Preparing for the New Year

I have made something other than a card!  This is a calendar that I have made using a digi stamp by Dr Digi.  I have coloured it using Polychromos pencils.  I layered my image onto patterned papers (these are by First Edition).  I didn't want this one to be too girly, hence the use of green and blue. I added eyelets at the top and added a loop of chiffon ribbon for hangign it with.  I also added some matching ribbon and a bow across the middle.

I attached the mini calendar at the bottom so that it clightly overlapped the bottom of the main rectangle, and then finally I added some die cut flowers.  I inked the edges of the flowers and curled the petals to make them look more realistic, and added some pearl centres. 

I hope you like it!

I would like to enter my calendar in the following challenges:

Crafty Friends - Blossom (use flowers)
Crafting with Friends - anything goes
PDE Linky Party - anything but a card
C.R.A.F.T Challenges - not a card
Addicted to Stamps and More - anything goes
Critters and Creatures Linky Party - anything goes with a critter.

Cardz 4 Galz: A Snowman (or two)

Good morning!  Today's new challenge on Cardz 4 Galz is "a snowman".  I've used two here, and a cat.  This is a digi stamp by Digi Stamp Boutique, which I've coloured using Polychromos pencils. 

I started with a fancy edged card blank in order to create a lacy effect around the edges with the snowflakes.  I created a layered background, but I think this one would have worked just as well with a plain pearlescent blue background.

I then added a layer of die cut snowflakes on top.  I layered my coloured image on top of the snowflakes, and then added another layer of snowflakes (this is a VERY snowy card), finally adding the sentiment.  I glittered the word "Joy", and the white bits on the characters' hats, and I also glittered all of the snowflakes.  It took a while, and it's a very sparkly card, but snow is supposed to glitter, so it would be wrong not to! 

I hope you can join us for this week's challenge.

Sian.

Make My Monday: CAS Christmas

Hello everyone!  This week's challenge at Make My Monday is CAS (clean and simple) Christmas.  I have to say, it panicked me slightly when I realised I would have to do a CAS card.  I don't do CAS!

Anyway, I hope you like my card.  I started by stamping the snowflakes in Versamark ink.  This was easier said than done  for a couple reasons.  Firstly, Versamark ink is not very easy to see and we do not have good light at this time  of  year.  Secondly, the only snowflake background stamp I have is quite small, and it's also a wooden stamp, so I could not see where I was stamping.  I got around this by drawing a pencil line and stamping three times, lining my stamp up each time with the pencil line.  I had to guess where the side of the stamp was, but fortunately I managed to get this right. 

Next I embossed the snowflakes using a clear sparkle embossing powder (sadly the sparkle doesn't really show up in the picture).  Then I painted over the snowflakes using Twinkling H2Os in shades of blue and purple.  This is a beautiful, shimmery watercolour paint.  Again, the shimmer doesn't show up too well in the picture.  As you can see, the embossed snowflakes created a really good resist effect, and I just rubbed over them with a tissue once the paint was dry to bring out the shine. 

I then attached a die cut snowflake, which I glittered with Stickles glitter glue, stamped the sentiment underneath the painted panel in black archival ink, and added some blue gems to the centres of the die cut snowflake and the larger background snowflakes.  Given that CAS is not my usual style, I'm quite pleased overall with how this has turned out.

I hope you can join us for this week's Make My Monday challenge!

Sian. xx

Winter Ink

Two in one day today!  I hadn't got inky for a while, so decided to create a card using Distress Inks (and no patterned papers, which is unusual for me!)

I started with a dry embossed background, which I embossed using an embossing folder.  I inked the background using Distress Inks in shades of blue and grey.  For my other layers, the bottom panel was created by heat embossing with a clear, sparkly emossing powder then inking over the top for a resist effect, the strip across the middle was dry embossed, and the sentiment was inked in the same colours as the other layers.

For the main image, I firstly stamped a snowflake pattern in Versamark, inked over the top of it with Distress Inks and spritzed it with water.  I dried the water off using a heat gun.  This gave a subtle snowflake background as the ink stuck more on the Versamark so did not lighten as much with the water.  Sadly this does not show up well on the photo, but you may be able to see it if you double click to see the larger version. 

My next step was to stamp the main image.  This is a stamp by Crafty Individuals and I stamped it with black Memento ink.  I then added some more blue ink to the buildings to give more of a silhouette effect and added some highlighting on the side facing to moon with a white gel pen.  I wanted the moon to look white, so I took some of the ink off by wetting it and then dabbing with a tissue.  I added a bit of gllitter glue to the moon and the larger stars. 

As a final touch I added some glittered die cut snowflakes to my card.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters - up, up and away (anything that flies)
The Crafty Addicts - anything goes/winter blues
Simply Papercraft - anything goes
Crafting with Friends - anything goes
Creative Corner - anything goes

White Christmas

Hello everyone!  Today I am sharing a card I made using white on white.  I have seen some beautiful white on white cards over the last couple of weeks and felt inspired to try it (although I don't think mine is as good as some of the cards I've seen).

The bottom layer of my card is dry embossed using an embossing folder.  I then created the square in the centre by stamping the snowflakes in Versamark an embossing with a sparkly clear embossing powder (unfortunately this effect does not show up very well on the photo).  I then layered some die cut snowflakes, glittered the top layer with Stickles and added a gem in the centre.  I added some more die cut snowflakes in the corners and around the edges of the card, which I also glittered.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Inkspirational Challenges - word prompt: chill
Craft Rocket Challenges - white on white
Crafting with Dragonflies - white on white
A Snowflake's Promise - anything goes
Unicorn Challenge Blog - snow/snowflakes

Christmas Pud

Hello everyone!  Today I am sharing a card I made using a very cute Bebunny stamp by Crafter's Companion.

I coloured the stamped image with Polychromos pencils and carefully cut it out.  I then die cut a circle and rubbed some gold gilding wax around the edges.  I layered my stamped image onto the circle and then created some background layering using patterned papers and a paper doily.  The papers are from the Jingle all the Way pade by First Edition.

The holly in the corners is also stamped and coloured with Polychromos pencils. I stamped the sentiment onto a die cut circle and added the gingham bow.  The ribbon is a really good match for the papers, which surprised me, as I never seem to have one that's just right!  As a finishing touch, I added some Glossy Accents to the holly berries, both on my main image and on the holly in the corners.

White and Bright

I have been making a lot of Christmas Cards lately so yesterday I felt like having a bit of a change.  Since it rained all day here and was dull and miserable, I decided to create something bright and cheerful. 

I created the background using an embossing folder and layered a die cut trellis over the top.  The trellis die is one of the new Intricut dies by Hobbycraft, and as you can see it cuts really fine.  I think I will have to get some more of these!

To create the panel, I stamped my image with Versamark and heat embossed the stamped image using white embossing powder.  (This is a stamp by Crafty Individuals).  Then I used Cosmo Cricket Swatch Sticks over the top so that the embossed image created a resist effect.  I layered the panel over a ribbon and added a large ribbon bow. 

I die cut the flowers and tinted them a bit using Polychromos Pencils which I blended using a Promarker blender pen, and added some stick on pearls to the centres.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Cats - Anything goes
Crafty Ribbons challenge - Flowers and pearls
Perfectly Created Chaos - Heat Embossing.

Cardz 4 Galz: Contemporary Christmas

The card I am sharing today is my DT card for this week's challenge at Cardz 4 Galz.  This week's theme is Contemporary Christmas.  Normally I make Christmas cards that are kind of contemporary but with a touch of traditional, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing traditional about this one.  I also wanted to make sure it was very feminine, since it is for Cardz 4 Galz, so I opted for soft pastel colours.

I started off with a white background which I embossed using a snowflake embossing folder and layered onto lilac card.  I then die cut the baubles from printed papers (these are Crafter's Companion papers that came with a recent edition of Crafts Beautiful magazine).  The die is by Spellbinders.

I layered the baubles onto turquoise card and attached ribbons to 'hang' them from.  I then attached the baubles to the background using foam pads and looped to ribbons over the top of the lilac card, fastening them on the back.  I stamped the 'Deck the Halls' sentiment using Brilliance ink, layered it onto lilac card and attached it at the corner, and finally I finished my card off with some turquoise chiffon ribbon and a handmade bow.

I look forward to seeing everyone's creations for this week's challenge!

Sian. xx

Make My Monday: Get Well

This is my DT card for this week's challenge at Make My Monday.  The theme for this challenge is "Get Well".  I've chosen to make my card using this stamp by Kanban, because I think it's really cute.  I've coloured it with Polychromos pencils.

The background papers are from the Mulberry Kisses pad by First Edition, and I've added some paper flowers.  The flowers were created using a Crafter's Companion flower die then I shaped them using an embossing tool and inked the edges.  Finally I added some stick on pearls for the centres.

It's taken me a while, but...

Well, I haven't had much time for crafting this weekend, so I thought I'd share some photos of what I've been doing instead.  Some of you will know that over the last 6 years I have been doing a degree in psychology.  This is why my blog has a big gap with no (or very few) posts.  I studied whilst working full time and looking after my two boys, a huge task which left me with very little time for anything else!  I am pleased so say that I have now finished.  I officially graduated at the end of July with First Class Honours, but my ceremony was not until Friday.

These are some of the unofficial photos. Friday was a very special day.

To anyone who is considering studying later in life, I woud say do it - it's never too late, but don't go into it thinking it will be easy.  I have had some very tough times over the last few years.  My eldest son, now 14, said to me recently "I'm definitely going to university when I finish school because I don't want to have to do it the way you've done it.  It's too hard."  I hope he follows through on that because he's right, but at the same time, if he

decides he's not ready at that time I can totally understand, and he won't get any pressure from me!

The Open University has been brilliant throughout.  I can't fault them and it's been a brilliant experience.  Now I just need to decide what to do next!

Christmas Snow

Today I am sharing a Christmas card that I made using this lovely Barkley stamp by Crafter's Companion.  I am not a dog person, but I love these stamps.  I coloured the image using Polychromos Pencils.

The background papers are from the Blissful Blizzard pad by Fancy Pants Designs.  I did something a bit different here by using circles for my background layering, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. 

I embellished my card with various different die cut snowflakes and glittered the snowflakes and parts of the stamped image using Stickles glitter glue.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge
Crafty Catz
Crafting from the Heart
Craft Your Passion
Get Creative Challenges