High Hopes: Frosty Snowman

This week's challenge at High Hopes is to
Include a sentiment on the front
Play along with your High Hopes stamps for the chance to win a new one of your choice :)

My card uses Frosty Snowman and Bold Merry Christmas greeting.  Coloured with promarkers and clear gloss added to his nose.
I'm rubbish at 'random' so I used my falling snow stencil from Simon Says to mark where I was putting my snow and then added some white enamel dots ... got that tip from Debby a while back :)
Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

Other Challenges:
Layout from Sweet Sunday #238
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
Sister Act #76 - anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Card Challenge #196 - make it colourful

Simple Sympathy

This card was inspired by this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoaststampers - bfinlay.  Here's Brenda's original.
I used a different image, used bling instead of sequins and changed to a sympathy card.  Other than that I didn't change very much as I loved her original so much!

My image is a super old stamp from Cornish Heritage Farm (I think) - possibly one of the first I bought and it still sees ink now and then!  Coloured with promarkers.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
Sister Act #75 - anything goes
Creatalicious Challenge #67 - flower power

Snowman Pile

Our new challenge at High Hopes this week is ...
Stitching (real or faux)
Play along with your High Hopes stamps for the chance to win a new one of your choice :)

My card uses Snowman Pile - coloured with promarkers and some glear gloss / glitter added to their bows.
I've also used my new favourite toy ... falling snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

Other challenges:
Inky Chicks #38 - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - oh how cute
Merry Monday #127 - bingo - I used sparkle / die cut / red
Crafting when we can #78 - Christmas come early
Layout from Crazy 4 Challenges #254
Stamp and Create September - circles / dots
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas card extra - September

Colour theme from The Card Concept #19 - lime, red, yellow - I used the clean and layered style

1st Birthday girl

This is an oooooold stamp from the darkest corners of my stash that hasn't seen ink for ages.  Bad me.  Isn't she such a cutie!

Nellie Snellen stamp - coloured with pencils.  Clear gloss added to some highlights and glitter to others.

Sorry for the crappy photo ... the dark evenings are here already and we've had our first lot of Canadian Geese over for their winter hols, so Autumn is definitely on the way.  Though we've had a beautiful September so far, lots of sunshine and no rain... not too often we're still watering our plants at this time of year ;)

Crafty Little Fairies - September - sparkle and bling
The Squirrel and the Fox #78 - Happy Birthday
CAS on Sunday #42 - sequins celebration
A Gem of a challenge #128 - milestone birthday
Crafts for Eternity #194 - my style - I'm cute and CAS mostly!
Crafty Girls #27 - anything goes
Fab'n Funky #229 - show us a number
Top Tip Tuesday - kids

Birthday Girls

Just a super quick post from me tonight - Downton Abbey is back on the telly.  Yeaaa :)

This card is for a friend in work, and the inside reads 'from the girls'.  The stamp is Gertie, Millie and Hattie from High Hopes ... I masked off my image a couple of times to get the crowd effect and coloured one yellow for the special birthday girl.  Sentiment is an alpha set from Sarah Hurley.
Coloured with promarkers / copics, clear gloss added to their legs and beaks, and sparkle to the birthday goose.  I love how it turned out :)

Sparkles Monthly challenge #60 - things with wings
Stamping Sensations September challenge - things with wings
A Gem of a challenge #128 - milestone birthday
Sister Act #75 - anything goes
Fab'n Funky #229 - show us a number
Simon Says Stamp Monday - use a technique (masking)
Pile it On #38 - shiny
The Squirrel and the Fox #78 - Happy Birthday

No Peeking Elves

Our new challenge at High Hopes is ...
Sparkle/Glitter
Play along with your High Hopes stamps for the chance to win a new one of your choice :)

My card uses the new No Peeking Elves stamp, aren't they so cute!  I've used promarkers to colour and added some clear gloss and glitter to the ribbons on the pressies.  I also have some sparkle in the red border under my sentiment - its like a raised plastic dome strip with lots of sparkle that's been in my stash for years.

Other challenges...

• Layout from Sweet Sunday #236
• Crafting when we can #78 - Christmas come early
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas extra - September
• Crafty Little Fairies - Sept - sparkle and bling
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - September

Butterfly Get Well Soon

I haven't used this little girl for a while, I think she's my favourite Lili of the Valley stamp  - she's such a pleasure to colour, and very versatile for different occasions too.
Coloured with pencils.
Peach base embossed with a really oooooold Ellison mini embossing folder which I haven't used for ages either.
Image coloured with pencils.

• I've used this layout from Sketch Saturday #327 again 
• Crafty Catz #246 - CAS
• As You Like It - favourite rubber stamp
• Cute Card Thursday #338 - too cute
• CASology #112 - three (3 die cut butterflies)
• Natalie and Amy's challenge #24 -things with wings
• Stamping Sensations September challenge - things with wings

Another Get Well

Phew, I had a really busy day today ... gave Ruby a bath, which then meant I had to clean the bathroom (!!), 3 loads of washing, dried and ironed, and 2 coats of paint on my bedroom dressing table.  Wish I had that energy every day!

This is another get well card ... image from Taylored Expressions - Lavender Bouquet - coloured with pencils.  I embossed the dark purple panel, but not sure if this really shows up in my pic or not.

Layout from Taylored Expressions sketch challenge
Pile it on #37 - flowers +/or feathers
Divas by Design - anything goes
Whimsy challenge #75 - monochromatic

Get Well Wishes

I've been asked to make a load of general get well and sympathy cards, so thought I'd better make a start.  Couldn't get this one to photograph right and it's brighter in real life.  The dark nights are already upon us, I'm not sure how summer whizzzed past so fast!

Image from Taylored Expressions - coloured with copics/promarkers.  DP is oldie stuff from my stash that I'm trying to use up.  Sentiment from Lili of the Valley.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #327 
• Sister Act Card challenge #74 - anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge - September
• My Mum's Craft Shop #21 - dies or punches

Sugar'n Spice

Just a quickie post ... I'm not sure what Greg has on the movie play list tonight, but the last few Saturday night's choices have been a bit ropey!!
ETA actually there's no need for me to rush ... its a decidedly crappy looking SciFi film!

This card uses lots of new goodies ... told you I'd been naughtly LOL
I'd been eyeing up these baby Lily of the Valley Stamps for ages and their 10% off sale was enough to get my visa rattling!  I'm lovin my new stencils ... this one's from Simon Says Stamp with Dreamweaver glossy white paste.  Kinda wish I hadn't added the splatter of pink on the BG, and I've just noticed in my pic that I've stuck 'baby' down wonky, but hey, if I hadn't told you that, you wouldn't have noticed ;)

• Layout from Deconstructed Sketch #168
• Moving Along with the Times - texture
• Divas by Design - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - make your own background
• Cute Card Thursday #338 - too cute
• Allsorts Challenge #276 - sugar and spice

Santa's Gift

Our new challenge at High Hopes is a colour theme ...
Blue, brown and white/cream
Play along with your High Hopes stamps to win a new one of your choice :)
Oh and if you hopped along with us last week the winner should be up on High Hopes blog now.

My card uses Santa's Gift - coloured with pencils and clear gloss and sparkle added to his fur trims, and then popped up on dimensionals.  New stencil on show here too ... falling snow from Simon Says Stamp which I'm lovin!  Memory Box edge die from last year, and I've even used some of my rationed enamel dots - they're nearly all used up so I'm getting more picky about when I use them ;)

Other challenges ...
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Stampember - use some SSS products
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Stamp It
Sweet Stampin - the great outdoors
Lexi's Creations #124 - sparkle and shine
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - September
My Mum's Craft Shop #21 - dies or punches

Sparkly Gilbert

We had a beautiful sunny day today, managed to get out and tackle some of the weeds in the garden and a bit of tidying up.  Back to the grindstone tomorrow, dread to think how many emails are waiting for me ;(

I think I probably shouldn't have bought some of these stencils, as I think I may need to buy more ... I LOVE them!
My card uses the Simon Says wave stencil and this fabulously sparkly stuff from Imagination Crafts.
My fishie is Gilbert from High Hopes ... coloured with promarkers and card candy/ sentiment borders coloured to match.

Lexi's Creations #124 - sparkle and shine
CASology #111- under (under water)
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stamp it
Simply Create Too #69 - show us something new (my stencil and sparkly stuff)
Let's Craft and Create #96 - anything goes

Christmas Elf Pile

Autumn is definitely on its way ... the monster spiders have started to move indoors, we've had 2 giants in so many days.  Greg tried to catch one last night in the kitchen who then thought he'd hide in the bag I keep my paper stacks in, (the spider that is, not Greg LOL) But my hero managed to retrieve the beast and return him to the great outdoors.  {{#shudder}}
Though I keep imagining that I see one from the corner of my eye and giving myself heart failure!!
(ETA ... make that 3 monsters in 3 nights, another beast has just sauntered across the living room floor!)

This card features another of my new High Hopes stamps ... Christmas Elf Pile.  Coloured with pencils and stickles added to their hats.  Can you tell I've tried to use up some of my old Xmas DP stash on this one? ;)
Snowflake dies from Paper Smooches.

• Layout from Monday Lunchtime Sketch #330
• Crafting When we Can #77 - borrow a sketch
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - Sept
• My Mum's Craft Shop #21 - dies or punches
• Merry Monday #124 - presents / gifts
• Inky Chicks #37 - stitching
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - stamp it challenge

Pet Sympathy

Oh dear, sickness and boredom don't go together and while I've been ill I've been shopping!  Bad me, I was doing so well at not buying new crafty stash ;)

I've fancied trying using stencils for ages, so this card shows one of my new goodies ... the wave stencil from Simon Says Stamp.  I've used it with chalk and quite like the random effect.
All other stamps from Paper Smooches.

• Paper Smooches SPARKS - anything goes
• CAS on Sunday #41 - black and white + one other
• Whimsy Sept challenge #75 - monochromatic
• Papertake Weekly - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp - Stampember Stamp It challenge
• Simply Create Too #69 - use something new (my stencil)
• Layout flipped from Crafty Creations #271

High Hopes Jolly Holiday Release Blog Hop and Prizes :)

Today is the Jolly Holiday Release from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. The Dream Team have created some wonderful projects using some of the stamps that will be release today. Hop along to each blog in order to see their projects. There will be a prize, but you won't know where, so leave a comment on each blog to make sure that you are entered for the drawing! 

The Blog Hop will be open through Midnight EST, Friday September 5th and the winner will be announced with the next challenge.

You should have arrived here from Kristine's blog, and your next stop is to visit Michelle.  

And if you haven't started from the beginning, you'll find the full hop order at High Hopes blog.

My card uses Ghost Trio - coloured with copics, and also Bat which I've popped up on dimensionals.  I've sugared up my candy corn using clear gloss and glitter ... we don't get candy corn in Northern Ireland, but thanks to my bloggy buddy Patti J I know what they taste like ;)

High Hopes Jolly Holiday Release - Sneak Peek Day 2

Our new challenge this week at High Hopes is
Ice or Snow
Play along with your High Hopes stamps to win a new one of your choice.

The DT have all been playing with their new Jolly Holiday stamps - pop over to High Hopes blog for more peeks and come back tomorrow for our blog hop with the chance to win some new stamps.

My card uses Downhill Penguin - available to purchase from tomorrow.  I've coloured him with pencils, added some sparkle to his furry hat and gloves and blinged it up with some sequins and gems.  Super quick and easy, and nice and flat for postage ... though this image would be perfect for popping up on dimensionals or adding to a springy thingy :)



Challenges I'd like to enter:
Lexi's Creations #124 - sparkle and shine
Natalie and Amy's challenge #24 - things with wings ... I'm hoping my image counts as strictly speaking my penguin seems to have hands LOL
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra - September
Crafty Calendar August - anything goes
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #25 - anything goes
Daring Cardmakers - Clean and simple
Polkadoodles #34 - get organised for Christmas

High Hopes Jolly Holiday Release - Sneak Peek Day 1

Yippee, it's time to show you a peek of the new High Hopes Jolly Holiday release :)  They're all Christmas and Halloween themed and you're gonna love them!
Sorry I've been awol this past week or so, I've had a stinker of a head cold and chest infection, so I'm glad I already had my sneak peek cards already made!

My card today uses Down the Chimney (available to purchase from Wednesday) - I've coloured it with pencils, added clear gloss and glitter to the snowy bits, and flower soft to the furry bits on Santa's jacket.  For the base, I painted a pale watercolour wash and then stuck down some die cut snowflakes.

Pop over to High Hopes blog for more peeks from the DT .... there'll be another peek along with our new challenge tomorrow and then a hop on Wednesday with the chance to win some new stamps :)


Challenges I'd like to enter this card into...
Crafty Calendar August - anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra - September
CHNC #192 - people matter
Allsorts #274 - early Christmas makes
Sweet Stampin Christmas - gifts galore - I'm hoping my image counts as you can't actually see the gifts in Santa's sack, maybe someone's been bad and that's just a bag of coal ;)
Simply Create Too #69 - use something new (my new Santa stamp)