Christmas Angel

Here's December's calendar page for Mum - I'm always quite pleased with myself when I actually get it finished before the month begins hahaha.  I can't believe it's nearly December already!  Have you your Christmas cards finished?  Nope, me neither ;)  Christmas shopping done?  Nope, not here ;)  I'm hoping to magic a few days from somewhere to get it all sorted!
For my calendar page I've used this sweet little Gummiapan angel and die from Swedish House Crafts.  I've sparkled up her wings and popped her up on foam pads.  MFT die and some silver stars and silver sentiment from my stash.

• My layout was inspired by Cornelia's beautiful card over at Muse Christmas Visions #114
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• That's Crafty - Winter Wonderland
• Get Creative #75 - anything but a card
• Crafty Cardmakers #223 - anything but a card

Jingle Bell Rock and Snowy

So this was one of those special request cards that just makes you sigh!  The daughter of a friend in work wanted a card for her Geography teacher with a rock and the words 'Jingle Bell Rock' on it and I was totally stumped!  The only rock-type image I have in my stash that isn't part of a bigger image was this little mountain.  I don't even know if it looks like a mountain on it's own! It also took me absolute ages to find my little jingle bells - one of those things I'd seen recently but had no clue where they were! Anyway, this is the best I came up with.  I added some silver snowflakes to make it a bit more Christmassy and added some red glitter card arrows.

• Allsorts #495 - inspired by a song - Jingle Bell Rock

This one was much more fun to make with good old Snowy ;) 

Coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to his hat and scarf, and glitter to his hat trim.  Sentiment and snowflake cut from mirror card.  

• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge #413 - any Xmas
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - Let it Snow
• Layout from Your Next Stamp #102
• Addicted to Stamps #319 - clean and simple
• Crafty Catz #439 - all wrapped up

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Card for Sandra and new goodies

This card is for my buddy in work, she loves a night out, so I reckoned this set from Newton's Nook would be perfect!  Coloured with watercolour pencils, sparkle added to the drink and then clear gloss and glitter to some of the frippery on the glasses.  Her favourite colour is purple so I had to get some of that on the card!

• Layout from CASual Fridays #212
• Sweet Stampin - sparkle and glitz
• Crafty Creations #378 - anything goes

And this one uses some new stamps I won from the lovely girls over at The Flower Challenge :)

The critters are Hunkydory stamps, and then the little Santa one from a Clearly Besotted set.  

My Christmas sentiment is a new die I bought to replace the one that's hiding in my craft stash, doubtless it will turn up about Easter time.

• General layout / reindeer theme based on the inspiration pic over at Pinspirational challenge #229
• Hazel's Christmas challenge #412 - anything goes
• Crafty Cardmakers #222 - lots of layers
• That's Crafty - Winter Wonderland

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Another one for Aunt Cilla

I was very lucky to win last month's challenge at Penny Black Saturday and with my voucher from 1-2-3 Stitch I chose this fab Whipper Snapper image, a Penny Black pot of flowers and some lovely stripey DP.  So I've used them all this evening!

This one is from me to my Aunt in Canada, reckon it will give her a giggle.  I've coloured my image with watercolour pencils, added clear gloss to his nose and added some gold stars.  I die cut my 80 from the tiniest snippet of gold sparkly card - Greg laughs at some of the little snippets I save but I get very precious and mean with stuff that I love!

• Layout based on the sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches #298 - I ran out of room for a scalloped edge so used this curved stitched edge instead.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - all that glitters is gold
• Cute Card Thursday #556 - stars
• Crafty Calendar November - paper piecing

So because I liked that sketch, I thought I'd just use a version of it again!

I coloured my Penny Black flowers loosely with watercolours - I've used mauve and rose here, but they're both a bit samey looking in this pic.

• Penny Black Saturday November - anything goes
• As You like it - monochrome or rainbow - it kind of depends on the occasion as to how colourful my card is going to be ... I reckon a plainer colour theme is better for cards like sympathy ones
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Colour Crazy Craft Challenge #46 - anything goes colouring challenge

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Hangin on the telephone

Do you remember the days of the telephone, you always hated having to ring someone who had 8s and 9s in their number, and doubly so if you made a mistake before you got it all dialed!  Your Mum used to shout at you to "get off that phone" if you spent longer than 2 minutes talking and you used to know all your friends numbers off by heart!   Mobile phones, speed dial and Alexa have us all spoiled now - if I lost my mobile now I'd be stuffed as I only actually know my own number, my work, and mine and Mum's home numbers!!

This uses an oldie SCACD stamp from many years ago - coloured with watercolour pencils and clear gloss added to her eyes, lips, phone and shoes.  I partially embossed down the side with my flowery folder which (along with the daisy die) was a magazine freebie.

• The photo over at PinSpiration Challenge #228 inspired my retro image and colour theme
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #363
• Retro Rubber challenge #99 - anything goes
• CAS Mix Up November - embossing folder + stamping + watercolours

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Bunnies and flowers

Just a quickie visit to blogland tonight .. David Attenborough is on the telly and I just love his wildlife programmes!

This first card uses an LOTV bunny - coloured with watercolour pencils.  I used my new metallic ink for my background and also on the balloon - I hope it shows up in the pic!  (don't look too hard at my awful manicure, that's on my list to sort out next!)
MFT stencil.  Hand doodled border.

• Less is More #384 - metallics
• Seize the Birthday #154 - CAS
• Balloon theme / general layout inspired by Anita's beautiful card over at Muse Challenge #290

And this one is inspired by this weeks featured stamper over at Splitcoast - here's nicole's original.
Does anyone else use Splitcoaststampers?  For some reason when I look at a gallery on my Tablet, it won't let me go further than the first page of results and I have to power up the old laptop.  Drives me crazy!
I've used one of my oldest stamps - I've just noticed that I coloured one of the petals blue when it should have been pink!

Christmas Critters

I'm trying to keep up with the Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge, so it's just a wee quickie tonight with these fab Christmas critters from Simon Says Stamp.  I'll have to try a different colouring combo - I always end up with a brown pup, grey cat and golden labrador!!

I added clear gloss / glitter to the trims on the hat and to the base of the antlers, and sparkle to all the red bits.  Snowflake cut from sparkly card that has the same irridescence as the glitter.
My silver pen was playing up so that's why I ended up with some dots bigger than others, but I kinda like the effect :)

• Layout from CAS(e) this Sketch #297
• Christmas with the Cuties #21 - wrap up warm
• Addicted to Stamps #317 - make your mark
• Crafty Creations #377 - anything goes
• Moving Along With the Times #84 - Winter Animals

Stars for Stanley

We'd another horrible wet old day today, lots of flooding about and traffic jams left right and centre.  Just a dark dreary day all round!
So I thought I'd get on with making this card for Mum's friend.  It turned out to be a longer process than expected when I lost the 'r' from my alpha set and a whole search ensued before I thankfully found it at the far end of the kitchen!  Looking for stuff is top of my list of things that annoy me most! My Christmas sentiment die is still on the missing list grrrrr

Anway, a nice easy card here.  I embossed some little stars on the sparkly strip, but put the embossing folder the wrong way round and debossed it instead, so they don't really stand out at all.  But sure if I hadn't told you that you wouldn't have known ;)  MFT stars dies and alpha stamps.  I thought the left hand side looked a wee bit bare, so I added a few little silver sequin stars.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club #410
• Dream Valley #190 - dies and punches.  Oops sorry, not eligible, sorry DV! 
• Crafting by Designs November anything goes
• Through the Craft room door - anything goes

Card for Aunt Cilla

It's been a yeuchy old day today - the traffic to work was awful with lashing rain and much the same on the way home, and I was well and truly soaked both directions!  That's my excuse for being in my PJs before 6 o'clock anyway ;)

I've a few personalised cards to make, so had to get a move on.  I'd made one like this recently and liked it, so being mojo-less this evening I figured I'd remake it for my Aunt.  I added some sparkle to the icing and have since added clear gloss and glitter to the little stars.  Magnolia hearts die; cake from Gummiapan.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - make your own background.
• Cute Card Thursday #554 - anything goes
• Dream Valley #190 - dies/punches (I'm hoping its 'and/or' and not both!) Oops not eligible, sorry DV!

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Beary good luck

I bought this starry stencil and a metallic blue ink pad in a recent shopping spree, so I was bursting to use them.  This card for a friend in work was the perfect excuse.  He's got a new job as a manager of his local forest park, so I thought this oldie Stampin Up bear would give him a laugh, hopefully there's no wild ones where he's going ;)  I also used this oldie tree stamp from Eat Cake Graphics and then watercoloured in some grass.  Just noticed I've forgotten to colour in the tree trunks.  My bear is popped up on foam pads and clear gloss added to his nose and teeth.  Elizabeth Bell square stitched die.

• Make My Monday #83 - stencil stories
• Cardz 4 Guys #206 - into the woods
• Die Cuttin Divas #393 - anything goes
• Penny Black and More November - make someone smile
• Sweet Stampin - trees

And here's that inkpad again, this time with a honeycomb stencil.  I probably would have done my background in yellow if I had a yellow ink pad, which I don't! 

Stamps from Janes Doodles - Doggy, bee and kite popped up on foam pads. 

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Love to Scrap #115 - anything goes
• Crafty Animals #20 

Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

Quickie Christmas cards

Just a quick post tonight, with the quickest Christmas cards ever!
I'd bought this wee cheapie die from CraftStash for £1, what a bargain!  I also got some 4x4" envelopes, so they were perfect for it, it would have been lost on a larger card base.
I die cut some glittery card, added a few matching star sequins, stamped a sentiment and that was it finished!  Centre panel popped up on foam pads. These will be my cards for work, so I'll have a few more to make.

• Less is More #383 - dimension
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Crafty Catz - add a sentiment 
• Creative Knockouts #270 - clean and simple