Greg's Christmas card

So here we are at Christmas Eve again, it certainly doesn't seem like 12 months since the last time!!
As per usual, the last card of the season is for my beloved, and of course I've used my favourite snowdude again.  I've inked up the background and added some falling snow - no sign of it here though, I think it's giving a mostly dry today tomorrow so it will be nice to see how many kids be out on their new bikes and scooters.  There's definitely less every year, they're all indoors playing on their new phones or computer games!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my blogland buddies!  We'll be off down to Mum's as usual with the clan.  Diet starts in the New Year ;)

• Your Next Stamp #129 - my favourite product this year is this snowman stamp
• Dream Valley Challenges #215 - Christmas
• Cupcake Inspriations #485 - holidays
• Tuesday Morning Sketches #535 - anything goes

O Christmas Tree

So here's a wee quickie Christmas card ... well, when I say quick it took me a few evenings to finish but I was making a rake of these little cards for my workmates and had a great production line going.

I've used this sweet tree from Purple Onion - coloured with polychromos; sparkle and clear gloss added to the bow, and clear gloss and glitter added to the tree decorations.  Little gold star added to the top of the tree.
My local craft store didn't have any white card (gasp! panic!) so I had to use some kraft as my base.

• Addicted to CAS #174 - tree
• Simon Says Stamp Monday - stars
• Your Next Stamp #129 - favourite craft product from 2019 - mine has to be my polychromos that Santa kindly brought last year
• CAS on Friday #170 - Christmas

December Calendar and a little elf

So here's December's calendar page for Mum, bonus points to me for actually being on time for a change!  I think this stamp is from Whipper Snapper, bought a looooong time ago and not inked for quite a few years!   I'd probably be totally skint if they had a UK supplier as I love their stamps.
My calendar stamp is a recent purchase from Amazon and I reckon they were a good buy, it's so much less of a faff than individually stamping all the letters of the month.  I haven't done anything in the background, other than ink in a snowdrift.

• Papercraft challenge #51 - use a number on your project
• Addicted to Stamps #369 - CAS
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

 I've still a few Christmas cards to make, I can hardly believe we're already at the end of November!
This one uses my trusty elf from MFT - coloured with polychromos and clear gloss / glitter added. My sentiment is cut from sparkly card, and I added a few die cut stars.  I think it kinda looked better in my head than the finished effort though!

• Layout flipped from Freshly Made Sketch #413
• Pinspirational challenge #252 - I went for the bauble theme
• Fab'n Funky #459 - Christmas

Thanks Teacher and Starry Snowdude

I've been such a bad blogger recently, we've been soooo busy in work this past while and I've had zero mojo and zero energy left!  I think we've turned the corner now till after Christmas (hopefully!) so I'll be making a better effort to visit all my buddies x

This first card is a special request for a friend who's son's teacher is leaving.  I've used this sweet little bear from Reverse Confetti - popped up on foam pads and sparkle added to the apples.

• Sweet Stampin - add a pop of red
• Word Art Wednesday #414-415 - anything goes
• Allsorts #547 - thank you
• Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday October - Autumn gratitude

Snowman time again!  This time I've tried to give him a night time sky - there's loads of little silver stars in here but they don't really show up well in my pic.

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - starry starry night
• Cute Card Thursday #609 - winter
• CHNC #465 - any Christmas
• Penny Black and More November - Christmas

#thedailymarker30day

Snowdude in red, and purple roses for Sandra and Priscilla

Hmmm I think I either need to clean my camera lens or clean my glasses, one of the two or possibly both!!  I don't think these pics are as clear as they should be.  Though my specs permanently need cleaned so there's no change there then ;)

It's been a brrr chilly weekend, perfect weather for cracking on with my Christmas cards :)  Though for a change I have a stash already made, usually I'm verging on the panic mode by now!

You'll all be tired of looking at this season's favourite snowman soon - from Purple Onion Designs.  coloured with polychromos, gloss/glitter added to his nose, and sparkle to his scarf and pocket.  Sentiment cut from glitter card.

• Layout from CAS(e) This Sketch #348
• As You Like It - cute or traditional Christmas - well 99% of my cards are 'cute' so it's almost a given that my Christmas cards will be too! 
• Time Out #148 - I was inspired by the pic to use the red gingham and a hint of green
• Christmas Crafts all Year Round November - winter clothing
• Christmas Kickstart #23 - snow

This one I'm just adding for my records but not entering into any challenges as it's 100% inspired by Milla's beautiful card over at The Flower Challenge

I liked it so much that I made one for my friend and then duplicated another for my Aunt!

I've used these roses from Clearly Besotted - coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  My dotty die is an oldie but I'm not sure who from, possibly Taylored Expressions.


#thedailymarker30day

Christmas Elf and a blue bee

I'd an early morning shopping trip to HobbyCraft this morning for the opening of their first store in Northern Ireland.  I turned up about 10 minutes before the store opened and managed to be one of the first 100 customers and got a free goodie bag.  The woman at the front of the queue had been there from silly o'clock, hope she thought her goodies were worth it!   I managed to spend a small fortune and have probably used up my crafty budget for the next few months but I'd expected to come out with my purse a lot lighter than it did.
I got lots of 'essentials' and bought this pack of DP for the sole reason that I reckoned it would suit this MFT elf!

Coloured with polychromos and dog and elf popped up on foam pads.  I need to finish my elf though, I've just noticed that as per usual I haven't coloured his hair.

• Layout from MFT Sketch #461
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Fab'n Funky #455 - Christmas

The Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

This one uses the Honey Bear set from Reverse Confetti and a lovely die cut from my buddy  (thank you Cheryl!) - I thought it kinda looked like a wee fence.  I've stamped a pink tree in the background but it doesn't really show up in my pic.  And seeing as my tree was pink I figured there was no reason why my bee couldn't be blue!  LOL

• CAS Colours and Sketches #345
• Time Out 147 - inspired by words
• Word Art Wednesday #410-411 - anything goes

Big yellow truck and a snow dude

Ha, I remember the good old days when I used to come up with witty post titles, now it's just straight in with no messing about ;)

I've been struggling with my mojo recently but Marina's lovely book cover over at the Library Challenge #45 was just what I needed to get me going again.

I've used my old truck set from Stampin Up - I remember when I bought this I wasn't sure if I'd ever use it or not, but it's turned out to be one of my most inked stamps!
Coloured with polychromos, clear gloss added to the windows and chrome work, and then popped up on foam pads.  I've also used a little plane die from Gummiapan that I bought in the sale ages ago and hadn't tried till now.

• Word Art Wednesday #410/411 - anything goes
• Crafty Catz #480 - anything goes

And here's this season's snow dude again - coloured with polychromos, sparkle added to his scarf and pocket, clear gloss/glitter to his nose, and then popped up on foam pads.

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge #460
• Cute Card Thursday #605 - sparkles
• CHNC #461 - Christmas + make your own background

Apologies for the rubbish photos, we're back into the dark nights again :(  It always takes me a week or two to adjust to the clock change!  We'd the most gorgeous sunny autumn day - we were down in our local park this morning and it looked like the world and his wife had the same idea!  I don't think I've ever seen it so busy!

Double Christmas

I actually have a decent stash of Christmas cards this year for the first time ever!!  Hopefully there's not going to be the usual last minute rush!

This first card uses an oldie from High Hopes that I haven't inked up for a while.  Coloured with polychromos; glitter added to his hat and skis; sparkle added to the green bits in his hat/scarf; gloss to his nose and glasses.  I added a little hint of purple to my shaded sky to pull in the colours of my snowdude.

• ABC Christmas - V is for Velocity
• Just Us Girls #510 - purple, navy, green
• CAS on Friday #166 - big sentiment

This old DP set is from Stampin'Up and I find it so difficult to use, I never really love any cards I've made with it!! 

My image is a real old-oldie from Elzybells - I know I used it in 2010 and don't think he's seen ink since.  Unfortunately Elzybell's is long closed, they had some fab stamps ;(

I added some black glittery cardstock and some silver stars and that's it really!

• Layout from MFT Wednesday Sketch #459
• Christmas Kickstart #21 - woodland creatures

Baby boy and an Elf

So this is my first effort on colouring a darker skin tone.  I'm not sure what that says about ethnic diversity in Northern Ireland, but we're definitely a gazillion times better than we used to be!!

Image from Stamping Bella - coloured with polychromos and sparkle added to his little flower hat;  Clear gloss added to the bigger heart.  And that's it really! Nice and simple.

• Allsorts #539 - boys to men
• Less is More #405 - sparkle and gloss
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

This one followed the MFT Sketch challenge but, not for the first time, I've missed the deadline.

This DP is from a never ending Christmas pack that I bought a few years back, I'm kinda looking forward to it running out!

MFT Elf; Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

• Word Art Wednesday #405-407 - anything goes
•  Simon Says Stamp Monday - get ready for Christmas

Snowman and a tipsy penguin

Say Hello to my new favourite snowman!   I'd been watching out for something to use for my unmounted stamps on my stamping platform, so when I spied this one at Purple Onion Designs I couldn't resist adding the Jolly Snowman to my basket too!

Coloured with polychromos - clear gloss/glitter added to his nose and I also went over his scarf/pocket with my clear glitter pen so it's all nice and sparkly.  White enamel dots for falling snow.

• The cover of the book at the Library Challenge inspired my blue background and outstretched arms image
• ABC Christmas - S is for Sparkle
• Your Next Stamp Fun Friday - just for fun
• As You Like It - Santa or no Santa - I don't have very many Santas in my stash, and I definitely have waaaay more snowmen.  

This one uses the little penguin and drink/flower from an older MFT set along with their Cheers die.  Coloured with a mixture of watercolour pencils and polychromos.  I added some sparkle to the drinks, clear gems and some white enamel dots.

• MFT Superstar Contest - I'm entering this into the Clean and Simple category
• Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #403

From one Elf to Another

I'm in Christmas mode this weekend, and I've been playing with these cute MFT elves.

This first one also uses a Uniko stripey background stamp - I nearly went cross eyed colouring it, and then I decided it was way too much and my wee elf was totally lost in it so covered most of it up with a red strip!

Images coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.
Clear gloss/glitter added to his hat and to the dog's antlers

• Christmas Kickstart #18 - be inspired by their header - I went for the colour and stripey theme
• ABC Christmas - S is for Sparkle
• Layout from AAA Cards #148

And here's another little elf from the same MFT set.  This time I've added a die cut sentiment and snowflakes cut from glitter card, so there's lots of sparkle on this one!

• Through the Craft Room Door Sept3 - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Stamp it
• Addicted to Stamps #357 - make your mark

Christmas doggy

Here's one for the Lovely Dotty Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge - this fortnight she's looking for festive pooches so I've used this oldie from LOTV.  I've since added gloss/glitter to his Christmas hat and to the ribbon on the pressie - the more sparkle I can get on a Christmas card the better!

• Christmas Kickstart #17 - Dachshund through the Snow
• Layout from Mojo Monday #521
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Christmas Chicks

Hi all, I've been MIA for a while with a sore shoulder, so no crafting and no blogging :(  I'm still not right, but got a bit bored this evening so made this quickie Christmas card and matching tag.
These are Whipper Snapper chickens - coloured with polychromos and gloss/glitter added for some sparkle.  Paper Smooches snowflakes cut from glitter card.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - not a card
• Christmas Kickstart #15 - festive things with wings
• Crafting by Design - get ready for Christmas
• Word Art Wednesday #396/397 - anything goes

An elf and a balloon

Another quickie visit to blogland this evening, Poldark is on TV and I've an hour of the gorgeous Aidan Turner to get through ;)

This first card uses this sweet little MFT elf, coloured with polychromos, glitter added to his hat/sleeves and clear gloss to the bauble and little bell.

• Layout from MFT Sketch challenge #445 (yippee I won the MFT challenge!)
• CHNC #446 - red
• Power Poppy - Christmas in July

This one is based on the book cover over at the Library Challenge, not a book I've read I confess.

Balloon coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads.  

Sky stenciled using the Simon Says Stamp wave stencil and a few cloud dies added for good measure.

• The Library Challenge - Five weeks in a balloon
• CAS on Friday #162 - stencil
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Falalalala

Ack I've no mojo at the minute, back to that scary blank card mindset and what to do with it!!  I reckon it's our weather ... we'd some 'summer' last week and it was just too nice to be sitting crafting.  Though we were back to thunderstorms and hailstones yesterday so normal service is resumed haha.  Anyway, my card stash is reasonably healthy for a change so I've gone for Christmas today.

This cutie is from Stamping Bella - coloured with polychromos.  I glossed up his nose, added glitter to his bauble and went over his song sheet with my glitter pen, so it's lovely and sparkly.  Paper Smooches snowflake dies; can't remember the make of the sentiment.

• Layout from Sketch Saturday #570 free choice - I chose sketch #306
• Christmas Kickstart #13 - glitter, sparkle and shine
• Crafting by designs June - get ready for Christmas
• Word Art Wednesday #392/393 - anything goes

Christmas Elves and a Purple sympathy

Sunday evening already but I've a nice week off work ahead of me hurrah! Hoping to get some half decent weather and maybe get a wee day out or two :)

I've been playing with my MFT elves again, I'm so glad I finally gave in and bought them :)  I've used a Christmas text die that I got last year and found impossible use, when all I really needed  to do was to add a little elf and I love how it turned out!
I came across some silver charms recently, and thought they might be nice to use up on a gift tag, so made a matching one too.

• Christmas Kickstart #12 - the Elves and the Shoemaker
• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Christmas with the Cuties #27 - tag it

This was another MFT purchase from my recent shopping spree.  I absolutely love the finished result, but it's a bit of a faff colouring it in - I've used 3 different purple shades of polychromo pencils and each petal takes 6 layers of colour!  I think maybe I'll give it a rattle with watercolours next time ;)

• Sparkles #116 - purple
• Your Next Stamp #115 - ombre
• Fab'n funky #443 - something new

Christmas Elf and June calendar

I can hardly believe it's June already, how'd that happen!!  We've had a rubbish week of weather so it was lovely to get a dry day and get out to tackle some of the weeds!

So what else would I be making to celebrate the first day of summer but a Christmas card LOL.  I've been eyeballing these MFT elves for such a long time, so a wee sale was a good excuse for a purchase ;)
Coloured with polychromos and popped up on foam pads; gloss and glitter added to his hat; Paper Smooches snowflake dies.

• Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes
• Christmas Kickstart #11 - Christmas Kids

And this is Mum's calendar page for the month, actually on time for a change! I bought this little girl for my niece's birthday card last year but I don't think I've used it since.

• Crafty Catz #464 - anything goes
• Watercooler Wednesday #223 - anything goes