An LOTV two-fer

Eeek, the Christmas deadline is fast approaching so I need to get a bit craftier than I have been recently!

I usually give my Aunt a few cards as part of her pressie, and I've a fair idea that these ones would be sent to her great-nieces.  I love my LOTV stamps, gutted that they're only doing their new ones in digital :(

Coloured with polychromos and sparkle added to the flower.  Also, I saw on Kathy's page (The Daily Marker) recently that she draws in eyelashes with a very fine marker, so I gave that a go, though I think next time I'll draw them slightly above the way she did.  I would have added another butterfly or two down the left hand side, but my snippet left over was just too small even for the little butterfly and I've none of this lovely blue card left :(

• Layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #532
• Pixie's Snippets Playground #367
• Stamping Sensations December - anything goes

This one uses my new sunburst stencil from Clearly Besotted's sale ... I did accidentally buy other goodies too of course but they're for sharing on another day ;)

My little girl is popped up on foam pads and I added sparkle to her jumper.  Pink and blue stars from stash.

• Simon Says Stamp Monday - let's sparkle
• Word Art Wednesday #416/417 - anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #446 - anything goes

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

Think Pink!

Urgh, it's been a drab, dark, wet old day today -  definitely a real autumn day!  We can't really complain though when you look at the flooding and awful fires in other parts of the world!

This is one of my new purchases from Hobby Craft - it was one of those 'oooh that'll be dead useful' stamps that when I took it out to ink I'd no idea what to do with it!

So anyway, here's what I came up with.  I popped it up on foam pads, added sparkle to the cake and clear gloss to the cake stand.   Gummiapan die in the background, sentiment is possibly from them too.

• AAA Cards #152 - geometric
• layout from Tuesday Morning Sketches #528 
• Addicted to CAS #172 - birthday
• Word Art Wednesday #412-413 - anything goes

#thedailymarker30day

Pizza anyone?

Mmmmm I love a bit of pizza, and I know it's a bit controversial, but I love it with pineapple! ;)    When we went to Rome a few years back it took me quite a while before I could eat pizza at home, the stuff we had there was just so amazing - the frozen version bunged in the oven just was not on the same planet!!

Anyway, this is Mum's calendar page, late as per usual.  That could be my New Year's resolution, to get them done before the month actually has started!

I've used this High Hopes chef stamp which is years old and still gets inked on a regular basis - coloured with polychromos.  Bricks stencilled in background.

• Retro Rubber challenge #123 - anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps #366 - anything goes
• Word Art Wednesday #410/411 - anything goes
• Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge

PS I was asked recently how I make my crafty budget ... I really just set myself a target of no more than £10 (£15 max) each month and try to stick to it - if I go over one month I'll try reign in my spending in the next.  The danger of course is when you go visiting your buddies' blogs as they always have fabulous stamps that I 'need' (you know who you are LOL!!)

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