Banners and boughs

Hello, crafting friends...

 

... and a happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating today :)

 

Have you finished your festive cards yet? If you haven't, you can come and be in my gang because I certainly haven't! But that's okay because it's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge Thursday which means loads of inspiration, courtesy of Elizabeth this week:

I chose the diagonal from bottom left Stamping/Free/Layers and went with neutrals with just a pop or two of colour.

 

The card started with a kraft card base, the edges of the front sponged with white craft ink. I layered it with gingerbread coloured card cut with the largest of the Greetery's Nordic Frames dies. I also cut a layer from kraft card with the medium size frame and stamped it with a bunch of mistletoe from Budding Beauties Winter, also from the Greetery. Once I'd stamped it, I stenciled around it with white craft ink using Funky Fossils Brick Wall stencil.

 

The stamped image was intensified with coloured pencils and I added a shadow which helps it to pop. Berries were added with a Posca white acrylic paint pen. To finish, I stamped a banner image from a retired Stampin' Up set and stamped a Greetery sentiment inside, bending it to fit the curve. The banner was fussy cut and I added some shading with brown ink and a sponge dauber to add dimension before popping it up on dimensional pads.

 

Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site to check out my team mates' card samples - prepare to be amazed! And then it's your turn! Choose a row, column or diagonal from the board, create a card using the inspiration, then share with us using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post.  We are looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Inkspirational where the theme is Seasonal; at ABC Christmas W is for Wreath and X is for XOXO - Hugs and Kisses and I thought my bunch of mistletoe would be good for the hugs and kisses theme! I'm also linking up with the Stencil Fun Challenge where the optional theme is Leaves

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's been so wet here and I've had my hands full with Lulu, so I'm only now getting round to tidying up in the garden. Everything needs cutting back and the leaves need sweeping up and the grass needs a final trim, but that's okay because I've got some wonderful helpers!! Here we see the difference between Eva and Lulu:

 

 

This is Eva. She likes to carry my trimmings around the garden and if I make a pile of leaves, she makes a nest in it. She is demonstrating her 'Smoosh Face', a term coined by my eldest son, which is where she's concentrating on something on the ground and her ears flop forwards and her forward goes all wrinkly and smooshed. We can never resist Smoosh Face and it often results in cooing noises from us and Tummy Rubs for her!

 

This is Lulu. She likes to take her ball with her as she wanders around the house and garden. She hides it under things and then takes immense pleasure in triumphantly finding it again. She is delighted that I have had the idea of cutting lots of trimmings from the hedge for the sole purpose of giving her an excellent place to hide her ball!

Sending hugs,