A quick stylish Christmas card

Hello, crafting friends!

 

With 2024 hurtling to a close, I suspect some of you (like me!) will be up to your eyes in Christmas preparations; but I do hope you can take a little time to have some crafty fun. At the Flower Challenge, there's still time to join in with our Add Sparkle challenge.

 

On a side note, I am sad to be stepping down from this incredible design team. This year has thrown some personal challenges my way and it has made sense to reduce my commitments.

 

Anyway, back to the challenge: I've come up with a very quick design, suitable for last minute Christmas cards. Of course sparkly floral cards are appreciated all year round, so feel free to create something for other occasions!

 

 

For this card, I took an A6 card base and attached an A6 navy panel to the card front. A snippet of sparkly paper was glued over this to represent snow.

 

The focus of the design are three stamped and die cut poinsettias from Stampin' Up's Stylish Christmas. I added liquid pearls to the flower centres and finished with a shiny die cut sentiment from Tonic Studios. And there we are - Super fast, and even faster if you have pre-prepared flowers in your UFO box!

 

Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and admire the beautiful inspiration cards my team mates have prepared to inspire you. I hope you can find a minute to join in too! You will find the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post and can use that to share your own creation. Have fun - you deserve it!

CHALLENGES

I am sending a massive thank you to all the Christmas challenges that have encouraged this tardy crafter to at least make a start on her festive makes throughout the year :) I'm linking this card up with Peace on Earth where, as always, there is a fabulous and inspiring mood board; Jingle Belles are inviting us all to their Wrap Party - link your last minute Christmas cards there! And in the same vein, If it's Christmassy, Link it Up is Jo's final theme of the year at Christmas Kickstart Challenge!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Crafting Clare Towers, with wrapping paper, cards and Christmas decorations strewn about in all the wrong places! The Blonde Bombshells have been infected with a sense of excitement and, like toddlers, are having to be taken for long walks to help them calm down. I am constantly replacing ornaments on the Christmas tree which have been knoocked flying by wagging tails. But I am hopeful that by the time guests start arriving, everything will be sorted out and calm will reign!

How are your festive preparations going?

Sending hugs,

In the globe

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I couldn't help but notice it was the 25th the day before yesterday, and that brought to mind another month where the 25th is a major celebration! I tried to imagine what it might feel like to be cold and this card was the result:

 

I hadn't used this Snow Globe stencil from Funky Fossil before and I'm already thinking of other scenes I can fill it with! For this one, I taped the snow globe part of the stencil over a card base and covered up the base section. Inside the globe, I stamped one of the houses from an old Stampin' Up set called Holiday Home. This was covered with another house I stamped on a sticky note and cut out. I also cut a little circle out with a circle punch and placed it in the sky area.

 

While the masks were in position, I used a fir from Inkylicious to create a woodland scene around the house and then sponged navy ink into the sky and, with increased pressure at the base of the trees. When the bits of sticky note were removed, a moonlit scene was revealed! I used a navy coloured pencil to colour the house and add detail to the snow and added snow with a Posca acrylic paint pen.

Once that was dry I was able to position the base of the globe and stencil it in. I grounded my globe with a strip of neutral plaid paper that I sponged with the same navy ink. The card was finished with a die cut sentiment from Tonic Studios, a strip of red card and a bakers twine bow.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where the optional theme is Snow Globe; also Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge cycle has come round to Christmas; I'm also joining in with Rudolph Day where we make a Christmas card on the 25th of each month :) I'm also linking up with The Snippets Playground - I used a scrap of plaid DSP and, from my snippets box, a tiny strip of red card, a left-over bow and a sentiment cut from a small off-cut of the same red card.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

You know that weird feeling you get sometimes, when you can't shake the feeling that someone is watching you?

And then you turn round and...

Oh. Hello Eva and Lion Fren! :)

Sending hugs,

The Circles that you find

Hello, crafting friends!

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS and Sue has chosen a code word that really got me inspired so I hope it'll do the same for you!

Some stitched dies from Waffleflower were my starting point. I cut some overlapping circles in a card panel, inlaying the smaller one. I wanted a third circle, so used a little circle punch to cut out a 2021 I found in a magazine, mounting it onto another circle cut out of red card.

Positioning the card panel onto a card base, I traced round the inside of the large circle with a soft pencil. I used this as a guide for stamping on the card base. I sponged some neutral ink over the area, then stamped a fir branch and berries from Budding Beauties Winter from the Greetery. Finally, I assembled my elements - attached the card panel to the card front, positioned a die cut sentiment and the 2021 below it and finished with a single enamel dot.

So, now it's your turn and I can't wait to see how you interpret the word 'Circles'. There's amazing inspiration at the Addicted to CAS challenge site as always, and you'll find the Linky Tool there so that you can share your own creation with us. Remember to keep your creation nice and clean and simple won't you, and above all have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Watercooler Wednesday where Tristan is hosting the All Occasions challenge; and also Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where Anything Goes with optional Make a Scene.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Do you ever get triggered to remember a song? The code word for today's challenge made me think of a sentence 'the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind' which, when I looked it up, turned out to be from a great song that I hadn't heard for a very, very long time! One of the things I like to do is to look songs up on YouTube and then play all the versions I can find. Here, for your listening pleasure is a version by the sublime Dusty Springfield whose voice was just so distinctive. Anyone remember this?

Sending hugs,

Special snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

I made this card on the 25th of the month when my thoughts turned to other 25ths of the month! It seems impossible to imagine short, dark days and freezing temperatures while it's still warm and sunny outside but they're definitely coming! 

The background was made by masking off parts of a card base, to make an offset panel, and stencilling snowflakes into it with the Snow Flurryy stencil by Funky Fossil. I embellished the flakes with silver Liquid Pearls and left it to dry.

Meanwhile I die cut some snowflakes from dark green-blue card stock as well as a cheery red sentiment. These were arranged on the background and clear gems added to the centres of the snowflakes.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Jingle Belles where they theme is Snow; I'm also joining in at Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge where it's Anything Goes with optional Non-Traditional;  and I'm playing along with Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes; and Rudolph Day where we must share a Christmas card between 25th and the end of each month.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I enjoyed making a snowy scene but if I'm honest I would love to stave off the first frosts for a little while. The only ice I want to see at the moment is in a glass of G&T!!

Sending hugs

Snow? In July?

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fabulous challenge at Addicted to CAS. I had to look twice at the code word this time...

... but it's true, we are giving you the chance to make a start on those festive cards long before the crazy season starts!

I've come up with a design that would work well for batch making, using Stampin' Up's Snow Front stamp set. I find it's best to work out where I want my elements to go on a piece of scrap paper first,  which makes it easy to reproduce on a card front.

This winter scene was stamped with just four stamps. I used a water-based blue pen to add extra snow drifts and a Posca white acrylic paint pen to add snow flakes and other details. The die-cut sentiment is from Tonic Studios.

Here's a bonus design that I tried but abandoned when I realised there was too much masking involved for it to be useful as a batch make.

So now it's your turn! What does the word Christmas say to you? There's lots of inspiration over at the Addicted to CAS challenge blog so do hop over there and enjoy the samples. When you're ready to link up your own creation, you'll find the Linky Tool there too. Have fun - and don't forget to keep it clean and simple with lots of lovely clear space!

CHALLENGES

I took my colour inspiration from Color My Heart Color Dare 451, choosing New England Ivy, Glacier and Candy Apple and light brown as my neuytral;  I'm also linking up with Merry Little Christmas' July challenge where Anything Christmas Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

You know when you're trying to have a nap...

... and people just keep BOTHERING you!!

Sending hugs,

Christmas lanterns

Hello, crafting friends!

There's something so warming and welcoming about a lantern isn't there! I think it makes a great festive motif. Today's card came about because of a beautiful sunrise I saw recently that made me gasp as I opened the curtains (but also the Lanterns stamps were out on my desk lol!)

I started, as I often do, with a card panel cut out with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle. I blended pink ink and yellow inks over the top two thirds of the panel and stamped one of the lanterns and the smaller candle from Reverse Confetti's Lanterns stamp set on top. Holding Cleartly Besotted's Snowy Day stencil over the panel, I used a Posca white paint pen to add snow, taking care to avoid my stamping.

I stamped the Christmas bells and foliage from the stamp set on a scrap of white card stock and then coloured all the stamped images using alcohol markers, including the lantern and candle on the card panel. The bells and foliage swag were fussy cut and the bells given some shimmer with a Wink of Stella pen.

Next came a little die cutting: two fir branches from Flora and Fauna's Holiday Foliage die set and the Modern Merry Christmas by Tonic Studios. It was time to assemble the card! I attached the fir branches at the top of the panel, popped the swag up with dimensionals and glued the sentiment below the lantern before attaching the panel to the card front.

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in with Just Add Ink where the challenge is to Just Add S - I've gone for Snow; I'm also linking up with CAS on Friday where the theme is also Snow; and this is my entry for the last Rudolph Day Challenge of the year too - I don't know about anyone else but I'm having a lot of trouble finding daylight hours to take photos in, so I'm a little late this month!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We have three ancient white lanterns from Ikea that we display on a window sill at Christmas. We put candles in them and I remember my youngest son decided that he would be in charge of lighting them in the evenings. I thought he'd get fed up with the job but it was obviously something that meant a lot to him and he lights them every year now. We all love our special rituals!

This is my gorgeous daughter checking her phone one year, with the lanterns in the background. Can't wait to see her for the festive season this year!

Sending hugs,