Sparkle and shine!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It seems we have entered the sparkling season and here at The Flower Challenge we have responded with a glittering new challenge!

 

 

Why not have a bit of fun, get out all your shimmer 'n' shine crafting supplies and join us with your own sparkly floral creation :) Here's what I came up with:

Yes I know, it's not the sparkliest card ever, but it's pretty sparkly for someone who doesn't really do sparkle!! I started with the background sponging distress oxide inks over a white panel, spritzing with water and drying off with a heat gun. I added detail at the bottom with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil and lightened some areas of the top with some white kraft ink, then dried everything off again.

 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. I added a liberal splattering of snow with a white acrylic paint men and then trimmed the panel with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery. 

 

The star of the show is the poinsettia, a re-release from Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia. I stamped on a scrap of white card using versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. The petals were coloured with a red Arteza watercolour brush pen which gives a lovely velvety look which contrasts nicely with the gold detail. I fussy cut the poinsettia, popped it up on dimensional pads and embellished with some sparkly- yes sparkly! - gems which I coloured with various alcohol markers.

Ok, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the gorgeous sparkly samples my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

There's an optional winter theme at both Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping this month so I'll link this wintery card up there; Brenda has chosen Winter Flowers and Fauna as her theme at Allsorts so I'm playing along there too; Triple B have a lovely red themed inspiration board and I'm joining in with my red poinsettia; and last but not least, Jo has her annual If it's Christmassy, Link it Up challenge at Christmas Kickstart - and it's been far too long since I popped by!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

December is a busy month and I am still learning how to get involved in everything and remain stress free and enjoy the season! Anyone else?! Of course I have a pair of golden treasures to keep me grounded and make sure I get plenty of fresh air - not to mention plenty of time washing, drying and grooming those fluffy coats! The days of nice, frosty winters appears to be over and we are up to our necks in mud again... happy days!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card. Do come and see!

Sending hugs,

Oh deer

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Thursday round of Tic Tac Toe! It's Joanne's turn to get us inspired with a brand new board and as usual there are all sorts of ways you could go with it!

 

 

I'm loving the autumn season but a little voice has been getting ever louder in my head and I have responded by getting a bit more serious about making Christmas cards!! I chose the left hand column Foliage/Berries/Trees.

 

 

The scene was made with a retired Stampin' Up set called Snow Front. I used a torn sticky note to create a simple snowy background, then stamped trees and snow drifts and deer, adding details with markers and coloured pencils. The scene was trimmed to size and attached to the centre of a frame, hand drawn with a gold pencil directly onto a card base.

 

The sentiment is from a retired Uniko set called Pure Florals Poinsettia, stamped in red ink and heat embossed for a bit of shine (hard to see that here.) The holly and berries are from The Greetery's Budding Beauties Winter, stamped and fussy cut and positioned to tie everything together.

Okay, so it's your turn! You can choose any row, column or diagonal from the board and do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog to see the amazing samples the design team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Winter Wonderland where the theme is Let It Snow; I think this card would be a good card for a man, and it's a CAS design which is the challenge at the The Male Room.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I met up for coffee (and, in his case, an enormous bacon sandwich!) with my youngest son. We went to a place near the train station that had been recommended to me by a friend who grew up up in the area. It's always fun to go to a cafe where you need to be careful not to run over any stray birds in the car park...

 

and when you visit the Ladies Room, there are peacocks on the roof!! Thank goodness we didn't bring Eva!

Sending hugs,

And a partridge in a pear tree

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've always loved the 12 Days of Christmas song and have fond memories of singing it at the top of my voice as a child on long car journeys! I liked the challenge of memorising the order of the gifts and it certainly never occurred to me that these were quite strange presents from 'my true love'!

I had been looking for a 12 Days of Christmas stamp set and was lucky enough to find this Stampin' Up set on ebay last year. I stamped the tree image on a card panel, trimmed it to size with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery and sponged blue ink around the edges before colouring it with a mix of water-based markers and coloured pencils.

I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from a retired Uniko set and then added the sentiment from the SU set at the bottom of the panel - it just made me smile! Finally I gave the partridge a lick of sparkle with a Wink of Stella pen before mounting the panel onto a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Jingle Belles, where I've chosen the 12 Days of Christmas theme option; I'm also joining in at Dawn's All About Occasions challenge at Watercooler Wednesday; at We Love Stamping, they want to see stamped images with the option of adding images with wings - and I think my partridge does the job; and last but not least, I'm playing at Stamping Sensations where Anything Goes with an optional die cut - and I've added in a die cut frame.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When I came across The Twelve Days of Christmas (Correspondence) by John Julius Norwich, I immediately bought several to add to presents that year. It is hilarious! It consists of thank you letters from a bemused and increasingly vexed lady who has been receiving some charming but inconvenient gifts from her 'true love' and is beautifully illustrated by Quentin Blake in his inimitable quirky style.

I now read it every year and, if you've not read it, I highly recommend it as there's nothing like a chuckle at Christmas (or any other time of year.) You're welcome!

Sending hugs,

Poinsettias and papers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches! Joanne is hosting this month and since there is a fifth Tuesday in this month, she has come up with the infamous 'Double' where she provides both a sketch AND a colour palette! (That's all the planning done for you lol!) 

 

I am still deep in Christmas card mode so I thought about this for a while until I realised that the colours would work well for a poinsettia and I could incorporate that into the sketch! 

I have one poinsettia in my stamp collection - a retired one from Uniko. I bring it out every year and have never stopped coming up with new ways to use it! Here I stamped it on a card panel and coloured it with alcohol markers in the raspberry shade of our challenge colours. The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

 

Deep in the bottom of my paper drawer, I found a sheet of designer paper featuring patterned strips of the challenge colours and made a layered label out of it. I stamped it with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted which pleased me by fitting perfectly! A strip of the plain midnight colour stretched across the card panel and grounded the label nicely. The card was finished with mustard dots with a random raspberry coloured gem to shake things up a bit!

Okay, are you ready to create? I encourage you to hop over to the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog to see all the amazing samples the team has put together to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post as usual and can use it to share your own card with us. Please remember to keep your creation nice and clean and simple with plenty of that all important clear space!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Addicted to Stamps and More where Anything Goes for Any Occasion. I'm also playing along at Allsorts where the challenge is to Use a Hand Stamped or Digital Image; this theme was one of Kath's choices before she passed away and I have used snippets of designer paper which she would have approved of I know! I'm also joining in with the last Rudolph Day of the year (this is the challenge where we make a Christmas card each month in the year and link up from 25th to the end of the month.)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have been up to my ears in puppies just lately and what a joy they are!

This pair have learned to play tug together - and that gives my arm a much-needed break I can tell you!

Sending hugs,

Celebrate Christmas with Decorative Doilies

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I am thrilled to be guesting at Uniko's Nov/Dec challenge today after being a challenge winner back in the summer! The theme for November/December is Celebrate with an optional theme of Red/Green.

 

I am a genuine fan of Uniko's beautifully designed, excellent quality stamps, and have plenty to choose from in my stash, but it seemed fitting to use the stamp set I chose as my prize :)

 

The set is Decorative Doilies - The Hands of Time. I just love it - AND it's on sale! The doilies remind me of those bang-on-trend honeycomb decorations (I've already used it on a male birthday card here!) and some could be used as stylised snowflakes too! I used bright red ink to stamp a sentiment on a card panel using a 'celebrate' from Pink Fresh Studios and 'The magic of Christmas' from a retired Uniko set. 

The decorations were stamped around it in green ink and the panel trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle. The panel was mounted onto a red card base and the centres of the decorations were embellished with clear gems.

 

So now it's over to you! Beverley and her amazing Uniko Brand Ambassadors have loads of fabulous inspiration for you so do hop over to the Uniko Studio blog to check it out! You'll find the linky tool there so that you can enter your own creation and be in with a chance of winning a fabulous prize!

CHALLENGES

I'm playing along at Allsorts, Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping where the themes are all Christmas.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We are having a unusually fine November with some lovely spells of autumn sunshine, although the nights are certainly chilly! The sunsets have been beautiful too and I managed to capture yesterday evening's.

So uplifting!

 

Sending hugs,

Inspired by toile de jouy

Hello, crafting friends!

The 25th of the month has arrived and with it the reminder that there's another 25th that has to be planned for! So, here we are with a little forward thinking:

When I eventually decided I had to have Snowfront by Stampin' Up, one of the ideas I had for it was a toile de jouy-style card and unlike so many ideas that remain ideas, this one actually made it onto paper! I sponged three areas on a card panel with blue distress ink, stamped the deer on each and masked them while I added trees and on the centre, the cabin.

After removing the masks, I added detail with coloured pencils and a Posca white paint pen. The card panel was trimmed to size and mounted on deep red card.

I added a sentiment from a Uniko set before attaching the panel onto a card base.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Christmas 24 where the sketch was perfect for the toile de jouy idea; I thought my deer would work for the Paper Players' CAS Animals theme this week and Helen is hosting the All About Occasions challenge at Watercooler Wednesday so I'll join in there too; And of course it's Rudolph Day at Scrappy Mo's where we are invited to submit a Christmas card each month between the 25th and the end of the month.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We had the odd shower today but Eva and I managed to choose the sunniest times for going out. On our way home this afternoon, we passed a telecoms man working on one of those roadside boxes of wires. He and Eva took to each other immediately and after he had pet her for a while, she flirtatiously stole a rag from top of his tool box, wagging all the while. Giving things back is one of the earliest things I taught her and I must say it has come in very handy over the years!

Sending hugs,

One layer poinsettia on kraft

Hello, crafting friends!

Looking out at all the birds and flowers in the garden and feeling the beginnings of warmth while walking with Eva makes it hard to think of Christmas but that's what I'm doing today!

I found some weird sized kraft envelopes - I've no idea where they came from! - so I cut this card base slightly smaller than usual. The edges were masked off with sticky notes and I stamped the poinsettia (a retired one from Uniko) over one corner. This was coloured with coloured pencils and the centre highlighted with a Posca white paint pen. The background was sponged lightly with white craft ink, working in from the edges. I dried this with a heat tool before removing the mask. After sweeping the area with an embossing buddy, I stamped a sentiment from WPlus9's Be Merry with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.

For some reason, I found it so hard to get decent photos of this card - this is the best I could come up with!

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This card was showcased at Jingle Belles :)

CHALLENGES

The CAS Christmas card challenge is celebrating three years of fabulous inspiration and Loll has chosen a Kraft, Red and White colour challenge so I'm linking up there. I'm also linking up with Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes and Jingle Belles where the theme is Festive Foliage - and poinsettias are technically leaves as Stephanie kindly pointed out!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Christmas is LITERALLY just a few months away! 

Well okay, nine months away - but it will creep up before you know it.

This is an example of the kind of exaggeration that amuses my family. But it galvanises me into action and now I have another Christmas card ready to be written. In fact, I might make another one while I'm in the mood... watch this space!

Sending hugs,

Leaping out of a bauble

Hello, crafting friends!

We had the most beautiful sunshine here yesterda and Eva and I made the most of it out in the countryside. When we got home, I made a quick, one layer card in the small window of light opportunity that is the British winter!

Masking, sponging, stencilling, stamping... all my favourite techniques have been used on this card! The first step was to make a mask for the small stag on Funky Fossil's Leaping Stags stencil with a sticky note. (There's one provided for the large stag but not the small one for some reason.) I stencilled the stag directly onto a thick card base and then covered it with the mask. I positioned a circle stencil over the top and a piece of torn paper over the top of that, so that I could sponge blue ink over it for the sky. I added trees from Stampin' Up's Waterfront stamp set then repositioned the torn paper and sponged more blue ink gently to create shadows on the snowy ground. 

Time to remove all the masks to reveal my stag leaping out of a winter wonderland! Then I had the idea of making the circular scene into a hanging Christmas ornament. I brought out Ornamental, another Funky Fossil stencil, and added a topper and chain to my scene with a silver marker. To finish the card I added detail, highlighting and shading with a Posca white paint marker and a fineliner pen, and stamped a Uniko sentiment in bright red ink.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with 52 {Christmas Card Throwdown, where the lovely Gill is hosting *waves hello* and the theme is Winter Wonderland; also Less is More for their One Layer Festive challenge, where it's lovely to see Chrissie returning as a guest to the challenge she founded with her friend; Last but not least, I'm linking up with Uniko's 'Tis The Season challenge with optional sparkle! There are fabulous prizes on offer so do pop across and join in!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Deer are not uncommon in the countryside here and you can even see muntjacs in the green spaces of the town in the early morning or at dusk. I wasn't prepared for the rare creatures I spotted in the trees in the park the other day though...

... the Lesser Spotted Tree Surgeon!

Sending hugs,

Frosty Christmas greetings

Hello, crafting friends!

My fingers are beginning to feel a bit chilly when I'm out walking Eva first thing and, although that's because of a sharp wind rather than any frost, it got me thinking about those lovely bright frosty mornings to come. Which inspired today's card!

First I made a background by masking off most of my card front and inking a fading strip down the left hand edge. I removed the mask and stamped a greeting, combining stamps from Stampin' Up's Merry Christmas To All and Uniko's Pure Floral Poinsettia.

Then out came my perfect snowflakes from Dies By Chloe that I found on eBay last year! I cut several flakes out of silver and blue card stocks and arranged them down the edge. The card was finished with clear gems and blue sequins.

CHALLENGES

I used the fabulous sketch at this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge; I'm also joining in with Less is More, choosing the blue and Silver option; and will also link up at The Rainbow Card Challenge's Sparkling Sapphire Challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Just when I thought we'd got through firework season, they started up again last night :/ There are fields at the bottom of the road behind our house and I had taken Eva out there last thing as usual when a firework went off directly across the field. She was petrified and her flight instinct took over. She turned tail and ran home, with me clinging to her lead like a rag doll. When 40 kilos of golden retriever wants to get home fast, there's not much you can do about it! I just wish people would stop buying fireworks. Yes, they're pretty but they're a shocking pollutant and they're sure as heck not good for either wild or domestic animals. What do you think? Could you live life without fireworks?

Sending hugs,

Happy blue, orange and yellow Christmas!

Hello, crafting friends!

I'm skipping about with a happy spring in my step today because I'm guesting with the incredibly talented team at CAS Christmas! And what a fun challenge they've got for you this month:

I love a non-traditional colour palette for Christmas and my only difficulty was choosing which colours! If you have this problem too, my top tip is to choose your stamp set first and then let the colours choose YOU! 

I went with this utterly adorable polar bear from Funky Fossil's Christmas Characters and immediately thought of some zingy yellow stars and orange accents in a turquoise and white landscape.

I started by die-cutting a stitched rectangle of watercolour paper using a Heffy Doodle die, then water-colouring a smaller rectangle in blue ink. When it was dry I added some snow using an opaque acrylic paint. The bear features a little heart which I masked off while inking the image up with black ink, then un-masked and coloured with an orange marker before stamping. I added a little shading with an alcohol marker before cutting him out and adding him to my scene. The card was finished with a sprinkling of punched stars and a sentiment from a retired Uniko set.

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see what colours pop into your head this month. Head over to CAS Christmas here and prepare to be knocked out by the fabulous inspiration from the DT. You can link up your card there when you're ready.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the 'Not A Creature Was Stirring' challenge at Jingle Belles; also at Merry Little Christmas where Anything Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The bear in today's card reminds me of a little white bear that my daughter had when she was tiny. She had a whole collection of bears and this one was called Polo. My daughter was an early talker and used to enjoy solemnly reciting the names of all the bears. We would weave funny stories around them and I seem to recall that Polo was always a very naughty bear which would make my daughter giggle!!

Sending hugs,