Christmas card for Hubby

Here is the last Christmas card I made this year.

It's for my Hubby... my Mr Perfect.

8 years ago, we were spending Christmas in New York. 

And, I got some fab new dies in summer, which I hadn't used yet... 

New York buildings. 

So, I made a card for him, using them...

I also used my window diecut.

and I fussy-cut the little cats out of a piece of wrapping paper. 

The background was embossed in my bigshot

and I also die cut the holly / berries, the bunting and letters.

The sentiment at the top is stamped. 

He loved the card and said it was worth waiting for  :)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty friends - family and friends - 1 Jan

Pink gems - atg christmas - 4 Jan

Fussy and fancy - christmas - 12 Jan

Simply papercrafts - atg - 30 Dec

Thats crafty - atg - 28 Dec

Creative knockouts - tis the season - 29 Dec

The male room - christmas / winter wishes - 27 Dec

Apologies!!!

I need to apologise... 

I have been quite ill recently - had a whole week off work - 

which is not like me at all. 

So I have completely lost the plot in terms of what day we are on and 

which card I need to blog! 

This little beauty was made for my 95 year old Grandma.

I knew she would love this image:

Jolly Holly Postbox, from Artsi Doodles,

 for our "traditional colours" challenge - for Glitter n Sparkle....

I diecut "grandma"

and coloured and fussy cut around the holly postbox image. 

I paper-pieced one bird and stuck the other on 3d foam, to raise it. 

The holly and berries are also diecut.

I found the ribbon in my stash! 

Finally, i embossed the background with my snowflakes embossing folder. 

Grandma loved it!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps - seasons greetings - 25 Dec
Cards galore encore - atg - 1 Jan
Crafty friends - family and friends - 30 Dec
Daring cardmakers - the special ones - 23 Dec

Santa's snowglobe

It's my second month of being a guest designer at the Colour Crazy Challenge -

and I was delighted to use images from 2 adorable sets

over at Melonheadz.

The snowglobe and north pole sign come from the

"christmas clip art" collection

and the snowflakes used in the snowglobe,

come from "snow days" collection. 

There was very little colouring on this card - just the 

red of the north pole sign - and the grey of the bottom of the snowglobe. 

I used a lot of diamond stickles on the card -

on both the embossed and printed snowflakes. 

(I generated to winter wonderland sentiment on the pc, myself...

this sentiment does not come on the snowglobe.)

The snowflake border embossing folder was one

which I picked up for 20p, in the summer, at a car boot sale!

I'm really pleased with this one - and it was simple to make, too!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Crafty cardmakers - christmas - 23 Dec
Scribbles designs - welcome to the north pole - 22 Jan

A family christmas card

So, I made a card for my sister and her family...

I could not resist making another card for our challenge at the 

Colour Crazy challenge, this time! 

I adore this cute christmas tree truck image, from Melonheadz - 

it's found in their Christmas Clipart collection. 

As soon as I saw this image, I knew my

little 5 year old nephew would love it...

I used my memory box frostyville border

and the country landscape border, 

along with a (free!) sentiment from Desert Diva Crafts.

Colouring with my alcohol pens, I also used a lot of stickles glitter on this one...

on the frosty border, the tree, the hillscape and the stars in the sky

 - which have come from a cuttlebug snowflake die.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps - seasons greetings - 25 Dec
Crafty cardmakers - christmas - 23 Dec
Crafty friends - family and friends - 30 Dec
Cute card thursday - atg - 27 Dec

Christmas candles

At Glitter n sparkle this week, the challenge is "winter."

I got this lovely image - xmas candles - from Ikes art.

I coloured it with my alcohol pens and added some fine glitter to the

white candles.

I used my swiss dots embossing folder to resemble snow and added a

sentiment from my pc. 

I think this one is from the fab site - Pink Petticoat, which is sadly no longer available. 

With sympathy

Sadly, I have been asked to make a fair few

sympathy cards recently. 

When I got "flower 3" image from Morgans Artworld, 

over at the Glitter n Sparkle blog,

I thought this would make a thoughtful and delicate sympathy card...

The sentiment came as a freebie from desert diva - and

it fits beautifully by the side of this image.

I coloured it with my alcohol pens and dry embossed the edges.

A simple card -

I don't think sympathy cards need much fuss or faff. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafting from the heart - atg - 11 Dec
Lil patch of crafty friends - atg - 15 Dec
Crazy 4 challenges - colour it! - 9 Dec
Morgans Artworld - atg - 15 Dec

Christmas cards are coming...

At Patties Creations this month, 

we would like you to use "red glitter" on your project.

So easy to do, with the Christmas season just around the corner! 

Photographing glitter is not so easy though!

I used the red glitter on all the red berries in Patties image "wreath 2014" 

and on the edges of the ribbon too. 

I cut out, embossed and inked around the edges of the panels of the door,

cut out and inked a heart for the middle of the wreath,

added a gold 'door handle' which I piled with Glossy Accents,

and made a little golden 'letterbox' 

which I tucked in a tiny christmas card!

I really like this simple-looking card...

but it is far too fiddly to make many of these for Christmas.  Lol!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Card Mania - christmas - 31 Dec
Crafty calendar - it's christmas! - 30 Dec
CAS on sunday - christmas - 15 Dec
Creative fingers - atg - 25 Dec

Thankyou

Thanks - thanksgiving is our  challenge this week

at Glitter n Sparkle.

Our sponsor this time is Sparkle n Sprinkle -

I used their gorgeous image :Basket of hope. 

There are also some more sentiments which come with this image - 

it's a wonderful little bundle of digi-loveliness!

I have to say - the basket did take a looong time to colour, but I feel it was worth it. 

Once I had coloured the imaged, I didn't feel 

that it needed too much more. 

i added the corners which I trimmed fro a piece of brown card

and coloured around the edges with a few 

different shades of brown alcohol pens.

Because I had made a gingham design on the cloth inside the basket,

I replicated that by matting the whole image on 

a red gingham paper.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Crafty friends - add a sentiment - 1 Dec
Creative fingers - atg - 25 Dec
QKR Stampede - atg - 23 Nov
Creative with stamps - thankful - 1 Dec

A guest designer spot!

Woop woop!

I was invited to be a guest designer at Colour crazy challenge 

for a few challenges - and this is my first card for them.

The challenge is "anything goes" and I used the image

 "cute robin stocking" from Polkadoodles.

This was a really sweet image to colour. I used  a variety of my alcohol markers.

I embossed the background with my snowflakes folder and bigshot

and hand-doodled on each snowflake

with my white sakura pen. 

There's a spot or two of diamond stickles too, on each snowflake,
for a bit of sparkle n shine!

I cut and embossed a small border around the robin 

and added a sentiment from my pc.

I really enjoyed using this cute image.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Crafty catz - atg / twist: sparkle n shine - 23 Nov
Creative fingers - atg - 25 Dec
Jo's scrap shack - atg - 26 Nov
2 Crafty critter crazies - atg with a critter/animal - 1 Dec

Crafty animals - atg - 29 Nov
C.R.A.F.T. - christmas - 23 Nov
Crimbo - atg - 22 Nov
Cute card thursday -  birds / animals - 22 Nov
 Hanna and friends - animals - 22 Nov
Little miss muffet - atg - 1 Dec

It's definitely Autumn here!

The neighbours here have a sycamore tree, 

which sits on the border between our house and theirs, at the front.

Its a beautiful (and big!) tree, which has been colouring and shedding it's

leaves for the past weeks. 

Infact, when we opened up the door one morning, after a windy night, 

there was a sea of leaves that greeted us! 

We had to wade through them, to get to the cars on the drive!

When the "fall colours" challenge came through this week - 

I just looked out of the bedroom window and tried

to pick *some* of the colours from that tree.

I couldn't possibly find every colour.  Lol. 

So... for our challenge at Glitter n Sparkle 

this week,  I got "air dreamer" image from Ppinky dolls

and played with those colours...

I coloured her with my alcohol markers 

and diecut around her. 

I popped her onto many layers so

that I would have a chance to use a lot of colours.

I even got some gold washi tape in there, which I bought

in Canada lat year, and haven't used yet.

(It's behind the image, going horizontally.)

A couple of paper flowers, layered, finished this card.

I haven't decided on the sentiment for this one yet.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Addicted to stamps - autumn - 13 Nov

Crafty calendar - autumn colours - 30 Nov

Crazy for challenges - layer it up - 12 Nov

Hiding in my craft room - fall colours - 11 Nov

Dies r us - anything "fall" - 14 Nov

Love to craft - atg - 30 Nov

M-I-L's birthday

I made this one for my Mother-in-Law.

The image is from Patties Creations - 

and its called "three birdhouses" where (handily) the 

challenge this month is "birthdays."

I decided to use autumnal colours for this one.

I embossed the edge of the white backing piece, and 

nipped off the corners, before inking all round.

The little banner was made with my cute little new die,

which I bought last week in the Range. 

The kraft card in the background has been

 embossed in my honeycomb fence embossing folder.

The cat is a memory box die.

('Mum' is also a die - cut on my bigshot!)

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Creative fingers - atg - 17 Nov
Jos scrap shack - atg - 14 Nov
Crafting with an attitude - atg - 27 Nov
Sparkles forum - autumn colours - 15 Nov

Purple and black

At Glitter n Sparkle this week, the challenge is to use

"purple and black."

I got the delightful image "happy new year" from

Crafts and Me. 

I chose to make a birthday card - for a friend

who is due to have her baby, around her birthday

and she is desperate to have a bottle of prosecco!  (or five! .. after the birth.)

I used my alcohol markers 

to colour this image, a border punch, a die from "The Works" 

and the butterflies are punched with my

 Martha Stewart punch.

The image is slightly raised on 3d foam.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Creative fingers - atg - 5 Nov
QKR Stampede - atg - 27 Oct
Little miss muffet - atg - 2 Nov

Fall / autumn

The new Glitter n Sparkle challenge has just started...

this week we are asking you to show us your 

creativity, using "autumn colours."

Here is a card I made for the challenge this week...

This wonderful image came from Crafts and Me.

It's called "bottom of the garden." 

I added a sentiment from my pc and 

coloured it with my alcohol markers,

then mounted it onto a brown patterned paper.

After embossing the edge of the card and inking the edges

 of the image and brown paper,

I added a few autumnal punched leaves and a diecut "Dad".

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

A gem of a challenge - birthday - 13 Oct

Crafty friends - atg - 20 Oct
Crazy for challenges - make a card - 14 Oct
Dis digis - add a sentiment - 20 Oct
Colour crazy - atg - 21 Oct
Crafting with friends - atg - 21 Oct
That's crafty - forever autumn - 13 Oct
Little miss muffet - atg - 19 Oct
Creative moments -atg - 18 Oct
Crafty addicts - atg - autumn colours - 31 Oct

Autumn colours

"Kokopelli Southwestern Tile"

was the perfect image this month, for the challenge "shades of autumn"

 at Patties Creations.

I loved colouring this image with my promarkers.

I had real fun, making extra patterns on the border.

I mounted it simply, onto a kraft card and added a simple border there too.

I would like to add this to the following challenges:

 Brown Sugar - orange, green and brown - 3 Nov
Colour crazy crafts - atg - 22 Oct
Crafting with friends - atg - 21 Oct
Creative knockouts - atg - 13 Oct
Creative moment s- atg - 18 Oct
Crafty Addicts - atg - autumn colours - 1 Nov
Crafting from the heart - atg - 9 Oct

Happy Birthday!

Our Glitter n Sparkle birthday is coming up

so we would like to make a "Happy Birthday" card this week!

My image this week, is called "cupcake"

and is from "A Stitch Back in Twine."

I didn't want this card to be too girly and sparkly,

so kept with the aqua / brown / white combo, with a little magenta -

seen in my design on the cupcake holder and in the butterflies. 

I spent ages colouring the icing on the cupcake.. I'm still not sure if

 I got it how I really wanted it.... 

and the photograph isn't too good, as I hardly seem to be at home in the daylight hours, 

so had to photograph this after the natural light had gone.

Anyway...

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Colour crazy - atg - 10 Oct
Crafty catz - birthday - 29 Sept
Creative fingers - atg - 10 Oct
Jos scrap shack - atg - 2 Oct
Simply papercrafts - atg - 30 Sept
Crafty creations - atg - 27 Sept
I love promarkers - atg - 2 Sept
Crafting with an attitude - atg - 26 Sept
Little miss muffet - atg - 4 Oct
Seize the birthday - birthday - 26 Sept

Our nieces birthday

This weeks challenge at Glitter n Sparkle is

"anything goes" again! 

Lacy Sunshine is our sponsor this week - and I have used

"the ultimate creative craft girl LS superhero" image.

I knew this would make a perfect card for our niece, who is soon to be 14!

The image was lovely to colour.

I played about with the background paper...

knowing I wanted the pink star paper and white.

The white shape in the middle was cut from my new die

which I got in The Works.  

(Its a nesting die... set of 6 I think, £5. Bargain!)

ALISHA and 14 were die cut in my bigshot. 

I handcut the bunting.

She loooves bunting. (like me!)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafting with dragonflies - special occasion - 24 Sept
Crafty calendar - kids / babies - 30 Sept
Createful heart digis - atg - 15 Sept
Classic design team challenge - atg - 1 Oct
Daisy chain - in the pink - 1 Oct
Sparkles - birthday - 14 Sept

First day at school

What a great challenge over at Patties Creations this month -

"Back to school"

Perfect for my little nephew, who is starting his first day 

in reception, in September...

I used Patties image called "ABCD with characters."

I decoupaged the little pictures, popping them on 3d foam.

I coloured each letter and picture with my alcohol markers

and added some punched stars.

I embossed and inked around the edge of the image and 

added a computer generated sentiment.

Game of Thrones themed...

It was Hubby's birthday last week, while we were visiting Yorkshire

and I had made him this birthday card...

We both LOVE Game of Thrones... 

so thought I would try to base his card on the show.

I downloaded the font, quickly and easily

played with the "winter is coming" quote, and 

used Tyrion Lannisters words... 

"That's what I do - i drink, and I know things!"

(Much like my hubby! hahah !)

He loved the card and thought it was very clever. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Kitty bee designs - birthday - 9 Sept
Little miss muffet - atg - 8 Sept
Through the craft room door - atg - 5 Sept

My first Christmas card!

The great "Ikes art" is sponsoring our challenge this

week at Glitter n Sparkle -

where the challenge is the old favourite...

anything goes!

The image is called "winter robins" 

and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

It was a lovely image to colour. 

The sentiment was on my pc.

I added some micro glitter and liquid pearls to represent the snow.

The gingham paper and the bunting are from a

christmas dovecraft paper pack from a few years ago. 

(The bunting had loads of strings across a page...and I just

fussy-cut a string of bunting out.)

I said to my mum, 5 weeks ago, that over the summer holidays,

 I would like to make some christmas cards... I have just managed this one so far...

but there's still a week to go. 

You never know! 

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Creative fingers - atg - 9 Sept
Hiding in my craft room - any holiday - 3 Sept
Christmas sweet stampin -  Christmas - 4 Sept

Crafting by designs - atg - 3 Sept
Crafty creations - atg - 30 Sept

Best fishes... pisces.

This weeks challenge is all about the "zodiac" 

at Glitter n Sparkle, 

and I used the image "pisces" from Artsi Doodles...

I coloured the fish with my alcohol pens

..I used 6 different shades of yellow and orange.

I mounted them onto 3d foam

and made the background by colouring bars of blues

and aqua greens - using about 8 colours of blue and aqua.

I punched some small circles, in aqua 

and added them as bubbles... like a border.

I also popped a little highlight in the top right of each bubble,

 and covered each one

in glossy accents. 

The finishing touch was my handwritten words...describing

the characteristics of Pisces. 

I hope you will join in the challenge this week, with us.

I would like to enter this into these other challenges: