Ho Ho Ho!

Happy Christmas everyone!

A bear is for Christmas and not just birthdays...

Before I get to today's card I just want to say a big, and truly heartfelt, 'thank you' for all your supportive comments on the post where I talked about my problems with atypical face pain. You are all so kind.

I'm sorry this isn't the best photograph but I literally grabbed the camera and started clicking as soon as a teeny, tiny ray of sunshine hit my desk!

I knew I wanted to try a 'no colouring' style card after seeing some great inspiration dotted around blogland. I had a few ideas floating around in my head but needed this post on Maureen Merritt's stunning blog, Mama Mo, to give me my light-bulb moment!

The background was created very speedily using Hero Arts' beautiful Star Galaxy coloured with Distress Inks, which I blended on the stamp using sponge. The bears are from MFT Birthday Bears and the sentiment from Mama Elephant Merry Greetings both of which were purchased from Make the Day Special... Or as I like to think of it: Make the Jo Poor! Seriously people, I have noooo willpower when it comes to stamp shopping. The gifts were paper pieced from some pretty little scraps and then the ribbons and bows received a Wink or two of Stella.

I like the fact that there are three bears and that the sentiment has three words!

Now, I'm off to take a look at Day 5 of Taheerah's Advent Caledar Extravaganza, which I am loving!

November CCC Reveal

It's Card Chain Reveal time again and what a gorgeous reveal it is!

I sent this little friendship card to Carol in Scotland...

And received this simply stunning card (and a beautiful bookmaker) from the very talented Nathalie in Quebec.

As you can see I'm still playing with Charmed from Mama Elephant. I love all the different elements that you get with this set.

This time I've combined the little fox and a sentiment banner with the wreath... Lots of fussy-cutting-fun for this make! I wanted a very simple background and was intending to do some watercolouring but at the last minute I opted for this Memory Box stencil instead.

The Card Chain Challenge takes a break over the Festive Season and returns in January. Should you be tempted to become a link in a chain of friendship and creativity that criss-crosses the globe you can find all the details over on Deborah's blog.

Naughty or Nice Challenge #22 - Show us some Wing!

Hi everyone, can you believe that it's actually December???

Over at Naughty or Nice we're looking for things with wings so why not break out your birds, insects, fairies and angel stamps and play along with us. We'd love it if you did!

I've combined two sweet stamp sets from Mama Elephant to make my card. I've used Charmed for the images and I Like You for the sentiment. Both sets were purchased from one of my most favourite online shops: Make the Day Special. You can also see two Hero Arts stamps Winter Tree Patterns and Flourish which appear on my cards again and again... Oldies but goodies. There's plenty of layers and dimension on this little card and I used silicone for the first time as the pieces were too small to use dimensional tape or dots.

I made this card for my husband. To say we've had a difficult few weeks would be an understatement. A little over a month ago I had what I thought was toothache and had some dental work done. To cut a long story short; three trips to A&E, five trips to my Dental Practitioner and five trips to my GP later it turns out I probably have something called Atypical Face Pain or Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain. Hubby has been with me every step of the way and has truly been my rock over the last few weeks. The medication can take about three months to have an effect so life is slightly on-hold at the moment while I learn how to live with the pain and discomfort... so please forgive me if I'm not dropping by or posting as much as usual.

To check out my fellow Troublemakers delightful 'wing-ed' cards you can head over to the Naughty and Nice Challenge Blog and take a look at their glorious creations...

House of Cards - End of Term Blog Hop and Prizes

Hi everyone, are you ready for some blog hopping fun?

Welcome to the end of term hop from House of Cards, if you're following the hop you'll have just landed here from the blog of my talented teamie Donna T.

Did you know that this blog hop is also a DT Call?

The House of Cards Team are looking for crafters comfortable in any card making style and it might just be YOU!  You'll be contacted after the challenge closes to let you know if you've made the team. Each DT member will just be in charge of one or two cards/projects per month plus commenting.  If you're interested in working with us a HOC for a six month term from January - June 2016, please email our leader, Mynn at onastampageATgmailDOTcom with the following information:   

• A link to your blog.
• Attached cards showing your style - 3 maximum.
• A brief description as to why you'd like to join the team at House of Cards.
• Any major life happenings you KNOW you have coming up in your life from January-June 2016 that might interfere with your DT responsibilities.

(Please email Mynn at onastampageATgmailDOTcom if you have any other questions!)    

I can hardly believe that I've come to the end of my 1st term at HOC. For many of the girls this is their third term on the team and Mynn and the gang are saying a fond farewell to some of DT members and feeling grateful to those staying on. 

So, to say goodbye and thank you, we're celebrating with a blog hop! 

This hop will run from 1st December through to 15th December... Any card style is welcome. Here's a gorgeous inspiration photo to get you feeling all Christmasy!

For my offering I've used a very traditional image from Mynn's Etsy shop MHK Designs. I loved the red candles in the inspiration picture and made sure that Santa's tree glowed with gorgeous red candles too. I also love the touches of gold in the picture so searched my stash for some gold card to use as a mount.

                                      

  

You can check-out the sponsor details on the HOC blog and also find that all important information about applying to join the Design Team. Make sure you leave a comment at each person's blog along the way because the prizes are hidden and we'll be doing random draws at the blogs where they're hiding! After you're done, make a creation to share with us over on the HOC blog, too, for another chance to win! Prize winners from the Blog Hop will be announced on 20th December and card winners will be announced next month on the 15th.

Your next stop on the hop is Em. 

Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!