Jingle Belles: Bling on the Holidays

 

It's currently all about the BLING over at Jingle Belles!

I started off with a piece of green cardstock, and got busy with a stencil, Versamark and gorgeous Wow Glitter embossing powder. However, the green just looked too flat. I rummaged in my stash and found this gorgeous inky, red watercoloured card and repeated the process. The glitter on this card is a thing of beauty. I die cut a Reverse Confetti Peace die, mounted the panel on some leftover card and thus my festival of sparkle was complete.

I'm also linking this card over at Addicted to Stamps and More where they are playing:

 

I was thrilled to find I was their Top Addict for Challenge #462 with this little mouse card.

Thanks so much, guys. 

Here's one last look at my card for today...

It's so difficult to photograph anything sparkly, isn't it. You'll just have to believe me that this is totally blingtastic... as are my face, hands, hair and navy blue hoodie!

Happy crafting, everyone!

Reminder - Christmas Kickstart Challenge #84

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly we reach the middle of a Challenge. Can you believe we are already half-way through?

For the whole of March we're playing: 

Get Your Grinch On!

with the lovely Meghan from Made by Meghan K. 

Here's what Meghan made for our challenge:

I was completely blown away by Meghan's card, but wasn't sure in which direction to go for my 'Inspired by...' creation. Some of this was to do with my lack of St Patrick's Day stash. Eventually, the lightbulb moment happened and I decided to borrow 'the sketch' and some of the design elements from Meghan's card. Not everything went to plan, but I think it worked out ok in the end!

I used this adorable stamp: Doggo and Mousy Winter walk POD for my focal point, and Corner Sentiments Holiday Avery Elle for the sentiment. The papers are from MFT Holly Jolly 6 x 6 paper pad.

I love the fact that we have some toads/frogs in the gallery for this challenge. I'd already thought about inking-up this adorable little guy, but couldn't work out how to use him until I remembered this big Noel die. I thought it would be fun to have him jumping across the 'O' and leaving his Santa hat behind. I coloured with my pencils for a change as I wanted him to look bright and bold. 

I doubt that the All Night Media Flying Frog is still available anywhere. I do love this versatile die: Penny Black Creative Dies Noel and how well it works for a slimline format.

I'm going to link-up the little frog over at Christmas Craft Creations where their current theme is DP. 

Finally, don't forget that Rudolph has a gorgeous stamp prize for his Random Raffle, so please come and join Meghan and me and Get Your Grinch On! 

Here's one Sue made earlier...

Hi guys, yesterday I mentioned that my friend, Sue, was coming over for a little card making fun. We broke out the embossing powder and Distress Inks, and this is what she created...

Isn't this brilliant and, unbelievably it's her first attempt! And what a lovely eye for colour too. I think we have a new card maker to welcome to our crafting community.

Sue never comes empty handed, and just look at the gorgeous necklace she gave me:

All handmade by Sue. Handmade gifts are so lovely, aren't they. 

O Christmas Tree, Tree, Tree and Tree...

 

An afternoon of crafting has certainly improved this Monday!

I wanted to make a card to play along over at Jingle Belles with Steph and Lauren, and also a few other lovely challenges I'd spotted.

 

Steph and Lauren's current theme is Die Cuts and I was thinking layered snowflakes, until I pulled out this Happy Christmas die from Creative Expressions and noticed that it had a little 'shelf' after the word 'Happy'. 🤣🤣🤣

I die cut three Christmas trees using Sizzix Stacked Tiles, Triangles and assembled my card. Just three trees just didn't look right, so I added a fourth! 

This was so quick and simple to make and I used up some of my most fiddley, tiny pieces of DP too! 

I'm also going to link to these lovely challenges:

I do love the DT makes over at Just Us Girls. My one other colour is RED! 

The lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #60, 

Peace on Earth who are playing with Green for Challenge #59, as prompted by this gorgeous Mood Board...

and, finally, the good folk over at Shopping Our Stash who are looking for mostly green projects for their Challenge It's Not Easy being Green.

What a lot of challenges! I think I'll need a lie down after I've tided up.

I'm looking forward to my friend coming over tomorrow. She did a heat embossing course recently and I couldn't believe they'd had the nerve to charge a fee for just a few scraps of paper with a single embossed image on each. What a cheek! I've promised her we'll make something nice, and that I won't charge for the tea and biscuits!

Happy crafting, folks. 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #84 - Get Your Grinch On!

It's the first Tuesday of a new month and so we have a brand new elf over at Christmas Kickstart. I know you are going to love the work of the very talented Meghan Kennihan from Made by Meghan K. 

Meghan and I are taking our cue from the approach of Spring and St. Patrick's Day on March 17th, but as always it's got a Christmas twist...

Challenge #84 - Get Your Grinch On!

We'd to see the colour GREEN taking centre stage on your Christmas cards for this month and you will LOVE Meghan's creation for this challenge.. 

I had so much fun making my card, and decided to employ a technique I always enjoy: paper - piecing! 

I stamped their jumpers on some teeny, tiny pieces of leftover papers!

I'm linking this card to Snippets Playground Challenge #475 because, well: SNIPPETS! 

For my second card I got busy with this sweet stamp from WPlus9 (sadly, no longer available) and a very large die cut.

Rudolph has a lovely prize for one lucky, Random Raffle Winner. 

Please head on over to Christmas Kickstart and play along!

A birthday card with an elephant on it...

A lovely friend of mine will be 60 next week and so, of course, I HAD to make her a card. 

Although I met my friend at the Cat Rescue where we both volunteer, I know that she has a real soft spot for elephants, so decided to ink up this fun Katzelkraft stamp and pair it with a sentiment from MFT. I think the crown is also from Katzelkraft. 

Edited to add...

I'm linking this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #60

and Seize the Birthday #278, where I'm going with the Anything Goes option.

It's a lovely sunny day here in the UK, so I think I'll go for a walk after lunch and enjoy some Springs rays. 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #248 - S is for Snarky

 

Our Edna seems to be rocking some kind of late eighties vibe in her white slogan tee, or is this just me showing my age?! 

Welcome, folks! It's Snark time as The Sisterhood play S is for Snark for the whole of March. 

I had quite a bit of fun with this VLVS image and my PC. We all feel her pain, right? Thought so.

The sisters have a fabulous queen on board this month, and we'd all love you to come and join the fun!

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - February 2024

We had 34 participants who exchanged cards across the globe for our February Challenge.

 

All the cards exchanged this month used at least one of the following options:

 

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

Theme Options: Balloons / Flowers / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Twine / Stencil

Here's the card that I sent winging it's way around the planet to Suze in New Zealand. 

 

I do love this cute little duo from Taylored Expressions - Gus and Gertie. To make this card I used the colours, the sketch (after a bit of juggling with the elements), balloons, stencil and friendship options. One of these months I might just manage them all!

I picked up an email from Suze this morning telling me that my card had just reached her. I thought I'd share the pic of the envelope she sent me...

It looks like the card has had quite the adventure getting to her! 

My sender for this month was the lovely Kath. Doesn't she make the loveliest CAS cards!

I'm going to link up this card over at Lost Coast Design where they are playing Let's Fly for the whole of March. 

If you'd like to see the full Card Chain Challenge Reveal in all it's glory, please head here. 

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog #55 - Anything Goes

 

Hi everyone, and welcome to my very first DT outing with the fabulous crew over at The Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog.  A big thank you to blog owner Leslie for inviting me to join the fun! This is a great little challenge with a very talented DT, plus links to a heap of other challenges run by the same team. 

Every challenge is an Anything Goes Christmas Challenge and the team hosts six challenges per year, with each challenge lasting approximately six weeks.

I had great fun playing with this little hoo from AI called Beanie Hoot set. Since taking early ill-health retirement I'm tending to buy older/reduced stamps and did a little happy dance when I spotted this cute guy on sale. The papers are Carta Bella - Snow Much Fun. 

Please head on over and take a look at all of the gorgeous DT makes - there's so much festive eye candy awaiting you there!