52CCT - Pick a Previous ....

... Morning! It's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT17-16 and, as we've got five Saturdays this month, Patrick has selected the bonus challenge as PICK A PREVIOUS THEME. You can click on the tab at the top of our page at 52CCT to check out previous themes. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Jingle Bells
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Rich Razzleberry, Mossy Meadow; Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Galaxy Gold
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Mossy Meadow; Wink of Stella - Dark Green

This week I've made a really CAS one layer card. The layout is based on the sketch from this week's CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#171, although I've changed the direction of the curves! I'm also submitting this to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#191 where Anything Goes. I've actually used a couple of previous themes on this card - Bells from January 2015 and Holly from August 2013.

This lovely holly flourish is a multi-step stamp. I stamped the leaves and ribbon in green and then, using my MISTI, stamped the poinsettia in several shades of red. I added the simple and bold greeting from the same set. I added a touch of sparkle by colouring the ribbons with a dark green Wink of Stella brush. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel I stamped the Christmas bell.

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the team. Do play along, it's never too early to start on your Christmas cards, in fact it's a great help! You've got plenty of time to join in, deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Friday 6th May (7.00pm EDT). Have fun!

TMR - Theme & DT Call ....

.... Good afternoon! I'm running rather late with my DT card for our new challenge at The Male Room - TMR#34. Our theme for the next couple of weeks is SHAKESPEARE. This is not as difficult as it might seem - you can pick anything about Shakespeare from his place of birth, the theme of theatre, titles of plays or sonnets, or quotes, or any of the numerous words that he introduced to the English language. However, your project must has a masculine feel. I actually picked a couple of quotes from two of his plays. Here's my first card:

Stamps: Judikins - Dia Muertos Sun; Stampin' Up! - Making Spirits Bright
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - In and Out Diagonal Square Stax #5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey; Copics; Clear Embossing Powder

I think you can probably guess the quote I picked here. It's "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." from Hamlet, Act 5, scene 1. At this point in the play Hamlet has picked up a skull of his father's court jester. I decided to play on the fact that the skull was that of the jester and used this wonderful sugar skull stamp as the focal image on my card. I coloured it with Copics in neutral tones. I die cut the finished image with a square fancy edged die and added very clean and crisp sentiments. Obviously, this is a Halloween card. On the inside I cut another mat layer of grey card and die cut another white square on which I stamped a fun image.

As I've used die-cut panels on this card and it celebrates Halloween, I'm submitting this card to the current challenge over at Time Out Challenges - TOC#55 where they want cards with any celebration and the option of die cutting.

There are so many wonderful quotes from Shakespeare plays, some of which people don't even realise come from his plays. There is no doubt where this quote comes from:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Halloween Party, Spooky Tree Background, Vintage Witch
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Grass; Hero Arts Neon - Green, Pink, Orange; Memento - Grey Flannel
Dies: Waltzingmouse - Halloween Party
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Graphic 45 DP - Rare Oddities; SU Punch - 1¼" Circle, Modern Label

It's another Halloween card, this time based on the quote "Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." Macbeth, Act 4, scene 1. The three witches recite this spell over a cauldron as they await the arrival of the man they say would be king - Macbeth. I started by stamping the images in black versafine and heat embossing with clear powder, then I cut them out with the matching dies. I used some neon colours to stamp the bubbles and sparks from the cauldron. I stamped the spooky tree in grey, lightly sponged on pale grey ink and then adhered a die cut circle to create a moon. I added more ink to create the ground and sky. Once finished, I removed the circle to reveal the full moon shining down on one of the witches at the cauldron. I completed the front by adding the actual quote which I punched out, edged and adhered with dimensional tape. On the inside I cut a piece of design paper for the mat layer, adding ink to match the front of the card. I finished by added a sentiment and some bats.

I'm submitting this card to the current challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#191 where it's Anything Goes.

My team mates have created a super selection of cards covering all sorts of occasions. You've got plenty of time to play along, deadline for submission is midnight (BST) Tuesday 10th May (7.00pm EDT).

Finally, we're having a DT Call at The Male Room. If you would like to apply to join the team, you must play along with this week's #34 theme AND the next challenge #35. Full details on The Male Room post.

And now I must stop crafting and get on with some house stuff - specially ironing! Ugh! See you soon.

Dashing through the snow ....

.... Hello! Good morning! I'm rather excited today. My festive ornament card won challenge #200 at Merry Monday and, as a result, I'm Guest Designer for this week's challenge at Merry Monday - MM#202. Kathy's challenge is to create a snowy card, and this is what I made:

Stamps: Uniko - Big & Bold Snow, Stunning Snowflakes
Inks: Memento - Grey Flannel; Stampin' Up! - Pool Party
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Winter Frost; SU/Sizzix EF - Northern Flurry; Sequins

The inspiration photo is fab and I so nearly went with a soft neutral look, but instead I decided to play with shades of aqua and white and snowflakes. I cut a panel of snowflake design paper for the mat layer. I stamped the sentiment on white card, stamped some small snowflakes and then embossed the large snowflakes. I finished the front by adding a sprinkle of sequins in white and aqua. On the inside I cut another mat layer of the snowflake design paper and on the white panel I added some more snowflakes along with a greeting.

I love making Christmas cards and try to play along with Merry Monday as often as possible. I'd like to thank Bonnie for inviting me to join them this week - do play along - it's always good to get your Christmas cards made ahead of time!

52CCT - Stash ....

.... Morning! It's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT16-16 and it's a stash challenge. Patricia has picked metal embellishments. I'm sure that like me, you have all kinds of metal stash - eyelets, brads, charms, paperclips - you can use as many or as few as you like, but we must be able to see them clearly on your card. Here's my card and I think the metal is obvious!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Flurry of Wishes; Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes
Inks: SU - Concord Crush; Brilliance - Starlite Silver
Dies: Die-namics ovals
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kanban Card - Purple Mirri; Vellum; Silver charm and wire

The challenge over at Merry Monday - MM#201 this week is to use purple, silver and white - done! I've had this wonderful purple mirri card in my stash for a while (years!!). It's embossed with lovely silver snowflakes and I wanted to show it off on the card, but mirri card can be very hard to photograph. I cut a panel of white card and die cut an oval in the centre, behind which I added some vellum - now you can see the colour and pattern! I stamped some snowflakes in silver and added a sentiment in purple. I finished the card by hanging a silver Christmas tree charm to the front. On the inside I cut another layer of the purple mirri card and added a sentiment and more snowflakes on the white panel.

Do visit our blog to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the team. Have a great weekend, see you soon.

Pool is open ....

... Hi! I don't have a card to share today. I've been busy learning about pool maintenance. At our new house we have a lovely pool in the back yard - irregular shape, with a diving board at the deep end and a hot spa as well. Today, the pool company came and took off the tarpaulin, cleaned out the debris and set it up.  Here are a few photos:

The pool guys came this morning at 8.00am and it took them several hours to remove the tarpaulin and clean up. They put a hose into the pool to add water and, as at 4.30pm, it's still filling. Almost there. At the moment the water temperature is 48°F, and once the water heater is turned on, it'll take a few days to warm up. Fortuantely, when it's sunny here, it's hot and that will help to warm the water.

Earlier this week, when we were in the garden we saw that some of the local frogs were using the water on the tarpaulin as their pond. Sadly, they had spawned. All the frogs left safely, but we didn't save any spawn.

As well as the pool, we have a wonderful magnolia tree. It's in full bloom at the moment and looks just gorgeous. The petals have already started to fall, so transient, but so, so pretty. There are lots more trees in the garden and they'll soon be in leaf and flower.

You can see the tarpaulin on the pool in the photo above!

That's all for now. I really must try to get into my craft room tomorrow and make some cards. Moving house and unpacking really does take much longer than you'd think! See you soon.

CIC - Colours ....

... Morning! It's time for our new challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#356 and this week we have some really pretty colours for you - pink, blossom and pistachio. I've made a pretty and reasonably clean and simple birthday card:

Stamps: Sami Stamps - Umbrella Poinsettia Digi; Uniko - Simply Said, I Love Tea
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Pretty in Pink
Dies: Lil Inkers - Stitched Squares #4, Dual Stitched Squares #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Pear Pizzazz; Ribbon Resource - Green/Fuchsia Check Ribbon; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I think this image is so pretty and even though it's called Poinsettia, I think the flowers could equally well be rose-like! I printed the image twice on white card and coloured with Copics. I cut the umbrella part out and added sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush and then adhered it to the main image with dimensional gel. I used dies to cut out the image and also for the mat layer. I stamped a very clean, crisp sentiment below the image. I finished the card by adding a bow - something I do very rarely! On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel added a simple flower image. On the photo below you can see the dimension and also the sparkle on the umbrella.

The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $12 gift card from Sami Stamps to use in their shop. For more inspiration projects check out our blog to see what the team have created with these fabulous spring colours!  Have fun!

Festive ornaments ...

.....  Hello again! I was on a bit of a roll yesterday. After making my card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, I decided to have a go at another of the Merry Monday - MM#200 challenges. I picked the photo inspiration:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season II
Inks: Memento - Grey Flannel; Distress - Iced Spruce
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dual Stitched Rectangles #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Silver Bells

I used most of the same supplies as for my 52CCT card, but changed the design paper. In the Silver Bells stack was a page full of pretty Christmas ornaments, so I cut out a couple of pink and one grey. I covered the base with pink paper, which just happens to have some Christmas foliage on it. I cut a large white panel and stamped some pine branches in two shades of grey for the background and then adhered the Christmas ornaments. I finished by adding a simple greeting. On the inside I cut a mat layer from more design paper and stamped some branches and a greeting on the white panel. This one almost works for our Christmas Foliage theme at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, but the foliage is a bit too much in the background!

That's all for now. Hopefully, I'll get some more unpacking done today and get rid of those awful packing boxes. See you tomorrow!

52CCT - Theme ...

.... Good morning! I'm back this morning with a card for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT15-16. This week Patricia has picked CHRISTMAS FOLIAGE for our theme and I've had fun with it:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season II
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: WMS - Holly Dies; Lil Inkers - Dual Stitched Rectangles #2
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Home for Christmas

I used a couple of my favourite stamps sets from Waltzingmouse (now sadly closed) to make this card. This week's challenge at Merry Monday - MM#200 is a multi-challenge as it's their 200th challenge. I've used their colours and the sketch on this card. I covered the card with some foliage design paper and added a strip of kraft burlap paper. I die cut some white card onto which I stamped a bold Christmas greeting. I finished the front by stamping some holly leaves and berries, cutting them out with the matching die and adding a paper arrow from the design paper set. On the inside I cut a mat layer of the burlap paper and stamped more holly on the white card.

It was a really lovely day yesterday with bright sunshine and warm temperatures. I'm still trying to work out the best location in the house to take photos of my cards, so I decided to go outside and take these photos in the sunshine. I ended up sitting out for a while! Bliss!! For more inspiration, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have made.  Have fun!