C24C - Tic Tac Toe ....

... Morning! It's the first of the month and that means we have a new challenge for you at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#29. For the next two weeks we have a Tic-Tac-Toe grid for you to pick a line and use on your Christmas card. I picked the left hand line down - Die Cuts, Design Paper and Pearls. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Peace on Earth

Inks: Gina K - Soft Stone; Memento - Grape Jelly

Dies: MFT - Very Merry and Bright

Accessories: White Card; Kaisercraft DP - Christmas Jewel; Pearls

I'm submitting this card to Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - FNF#512 where the theme is Christmas.

This is a quite clean and simple. I found a piece of Christmas design paper which is bold and has lovely foiled snowflakes and used the large word die to cut the greeting. I used the negative space piece to help position the words, removed the paper and left the words bold on a white card. In my stash I found a strip of tiny black pearls exactly the right length and placed them below the word bright. A nice clean, simple card. On the inside, I cut a piece of design paper for the mat layer and on the white panel I stamped a couple of doves in soft grey and added a sentiment in purple.

Using this large die made it very easy to make a second card. I used the negative space left in the design paper on a black card:

Stamps: Uniko - Peace on Earth

Inks: Gina K - Soft Stone; Memento - Grape Jelly

Dies: MFT - Very Merry and Bright

Accessories: White Card; Kaisercraft DP - Christmas Jewel; Pearls; Glitter Paper

I used a piece of pale lilac glitter paper to go behind the design paper as the black card didn't give enough definition to the letters. I trimmed the paper to be slightly smaller than an A2 card. I added lots of tiny dark grey pearls to the centres of the snowflakes. The pearls in the letters are where the snowflake centres would be. On the inside, I used the glitter paper for the mat layer and stamped the same doves and words on the white panel.

This was fun. Using the large word die made it easy to make two cards at once. I really enjoyed seeing all the lovely cute animals cards for our last challenge. I can't wait to see what you make using the Tic-
Tac-Toe grid. Don't forget to visit our Christmas 24 Challenge blog to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the design team.

Before I go, I'd like to wish all my family and friends living in Wales

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

The national flower of Wales is a daffodil and there are some flowering in my garden - spring is on the way. Bye for now - see you again soon.

Uniko Challenge Reminder - Christmas ....

..... Hello and good morning! According to the United States Postal Service the last posting date for Christmas first class to Europe and the UK was yesterday - 7th December!!!  Good thing I made this card a while ago and it's in the post then :) I'm here this morning with a reminder card for our current challenge at Uniko - US#44 - we want to see Christmas cards.

Stamps: Uniko - Peace on Earth, Most Wonderful, Festive Sentiments, Reach for the Stars
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Black Onyx, Christmas Pine; Delicata -Silvery Shimmer
Dies: Die-namics - Pierced Ovals #3, Cross Stitched Oval Stax #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card -Smoky Slate; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Clear Embossing Powder

I kept this card really simple to focus on the pretty dove. I die cut white card to create the oval frame and adhered it flat to the card base. I added lots of sparkles all over it with a clear Wink of Stella brush. I stamped the dove on white card with a pale grey ink, coloured it with Copics, put it back in the MISTI and restamped in Versafine and heat embossed with clear powder. I carefully cut out the dove. I stamped the leaf on the white oval and adhered the dove on top, I used some dimensional pads on the wings to give the bird some real dimension. I adhered the oval to the card with dimensional tape. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of pale grey card and added a greeting and some stars to the white panel.

I based the layout of this card on a sketch from Christmas Card Throwdown - CCT#21.

Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see more inspiration projects from the rest of the design team. That's all from me for now. Bye!

25 Tags of Christmas ...

... Hi! It's day 21 of Tracey McNeeley's 25 Days of Christmas Tags and today Uniko is sponsoring the challenge. I've made some very simple, but fun Christmas tags:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Falling Snowflakes, Festive Sentiments, Most Wonderful, Peace on Earth
Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Black Onyx; Distress - Salty Ocean, Mermaid Lagoon, Chipped Sapphire, Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Lucky Clover, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet Dusty Concord
Dies: Lil Inkers - Dotted Tags
Accessories: Strathmore Smooth Bristol Card; Ribbons; Clear Embossing Powder; Grey Mirri card

For this set of tags, I used my Lil Inker dotted dies to cut the card. I stamped the snowflakes on each tag in Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder. Then I coloured the tags with Distress inks to reveal the falling snow - I love this technique. There's a couple of tiny dies in the tag set that cut a hole in the tags and also cut out hole reinforcers - I used mirri card to create them. I finished the front of each tag with a simple greeting in black and a simple ribbon treatment. Here's a close up look at each tag:

Don't forget to visit Tracey's blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the Uniko design Team. This challenge runs throughout November and there are opportunities to win prizes. Full details of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge can be found on Tracey's blog here.

That's all from me today - see you again soon.

Uniko - Snowflakes Galore ....

... Good morning! I'm here this morning with a quick peak of my Uniko Design Team Inspiration post. I've been playing with my Brusho crystals and have made a set of Christmas cards - full details of the process can be found over at Uniko today.

I'm going to submit this set of cards to the challenge over at Jingle Belles - JB:17:03 - where the team want to see snow - I've got plenty here.

Stamps: Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes, Big & Bold Snow, Rustic Christmas, Peace on Earth, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Lil Inkers - Wonky Rectangles #4, Dual Stitched Rectangles #5, Dual Dotted Ovals #3, Dual Dotted Squares #4, Dual Dotted Circles #5, Dual Dotted Rectangles #5
Accessories: Tim Holtz Water Colour Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Gumball Green, Night of Navy, Perfect Plum, Blackberry Bliss; Brusho - Turquoise, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine, Lime Green, Sea Green, Olive Green, Ost Blue, Gamboge, Rose Red, Violet; Embossing Powder - Silver, Gold and White

Thank you for stopping by today. Do drop by tomorrow for more Uniko news! See you soon.

52CCT and CIC - I'm late ....

.... Apologies to my team mates on both Design Teams, I've been so busy with house stuff that I only managed to get into my craft room this afternoon to get these cards made!! I'll start with my card for this week's colour challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT10-16. Our colours this week are GREEN AND WHITE - seems appropriate with St Patrick's Day coming up soon. Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Stunning Snowflakes, Peace on Earth
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Kaisercraft DP - Holly Jolly; Martha Stewart Punch - Snowflake; Gems; Stampin' Up Punches - Decorative Label, Word Window, Large Oval

I used the sketch from this week's MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC#271. I found these lovely papers in my stash. I cut a panel of sage green with embossed crosses adhered it to the card and topped it with a strip of snowflake paper in a darker shade of green. I punched three snowflakes, attached them to the card and added some gems. I finished the front with a simple sentiment in black. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel I stamped some green snowflakes and added a greeting label.

For more inspiration with our green and white colour scheme, check out the cards from the rest of the team - they're fab!!

Our challenge at Cupcake Inspirations - CIC#351 this week has the theme RAINBOW. We are being sponsored by The Ribbon Resource and I was lucky enough to get some ribbon from them to use on my card. I'm not great at bows and the like, so this is how I used the ribbon:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Groovy Love
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Hearts a Flutter; Waltzingmouse Dies - Simple Sprig
Accessories: White Lustre Card; The Ribbon Resource - Green Fuchsia Check, Shades of Orange, Shades of Blue, Pink Watercolour

I cut a panel of white card and covered it with double sided adhesive.  I then adhered the four ribbons in a diagonal pattern and attached the finished panel to the front of the card. The top panel is just smaller than the card and I used my MISTI to position and stamp the heart and sentiment.  Then I die cut a number of hearts and circles around the greeting.  I like the way the die cut spaces reveal all the different ribbons in a rainbow of colours!!  I've not done the inside of my card yet.

For more inspiration cards, do visit our blog to see what the rest of the team have made.

House moving preparations are well in hand now. I've got the removal firm booked and have been busy going through our stuff to sort out what we want to keep, what to throw away as it's old or broken, and also to see what can be recycled. On Saturday Jonathan and I took several large sacks of clothes to the Salvation Army store, and I think it's likely that there'll be more to follow this week. We also told Kat that she could pick a colour for her bedroom - she selected a really nice grey, but it was so dark. Fortunately we agreed on a nice light grey and I'll be starting the painting tomorrow! I am also painting our office and my new craft room!! Will post pictures once we're in and settled.

The clocks went forward last night and it's so nice to have light evenings. It would have been better to have a sunny day too, but the rain has stopped now. Have a good week! I'm not sure when I'll next get chance to play in my craft room, I suspect it's going to be next month.

25 Tags of Christmas ....

... Hello!  I'm playing along with Tracey McNeely's 25 Tags of Christmas challenge.  This year is the challenge's 5th Anniversary.  Bev at Uniko is one of the sponsors and several of the DT have made tags to play along!  I don't often make tags, so this was a fun way to get me started and I actually ended up making three tags.  Here's a photo of all three together:

Stamps: Uniko - Peace on Earth, Rustic Christmas, Jolly Christmas; Waltzingmouse - Seasons of Love
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Stampin' Up! - Marina Mist, Old Olive, Real Red
Dies: Uniko - Snowflakes; Waltzingmouse - Stitched Tag
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Copic Markers; Glitter; Ribbons; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used my Waltzingmouse Stitched Tag die to cut six white blanks - one for the front and one for the back.

Dove - I stamped the image and sentiment in black.  I used my Copic markers to add a touch of colour to the dove's wings and used a glue pen to colour the bird and added lots of glitter.  Once dry I adhered the front and back together and finished by adding some ribbons.

Santa - I stamped the image directly on the card, coloured it with Copic markers and added glitter to the white parts.  Once dry, I added lots more sparkle by using my clear Wink of Stella Brush on the rest of the image.  I adhered front and back together and finished with more ribbons.

Snowflake - I stamped the sentiment at the base of the tag. Next I used the largest of the snowflake dies to make an impression in the tag.  I ran a glue pen around the impression line and then added blue glitter to add definition to the snowflake.  I glued front and back tags together and finished the tag with ribbons.

On the back of each tag I added some lines on which to write a message as well as a few Christmas stars.

Full details of the challenge can be found here on Tracey's blog - there are lots of opportunites to win prizes by taking part.  And I really must make some more tags too!  That's all for now! 

52CCT - Theme .....

.....  Good morning everyone!  It's time for our new challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and Gill has a super theme for us this week.  She has picked SILENT NIGHT.  My first thought was the carol and I was going to have a musical theme on my card, but I kept coming back to the quiet hush that falls over a place when there's been a heavy snowfall - and we had a few of those this year!!  Here's my take on the theme:

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque - Discontinued; Uniko Studio - Peace on Earth; Stampin' Up! - More Merry Messages
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crushed Curry; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this card to the new Time Out Challenge - TOC#27 where the team would like us to make a CAS card with black, white and an optional splash of colour.  I'm also playing along with Jingle Belles - JB:15:06 where the ladies would like us to use embossing.  I think this image is just super (it's an old one and I can't remember the name of the set) and really suggests a "silent night".  I stamped it in Versafine and heat embossed with clear powder - love the shine.  I added a touch of colour to the houses with shades of grey and the splash of colour is the yellow light shining in the windows.  I layered the image on to yellow card, using some dimensional tape for dimension.  I also added a touch of sparkle to suggest the snow (see picture below).  I finished the front with a simple sentiment.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of yellow card and added a Christmas greeting.

Here's the close-up of the houses - you can see the shimmer of the "snow" - just love that Wink of Stella clear brush!!

Edited:  I've just seen that this week's Just Us Girls - JUGS#285 has a colour challenge of black, white and one other colour - how lucky am I?  I'm off to submit there too.

For more inspiration with our theme of "Silent Night" check out the cards from the rest of the Design Team - all so different.  I'm really looking forward to seeing your creations!  Have fun!  Before I go, I thought I'd share a video of Winchester Cathedral Choir singing Silent Night - so beautiful: