Christmas Sparkle

.... Good afternoon! I've made my first Christmas card of the year. Last year, I was so behind making Christmas cards, that I've decided to get a wiggle on and start now. Here's my card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Delightful Decorations; Waltzingmouse Stamps -Teeny Trees; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas; Mama Elephant - Easy Xmas Greetings

Inks: Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Soft Stone, Stormy Sky; Versafine Clair - Morning Mist

Accessories: White & Grey Card; Kaisercraft DP - Glisten; SU Punch - Delightful Decorations; WRMK Floss - Snowflake

I'm submitting this card to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT24-01 - for the sketch layout, Just Us Girls - JUGS#709 - where the word is 'sparkle', and to Cupcake Inspirations Challenge - CIC#585 - for the colours.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has lots of stash, so this year I've decided to revisit some of my old stuff - there's nothing new on this card!! I used the sparkly silver dot design paper for the background, and layered it onto a grey mat. I stamped this lovely ornament in bright yellow ink and used the matching punch to cut it out, along with three white ones which I layered together to give some dimension. I stamped a simple greeting on grey card, and adhered the strip to the panel. I found some silver floss in my stash and used this the 'hang' the ornament on the card.

Inside the card, I cut another grey mat layer and on the white panel I stamped some fun Christmas greetings and I added some dotty circles too.

That's all for today. See you soon.

C24C - Christmas Night ....

... Good morning! May is flying by, but it does mean that it's time for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#34. For the next couple of weeks we want your Christmas cards to be about Christmas night. I've focused on Christmas Eve night and here's my first card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Accessories: White Card; Anita's Classic Christmas DP Red/Gold; Kanban Toppers - Carol Singers

I was going through my stash of card and paper last week and came across some Kanban Card Topper sheets that I got from QVC quite some time ago (about 2009). In an effort to use up some of my stash, I went through to see what I could find that fit the theme. I came across a sheet with Carol Singers calling at the house and a sheet with a couple walking towards church. So I decided to use them for my cards.

I cut a piece of gold design paper slightly smaller than my card base and adhered it to the card. I cut out the pieces of the image, trimmed to remove any paper tags and edged the pieces with a marker pen. I used dimensional pads to layer up the dimensional image. I adhered the finished piece to some black card and glued it to the side of the card. I finished the front by added a simple greeting. Inside the card, I cut another piece of design paper for the mat layer and on the white card I simply stamped a Christmas greeting.

I am pleased how this came out and it really does remind me of Christmas eve nights at my in-laws when the local carol singers came calling. Here's my second card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress - Chipped Sapphire

Accessories: White Card; Anita's Classic Christmas DP Blue; Kanban Toppers - Christmas Morning

The image on this topper is actually going to church in the morning, but I've used Distress ink to darken the sky and suggest dusk and the couple are now walking to a Christmas Eve church service. I used a blue marker to go round the edge of each piece. I adhered some blue design paper to the card, added the dimensional focal image and finished with a simple Christmas greeting. Inside, I used another sheet from the design paper pad for the mat layer and stamped a simple Christmas greeting in black on the white card.

I'm submitting these cards to Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - MLCCB#24 where it's anything Christmas goes, and to Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - HLSXMAS#05 where it's anything Christmas goes (and I've skipped the option).

That's all from me for today. Don't forget to visit our blog - Christmas 24 Challenge - to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the design team. See you soon.

C24C - Christmas Greetings ....

.... Hello again! I wasn't around much for the second part of June, and today - two posts!! The first of the month means that it's time for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#13 and we want to see Christmas Foliage on your cards. I made a very clean and simple card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Festive Foliage; Uniko - Christmas Sparkle, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Fresh Asparagus; Memento - New Sprout, Bamboo Leaves
Dies: WMS - Mistletoe
Accessories: White Card; SU DP - Pear Pizzazz; Glitter

I'm submitting this card to a couple of challenges - Less is More - LIM#422 where they want us to use an Outline image and a solid image, and to Perfectly CAS - PCAS#10 where the theme is Sparkle.

 

I went back to my old Waltzingmouse stamps for this card - so sad that Claire is no longer making stamps, but I still use them often!! It was either the holly or the mistletoe, in the end, the simplicity of the mistletoe won. I stamped the outline image in a dark green ink and used a couple of different shades of green for the solid image. I cut them both out with the matching die and then added some fine glitter to the mistletoe berries. I stamped a bow at the top of the card and adhered the mistletoe and used a fine black marker to draw in the bow. I finished the front with a simple greeting. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of green texty paper and on the white panel stamped another of the solid mistletoe images and added a Christmas greeting.

Before I go, I should mention that we have a DT call for Christmas 24 Challenge - if you're interested please add DT by your name when you upload your cards. Thanks.

Don't forget to visit our blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the design team. Christmas Foliage is an easy challenge, and I look forward to seeing your takes on the theme. That really is all from me for today - see you soon.

C24C - Season's Greetings ....

... Hello! Time really does seem to be flying by - already the middle of March. I'm here today with a card for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#006 where we want to see Christmas trees. I've made a very clean, graphic type of card:

Stamps: Just Rite Stamps - O Christmas Tree; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Snowflake Serenade, Christmas Pop
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Lemon Lime Twist, Gumball Green, Mint Macaron; Gina K - Christmas Pine; Versamark
Dies: Spellbinders - Nested Pennants S5-028 # 2
Accessories: White Card; White Embossing Powder; SU Card - Mint Macaron, Lemon Lime Twist, Gumball Green, Emerald Envy

I recently found a new, to me, Christmas challenge, so I'm submitting this card to Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - MLCCB#20, where it's Anything Christmas Goes.

As soon as I saw the prompt for this challenge, I had this idea for a simple card. I found scraps of green card in my stash and stamped the ornate triangles in Versamark, heat embossed with white powder and then cut them out with a triangle Spellbinder die. Using a blending brush, I added a touch of colour at the edges of the trees and wiped the excess of the embossing. I stamped the large word tree directly on the card in dark green ink, and layered the other trees. I used dimensional pads on a couple, but kept it reasonably flat to be easy to mail. I finished the front with a simple greeting to match the dark green tree. On the inside, I stamped a greeting and added another fun tree. This is a tall DL card - it's not a size I use often, but it works well for this card.

Don't forget to visit our blog to check out what the rest of the Design Team have made for the challenge. You have plenty of time to join in the fun! See you soon.

52CCT GD - Merry Christmas ....

.... Morning! I was lucky enough to win the February sketch challenge and I'm thrilled to say that I'm the Guest Designer at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week, and it's so nice to be part of the team this week. This week we have a sketch for you, and here's my take:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Yonder Star; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Kaleidacolor - Fruitcake; Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Black Onyx
Dies: Die-namics - Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX # 1 and 2
Accessories: White Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Red Glitter Paper; SU Card - Emerald Envy

Here's the sketch for this week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT09-20:

As you can see I have been very faithful to the sketch. I used one of my favourite Christmas sets from Waltzingmouse Stamps (sadly closed), along with my favourite inks. This card is quite clean and simple but you have to have sparkle at Christmas so I added the glitter flag. I stamped the star on white card, then overstamped with the outline stamp which I heat embossed with clear powder. I carefully cut out the star. I used the two smaller stars in the stamp set to add the little details. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of dark green card and on the white panel stamped the solid star again, and overstamped with a bold greeting. I took a close-up of the star - so pretty! There's a slightly Western feel to the card.

Have fun with the sketch, I look forward to seeing your creations. Thanks again to the 52CCT Design Team for picking my card and inviting me to join them this week. See you soon.

Merry Christmas ...

... Hello again! I'm on a bit of a roll - after doing some tax admin this morning, I got to play this afternoon and made a very clean, simple Christmas card.  I really am determined to have enough made this year.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Versamark; SU - Cherry Cobbler
Dies: Poppystamps - Celestial Star Border
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Cherry Cobbler, Silver Glitter; Silver Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this one to CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#355 and to Addicted to Stamps and More - ATSM#374.

As soon as I saw the sketch at CASC&S I knew what I wanted to do.  I cut a panel of deep red card to 4¼", put the die on the top and then carefully die cut about two-thirds the way down the die.  I then embossed the whole die.  I also die cut the same border in silver glitter card and adhered that to the top of the panel.  I finished the front panel by cutting it to size and stamping a repeated Christmas message and embossed in silver.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of red card and on the white panel I stamped a simple greeting and some silver snowflakes.

I took a close-up photo of the lovely silver stars so that you can really see the sparkle.

It's a really lovely day today - not too cold, relatively light winds and sunshine - which is really good as we have a team of guys working in the garden.  Now that mum is living with us, we decided to have the garden made to work for her - so it's undergoing huge changes.  I'll post pictures once it's completed.  That's all for now. 

Season's Greetings ....

... Hello from a very, very snowy Northville. We're all home today. The school district called a snow day last night, so Kat has spent the day just chillin! Jonathan's office also called a snow day, but he's had to work from home. The main thing is we're all safe and warm in the house. I've spent a large part of today in my craft room, but you'll have to wait until Sunday to see most of the cards!! But I do have a simple Christmas card to share with you this afternoon:

Stamps: Uniko - Winter Foliage, Big & Bold Wish, Rustic Wreath, Essentially Christmas, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Gina K - Christmas Pine, Red Velvet; Versafine - Onyx Black; Delicata - Golden Glitz; SU - Emerald Envy
Dies: Die-namics - Pierced Oval Frames #2
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Emerald Envy; Gold Canvas Finish Mirri Card; Copics; Shimmer Pen

I got the idea for this card from the inspiration photo over at Merry Monday - MM#276. The colours are from Your Next Stamp - YNS#82 and I'm also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#278 where they want to see Holiday cards.

I die cut an oval of white card and placed it into my MISTI. I stamped the holly leaves and berries, covered them with masks and then stamped the candles. I added some pine branches at the top of the image, added berries and lots of stars. I finished by colouring the candles in two shade of pink and added sparkle with my Wink of Stella brush. I adhered the finished panel behind the gold frame and attached the whole lot to the front of the card. I finished with a simple Christmas greeting. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of green card and on the white panel I stamped a greeting and added some branches and berries.

It's been snowing since about 3.00am this morning and we've got about 6 inches of snow on the ground. As it's not expected to stop until about 8.00pm this evening, we're likely to end up with about 8 inches on the ground. This is one of the times that I'm very, very grateful to have a company come round and clear the snow. However, I'm not expecting them until tomorrow!

I took a few photos of all the snow around the house:

This is a view from the back bedroom across the swimming pool - although you would never know it! The winter wonderland beyond the fence is Northville Commons, the park area behind our house. I have played a bit with this photo to bring out all the texture.

This is a view looking down onto our patio - I always leave the furniture out. I'll have to get new cushions in the spring - but you can see the piles of snow on the table, chairs, and sunbeds!!

This is the postbox over the road - I've played a bit so that you can see the snow falling and the texture of the tyre marks on the road. That's all for now. Do stop by on Sunday for a special celebration. See you soon.