The challenge over at Inkspirational this week is neutral colours for a Christmas card. I really loved this challenge as I normally grab reds and greens and maybe blues and doing a neutral card was a revelation.
I've used one of my favourite Christmas sets from Stampin Up which is an old one called Winter Post. The image of the skaters is so nostalgic and it really lends itself to these neutral colours. I've used a Holly Embossing folder for the Very Vanilla which had a circle cut out. The skaters are behind it with dimensionals to give this an impression of a bauble. The stamping at the top is another old set Autumn Days which had this stamp of fir cones to give the impression of a Christmas tree branch for the bauble. The touch of gold thread just finishes off the card.
As I'm in a neutral mood I decided to do another neutral card for Addicted To Stamps challenge which is a CAS challenge.
I've used a very old stamp I dont even know where its from - I've added an old metal brad to the top of the tag simply layered it onto dark brown and used the Holly Embossing folder direct on the Soft Suede.
I was delighted to be chosen as one of the Top Cups over at Sunday Stamps this week.
Carrying on with my theme of Christmas cards for the challenges I enter - I must admit its a great way of getting so many varied styles of Christmas cards - If I didn't have the parameters of the challenges to work to I may just do the same old thing!
The challenge at The Paper Players this week is Clean and Simple but inspired by the theme of Warm and Cosy and their image.
I've added both the mittens and the cup in my card.
I've used some of the Stampin Up Merry Christmas Designer Series Paper from this year's main catalogue and used the framelits from A Nice Cuppa to cut out the tea cups. A touch of the matching mittens paper at the top and a ribbon in Cherry Cobbler and gold just add a bit of sparkle - but not too much as this also has to be CAS. The Sentiment is from Merry Little Labels and was inked with marker pens in both Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive for the holly - put on dimensionals and added to the ribbon with a bit of gold thread to make it look like a bauble.
I like using sets that are not necessarily Christmas to give us more options and make us think out side the box.
Digging deep into my boxes of old stamps I found this one of the stockings hanging up ready to be opened. It doesn't matter how old my kids get - (26 and 23) I still do stockings for them and hubby and I always give each other stockings too - admittedly I have to give him ideas even after 32 years of marriage lol!
The challenge over at Less is More this week was to CASE the designer who had done this delightful card
I don't really have any cutesy type stamps - I did have the SU mice last year and wish I had kept them so I opted for the stockings. As this is Less is More I stamped it direct onto the card and tried to keep a lot of white space. Tricky for me.
I used just three colours to ink the stockings all Stampin Up - Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive and So Saffron with just a touch of Creamy Caramel for the branch. The sentiment is from the current Merry Little Labels set and it was inked with marker pens in Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive. Just a few glitter enamel dots finish it off to give it a bit of sparkle.
I'm also adding this into the Stamping Sensations challenge which is asking for one layer Christmas Cards.
T'is still the Season for Christmas cards on my blog - I hope you are not getting fed up of seeing them all yet - This one is for CASE this Sketch challenge and here's the sketch.
I'm using an old SU stamp set called Season of Joy for my card. I've kept it to the one colour of Old Olive and used some of the Old Olive Color Theory DSP. I've just added some pearls and a piece of thread as if the sentiment is hanging on a wall. I used the largest of the Stitched Framelits to cut out the sentiment. I quite like how this turned out and may have a go at doing some different colour ways.
Something a little different from me to day - some Christmas tags rather than Christmas cards. My inspiration came from Stamping Sensations challenge blog which wanted single layer stamping so I thought I would make a start on some tags.
I've used the very popular Santa Collage stamp by Rubber Stampede - a firm favourite for me for Christmas. I've paired him up with a Reindeer stamp and used lots of Tim Holtz distress inks on them.
Well I've gone from Winter and snow to back to Autumn again - two seasons in one day lol!
This time I'm joining in with Retro Rubber challenge again and they had a picture for us to take our inspiration from with the colours of Fall or Autumn as we say over here in the UK. I'm also including this in Inkspirational Challenge this week whose theme is Trend. Well I'm right on trend here with Autumn and I'm thinking retro stamps are trendy right now too!
I turned to my trusty Cherry Pie Art stamps again and some old rubber stamps I've had for over 10 years but they are still going strong. I think the main image of the girl is called Flora - I've also used an old Hero Arts collage stamp called Love, Life, Beauty and a Cherry Pie stamp with the butterfly on it comes from a set called Art and Butterflies.
I used some SU Island Indigo as the cardstock and embossed the sentiment from Beautiful You in Copper embossing powder. Some copper thread wound round the cardimage also adds a bit of detail. The stamping of the girl was done with an old SU spectrum Stampin Pad - its a shame you can't get these any more - its a great way of getting different colours on one stamp.
It seems I have snow on my mind - yesterday and today's post all about snow!
This card is for the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge this week - it isn't snow - its a sketch but these little snowmen came to mind - an old SU set called Flaky Friends.
I inked them up in Island Indigo by SU and then coloured them in with some old SU markers using the following colours: Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Ruby Red and a touch of Close to Cocoa for the bird. The backing paper is some old SU with clear acetate that has snow on it layered over the top. I think the ribbon looks like snowballs across the bottom. The greeting is non SU and has been cut out in the Island Indigo and covered with glitter.
White Christmases are few and far between in Hampshire and if snow does come it tends to come in January February, not December. May I digress for a moment and tell you about the most magical White Christmas we did have as a family. It was 2003 and we were living in Houston Texas. It was Christmas Eve and we had taken the children to see Polar Express, the new movie just for Christmas. When we went into the cinema it was a normal Houston evening - after watching that magical film we came outside to find snow!!! None of us could believe it - that really has to be the ultimate White Christmas!
The challenge over at Paper Players is White on White so I chose to do a White Christmas card - my first ever and oh I think I may be hooked. I love how peaceful they look. Although my supplies for producing white on white are a bit limited I'm going to try and have another play and see what I can come up with.
I still had another one of the cut out reindeers and trees from when I crafted with a friend a few weeks ago - the words I think are Tim Holtz cut outs. The snowflakes are from SU as is the ribbon. There is a wash of Wink of Stella over the deer, the snowflakes and the words just to make the card sparkle and the deer have been layered with dimensionals to give some depth to the card.
I'm also entering this for the following challenges:
Sweet Stampin Christmas - Anything Goes
CHNC Challenge - Christmas with an option of Reindeer
CHNC Challenge Extra - Christmas
As yesterday's card was a CAS today I've gone all out for "let's get everything on there" sort of card! This one is going into the Country View Challenge which asked for stencils. And Creative Artiste Mixed Media which is anything goes. Craft Stamper is also new to me and their challenge is Anything Goes. I've also been told about a new challenge called Frilly and Funkie whose theme is Timeworn.
Somewhere in the back of my cupboard I remembered I had a Tim Holtz clock stencil. As I'm still in Christmas card mode I thought this would make a good base for a Christmas Time card - excuse the pun!
I inked up my background water colour paper over the clock stencil with Tim Holtz distress inks in Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, a touch of SU Pear Pizzazz and Soft Suede. The greetings is a die cut and was inked with SU Cherry Cobbler. The Tree was also die cut, inked in Pear Pizzazz and covered in Dazzling Diamonds. I got very inky making this card and I love the way it has come together.
I find CAS a challenge style for me but I like to challenge myself so often try and join in with the CAS challenges - just to try a different style. I'm really happiest sponging inks and making collage cards but its nice to do something a bit different.
So today I have joined in with Addicted to CAS whose challenge this week is bows. As I'm still on my mission to make Christmas cards, a Christmas bow was my choice.
I have this lovely tag stamp with the vintage style woman on it - I'm not sure where I got it from as I've had it a long time, so wanted to use it. I chose to use it with some of SU's Designer Series Paper cut out with Stitched Framelits to look like presents all wrapped up with some glittery red and white thread.
I had to restrain myself from putting anything else on the card and walk away and leave it.
In my quest to make as many Christmas cards as I can by joining in Challenges I was pleased to find Christmas Card Challenges - right up my street. They gave us the following image for our inspiration which is cute animals.
I'm also adding this into the Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge
Initially I was stumped as I didn't think I had any stamps that could work for this challenge but then I remembered Pretty Kitty and there is no reason why they couldn't be changed into Christmas Cats. I've used some of the Merry Christmas Designer Paper from Stampin Up and the Joy is from Inkadinkadoo. The swirl is from Season of Joy.
The ribbons in the kitties and the bauble in the sentiment have been given a bit of glitter with some Dazzling Diamonds and layered on to the stitched framelits. I'm a member of our local Cat's Protection here in Hampshire and I am excited and extremely honoured to have been chosen as a Cat Foster. That means that in January I will be looking after cats that need homes and fostering them until new homes can be found. So this card is perfect for me at the moment because my life is all about the cats!
I have yet to find a nice stamp with the wording Oh Christmas Tree on it - I'm sure there are lots out there - it would have been handy for this card for the As You See It Challenge this week - which is a panel card and a sketch.
I've used an old SU stamp set here Season of Joy for the trees and Merry Little Labels for the Just for You. The colours are the lovely Lemon Lime Twist ink, paper and ribbon. The sentiment is stamped in Fresh Fig and Old Olive and is from Inkadinkadoo.
A touch of bling on the stars from some Rhinestones finishes off this card.
I'm loving joining in with all these challenges - I'm getting a really nice assortment of Christmas cards ready for the season.
I love reindeer at Christmas - whether it is cards or decorations - I try and fill the house with them of all sorts. The Challenge over at TGIF Challenges isn't reindeers but it is a colour challenge of muted colours which I think lend themselves to reindeer cards.
My reindeer is an old stamp by Anita. I've used the suggested colours of Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and Soft Suede with a touch of Early Espresso. The music stamp is from Cherry Pie and the Bronze Thread which you can just see is SU.
How many of us have stamp sets that we've never used? Lots I guess - and how many of us have stamp sets that we've used some of the stamps but not all? I was looking at the Paper Players challenge this week which is Holiday Pines thinking - hmm don't think I have anything with a pine on it. Lo and behold I was using an old SU set Autumn Days and what should be in it but pines - never ever inked up!
I used some marker pens to ink up the stamp to get the two colours of green and brown for the pines and inspired by a card on Pinterest I turned them into a wreath. There is some Wink of Stella on the fir cones to make them sparkle. The sentiment is from a set by Inkadinkadoo and it also includes those little pines. Seems I do have stamps with pines on!
One of the things I liked about living in Houston for a few years was Thanksgiving in November. This is such a lovely Holiday - where everyone comes together and just gives thanks. Sadly although other American traditions have come over to the UK this one hasn't yet. Although my family and I carried the tradition on when we moved back home.
The challenge over at SU Only challenges this week is a nod to this sentiment and their theme is Being Thankful. The challenge over at Global Design Project is to case their card. I've used the autumnal colours and the thank you as my inspiration. Crafty Calender Challenge is a new challenge to me and they are looking for Autumn Colours.
I had just been using this retired SU set Autumn Days for another challenge and it is one of my favourites with the pheasant so I decided to use it for this challenge.
I used two old SU inks for this too - More Mustard and Really Rust. The sentiment is from Feather Together and the leaves are from Colourful Seasons.
I was so excited to see I had been chosen as one of the top three from Retro Rubber challenge last week - it was my first time entering and my first real foray into live outside of SU - it couldn't have started any better.
My card today is to be entered into the Sunday Stamps challenge SSC165 - they have given us a colour challenge and this gorgeous image to work with - such gorgeous rich colours.
I've used a very old but favourite stamp here called Santa Collage by Rubber Stampede - I think it is quite a famous stamp in cardland as you see it often and I've had it years. I love adding it with a Believe stamp and that word always reminds me of Polar Express - one of my favourite films at Christmas time.
Do you ever feel as though you are going round in circles? My life is a bit like that at the moment. The Try It On Tuesday challenge actually has circles as their theme this week. Watercooler Wednesday has a Feminine Anything Goes. Moo Mania and More is a new challenge to me and their theme is Feminine.
I've pulled out my Cherry Pie Stamps again and a sentiment from SU Beautiful You for this card. It was inked up with Tim Holtz distress inks and some SU Fresh Fig. Layered onto some purple cardstock - purple isn't a colour I use very often but I think it shows off these colours really well. The addition of a vintage style circle brad finishes off this card. THere is a touch of Wink of Stella on the image of the woman but I don't think it shows very well on camera.
