GUEST DESIGNER - RUDOLPH DAYS CHALLENGE

I'm delighted to be a Guest Designer over at Rudolph Days Challenge Blog.  I do enjoy making Christmas cards and always seem to start too early and make far too many!  

This one came about just as a sort of play about with a new stamp I'd bought by Alison Bomber for Paper Artsy.  I love her little mini Christmas stamps and decided I needed the holly one.  I stamped it in a few places on some water colour card stock and then filled in the gaps with a very old holly stamp I have from Tim Holtz which is my favourite.  I stamped that one in the water colour technique to give a softer image.  The sentiment is from one of Tim's Christmas Ideaology books.  I used some of the holly from Tim's Evergreen Mini die cuts behind the sentiment.  I added some Glossy Accents to make the holly leaves shine more.  I coloured in the berries with Festive Berries Watercolour Pencils. 

I added some washi tape from my stash to both sides of the card - mainly because the piece of cardstock I had been playing with was quite a narrow piece but I think it does the job perfectly.

I'm adding this into the following 

We Love Stamping - berries 

Peace on Earth - AG 

Mix it up - AG 

Outlawz Festive - AG 

THE SNOWMAN AND THE OWL

I'm having another play with Tim Holtz' Mr Frostie but this time he has a chum to talk to!

I layered three colours of Distress Ink on the background - Blueprint Sketch - Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass.  I then stamped Mr Frostie and the owl from Lavinia stamps with some extra branches.  I used a white China Marker pencil to add extra texture of snow to the snowman.  The sentiment is also by Lavinia stamps and I white embossed part of it.  I added Cosmic Shimmer to the bottom of the snow.

I'm adding this into the following:

Cardz 4 Galz - Build me a snowman 

Creative Inspirations - Winter 

Ellibelles Wednesday - AG 

ABC Christmas - W for wings on owl 

Crafty Gals - Tis the Season check back in January 

I Spy - something for Christmas 

Unicorn - Christmas/Winter 

52 Christmas Card - stamps 

Creative Knockouts - snow fun 

Craft Rockets - Christmas/Winter 

Paper Funday - Merry and Bright 

ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME ......

I really can't stop making Christmas cards.  They are my favourite things to make no matter the time of year and I think the majority of my stamps are Christmas ones.  I wanted to play along with Allsorts and their challenge of Focal Sentiment and this set Doodle Greetings by Tim Holtz is a perfect one  and one I haven't used much so far.

I white embossed the sentiment on to black card stock and used a Creative Expressions die to cut a shape round it and then added more embossing powder around the edges.  I layered this onto some green cardstock and stamped around the edge.  I edged a white piece of card stock with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink - stamped some stars in Aged Mahogany and added this as an extra layer.

The die cuts are from Tim Holtz Holiday Greens mini set.  I added some extra Ideaology pieces with the sentiment and some bells. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Allsorts - Focal Sentiment 

52Card - stash challenge - rubber stamps 

Polkadoodle - AG 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Just Add Ink - Dies 

Outlawz - Festive Friday 

CRAFT - Christmas 

Craft Rocket - Christmas 

Creative Inspiration - AG 

Word Power 

Inspired By - a wonderful image - I loved the floral wreaths 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #506 - MAKE YOUR MARK

We are back with our Make your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  A chance to get out your colouring utensils of choice and have a play.

I'm back in autumnal mode giving the Christmas themes a rest for a bit!  This was a new purchase for me this year when I realised I didn't actually have any pumpkin stamps in my stash.  This is a great set called Autumn Bounty from Altenew.  It does have a lot of stamps which are more suitable for the US market and Thanksgiving so for my sentiment I turned to another set from Waffle Flower called Fall Greetings which had this cute sentiment and the little extra tiny leaf and pumpkin stamps.

I used some  Prismacolour pencils to colour in the pumpkin and the flowers.  I used Tim Holtz Distress  ink in Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge for the background.

I'm adding this into the following:

Alphabet Challenge P is for pumpkins 

The outlawz Festive - thankful 

TGIF - Moodboard 

Ellibelles Garden - 

Craft-alnica - autumn 

Double D - colours of autumn 

Colour Throwdown 

Christmas Tag

I was having a quick play with a Christmas stencil I won from a challenge over at Polkadoodles.  It's a lovely Christmas tree stencil and something I didn't have in my stash.  

I started out with using some Tim Holtz Paint in Rustic Wilderness and once dry I used some Texture Paste from Daler Rowney to create the Christmas trees.  I then added a collage of ribbon, burlap, old music paper and some Tim Holtz Ideaology to finish off the tag. I also added some Stickles to soem of the trees.  I love the vintage feel to this little image with them getting their Christmas Tree and thought it fitted the tag perfectly.

I'm adding this into the following:

Allsorts - Christmas Tag 

Tag Along - Textured Tag

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA

Something a little different from me this month for Creative Artiste Mixed Media.  A dear friend's birthday is today and she is a very talented seamstress and embroiderer.  What she can do with a sewing machine and some needles is just amazing and for someone like me cannot sew for the life of me I'm always in awe of what she does.  She has a fabulous craft room where she runs workshops and I thought for her birthday I would make her a door hanger.  I have made a few of these in the past and we are even running a door hanger swap on my Facebook Group.

To start I used some strong cardboard - actually the back of an old paper pad which is sturdy enough to sit on a door handle. As she is a sewer I created my theme on that idea.  I have a very old book which I use for junk journaling which is all about embroidery and sewing from the 1950's.  I was never going to use it for advice so it is great for my background papers and is just perfect for this challenge.  I daren't tell her as she may well have loved the old book!! 

I added some stamping of some old Cherry Pie Art Stamps for the two ladies on both sides.  I added extra stamping, some Tim Holtz Ideaology and some sewing themed washi tape I found in my stash - who knew I had that?! She is also an avid tea drinker hence the tea cups. The creativity sentiment is from Visible Image stamps.  I added some little buttons,a sprig of dried flowers .. just because ..and edged it all in gold gilding wax as she loves creating gold work - beads etc I think! I trimmed it with some black lace and ribbons at the top and a few charms just to finish it off.  I hope she likes it! 

I'm adding this into the following - 

The Outlawz - Card free 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Outlawz Festive - Friendship 

Hearts Quest - Shaped Card/tag

Triple B - Butterflies 

Craft and Create - AG 

Krafty Chicks - Birthday 

Craft-alnica - oldest stamp - my Cherry  Pie are the oldest stamps I own dating back to 2002

THE MALE ROOM #204 - FLORAL

Our challenge for you this month at the Male Room is Floral.  Tricky don't you think sometimes for male cards.  Well hubby was sitting next to me in our craft room and I asked him what sort of floral he would like as a male.  Straight away he said thistle and I was delighted when I remembered I have a thistle stamp that hasn't been inked in a while!  I love it when a plan comes together!

My thistle stamp is from Studio Light and is simply called Thistle.  I used some watercolour paper for this card. I stencilled an old Tim Holtz stencil first which is the German text one in Versafine Portobello ink.  I then stamped over this with Versafine Nocturne and added a colour wash of Fossilized Amber and Iced Spruce around the image.  I used Tim Holtz Villainous Potion Distress Ink for the thistle heads and Forest Moss for the leaves.  The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz Ideaology book. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Hearts Quest Celebration 

Girlz Make Guy Cards - Birthday 

Just us Girls - AG 

Krafty Chicks - Birthday 

SSS Wednesday - thinking of you 

Ellibelle Wednesday - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #505 - DIE CUTS/STENCILS

Welcome back to another challenge at ATSM - die cuts and or stencils.  I've been in Christmas mode for a while now - it's my favourite season to make for and I don't seem to be able to stop once I start so it's another Christmas offering from me.  I used the moon mask stencil from Lavinia Stamps to start off with.  I love these sticky stencils - I find them great to use.  I stuck it to my watercolour paper then used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks in Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire a touch of Dusty Concord and Black Soot.  I added a Tim Holtz dot stencil over the top and used some Cosmic Shimmer Sparkle Texture paste through the dots.

I used a very old stamp and die cut set from Tim Holtz for the trees. The stag is from Tim's die cut set Darling Deer and I cut him out twice and layered him to give him more depth.  I coloured him in with Distress Inks and layered some more Cosmic Shimmer at the bottom.  The sentiment is from one of Tim's Ideaology Christmas books. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Unicorn - Christmas 

Shopping our Stash - My favourite things - Reindeer at Christmas and this Tim Holtz Die 

Christmas Kickstart - add antlers 

SSS Monday challenge - masculine with Tim Holtz 

A cut Above - use die cuts 

Girlzandtheartofletters - Moon cards 

Mr Frostie Tag

I'm playing along with Mr Frostie stamp set by Tim Holtz.  I started by using the small snowman and teh snowflakes from the set on some tissue paper to make my own background collage paper.  I also added some extra winter words by Tracy Evans.

Once it was dry I added some spritzes of Tim Holtz Distress Spritz in Broken China and added some extra touches of blue in the form of Distress Crayons in Juniper Berry.  I stamped and cut out the larger image of Mr Frostie and coloured him in with the Juniper Berry, Yuletide and Frozen Fog.  I wish these colours were in inks and not just in the seasonal Distress Crayons.  I cut out some extra snowflakes from die cuts from my stash and added a few little Tim Holtz ideaology pearls.  The sentiment is from the same set.

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Masculine - using Tim Holtz 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Simon Says Stamp Wed - AG 

INSPIRATION STATION #79 - REMEMBRANCE

I hope you are inspired by our image this month at Inspiration Station.  It seems at this moment in the world we need to remember more than ever.  

I started off my card by using a stencil by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and then added some Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide and some Black Soot.  I added some extra stamping with words by Alison Bomber.  The poppies are an old stamp by Tracy and I stamped them onto some tissue paper and coloured them in on the reverse side.  This enabled them to be vivid against that muted background.  The extra sentiment is also from Alison Bomber at Paperartsy.  

This card could also be used as a sympathy card.

I'm adding this into the following :

SSS Wednesday - AG 

We Love Stamping - AG 

Allsorts - AG 

Festive Friday - Red, Black, Poppies - Armistice Day 

Krafty Chicks - AG 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - WINTER WONDERLAND

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along with the Times where our theme is Winter Wonderland. 

My little scene includes stamps from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs with the trees and the background words and the hare and the toadstools from Lavinia Stamps.

I simply used torn photocopy paper to create my snowbanks and then stamped the trees in various colours and heights.  The sentiment is an old one from my stash - I added some glitter to the snow with a Spectrum Noir sparkle pen and then splattered over some white ink for snow. 

I'm entering this into the following:

We Love Stamping - Christmas 

Stamping Sensations - Christmas 

Peace on Earth - wintery scene 

Girlz Creative Christmas 

Carlin's Cards - White Christmas 

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

LOVE TO CRAFT - CHRISTMAS MAGIC

Welcome back to another challenge at Love to Craft where we love to see what has inspired you to create over the past few months. 

I recently purchased one of the new stamps from Lavinia Stamps from their new collection - I chose this cute little mouse stamps Pipspell although a few other Lavinia stamps did fall into my basket lol!

I was inspired to create this card by Lisa Taggart.  I love how she created the branches and I used some Tim Holtz Stamps for the tree and the foliage.  I think the addition of the white ink really makes them pop.

I used some of Tracy Evans Boutique Designs little baubles to hang from the tree.  They were coloured in some handmade inks my daughter bought for me a few years ago - they have a gorgeous sparkle to them.

I created some snow banks for the little mouse and added some footprints in the snow.  The bottom left has the Winter Magic stamp embossed in white embossing powder.  I also added some stars with a mini star stamp from Lavinia.   The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Mr Frostie set.

I'm adding this into the following:

Dream Valley - a card for a child 

Inspire Create - Christmas 

Stamping Sensations - Christmas 

Girlsandtheart - Magical 

A perfect time to craft - AG

12 months of Christmas 

Critter Crazy - AG 

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

Mix It Up - AG 

PEARLY SPARKLES - SNOWPEOPLE

Our challenge this month at Pearly Sparkles is snowpeople - snowmen, snowwomen, snowkids - I think you get the idea.  I have recently purchased Mr Frostie from Tim Holtz - I loved it last year but it was sold out so I was delighted to be able to get it this year and to be honest I can't stop using it.  I think I'm already boring Instagram with images!

I used the snowflakes from the set to create the background using the watercolour stamp technique.  Add ink to the stamp then spritz with water to give a soft image.  I added extra touches of ink in Salvaged Patina and Salty Ocean and scribbled a border around the outside.

I used an image from Tim Holtz from one of his large Collage Strips and I loved the way this couple were standing behind the snowman.  It fit the sentiment from the set perfectly.  I stamped Mr Frostie separately and cut him out - I added some Cosmic Shimmer Sparkle Texture Paste to the snowman's body which makes him sparkle but sadly it doesn't show on the picture.  To finish off the card I added an old Tim Holtz snowflake. 

ROBINS AND MICE OR BOBBY AND PIPSPELL

I'm loving playing with some new stamps from Lavinia - and why I hadn't spotted this gorgeous robin stamp Bobby before now I'll never know.  

I used some watercolour paper to create this scene - masked off to circles just with some paper and used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Stormy Weather, Chipped Sapphire, and Dusty Concord to create my sky.  I added the Tree Branch from Lavinia and some branch leaves in Iced Spruce and Brilliance White ink.  I stamped the robin on the branch and coloured him in with Prismacolor pencils. 

I used some Pastels to add some colour to the mouse.  The lanterns were coloured in with Mont Martre glitter pens. I added the gorgeous Winter Magic stamp in Versafine Twilight and added some star stamps in the white ink.

I'm adding this to the following:

Inspire Create - Christmas 

Peace on Earth - Christmas mood board - trees 

Rudolph Days - Christmas 

Alphabet - N is for night 

Creative Moments - things with wings 

Outlawz Festive - Christmas 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS #504 - ANY OCCASION

Welcome back to another challenge from ATSM and we would like to see your Any Occasion projects.  

I'm showing a tag recently created when I couldn't sleep.  Crafting really helps when those nights strike and it's so peaceful in the craft room I can lose myself for hours.

The background of the tag was already made - it features the mosaic stencil from Tim Holtz which is one of my favourites.  It's hard to see as I've covered it nearly completely but I can see snippets of it.  One of the things I've really got to try and learn to do is to leave some white space or open space.  I'm trying to remember this but I always seem to forget lol!

I added some extra background stamping with stamps by Alison Bomber. The leaves were in my stash from a previous play with Tim Holtz Leaf Fragments dies.  I added some extra pieces of Ideaology as I wanted this dapper Paperdoll man by Tim to have something to sit on.  I'm learning to try and tell a  story as I've seen Alison do - so he is waiting to open his parcel which he has signed for and marked as received.  The Ideaology pieces show a registered letter and signatures and I added extra stamping with the signature and a stamp from Alison with Albin Foertl's name.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz and I white embossed it on to some black card - his surprise will be whatever is in his letter!  Extra stamps were from Creative Expressions. 

I love the way Alison says she can't use a sewing machine - neither can I and I'd love to be able to add all those threads I see around craft land - but like Alison I resort to a pen around the edges.

I think this tag would look great on a present as the gift would be the surprise. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon - not a card 

Ellibelle - Wednesday - AG 

Paper Funday - AG 

We love 2 Create - AG 

AUTUMN BLESSINGS

I've torn myself away from the Christmas projects I've been making to refocus on Autumn - time enough for Christmas but I always get impatient!

I have this leaf mask by Lavinia Stamps that I haven't used much - I tried doing a press on the gel press of it but wasn't overly impressed with what I got.  I used it anyway and put the mask on top and used some Tim Holtz Distress Inks to add some extra details. 

I added some extra Lavinia silhouette stamps to add to the scene.  The sentiment is from Altenew 

I'm adding this into the following:

Unicorn Challenge - Autumn 

Double Trouble - 3 colours of autumn, 2 images - 1 stencil 

Outlawz - October Poem 

Inkspirational - seasonal

TGIF - seasonal autumn 

Just us girls - moodboard 

GEL PRESS FOLIAGE

The challenge over at The Paper Players is Clean and Simple Foliage.  I don't really do CAS as I love to throw everything at my projects lol!  But.... in my stash I found some fern prints I had done over the summer with the gel press and some Tim Holtz paint.  I wasn't sure what to do with them and thought they would be perfect for this CAS challenge.  I've used both the positive and the negative of the gell prints and layered them on alternate colours.  I haven't made them into cards as I'm going to frame them.  The sentiment is from Tracy Evans 

I'm adding them into the following

Paper Players - CAS Foliage 

The outlawz challenge - not a card - these will be added to a frame 

Simply CAS - AG 

Crafty Chicks - CAS 

Ellibelle Garden Party 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - CAS