SNOWFLAKE TAG

 I love making Christmas Tags - they get used on family presents but I always make sure I get them back - I couldn't bear for them just to be torn up or put out with the wrapping paper!

My tag today was inspired by the challenge at Inkspirational which asked for Cold.  I used the lovely Tim Holtz Distress Mica Stain in Winterfrost for my background.  Adding in a touch of Salvaged Patina and Cracked Pistachio for some background stamping with foliage stamps by Tim Holtz.  The Snowflake is also by Tim and I added some of his foliage dies behind it.  I added some water droplets.  The sentiment is another Tim Holtz one and I embossed it in white embossing powder.  I added a lovely white satin ribbon.

I'm adding this into the following challenges

Inkspirational - Cold 

Peace on Earth - cold moodboard 

We love 2 Create - AG 

Allsorts - Embossing 

The Outlawz Challenge - not a card 

CHRISTMAS CRAFT CREATIONS - MONOCHROMATIC

Our theme this month at Christmas Craft Creations is monochromatic. I've chosen to use the newly released Christmas Tree Dies by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions.  These are called the Snowflake Tree-O.  I used some Tim Holtz Distress Mica Stain in Winter Frost to cover my paper then cut out the trees and the matching stars.  The dies come in three sizes so I layered the different sizes using some layering dots to add extra depth. 

There are some fabulous prizes to be won so don't forget to add our logo to be in with a chance of winning a prize.  Good luck.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers -  A Bit of Bling 

Rudolph October Days - Christmas AG 

Never Before Used Stuff - New dies 

AUTUMN

I'm lucky enough to be on the Design Team for Creative Expressions and get lots of lovely crafting goodies to play with.  A few months ago we received the lovely set by Jane's Doodles called Apple Pumpkin Spice.  It has a great range of autumn stamps and I loved playing with them.   Here are a few of my makes.

I'm adding these into the following challenges:

Just Us Girls - Pumpkin

Make My Monday - Autumn colours 

Outlawz - Fall Add a pumpkin

Inspiration Station - pumpkins galore

Use Your Stuff - Autumn 

ROBIN

The robin is one of my favourite birds, right up there with the cardinal but sadly we don't have those in the UK - but robins I have a plenty in my garden.  They always fly down at this time of year to my conservatory waiting for me to put out some dried oats!

The challenge over at We Love Stamping is a mood board and I saw nothing other than the robin.  I've created a wintry scene for my little robin - he's standing on the watering can which has frozen in the cold.  All stamps are by Tracy Evans for Aallandcreate.  

I'm adding this into the following challenges

We Love Stamping - Mood Board - robin 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - add words 

A place to start - AG 

Peace on Earth Christmas - moodboard - inspired by the white scene with the red truck

Allsorts - AG 

Most Magical Time of the Year - Christmas 

Krafty Chicks - Christmas 

Delighted that my Robin was chosen in the Top Picks at Krafty Chicks 

How exciting - my robin also won Simon Says Stamp Challenge gift voucher 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS sc425

Another Sketch Challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments and I look forward to seeing what you do with this one.  

I started my card by using some of the new Cosmic Shimmer Botanical Stains by Sam Poole in Carrot Top Green and Tea Leaves and I also added a bit of Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet Spray Stain.  I then used one of the new Francoise Read stamps from Creative Expressions  called Worn Notebook Page which is a great background stamp.  The thistle in the circle is from another of the new releases called Discovery.  

I added some Tim Holtz linen fabric ribbon behind and added some lace to the bottom and some thread behind the circle. 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge

I'm joining in with the Christmas Kickstart Challenge which is celebrating the life of Janis Woolbright who used to run the Cat Lovers Challenge.  I joined in with one of her blog hops a few years ago when I found her and as an ardent cat lover I loved the idea of celebrating cats.

My card started off with a Tim Holtz Christmas Tree stencil inked in Bundled Sage Distress Oxide.  I then stamped one of the Trees from TH Watercolor Trees. The large branch is from Sunny Studios Holiday Style.  The cat is a TH snarky cat with that great sentiment - I wanted it to look as though he had broken the decorations from the tree - we've all had cats that have been interested in Christmas trees! I added some google eyes just to make him look more amusing.

My two rescue cats - Jet now aged about 10 we've had him since he was 2.

Amber now aged 14 - we got her when she was 9!

I'm also adding this into the Crazy for Cats Challenge 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA

A rare sharing of my journal for our project this month at Creative Artiste Mixed Media.  It's not something I always show as I think journals are personal things but my page is just celebrating autumn which is my favourite time of the year.  My journal book is a gorgeous leather bound handmade paper book which hubby bought me years ago and sat unloved in a cupboard.  So I decided to use it as a journal.  The leather has got a bit gessoed but it gives it character oops! 

I always gesso the pages just to give them more strength and as it is hand made paper it helps to protect the paper from all the media stuff I'm going to throw at it.

I started off with my gell press and added some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Fossilised Amber and Frayed Burlap.  I spritzed it with water and then just added the press direct to the page.  Once dry I added some Cosmic Shimmer Antique Sand Paste by Sam Poole in Moss Blanket. I love this paste and this gorgeous vintage colour. I used a stencil from my stash and just added it to some opposite corners.  I used the Nibs and Mushrooms stamp set from Tracy Evans direct to paper and cut some extra ones out for the picture frame.  The frame and the butterfly elements were from Taperlogy.  The extra words are also from Tracy Evans at Aallandcreate. 

In the margins I have added some journaling as to what Autumn means to me.  I love the colours of this page and how it all turned out.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Try it on Tuesday - Autumn

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Texture 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Stencil 

Alphabet Challenge - N for Nature 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Creative Inspiration - AG 

Shopping Our Stash - favourite colouring method - distress water colouring 

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - #179 - GET WELL SOON

Welcome back to another challenge at the Male Room and this month we want to see your Get Well cards.  

I started off my background by rubbing some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks direct to the paper just using the edge of the ink pad.  I've used Iced Spruce, Antique Linen and Bundled Sage.  Once dry I used some white embossing powder for the musical notes which are from Alison Bomber's stamp set for Paper Artsy. 

The feathers I've used are from Tracy Evans Aallandcreate - I stamped one first then fussy cut out another and layed it on top.  The sentiment is from an old Kaisercraft set and I've white embossed it and added a Tim Holtz Idealogy clip.  

I hand drew the lines around the outside of the card and added strips of white paint to the background of the card. 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - CC424

Welcome back to another colour challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  As you know I find these a bit trickier even as a DT member as I am not with Stampin Up so I try to use as close as I can.  For this card I did have Blackberry Bliss, and I used Cameo Coral, Bermuda Bay and Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap for my other colours.

I started by using a very old dotty stamp for the background using all the colours to create it.  The leaf is a Visible Image stencil called Autumn Leaves and I stencilled it in the Frayed Burlap and then cut it out.  The acorns are also from Visible Image stamps called Nuts About Squirrels and I stamped them in the Blackberry Bliss.

The sentiment is from a Tracy Evans set called Fallen Leaves and I stamped it in Blackberry Bliss and then added it to some coral type card stock I found in my bits drawer.

HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS - OPTIONAL TROPICAL

Welcome back to another challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  You can choose Anything Goes or add the option of Tropical.  I stuck to the AG as I really didn't have anything to suit Tropical.  

I'm sharing these gorgeous little robins from Creative Expressions called Bubble Robins.  I'm lucky enough to be on the Design Team for this company and get early product from them to have a play with.  These were some of my favourite Christmas stamps I received.  I do love robins.  I stamped the robins first and then coloured in with some Tim Holtz Distress Inks. I then did a light colour wash behind them and added some splatters in the same coloured ink. 

BOO!

I'm not really one to make Hallowe'en cards but Songs and Rhymes challenge had something I just had to join in with.  Plus it had me singing the song all day and it was one of my favourites to sing back in the day when I used to!  So their song is Midnight from Cats musical.  I took the idea of the cat and the Midnight of the song to create my little 4x4 card.  

I used the moon from an old SU stamp set called To the Moon and then stamped the black cat on it from Visible Image set Curious Cats.  I stamped it in Versamark Nocturne and then clear embossed it to make it shine - although it's not shining in my photo.  The background is another SU Set called Drybrush and the added little stamps are from a very old SU set called Bitty Boos!.

I'm entering this into the following:

Songs & Rhymes Challenge

Tic Tac Toe - - black, cat, embossing 

Tuesday Taggers - circles 

SUYP - Cats 

TIME FOR TAGS

It's always time for tags in my world but now I'm making a start on my Christmas tags - some of my favourite things to  make.  Since I've been on the Design Team for Creative Expressions everything I make goes to them and I seem to make loads of stuff and have nothing here lol!  So while I have a bit of time I'm going to start making things I can keep and show straight away!

So Christmas Tags has to mean Tim Holtz stuff.  This tag started with the TH tag die cut using the large tag.  I then took a piece of green coloured paper and ran it through ann embossing folder called Cable Knit - I swooshed it with Walnut Stain to bring out the embossing.  I then cut out some of the TH Holiday Green mini dies and inked them with Evergreen Bough and Iced Spruce.  I added some Daler Rowney white paste and some Cosmic Shimmer white glitter when the paste was still wet.  The berries were coloured with a Posca pen.

The added pieces ore stamped from one of Tim's Christmas sets that comes with a stencil - called Vintage Holiday.  I added the deer from Darling Deer dies, some stickers from last year's Christmas sticker book and a touch of the velvet trim to the top.  

I'm adding this into the following :

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Christmas 

Krafty Chicks Challenge - All Occasions 

Little Red Wagon - Layers 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG 

The Holly & Ivy - AG 

Make My Monday - make your own background 

A place to start - AG plus glitter 

Welove2Create - Mixed Media AG 

Jingle Belles Rock - story of Christmas - Rudolph! 

CHRISTMAS CRAFT CREATIONS - METALLICS

Welcome back to another challenge from Christmas Craft Creations - if you've been with us since January this year you must have a great collection of Christmas cards ready in your stash.  Our challenge this month is Metallics. I don't have a lot of metallics in my stash but I do have Tim Holtz Metallic Distress Crayons so they were my go to for this card.

I used an old Christmas embossing folder and then covered it in the Brushed Pewter Distress Crayon.  The stamp and sentiment is from Tim Holtz Watercolour Trees. I stamped it in two lots of grey ink and added the bright red baubles and some Spectrum Noir sparkle. The sentiment was embossed with silver embossing powder.  I'd been looking for an O Christmas Tree stamp for years and when I saw it on this set I had to have the whole set lol! I added some silver thread from my stash behind the tree and layered it onto some red cardstock.  

Remember to add our graphic above to your post to be in with a chance to win some goodies this month.  This month I am offering this lovely stamp set from Bipasha BK  for Aallandcreate. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Christmas 

Simon says Stamp - Wednesday - AG

The  Holly and the Ivy - AG 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS IC423

Welcome back to another challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments and our lovely mood board.  I so wish I could have that wreath on my front door - isn't it just beautiful!  My card was inspired by the little box of flowers. 

The colours look a bit washed out here when they are in fact quite dark browns reds and greens - all of Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The flower set is from Tracy Evans at Aallandcreate called In the Bucket.  I kept it simple with watercolouring.  The sentiment Autumn is a very old one from Stampin Up.  On a wooden block - wow I haven't used one of those in a while!  I do still have stamps on wooden blocks but must admit they are rarely used - how about you - are you still an avid wood block user?

THE MALE ROOM - LEAVES

September has arrived and with it summer in the UK - we last had hot weather in June but this week we are back in 30 degree heat.  Just as we were all thinking of autumn!  

Our challenge this week at The Male Room is Leaves.  One of my favourite things to add to creative projects and here I've used a lovely set by Tracy Evans.  Tracy doesn't retire her stamps and doesn't date them but this one came out in 2021. 

I stamped and cut out some of the leaves and even found a very old leaf brad I had in my stash!

I'm adding this into the following:

 Retro Rubber

Double Trouble 

The Outlawz Challenge 

Stamping Sensations 

We Love Stamping

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #422

We have another Sketch Challenge for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  

I' ve used two sets from Sam Poole for Creative Expressions.  The background is from a set called Timeless Roses and I've used the numbers strip for my cross pieces.  I then used a set called Butterfly Walk to create the panel down the middle. I added the colours using Tim Holtz Distress Watercolour Pencils - a new addition which I'm having fun playing with. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Unicorn Challenge