PEARLY SPARKLES - HEARTS #116

Our challenge this month at Pearly Sparkles is Hearts.  I've gone away from the traditional colours for this card and it is actually going to be for hubby.  My background was made with some Distress Oxides in Hickory Smoke and Fossilized Amber and Faded Jeans .  I added some extra stamping using Alison Bombers grasses stamp and also some texture paste.  I created the tag using a very old stamp from Tim Holtz - I spotted it being used on Stampers Anonymous You Tube video and remembered I had the same stamp from about 20 years ago!  I kept the same colours.  

I layered the tag onto some old book pages - as this card is for hubby the pages I used have a significance as one of his favourite places in the world is Rome, especially Piazza Navona which you can just see peeking out. The love word is also an old Tim Holtz one, possible from the same set as the heart.

I'm adding this into the following:

The paper players - love is in the air 

We love 2 create - AG 

We love Stamping - Hearts 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Allsorts - create your own background 

SSS - Wednesday - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #509 ANY OCCASION

It's time for Any Occasion challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I run a Facebook RAK group where we send out cards to each other once a month so I'm always creating cards that have a suitable sentiment.  The Hello for this one was just perfect.

I used a new stamp set I won on a blog challenge. It's by Studio Light called Vintage Roses.  I started off my background with a gel plate pull and added the word stamp from the set.  I also added some torn old paper with the same word stamp on it and a background sheet stamped off with the roses.  I added some lace and then my panel of the actual roses.  The butterfly is also from the same set. I added a brad to the top of my panel - remember those!! and tucked the word hello into the side.  

I'm adding this into the following:

We love 2 Create - AG 

We Love Stamping - new stamps 

Sunday stamps - use 3 colours - red, pink, brown 

Girlz and art of letters - S for Stamping 

Crafty Calendar - New stamps 

Polkadoodles - AG 

TAG LOVE

I'm having a play with Tag Along today and their theme is Love and Romance.  I'm still in wintery mode so not ready for full on red or pinks yet so my tag turned out quite muted.

I started off with my gel press - and used some new Paper Artsy paints I received for Christmas in Sea Glass, my new favourite paint colour, Winter Green and Snowflake.  I used an old SU stencil to create the background.  I then grabbed a Tim Holtz mini photo which I thought was perfect for the theme.  I added some die cuts and a cluster at the top with a quote from a Tim Holtz Ideaology book.  A touch of washi tape gave a slightly bolder colour to the muted tones.  I used a touch of pink ink for her roses and added some extra pinks in the background with a touch of a word stamp.

I'm adding this into the following

Tag Along - Love and Romance 

Craft Rocket - something new - my paints 

Hearts Quest - Celebration of love 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - something new 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - something new - my Paperartsy paints 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #508 BIRTHDAYS

Welcome back after the Christmas break to another Birthday challenge with Addicted to Stamps and More.  I am still in a bit of a Christmas mood as I used some winter foliage for this card.

I masked off the sides and the middle of my background card stock.  I then added some stencilling from a Tim Holtz stencil and some stamping of various berries by Tim Holtz.  The sentiments came from Simon Says Stamp set Wild Birthday. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Double D - Birthdays 

Unicorn - Birthday 

Creative Inspiration - AG 

Aud Sentiments - AG 

THE MALE ROOM - ADD A TAG #206

Welcome back to a new year of challenges with The Male Room.  This month we would like you to add a tag to your project.

I grabbed some cog dies I've hardly used as my starting point.  I used an old Kaisercraft stamp for the background stamping of the background papers together with some number stamps.  The tag was created with the gel press and a stencil and some paint.  I layered it with a few extra tags and added the sentiment from Tim Holtz. Sometimes the men in our lives also need a little pick me up.

INSPIRATION STATION - #81

Welcome back to another year of inspiration from Inspiration Station.  I hope you like our first image and I'm looking forward to seeing how it inspires you.  

It reminded me that I have this lovely squirrel stamp set from Visible Image which hasn't really  had much inking over the years.  I created a snowy scene for him, together with a few friends from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and Lavinia Stamps.   The berries are also from Tracy Evans.  Seeing everyone using Dr Ph Martin's bleed proof white I had to get myself some for the wintery cards and it really is worth it.  It's great for creating those snowy effects. 

LOVE TO CRAFT - #90 - ANYTHING GOES

Welcome back to another challenge from Love to Craft- I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas.  Staying with the Christmas theme just for one more time I'm sharing a card I created using the wonderful stamps from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs.  

I adore how this card turned out and loved the muted colours I ended up using.  The poinsettia stamp was inked onto some vellum paper and then white embossed.  I stamped it twice and then cut out the middle piece of the poinsettia and added some clear gems.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz. 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES #185 - STENCILS AND/OR DIES

Welcome back to another challenge from Moving Along with the Times.  This is my choice for the  challenge this month and I would like to see you using your stencils and /or your dies. 

I started off by using the lovely vase stencil by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs.  I used Distress Oxide in Antique Linen for the vase.  I then added some extra stamping from a very old Cherry Pie stamp to give the vase some extra interest.  The berries and the cyclamen is from Tracy's set Berries TE55 and I added the little mouse at the bottom. The extra foliage is from another Tracy Evans set. I used a metal die for the sentiment. I used Prismacolour pencils to colour in the berries and flowers. 

PEARLY SPARKLES - #115 - USE PATTERNED PAPER

Happy New Year and welcome back to another year of creativity and crafting with Pearly Sparkles.  We hope you play along with us all year.

Our first challenge for you is to use patterned paper.  Now for some this may not be a challenge but it is for me as I rarely use it anymore preferring to create my own backgrounds.  I do have a load of papers which need using up but they mostly get used for my scrapbooking.

I chose a piece from Paper Favourites called Blue Ephemera.  I loved the script on it and thought it would go well with a new stamp set I have from Studio Light called Vintage Roses.  I love the book stamp.  I simply added the stamp to a tag and layered the tags and the paper.  The Hello sentiment is from an old Colorado Craft Company set. 

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Recently on Tracy Evan's FB site we were treated to the 12 days of Christmas by her and some of her elves.  A fabulous collection of inspiration and videos.  On one of them she mentioned using her bauble stamp and turning it into a Christmas pudding - so I was up for the challenge.  I love how it turned out.  I used Tracy's sets TE18 for the Bauble and TE21 for the holly and TE 19 for the touch of mistletoe.

I'm adding this into the following:

Christmas Kickstart - AG christmas 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Christmas 

Peace on Earth - AG

We love 2 create - AG - entry 2

We love Stamping - red and green 

Allsorts - AG 

Girlz - the letter P for Pudding

Polkadoodle - AG 

Creative Inspiration - AG 

FabnFunky - Christmas 

ABC Christmas - Y is for yummy 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA - #122 - ANYTHING GOES BUT WITH A TWIST OF A CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE

Welcome back to our final challenge of this year at Creative Artiste Mixed Media- we hope you have had fun exploring Mixed Media and you have tried out some  projects and products that are new to you. We have the extra twist this month of creating something Christmassy for our final challenge. 

 I have a little Christmas book to share with you - jam packed full of mixed media goodies - mainly all by Tim Holtz. 

The outer cover has been made with some material to which I added some Tim Holtz collage paper called Holly.  I edged the material with Tim Holtz washi ribbon and added the large 25 to the front. I used Tim Holtz velvet ribbon as a binder. 

Here are all the pages in the little book which actually comes away from its front covering.

The Creative Artiste Design Team will be taking their annual winter break during January. 

We will be back on February 6th 2026 with the December winners and Challenge #123. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Creative Fingers - AG 

Lets craft and create - vintage feel 

12 months of Christmas 

Art journal journey 

Merry Little Christmas 

We love 2 Create 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #507 - CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to another Christmas challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More - hopefully if you've been playing with us through the year you have already got a good stack of Christmas cards ready for the season.  

I used a few different stamps on my card - the sentiment was a gift from a friend so I'm not sure where it came from but I thought it deserved an inking.  I used Tim Holtz Iced Spruce Distress Oxide for my pale background - just adding a few drops of water to soften it.  

The layered foliage stamps are Tim Holtz clear stamps called Watercolour and I used the water colour spritz technique which gives a soft image.  The poinsettias are by Tracy Evans and I stamped and cut them out and added them with some dimensionals to give some height. A few drops of Festive Berries splatter finished off the card with a touch of sparkle on the poinsettias from Spectrum Noir sparkle pen.

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #184 SANTA

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along with the Times - I hope you can find the time to play along with us at this busy time of the year.  Our theme is a nice simple one at this time of year - Santa!

I created a canvas for my piece - I used some Tim Holtz paper strips as the background for my collage - so many wonderful vintage images it's hard to choose a favourite if you love vintage like I do.  I stamped and coloured the Santa image another one of Tim's and added him with an Ideaology label.  I also added some die cut greenery and some extra wooden embellishments from my stash - the star, the bells and the Christmas tree.   I added some extra greenery die cuts under Stanta's feet. 

I'm adding this into the following:

We Love to Create - Mixed Media 

Polkadoodle - AG 

CRAFT challenge - AG 

SSS Wednesday - AG 

GUEST DESIGNER - HEARTS QUEST FOR SHAPED CARDS AND TAGS

I'm delighted to be a Guest Designer for Becca again over at Hearts Quest for Shaped Cards and Tags.  Here is my shaped tag for this month's challenge.

I used a tree die cut to create the shape of my tag.  I have a great new stencil which I love using which are the little Christmas trees.  The stencil is from Polkadoodles. I covered the base first in Peeled Paint Distress Oxide and Vintage Photo for the tree trunk.  I stamped over the trunk with a bark stamp by Alison Bomber.  I then used Pine Needles Distress ink for the trees.   I then simply added some red Stickles to the trees and Liquid Pearls in Pewter for extra decorations.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Watercolor Trees stamp set. 

A touch of ribbon at the top of the tag finished it off.  I made quite a few of these for quick fun tags.