ABC Christmas Challenge - H & I are for?

It's the first Wednesday of a new month, so that means it's time for a new ABC Christmas Challenge! Lynda is the host, and the themes are:

'H is for Houses/Home'

&

'I is for Icicles'

There's a fab prize on offer from Lynda for the lucky winner of this challenge:

On my 'H is for Houses/Home' card, I used dies and punches to create a wintry scene on a DL card. I used lots of snippets of white card (so glad I keep all those offcuts when making square cards!) to cut the snowy slopes...mainly using my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies, alhough the one at the top with the little trees is a Clearly Besotted die called 'Tree Landscape'. To add a little definition to the edges, I distressed the edges before I layered them up. The little house was cut using a Woodware punch, from a snippet of kraft card...adding an even tinier snippet of navy card behind for a coloured door. The snippet of snowy paper is from the 'Mystery Marbles' pad by Craft Sensations, and the sentiment stamp is from the 'Scribbly Christmas' set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.

I used lots of dies on my 'I is for Icicles' card too...repurposing one of my Die-namics 'Grassy Edges' dies to cut some 'icicles'. I cut them from white glitter card, then trimmed along the top with scissors to create a more 'organic' edge, then placed them on top of a 'wooden fence'...made by inking a snippet of kraft card with 'Gathered Twigs' Distress Inks, before embossing it using a woodgrain embossing folder from Sizzix/Doodlebug. I made a cheeky reindeer to pop over the top of the 'fence' using dies from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix 'Winter Critters' set...using lots of snippets of card...inking the edges with more 'Gathered Twigs' ink. I used a snippet of snowy sky background left over from making this card, then matted it all on to kraft card, before adding it to a card blank. The sentiment stamp is from the 'Celebrate Everyday' set by Hero Arts.

I'm also entering these cards into the following challenges:

• Christmas Cards All Year Round - Something Beginning with G or H (House)
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Happy Little Stampers (Christmas) - Anything Christmas Goes
• Jingle Belles - Dies
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
• Simon Says Stamp (Mondays) - Layer It
• Simon Says Stamp (Wednesdays) - Anything Goes
• The Holly & the Ivy - Anything Christmas Goes

For more inspiration from my lovely DT buddies, please pop over to the ABC Christmas Challenge.

Balloon Kitty

I'm sneaking on before bed to share a little birthday card...featuring a Penny Black cat from the 'Bubbly' set, which I coloured using watercolour pencils. I used a couple of my Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside' border dies to cut the curved sections at the bottom...then used various embossing folders (Cuttlebug 'Charles', Sizzix 'Plaid' & 'Chevron Texture') to add some texture. The clouds were cut using my Memory Box 'Puffy Clouds' die, and the sentiment is from the 'Anytime Messages' set by Hero Arts.

Challenges for this card:

• Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
• Crazy Challenge - Birthday Card
• Critters & Creatures Linky Party 
• Happy Little Stampers (Dies) - Anything Goes
• My Time to Craft - Embossing

Just Plain Happy

I spent most of the wekend working...so treated myself to a little crafting time last night as a reward! I hadn't used this adorable teddy in a while so I thought I'd ink him up...he's 'Dream a Dream' by Penny Black...doesn't he look content? I used several Cuttlebug folders for the embossing...'Swiss Dots', 'Birds & Swirls', 'Flower Fantasy' and one from the 'Just My Type' border set. The sentiment is from a set by Doodlebug, the flowers were cut using my Tattered Florals die, and I popped pieces of white Card Candi in their centres.

Challenges for this card:

• Craft Your Days Away - Make your own flowers
• Crafty Ann's - It'll be all white on the night
• Crafty Calendar - Let sleeping bears lie
• Crafty Creations - Dies & Punches (Circle & Label Nesties, Tattered Florals dies)
• Moving Along with the Times - Handmade flowers
• Paperplay - Make your own flowers
• Papertake Weekly - Sketch

I have candy on offer at the moment...if you haven't already entered, you can find it on this post.

Santa & Penguin

This adorable stamp arrived this morning...it's from a set called 'Santa & Penguin' by Craft UK, that I'd ordered nearly 6 weeks ago from the Crafter's Companion website (my first order with them)...I was beginning to think it had been lost in the postal strikes when it hadn't arrived after a few weeks...and after getting no response from their Customer Services to my three emails asking if it been posted ('cos they'd charged my card on the day I'd ordered) I had given up hope of ever seeing them...so I couldn't believe it when they popped through my letterbox today...with a packing note dated yesterday! Excellent service from the Royal Mail (for once), but I have to say that I won't be using the Crafter's Companion website again! :0(

Anyway, I couldn't resist inking them up straight away, as I thought that this image would be perfect for the 'St Nicholas' theme of the Winter Wonderland Challenge...which ends today, so I needed to get in there quickly. I followed the fab Sketch Saturday sketch...which is perfect for those larger images...and combined it with the Colour Create combo of 'Green, Red & White' with these funky papers by Doodlebug. I added some 'Polar White' Flowersoft for the snow, the sentiment stamp is from the same set as the image, and the snowflakes were cut using a Cuttlebug die.

Autumn Maggie

There's been a real nip in the air first thing in the morning this week...so I decided to ink up 'Maggie' (by Sugar Nellie)...she looks so cosy in her coat and scarf! I followed the Card Patterns Challenge sketch, which I combined with a few other challenge themes: the Cupcake Craft 'Buttons & Stitching' challenge; the Pink Elephant Challenge 'Fall' theme; the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 'Autumn Colours' challenge; and Stampin' for the Weekend's 'Orange, Brown & Leafy Green' colour combo. I used some more of the My Mind's Eye 'Bloom & Grow' papers...I was even brave enough to tear one of the sheets! lol
I used my 'zig-zag' CutterBee Bug to make the holes for my faux stitching, added a few buttons (from Poppicrafts), a sentiment by Doodlebug, and a star shaped brad (from Tescos) on the end of Maggie's sparkler.

Just Christmas & Birthdays #34

I'm afraid I've made yet another Christmas card...this time using the Just Christmas & Birthday Cards Challenge sketch, which I rotated to fit the image ('Welcome Party' by Penny Black). The papers are all by Doodlebug, the sentiment is from a little set by Studio G, and I added a little bit of faux-stitching with a white gel pen.

ABC Challenge - P is for...

Thank you for all of the fabulously 'Orderly' cards last week - I do hope that I managed to visit you all...you may have noticed that we (along with lots of other challenge sites) had problems with Mr Linky going AWOL...so if you did want to be considered for the guest DT spot for June, please leave a link your project for last week's 'Orderly' challenge in a comment on this post before 8pm tonight.

This week the ABC Challenge is being sponsored by:

And one lucky challenger will receive one of the new release of Whimsy Stamps...a really cheeky monkey...as a prize.

This week, we have reached the letter P...and we would like to see Pearls on your cards.

The Design Team were all sent images by Whimsy Stamps, and I received this fun skunk...so I decided to go for a monochrome look to mirror the colouring on him (or her...I'm not quite sure! lol). As the image is quite large, I decided to keep the layout quite simple, with some dotted paper by Doodlebug, and a strip of white card, embossed with my 'Swiss Dots' folder, across the centre. I added small white adhesive pearls in the scallops around the image, and larger black pearls in the corners, and the flowers (from Poppicrafts) are held in place with a Papermania pearl brad.


Don't forget to stop by and check out the rest of the Design Team's creations for more inspiration.

Docrafts Card Kit Swap

I've combined a couple of challenges to make my card fro this month's card kit swap on the Docrafts forum...the sketch from Friday Sketchers, which as a DL shape, is perfect for the Stamp with Fun Challenge of making an 8x4 inch card. I've used a Miss Anya image sent to me by my lovely ABC DT buddy Jen, combined with My Mind's Eye papers ('Adore'). The sentiment stamp is by Doodlebug, the flowers and ribbon are from Poppicrafts, and the pearl brad is by Papermania.

Here's my Heart...

I managed to get quite a lot of my work done yesterday...and was up with the lark this morning...working...so have just had a little break for some crafting. I've combined three challenges on this card: Sketch Saturday; Charisma Cardz ('Little Black Dress'); and Colour Create ('Black, White & Pink'). I rotated the sketch to fit the image (sent to me by my lovely buddy Carol) which is called 'Here's my Heart' by Penny Black, and I used the same Doodlebug paper for all of the layers - which covers the Colour Create extra, of 'Polka Dots'! For a splash of colour, I've added some Poppicrafts flowers and brads.

Must get my nose back to the grindstone...

BasicGrey with Charisma

For this card, I've combined the sketch from this week's BasicGrey Challenge, with the Charisma Cardz theme of 'Pretty Cards'. My main image is the very pretty Annie ('Blossom' stamp by Leanne Ellis from Funky Kits), coloured in various shades of pink to match the BG papers from the 'Blush' range. The swirls in the corner are from a set by Doodlebug, and the lace raffia is from Hobbycraft.

I also made another card using this stamp this weekend, for a few more challenges, but as I've sent it to my Docrafts friendship swap partner, so I'm going to wait 'til I know she's got it before I post it on here.

Sketch & Stash Challenge #5

As I finished teaching early last night, I managed to fit in a little crafting session - I don't normally find time during the week, so this was a real treat! The sketch for the new Sketch & Stash Challenge is a fab one - I'm sure I'll be using it again. My new items are the BasicGrey 'Sultry' papers, and the Doodlebug stamps I've used for the sentiment and the doodles in the corners. My main image is 'Dream a dream' by Penny Black, and the sheer pink organza ribbon is recycled from some Christmas gift wrap.

The Pink Elephant Challenge #1

Whilst blog-hopping on Sunday, I discovered a fab new challenge blog, called The Pink Elephant. The design team are a talented bunch, and with a new challenge every Monday, it's definitely worth a look if you haven't already seen it. The theme for their first challenge is a colour scheme of 'Pink, Black and White', which is a combination I seem to be using a lot lately.
For my card, I've used a fab Whipper Snapper stamp called '"Moo"d Swing' - I just love the expression on this cows face! The spotty paper is by Doodlebug, and the sentiment stamp is by Autumn Leaves (from a set called 'Talking Circles'). Inspired by the Colour Create challenge this week, I've had another go at making another DIY flower. This time I used my scalloped circle Nesties (the three smallest ones) to cut shapes from pink and white mulberry paper, then cut 'petals' with scissors. I then embossed them using my Cuttlebug 'Textile' folder, shaped the petals with my fingers, and added a touch of glitter glue to the tips of the petals, before attaching it to my card with a jewelled brad from The Range.

I think I must be getting forgetful in my old age...I made this card on Sunday night, along with the two I uploaded yesterday, but forgot to photograph it with the others...I think I thought I'd already put it on here...oh well, at least I've remembered to do it before the challenge is over!

The Sugar Bowl Challenge #3

The theme for Challenge 3 over at The Sugar Bowl is 'Love & Romance'. I've chosen to use 'Blossom' by Leanne Ellis as my main image. The black and white spotty paper is by Doodlebug, and I've embossed a strip of pink card with my 'Swiss Dots' folder, which I've then distressed to reveal the white core, to echo the polka dot ribbon tied around to close the card. The flowers are a mixture of Poppicrafts and Prima, and the heart charm (hung from the flowers on organza ribbon) is from my stash. I've added some faux-stitching as I felt it needed a little 'something'.

Sketch & Stash Challenge #2

I've still got lots of lovely new bits'n'pieces to use...a combination of Christmas pressies, sales bargains and image swaps...so it was tough deciding which 'new' item I should use for this sketch! On the upside, it means that I should have no trouble joining in with the Sketch & Stash Challenges for many months to come! lol

My 'new' thing on this card is the fab Whipper Snapper stamp ('"Moo"d Swing') - a bargain in the sales after Christmas. I've combined it with dotty paper from Doodlebug, spotty ribbon from Hobbycraft, Papermania brads, and a sentiment stamp by Penny Black (from the 'Critter Party' set).

Cute Card Thursday 41

To last us through the Christmas and New Year period, there's an 'Open' theme over on the Cute Card Thursday challenge blog, so I thought I'd have a little play with some of the new crafting goodies I got for Christmas. My first card uses a Rachelle Anne Miller image ('Springtime'), which I've coloured in various shades of blue, green and brown, to match the paisley paper (by Pebbles Inc). I've used a couple of my new Cuttlebug folders ('Perfect Paisley' and 'Forest Branches') on the plain cardstock.

The second card uses one of my favourite Penny Black images ('Gifts for You') on which I've decoupaged the daisy head (I used my fab new Doodlebug craft knife to cut around it rather than scissors...but I think I need to practice a little more , before I try anything more intricate!). The background papers are from the 'Two Scoops' paper pad by Basic Grey, and I've embossed one of them with another of my new embossing folders ('Textile').

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas...and got some new goodies to play with!