Christmas Bunnies

I have a Christmas card to share today...using a Lili of the Valley image stamp called 'Winter Bunnies', which I coloured using watercolour pencils...I added some sparkle to the snowy ground using a Sakura Stardust pen, but it doesn't really show in the photo. For the background, I embossed plain card using my Cuttlebug and Sizzix folders. I distressed the edges a little, then added some twine (from Lakeland) and a button.

Challenges for this card:

• Bunny Zoe's - Buttons & Bows
• Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Cute Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Your Favourite Things (Cute animal stamps, Embossing & Twine)
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Sketch
• Holly Jolly Christmas - Clean & Simple
• Sweet Stampin' - Clean & Simple
• Winter Wonderland - Buttons

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y is for...

We have a brand new ABC Christmas Challenge starting today...Lols is hosting and the theme is:

'Y is for Your Family'

Create a personalised card/tag

We are sponsored for this challenge by Fred She Said:

Prize - $10 Gift Certificate!

I made a set of personalised gift tags for family and friends. I used the reindeer stamps and co-ordinating dies from the 'Holiday Cheer' Framelits set by Sizzix/Hero Arts. I stamped the reindeer on to kraft card. in black and red...cutting out the jumpers from the red version and layering them over the top of the black ones. I made the background for each tag from plain-ish papers from the 'Winter Wishes' collection by Echo Park, and the 'Eskimo Kisses' collection by BasicGrey. I embossed the blue paper using a couple of Cuttlebug snowflake folders, and the trees (cut using another of the dies from the Framelits set) using my trusty 'Swiss Dots' folder...then I sanded over the top to reveal the white core. The 'snowy' ground is simply a piece of torn white card. I added the names using a set of alphabet stamps by Clear stamps, then added some twine (from Lakeland) to tie each tag on to each gift.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:

• Corrosive - Anything Goes
• Crafty Sentiments - Christmas
• Crazy Challenge - Christmas
• Cutie Pie - Lots of Cuteness, not on a Card
• Gem of a Challenge - Anything Christmas
• Loves Rubber Stamps - Winter or Christmas
• One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes
• Stamp & Create - Anything Christmas
• Whimsy Inspires - Anything Goes

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

Little Snowy Gift Bag

I'm spending this weekend trying to get all my Christmas cards written and posted...gifts made and wrapped that need to be distributed next week...but I did find time for a challenge (or three!). The Penny Black Saturday Challenge has a colour themed challenge of 'Red & Gold' this week...perfect for Christmas projects. I followed this tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers to make a little gift bag.


I stamped a random pattern of snowflakes (using some stamps from Lakeland) using gold ink on to plain red card before assembling my bag. I added a small snowman image ('Little Snowy' from the 'Holly-Jolly Christmas' set by Penny Black) mounted on some Nestie circles to decorate the front. So, having taken my inspiration from the song 'Frosty the Snowman', I'm entering this into the Cupcake Craft Challenge, where the theme is 'Sing a Christmas Carol'.
Here's a view of the side, showing you the shape of the bag:



I'm also going to enter this into this week's Our Creative Corner Challenge...where the theme is 'Holidays'...mine's obviously Christmas.

Invitation Production Line...

I've been busy little bee today...I had a production line going, making invitations for my Nan's 90th Birthday Party, which is in November.


I kept the design very simple, as I was making mulitples, but made a few different colour ways for a bit of variation. To keep the layers to a minimum (I want them to be fairly flat for posting) I used coloured card blanks (these are A6, from Lakeland...before they stopped selling crafty bits). The cake image is a Hero Arts stamp (from the 'Fabulous Birthday' set), which I watercoloured to match the card blank, then added a touch of glitter to the cake. I printed the wording on to white paper (I did try card, but my printer didn't like it, and kept leaving grey streaks down the page...ggrrrr), then scored parallel lines either side, before embossing the top and bottom of it using my 'Swiss Dots' folder. Here's a better picture of the three different colours:


I've also made a few cards for challenges...I think I've set a personal best today...12 invites and 4 challenges cards...but I'm saving those to upload next week...I wouldn't want to bombard you with them all at once! lol

Christmas Candle

When I saw that the theme for this week's Winter Wonderland Challenge was 'By Candlelight'...I knew straight away that I was going to make a stamped candle...which also fits in the 'Anything BUT a card' theme of the Truly Scrumptious Challenge. I made a few of these last Christmas to give as gifts, but I used watercoloured images then, so I thought I'd try something a little different, and do some heat embossing. I stamped my images (Hero Arts 'Flourish Tree with Stars', and some snowflakes from a set by Lakeland) with Versamark, on to white tissue paper, then embossed them with silver powder. I then cut carefully around the images (cutting as close to the edges as I dare!), and laid them on to my candle, using a small amount of PVA glue to help hold them in position. I wrapped a piece of grease proof paper tightly around the candle, then moving fairly quickly across the images, used my heat gun to 'fix' the images into the wax...it only takes a few seconds...the image appears clearer through the grease proof paper when it's done.


I wasn't sure whether it would work using heat embossed images, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out...and it's certainly a lot less fiddly than trying to watercolour on tissue paper!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 34

Now, I must admit that I was a little scared when I saw that the challenge for this week's Penny Black Challenge is to create a 'Circle Card'. I'm not very adventurous when it comes to card shapes, nearly all of mine are square, with the odd A5 and DL thrown in occasionally, but actually it was really fun making a circular card.
I cut my base card from a pink pearlescent card blank using the largest of the scalloped circle Nesties (making sure that I left a 'hinge' at the top). The image I've used ('Bundle of Wishes'), was one I received this week, in a swap with my lovely friend Pauline - thank you! The ribbon is from Hobbbycraft, the gems are from Lakeland, and the flowers are from Poppicrafts.