Merry & Bright

Once one starts on the Christmas cards, it's very hard to stop.  :-D

Two cards this evening and the first one is for

365 Cards Day 258 - 'Put a Lid on It' in other words a Hat

Charisma #45 - Merry & Bright

Actually both my cards this evening have hats on but I like this one for 365

The cute image is a down load from Digi Stamps

Colouring medium - ProMarkers 'Vanilla','Poppy', 'Ruby', 'Lime Green' and 'Emerald'

Skin tones - Copics, 'Skin White' and 'Blush'

White card embossed in 'Bug'

Copics to colour the snowman and Sakura Glitter pen to sparkle all the 'O's

Sentiment  - Mag. freebie

Base card and ribbon from stash

******

Forever Friends Challenge - Given Sketch

Stamped Image from a Forum buddy

PP's, card, flat backed gold beads, sentiment and ribbon from my stash

ProMarkers used to colour

100% Girl

I won some wonderful downloads from Sassy Studio Designs in September, and, at long last, have been colouring them up.
This gorgeous one is called Sweet Lollipop Lily
I used Copics to colour her.
The misc. base card was whizzed through my Bug with the spotty bubbly(can't remember what it's called) folder.
A waste piece of blue card was edged with Fiskars Threading Water border punch.
All pieces were corner rounded.
Sentiment by Reminisce
Paper, gems and ribbon from my stash.
This card is going to fit beautifully (I hope) with the following challenges
Cute Card Thursday 83 - Candy Corns
Elzybells #30 - Glitter, sparkle & Shine
Papertake - Spots and Stripes
Simon Says.... - All that Sparkles
Three Clovers # 37 - Teenager
Thanks for stopping by :) x

3 into 1 will go!

I decided today that the only way I am going to catch up over at 365 Cards is to do 1 card to cover as many challenges as possible. So this card knocks off 3 of the challenges.
Day 232 - Super Sketchy Sunday - Given Sketch
Day 240 - Pin Up!...to add a pin and beads or safety pin
Day 241 - Put it on the List...A list to replace the sentiment.

Day 241 is the only one that is loosely interpreted. My list is the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning ~ 'How do I love thee, Let me count the ways'...and then she goes on to LIST them. So hopefully this will pass.
Ingredients used.
Base card - Bazzill Bling
Papers - Linda Maron
Scalloped edgings, ribbon, Pearl Hat pin, gems from my stash.
Crafters chalk to smoosh around the edge of the scalloped card which was but through my 'Bug'
The poem was printed out using Word....phew just a couple behind now!

Apologies, as usual, for the poor scan, but you are used to me by now. :D

In Motion

This card today is to cover 3 challenges
365 Cards Day 227 - In Motion...to feature a flight path of something on your card
Pollycraft 26 - Tangerine, Turquoise and Chocolate
Flutterby Wednesday #78 - Butterfly

The idea for the card is off Dawn McVey's blog My Favourite Things, a very loose translation of one of her cards. With my mojo at a very low ebb I need all the help I can get
The butterfly stamps - Cuddly Buddly
Sentiment Stamp - Stampabilities
Ribbon is the hanging loop taken out of one of my sweaters...it was the perfect colour..lol!!
Ink - Colorbox Petalpoint
Brown card from my bit box embossed with 'Bug' Swirl folder
Turquoise card a piece of DCWV
Fiskers Border Punch
Wave Pattern stamp, Base card, button and thread from my stash

Peace & Joy

Another Christmas card done today to cover challenges
365 Cards Day 220 - 'In Stitches' to use cross stitch on the card
Simon Says - Colour Combo 'Red & Green'
Winter Wonderland #19 - Sleighbells Ring

I am starting to enjoy making the Christmas cards now as the weather was so awful today the heating came on so I felt wintery :D
Red base card topped with 'Bug' snowflake embossed white card.
A piece of green card out of bits box I edged with my Fiskars border punch and mounted a piece of scrap Christmas stripey paper on top finished off with rik rak ribbon.
The image is a download from Pink Petticoat 'Doodle-icious Christmas' and I cut around it with my Woodware scallop punch.
I frinished the card off with a little bit of Christmas sparkle by putting a few gems here and there on the snowflakes
My meagre effort of cross stitching was to draw my stitches around the border.
I would have loved to have done some real cross stitching for this, as I spent many years doing it but my thumb joints are now past their best with OA so I resisted the urge.

Bit of a catch-up

I was soooo tired over the weekend with getting up at 5 on Sat & Sun to watch F1 and also having a geriatric cat that walks all over my face in the early hours because he's confused and thinks he needs food, I've only managed one card over the whole 2 days.
So here is one card done today to cover several challenges and I will be uploading another when it's completed.
This card is for challenges :-
365 Cards Day 218 - Super Sketchy Sunday
ABC - Embossing
Roses On Paper 22 - Any sketch + Orange, Brown & Green Plus image from list. I have chosen Magnolia
This is how the card should have been for the Roses On Paper Challenge...my apologies for forgetting the image...more haste, less speed and all that!


Papers are from Basic Grey pads, 'June Bug' and Indian Summer'
Ribbon is American Crafts
I used my 'Bug' to emboss the Bazzill with 'Swiss Dots' and 'Swirls' folders
The tag is saved from a bunch of incense sticks
Leaf embellishment from my stash

Sunday Lovely Sunday

The first card today is for 365 Cards Day 204 - Super Sketchy Sunday
Here we are again the start of another week.
At first I thought oh! no!! an oval card, but then thought again and opted for an oval shape on a usual A5.
This got rid of lots of bits and bobs in my box, I love that.
I just cut and embossed 2 new ovals in my 'Bug' and the image is a download from Pink Petticoat, which I coloured with Sakura Gel pens.
I added a single piece of card candy for balance.

and the 2nd card is for Crafty Creations #33 - Coffee or Tea
I had one set of these great images & sentiments left that a forum buddy sent me, aren't they great.
I chose Basic Grey papers and some flat backed pearls that looked like coffee beans, well if you half shut your eyes...lol!!

So that's me for today. I have a lot of stamping to do for a stamped image swap for the forum and 3 cards to make from a card kit swap, so busy, busy, busy.

Angels....

What a lovely day today, so my Angels have certainly made their presence felt.
My son took a shoebox of my cards back home with him as he thought it a waste to do nothing with them. He found a little craft shop and the chap in there thought they were fabulous and has bought them. Apart from about 5 others, I have never sold any cards, I just put them all in a box. So if these sell he will want me to send more, so I feel blessed as things are pretty tight at the moment.
Therefore this card is very apt for today.
365 Cards Day 203 - 'Feeling Lucky' - a symbol of luck to be put on your card.
I don't hold with the idea of luck as it isn't really the way I believe.
But this symbol, a caring, guardian spirit - an Angel, I am sure is perfectly acceptable for this challenge.
The paper used is out of my other new Basic Grey Pad 'Eskimo Spirit', I love it.
I cut and embossed the curved rectangle Nesties in my 'Bug' and used the off-cut as a frame under the label which I raised on dimensionals. The beautiful sentiment stamp was a cheap misc. find on eBay - where else...you can get these so cheap. I edged the white frame with my Gold Leafing Pen.
The gold card, gold satin ribbon and little bead Angel are all out of my stash.

I am almost sure this card would be very fitting for Secret Crafter #50 - One For The Girls, because they're all little angels, aren't they?

Peace

I have a couple of Christmas cards made now, thanks to the fabulous downloads from Willow Designs.
They had a great sketch this last week at Willow Sketchie Challenge and I turned it on it's side so the papers could be read.
I used PM's to colour
The red shimmery card is Stardream from Joanna Sheen and the ribbon is DCWV.
I altered the angle of the peel-off sentiment to fit
I cut and embossed around the image with my 'Bug' and with the die still in place swooshed chalk around the edge to give a bit of dimension

Life is Sweet

Well I feel a bit better about my cardmaking today, maybe because the sun shone for a while and unseasonably warm too...lovely!!!
So today for 365 Cards Day 192 - So Sweet - the card is to have the word sweet on it and The Cuttlebug Spot 47 - 'It's for the Birds' to feature a bird.
Even though it's summery I felt autumny colours coming on.
The card base is kraft card by Lakeland.
The paper with the birdie is a great free download from DoCrafts - http://www.docrafts.co.uk/. I pierced around the edges and drew a pen along the holes to look like stitching.
I embossed a piece of lovely orange card in my Bug and cut the edge with my new Fiskars border punch 'Apron Lace' which I had for my birthday off a dear crafty buddy.
The sentiment stamp was inked with Adirondack 'Raisin' but surprisingly bled into the paper, it makes it just look more rustic.
A piece of Anita's sticky ribbon across the top and 3 buttons from my mum's tin with embroidery floss through the holes finished it off.
Job done!

Pastel Pink & Apple

This is a combo for Passion for ProMarkers No 2 and Friday Sketchers No 55
The Theme for P for P this week was 'Pastel Pink and Apple' being the colours of the pens to predominate.
Other ingredients used :-
Stamped Image - Tilda
Paper - Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie'
Flowers - Prima 'Forever Flowers'
ProMarkers - other than the 2 stated....Sandstone for hair & Lemon for crowns & hair highlights
Copics - Skin White & Pinkish White for skin
Stickles glue in 'Star Dust' for wings
Craftime Deco Borders
Tools used :-
Cuttlebug embossing folder in 'Swiss Dot'
Nestabilites small scalloped oval
Base card, ribbon, stamped sentiment, jewels and pearls from my stash

The Pink Elephant Recipe.....

Challenge #17 at The Pink Elephant this week is a recipe being
3 Buttons
2 Layers
1 Sentiment

Used a great sketch from Clean and Simple which I've used over and the ingredients are:-
Papers Kay & Co. & Basic Grey
Ribbon American Crafts
Cream card embossed with 'Bug' embossing folder Swiss Dots
The sentiment I created in Word
Everything else from my stash.

One for the Boys....

Have managed to do this one for Just Christmas & Birthday Cards, being sketch 28 by Amanda.
I have only managed the birthday one as my Christmas stash and stamps are all away, but I daresay I will have to get a couple of bits out to do a card to justify this great blog.
I was going to combine this sketch with the theme of 'Games and Toys for Boys' over at Daring Cardmakers but have missed the deadline. The words Mice and Men come to mind!! lol!!
Ingredients :-
Boy Image - Stick Kids Footballer by Mambi
Football image - misc. stamp
Striped paper - misc. download
Text - Bo-Bunny Press sticker
Black card, white card, round stick-on 'doo-dads' and sticky backed grass from my stash

Tools :-
Marvy Le Plume pens
Sakura Gelly Roll pen - black glaze
Versafine Onyx Black
Cuttlebug embossing folder

Chocolate, Coffee & Cream

This was the great theme over at Colour Create challenge blog this being week 11.
The added extra element was to add distressing.
I don't know why but this took me hours all afternoon. lol!! I was up and down like the proverbial.
Unfortunately, due to the bulkiness of the ribbon, the scan is poor. I still haven't got the ability to do great photos like some of you artistic ladies. :-)
2 Easter pressies were featured on this card the stamp and the 'Bug' embossing folder....aren't I lucky.
I distressed the core'dination card after embossing in the Bug.

Ingredients :-
Distressed brown paper - Kay & Company 'Roam'
Stamp - Sugar Nellie
Vellum Sentiment - Art & Crafts Direct
Core'dination card - 'sand castle'
Lace, ribbon, brads, base card and card pieces from my stash.
Friendship Circles - Stampin' Caz

Tools used :-

'Bug' embossing folder - 'Bird Call'
Nestabilities dies - round pinking and curved rectangle
Fiskar's wide scallop edge cutting scissors
Emery board for distressing
Pro-markers in vanilla, spice, sandstone, pastel pink, coral, cinnamon, apricot and raw sienna

All Round

Over at Basic Grey Challenge 26 the idea was to make a card with no angles or corners, hence the 'All Round' theme.
Really struggled with this one, not because of the rounding but because of the lack of mojo. But I came up with a card which I will be using for a friends anniversary soon.
The papers and chipboard alphas were both Basic Grey 'Two Scoops'
Sentiment stamp, ribbon and flat-backed pearls from my stash. The flowers are Prima hydrangeas. The papers were edged with my Fiskars wide scallop scissors. The card was embossed alonng the bottom edge with my Cuttlebug embossing borders 'Frills'.