The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! Today I am lumping all my '12 Tags' creations together in a collage. It feels slightly creative without having to move too far from the mince pies. Hopefully normal crafty service will resume soon... April x

Final Funkie Junkie Creation!

Yay! My final make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This card was inspired by Linda's tag for Week 8. I have incorporated the banners, a tree and the swirly aspect of the original design.

I have loved this wonderful challenge! I just wish I had started earlier and it hadn't been such of a mad dash at the end. I really hope it happens again next year so I can take my time.

A massive Merry Christmas to all the kind people who read and comment on my blog. I hope you have a lovely restful (and crafty) time, April x

Festive Gift Card Holder

Here is my penultimate make for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This gift card holder was inspired by Linda's last tag for Week 12. I was inspired by the holly leaves and that the tag is three dimensional.

Everything here is very snippety. The tag was recycled from my daughter's Secret Santa at school and the stars were cut from a bag. I coloured the ribbon with Distress Stains - Crushed Olive, Festive Berries and Old Paper.

 

I would like to send it over to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground for my last festive entry of the year. Thank you Di for all your hard work and kindness in running such a fab challenge blog!

 

Merry Christmas! April x

Another One!

My final tag of the day! Made for Week 10 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. Such a stunning original tag by Linda! I have used the white and gold colour scheme, but my snowflakes are embossed on a tag that I first covered with gesso and gold embossing paste. I have rubbed a gold Gelato on the raised design. It reminds me of a plastered wall! I used the SU embossing folder, Northern Flurry and I've added a wooden snowflake embellishment. The end is nearly in sight! April x

Another Tag!

I'm running out of tag titles! Seriously, desperate times call for even more desperate measures - blogging more than once a day! I really need to get ahead with The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, or there is a good chance I will be fitting tag making around cooking the turkey!

This tag is inspired by Linda's lovely tag for Week 5. I was inspired by the background, the colours and of course, the tree. I started off by colouring my tag with a mixture of Soft Sky and Pool Party. I then spattered the tag with water and stamped the snowflakes in Smoky Slate. The tree was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with SU's pewter embossing powder. Depth was added with a Gelato and highlights with a white chalk marker. Both the tree and snowflakes are from Gossamer Blue's Get Happy and the sentiment is from SU's Endless Wishes.

There may be yet another blog post...At least it is distracting me from eating my own body weight in mince pies!

Another tree for Parsnip to climb over at Pixie's Snippets Playground! April x

Textured Tag

Time for more Funkie Junkie-ing! This tag is for Week 11 of The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I was inspired by the texture, colour scheme and snowflakes of Linda's lovely tag. My background was made by combining gesso with Cosmic Shimmer texture paste. When it was dry I applied a mixture of Distress Stains - Tumbled Glass, Mermaid Lagoon and Blue Print. The Joy sentiment was cut with my Silhouette and coloured with a metallic marker. Some glittery snowflake and rhinestones were added to complete the tag!

Of course I am sending all this glitter over to Parsnip who is doing a very good job as Christmas waiter over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Thank you, Di for the beautiful card! April x

A Floral Tag

Here is another contribution to The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas challenge, which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I was delighted to read that the deadline for completion has been extended until 27th December. I am determined to get there!

My tag is inspired by Linda's beautiful example for Week 4. I have also included some plaid and a flower - in this case, a Prima flower. I did a bit of background stencilling using my Tim Holtz Burlap stencil and the foliage was glittered up with some Cosmic Shimmer texture paste. The vintage style sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Bells and Boughs and I made a rustic looking bow from linen thread.

This is my final entry of the week for Pixie's Snippets Playground - two weeks now x 3 entries (I know Parsnip! I'm polishing my halo with an anti-static thingy as I type!!)

I have also just found the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog (clearly I have been living under a stone!) and would like to enter my tag in the 'Tis the Season challenge.

Happy Christmas crafting! April x

A Rustic Tag

Hello! Here is my next tag for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. The inspiration came from Linda's amazing tag for Week 6. I was inspired by lots of aspects of this tag! I have tried to replicate the newsprint effect, the green stencilling, the tree, foliage, everything really! I didn't have any corrugated card, so I used my scoreboard to make a concertina effect with a piece of patterned paper.

I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. Continuing my rustic theme, here is a Christmas wreath I made at a great workshop this morning.

Definitely helped to get me in more of a festive frame of mind!

I would also like to send my tag off to Di and Parsnip (hope he's recovered from the rum-soaked sultanas!) at Pixie's Snippets Playyground.

April x

A Stag Tag

Here is another tag for the Funkie Junkie's Twelve Tags of Christmas challenge, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This one was made for Week 3.

I was inspired by the background of Linda's lovely tag and I used my Tim Holtz Holiday Knit stencil to create a similar effect. I stencilled on Kraft paper with white ink and then added lots of Cosmic Shimmer pearl spray. It glistens much more in real life! I also wanted to include a stag. He was cut using my Silhouette.

I seriously need to get a move on if I am going to complete this gorgeous challenge. I am enjoying trying!

I am also sending my festive stag to join the Nativity over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Lovely Di very kindly chose one of my tags for her picks this week. Thank you Di and Parsnip!

Happy crafting! April x

Black and Gold

LOVE this colour combo! You may remember from an earlier post that I was going to get a Silhouette Cameo back in October as a way of getting myself through the extraction of a tooth root. I had got myself in a right freaky state over the prospect of it and I thought a Silhouette would help! In the event, I felt a right fraud. I was in and out in less than fifteen minutes, never felt a thing and had no pain or swelling afterwards (lucky I know!) So, the Sihouette became an early Christmas present instead, but I'm glad it's here now!

My card is for Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. It is inspired by Linda's wonderful Week 2 tag. I have used her black and gold colour scheme and have also incorporated the rays and stars. The sentiment was cut using my Silhouette and I then embossed it with gold embossing powder. The ray stamp is from SU's Kinda Eclectic and I have added some Glimmer Paper stars and large black sequins. I backed it onto a Brushed Gold cardstock base. Hope you like it!

I'd also like to enter my card in the Cards in Envy Very Vintage challenge. I do think the rays and sentiment give my card a vintage vibe, even though I suppose it is also quite modern looking.

I'd also like to enter the Our Creative Corner challenge where the theme of the month is stars.

Have a crafty weekend! April x

Poinsettia Banner

Hello! Here is my next creation for The Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas challenge which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. This turned out to be a small banner decoration rather than a tag. It was also a masterclass in how not to use gold embossing paste!

My best friend and crafting partner in crime, Sam, was often told by teachers at school, "too much glue, Sam!" For forty years now, messy craft incidents are referred to as "too much glue, Sam" moments. We continue to have many of them. One blob of embossing paste on the bathroom floor didn't seem too bad. Then I found another and then another...I cleaned them up, although the lino had taken on a sort of attractive gold gleam at this point. I pottered off. Then came the sudden realisation that a huge blob was stuck down the entire length of my carpet slipper. There were gold footprints all over the bathroom and there is a dried blob on the stair carpet (good job we need a new one, hey?) A glorious, gold 'too much glue, Sam' moment!!

I think I have been quite sensible in returning to Week 1 of Linda's challenge. I was inspired by her poinsettia and the technique of stencilling with embossing paste (my bathroom felt less inspired!) My poinsettia die came free with a magazine and it is fab! The background of the banner is a mixture of Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and SU's Mossy Meadow. 99% of the embellishments are disguising a 'too much glue, Sam' incident, but nevertheless it is looking very pretty hanging off an antique mirror in the hall. The stress of it all has led me to the Christmas tin of rum soaked sultanas...

This is my last entry of the week for Pixie's Snippets Playground. I can't believe I have managed three! I am flicking a celebratory rum soaked sultana (or three) at Parsnip :-)

A Coffee Tag

Here is my next tag for The Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas challenge which is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. As you can see from my last post, I am in serious catch-up mode! This is my tag for Week 9, inspired by Linda's lovely coffee tag.

I started off by making my tag from Kraft card. I added die-cut letters and covered it all in gesso. I then sponged on stripes of Distress Stains - Festive Berries, Cracked Pistachio and Crushed Olive, which I spattered with water. The coffee cup, cut with a MFT die, is made from all kinds of left-over snippets and I used a piece of sandpaper to distress the chevron embossing. Finally, I coloured in the lettering with a metallic marker and rubbed Gelatos across - a mixture of Iced Chai and Iced Coffee.

This is also my second entry of the week for Pixie's Snippets Playground. My tag is seriously snippety and I reckon Di and Parsnip could do with a coffee!

Happy crafting! April x

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas

Am I bonkers starting a twelve week challenge when there's only a couple of weeks left? Yes, probably. There is a backstory though. I found Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas weeks ago. Excitedly, I made a tag. I reached for the camera. Suddenly no tag...I looked everywhere, even behind radiators. I really think it's one of those things that will be found under the floorboards in fifty years time! Kept putting it on the backburner, but really can't resist all the beautiful inspiration on Linda's blog.

The challenge requirements can be found at The Funkie Junkie and it is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. So far so good! I hope I can finish all twelve festive projects in the time remaining. I'm going to try my best. At least you can link up in any order, so here I am starting very logically with Week 7!

I have changed the colour scheme, using SU's Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand inks for my stencilling and stamping. I was really inspired by the gorgeous layered snowflake on Linda's beautiful blue and silver tag, so I have made this the main feature on my tag too. My snowflakes were die-cut from a first tag that I wasn't happy with!

I loved making my tag and have started on the second one. You don't have to just do tags. There are all kinds of amazing Christmas cards and ornaments.

I would also like to send my tag to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground because I know Parsnip will like the ribbon! It is also a small Christmas miracle that I am entering anything on the first day!!

52 CCT Pick Any Previous Challenge

 

I hope that you can join us for our final challenge of the year over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. We are celebrating December with a...

 

 

 

You are very welcome to choose any previous challenge from our 2015 archives. My card is inspired by a colour challenge from August 2015 (red and green).

  



My card was stamped using SU's Cozy Christmas and I have chosen Real Red and Mossy Meadow for my colours, along with some glittery gold ribbon and sequins. I hope you like it!

 

A mad dash through the gates at Pixie's Snippets Playground!

 

Festive best wishes, April x

 

52 CCT Technique Challenge

Hello! Hard to believe that we are nearing the end of another year of challenges at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown! I hope that we have helped you make a pile of cards all ready to send off (if you can bear to part with them that is!) I love being part of the lovely Design Team and am already looking forward to next year's challenges. However, we still have a couple of challenges left to go, starting with this fab technique challenge -

 

 

 

I love creating inky backgrounds! On my card I have sponged a mixture of Soft Sky, Pool Party, Tempting Turquoise and Pistachio Pudding, using a ripped piece of copier paper as a mask. I then added some snowflakes in white and stamped the trees using SU's Wonderland. A bit of messing around with a chalk marker, the fine tip glue pen and some glitter, and I was done!

 

 

 

I hope that you will join us over at 52CCT and feel inspired by the DT's inky creations!

 

I am doing a last minute drag of my trees (for Parsnip to climb) through the gates at Pixie's Snippets Playground even though my snippetage of the week just involved a mask of copier paper (part of a shopping list!) Di very kindly had my Tic Tac holders as one of her picks last week which made my day! April x



Christmas Sock Exchange

Hello! I have had a lovely time taking part in a fab Christmas Sock Exchange organised by Kim of A Blackbird's Epiphany. I have sent my parcel (pictured above) off to the U.S., but the gorgeous socks that arrived here came from Kim. Amongst all the lovely gifts was one of her fabulous necklaces -  a fox in a bottle! I squealed with delight! ( I have worn it straight away - couldn't wait til Christmas!)

Here's the handmade card that went with my parcel. I hope my recipient enjoys receiving their socks as much as I have.

Such a super idea and so enjoyable! Thanks Kim!

April x

52 CCT Theme Challenge

Hello! We have a theme challenge this week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown:

 

I decided to go with the friendship between a girl and a polar bear (hope that doesn't make me sound too odd...!) This lovely stamp is called Snow Kiss by Penny Black. My card didn't get off to a great start when I dropped a black inkpad on my jeans! I based my colour scheme on the piece of SEI paper in the gold frame, combining it with Chocolate Chip and Smoky Slate cardstock. I used Endless Wishes to stamp the background and the tiny tag is a very handy die that comes with the Curvy Keepsake Box.

 

 

 

 I would so much like a snow kiss with a polar bear, but I suspect the reality would be very different! I do hope that you will join us as we love seeing all the amazing cards that you very kindly enter into our challenges. Have a great weekend, April x

Tic Tac Holders

Happy Friday! These are the Tic Tac holders I made for last night's craft fair. They are perfect for tiny snippet use (or snippetage, as I like to call it!) The fab tutorial is here. I had a great time with Sam and Ruth on our stall. Here it is looking all festive!

I am flicking a Tic Tac at Parsnip over at Pixie's Snippets Playground (It sounds like he's just flicked a pile back. Such a loud and sudden burst of hail! I guess that's the start of the promised wintery weather). Wishing you a crafty weekend in the warm, April x

Coffee Gift Card Holders

Hello! I am continuing to make (slow) progress with my Christmas craft fair preparation. There is a definite coffee theme going on at the mo because I have been messing around with a fab MFT set of stamps and dies. I love coffee stamps, but I don't actually drink coffee...I do have one cup of coffee on Christmas day though. I'm not sure why! I think these gift card holders look suitably festive, but could be used at other times of the year too. I'm always conscious that lots of people have already bought their Christmas stuff earlier in the year, so I try to keep a balance between the Christmassy and the non-Christmassy!

I'm sending a cup of coffee to Di (and one to Parsnip) at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

April x

Christmas Workshops

I had two very enjoyable workshops this week where we made Christmas cards using the Cozy Christmas and Wonderland stamp sets. Two very different styles of card!

I had such a lovely time with great company and even managed to ration my mince pie consumption (a big achievement in the face of the food loveliness that was provided!)

 

Back to craft fair prep this week! Have a lovely Sunday! April x

52 CCT Colour Challenge

Our colour challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week is to use purple and green. Such a great colour combo!

I have gone with two shades of both colours here - Perfect Plum and Blackberry Bliss combined with Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow. I used the 'rock and roll' technique to ink the stamp - it's not a weird photo defect! The lovely tree stamp is from SU's Wonderland set.

I hope that you will join us in our colour challenge - we love seeing your inspirational cards. Have a great weekend, April x

P.S. I am squeezing my trees through the gates for Parsnip over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. That bear needs a tree to hide up after all the firework frivolity, as does poor Miss Di with her 'grout'.

52 CCT Sketch Challenge

Wow! Hard to believe that November is here. At the start of each month we have a sketch challenge for you at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

 

For my take on the sketch, I have used some cute snowman paper that came with a magazine. I inked a piece of cardstock with a variety of Distress Stains - Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass. I then cut a snowflake using one of Sara Davies' Trio of Snowflakes die. I cut another one from Glimmer Paper to layer underneath and added a snowflake sequin and an enamel dot.

I hope you will join us for our sketch challenge and be inspired by the DT's fabulous Christmas creations! Have a great weekend, April x

Craft Fair Production

Hello! Sam, Ruth and I have a stall again this year at Hoylake Evangelical Church's Christmas fair on 19th November. I have vowed to myself not to do my usual trick and leave all the making to the last two days!! I am hardly the fastest papercrafter and today's haul has been less than impressive - a gift card holder, two tic tac holders and a gift box. To be fair, the cats haven't even 'helped' today. I was delayed by losing the penguin's tiny bow tie stamp though. That involved twenty minutes with a torch!

The gift card holder was made using the Envelope Punch Board and this tutorial. The penguin is from SU's Snow Place. He is so cute! You can write inside.

Of course, craft fairs are perfect for full-on snippet use! This is my second entry of the week to Pixie's Snippets Playground. Have a great week, April x

52 CCT Theme Challenge

Hello! Here is my DT card for this week's theme challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. As there are five weekends in the month, it is time for a:

 

Please trawl through our archive of previous themes for inspiration. I have gone all the way back to March 2012 and the theme of Christmas animals or birds. I have used Hero Arts' Colour Layering Dimensional Bird to create a Turtle Dove. The leaves and branch are from the same stamp and die set and I have added a holly background made using a stencil that came with a magazine. I like him, as he reminds me of William Morris' Strawberry Thief, although my bird has his eyes firmly on those mini pine cones!

 

 I do hope that you will join us over at 52CCT. It's my last week of hosting and the cards have been wonderful. I have really enjoyed visiting so many lovely blogs!

 

Card-making has taken a bit of a back seat recently, as we have been enjoying a lovely two week half term. We visited the Harry Potter studios at Watford and Monkey Forest near Stoke. Both were fabulous! I've got my bunting up for our Halloween party tomorrow (some real cobwebs needed removing first). I made the abstract picture from fused plastic shopping bags when they were still free. It will have shot up in value now!! :-)

 

 

Finally, a photo of one of the residents of Monkey Forest! Love those fluffy legs! April x

 

 

I would like to enter my card in the Hero Arts Christmas Card Challenge, CHNC Challenge Extra, Winter Wonderland Challenge and Pixie's Snippets Playground.