CCT November Colour Challenge

Hello! It's a colour challenge this week at Christmas Card Throwdown. Our lovely hostess Gill has chosen this fab combo -

 

 

I chose SU's Tranquil Tide as my green cardstock and I've stamped the background stars with a stamp from Wood Words. The reindeer is from Santa's Sleigh and the dies I've used are a mixture from the Mini Treat Bag, Stitched Shapes, Layering Circles and Bunch of Banners. I love the reindeer - he always seems to look very purposeful! He is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink, as is the sentiment.

I'm sure that you will enjoy playing with these colours. Lots of wintery woodland scenes definitely spring to mind, I think!
Happy crafting! April x

In the Meadow

 

 Hello! Here is a card made with the lovely In the Meadow stamp set. I did some masking with a Post-it note and a bit of brayering. The colours are Soft Sky, Sahara Sand, Mint Macaron, Smoky Slate and Early Expresso, with some gold sequins and washi tape thrown in too! There was also some additional stamping on the background using Timeless Textures.

 

I was inspired to make this card by the theme over at The Male Room which is 'Many Legs', so I thought I would enter these eight legs! Happy Friday! April x

Tie Dyed

Hello! This card was inspired by the sketch for this week's challenge at Global Design Project.

 

 Such a great sketch! I used two of the stamps from Tie Dyed to create the background for the label. The row of hearts comes from Birthday Blooms and the sentiment is from the Watercolour Wishes kit. I used dsp from the Serene Scenery stack and some Bermuda Bay sequins to finish it off.

 

I hope you like it!

Christmas Card Making

Hello! As you probably already know if you read my blog, I make a Christmas card every week of the year as a proud member of the DT for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. Some are planned and carefully made, more are rushed panic-jobs at 4 o'clock on the Friday! Then I make more Christmas cards (if that makes any sense) just like all those normal card-makers! Here is one of those cards.

I was inspired by a lovely card my friend Fanny had made with a very similar background to this one. Her card had a beribboned sleigh, but I have just gone for one reindeer here instead. I made it with the wonderful Santa's Sleigh bundle which I love!

He is off to proudly show his smart ribbon collar to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground! Hope you are feeling on the mend, Di!
Happy Christmas crafting! April x

Deep Blue Card Challenge

 

 

My goodness! Two blog posts in one day! Here is a rather masculine-looking card, made for Card in Envy's Deep Blue Card Challenge. The deep blue used here is Dapper Denim - one of the upcoming new In-Colours from Stampin' Up. I have combined it with the train image from Traveller, stamped in Sahara Sand. The sentiment is a Paula Paschual stamp. I hope you like it! April x

Flutterbies

Hello! This was inspired by a lovely card in Stampin' Success, but has turned out very differently! You start off by cutting a stencil from a butterfly framelit and sponging ink on a piece of speciality dsp. I decided to then use the inlaid die technique to return the butterflies to their spaces and add some glimmer paper bits to make a much shinier effect. I also added some white sequins for extra blinginess. I hope you like it! April x

My flutterbies are flying off to Cards in Envy - Beautiful Butterflies and Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground - the snippet of dotty speciality dsp was searched for high and low at Snippet Mountain! (mind you, I found lots of things I'd forgotten I had in the process!) :-)

Balloon Celebration

Hello! I made this card at a crafty get together with one of my team members. I used SU's Balloon Celebration stamps with the co-ordinating punch and the sentiment was cut using the washi psunch (which I love!) The colours are Mint Macaron, Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand and a bit of silver glimmer paper for added balloon bling! Hope you have a good week, April x

I'm sending my bunch of balloons over to Di and Sarn at Pixie's Snippets Playground. Just hope that a certain bear doesn't get carried away by them! (that actually did happen to my friend's daughter's cuddly duck once!)

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 Theme Challenge

Hello! Here is my DT card for this week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, where the theme this week is to make a card for a man. All the men I know have been happy with girly, glittery cards, so I am trying to imagine a rugged, action man here, with his jumble of skis, sledge and snow shoes!

 I have used SU's Winter Wishes stamp set with a colour combo of Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Smoky Slate, Tip Top Taupe, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand and Early Expresso. There is also a silver spattering, courtesy of Gorgeous Grunge and some Old Olive baker's twine.

We do have a plastic sledge in the garage, but it hasn't ever really snowed enough to use it properly. I live in hope though!

I do hope that you will join us in our theme challenge this week, April x

I would like to enter my card in CHNC#247 - Something beginning with P...pinecones!

52 CCT Technique Challenge

Hello! Over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week we have a technique challenge. Louise has chosen Triple Time Stamping - a lovely technique that creates amazing effects. It does call for some precision stamping - not my strong point! At least you can always use a well-placed sentiment or embellishment to hide a multitude of sins though!

 

For my card I have used a stamp set by Clearly Besotted called Pretty Poinsettia. I stamped the larger flower with Sahara Sand and the smaller one in Real Red. I fussy-cut an additional ponsettia to add a bit of dimension. I also added some die-cut pine sprigs and painted the centres of the flowers and the pine needles with Cosmic Shimmer. I do hope you will join us this week over at 52CCT, April x

I'd also like to enter my card in Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge Extra.

52 CCT Colour Challenge

Over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week, our hostess Louise has a great colour challenge for you.

 

I loved using these colours! I made the stars by first creating a background using Gelatos and water (Iced Chai, Cinnamon and Iced Coffee). I then stamped this with Deep Red's Doodle Borders and cut out stars with my Framelits. I used the same stamp on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock which I adhered to a piece of Baked Brown Sugar dsp. The sentiment is a magazine digi that I have sponged with Sahara Sand ink.

I do hope that you will visit us and be inspired by the design team's cards. We can't wait to see your coffee and cream festive creations! April x

Flower Fairy

I am breaking away from chocolate egg eating to post this fairy card! I'm certainly getting into colouring at the moment and I really love this fairy digi from A Day for Daisies. I coloured her with Pro-markers and added some Cosmic Shimmer to her wings. For the stamped background I used SU's retired Secret Garden and I've used Petite Petals for some extra blossoms.

I would like to enter my card in Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - flowers and lace
Robyn's Fetish Challenge - Pastel Colours.

Some Spring Creations

I have been so taken up with making Christmas cards recently that I thought some springy creations may be an idea. This card has an attachment made using the scallop tag topper punch. I got the instructions from HERE. I have used the Petal Potpourri set from the new SU Spring catalogue to stamp the flowers and then used the co-ordinating Flower Medallion punch. The leaves are from the Choose Happiness stamp set and the colours used are Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand and Chocolate Chip. I have entered this card into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge.

Here's a mini flip album I've made using Best Year Ever dsp. You can get this lovely set of papers free with any order of £45, as part of Sale-a-bration.

Finally, here's the new Mini Treat Bag die, also from the Spring catalogue. I've used the Best Year Ever dsp again here. Happy Crafting! April x

Embossing Folder Technique

This is my entry for The Friday Mashup. This week you can use a 'stamping with embossing folder' technique which I loved! For this card, I inked my Stampin' Up Chevron embossing folder with Sahara Sand and Crisp Cantaloupe inkpads. Then I added a few random blobs with a Pistachio Pudding re-inker. I misted all the inkiness with water and then placed a piece of watercolour paper on top. I love the effects you can achieve with this technique.

I then added flowers from the Petal Potpourri stamp set that had been stamped in Sahara Sand. I've added a few In-Colour sequins and two rhinestones coloured with Crumb Cake Blendabilities. Hope you like it! April x