Monochrome Snowmen

 

Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for Day 27 is X - My card is X for Xmas

Right, I have to be honest and say I really, really dislike the word Xmas. 

I am not religious in any way so the whole Christ in Christmas thing is not something I really think about. For those that do fine, but not for me.

However, Xmas to me is like text speak which I definitely don't do. I would never write it in a card to someone, Christmas is Christmas. It always was for me as a child and it always will be.

I didn't have any cross stitch to make a card with this year and other than xxx for kisses I could not think of another X. I was rifling through a bag of assorted sentiments I had rescued from a recycling death and found this lovely glittery Xmas and knew that could be my X.

A few days ago Beccy announced a random challenge of Black, White plus one colour and I nearly used it for that as this is pretty much what this card ended up being.

The dimensions of the sentiment made it quite difficult to place on a normal card shape so I opted for a DL card. I don't make them often but once I got my things together it only took me about 15 minutes to make this card.

The card base was covered with a thin black card. I used a lovely monochrome snowflake paper as the background. The sentiment was matted onto a scrap of silver holographic star cardstock left over from another project.

I went through my crafty stuff and had intended to add some glittery snowflakes but came across these cute snowmen stickers which are semi clear, full of glitter and sparkly gems and they are perfect and quite masculine.

Card Details -

Size - DL

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas Icy (Craft Sensations)

Embellishments - Glitter snowmen stickers (The Works)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 27 - X is for Xmas

Wreath

 

Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for Day 26 is W - My card is W for Wreath

We are almost at the end of November I am so blooming proud of myself as I somehow managing to stay not too far behind the challenges. Some of that is down to using pre-coloured digital images. Some of that is due to these diamond painting stickers that I have already done the sticky stuff earlier in the year. 

I have however made every single card along the way though which has been a challenge in itself when juggling 2 jobs. 

I do love making Christmas cards the best of all though and was so very sad last year when I was just too busy for so long and I didn't get to craft and enjoy the run up to Christmas. If I am being honest last Christmas wss just too much hassle for me and I was exhausted. I very nearly didn't put my tree up!

Anyhoo, back to this card. The wreath is another of the lovely diamond painting stickers. It is one if the largest as this card is 8" so it pretty much needs nothing else. I trimmed the sticker closer to the design by fussy cutting all the way round inside and outside. Even though it is a clear sticker I didn't want to see a big border around the design when added to patterned paper.

This paper has a subtle layer of green glitter embedded into the snowflakes in the background. I was tempted to put a gem in the centre of each one but reflected upon it and decided that would detract from the wreath and it was probably busy enough without it.

The sentiment in the middle has been recycled from a card and mounted onto a scrap of gold glitter card used in a previous project.

Card Details -

Size - 8” Square

Image - Christmas Wall Art Stickers (Craft Buddy)

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas Vintage Style (Craft Sensations)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 26 - W is for Wreath

Christmas Robin

 Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for Day 25 is V - My card is V for Verde (green in Italian, Spanish & Portuguese)

I found I was clutching at straws a bit with V so I chose Verde as a lot of this card is green.

It started off with the lovely Robin, the quintessential bird we associate with Christmas in the UK. This is a really large sticker from the Diamond Painting kit. They are intended to be wall art but I trim them very close to the image and use them on cards instead. The background is the central panel which has been recycled from a shop bought card so the foiled sentiment and dots were already on there. The placement was perfect for the robin so I only had to mat this on gold and green cardstock.

The 8" scalloped edge card is decorated with alternating red and green Card Candi from Craftwork Cards which are mounted onto foam squares. 

I really like this card a lot so may give it to my hubby as I think it will be hard to part with this one.

Card Details -

Size - 8” Square

Image - Christmas Wall Art Stickers (Craft Buddy)

Embellishments - Card Kandi (Craftwork Cards)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 25 - V is for Verde (green)

Under The Tree

 

At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.

One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.

The main focus of this card is the Christmas tree and presents underneath. The images are from the Under The Tree kit. There are 3 gifts in this kit and I digitally placed two on each side underneath the tree before printing it out.

The base of the card and the image mat are a lovely encapsulated glitter card from Crafter's Companion which adds so much sparkle with no danger of shedding everywhere ( I am often sporting some glitter on my face or clothes but some people are not so keen on the idea....)

The plaid paper is from a traditional pad from Craft Sensations. It's the perfect pattern to go with this image as it picks us bothe red and green well and looks nice with the gold.

I added some star gems to the stars on the image and some large circular ones to the baubles.

Finally the sentiment is a recycled one from a shop bought card, trimmed down, matted with a scrap of gold paper and a couple of small gems that cover tiny gold stars.

Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.

Card Details -

Size - A5

Digital Image - Under The Tree (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas Traditional (Craft Sensations)

Embellishments - star gems, small and large circular gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 24 - U is for Under The Tree

Merry Christmas

 

Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for day 23 is Black & White plus one colour

In my box of recycled elements from old Christmas cards was a fabulous panel of red metallic card with a big glittered sentiment that was just too good to throw away so I made that the basis of this card.

I covered the 8" card base with black card. This I felt was the perfect background for the largest of the dies from the Holly Frames set by Chloe's Creative Cards. I cut this from white glitter card to co-ordinate with the glitter sentiment.

The card panel I trimmed to size and rounded the corners off with my 3 in 1 punch from Crafters Companion. They are a relatively new release and I do think it is funny how 'old' stuff that I have used for years and years is all of a sudden a 'new' thing. To be fair it is much stronger than my old corner rounder and does have the added advantage it cuts 3 different sizes of rounded corners so is an improvement on my old one.

After sticking the panel to the card I then added some stitching to the holly leaves with a very fine tipped pen and lots of gem holly berries.

Card Details -

Size - 8” Square

Image - Recycled from a shop bought card

Dies - Holly Square (Chloe’s Creative Cards)

Punch - Rounded 3 in 1 (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - 0.1mm fine liner (Sakura)

Embellishments - self adhesive gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 23 - Black & White plus 1 colour

Q is for Quote

 

Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for Day 19 is Q - My card is Q for Quote

This is another card made using recent acquisitions. The starting point was this large quote which I recycled form an old card. It measures 6" so is a large focal point for this 8" card. 

I covered the card with one of the papers from my bargain Winterberry Collection kit from Crafter's Companion. 

I used one of the frames from the Holly Square die used on my Jingle Bells card. There are 5 frames of different sizes plus a holly cluster die. I have been very impressed with how clean the cut is from them considering how intricate they are. This frame cuts out a tiny holly leaf so I added some loose green glitter to provide a contrast with the darker green frame. I added a border pf green gel pen to match the gold mat.

Lots of red and clear gems were added for sparkle and a diamond painted poinsettia sticker in the top corner.

Card Details -

Size - 8” Square

Image - Diamond Painting Sticker (Craft Buddy)

Dies - Holly Square (Chloe’s Creative Cards)

Designer Paper - Winterberry Collection (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - Gold Gel Pen

Embellishments - Red & clear self adhesive gems, Green loose glitter

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 19 - Q is for Quote

N is for Noel

 

Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.

The prompt for Day 16 is the letter N. Mine is N for Noel & Neige (French for Snow)

Over the years I have had many old cards given to me by friends and family that I have cut up saving sentiments and elements I can recycle in my own card making. This all started when I was making cards over 30 years ago now and there was so little around in those days, no papers and big collections like there are now costing huge amounts of money. You had to think out of the box and re-purpose things meant for another purpose. Any money I made over the years by making cards for commissions was ploughed into buying supplies so I am fortunate to have my own craft room full of supplies amassed over the years. I still love to make things though from recycling.  As a Yorkshire lass we are known for being thrifty.

The starting point for this card was the sentiment. It was already foiled in silver so I matted it onto some metallic cardstock and added foam pads for dimension.

The base of the card is an A4 sheet of the same silver card which has a lovely glittery snow effect paper which gorgeous bokeh. The colours are very neutral (another N!).

The snowflake is aniother recycled element. It has a flock texture and feels like fuzzy felt. I added a large gem to the centre and then a small one to each of the junctions in the snowflake. 

It is quite clean and simple for one of my cards with a lot of negative space. Me being me I couldn't leave it so plain so I added some clusters of gems to the background paper for a bit more sparkle. 

Card Details -

Size - A5

Designer Paper - Merry Christmas Icy (Craft Sensations)

Embellishments - gems

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 16 - N is for Noel

Merry Wuffmas

 

It's time for a new challenge over at The Paper Funday.

Our challenges are alway Anything Goes with an optional twist.

The twist this time is 'Lots of Layers'

We are very fortunate to have 2 sponsors for each challenge this year which means we get to choose which artist we would like to work with. This is really great as it gives us double the choice. We are very lucky with the amazing sponsors that are lined up this year, many of which are old favourites and some that are new to me.

This month we are sponsored by Newton's Nook Designs & QKR Stampede

For this card I have used a stencil from Newton's Nook Designs which has little pawprints on it. I inked onto my card blank with Tea Dye and Walnut Distress ink pads alternating between the 2 shades of brown. I bought some soft blending brushes last year and it is the first time I have used them. I am not an 'inker' really so was very impressed how crisp the result is and I was much lighter with my pressure. I am much happier with the softer effect I achieved so they are worth the pennies.

I was given a bag of Christmas cards by a neighbour who know I like to recycle them. The little doggies were from a much bigger card and I knew they would look lovely with this stencil. I used a CREAlies die which has a lovely scalloped edge. This is quite thick card and it always cuts so well. I mounted it on foam pads for dimension. The sentiment is another recycled element matted on a scrap of brown card.

Finally I added some sisal garden string to complete the brown tonal effect.

I hope you will join myself and our fabulous Team over at

The Paper Funday Challenge.

Card Details -

Size - 6” Square

Image - Recycled from an old Christmas Card

Dies - Crea-Nest-Lies XXL 70 (CREAlies)

Stencil - Pawprints (Newton’s Nook Designs)

Colouring Medium - Tea Dye & Walnut Distress Inkpads

Embellishments - Sisal garden twine

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

• ABC Christmas Challenge - A is for Anything Christmas
• Cardz 4 Guys - #314 Pets
• Corrosive Challenge - #1 Anything Goes
• Creatalicious Challenges - #252 Anything Goes
• Creative Fingers - #247 Anything Goes
• Digi Choosday - #3 Anything Goes
• Love To Craft - #72 Anything Goes
• Love To Scrap - #159 Anything Goes
• Merry Little Christmas - #48 Anything Christmas Goes
• Mix It Up Challenge - #63 Anything Goes
• Penny’s Challenge - #539 Anything Goes
• Polkadoodles - #4 Anything Goes
• Star Stampz Challenge Blog #42 - Animals
• The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge - #132 Anything Christmas Goes
• Word Art Wednesday - #581-582 Anything Goes
• World Wide Open Design Team Challenge - #1 Anything Goes

4600 Gifts for the Commonwealth Games

 

I live in a suburb of Birmingham and today is the last day and closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games that have been hosted by our city. It is fair to say it has been a divisive event with many people being unhappy it was held here for many reasons. However I have seen it as a positive event and a boost for our city both economic and hopefully people will have a different perspective about our city.

I had the opportunity to take part in a craft event 4600 Gifts. Basically members of the public living in and around Birmingham attended craft sessions and the purpose was to make a gift that would be given to each competitor in the Commonwealth Games. It seemed as a crafty person too good an event to miss out on so I booked my place and headed off to a shopping centre in Birmingham City centre.

The basic premise was to use one big washer and then join it to a smaller washer. There were strips of fabric and coloured wool, all in the colours of the commonwealth flags. All supplies had been donated by local companies and chosen by the designers for the project. You could choose whichever you wanted and all instructions were given with people on hand to show you if needed so crafters of any abilities could take part.

As you may see on my blog I like bright bold colours and the fabric strip for the larger washer instantly spoke to me. You fed it around the washer looping it tightly and then I sewed the loose flap to make it really secure.

I would have loved to use a bright green wool for the top section but there was none available to me so I opted for the blue instead. Finally you join both sections together to complete the gift by looping the wool through both sections. 

We then had a tag to fill in to be given with our gift where you could put a few words for your intended recipient. They were then boxing them up and adding a key ring so the competitor could use it on their bag etc.

It was a great opportunity to meet new people and a couple of the designers who were blown away by the response. It was great to be a part of a once in a lifetime event for our city. It is surreal to think that something I have made has been given to one of the athletes that have taken part. I did add my blog details so if the lucky person ever visits the may even see this post.

We live very close to Alexander Stadium and the Red Arrows flew over our house on the way to the opening ceremony. We love going to air shows and that was a huge highlight for us. Seeing them going over our back garden and then just seconds later seeing it on the BBC coverage flying over the stadium was just epic.

This photo was taken by neighbour over the road. You can see my green car in the driveway of our house. It was tremendously exciting ☺

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

• 613 Avenue Create - #202208 Anything Goes
• A Place to Start - #082022 Anything Goes
• Classic Design Challenge - #8 Anything Goes
• Crafts Galore Encore - #102 Anything Goes
• Creative Crafting Uncles - #31 Anything But A Card
• Jan’s Digi Stamps - Anything Goes
• Love To Craft - #69 Anything Goes
• Love To Scrap - #156 Anything Goes
• Moving Along With The Times - #145 Anything Goes
• Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode - Every Summer Has It's Story (Air Shows)
• Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
• We Love 2 Create - #8 Anything Creative or Mixed Media Goes

Girl Floating With Balloons

Kinda Cute by Patricia Alvarez has a Progressive Freebie challenge on Facebook. If you use any of her images and submit a card by the end of that month then you get a free image the following month. 

I have used the image Girl Floating with Balloons and coloured with Promarkers. I selected the coloured background which is actually the inside of a birthday card which I have rescued/recycled. I chose colours from this to colour the balloons in. I added a snippet of striped paper from a K & Company pad and matted this onto a scrap of silver cardstock.

I used pencils to colour the sky over the top of a pale blue Promarker. I find the pencil adds a more swirly textured effect on top. The clouds are a stencil which came with issue 29 of Crafter's Inspiration from Crafter's Companion. I tried colouring with white pencil and it was too pale so outlined in a mid grey, then blended a lighted grey. I used a white Pentel paint marker and added a swirly effect to the clouds. If I am honest I had no idea if it would work but it has added so much depth and texture and is shiny IRL. I am very happy with my experiment.

I matted the image onto some silver holographic card. I love how the colourful balloons have reflected in the card which was an unexpected bonus. Finally I added a die cut sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

Card Details -

Size - 6” Square Scalloped Edge

Digital Image - Girl Floating With Balloons (Kinda Cute by Patricia Alvarez)

Paper - Spotty one has been recycled from a card, stripe is a snippet from Super K Studio K by K & Company 

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Arteza Expert pencils, White gel pen, Pentel white paint pen

Stencil - Dreamy Clouds from CI issue 29 (Crafter’s Companion)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

• 613 Avenue Create - #7 Anything Goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More - #410 Die Cuts and/or Stencils
• Always Fun Challenges - #224 Stencils
• Colour Crazy Challenge - #29 Anything Goes with Colouring
• Cupcake Inspirations - #524 Balloons
• Happy Little Stampers Stencils - Anything Goes with a Stencil
• House That Stamps Built - #J721 Stencilling
• Pammie’s Inky Pinkies - #2130 Anything Goes
• Pixie's Snippets Playground - #408 background paper is the inside of a recycled card, Striped paper and silver cardstock are snippets
• QKR Stampede - #424 Anything Goes