It's that mouse again!...

This House Mouse guy seems to be appearing everywhere this week.  This time he's got himself into a snowglobe I picked up at our local Home Bargains store.  I really like this globe as it's flat backed and has a huge magnet on so that you can stick it on the fridge, etc.  It was nice and easy to open and has a much neater finish than the last globe I used.

My globe is going to make it's way on to my Mum's fridge this afternoon when I go on to do her tea, but it's also for the challenges at...

• Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - Christmas Animals (wow Cynthia can you believe I entered on your very first day?)
• Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Anything for Christmas but not a card.
• Ooh La La Creations - Here comes Santa CLAWS (lol)
• One Stop Craft Challenge - Christmas Cuties

Hope this snow melts soon.  My Graphicus goodies are still being held at the Post Office and our milk and bread supplies are running dangerously low.  I'm not sure which of those things is worrying me most!  Probably the Graphicus box as they are like gold dust to get hold off.

Take care everyone.

Ann xxx 

Bah! Humbug!...

I'm sorry, but the snow I like is glittered and on Christmas cards.  The real stuff is also okay for the occasional country walk, sledging and building snowmen, but on no account should it fall when people need to get to work or even worse know that they have a huge parcel from Graphicus stranded at the Post Office and there is no way they can get their hands on it.  Eeek!

Anyway grumble over and on to more fun things such as this totally cute House Mouse stamp from one of the sets on the Joanna Sheen website.  How cute is he?  I love him to meeces!

I missed the last challenge at the House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog and was determined not to miss this one which is all about the 'envelope'.  To compensate for missing out last time I did a card to match the envelope.  Actually not sure which came first - a bit like the chicken and the egg query really.

The envelope was stamped with the mouse and then using another stamp set in my collection I stamped the ground and the snowballs using a bit of masking and a pen to join things up.  I coloured the image using Promarkers.  I was a bit unsure as to how they would blend on the envelope paper and I must admit I put an protective piece inside the envelope just incase the ink went through, but it all seemed to work fine. The snowflakes are one of the really tiny corner stamps by Clarity bought at a show years ago and were stamped in Versefine Sepia.  I added the address to the photo only - I don't really know Maxwell's address!

My card is a really simple one with the mouse image mounted on a fab die cut by Nellie Snellen and then matted on some of my favourite wording paper by DCWV.  Organza ribbon, die cut tags and corner peel offs have been added for a touch of oomph.

My card and envelope set is perfect for the following challenges...

• House Mouse and Friends Challenge Blog - Envelope Art
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Script (background paper)
• Promarker Challenge - Old and New (new is House Mouse stamp - old is DCWV paper and snowflake corner stamp)

Well, I'm off for a walk in the snow.  I must be mad, but I do think that it will be really beautiful on the pastures near us and am hoping to take some good snowy day photos.  Also hoping that Pasture's Lodge is open too as I think on a cold day their lasagne, garlic bread and chips meal would go down very nicely accompanied by a glass (or two) of red wine.

Have a good day all and keep warm and safe.

Ann xxx

Feeling Blue...

It's not just the awful cold that I came down with the other day that's causing the blues.  This week sees our very last challenge at Bah! Humbug! till the New Year.  Yep, we Bah! Humbuggers! are taking a break and as it is our last challenge it seemed appropriate to have the theme of 'Feeling Blue'.

Even though I was so snuffly I wanted to just curl up under the duvet I really, really couldn't miss the last challenge so out came my favourite glitter card and a gorgeous snowflake die from a set by Marianne.  The snowflake is set behind the circular aperture cut into embossed white card.  A really simple card to make, but a useful one to send out.

My card is for the challenges at...

• Cute Card Thursday - Blast from the Past (Week 91 aperture's)
• Crafts and Me - cards with snowflakes on
• Pollycraft - anything blue
• Incy Wincy Designs - blue and white. 
• Fussy and Fancy - Christmas with no red or green

While I was in my blue phase I had a little play using a Kaleidoscope ink pad I have that has loads of shades of blue in it. Using art card and ink dusters I shaded the whole of the card with the lightest blue in the middle and getting darker and darker towards the edge.

Then using a Hero Arts sentiment stamp that I've had for years I stamped the word 'Joy' in the bottom corner.  I must admit that I was intending to add white embossed snowflakes to the tag at this stage, but while I was searching for snowflake stamps I found this wonderful Stampendous branch that hasn't seen the light of day for years.  Eeek too many stamps - NO never!  Having stamped the branches I felt the need to add a bauble and decided to use my Sizzix die again.  This die cuts the circle and tag part separately so I cut the outer tag ring in blue and the inner circle in white art card.  Then using the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder I put the circle over one of the snowflakes and embossed.  To make the bauble match the rest of the tag I dusted it with ink and for a bit of glitz added a gem stone to the centre and a touch of glitter to the branches.

As well as some of the challenges listed above my tag is also perfect for the challenge at...

• Oldie but Goldie - glitter (really must enter this challenge more often and get some of my old stamps used.  The Stampendous branch is a design from 1992 and there was I swooning over the new Waltzing Mouse stamps when I had this in my collection already.)

I hope you will have chance to pop over to Bah! Humbug! to see the work of the rest of the team and maybe join in.  Next week, although there will be no challenge, we will be announcing the winner and runner up in our loyalty club so that's something exciting enough to banish the blues for quite a while.

Have a great day everyone.

Ann xxx

It can't be Friday already...

Sheesh, where are the weeks going?  Time is just flying by and it's getting nearer and nearer to Christmas.  I know I've said this before, but thank goodness I've been a part of Bah! Humbug! over the last year, because we may not have a cake yet or a hundred and one other essentials, but at least the cards are well and truly underway. 

Plus I've got my Christmas hat too!  Have you checked out my new profile picture? 

I shall be wearing it to do all my commenting for Bah! Humbug! from now on.  Both my team mates, Max and Irene, are hoping to get one too.  Irene says I look like Maria out of 'The Sound of Music'.  I think she's jealous cause they haven't got them at her Poundland store.  LOL!

Our challenge this week is entitled 'Lovely in Lilac' and we would love to see creations in many different shades of lilac.  Now one of the Bah! Humbuggers! (see card above) got the wrong idea completely and just did a card with a touch of lilac.  Oh dear, I really must pay attention in future!

Anyway no worries as my card did give me chance to use my lovely new embossing folder, by Papermania, given to me by my dear friend Susan.  I love it.  Thank you so much Susan.  Think I will be using this one often.

My card is a very easy one to create and is a style of card I have used many times before.  It's larger than the normal cards of this shape as I have some envelopes that measure 9" x 4.75" which I was given by my local Hallmark shop.  They were throwing away all the old card stock and envelopes.  How wasteful is that?  Anyway they allowed me to salvage all the envelopes and some of them have been so useful.  This particular size is great, because it allows enough space for the whole width of embossing folder and enough to matte and layer too.

I've used lilac gems to embellish the embossing and a sizzix bauble tag die cut for the sentiment.

My card is also for the following challenges...

• ABC Christmas Challenge - X is for Xmas
• Simon Says - Sparkle (my gems and mirri card)
• Tuesday Taggers - Peace. Love and Joy
• Crazy for Challenges - A Christmas Card or item
• Secret Crafter - Sparkle and Shine

Have a great weekend everyone and do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to check out the samples by my team mates and our super talented Guest Designer Pat.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day... Rudolf and Reindeer...

Friday has come round again.  I just can't believe how fast the weeks seem to fly by and Christmas is looming every nearer.  Thank goodness I have been making cards each week for the Bah! Humbug! Challenge since the beginning of the year.  I still can't believe that this year there will no last minute rush to get things finished.  So smug I could almost smack myself!!

This week our theme is Reindeer either the famous red nosed variety or maybe an elegant deer such as mine.  When I first started to think about this challenge I was going to make some Reindeer Poop bags similar to the ones I did last year as I need to do some for the Christmas Fair at Laura's Nursing Home, but this year I'm adding raisins instead of marshmallows and I haven't really had chance to get them yet.

Oh okay confession time - I ate the raisins, but I am gonna buy some more - honest!

Anyway the less said about my chocolate addiction the better!  

On to more important things.  My reindeer contribution to this week's challenge was just such a quick and easy creation I felt like I had cheated big time.  

The gold metallic reindeer is a die cut from a Create and Craft set that I won in a recent competition.  The white embossed and glittered background was one of the cards from the same set.  I'm afraid I cut the 'pretty' part of the card off and used it as you would use designer paper matting and layering onto silver mirri card and then on to a base of gold swirl embossed card.  To finish the card off I added a gold sentiment peel off and three gold 'mock' brad peel offs in the top left corner.  

In the words of the famous meerkat 'Simples', but while it may not be one of my favourite cards I do quite like it and much as I love making cards you just can't spend a whole morning or day on every card.

In addition to Bah! Humbug! my card is also for the following challenges...

• Crafts and Me - Glitter
• ABC Christmas Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Have an amazing weekend everyone and do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to see the work of my team mates and our brilliant guest designer Pat.

Hot Pink! ...

This just has to be for Laura.  It's the same colour scheme as her bedroom and I must admit I do love the combination of hot pink and black.  My designer paper was one of the freebies in a card magazine some time back and it led me into using this combination of colours on my card.  

The stamp is by LOTV of course and oh my, are there any uncute LOTV stamps cause if there are I haven't seen them?  The sentiment is from the same sheet of stamps and is a very useful one especially to use with this image.  All the colouring was done using Promarkers and as you can see I've embossed the border using a Cuttlebug snowflake folder.

I used the sketch from this week's challenge at Sketch Saturday.  I always love their sketches as they are very easy to work with.

When creating this card I also had the following challenges in mind...

• Crafty Ann's Challenge - A Christmas Card using non traditional colours
• Lil of the Valley - One for the Girls
• One Stop Craft Challenge - Embossing
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Square Cards

Thanks for looking and the super kind comments everyone leaves me - they do mean a lot.  Have a great day everyone.  Hope it's not as wet, wild and windy where you are as it is here.  I seriously need to hibernate.

Ann xxx

Snow Globes...

I love snow globes.  My daughter bought a beautiful musical one with two skaters inside while we were away in Birmingham. Just so pretty and I would have treat myself I think had I not been trying to save my pennies for the NEC.  Anyway since arriving home I remembered that I had a spare 'photo globe' in my stash which led me to making a Penny Black Christmas Snow Globe.  Ahhh poor hedgies getting shaken up like this.

This is other side of the globe with hedgie resting against his stocking.  Both Penny Black stamps I've used are from one of the Christmas clear stamp sets which I've had quite a few years now but it seems to reappear every Christmas.

As you slot the pictures up from the bottom of the globe there is a piece of polystyrene also slotted in to hold the pictures in place which means that the side view is not very appealing.  To hide the polystyrene and edges of the pictures I attached ribbon decorated with punched snowflakes and gems all around the dividing part of the snow globe.  I think it looks a far neater finish.

My snow globe is intended for the following challenges...

• Penny Black at Allsorts - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
• The Crafty Calendar Challenge - Winter and snowflakes
• Penny Black - Let it Snow
• The Stamp Man - Anything Goes for Christmas

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend.

Love and hugs.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day... Fancy Folds...

Having created at least one card per week since the start of the year for our challenges at Bah! Humbug!  I must admit that I have quite a lot of special cards and really need to make some smaller ones for the neighbours.  While looking through one of my old magazines during one of my many 'sorting out' sessions I came across a lovely little origami Christmas tree and decided to give it a go.  Using some papers from a DCWV Christmas pad I quickly made my own little forest of trees which I made up into simple tiny cards like the one above.

Just in case anyone else fancies a go at paper folding I took some photos of the various stages. 

1. Cut a square piece of paper.  My paper was 4" x 4", but the trees can really be as large or small as you want them.

2. Then cut the square into two sections along the diagonal line.  Each of these pieces will make one tree. 

3. Put one triangle to one side to use later and then score down the centre of the remaining triangle from the point to the middle of the base.

4. Using the score line as a guide fold each of the side points into the middle.  Just to make sure you are all paying attention I turned the triangle round in the picture below.  Sorry!

5. When they are both folded in your work should look like this...

6. Now turn your work over and keeping the open point at the bottom fold in the two sides points to the middle to form a kite shape.  It helps to use a bone folder at this stage to get a nice crisp crease.

7. When you've done both sides and turned it round it should look like this...

8. Now comes the tricky part - no only kidding - easy really!   Turn the tree over and open out the two side flaps.

9. Fold the each of the side points up to meet the kite shaped central portion of the tree.

10.  Now fold the two points of the kite itself into the centre.

11.  Nearly done.  Fold the bottom point up as shown in the photo.  This creates the tree trunk.

12. Now fold the two side flaps back into position.

13.  Finally turn the tree over and admire your work.  So cute - well I think they are and much easier to make than loading all these photos on to blogger.  Sheesh putting photos on is so slow these days!

As this post goes live I will be travelling back from the NEC.  I'm only going to look of course (LOL) as there is nothing I need, but should I buy something I will show over the weekend I promise.

Have a good day everyone and do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to see what the rest of the team have been up to.  We have a very talented new Guest Designer this month and I can't wait to see her creations.

Ann xxx

PS:  Just arrived back in time to add that my fancy folded trees are perfectish for the challenges at...

• Winter Wonderland - Sing a Christmas Carol (oh Christmas Tree)
• The Stamp Man - Anything Goes Christmas

Bah! Humbug! Day... Presents...

wowza Friday again and of course that means it's time for a new challenge at Bah! Humbug!  This week our theme is presents.  I have some amazing rubber stamps and digis featuring presents, but as I have quite a few Christmas cards ready this year (thanks to Bah! Humbug!) I decided to spend some time gift wrapping the few items I've already bought for Christmas. 

The snowflake tag on the silver wrapped present is one I made for one of the challenges earlier in the year.  The bottle box is a plain one I bought at a card shop sale a little while ago with the intention of decorating it and making it more special.  I used the Cuttlebug embossing folders and silver peel offs to decorate the panels on the box.  The embossed tree was made using the free embossing folder that was featured on a magazine recently.

Love these kind of boxes as you can decorate them ready to give someone, but fold them flat for storing until needed.

My final gift wrap is a small bag - just the right size for a jewelry gift.  I made the bag myself and then to add oomph added a topper from a QVC set of goodies.

These bags are really easy to make and I do think they make a small gift look far more special.  There may be a tutorial on how to make them coming soon.  Watch this space! Once you've made one it's really easy to do different sizes as my Halloween House Mouse card shows.

I do apologise for the poor photos today, but all the items are in mirri finish, which in real life is fabbie, but on photos dire!

My gifts are also for the following challenges...

• Simon Says Stamp - Punch em (snowflakes on large gift and tags on bag)
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Let's get punchy ( as above)
• Creative Cottage - Embossing

Have a good Friday - almost weekend and an extra hour in bed.  Somehow I think I've been conned this weekend as I'm working from 10 on Saturday till 10 on Sunday morning.  Is it me or am I right in thinking I will be doing an extra hour at work?  Good job I love my job!

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day...Elegant...

Yeah, it's Bah! Humbug! day again and as this post goes live I will be travelling back from Newquay.  I think I must have been toooooooooo excited about my Encaustic Art course and my holiday when thinking about this week's challenge, because to start with I was working on the wrong theme.  I blame Irene for this and Max did give me permission to thump her, but it's a bit too far to travel up to Sunderland really.  So with time running out and packing still to do I got to work on the correct theme for the week.

Luckily after seeing some ribbon weaving on Chrissie's blog Simply One of a Kind a little while ago I had already started to make a card featuring a door and a ribbon woven wreath.  Having done similar cards before I had an idea of the layout and how it would work out.  Last year I did a Messy Rabbit Christmas version and a New Home card.

The ribbon weaving just makes the card a little more special.  When I decide who the card is for I will personalise it by putting their house number in the centre of the wreath.

Hope you will find time to join us at Bah! Humbug! this week.  Christmas is getting quite close now and I am just so thankful that I've made a card or two every week since last January.  This Christmas will be so much more relaxing.  I may even have time to make one of those amazing Advent Calenders with all the numbered drawers - hmmmmmm maybe not!  Don't forget to check out the work of my teamies and of course our Guest Designer Jenny, who I'm sure will have done another stunning creation.

Have a great weekend.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day ... Cuties everywhere...

Wow this was a hard challenge.  I pulled out my new LOTV and then thought about my House Mouse stamps, but in the end I chose to use a clear stamp set called Critters by Penny Black.  When it comes to 'cute' Penny Black have been top of my list for many years and this set is one of my all time favourites.

Being part of the Bah! Humbug! team has meant that this year I have so many Christmas cards ready to post that it's just unbelievable.  It's also great because it will allow me to just play and make things for Christmas that I normally wouldn't have time to do.  This week I decided to make a wall hanging.  

The top part of the hanging is bauble shaped and was cut out on my Cricut machine using one of the Christmas cartridges.  The other sections were made using nestie die cuts attached to ribbon.

Each of the medallions features a different creature from the stamp set and each was coloured using Promarkers.

For a really neat finish I sandwiched the ribbon between the scalloped mirri board circle and a plain white scalloped circle.  I added glitter to each for more oomph and a couple of red gems to adorn the holly.

My project was made with the following extra challenges in mind...

• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Don't be square
• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - ribbons, glitter and gems
• A Spoonful of Sugar - Sparkle and shine
• Anything goes - Christmas has come early

Have a great weekend everyone and don't forget to pop over to Bah! Humbug! to see the stunning work by my team mates and our guest designer Jenny.

Party at Which Craft in Doncaster...

Had a lovely couple of hours today helping Paula and her team celebrate at Which Craft in Doncaster.  She is celebrating being established for 10 years and to mark the event there were all kinds of 'make and take' activities, glasses of champagne and a tombola too.  I actually won some fabbie Christmas bauble buttons and of course I had to try the champagne.

The money raised by the 'make and takes' is going to be donated to local charities such as Bluebell Wood so it was all in a very good cause as well as a celebration.

I did the make and take with Sandy, who always seems to have some real cool gadget type cards to make.  She had chocolates too just incase our energy levels were running low.

As you can see I made a cool stand up/fold up card.  The penguins are from a clear set by Stampendous - I was tempted, but resisted as I already have some cute penguins.  I think the instructions for this type of card are probably on Split Coast Stampers somewhere.  It's a card style that would make great table setting place cards.  I can't wait to try out some more versions.

This photo shows the stand up mechanism slightly better.

Think my 'make and take' card fits the bill for the challenges at...

•  Die Cut Dreams Christmas Challenge - furry things (ouch - think baby penguins are more downy than furry, but I might get away with it!)
• One Stop Craft Challenge - Snowflakes (check out the stamped background and gem embellished peel off)
• Raise the Bar - Bundle up (my penguins are bundled up in their scarves and hats.)
• Pollycraft - Cute and Cuddly
• Crafty Emma - Animal Antics

Got to go to work tomorrow till Monday so unfortunately more versions of this type of card will have to be put on hold.

Take care everyone.

Love and hugs 

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day ... seeing Stars...

 

Yeah it's Friday and that means a new challenge at Bah! Humbug! This week we want to see stars!  Think I had better rephrase that before tempting fate as none of the team want to see the kind of stars you get after a head bump, but we do want see them on Christmas projects.  I got quite carried away with this theme and made two cards.

My first card uses that adorable Woodware clear stamp set that I've been using on and off all week.  I just think this polar bear and baby looking up at the star is just so magical.  I can't believe it's took me so long to get round to using it.  Perhaps I buy too many stamps - eeeeeeeeek - no it can't possibly be that!

The misty tree paper is from a Christmas pack by Dovecraft and perhaps not so obvious in the photo is the frosty acetate that I've embossed with Swiss Dots to add texture and even more mistyness without hiding the trees too much.

Additional materials...

• riboon and gems from stash
• Marianne snowflake die
• Blue/green card
• 6.5" square card from Square card set by QVC 

Additional challenges...

• Sketch and Stash - sketch (new stash snowflake die - old stash - polar bear stamp set)
• Charisma Cardz - anything goes
• The Pink Elephant - aqua - designer paper and an embellishment
• ABC Christmas Challenge - trees

Here comes card number 2 also with the theme of stars.  This time I used a new Marianne die bought special for the theme and to be truthful now I'm not so sure whether I like the die or not, but oh well love the fir branch that came in the same pack.

The sentiment is computer generated and I found it on the verses section on the Imag-e-nation site.  The designer paper was some in a magazine I bought at the NEC earlier this year.  

This card is for the following challenges...

• Sweet Sketch Wednesday - the sketch (had to miss out the embellishment at top right as it just wouldn't gel)
• Fab n Funky - use a quote or long sentiment as focal point
• Ooh la la Creations - use a sentiment as focal point

Have a fantastic weekend everyone.  I'm going to my local craft shop's birthday party tomorrow so that should be good plus I have to pass Poundland on the way there.  Eek that always costs me a fortune!  Do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to check out Max and Irene's creations and Anne, our guest designer's work too.

Ann xxx

Variation on a theme...

Same idea - same stamp set, but a different word.  After seeing Lorraine's fab entry for our challenge at Bah! Humbug! I just had to use the word 'snow'.  I love Lorraine's use of a snow man in the letter 'O', but I needed to use my polar bear Woodware stamp set again for a forum challenge I'm involved in.

Again the glittery letters were cut out on my Cricut.  I don't know whether anyone else has had this problem, but I found I had to cut the S at the next size up from the other letters to get the proportion looking right.

For details on materials used please see my earlier post.

My card is also for the challenges at...

• A Spoonful of Sugar - Anything Goes
• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Text Only
• Winter Wonderland - Monochromatic Christmas Card
• Alphabet Challenge - unused stash (Had this polar bear stamp set for ages and not used and then suddenly 3 cards in a week!)
• Aly's Sunday Challenge - Sparkly and glittery

More polar bears will be appearing on a card for the new challenge at Bah! Humbug! on Friday, but don't panic our new theme is neither the Artic or polar bears you'll have to wait and see to find out our new challenge.  Irene and Max would kill me if I gave the game away early!

Bah! Humbug! Day ...Text....

Oh I had so much fun making this card for our new challenge at Bah! Humbug!  This week our theme is to use text as a focal point.  Wow, brilliant news as ever since seeing Barbara Gray's show on Create and Craft recently when she showed some amazing word stamps I've been desperate to have a play using words and their shape as a feature on a card.

I decided to take the obvious route and choose a word with a couple of convenient circular openings in the letters.  I must admit that on starting the card I was thinking of the 'Os' being apertures and the polar bears being stamped on the card inner.  In the end though I used acetate and made the 'Os' into shaker areas with the polar bears stamped on card behind.  The glitter card letters were cut on my Cricut machine using the basic cartridge that accompanied my machine.

Materials used...

• Woodware Polar Bear clear stamp set
• Cricut machine and Plantain Schoolbook Cartridge
• Diamond Dust (in the shaker part)
• acetate and clear foam tape to create shaker section
• sentiment computer generated and printed on to white card
• blue glitter card and silver mirri board
• silver peel off

Additional challenges...

• Simon Says Challenge - Move it (think the moving snow counts)
• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Challenge - a child's Christmas (what kid can resist playing with a shaker card?)
• Pixie Dust Studio - fur or feathers (on this occasion white fur)

Don't forget to pop over to Bah! Humbug! and check out the fab designs by my team mates Irene and Max and hopefully you'll have time to join us in our new challenge.

Have a great Friday.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day...Favourite Medium...

Wow how these weeks simply fly by.  Thank goodness I have been a part of the team at Bah! Humbug! since the very beginning, because Christmas is going to be here before we know it and at least this year my cards will be a breeze as most of them are already finished and almost ready to send.

This week our challenge theme is to use your favourite medium.  It had to be Promarkers for me.  I do love Derwent Colour Soft pencils and the Lyra Aquacolours, but I always seem to fall back on my Promarkers.  They just give such a professional finish so easily and they are great for colouring gemstones and ribbons to match your card.  I only buy clear gemstones now. It's so much easier both on the purse and on storage.

The cute stamp I've used is one I've had ages and is from a clear set by Penny Black and the sentiment stamp is by Making Memories.  

Other materials used...

• papers by HOTP
• Xcut holly punch
• clear gemstones coloured with crimson Promarker
• holly border punch
• nestie scallop and circle dies

My card is also for the following challenges...

• Simon Says Challenge - Holidays
• My Time to Craft - Jewelled
• Sketch Saturday - the sketch (with bits missed sorry)
• Penny Black at Allsorts - Punches

Have a fantastic weekend everyone and do remember to pop over to Bah! Humbug! to take a look at the amazing cards by my team mates Max and Irene and also our Guest Designer for the month, Anne.

Bah! Humbug! Day...

This week our challenge at Bah! Humbug! may have everyone bursting into song as the theme is to create something inspired by a Christmas Carol or Song.

I chose the song 'Frosty the Snowman', mainly because it gave me chance to use one of the oh so cute snowmen on a sheet of Penny Black Stickeroos that have found their way into my stash.  The border across the middle of my card was also part of the set and led to me using the purple and lime green colour theme on my card.  Quite an unusual combination, but it is growing on me - I think!  After using charms for our challenge last week another 'made with love' silver heart found it's way on to the tag again.  I do like these little hearts - they may be appearing on loads of stuff from now on.

As our theme could be either a carol or a song I decided that perhaps I should burst with enthusiasm (oooooooh that doesn't happen often) and do both so (bearing in mind that I'm knee deep in washing and ironing here) I also managed a very quick Kanban kit card to go with the carol 'We Three Kings'.  The card kit was in a 'goodie bag' I bought recently and I wouldn't have normally chose it as I find die cut decoupage so annoying for so many reasons, but I suppose it was okay to create this super fast card.

So if you would like to join in do pop over to Bah! Humbug! and take a look at the fab designs by my team mates Irene and Max.
OOOOOoh nearly forgot to mention that while I was away the team at Bah! Humbug! had their 15 mins (well okay perhaps ony 5 but still) of fame and were featured in  Let's Make Cards magazine. How exciting is that? Click on the link to check out the details.

Bah! Humbug! Day...

How time flies! It doesn't seem two minutes since we started the challenges at Bah! Humbug! and now we are more than half way through the year and our collection of Christmas cards is growing at a fantastic rate.  I have never ever been so organised in all my life.  I've got so many cards that I'm starting to think about little gifts and extras to make ready for the season of goodwill.

This week our theme at Bah! Humbug! is ...

CHARMS!

I love charms, but sadly I don't use them often enough.  I think that's because being a bit of a manic collecter once bought I don't like to part with them, but really should as they add so much to a card and don't really cost that much.  

While thinking about what to do for the challenge I remembered that hidden away somewhere I had a bargain box of crackers bought in a sale the other year and not yet used.  Each cracker contains a silver plated charm so they are a little bit special, but I didn't like the way they were finished off.  See photo below showing how uninspiring the packaging and crackers were originally.

Quite expensive really for what they are.  Anyway I decided to take off the cheap gold ribbon and spice the crackers and the box up a bit.  I carefully removed the gold ribbon and replaced it with white organza before adding a diecut snowflake embellished with a gem stone to each cracker.  Hopefully far more stylish!

After removing the nasty sticky sale labels and cleaning the box with sticky stuff remover I fastened it with one off those fab stretchy cords and added a tag with peel off sentiment and a tiny silver charm attached with a brad.  The charm is printed with 'Made with Love' and was one from a huge pack of charms my daughter bought as a birthday extra.  She is very well trained.

My posting this week is a scheduled one and I'm so sorry I won't be around for a little while to check out the amazing entries, but please do take a look at Bah! Humbug! and the amazing work by my team mates Irene and Max.  Hope you have time to enter yourself and get way ahead on those Christmas cards.

Ann xxx