The Incredible Shrinking Card...

Has anyone else ever done this? You start out with what seems like a good idea for a card and something doesn't look right so you change it and the card gets smaller as you chop bits off and mess around.

Well that's what happened to me this morning - I started out with good intentions for the challenge at http://quickutzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ but things just didn't gel. However, I did manage to end up with a small (4" x 4") acetate card and a gift tag so all was not lost.

I must be getting better at card making as in the past the whole lot would have ended up in the bin.

Something tells me (cards to neighbours not posted - presents not wrapped - food not bought) it may be time to take a break from blogging and get ready for Christmas!!

So if anyone is still finding time to check out my blog I wish you and your family a very, very...

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

Hope you will come back and visit me again after the festivities.

Ann xxx

Oh Christmas Tree...

I can't seem to stop working on a Christmas theme! This card was made using the fantastic sketch this week at http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/. As soon as I saw this I loved the rounded corners on each piece in the layout. I think this is a sketch I will be using again and again.

The papers used are from the English Paper Company and being on the red, green and gold theme are perfect for the challenge at http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/.

To bring the colour scheme together more I chalked the card my Christmas tree image is stamped on and paper pieced the trees with the same green paper used for matting and layering. As the challenge at http://tandastamps.blogspot.com/ is 'oh Christmas Tree' I think my small Anita's Christmas stamp fits this theme well.

In the original sketch there is a flower at the top left corner. A flower would not have worked with my design, but I was really pleased to remember my holly leaf punch that I bought recently and as one of the papers has holly leaves on I think this works well. It also means I can enter this card for the challenge at http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ where this week the challenge is to use punchies.

Yeah a quadruple whammy!!!

I finished the card off with gems to decorate the tree. Found I only had 3 of the red, but actually the mix of colours is growing on me.

Cuttlebug Christmas Trees and more...

I can't seem to stop making Christmas cards and seeing as I bought a new cuttlebug set (in a sale - yeah I love sales) this week I just had to have a play with it.

The set is called 'combo tree tops' and it includes both a cutting die and an embossing folder. The trees I've used are the die cut ones. I love the spindly tree and I couldn't believe how well this cut as the branches are really quite fine.

The trees are mounted on white paper embossed using the swiss dots folder - what would we do without that one?

I'm also in the middle of another cuttlebug project for the challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/. I wonder if you can guess what I'm making!!!


Hmmmmmmm you might find clues at the challenge blog and if you haven't visited there yet you must have a look. It's full of ideas for anyone who likes using their cuttlebug.

No patterned paper tags...

I don't need any more Christmas cards, but I can't seem to stop using Christmas images and so for the challenge at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/ ,which is 'no patterned paper, I decided to make a couple of gift tags.

The image is from the Penny Black clear rubber stamp set 'Christmas Critters'. I think this has been one of the best value sets I have ever bought as I have used it so much. To create the top of the bauble I used just the top part of a Joanna Sheen bauble stamp I have in my stash.

Snow...

This card is for the challenge at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ , where the theme is snow. It's also for my daughter, Shelley, who absolutely loves the stuff. I think I should say at this point that she is 20, but that didn't stop her jumping up and down yesterday and ringing all her friends to tell them that there were huge snowflakes falling.

I rather like snow myself as long as you don't have to get to work or travel anywhere it's pretty cute as is Messy Rabbit. I absolute love the Messy Rabbits stamps by Joanna Sheen. This character is just so lovable and is taking the country by storm. I've heard rumours that he is going to be even bigger in 2009 so watch this space or you might be better taking a look at him at http://www.joannasheen.co.uk/.



Materials used:

• white card
• blue vellum for overlay
• silver mirri card
• fiskar's snowflake border punch
• snowflake die
• gem brads from stash
• Messy Rabbit in big baggy jumper stamp
• clip art by PC Crafter
• silver sentiment and border peel offs
• white organza ribbon
• silver letter peel offs to create name
• Adirondack ink and watercolour pencil crayons for colouring
  

Black letters...

Suzanne at http://suzannelily.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/weekly-challenge-make-a-card-using-letters/ has just started a weekly challenge and this week the instructions were:

'make a card using letters as the main feature
can be the whole card or letters on the base of a standard card - you chose '.

I decided to go with this unmounted NOEL stamp. I love the way this stamp has silhouettes of the Christmas story behind the letters.

I stamped the image twice so that as well as the central square of letters I could also cut each letter out and layer these on top using foam pads to give a more 3D effect.









As the card is mainly black it is also ideal for the challenge at http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ who are celebrating 'Black Friday', which sounds like a frenzied day to be shopping in the US, by challenging everyone to use black on their projects.


Materials used:

• black and white card
• acetate
• black corner and border peel offs
• gems from stash
• unmounted stamp from 'My heart stamps for you'

Funky Christmas...

Two cards for the challenge at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/ where the theme is 'funky Christmas' and there has to be at least one Penny Black stamp in the project. I was intending to do a folded funky card with trees on, but as I searched for the paper these two papers, that were freebies in a recent 'Craft Beautiful' magazine, jumped out at me. This led to a change of plan.

I used the 'T for transparent' set of stamps and in the card above (which is my favourite of the two) I just used the sentiment and the hanging stars.

In the card below I used the different sizes of snowflake stamps on coloured paper and added them to the design. I added gems from Making Memories to both cards. I love these gems as they actually peel of the backing with the glue still intact, which not all gems do.

Wax resist snowflake kisses...

The challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ this week is a new technique - well new to me anyway. The techinique involves using wax crayons and ink to create wax resist backgrounds and images.

Of all the thousands of wax crayons I have had in my house over the years had I got any when I needed them - NO? Anyway my lovely daughter went to the Early Learning Centre and bought me a very professional looking pack. I was a bit worried when I saw the age range on the side - ages 2 - 10 years - as I'm way past that but oh boy did I have some fun...

and mess!!!

There are warnings about the mess on Mel's tutorial at http://melstampz.blogspot.com/2008/07/cuttlebug-crayon-resist-makes-nice-faux.html and actually I did my work in the kitchen near the sink so it wasn't too bad at all.

Here are my first attempts:

These were made using a white wax crayon and an Adirondack blue denim ink pad. I used a stippling brush to put the ink on and then quickly polished it off the waxed areas. This was the messy bit as bits of tissue fell off and the excess wax and of course you get inky fingers - all great fun.

It was quite tricky to decide what to do with the finished pieces as I wanted as much of the pattern to show as possible. My snowflake card uses an Anita's stamp I have had for years - one that I particularly like because it has wonderful preset spaces for bling. This card is just right for the challenge at http://wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/ where the theme is snowflake kisses.

My snowman card is made using just the snow words embossing folder. I thought the snowman looked so cool and chilly that I wanted him to take centre stage. I've added a 'Happy Holidays' charm and crystal.

Materials used:

• heavy duty acetate
• silver card
• white card
• cuttlebug embossing folders
• white wax crayon
• Adirondack ink pad - Denim
• silver border and sentiment peel offs
• charms and gems from stash

Gift bags...

Christmas is definitely getting nearer and thanks to challenges giving a bit a push in the right direction I think card wise I am actually well organised. I wish I could say the same for challenges as I was going to enter these two gift bags for the challenge at http://www.dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/ but it seems that particularly challenge is well and truly over.

I know I'm usually late with my entries but I've never been two weeks late before!!! Make mental note to update challenge list more carefully!! LOL!

Anyway these two bag are some that I made with daughter last weekend. I bought a set of 4 at Poundland with the intention of 'changing' them.

Shelley, my daughter, did the red one. Isn't it fabulous? She used the Christmas stockings from that gorgeous clear stamp set I have from Stamptivity and did some paper piecing.

I'm embarrassed to say that the other one is mine and I was so lazy and used peel offs, but in my defence I was helping my daughter's friend to do hers and I was chatting to a friend on the phone in the middle of it all so that is my excuse.

Materials used silver gift bag:

• white card
• snowflake cuttlebug folder
• silver holographic card
• silver bauble peel offs
• silver sentiment peel offs
• white organza ribbon

Materials used red gift bag:

• white and red card
• clear stocking stamps by Stamptivity
• gold border and stocking peel off

Let it snow sketch...

This week the challenge at http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ was a really interesting sketch. I'm afraid I failed to get it exactly like the sketch as I misjudged the size of the space for the squares, but it's not too different I hope.

The stamp I used is one by Stampendous and is a square stamp made up of 9 different squares. I thought it was ideal for cutting up to use on this challenge and made one card using the snowmen squares and card number two using the rabbit squares.

I must be on a roll (or sickening for something), because I also decided to use the whole stamp to create this square card.

All the cards are on a snowy theme and are suitable for the challenge of 'Let it Snow' at http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ and 'Snow or snowflakes' at http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/.

The last card is also my entry for the Joanna Sheen forum challenge where members have been asked to make a card to illustrate their favourite Christmas song. I don't say this is my favourite, but everytime I use this cuttlebug embossing folder that song comes into my head. Infact alongside 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' it's beginning to drive me mad!

Materials used:

• white card
• silver mirri card
• pink card
• Stampendous stamp
• snowflakes cuttlebug embossing folder
• pearleslent watercolour paints
• pink gem stones from stash
• silver die cut sentiments from stash

Embossed die cut...

The challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ this week was to emboss a die cut. I don't use that many dies except for tags and nestabilities so this was a bit tricky in that I hadn't really got very much choice of what I could use to emboss. In the end I used this small sizzlet die from a Christmas set I bought ages ago and combined it with a pine branch stamp from a Christmas set by Stone House stamps.

Materials used:

• green base card
• gold mirri card
• white card
• pine branch unmounted stamp
• Sizzlet die cut
• gold sentiment peel off
• gold twine

Day 7 of free stamps... Rabbit day...

As promised here is a card made with my free stamp. Sally at http://bootifulstampz.blogspot.com/ is still running this free stamp give away. All you need to do is post a message on her blog and a link on your own blog to be in with a chance. Good luck.

Think it must be rabbit week at my house because here's another card made with Joanna Sheen's Messy rabbit and that fabulous clip art I bought recently. I'm having so much fun using the clip art and the stamps together.

Materials used on first card:

• white base card
• rabbit from Bootiful Stampz
• Fiskar's Shapeboss template
• pink pearlescent paper
• watercolour shimmer paints
• pink gems from stash

Materials used on second card:

• blue base card
• silver mirri paper for matting and layering
• PC Crafter clipart
• Joanna Sheen Messy Rabbit stamp
• Derwent Inktense pencil crayons
• silver sentiment and corner peel offs
• white organza satin edged ribbon
• silver icycle charm and silver links
  
  

Blog inspiration...

This week the arty girlz at http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ want everyone to look at other crafter's blogs and take inspiration from them to create their own work.

This was an ideal challenge for me as I was already in the middle of some cards that I originally got the idea from another crafter. Eversince first using Magnoli Tilda stamps I have loved to use them with a garden/countryside background. I was using the sky and grass background paper from the DCWV Spring pad but sadly three sheets do not last for ever.

Then following a link from my friend Heather's blog to Elaine at http://elainesden.blogspot.com/2008/10/step-card.html I saw the most fantastic card and details of where to get the gorgeous bits and bobs of clip art to create the background scene.

The clipart is from http://www.pccrafter.com/. It took awhile to find just what I wanted but eventually I found a collection of winter clip art (and quite a few more things that are in my wish list) to use with both Tilda and Messy Rabbit.

Thank you so much for the link Elaine and the help you gave me about using the site. You're a star.

Materials used:

• Joanna Sheen Messy Rabbit stamp set
• Clip art
• turquiose and yellow card
• silver mirri card to lay inside mirror frame
• silver sentiment peel offs
• Wizard die tag
• Sakura clear stardust pen

More messy rabbits coming soon...

Messy Rabbit Quick Card...

Doing quick cards is not easy for me. I'm a great one for spending ages choosing the right shade of paper etc and generally messing about trying things out so the challenge at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ to make a card in 20 minutes was quite a task. At one stage I did think that the alternative 'Q' choice of quilling might have been a better bet!!!

However, I tried and I did keep to the 20 minutes - honest - well almost - I did get carried away when choosing the brad because I remembered that I had some cute bow things that you can use with a brad. I reckon the 10 minutes or so trying to find the safe place they were stashed away in should not count!!!

I made the card using the scarf frame from the fabulous clip art I bought recently and my Messy Rabbit stamp that hopped over from Joanna Sheen's website yesterday. I'm not completely happy with the card, but it is the first time I've coloured a messy rabbit image and the bright colours in the scarf made it quite hard to get the combination right on the rabbit.

Materials used:

• turquiose base card
• yellow card
• satin photo paper
• Joanna Sheen Messy Rabbit stamp
• PC Crafter Clipart
• wizard tag die cut
• brad and bow from stash
• silver sentiment peel off

Hidden Message...

The challenge at http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ is to create something with a 'hidden message'. A very different challenge and one that I have been thinking about on and off since I first saw it. The idea for this card came into my head last night when really I should have been asleep - thank you Heather for the pad and paper idea it's working well!!

The central octagon is fastened to the larger one by a crystal brad and can be turned to reveal the hidden Christmas message.


It always makes me incredibly happy when an idea I come up actually works so I really do think this card is very apt for the challenge at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/ . This week crafters were encouraged to think about what makes them happy in their work.

Materials used:

• wizard standard octagon die
• sizzix snowflake die
• silver mirri card
• white silver flecked card
• silver border, corner and sentiments peel offs
• blue gems from stash
  
  

P is for .... PINK...

When I was doing the Cuttlebug Sketch challenge a few days ago my daughter passed a comment that it was okay but would be brilliant in pink. She is very much a PINK person so just for her and the challenge at http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ a pink Christmas card.

This time I moved away from the original sketch and did a square card. I had a major (I do tend to exaggerate a bit) disaster while doing this card. I originally had the die cut the squares in the same glitter card as I have used for matting and layering. Then I used the Collall photo glue to stick them on. I was working on the theory that it would enable me to move the squares around to get perfect alignment. Hmmm not my best idea the glue had a strange effect on the glitter card (and I didn't put that much on). It seeped through and made the glitter bubble up and then it dropped off !!! Not good at all!!!

So be warned ... Glitter card and Collall glue is not a good combination!

So on my second attempt, using a pink mirri card, I took no chances and used DST - the squares may not be straight but there's no bubbles.

Materials used:

• silver mirri card
• pink glitter card
• pink mirri card
• Wizard die cut letters
• snowflake punch
• pink gems from stash

Let it snow sketch...

This is really uncanny! I made this card yesterday afternoon and then later in the day went to check out the new challenge at http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ and found that is was a sketch almost identical to the card I had just completed. I know I'm trying to keep up with challenges but doing them before they have been set is going a bit far.

I hope the members at Papertakeweekly will accept the card as an entry cause it just seems such a 'meant to be' kind of thing.

The card came to be due to another blogging friend, Elaine, who introduced me to the clipart at

http://www.pccrafter.com/. I was so impressed with the way she had used it with a Tilda stamp that I just had to go and investigate. I have been wanting some backgrounds to work with for awhile and the ones available at this site are just wow. I bought the snow scene to use with Joanna Sheen's Messy Rabbit stamps but couldn't wait for my rabbit to arrive before I started to play.

All the parts of the card are made using the clipart - I designed the layout on my computer and then printed off extra sections to be decoupaged.

As my card has a snowy theme it is also perfect for the challenge at http://craftawayasunday.wordpress.com/ where the challenge is 'Let it snow' and the challenge at http://www.mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ where the challenge this week is 'Snowmen'. Wow a triple whammy!!!

Hope my rabbit arrives today so that I can do some stamping combined with the clipart.

Materials used:

• PC Crafter clipart in conjunction with Serif Home Office programme
• blue pearlescent base card
• silver card for matting and layering
• heavy duty photo paper - satin finish
• gemstones from stash
• computer generated wording

Fabulous Folds...

Well actually the folds might be fabulous but I'm not that keen on the decoupage on them. I was trying to use up some of my QVC stash and really would have preferred to have done some stamping. The card is for the challenge at http://tandastamps.blogspot.com/ .

Ah well lessons learned. Not done one of these kind of cards before, but I think the effect of the stand up central diamond shape could be quite effective and it certainly something I would use again. I got the instructions from a magazine but I'm sure they will be available on the web somewhere.

Sentiment stamp only...

I think I may have cheated slightly on this challenge, but as I made 3 - wow - yes 3 cards I'm hoping to be forgiven.

The challenge at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/ was to create a card, etc using only a sentiment stamp. No images allowed - hmmmmmmmmm well I reckon that this is a sentiment stamp even though it does create an image.

The stamp is from a set of clear Penny Black stamps called T for transparent. All three cards are really tiny ones. I may decide to use them as gift tags - not quite decided yet.

Materials used:

• Penny Black sentiment clear stamp
• red card
• cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder
• green and black card
• black Christmas words paper from DCWV
• red organza ribbon
  
  
  
  

Simply Sparkling Cuttlebug Sketch...

My sketch is from this week's challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ . The cuttlebug challenge blog is one of my favourite challenge sites as there is always something new to look at. It's really well worth visiting so if you haven't been do pop over there and have a look at the great tutorials and designer cards.


I used a glitter card for my squares and added bling to the snowflakes so I'm hoping my card is also acceptable for the challenge at http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ where the theme is 'sparkling' to go along side our November 5th celebrations.

Materials used:

• Blue pearlescent base card
• silver mirri card for matting and layering
• soft white semi glitter card
• snowflake die cuts and punchies combined with some Jolees
• silver border and sentiment peel offs
• gems from stash
• wizard square die - standard