Driving home for Christmas card and Gingerbread house Christmas card

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the final challenge of the year over at ABC Christmas Challenges. I can't believe we have reached December already and I hope that, if you have joined with us throughout the year, your pile of Christmas cards brings you lots of pleasure as you sit to write your greetings in them. But just in case you need a couple more, we have reached Y and Z for our challenge so you can have a little fun producing them. You kept us very busy last month with 256 amazing entries and you can check if you are a winner over on the blog!

I'm really sad to say that this is the last challenge for a couple of our DT members. The brilliant Samantha who started the challenge 12 years ago has decided to step back, and I would like to thank her for getting me started on this team and for her encouragement. Our lovely Lindsey is also stepping down. I have really enjoyed working with her and seeing her fabulous inspiration each month, but I wish her lots of luck and send hugs and best wishes for the future.

Helen is our lovely host this time and she has a great prize for the winner

Our themes this time are 

Y for Yummy

and

Z for Zigzag

I came up with these cards

Y for Yummy

Who doesn't love a gingerbread man at Christmas! I made some with my just turned 4-year-old Granddaughter when she came to stay last week, and she loved decorating them almost as much as she liked eating them before they were finished lol! I pulled out a stamp set called The Best Gift from Inky Doodles and used the gingerbread house, gingerbread men and sentiment from the set all embossed with white E/P and coloured with Copics. Sorry the sentiment looks a bit blurred in the photo - it was very poor light on this dismal, grey day and my photo editing skills need brushing up.

Z for Zigzag

I found this stamped image in my bits box and can't remember where it came from, but I inked the background, coloured the image with Copics, and then used a white gel pen to add the snow, and some glitter for the hat. I added some glaze pen to the windows and lights to finish it off. I created the zigzag background with an embossing folder from Embossalicious.

You will find a ton of inspiration over on the ABC blog, and I know my talented Teamies would appreciate a visit from you. Thanks so much for joining us throughout the year.

Take care

Hugs

Carol x

PS  We have a DT call happening at the moment and if you'd like to join us, you will find all the information on the blog.

Colorado Craft Big & Bold Slimline Poinsettia Christmas card

Hello friends and welcome to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

This time you can choose a card for any occasion, and as I still need a few more Christmas cards, that is what I went for.

I made a slimline card and used a Pinkfresh Studio stitch die for the white layer on the navy card base.  I took a piece of mid-blue card and stamped and embossed the beautiful poinsettia image from Colorado Craft Company Big and Bold Poinsettia stamp set, with white embossing powder.  It looked pretty as it was but I thought it was a bit bland, so I used some masking paper to mask off the inner edges of the flowers and blended on some navy ink to add some contrast and give the flower a bit more depth. I added a couple of sentiments from the same set, embossed these in white, and finished off by adding a trio of tiny resin stars.

 I hope you are nearly there with your stash of holiday cards and can enjoy December with less of a rush.

I'd like to play along at

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #106 - anything Christmas goes

Unicorn Challenge #71 - Christmas/winter

Global Design Project #319 - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

You Make a Difference and Hello Bluebird birthday card

 Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More. This time we want to see your birthday projects.

I came up with this card

I stamped the main floral frame image from my NBUS collaborative stamp set from Hero Arts and Pinkfresh Studio called You Make a Difference. I coloured the flowers and foliage with Copic markers, and although it doesn't show up well in the photos, I also added some dots of stickles on some of the flowers, and this glistens very nicely in real life. The sentiment is from Happy Wishes by Hello Bluebird and I embossed it with Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder.

I wanted to mat the image but didn't have any gold card/paper that matched the sentiment so I used the old trick of adding Versamark around the edges of a panel of white card and embossed it with the same embossing powder. To finish off I added a few sparkly pink pearls.

As always, you'll find lots of great inspiration over on the ATSM blog and it would be great if you joined us in the gallery.

I'd like to play along at

The Flower Challenge #62 - add leaves

Hand Stamped Sentiments #376 - hand stamped sentiment

NBUS Challenge #32 - NBUS Stamps

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

MFT Sweet Holiday Penguins slimline Christmas card

 

Hello friends and welcome to the penultimate challenge of the year over at ABC Christmas Challenges. 

We are nearing the end of the alphabet so our themes for this month are 

W for Whimsical

and/or

X for Xerox (Multiples of the same image or card)

Our host this month is the lovely Lynda from Loopyloo Cards and she has a great prize for the winner.

I only had time for one card this time and went for 

W for Whimsical

I made a landscape slimline card using the Pinkfresh Studio slimline card dies and for the top layer, I used the Stitched Scalloped Circle die which I layered over some snippets of white spotty blue paper from my use-up drawer. 

The cute penguins are from the My Favorite Things Sweet Holiday Penguins set and I stamped, coloured and fussy cut them out. As the centre penguin is balancing those gifts on his head, I decided to add an action wobbler behind him so he could wobble about and be in danger of dropping them. Well, it pleases my sense of humour lol!

I finished off with a sentiment from the same set, a couple of beribboned presents from my use-up drawer, and a few resin stars.

You will, of course, find lots of inspiration from my talented teamies over on the ABC blog and I hope you will join in with us this time. We're also having a DT call, so if you might be interested in joining us for next year, do take a look!

I'd like to play along at

Fab n Funky Challenges #538 - Christmas

Christmas Kickstart #56 - Christmas snippets

Unicorn Challenge # 71 - Christmas/Winter

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

John Next Door baubles and Avery Elle Confetti Mat Christmas card

 

Hello friends and I hope you are all well.

It's time for another challenge over at ATSM and this time we are looking for your Christmas projects.

For this challenge, I decided to go with a card that has no stamping whatever and can easily be mass-produced if you are prepared to spend some time prepping all the die-cut pieces.

For the background, I used the Avery Elle Confetti Mat layered onto some green mirror card from a Tonic Pad. The bauble is a new die set from John Next Door called Penny's Baubles and, once again I matted it onto the green mirror card. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches and I stacked it 3 times to give a bit of dimension.

I'd like to play along at

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #104 - anything Christmas goes

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #2 - Christmas card

Jingle Belles Challenge - not a creature was stirring

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Penny Black Critter Party, Concord and 9th and Pinkfresh Studio Birthday card

Hello friends,

If you are in the UK, I hope you have enjoyed the lovely weather we've been having for the past week or so. I love the light in autumn before the clocks go back, and the changing leaf colours I see on my walks are just gorgeous. I'd like to introduce the new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More, where we would love to see you Make Your Mark.

I chose to make my mark with my Zig Clean Colour Brush markers.

For the background panel, I cut a stitched rectangle of card and then stamped the semi-circular sentiment from Concord and 9th Rainbow Sayings in black ink. Once the ink had dried, I passed the panel through the die-cutting machine with my new Memory Box Pinpoint Burst Plate, before matting it onto some red card. I dug out an old stamp set from Penny Black called Critter Party which I've had for @ 10 years, as I'm trying to give some attention to my older stash. I keep my stamps in clear pockets with a card insert and I made a note of the date on this to show when I used it. I read about this idea online somewhere recently, and I'm hoping that when I next cull my stamp collection I will be able to see how often I actually use a set to help me decide what to keep. Anyway, I stamped, coloured and fussy cut the birthday mice and raised them on the panel with foam tape. The lower sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio and I stamped the top layer and stacked it on 2 further layers to add some more dimension.

We have the talented Stef as Guest Designer this month, and you can see her design as well as lots of inspiration from the team over on the ATSM blog.

I'd like to play along at

Crafty Sentiments Challenge - anything goes

Passion for Markers Challenge #613 - make it cute

Retro Rubber Challenge #169 - anything goes 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge October - anything goes

Stay well and thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

 

Crafters Companion Sparkling Tree, MFT Santa's Elves and Sue Wilson Christmas Tree Greetings Christmas cards

Good morning everyone!

It's good to welcome you back for the ABC Christmas Challenge for October and it's hard to believe that after this one, there will only be two more Challenges before the big day! 

Thanks to everyone who played along last month. We had some great entries and if you entered, don't forget to check the post on the ABC blog to see if you were a lucky winner. 

We have two fabulous challenges for you to choose from or combine this month
 and they are:

U - Under the tree

and

V - Vocabulary ( use words)

Julie is our lovely host for this challenge and she has a great prize for the winner

This is my U for Under the Tree card

I used some paper from my stash for the background because it resembled wallpaper and added a little dado rail. The tree is Sparkling Tree from Crafter's Companion and I cut it 3 times and stacked it, ink blending just the top copy. There are a couple of birds in the tree and I inlaid the wings and added a couple pearls for the eyes. My favourite elves from MFT are coloured with Copics and are gathered around the tree ready to decorate it. I cut an oval to make a rug, stamped and embossed the sentiment, and added a glittery star to the top of the tree to finish it off. My little Granddaughter is having an elf on the shelf for the first time this year, so this card is destined for her.

V for Vocabulary 

For this card, I went with a very simple design. I cut the Sue Wilson Christmas Tree Greetings die from a stitched rectangle panel of mint coloured satin card and then placed the panel on a scalloped rectangle of holographic card. I die cut the word tree again 4 times from white card and stacked all the layers together before inlaying them into the aperture. All that was needed was to cut a tiny red star and coat it with glossy accents. The raised word tree gives lots of dimension and the holographic card shines through with lots of different colours that are very pretty irl.

I'd like to play along at

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #102 - anything Christmas goes

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #55 - make one for a loved one. (Granddaughter)