Holly Jolly Christmas snowglobe card

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Lynn of Lynnpenguin's Creative Corner blog, who is a recent new follower. Lynn is on a number of Design Teams and scrapbooks as well as making awesome cards, so you are sure to find some inspiration when you visit her. Welcome too to Jennifer who is a new follower but I cannot find a link to you Jennifer, so I would just like to thank you for joining us.

The time has come for my last card for the Holly Jolly Christmas Design Team as I am stepping down at Christmas. I'd like to thank Cindy who offered me my first try at a Design Team, and all my Teamies for their encouragement over the past year.

I used this Snowglobe image from Eureka, printed it on to acetate, and also printed it onto white card. I colored the card and embossed the sentiment with a wonderful new embossing powder from WOW which gives amazing shine and dimension. I placed the acetate over the image and put it behind a frame of blue card which I embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. The card looked a bit plain at this stage so I added a couple of robins on opposite corners to sing the Carol.

I'll keep it short and sweet today because I know we are all so busy in this run up to Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs
Carol x

Christmas table setting

Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to Kristen of a Simply Enchanted Life, who is a new recent follower. Kristen is a stay at home Mum to 6 girls and her blog includes recipe ideas and book reviews. This busy lady also makes jewelry and handmade bath and body items to sell in her online shops.

Well today it is time for the final challenge of the year over at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

and this time it is a month long challenge with 2 themes, firstly - an anything goes Christmas card, and secondly - anything but a card. This week I am sharing my anything but a card. I chose to use a pretty Christmas candle image from Fitztown called Winter 2 and made my Christmas table place settings.

I reduced the size of the image to make my placecards and cut them out with a Papertrey Ink placecard die and stamped the matching border image on it. I finished them off by stamping the names on the cards with the AveryElle Lovely Letters alphabet stamp set, and a little holly stamp.

For the napkin holders, I simply coloured the candle images, cut them with a circle punch, and added a backing layer with a scallop punch. I made a tube of thin card to push the napkin through and adhered the focal image.

And finally, I cut out a gable favour box on my Silhouette Cameo, and added another circle focal image with a couple of background layers on the front.

I know we are all really busy at this time of year but I really enjoyed playing with these simple ideas that are easy to make multiples of, and I hope they will look good on my Christmas table.

Thanks for stopping by, and while you are here, why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and see what my talented Team mates have for your inspiration.

Hugs

Carol x

Clearly Besotted Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone, and welcome to another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas. This time Meighan is hosting and she has given us a colour challenge

Challenge - Choose from one of these colour combo's
(a) Red, Green, White
(b) Blue, White, Silver
(c) Red, Gold, Cream
(d) Blue, Brown, Cream
(e) Monochromatic
(f) Pink, Green, Kraft, White.

I chose to use the last colour scheme, Pink, Green, Kraft, and White, and came up with this card using the new Clearly Besotted 'Joy to the World ' stamp set.

 I stamped the base wreath in green on a kraft panel and then over-stamped with the berry wreath in Versamark ink and added white embossing powder. Next I die cut and stamped the bow before adding glitter with a Wink of Stella brush pen, and attached it to the panel with foam tape. 

The sentiment came from the CB 'Most Wonderful' set and I stamped and embossed it in white before adding a little pink heart. At this point it looked as though it needed something else so I added the 'joy' sentiment to the centre of the wreath and added a mat of white card to the panel before mounting it to the base card with foam tape to add a little dimension.

Thanks for stopping by and why not join us over at Holly Jolly Christmas this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges

Crimbo Crackers - Clean and Simple

Christmas Cards All Year Round - no patterned paper

Stamplorations - stamps and layers


Hugs
Carol x

Snowflakes with Perfect Pearls Christmas card

Hello everyone,

I don't know why time is in such a rush these days but it's hard to believe it's been 2 weeks since our last Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge. Never mind, we only have just over 8 weeks until Christmas, and if you have been joining us this year, you will have amassed quite a stash to make things easier for you in the busy days of December. This time Cindy has given us a bingo challenge, and I decided to go with the bottom row -  die cuts, punches and pearls.

Challenge - Bingo

Ribbon	Texture	Glitter
Rhinestones	2 designer papers	Twine
Die cuts	Punches	PEARLS

We are sponsored this time by

Fred She Said

and

Stamp and Create

I used a snowflake digital cutting file from Fred She Said and cut it out on my Silhouette Cameo,

then I used this as a stencil on some black card. I pushed Versamark Ink through the snowflakes and then added blue Perfect Pearls (the pearl part of the challenge). I used an Avery Elle Die from the Custom Panels set to cut the card, and stamped and embossed a greeting on blue card through the aperture.

I punched a red heart out to finish it off.

Why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and see lots of inspiration from the Design Team.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Addicted to Stamps and more - holiday

Perfectly Rustics - holiday

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - snowflake

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Papertrey Ink and Stamping Boutique Snowman card.

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Maarit from Violet's Corner, who is joining us as a new follower. Maarit works as a teacher in Sweden, is a member of a number of Design Teams, and her blog is full of inspirational projects. Do pop over to say hello.

It is time for another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas

and this time Julie is challenging us to use snowmen on a project. We are sponsored this time by 

The Stamping Boutique

and 

Bugaboo Stamps

I used an image from the Stamping Boutique called Chubby Snowman, and I decided to try a large format 8 inch by 8 inch card for a change.

 I started by colouring the image with Copic Markers and then added some chalk to enhance the snowbanks. Some glitter was put on the hat and birdhouse before I added some snow fall with a white gel pen. Some Glossy Accents on the buttons finished him off and I then matted him onto some black card. The blue card was embossed with a Cuttlebug E/F, and the Snow words were cut with a Papertrey Ink die and stamped with a snowflake background stamp. The words 'let it' were cut on mySilhouette Cameo.

 I must confess that after I challenged myself to use a larger format, I was tempted to change my mind when I had the blank card in front of me. I wondered how I would fill the space - but I'm glad I continued and might try this again!

Why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Christmas Blog and check out all the inspiration from my talented Teamies.



I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Keep it Simple use threes - 3 snow die cuts and 3 musical notes.

The Glory of Christmas  - snowman

Kitty Bee Designs Aloha challenge - use die cuts or punches.

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - snowflakes

Addicted to Stamps and More - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs
Carol x

Papertrey Ink Christmas card with Bugaboo image

Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to another Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge.

This time Anything Goes and we are sponsored by

Bugaboo Stamps


and

Di's Digistamps

I wanted to make a card for some friends who had a new baby a couple of months ago, and chose a cute image from Bugaboo for this. I'm way behind but I'm trying to brush up my Copic skills with the Online Card Classes, and I also wanted to try out my new Papertrey Ink Snow Globe Dies, so came up with this shaker card:-

The card, paper and Banner Borders are all PTI, and the snowflakes in the shaker part are from the snow globe die set. I coloured the image with Copics and added some glitter to his hat. The banner and sentiment is from Simon Says Stamps. 

We have a lot of new Design Team Members over on the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge DT, so why not pop over and give them a welcome!

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Addicted to CAS - Cuddly

Top Tip Tuesday - non traditional colours

Winter Wonderland challenge - layer it up.

Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes.

Christmas Stampin All Year Long - non traditional colours.

ABC Christmas Challenge - something festive.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs

Carol x

Avery Elle/Papertrey Ink Christmas Peace card

Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas blog. Today the challenge is to use ribbon or lace on a card and we are sponsored by

QKR Stampede

and 

Lacy Sunshine

I came up with this card using ribbon for the bow on the fawn's neck:-

I took a panel of blue card and white embossed the snowflakes from PTI Snowfall stamp set, and then cut a curved hill with the Simon Says Stamps Curve die. The fawn is from the Avery Elle Storybook stamp set and I die cut and coloured him with Copics. I wanted him to be looking up at something in wonder so I found a Nativity Star in the Silhouette store and cut it from silver mirror card. The beautiful sentiment is from PTI Snowflake Serenade stamp set. A little glitter on the hillside finished it off. 

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Christmas Critters

Merry Monday - The Words Have It

Crafty Hazelnut - Silent Night

Completely Christmas - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs

Carol x

Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge. I can't believe we are into September already and I don't want to frighten you, but do you realise we only have 16 weeks to go to Christmas? Most years that would have scared me, but this year, the HJCC has helped me get ahead and I have lots of cards in my stash ready for the pre-Christmas rush. If you haven't started yet why not join in with the challenge this week, and to get you in the mood, pop over to the blog and see what inspiration my Teamies have come up with.

This time the challenge is RED! That is use something beginning with each of these letters.

Our sponsors this time are

Digi Stamps4 Joy

and

The Stamping Boutique

I chose to use 

R - red Copic colouring, red ink and a strip of red card

E - a heat embossed sentiment

D - a diecut bow

along with an image called PJL Kissing her Presents from The Stamping Boutique. 

I would like to enter this into

Merry Monday - use a gift on the card.

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - presents galore.

Crafty Hazelnuts Challenge - use an image of a human on the card

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs
Carol x

Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to Desire Flourie from South Africa who joined us as a new follower this week. Desire is a gifted cardmaker who creates for many different Design Teams, and she also finds time for photography, gardening, hiking and scrapbooking as well as going to work!  She must get her energy from the sunshine and all the chocolate she likes to eat!  Thank you for joining us Desire.

Today is time for another challenge over at the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge where we are asked to make a card that has 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 image.

We are kindly sponsored this time by

Oak Pond Creations

and 

Eureka Stamps

                  

I came up with this card that has 3 papers, 2 sentiments and 1 image

I have been taking part in the Online Card Classes Stretch Your Stamps 2 class, and Day 3 was all about using alphabet stamps. I pulled out this Monogram Alphabet from My Favorite things and stamped the Be Merry in red down the side of the panel. I then stamped the Christmas Fairy from Woodware Fairy Delight by Francoise Read and coloured her with Copic Markers, adding some polka dots to her dress. I embossed the panel with my favourite Canvas Impression Plate from Papertrey Ink and then covered her wings with Wink of Stella Glitter Brush. I added the strips of paper at the side, then mounted the panel onto the base card with foam tape, but it looked a bit stark, so I went in and covered the panel with a tiny snowflake stamp and some glitter to finish it off.

What I learned

I found it hard to get a good impression with the new alphabet stamps and my beloved PTI Red Poppy Ink. I tried stamping lots of times to get the stamps to take up more ink and I also tried using Versamark as a base but I still wasn't terribly happy with the results. I normally get great impressions with this ink so I don't think the ink was the problem. Perhaps the stamps just need a bit more 'seasoning'.

I need to look beyond the big images on my stamp sets. The tiny stamps that come with lots of stamps sets can be very useful, and this little snowflake stamp made a really big  difference to the end result.

I originally just had the red stripey paper on the edge of the panel but adding the strip of green somehow made the tree and crown pop.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges.

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - favourite things. Mine were red poppy ink, canvas impression plate and Wink of Stella Glitter.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - snowflakes

Sweet Stampin - Christmas in August.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs
Carol x
 

Bugaboo Christmas Card

Hello everyone and specially warm welcome to Sharon who is a gifted Scrapbook artist and is on several Design Teams. Her blog is full of wonderful photographs of  her family and friends, and she comes up with fabulous layouts to showcase them.

Thank you for all your well wishes, - they must have worked because I'm feeling so much better now, and we had a really nice weekend. We had a lovely family get together and went to see an outdoor multi media First World War Commemoration event called 'Honour' at Media City in Salford. This was so moving, and included actors, poetry, dancers and a 350 voice choir who sang a specially commissioned piece of music. It started at 10pm and was so atmospheric with the lighting effects after dark. I have learned so much about the First World War that I didn't know over the past 6 months, and when the finale included pictures of thousands of falling poppy leaves, I can tell you that I wasn't the only one blubbing. Its so sad that all those young men going off to war in August had been persuaded that they would be home again by Christmas!

On a lighter note, it is time for another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

and this time you are asked to make a card using non traditional colours. Our sponsors this time are 

                                           

                                                                 Limited Runs Stamps

                                                                             and 

                                                 

                                                                      Bugaboo Stamps

I used a Bugaboo stamp and sentiment and came up with this card

I love the Bugaboo Stella, with her miserable face and tart way of expressing herself! I coloured the image, cut it with the Tipped Tops Dies by Papertrey Ink and added some glitter to make her a little bit festive! I used a tiny star stamp to to give a background paper effect in two shades of ink and called it done.

Why not pop over to the HJCC blog to see what my lovely Teamies have for you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Christmas Card

Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas. This time the challenge is 

   Deck the Halls

and there are Digi Stamp prizes from the Stamping Boutique and QKR up for grabs.

I used a stamp from The Stamping Boutique called Hippie Christmas on my card and came up with this:-

I cut a piece of red card for my card front and cut an aperture in it with a Nestibilites Labels die. I then stamped and embossed the sentiments before running it through my Ebosser with the PTI Canvas Impression plate to give it some texture. I added some baker's twine and a bow with some Card Candi in the centre, and then sandwiched the image  between the red card and the white base card. The image was colored very simply with Copics and I added some glitter to the hat and snowflakes.

I love this fun image with the tree on top of the caravan with all the lights dripping down! One of my friends had an orange VW Beetle back in the day, and I can remember lots of fun trips in it - even though he tended to be a bit of a boy racer and go too fast.

Why not join in with us this time and start stashing away your cards for Christmas. You can see more inspiration over on the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

   

Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to two people who are joining us as followers this week. First is Solange of Isbaha's home. Solange is a great scrapbooker and also makes cards, minibooks and other scrummy stuff. She is a member of some Design Teams and you can find some great tutorials on her blog. Our other new friend is Aussie Annie of The Journey is the Start. Annie is a very talented card maker who is on several Design Teams, and she has amazing colouring skills. You are both very welcome.

Today is the start of another new challenge over at The Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and this time the theme is Christmas Critters, hosted for us by Linda of the Stamper's Touch.

Our sponsors this time are Di's Digis and Oakpond Creations

I chose an image called Christmas Robins from Di's Digis and came up with this card

I printed the image onto white cardstock and coloured it with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Naughty or Nice by Casual Fridays and after stamping it I added a snowflake background stamp from Papertrey Ink in pale blue ink. The panel was then passed through my Ebosser with the PTI Canvas Impression plate to add a little texture, and lots of glitter was added for the snow and hat trims to give us some sparkle. I used some blue dotty ribbon and blue card for matting, and then raised it on the base card with some foam squares.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Festive Friday - inspiration photo - I was inspired to use ribbon and red.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown using the first sentiment prompt

Christmas Cards All Year Round - non traditional colours

Jingle Belles - use stash at least a year old - I used my canvas impression plate, ribbon, snowflake stamp and glitter.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - a winter scene

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and sorry for myself today. I have been thinking about reorganising how I store my stamps for quite a while now and I've decided to go with the Avery Elle stamp pockets and put them in  storage bins. Sadly, in order to make space for the bins, I've got to reorganise all my other storage and I made the mistake of pulling everything out so I could go through it and see what I would like to get rid of. Well I am now in the middle of a chaotic mountain of mess and it will only get worse before it gets better! I cleared a little space in front of the computer to write this post but I better get back to it now :~( If I don't report back in a few days, send out the rescue team!

Why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Chjristmas Challenge blog and see all the inspirations from my talented Design Teamies.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Holly Jolly Christmas Cahellenge

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Karen who is a new follower this week. It's Tuesday so it is time for another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and this time we are  hosted by Linda of the Stamper's Touch, and she has asked that you  'Show me some glitter'.

I came up with this card using a very cute image from The Stamping Boutique 

I coloured the image with Copic markers and added glitter to the hat, bauble and snowflakes before cutting the image with a die from one of the My Favorite Things Blueprints 3 set. I used other dies from the set to embellish the card and then finished off with stars from the Simon Says Stamps confetti die and stamped and cut their banner die for the sentiment. I love that little bow which gives a great look without the bulk so it is ideal for posting. Why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge to see what my my Design Teamies have come up with, and do join us because it will be Christmas before you know it!

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Holly Jolly Christmas Card Challenge

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Sarah of Mallow's Crafty Bits, a very talented crafter who serves on a ton of design teams, and welcome also to Corgidusty, who are joining us as new followers this week. I like to put a link onto new followers blogs, so everyone can pay a visit but sometimes Blogger doesn't cooperate and give the link details. That has happened a few times lately so if anyone knows the answer to this I'd be grateful to hear it, and Corgidusty if you could let me know your blog address if you have one, I'd love to visit.

Today is time for another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and this time we are asking you to put 3 or more layers on a card. Our sponsor this time is 

Eureka Stamps

and I used their digi stamp 10803 Sleigh with Presents for my card

I kept this very simple and just resized the image before  colouring it with Copics. I added a trim of  glitter, and glossy accents on the tree baubles, and then matted the layers up before stamping the sentiment. I used a glue pen to dot some glitter spots around the image and called it done. I chose my favourite scarlet jewel card, paper and ink because it screams Christmas to me, and decided to cut asymetrical panels and put them on the pretty shaped card to add a little contrast.

Why not hop over the the Holly Jolly blog to see what my Design Teamies have to show you, and join in with us this week.

I'd like to enter this into 

Festive Friday - photo inspiration

Jingle Belles - red and green

Crimbo Crackers Challenge - anything goes

abc Christmas Challenge - L is for little gifts

Sparkles forum challenge - favourite colour combo

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Lawn Fawn Winter Sparrows Christmas Card

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Kimberly of wienerhoneymooners blog. Kimberley has a wonderful style, is on several Design Teams, and is my 200th follower -  Yay I reached a new milestone. I am chuffed to little mintballs that you all come to visit and I really appreciate all the supportive and encouraging comments you leave. Blogland can be such a friendly place and I get untold inspiration from my visits to people all around the world.

Today is time for another challenge over at the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge. This time the theme is 'winter birds' and I came up with this card

using the cute Lawn Fawn Winter Sparrows set. I used a Simon Says Stamps stencil and Aleena's Glitter Snow paste to create the snowy background, and die cut the branch and sweet sparrows before stamping and colouring them. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink Tree Trimming Trio, and I stamped and embossed that with white embossing powder.

My talented team mates over at the HJCC blog have some wonderful inspiration, so why not head over there and join in with us this week to get a head start on your Christmas cards. We're almost halfway through the year already and Christmas will be upon us before you know it!!

I'd like to enter this into

Addicted to Stamps and More - holiday card

Christmas Card Challenges - colour challenge

Crimbo Crackers - anything goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - favourite colour combination

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs

Carol x

Wine Bottle Tags for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone,

Summer has arrived in my neck of the woods and it seems more than a little odd to be thinking of Christmas, but I'm slowly squirreling away lots of projects that will make this Christmas so much easier for me when all my cards are made ahead of time. I have this fantasy that I will be able to sit down with a glass of mulled wine in the first week of December, put some Christmas music on the player, and write my cards without feeling rushed. I'll be so laid back that I'll be able to add newsy notes to people I don't get to see too often, and really enjoy the process this time instead of frantically scribbling messages so I can get on with all the tasks still waiting to be done. Aahhh - it sounds good doesn't it? Well if you haven't made a start on your Christmas cards yet, why not join us at the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge where you will have a weekly theme to inspire you and some prizes to be won. After all that talk about cards - the theme this week is 'anything but a card'! I thought about doing some home decor for this challenge, but decided on getting all the practical necessities completed before branching out. I have certain people who always get a bottle of wine from me at Christmas, and I always have a bottle wrapped under the tree for any unexpected visitors over the festive season, so I decided to make some wine bottle tags.

All the tags used the Papertrey Ink Wine bottle tag die and for this one I also die cut and stamped the multi layer tree from Polka Dot Parade #9. The sentiment was from Think Big Favorites #20 and I just cut some banner tails on the end. I cut the end of the bottle tag again in white card and added it to the bottom of the tag to add a little variety and finish off this bright, festive tag.

The next one is a little more muted

I used a Hero Arts fern and cone stamp and stamped it in Ocean Tides ink before colouring the cones with a Copic marker and adding some berries with gel pen and a little bit of glitter. I die cut the 'merry' several times and glued the words together to give a chipboard effect before painting over it with my Wink of Stella glitter brush. I added a block of ocean tides card to the bottom of the tag to give a slightly different look.  

The final tag has a more masculine look

I cut the wine bottle tag in smokey shadow card and stamped over it with versamark ink and an Impression Obsession star background stamp. I then cut a round PTI tag and stamped and embossed it in white using a sentiment from PTI Over Under Easy: Holiday Additions Stamp Set. I added a metal snowflake charm with a black brad and scattered a few die cut red stars to add a pop of colour. This time I left the tag tails plain.

Here are all three together

I'd like to enter these into the

Glory of Christmas Challenge - anything goes
Crimbo Cracker - festive red
Christmas Stamping - anything goes
Crafts 4 eternity - use a die cut

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week.

Hugs
Carol x