Mama Elephant Reindeer and Decorate the Tree Christmas card

 Hello everyone and I hope you are well and happy.

Well, the year has whooshed by and we have come to the final challenge of the year at ABC Christmas Challenges.

This time the themes are 

Y for Your favourite colours

and/or 

Z for Zoo animals

I love traditional colours at Christmas so I went for mostly red and green.

I used a couple of Mama Elephant stamp and die sets - Reindeer and Decorate the Tree. After stamping and die-cutting the elements, I coloured them very simply with Copic markers and arranged them on the card. I found the mat in my leftovers box and can't remember which die was used to cut it. I must finally get around to organising my dies next year!!!

To finish off I added a silver star to the top of the tree and added some gloss pen to the light strings.

We have a ton of inspiration for you over on the ABC Christmas Challenge blog and it would be lovely to see your festive cards in the gallery.

I'd like to play along at

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #93 - if it Christmassy, link it up.

The Cutie Pie Challenge #201 - cute Christmas

Christmas with the Cuties #88 - cute and Christmas

Peace on Earth Challenge #77 - - anything Christmas goes

Dragonfly Dreams December Challenge - Christmas

Colourful Options December - use the colours red green and gold

I'd like to thank you all for visiting my blog over the past year and send only good wishes for a very Happy Christmas and a healthy 2025. Of course, a bit of world peace wouldn't go amiss as well!

Love and hugs,

Carol x

Penny Black Immense Noel and Mama Elephant Christmas card

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the final challenge of the year over at ABC Christmas Challenges

It is hard to believe that we're on the countdown to the big day already, but you have plenty of time to join us because the closing date isn't until the 6th January.

Our lovely host this time is Helen, and she has a great prize for the winner.

Our themes this time are:

'Y for Your Choice'

&

'Z for Zebra'

(Black & White and/or Stripes)

I went for Your Choice and came up with this card:-

I used a Spellbinders Forevergreen embossing folder and used the debossed side for the background, adding a little white inking in parts. The Immense Noel die from Panny Balck was cut from white and stacked to add dimension. The little reindeer in the centre is from the Mama Elephant Holly's Reindeer stamp set which I coloured very simply with Copics and added black glaze pen to the eyes and nose.

Our wonderful Design Team have some great inspiration for you over on the ABC Christmas Challenges Blog and we'd like to thank you for all your beautiful entries over the past year.

I'd like to join in the fun at

Happy Little Stampers Anything goes with dies - December challenge

Sparkles monthly challenges - winter animals

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 - if it's Christmas link it up

The Cutie Pie Challenge #189 - cute and cuddly Christmas

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Anita Jeram Stay Curious and Mama Elephant general multi use card

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More. This will be the last challenge of the year but it will be back after Christmas. I hope you are all well and if you are in the UK, I hope you are coping with the VERY strange political times we are in!

This time we have our Make Your Mark Challenge so we'd like to see you use your inks, paints, markers, pencils etc.

I came up with this card

I began by stamping the NBUS image called, Stay Curious from Colarado Craft Company, colouring it with Copics and fussy cutting it out.I then lightly inked the background with Distress Oxide inks. I die cut some white card with the Papertrey Ink Aztec die and then die cut the aperture with one of the My Favourite Things Stitched Arch Stax dies.

The sentiment comes from the Mama Elephant Up and Away stamp set and I decided to use this so the card could be adapted for many occasions depending on what I decide to stamp inside. I like to keep a few cards like this in my stash so I can quickly come up with a card in an emergency. I used one of the green Copic pens to provide a layer that matched and then mounted everything up using some foam tape for dimension.

As always, my talented teamies have some fabulous inspiration over on the ATSM Blog, and you can link your card up over there if you decide to join us.

I'd like to play along at

NBUS Challenge #43 - image is NBUS

Cardz4Guys challenge #307 - autumnal colours

Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge # 400 autumn colours

Use Your Stuff #469 - die-cuts

4 Season Challenge #61 - Pets

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Mama Elephant Stems and Sprigs and Sue Wilson Basket birthday card

 

Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More. Yay - it's our 10th birthday so we are in party mode and I'd like to thank Kylie for all her work to keep this awesome challenge going!

This time we want you to make your mark with any colouring medium you choose, so break out your supplies and have some fun.

I came up with this 5 x 7 card.

I'm really liking teal at the moment so it features in this one. I stamped, die-cut, and coloured (with Copics) a lot of little flowers and leaves from the Mama Elephant Stems and Sprigs set and arranged them in a basket cut from kraft card with a Sue Wilson die.

I placed the basket on a mat cut from the MFT Blueprints 33 die set and matted it onto a Waffle Flower scalloped rectangle die. The sentiment is from a Happy Little Stampers set and I white embossed it onto a banner shape before tying it onto the basket with some twine.

We've just got back from holiday where we spent a week in a country cottage with our daughter and her dog. We had a lovely relaxing time before coming back to empty our kitchen ready for a much-needed refurb. How could a small kitchen house so much stuff!!! I feel a good clear-out coming on.

My talented Teammies have some great cards to show you over on the ATSM blog and would be delighted to have you visit them.

I'd like to play along at

Passion for Markers #644 - birthdays

AAA birthday challenge #38 - flowers

Through the Purple Haze #193 - anything but a square

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Papertrey Ink and Mama Elephant Christmas cards

Hello everyone and welcome to a new month at ABC Christmas Challenges.

Can you believe we're halfway through the year already!!!

Our June Challenge  is

L for Letters 

and/or

M for Mistletoe

Our lovely host, Helen has a great prize for the winner

My first card is L for Letters

For this card I used the Mama Elephant Botanic Envelope die, cut from Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel card. I stamped, coloured, and die cut the berries from PTI Holiday Greens and added foliage cuts from various sets. The sentiments were embossed, and the bow was stamped, coloured with Copics, and die-cut to finish the image off.

 M for Mistletoe

The second card is very simple and I just used the mistletoe stamp from the PTI Merry Kissmas stamp set. I repeatedly stamped the mistletoe to create the background panel and added little pearls for the berries. 

 The shaped label is from an old Spellbinders Label die set and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp. I recently came across a few very old SB label die sets that had languished underneath some storage bags at the back of a cupboard and it felt like Christmas to be reunited with them again lol! I know -  I lead a sad life!  I'd forgotten how nicely the Spellbinder dies emboss the edges of the cut, and these dies will be getting a lot of use in the future to make up for my neglect.

I'd like to play along at

Christmas Crafts All Year Round - L is for Letter

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - anything Christmas goes.

Fezziwigs Festive Frolics - red and green

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #35 - anything Christmas goes

Our re-roofing work continues and at last we have some gorgeous weather so the chaps can have a good run at it. Fingers crossed the sun hangs around a while longer so the work can be completed!

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Mama Elephant Botanic Envelope and Stems and Sprigs birthday card

Hello friends, well Christmas is already over for another year and I hope it was a happy one for you, even if it was a little different from usual. I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and I truly hope that 2021 brings us all some peace and joy after the rollercoaster ride that 2020 presented us with!

We have our first challenge of the year over at Simply Create Too

and for this challenge, we are simply asking you to show us your favourite colour combo.

This was an easy choice for me because I really love this Hawaiian Shores shade from Papertrey Ink along with greens and white.

  

I used a couple of NBUS sets from Mama Elephant for this birthday card - Botanic Envelope and Stems and Sprigs, along with some MFT leaf dies.

I created a background paper with Oxide Ink Sprays and die cut all my foliage from it and then stamped, cut and coloured some of the flowers with Copic markers and coloured pencils.

I cut the envelope, stamped the sentiment which came in the set, and then arranged the flowers and sprigs so they peek out from it. The birthday sentiment is an old favourite from Papertrey Ink and I embossed it in white before adding some white Nuvo Drops to finish it off.

I do hope you will skip over to the Simply Create Too blog to see some inspiration from the team, and if you feel like joining in with us this time, you can add your entry over there any time before the 29th January.

I'd like to play along at

Dies R Us Challenge #160 anything goes with dies  

Die Cut Divas January Challenge - frame it

My NBUS Challenge #22

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Altenew Just Jasmine many occasion card

Hello everyone and welcome to Make Your Mark week at Addicted to Stamps and More

I've been making more cards that are suitable for several occasions recently, and this is one of those. I find I like to have cards in my stash that I can personalise to the person and occasion depending on what I stamp inside.

For this card, I used my new Altenew Just Jasmine stamps and die, along with a sentiment from the same set. The oval die is from Mama Elephant and the rectangle is from MFT.

This was a quick card to pull together and would be easy to mass-produce.

You'll find lots of inspiration from the team over on the blog and I'd love to see how you make your mark this week.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Carol x

Mama Elephant Wish Upon a Star baby card

Hello and welcome to another challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More, and this time we have our Clean and Simple Challenge.

I came up with this card.

I used the Mama Elephant Wish Upon a Star stamp set and stamped the cute bunny moon image onto a wonky stitched rectangle, then coloured it with Copic markers. I actually messed up the colouring but I had already stamped the sentiment and little stars and didn't want to throw it away, so I stamped and coloured it again on some scrap card. I fussy cut the image and added some glitter to the tail and star before sticking it over my messed up image. I left the top part of the bunny unglued but added a tiny bit of foam tape to give a bit more depth.

I hope you will hop over to the ATSM blog to see the great cards my talented teamies have to share with you, and you can link up your entry over there.

I'd like to play along at

Sheepski Designs Challenge #27 - for someone special

2 Crafty Critter Crazy Challenge #27 - anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals Challenge #27 - anything goes

Little Red Wagon Challenge #500 - welcome to the world

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

John Next Door and Clearly Besotted deer Christmas card

Good morning everyone, and welcome back to the new challenge over at  ABC Christmas Challenges.

We have two lovely themes for you this month:

W for Wishes

and

X for Xmas

Our sponsor this month is

Fred She Said Designs offers a wide variety of digital products with a floral flair and cute characters too - Digi's, Pre-coloured images, Papers, Sets, Fred's Flower Kits, and even digital cutting files.

Have some fun with Fred!

and the winner will receive a $10 gift certificate.
There will also be a prize from Sharon.

I went with the wishes theme and came up with this card

I used a Cut and Emboss folder from John Next Door and stamped the sentiment from Papertrey Ink after curving it to fit the banner. The background was stamped with the Birch Background 11 stamp from Clearly Besotted, and I added snow with some texture paste and the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp. The deer from Mama Elephant Winter Wonderland stamp set were stamped and fussy cut.

This challenge closes on Friday 30th November.
So now it's over to you...We look forward to seeing all your fabulous Creations!

I'd like to play along at 

Double D Challenges - wishes are possible - I took inspiration from the lower left image with the blue and brown colours.

Ellibelles Creative Moments Challenge - November Christmas and Seasonal holidays

That's Crafty Challenge - winter wonderland

City Crafter Challenge #437 - woodland animals

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Mama Elephant So Many Snowmen Christmas card

Hello and welcome to another challenge at ABC Christmas Challenges that will run from 3rd to 31st October.

Our Host is Lisa and the themes this time are

U –  for Upon

and

V- for Very Quick

Our Sponsor is

All Dressed Up.

The winner will receive two free digis of their choice

from Wendy’s Etsy shop. Here is a little information about the shop:-

Hi I am Wendy Burns I live in Nottingham UK with my husband and two children who have been the inspiration behind the characters, in particular, my daughter who has kept me up-to-date with blogging and trends. I work predominantly within the textile children’s wear market, fashion and interiors.

I trained as a textile designer and although my work is digitally based, I love to retain that hand-drawn /sewn feel which I hope comes across in my artwork.

Digital stamps is a new challenge for me and the opportunity to work with the All Dressed Up Team and has been very exciting, in particular, the creative way my characters have been given individual personalities by the designers .

All Dressed Up is a newly launched blog with an enthusiastic team who are passionate about stamping. The coordinators Marilyn and Tracy along with an amazing design team are also known as The Dressy Girls.

We have a friendly Facebook page, regular blog posts, tutorials, challenges and freebies. The stamps can be purchased from the Etsy shop which is updated on a monthly basis. We really are a friendly bunch and would love to see your creations so please feel free to contact us and visit the

All Dressed Up Challenge Blog.

There will also be a prize from Lisa.

I chose to go with V for Very Quick. I stamped the Mama Elephant So Many Snowmen stamp and quickly coloured bits of the image with Polychromo pencils. I trimmed around the top of the image before placing foam tape on the back.

For the background, I used some snowy patterned paper and stuck it to the base card before raising the snowmen on the lower part.

I finished off by adding the Paper Smooches Merry Christmas die which I cut three times and stacked. Using a large image that required very little colouring really made this a fast card.

You'll find lots of inspiration over on the ABC Christmas Challenge Blog, and I hope you will join in with us this time.

I'd like to play along at

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge # 37 - anything goes.

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge #93 Christmas is for kids

Jingle Belles Challenge - let it snow

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Clearly Besotted Thank You card

 Hello everyone,

Just a quick post today to share a CAS thank you card I made for some friends who gave us the most wonderful summer afternoon tea last week with lots of sandwiches, scones, cakes, strawberries and clotted cream. Yummy in the extreme but I had to climb back onto my diet the next day.

I used a gingham stamp from PTI Bitty Backgrounds, stamped in green, and I then used the cupcake and strawberry  from the Clearly Besotted Sweet Treats stamp and die set ( I was staggered to find that this stamp set has been retired before I even inked it up!) I coated the icing with some WOS to give it a frosting look but it has not really shown up on the photo.

For the sentiment I took the 'thank you' from Mama Elephant Bear Hugs and the 'berry much' from PTI Punny Sentiments, and finished the card off with a little red heart.

I'd like to slip this into the Casology Cupcake challenge before it closes today



along with

Craft for the Craic - Summer - it has to be strawberries for me




4 Crafty Chicks - CAS

Thanks for stopping by


Hugs
Carol x

Mama Elephant and Simon Says Stamp Anniversary card

Hello everyone,

I hope you had a great Easter and enjoyed your chocolate. I had a really lovely weekend with birthday celebrations for my youngest son who is now 30!!, and then a relaxing few days with spring sunshine blessing us for the duration.

As we had company, I didn't get any time to craft so I sat down to play today and join in with a few challenges I haven't tried before. I came up with this CAS card:-

I used this sketch over at Showcase your Style,




and this one from Your Next Stamp



and I incorporated the challenge at Happy Little Stampers




I started with an A2 card base that I embossed with a stitched rectangle die, and then used two Simon Says Stamp stencils -  Falling Hearts and Falling Snow along with a Memory Box Starry Nights one to stencil the backgrounds on each square in pink ink. I then matted them onto stitched square mats, and over stamped the I love you with a Mama Elephant stamp and embossed it with clear embossing powder. The anniversary sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I added a little heart to dot the i with, but the card looked a little unfinished somehow, so I used a score board to emboss a couple of lines above and below the squares

Thanks for stopping by.


Hugs
Carol x