Boxes and bags

The theme in this week's Christmas countdown over at Daring Cardmakers is “boxes and bags” - make something to present a gift in.

I hope Kathy will forgive a slight stretching of the brief - I used a little tin and prettied it up with some paper crafting supplies. The tin originally contained travel sweets and came from a car showroom as a freebie. Die cutting a circle to exactly the right size hides the car branding quite nicely!

I'm afraid my camera battery died just as I needed to take my last minute photos so I had to made do with my phone - apologies for the photo quality!

I made a coordinating card as well so I’m playing again at Let’s Squash It. The challenge is totally to blame for this embossing folder in any case - I saw it on a couple of earlier entries and thought it looked lovely and then found it on a well known auction site for under three quid. Since you can pay that much for a single greeting card I decided I could justify buying it!

 

Stamps:
Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season and Noel (all Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger  (Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Pine Needles embossing folder by Richard Garay
Circle Nestability by Spellbinder
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size by Paper Rose
Corner Chomper 

 

Gorgeous gifts

It’s the second week of our Christmas countdown over at Daring Cardmakers and this week we’re all about gorgeous gifts. It could be a card featuring images of pretty packages, a gift card holder, a paper crafted gift for a friend...what can you come up with?

I always check out the Christmas Kickstart challenge (although I don’t manage to play very often) and owner Jo has teamed up with Gail in Let’s Squash It, a challenge dedicated to embossing folders. I’d been thinking recently I don’t play with my EFs nearly enough so perhaps this will give me a push! They have a joint challenge going on at the moment so I’ve made something to hit three targets - go me!

The sunshine is bright in Northumberland this afternoon so apologies if the photo looks washed out - just imagine understated sophistication! 

I die cut squares and rectangles for my packages, brayered ink onto my folder and embossed two of them. The third has stamped snowflakes. A bit of glitzy silver thread, a doodled border and a stamped sentiment and call it done. 

Stamps:
Flurries and Noel (both Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Delicata by Tsukineko (Silvery Shimmer)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger  (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Moonlit Berries embossing folder by Couture Creations
Silver thread
Silver gel pen
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by, keep safe!

Come visit one (or more!) of these challenges!

     

 

November elements

It’s the first Friday of a new month (and alarmingly that month is November!) so it’s time for an elemental challenge at Daring Cardmakers. Today, Kathy has chosen our inspiration picture (it's at the end of this post) and as ever, just choose at least three elements to kickstart your project. We’re starting our run up to Christmas this week so all the challenges between now and late December will give you a chance to really get going on the festive crafting.

I confess the busyness of that tree induced a sort of brain freeze for me! I eventually chose a five point star, colours and silver circle (inspired by the plate) for a one layer card. One of my trusty acetate sheets with die cut holes got used as a stencil to brush on silver ink as the first element and I doodled a bit round the edge of the circle with a silver gel pen. I coloured the stars with Copic markers then added Perfect Pearls in similar shades to give them the pearlescent sheen of the baubles in the tree.

Retro Rubber has an “anything goes” challenge at the moment, as long as you use a stamp that’s at least a year old, you’re good to go. My star was the cover mount stamp for Craft Stamper magazine in September 2011. A larger version is still available in the Stampotique catalogue as Jo’s Star.

Stamps:
Star by Jo Capper Sandon  (Craft Stamper magazine, September 2011)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Silvery Shimmer)

Other:
Corner Chomper
Nail art gems
Copic markers
Silver gel pen 

Here's our inspiration picture this month:

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping safe and well. 

Link in the chain - October (and September!)

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine has gone to Annerieke in the Netherlands this time. From the options on offer I chose the sketch, the theme of food and the colour palette (pumpkin, cherry, chocolate).

It’s a single layer to keep it easy for airmailing, I used some low tack tape to mask off the edges before inking. I didn’t have three sizes of the red gems so for the largest size I used a die cut “sequin” that was on my desk, coloured it red and added some sparkle pen then stuck a gem in the centre.

Stamps:
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Strobe stencil (Visible Image)
Red gems
Copic markers
Spica glitter pen (red)
Corner Chomper 

I realised I forgot to blog September’s card so I’ll do that here as well so I have a record if I want to look back. 

This one also went to the Netherlands, to Gerjanne, and I chose the sketch and the theme of birds from the month's options.

Stamps:
Layering bird (Hero Arts)

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Denim, Stonewashed)

Other:
Rubber bands stencil (Crafters Workshop)
Sequins

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are staying safe and well.