Pretty in (festive) pink

I got an idea into my head for another way to play along with the Christmas Kickstart Dreaming of a Pink Christmas challenge. Several frustrating hours later, the initial idea was a distant memory and the lovely piece of alcohol ink background (with silver mixative) I’d made was die cut into several baubles. Even then, only one of them made it onto the final card. Maybe pink and what was essentially a piece of patterned paper was just toooo far out of my comfort zone!

I wanted a skinny frame and didn’t have anything suitable so I used nesting rectangle dies, found it still wasn’t really skinny enough so trimmed a bit off the outer edge. I found some washi tape that has an interesting “tarnished silver” look to it and used that to cover the frame.

The branch is built up of one small stamp used several times to make a larger bough. I added a few freehand extras as well, just to fill it out a bit. My go-to embellishment of tiny nail art gems make an appearance in two shades of pink and three sizes.

Still not quite convinced I like this but it might grow on me.

Stamps:
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Pale pink glossy

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Picked Raspberry)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Silver leafing pen (Krylon)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Vintage Ornament die (Impression Obsession, no longer with us)
Copic Various refills (Fucshia and Sugared Almond Pink)
Silver Mixative (Ranger)
Washi tape

Tea fairy

It’s always nice when the tea fairy calls (i.e. someone else makes you a cuppa and delivers it to your elbow when you’re working). Failing that, just making time to sit for a few minutes with a nice brew can make a difference to your day. 

So, with that and the current Lost Coast Designs challenge (Winged Things) in mind, I made a little presentation card for a tea bag. I’ve had this tea fairy stamp for ages and never got round to using her before. She’s rather sweet even if she does look slightly mischievous! She’s got sparkly pink hair as well as sparkly wings, just because. I fully expected my Wink of Stella pen to have dried up as it must be several years since I used it but it delivered, no problem. 

I cut little tabs inside the card to hold a tea bag in a paper sachet with a die designed to cut them to hold a gift card. My sachet was slightly wider than the usual gift card so I modified by cutting one side, then shifting the die to cut the other.

Sending a special tea bag can be a nice way to say to a friend “I’m thinking of you, make sure you take some time for yourself".

Stamps:
TeeHee HLP (Lost Coast Designs)
Retro Women 2 (Tanda Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Wink of Stella pen
Gift card dies (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Corner Chomper

Birthday bird

I’m playing with Katzelkraft stamps again. I’m not sure what this chap actually is — I’m tending towards albatross but if anyone knows any better, let me know! In any case, he has wings so I’m playing at Lost Coast Designs where this month’s theme is Winged Things. As this is a newly-acquired stamp I’m also joining We Love Stamping where the theme is “New”.

The Perspective Floor stamp gave him a great grounding. I did have to fill in a bit by hand as I didn’t cut the mask between his legs (too fragile and unstable) so the flooring pattern was missing there. Don’t tell anyone but I messed up matching the filled in squares — I don’t think the recipient would notice if you didn’t point it out! I kept the slightly psychedelic feel going with the background stencil.

I added just a little bit of smudged pencil around the die cut sentiment to accentuate it a bit. The original plan was to  just have it white but it looked a wee bit lost once it was stuck down. I figured if the pencil didn’t look right either I could always erase it!

Stamps:
We Are All Mad Here (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
 Perspective Floor (Lost Coast Designs)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger (Peacock Feathers)

Other:
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Time Tunnel stencil (Visible Image)
Clear detail embossing powder
Momento marker (London Fog)
Happy Birthday Poe Script die (Poppystamps)

Pink Christmas

It might seem odd that my first card of 2026 is a Christmas card but I’m going to make a determined effort to play along with Christmas Kickstart this year so I hope I’m starting as I mean to go on. Jo’s guest elf this month is the lovely Chris Lawler who has chosen a colour theme — pink! Not a colour I naturally gravitate to but I did my best to embrace it!

The Christmas wording dies got their first outing here so I’m playing at Die Cut Divas too where the theme is New. Although I’ve had them a while this is the first time I’ve even opened the packaging so I hope that counts! I used them to cut hot pink glitter card to stick to an inky background then stood my fussy cut bear on top of the wording, I hope she's light enough on her feet not to squash it! 

I sprinkled a few tiny die cut stars and some white pen dots around the place, mounted with a broad border and called it done. The confetti die used for the stars is ancient (I’ve had it at least ten years) but very useful! The bear’s raised paw has a couple of layers of cardstock scraps behind it so it’s a got just a wee bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Pink glitter card 
Bristol board 

Ink: 
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Rosebud)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)
Adirondack by Ranger (Raspberry)

Other:
Stylish Script Christmas Wishes dies  (Lisa Horton for Creative Expressions)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)

Thanks for stopping by!