Brimming over with joy

This month's theme at Christmas Kickstart (where host Jo is being ably assisted by elf Gail) is hats — hats on their own, hats on people, hats on critters — if it's Christmassy and there's a hat involved you're good to go!

Retro Rubber are playing tic tac toe and it's a wintery one as things got out of kilter with their enforced change of platform so I'm playing there too — right hand column (tag, holly, rhinestones) and also bottom row (die cut, snow, rhinestones). The holly and the rhinestones are both tiny but they're there on the snowman's hat band. The Hero Arts set (holly and sentiment stamps, word die cut) has been in my collection since 2017 I think.

This is the first outing for the snowman die from the Cool Yule set. I went very much my own way though — I used the nose intended for Santa to make a tangerine rather than a carrot nose, didn’t use the monocle and replaced the star accent for the hat with some stamped and fussy cut holly with tiny gem berries. The eyes are Enamel Accents, I drew on a wiggly mouth and he’s wearing the scarf that belongs to the reindeer in the set rather than his own bow tie!

Stamps:
Joy Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts, had mine since 2017)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Softly Falling embossing folder (Stampin' Up!, retired)
Tags dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Copic markers
White pencil
Posca pain pen (white)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Nail art gems
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

A little gift?

The Katzelkraft cat and mouse Christmas card I made last year went down well so I decided to use the same set when making a birthday card for the gentleman of the household. This particular cat didn't get a look in then but the cheeky mouse is back -- looks like he might be in trouble once the song is over though, pusscat has his tail firmly under her paw. Perhaps he’s going to end up being offered as a gift?! Their cat is quite good at that although not as spectacular as her predecessor who had been known to offer up rabbits, including wrangling a live (full grown) one through the cat flap!

Jo's caroling cat prompted me to imagine a feline rendition of the birthday song, the double notes are stamped, the single ones are hand drawn. Stamping, masking, stenciling and a touch of Copic colouring with a tiny bit of pencil detail is as complicated as things got for this one. I realised I’ve also used the same stencil as Jo used for this challenge — as I said in my comment on her card, it’s quite possibly my most used stencil, it just seems to finish off so many things!

Stamps:
Les Chats Russe (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)
Mini Memories (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Adirondack by Ranger (Pool)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is looking for birthday cards this month so I’m linking up there

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain — March

It’s reveal day once again at Card Chain Challenge, lots of lovely and very diverse cards to admire as usual.

From the options on offer this month I chose the theme of gnomes. I started off with the sketch as well but things sort of evolved and the sketch got rather lost. Of course I also used the product option of stamps, it’s still a rare card from me that doesn’t feature stamping.

PH Gnome is full of the joys of spring and pleased to have an opportunity to show off a different outfit as he's usually masquerading as Santa. Having noticed the flowers pushing up through the grass at the base of his favourite tree, he couldn’t resist picking one to adorn his hat. 

The clouds on the chalked sky are hand drawn, everything is coloured with Copics and the embossed sentiment is a folder I’ve had for ages — it’s a set of three and this is the first time this one has been out to play. As my card was going to the lovely Jo this time, I thought some embossing was in order as a little nod to the glory days of the Let’s Squash It challenge. Joining in the “old supplies” vibe, that tree hasn’t seen ink for a very long time (maybe 2009?!) but I thought the whimsical style would work well with the gnome.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Spring Trees (Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Sayings embossing folder (Darice)
Chalk
Zig sketching pen (dark brown)

I don't usually combine my CCC cards with other challenges but as Lost Coast is celebrating gnomes this month, I'll make an exception and link up there! 

Thanks for stopping by! There’s still time to sign up for the April challenge at CCC if you fancy making and sending one card and getting a card in return. And a whole month to play at LCD!

Birthday chemistry

This is a birthday card for a young woman who is studying bio chemistry at uni and is not at all a girly girl. I got this set ages ago (think years rather than months!) when it was on sale and have failed to use it before now! I thought a little chemistry set up might do the trick when thinking what to make for her birthday card this year. It’s completely fanciful of course, unless that liquid is condensing to a significantly reduced volume, that receiving container is going to overflow!

Some simple masking and quite a lot of careful positioning (hooray for a stamping platform!) got everything stamped as I wanted and then it was just a case of colouring (mostly Copics and then a white pencil to colour over the horizontal surfaces of the vial contents), adding some grounding shadows and gluing on the sentiment — I went with a die cut one to make it big and bold since it’s maybe not an obvious birthday image! The whole panel is cut out with a stitched rectangle die and there’s a white liner inside the card, cut with a matching die.

Stamps:
Les flacons (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board, black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other: 
Happy Birthday Poe Script die (Poppystamps)
 Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
 Copic markers 
White pencil
White paint pen (Posca)

The Die Cut Divas are looking for birthday and anniversary cards this month so I’m linking up there, here’s the link if you’d like details of the challenge:

Thanks for stopping by.