Santa's sleigh

The challenge theme over at CAS Christmas this month is Santa’s Sleigh. I’ve gone a bit vintage-flavoured with mine this time. It’s ages since I made a card in landscape orientation!

I used kraft for my card base and then used a stitched rectangle die to emboss a frame into a layer cut slightly smaller than the card front. My gift-filled sleigh definitely looked like it could use some height and having failed to find a suitable Christmas tree image for my first idea, I realised the big man himself would fit the bill. 

The sleigh die cuts all in one piece but I wanted the body to be separate so I cut one and rubbed gold wax on the runners then cut a second in dark red card, cut the body free  and rubbed very lightly with the wax to catch the embossed detail then stuck it over the runners. The parcels and Santa are stamped, coloured and fussy cut then arranged to fill the sleigh.

I used a glitter pen to trace over the stamped sentiment (which is rapidly becoming my go-to sentiment stamp for Christmas cards!) and added a few sequins so there’s some festive glitz.

Stamps:
Christmas Mail (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us — Santa image)
Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Santa Stamp Here (freebie set with Making Cards & Papercraft Magazine — gift images)

Paper:
Kraft
Bristol board
Dark red

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Crimson Red, Onyx Black)

Other:
Sleigh die (Marianne Designs) 
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Gold Leaf)
Stitched rectangles dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Coloured pencils
Spica glitter pen (red)
Copper gel pen
Clear iridescent sequins

Thanks for stopping by! Click the badge for all the challenge details:

Rose in bloom

I’ve once again combined two challenges here, We Love Stamping would like to see summer blooms and Time Out has a “take two” challenge (chose at least two from monochrome, geometric, floral, stitching, birthday, CAS). I snuck in a Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge as well (we’re using gems this week).

For my summer bloom I decided to take a trip down memory lane and use this lovely delicate wild rose from an old Waltzingmouse set. For some reason it took me an absolute age to colour today so I was glad I’d decided to go CAS and only wanted a single bloom!

I managed everything except monochrome from the Time Out options (my stitching is faux).

Stamps:
Roses in Bloom (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
P009 Geometric Abstraction (Lesia Zgharda)
Sentiment so old I don’t remember where it came from

Paper:Bristol board

Ink:
Fade Out by Ink on 3
Versafine by Tsukinkeo (Smokey Grey)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Nail art gems
Memento marker (Fog Grey)

North Pole pals

The theme over at Christmas Kickstart this month is friends. I confess I made this a wee while ago but never got round to blogging it and it seemed perfect for the challenge theme so here it is.

The rectangle is a piece salvaged from a card that didn’t quite pan out. Likewise the image was coloured and cut out and then fell out of favour and was substituted with something else on another card so it was in my “bits box”.

Santa’s little helper has obviously put in a long shift and has snuggled up to his polar bear pal for a bit of R&R, along with his chubby robin companion.

Stamps:
Santa’s Workshop (Helz Cuppleditch)
Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Grunge Flakes (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)

Paper:
Watercolour
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Brilliance by Tsukinkeo (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (various blues)

Other:
Copic Markers
Coloured pencils
Enamel Accents by Ranger (white)
Silver detail embossing powder

Summer posies

I’m combining challenges again today. I’ve been meaning to play for ages at the CAS on Friday challenge where the current theme is flowers, Time Out is looking to Mother Nature for inspiration and Retro Rubber has given us a tic tac toe board to play with.

For Retro Rubber I chose the downward left to right diagonal of sparkle/your choice/flowers from the board, with die cuts as the wild card element. I have three sorts of sparkle going on — the card base, the trellis and the flowers are all Cryogen White cardstock which is a beautiful pale ivory with a lovely subtle shimmer, there are nail art gems in the flower centres and a few clear sequins scattered about the place!

The flowers are stamped and heat embossed and then coloured with some reinker and fussy cut. The die cut leaf sprig was lying about on my desk from another project — I coloured it with a Copic marker before tucking it in between the flowers. The pretty trellis was a bargain die I picked up a while ago for the princely sum of £3.20 for a package of three dies! I do love Cutting Edge Crafts for the occasional bargain splurge! (I have no affiliation, just a happy customer.)

I did try to work in a couple of tiny butterflies for an extra dose of Mother Nature but I couldn’t make anything look quite right so decided I should leave well enough alone and walk away before doing anything I might regret!

Stamps: Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday, no longer with us, 2011)

Paper: Cryogen White

Ink: 
Versamark by Tsukineko
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress reinker by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)

Other:
Detail clear embossing powder
Honeycomb dies (Simply Screens by Tonic)
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Copic marker
Nail art gems
Clear/iridescent sequins
Corner Chomper  

Simple snowman

After a long break Loll and the team have brought back the CAS Christmas challenge where July’s theme is snowman. As I've gone die cut heavy, I’m combining with the Die Cut Divas for my second play there this month where the focus is on Christmas in July.

I die cut all the pieces for my snowman from white card and coloured with a combination of Copics and coloured pencils before assembling. As I wanted my snowman to face left and the scarf cuts with the longer bit that side, I flipped it over and smoothed down the edges with a bone folder before colouring. He has a little bit of chalk blush on his cheeks and a hand drawn smile. I used a white paint pen to make tiny dots all over his face for a slightly textured look and used Enamel Accents to make his eyes shine. The holly on his hat was stamped and fussy cut. 

Once I’d stamped the sentiment and stuck the snowman down with some scrap card underneath to raise him up just a tiny bit, I decided it needed something a little extra so tucked in some die cut snowflakes and added a few sequins. I finished off with my usual single rounded corner.

Stamps:
Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink: Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Posca paint pen (white)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Clear iridescent sequins
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Bearing gifts

All the Christmas in July challenges are helping to boost my little stash but I couldn't let the month go by without playing at Christmas Kickstart where it's Christmas all year round and I've been good about my aim to join each month so far! This month's theme is “grace us with your presents” — focus on gifts.

The Santa and gift images are from a set that was a freebie with a magazine, I think they’re rather sweet. I’ve kept the treatment sweet and simple too, stamping, simple masking and colouring with pencils. The addition of a few sequins is the only concession to anything not purely “old skool”!

Stamps:

Santa Stamp Here (freebie set with Making Cards & Papercraft Magazine)

Christmas Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:

Bristol board

Ink:

Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:

Coloured pencils

Pan Pastel (Phthalo Green Tint)

Clear iridescent sequins

Corner Chomper

If you’re looking to boost your stash of Christmas cards now we’re on the downhill stretch, why not come and play along?

Rustic Pear

I made a card this morning (well, I say this morning - it took so long I actually finished it after lunch) using lots of die cuts. I may share that soon if I can convince myself I like it! As an antidote, I felt the need to return to my "stampy stamper" roots so I combined a couple of challenges for a rustic "just because" card.

Lost Coast Designs is asking for Fruit, Flowers and Foliage this month and Retro Rubber's Taste of Summer challenge has a fruit theme so those two played nicely together. As my ripe pear still has leaves attached I guess I can count both fruit and foliage for LCD!

I stamped the pear (one of my very early stamp purchases, grey unmounted rubber from an unknown maker), masked it and then stamped the Perspective Floor as a sort of tablecloth grounding. Everything is coloured with pencils and it's finished with a simple sentiment and my usual rounded corner.

Stamps:
Pear (unknown maker, I've had it since 2007)
Perspective Floor (Lost Coast Designs, had mine since 2023)
Sentiment from Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday, no longer with us, 2011)

Paper: kraft

Ink: 
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Corner Chomper  

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain — May

It's reveal day again at Card Chain Challenge where this time 25 players signed up from around the world to send and receive happy mail. CCC is rapidly approaching a total of 5,000 cards made and sent — that’s a lot of creativity and card-making friendship over the years. Big thanks to Gail and Jo for keeping our lovely crafting community going.

My card has gone to Imke in Germany. I’ve gone very CAS although not quite one layer this time — the little post boy/cherub is fussy cut and raised just a tiny bit with some card scraps. 

I used low tack tape to mask off the edges of the card, stamped a fine script all over and blended a little of the same ink to define the panel a bit. Stamped the various post marks etc in grey and black, used the post cancellation lines as a little “whoosh” behind the delivery boy, added a greeting and called it done.

I only managed one of the options this time (postal) but as Gail always says, it only takes one to play!

Stamps: French Mail and Artsy Banners (both Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink: 
Brilliance by Tuskineko (Graphite Black)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite and Charcoal)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antqiue Linen)

Other: Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by! There’s still time to sign up for the next chain if you’d like to join the fun.

Messy CAS

Friday’s Mixability challenge at Splitcoast Stampers must have just hit the right mood as I immediately sat down to make something. Host Janelle wanted to see “controlled chaos” — lots going on (maximalism) but keeping the overall design CAS (clean and simple).

There’s more area covered here than I would typically do for a CAS design but I think I just about got away with it!

For a Mixability many moons ago we made painty circles with the universal craft tool (index finger). Here’s the tutorial we originally used: painty circles. I immediately decided to revisit that technique, using several acrylic paints on a page of an old German book (I keep a few books that have broken binding etc just to use in the craft room). I then chose a couple of favourite areas and die cut into squares. Matted with black, embossed a small portion of the card base with a border embossing folder (actually used twice for a wider strip) and finally added some enamel dots and a simple sentiment.

Supplies:
Book paper
Acrylic paints
Metallic watercolour (Gansai Tambi Starry Colours)
Pop Culture embossing folders (Cuttlebug)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Sentiment from an old Technqiue Tuesday stanp set
White and black cardstock

The painty technique is fun to do and the results will never be the same twice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Winged thoughts

Combining the bubble border with a butterfly image was actually my first idea for January’s “Winged Things” challenge at Lost Coast Designs but I got sidetracked into other projects along the way. I have managed to get the idea out of my head and onto a card before the challenge ends though. 

I’m also playing again at We Love Stamping where this month’s theme is “new”. The very pretty sentiment is new — it’s from another of the Katzelkraft sets I bought recently.

A new to me challenge is Time Out where the current theme is to be inspired by a favourite technique. I heat embossed my bubble border to create little cells for watercolour media — it’s a quick and easy way to contain your colour without having to be too careful so that’s a win in my book! This is also CAS which is one of my favourite ways to make cards so if that’s considered a technique (rather than a style) then I’ll claim that too.

I used a Copic marker to fill in the black at the edge and the butterfly is watercoloured. The wings are bent up a little so it looks like she’s just landed and there’s some gentle sparkle courtesy of Wink of Stella. Having chopped off her antennae when  I fussy cut the butterfly, I drew some new ones with a quick flick of a fineliner.

Stamps:
Bubble border (Lost Coast Designs)
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)
Enjoy Quotes (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Zig Clean Color markers
Watercolour pencils (Derwent)
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Black fineliner
Detail embossing powder (clear)

Link in the chain - August

It's reveal day again at Card Chain Challenge. Mine has gone to Daja this time.

From the options on offer I chose the colours, the sketch, the theme of fruit and the product option of stencilling.

It’s my usual one layer aesthetic for CCC, simple stamping with a layering stamp set and a bit of masking, a stencilled background and my trademark rounded corner.

Stamps:
Lemon Blossom (The Greetery)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage, Mowed Lawn, Spiced Marmalade)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Sunset Orange)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by! There are still a few days to sign up for the next Chain, all the details are here. 

Link in the chain — May

It’s time for this month's reveal at Card Chain Challenge. There were 32 players and my card went to Joanne in California this time.

From the options on offer I chose the theme of hats, the colours and (sort of) the sketch. Owen’s hat was originally going to be on a wobble but I couldn’t make it look right so in the end it just got some cardstock scraps underneath so it’s a little bit raised. Heat embossing for the gold of the colour scheme made it perfect for adding some watercolour as the raised lines make little “cells” to contain the colour. 

Stamps:
Owen the Owl (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Watercolour paints (Winsor & Newton)
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Gold detail embossing powder

There are still a few days to sign up for June’s chain if you fancy spreading some crafty joy around the planet. 

She sells sea shells...

It's time for a new challenge at Daring Cardmakers and this time Rizwana would like to see shells on our projects.

I was away on holiday last week so of course I suffered the usual syndrome of a couple of false starts on your first crafty session but I eventually managed something half way decent by sticking to clean and simple.

Shells from one of my all time favourite stamp sets, a bit of basic masking, watercolouring with Distress inks and my usual rounded corner and call it done.

Stamps:
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Watercolor

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black, Vintage Sepia)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Peacock Fathers, Tumbled Glass, Black Soot)

Other:
Corner Chomper

Sea shells make for a great summery projects - why not check out the rest of the design team's ideas and come join us?

 

Little ones

Miri is setting our challenge today at Daring Cardmakers with the theme of “little ones” — make a card for the little ones in your life or think small in other ways!

I’m also playing along with Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero — this month’s theme is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I really got the Beach Please set for the umbrella image so of course the first thing I use is the cocktail glass! I don’t often get matching dies for stamps but I’m glad I had them here — these little glasses would have been a horror to fussy cut and the option to cut them out and pop them up is great. 

I’ve gone for the slightly lateral interpretation at DCM as I don’t have any babies or small children to make for. I lined up some little cocktails in rainbow colours, courtesy of Distress inks, for a clean and simple card. The glasses are stuck on with gel glue for a bit of lift and there’s Wink of Stella on the ice cubes, only obvious if you catch the light just right!

Stamps:
Beach Please Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn, Wilted Violet, Weathered Wood, Black Soot)

Other:
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Pinflair gel glue
Corner Chomper

Hero Arts — Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Stripy scarves!

Kathy has set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she wants to see spots and/or stripes. Mr Mojo has taken a holiday and I was feeling distinctly uninspired so went searching for extra inspiration (I often find that figuring out a way to combine a couple of challenges helps get things moving). 

I haven’t played in Jo’s Christmas Kickstarter for ages but I always look to see what the month’s challenge is. This time around it’s all wrapped up with scarves. That combined with the stripes theme in my head to steer me to use these adorable bears with their striped scarves. 

The bears are stamped and masked, edges of the card covered with low tack tape before blending in some blue Distress inks. A little Copic colouring and just a few dimensional paint dots along with a sentiment finish off a simple one layer creation.

The rest of the team have created a lovely spring vibe with their creations, it’s just me reflecting the weather outside the window at the moment! Do check out the DCM blog for a breath of something warmer (link from the graphic below) and why not get the stash of Christmas cards under way with a visit to Christmas Kickstart too?

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter's Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch)

Other:
Copic Markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor ((Ice White)
Corner Chomper 

Elements for March

Miri has chosen our inspiration picture for the "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — as ever, just choose at least three elements from the picture to kickstart your project.

The spiral shape of the caterpillar made me think of this lovely shell stamp and I ended up going down a sort of naturalist’s sketch book route (after quite a lot of playing with ideas that didn’t work out). Other elements are flower, butterfly and some of the colours. 

The butterfly is stamped directly on the panel, the other images are cut out and stuck on with gel glue for some differences in height. I had intended more muted colouring, not quite sure what happened there!

Stamps:
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)
Magnolia (Stampendous)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Copic markers
Square dies (Presscut)
Fineliner
Pinflair gel glue

Link in the chain January

It’s time for the reveal of January’s Card Chain Challenge. There were 25 links in the chain and mine has gone over the Pond to the lovely Linda this time. The cyber “incident” at Royal Mail May have slowed its progress somewhat but it will get there eventually, we hope!

From this month’s options I chose the theme of cocktails, the product option of Distress inks and the colour palette (candyfloss, bubblegum, mulberry) with the addition of green — although I might have been able to argue for a pink citrus slice (pink grapefruit, perhaps?) I couldn’t bring myself to do pink mint leaves! 

It’s a very simple one layer creation, just stamping, colouring and a few tiny gems. The cocktail and background are Distress inks used as watercolours, the leaves and lime slice are Copic coloured. The Seedless Preserves Distress ink gave an impressive range of shades, depending on how dilute it was and using the Misti to stamp the sentiment a couple of times made it extra dark there — I thought it looked nicer in the same shade as the background rather than using black ink.

Stamps:
Cocktail Time (Crafter’s Companion)
Birthday sentiment set (Letter It range from Ranger)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves)

Other:
Copic markers
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper

Around the house

It’s my turn to set our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and we’re looking “around the house” this time. Either use something from around the house to help in making your creation (e.g. foil from the kitchen, scrape a design in paint with the prongs of a fork) or feature a household object (e.g. TV, food mixer). You could even do both if you’re feeling brave!

I went for using something from around the house and used dry wall tape to stencil a patterned stripe on my card base. I used a bit of low tack tape as well so I could create solid borders and then added a fineliner edge for even more definition. The hearts are simply stamped, fussy cut and the front one is stuck on with gel glue for a bit of dimension.

I’m also playing along at A Blog Named Hero where this month’s theme is “crazy little thing called love” since my trusty HA hearts came out to play.

Stamps:
Unnamed Hearts (Hero Arts, maybe retired?)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Textured black

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves)

Other:
Dry wall tape
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Fineliner

Magnificent magenta

Rizwana is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — as the Pantone colour of the year is Viva Magenta, she’d like to see magenta featuring on our creations. 

I confess I was relieved to see Rizwana’s mood board features what I think of as magenta. The Pantone colour looks too red to me and when I first saw it several weeks back my first thought was “yuk!” (partly influenced by the choice of image on Pantone’s own mood board, I suspect). As it is, I struggled a bit to find an appropriate colour in my stash. I managed to find a Copic that was ok to lay down a base layer of colour and then a couple of pencils to shade over the top. The rose is stamped once, masked and stamped again. I gave it just a bit of green pencil “halo” for some contrast and a few nail art gems for some glitz.

Stamps:
Jumbo Rose (Stampendous)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic marker
Coloured pencils
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper
Fineliner

Words of comfort

At Daring Cardmakers this week, we’re reflecting on the UK’s national sense of loss and mourning as we say farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. We’d like to see cards offering comfort for those experiencing loss or a difficult time in their lives.

I tend to opt for simplicity when I make sympathy cards and this is no exception, just simple stamping, inking and a tiny bit of pattern added with a stencil.  

Stamps:
Nature I (Indigo Blu)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)

Other:
Cressida Stencil (Memory Box)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by.