Kit and Clowder Swap

I can now share my card that I made to sent as part of the Kit and Clowder annual swap.  I sent this one to Lisabeth in Norway

This is a digital image from Mo Manning.  After printing it onto my card , I stamped the pine branches from a Sunny Studio set and then coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I added kindyglitz to the hat and the edge of the top.  The sentiment is from a NZ company called Montarga Stamps.  I've used it a lot this year, mostly inside of my cards. 

I received a beautiful card from Lisabeth

Isn't it beautiful. 

I finished up work today for the year.  Two weeks off.   Totally looking forward to the break. 

WWC#249 Karen's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Karen is our hostess this week with an "All About Occasions" Challenge.

Today I'm sharing a One Sheet Wonder set of card.  Using a 6" x 6" sheet of Patterned paper I ended up with four cards

 

Card #1

Using one of the triangle pieces matted with pink card.  I added a gold die cut (Mid Century Frame Die Altenew) and added a Penny Black Poinsettia coloured with pink pencils.  Added the sentiment on the right hand lower corner. 

Card #2

Add the PP matted in pink onto the centre of the card.  Add a Kaisercraft  sentiment.  I had run out of pink card so just used some pink ink to add to the edges for a CAS card

Card #3

Using the second triangle.  Paired with a Kaisercraft sentiment stamped with Altenew Enchanted Gold Ink.

and finally card #4

 

 Using the large rectangle piece and paired this with a Studio Katia Holiday seal from The Stamping Village.  

Check out the projects that the other artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenge have created.  Then take our challenge ant link your creation to the challenge post.  We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 11.00am NZ time ) to link up your project. 

It's Snowing at Christmas Kickstart

I had fun making a card for the Christmas Kickstart challenge - theme SNOW.

I used a design I have used before.

While I was at the Craft Fair a couple of weekends ago, I got a tree stamp by Montarga Stamps - a New Zealand based stamp company.  I love the way it has very light trees in the background and darker in the front.  I used some Catherine Pooler Eucalyptus ink to stamp my trees.  I used a Yellow alcohol marker from Altenew to colour the sky - somewhat different.  I added splatter of dilute white acrylic paint to make my snow and added to the ground and the trees.  I die cut a circle out of the front panel and stamped it around the hole with holly leaves and added some snowflakes in Iceberg Altenew inks.    The holly, snowflakes and the sentiment are from a freebie set.   I stamped and fussy cut the holly and berries from Sunny Studio's called Christmas Trimmings.

Also entering this into the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted to Stamps

Coffee lovers 2019 Fall/Winter Blog Hop

Hi there I'm a bit late to the party here... blog hop finishes in less than 20 minutes!

Here's my card

I used Super Sponsor's Graciellie Designs image called Christmas Cheer.    I printed it onto so some 200gm watercolour paper and use Altenew Watercolour pans to colour it in.  When I printed the image I changed the colour of the sentiment to a red colour.  I added some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the coffee.

Edited:  My entry is 1257th...lucky last!. so if you arrived here from the blog hop... thanks so much.

Christmas Kickstart - Bells

I'm super excited to be the Guest Elf at Christmas Kickstart Challenge this week.

Jo's theme this week is Bells

I've chosen to use my favourite Christmas Bell from a stamp set by Sunny Studios - Holiday Style

I stamped the branches from the stamp set in Juniper Mist from Catherine Pooler Designs.   I then used Altenew Silver Stone, Industrial Diamond and Pure Graphite to stamp the bells.  I added Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle pen.  I added some Peelcraft stickers for hangers and die cut some little red bows from an Impression Obsession die.  The Silent Night die cut is from Couture Creations and is cut from the some dark grey pearlised card as the mat.

Thanks Jo for having me as your elf helper for this challenge.

Joy Wreath

Feeling better today albeit that I'm still coughing a lot!  I've been busy with taking the cat to the vet and doing my grocery shopping but time now to play.

I was looking for a sentiment the other day and came across Altenew's Sophisticated wreath stamp set.  I've used one sentiment from it before, but not used the rest of the set.   I decided to combine with some die cuts and make a Christmas card.

I stamped the pine branch three times using two Altenew green inks and the rock and roll technique.  As I have the matching dies, I cut them out and layered them over each other to form the wreath.  I add Nuvo drops as the berries on it.  The little Joy die cut is from a Couture Creations die set called Joyous Frame.   I had the woodgrain paper sitting on my desk and matted it with kraft and layered onto the white square base.  The bow is a die cut (unknown brand) cut with some dark mahogany card stock.    A quick card to add to the growing stash of Christmas cards. 

Woodland Creatures at Christmas Kickstart Challenge.

There's a new theme on the Christmas Kickstart Challenge.   Jo has challenged us to use Woodland Creatures on our cards.   I had a Rosie's Studio fox stamp set, plus a set that came with the September Make Cards Today that had some cute foxes on it... so I came up with two cards.

This was the first card I did and I have to say it's my favourite.   The little fox is from Rose's Studio,  I struggled to use the layering stamps so just stamped the detail layer and used a Altenew ink and a Tombow blender pen to colour it it.  I fussy cut him out ( yes, decided it was a boy!) My base was made by die cutting a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die.  I used the free stamp set to stamp the Holly leaves around the edge.  and to stamp the sentiment.    To make the inside of the of the circle, I used Altenew inks to ink blend the background.  I added the layer trees from another freebie set.  For the snow banks I did some more ink blending.  I then some White Out correction pen for the snow on the trees and as the snow falling.  I added Foxy and it was done.  - but then as I as layering the top layer over the base - I got some blue ink on the front, so to save it, I did some more ink blending on the card.

I'm also entering this one into
 Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Christmas
 Crimbo Crackers - Anything Goes - Christmas/Festive
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anythings Goes (thanks Carol G for letting me know about the challenge)
Virginia's Show and Share

My second card is very CAS

 I started with the panel - it was already cut on my desk.  I used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder to add some texture as I knew I wanted to keep it all white.   I stamped the little Foxy onto the base card. I used Zig Markers to colour up the image and added the sentiment and ran a gold pen around the oval.

Both of these have been added to Jo's challenge.

This week's Christmas Cards.

Hi.  hope you are having a great weekend.  I got some crafting done on Saturday... getting a bit ahead with my design work and of course had to have a play over at Christmas Kickstart

This challenge theme is "Gifts"  I decided to make my own presents.....

Took a variety patterned paper and using some rectangle dies to make some presents.  I then used some Christmas striped ribbon to wrap them all together.  I added a little tag with the sentiment from a freebie Christmas set.

Earlier in the week I had entry the Hero Arts Fan Facebook challenge.  Cindy has set up a Facebook page to run the 90 minute challenges... do come and join if you love Hero Arts
Her first challenge was to use Inchies or make a grid card.   I have a cute set that was only of my first Hero Arts Christmas stamps (it was made in 2007) that has a couple little square images.  A bit bigger than an inchie... but here's how I used it.

I stamped the little squares in a row.  I used the little snow flakes from the set to stamp all around the grid.    It's nice to pull out the old stamps and give them some love. 

Today, we drove up to Mangawhai for lunch with our friends Yvonne and Michael and their family to celebrate Yvonne's 65th birthday.  It was lovely to be able to share this special time with them.  I put together a little gift package - 

Inside were a number of humorous gifts - some hair rollers and scarf, a pair of safety scissors (for elderly hands) , an eye mask (for daily naps)  some wool and knitting needles (for the spare time she will have when she retires in a month or so), a set of play tools for the garden, a puzzle book to keep Alzheimer's at bay,  a new hat for walking in the beach (to keep her ears out of the wind) and bucket and shopping list (for her bucket list!) - Yvonne really enjoyed it. 

A Scandinavian Christmas at Christmas Kickstart Challenge

It's a new challenge at Christmas Kickstart and Jo's theme is Scandinavian Holidays.  I'm enjoying the challenges as I'm building up a supply of different Christmas cards.

Scandinavian Christmas lends itself to lots of fun reds and whites, folk art type images and of course Swedish Tomte (Gnomes) so that's what inspired me.   I did some Pinterest viewing and saw a pretty card that I was inspired by, using the little Tomte gnomes.

I started by printing off some Nordic patterned paper that I had in my Digital stash - unfortunately I forgot to note who I purchased it from.  I trimmed it to fit a DL sized card base.  I stamped and coloured the 5 gnomes.  The gnome was a free set a couple of years ago.  Super cute!  I remembered that I had some Cuttlebug alpha dies from around 10 years ago - not even sure what it's called now!  I haven't used it in such a long time!  But it was the perfect size for my gnomes to hold.   I added the Christmas sentiment stamped onto white card.  The base card looks black here but it is in fact a very dark green - the letters are also die cut with this dark green card,   I finished off with some little pompoms.  I had these in my stash from making little bunny faceclothes for a baby shower.

And while I was in the mood I made a second card....

I used Simon Says Stamp Holiday Borders stamped in Catherine Pooler's Rockin' Red ink.  I stamped the border a number of times to cover the central panel.  The little deer is from a Sugar & Spice Studio paper pack called Nordic Christmas.  I used a die to cut it out.  Added some Wink of Stella to the deer.  I white embossed the sentiment (from the Gnomes set) onto black card and it was all done.
I'm adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group as well as to Jo's Christmas Kickstart.

Had a lovely 5 days with my Dad and we celebrated his birthday. He got to see his little great-granddaughter and spend some time with the family.  Little Grace was a sick - she tested positive for Salmonella and ended up spending overnight in hospital while they monitored her.  She was still full of smiles and has come right thank goodness.  A tad scary though at the time for her parents and us too.  She's 4 months now and is rolling over a lot these days.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Christmas Kickstart - Get a Head-er start!

An interesting challenge at Christmas Kickstart this fortnight.  -Get a Head-er Start - be inspired by the Header

I was inspired by the colour of the background and the red script plus of course, the snowman.

I found this sheet of snowmen in a paper pack from Reflections called Northern Nights.   It had the pretty aqua background.  I cut out a sentiment from red card.   I die cut the background die in vellum which looks great in real life, but doesn't show up so well in this photo.  This sentiment is one that was part of a magazine that my stationery shop was selling off cheap. I added some red 3D Liquid dots for embellishment. 

Thanks Jo for another challenging challenge and another card added to my Christmas supply.

Christmas Twofer - Christmas Kickstart #16

Over at Jo's Christmas Kickstart this fortnight she has the lovely Darnell as her elfin helper.... and as Darnell runs her own challenge - Twofer Card Challenge... that's what its all about.  Create two Christmas cards using two different designs but only one stamp/die with the prompt being Christmas Tree.   

 

I did have to think a bit about this one... then it came to me that I could practice my Gelli plate backgrounds and make that my twofer.   So off I went and inked by the Gelli plate, lifted off some trees and stamped onto card... then realised I had two similar backgrounds...and the idea was to use two different designs.  Oh well, at least I had one card done...and then the second one came quickly to mind... CAS as is my want!  So here they are:

  

For my Gelli plate background I used some Altenew Parrot and Olive inks to add the colour to my plate and then a quick spritz of water and used my Hero Arts "Merry Merry Christmas Tree" stamp to pull off some of the ink.  Because it's not a full solid stamp, it was hard to see where it came off the plate but I got some awesome stamping onto my other card.   Once my print had dried, I use the olive ink to add some of the trees back onto the background.  I the took a Catherine Pooler stamp "Wonderful Time of the Year" to add a sentiment.  Just a few gold faceted gems and it was done.   And the bonus is I still have this background to use

My second twofer card uses an embossing folder for it's background with the tree stamped in the centre panel.  I found the sentiment in a Me to You Carte Blanche set (from 2014) - I used just the fist tree words from the sentiment.

And as I went over to link this up at Christmas Kickstart I was nicely surprised to see my Angel card made a Star on the top of the Tree for the last challenge... Thanks for choosing me Jo.

It's a cold winter's day here today, so was fun to spend some time in the crafting room with the heater on.  Later today Miss Grace is coming to visit Nanny (and Pop) when her parents come for dinner.  They are off to Hawaii next weekend for a week.  Big trip with a 3 month old but I'm sure she'll take it in her stride.   I haven't seen her for two weeks so looking forward to all the smiles I've been seeing on her mummy's Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy crafting this weekend.

Christmas Kickstart challenge - Delectable Die cuts.

My online friend Jo has started a neat challenge this year called Christmas Kickstart.... to get those Christmas cards started early!  The latest challenge is Delectable Die Cuts
All of you who visit me regularly know I love die cutting and have a huge supply - often picked up as part of freebies in Magazines and many just bought because I like them!

I saw a challenge over at Splitcoaststampers to make a wreath, without using a wreath stencil or other such tool... so I thought I'd give it a go - I knew I was going to add a die cut piece to it so would be perfect for Jo's challenge too.   After about 5 goes at trying to get a nice wreath, I finally decided it would be easiest to use a die cut circle to stamp around.... so here it is finally...

I die cut a white circle and added the flowers and leaves around the edge using a set of Peg stamps "Holiday Garden" around the edge  Added some Nuvo drops to the flowers and around the branches.  The sentiment came from a set that originally came with a magazine but which my newsagent was selling seperately.  I had told myself not to buy Christmas magazines in February and March, but couldn't resist when just stamps were being sold for $5.  It is a sweet little sentiment.  The die cut bell also came from a set I picked up for $2.00.  I cut it with some silver glitter and a bit of green card.  Added some red Nuvo drops for the berries on the holly.   Loved the patterned paper from Reflections "Northern Lights" pad.  A few clear sequins and I called it done.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  I've managed to make a number of cards so am well  advanced with my DT work... 7 blog posts scheduled, 3 cards in envelopes ready to post away tomorrow and lots of ideas tumbling around in my mind, but not a lot of time left in the weekend for me.

Thanks for stopping by. 

A Very Bear-y-Christmas.

Over at my blog friend, Jo's  Christmas Kickstart Challenge , her theme is Have a very Bear-y Christmas.

 

I've finally got around to making my first Christmas card to enter into her challenge.  

 

I took a freebie Teddy stamp (designed by Adam Prescott) from 2009 and  stamped and coloured with some Altenew Alcohol markers.  I die cut it with a Simon Says stitched circle and matted with a die cut piece of PP.  I then added it to a panel of PP.  I've added tiny dots of Nuvo Drops to the centre of the stars.

Today I went to Erin's baby shower and took my nappy cake.... and to my surprise, Erin's Mum had made one too.  A little different to mine.  She had added her nappies differently and it had the cutest little bunnies made with face washers.  Just adorable.  So Erin is well set up with nappies for the first little while.  She got some of the cutest little clothes the baby.  My friend, Yvonne, left a little surprise in Erin and Kieran's ensuite.... a potty filled with lemon jelly and little mini frankfurters.... you get the idea!!!!  Erin didn't find it till after we left!  

Thanks for stopping by today.