Christmas

A Season of Merry Moments

Hi there. I have another card to share inspired by the current challenge at Sparkles Christmas:

This stamp, die, and stencil set is from Pinkfresh Studio – another virtual event from last year and not used yet.

I began by gold heat embossing all the images, then used the matching layering stencils to colour them in. This was then die cut – one stamped image and one die to cut out all the elements – which were set aside whilst I considered the background.

I found some Hero Arts snowflakes transfers and rubbed part of the sheet down onto a light blue piece of card stock.

The bottom piece of a white card with a little light blue ink blending – the same as I used for the snowy areas on the main image.

The blue and white panel were glued down to a white card base, and the tree adhered with 3D foam, as were the critters – but the ladder was glued flat, but was layered a couple of times for stability.

The sentiment was also gold heat embossed, die cut with the matching die – layered a couple of times – then glued to the bottom.

These snowflakes are lovely, and so easy to rub them onto a piece of card – I can see I will be using all of them at some point in the near future…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge – Christmas with an animal and a tree

Critter Crazy Challenge – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Merry & Bright

Hello and welcome to the first challenge of the year at ABC Christmas Challenge. Helen is hosting, and for the letters ‘A’ & ‘B’, we have the Christmas themes of A is for Anything goes, and B is for Bright. Here is my card following the theme of ‘Bright’:

I created this card using this inlay die of Christmas trees, die cutting the whole panel in white, then used strips of coloured card stock to die cut the trees.

The white layer was then added to a piece of card with a piece of double-sided sticky sheet – leaving the opening for the trees sticky – then each tree inlaid.

The sentiment was stamped then die cut with the matching die and attached as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – Christmas anything goes, option of snow people not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I was able to create with products received over a year ago when attending the ‘Let’s Stamp Together’ from Scrap book & Cards today and Concord & 9th products:

The product includes the stencils to create this jolly Santa, layering stencils which are fun to use, and the matching dies.

First job was to use the stencils to create him, then die cutting the image.

I chose this snowflake foiled background created using a toner sheet, so silver heat embossed the sentiment onto his beard.

One of my cats decided she wanted to ‘help’ me take the photo, so here she is – for a little light relief:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Inkspirational – use stencils – option of snowflakes

Tuesday Taggers – all about Santa

As You Like It – Christmas/Festive

Give a Crafter a Cookie – photo inspiration

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas

Postage Collage Christmas

Here is a card I created using some of the rest of the images from the Waffle Flower Postage Collage I used the other day:

I had already ink blended and cut apart the images, so I created the muted holly background using a recently purchased holly stencil from Clarity Crafts, and cut it down slightly smaller than an A2 card base.

This panel was glued directly onto the card base, and the three images attached with 3D foam – jaunty angles – the foiled sentiment added, and then some gold sequins for added detail.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – use stencils – option to use snowflakes not taken

Sparkles Christmas Challenge – Christmas and poinsettia

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of winter related taken

R is for Ribbon

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘R’, and Billie A has chosen the theme of:


R is for Ribbon

Here is my card:

I used The Greetery ‘Big Beautiful Bow’ as the focus for the theme and the focus for the card. I love the layers you can create using the die – I have had it for a while and absolutely do not know why I haven’t used it…..

The layers were die cut from two tones of red, then glued together.

The base panel is white, embossed using a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder, then splattered with gold acrylic paint.

The foliage was die cut using a couple of Spellbinder dies in green tones, with some grey added because I do like grey foliage….

Once the background panel was dry, I adhered the bow with 3D foam, then added the four red strips. The foliage was placed as you see, with just the part hidden under the bow glued down, the rest of them I like to leave loose for added interest.

I didn’t add a sentiment, which is unusual for me, but I like the way it looks without one.

I hope you can coma and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More – Christmas

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and Christmas/Winter

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Christmas Sparkle Bauble

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, Dawn is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of ‘Christmas Sparkle’. Here is my card:

I used some patterned paper from Simple Stories, I believe I received it as part of a class, and used a panel of the tartan for the background.

The snowflake panel is heat foiled using a toner sheet, silver foil, and the Gina K Designs Fuse foiling system. I haven’t played with this very much, so I had to check out one of her YouTube videos – but it foils like a dream…

This foiled panel was then die cut with Hero Arts besting bauble dies – a couple of times for dimension – then all elements added.

The deer is also part of the ephemera I received for this kit, and glued directly onto the foiled bauble.

I hope you can come and join us with your ‘Christmas’ Sparkle’ creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and Christmas/Winter

12 Months Of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas


Black & White Christmas

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the end of the alphabet, and therefore this challenge is for the letters ‘Y’ and ‘Z’. The Christmas themes for these letters are:

Y is for Yummy (food) and Z is for Zebra (black & white or stripes)

Here is my card:

I obviously followed the black and white Christmas theme, creating what I think is quite a dramatic card.

I took an A2 panel and stamped some Gina K Designs snowflakes on a random pattern all over it, then cut it down slightly and matting with a piece of black card to create the edge.

The black banner/label for the centre is from The Greetery, and the die cuts out this filigree frame – but I decided I wanted all the details of the frame to stay in place, so I placed them all back in and applied some double sided tape to the back – keeping them secure.

The sentiment was stamped, then die cut with the matching die.

The final touch was to add some black gems to the snowflake centres, and a couple of smaller gems in some of the white spaces.

I hope you can come and join us for our final challenge of the year with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations – let it snow

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Addicted to Stamps & More – Christmas

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Merry & Bright & Poinsettias

Hello. I have a card to share inspired by several challenges. For this card, I went back to my card making roots by using several Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions dies, and by creating an 8 x 8 inch behemoth:

I was sorting out part of my stash the other day, and found several packs of Creative Expressions card – the blush pink and the gorgeous bronze metallic – I just had to use them for this card.

I did originally have a 6 x 6 inch card base, but I just couldn’t fit everything on there, so I found some larger pieces of card – stored away ‘safely’ and found after quite a few minutes of searching….

\\teh red and two white poinsettia were created using die sets which are dated from 2016 (!!) all elements die cut from Heffy Doodle card stock for the red, and Neenah for the white. I layered them together after curling the leaves a little to create some dimension on the flowers.

The centres of the flowers were created by punching some holes and using what we would normally discard….

I remember having to create some boxed for these cards in the past as there was so much dimension – I guess I’ll have to do that again with this card.

Anyhoo – I matted the card base with the bronze piece, ‘gutting’ the inside by die cut some of the foliage, extra die cuts from another piece of card.

I also die cut some green foliage, but I didn’t like the look of these when I was putting everything together – good for another future card I think….

As the flowers were white, I used a piece of the blush card stock, ran it through my Big Shot Pro with an older Creative Expressions embossing folder, then adhered to the bronze, then the card base.

I arranged the florals and foliage, playing a little, then search through the CML app for find a larger Christmas sentiment I could create using dies only – and this Tim Holtz one seemed to fit.

I die cut the words with red, then also layered them a couple more times with the blush – in case I couldn’t glue them together perfectly.

All elements were attached – the flowers with 3D foam tape, and the foliage and sentiment with glue.

So – this card was a trip down memory lane for me. I reminded me that the products I have had for years can still be used, not to forget them, and it also took me back to my mum – she is the one who got me into die cutting for cards. I tried to stay away from die cutting for ages – but eventually succumbed – and now I prefer die cutting and creating more than stamping and colouring. Thanks Mum….miss you……xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of thanks not taken

Festive Friday – 3 items from the list – red, white, Christmas sentiment

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and poinsettia

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

A Cat Christmas

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Sue J is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of

A Cute Christmas

Here is my card:

After my sojourn into CAS cards the past few days, I went all mixed media for this one – a little messy crafting.

The blue card base was created by using glitter stencil paste through a Simon hurley snowflake stencil. This was put aside to dry, then I created a panel with mica sprays, some water droplets, some dribbling of water, let that dry, then used the same snowflake stencil and the same glitter paste on top. As the paste is translucent, it gave some shimmer and shine, whilst also allowing the background colour of both panels to shine through.

To frame the red panel I cut it down so it would exactly into a black die cut tag frame from AALL & Create, cut out of a black shimmer card stock.

The main cat image – more cats there than I actually have – but only just…….is also from AALL & Create, pre-die cut, added with 3D foam, then the foiled sentiment added to the top of that.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our ‘cute Christmas’ theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and critters

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – Christmas – option of ‘sleigh it’ not taken

Creative Artiste – anything goes mixed media

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Elf Christmas Cheer

I have another card created as I was inspired by the current challenge at Festive Friday and the list they provide, of which you have to use at least three items mentioned to create your card:

I used the Hero Arts die ‘Peeking Elf‘ and cut it out of white to use as a base layer. I then used red and green for the clothing, a light brown for the hair, and a blush card stock for the face. The die cuts the image out complete, but does have little snippy bits for you to cut so you can layer the image together, almost like paper-piecing.

The eyes were black gems. also from Spellbinders.

Once he was created, I took a piece of gold shiny card stock from Spellbinders, die cut with a stitched rec tangle die, and used one of their embossing folders, added the peeking elf to one side, then added a gold foiled sentiment.

The gold embossed panel was adhered to the card base with 3D foam – a couple of little pieces for underneath the hands – and the card was done.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Festive Friday – Christmas Colours, Elf, embossing folder,