Christmas Bells

Hello everyone. I little lax in posting this past week or so – good weather here in the UK so I made the most of it.

The new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge has started. Having reached the letters ‘J’ and ‘K’, we want to see your Christmas/festive creations featuring ‘Jingle (bells)’ and/or ‘Kraft’. Here is my card covering both of the themes:

I started by stamping the Tim Holtz bells onto some water–colour card several times with Archival black ink, as I wanted to layer some of the elements.

I then used mica sprays and Distress water-colour pencils to colour in the images. Once they were dry completely, I fussy-cut one whole image, then cut parts of the ribbon from other images and layered them on top.

The background panel was created using Kraft card stock, and stamping a Hero Arts rubber background stamp in a brown ink for a tone-on-tone look. This panel was adhered to the card base, then the bells attached with 3D foam pieces.

The sentiment was stamped, a rectangle die to cut it out, then a ran the brown ink pad along each edge to make it stand out more.

It’s very difficult to photograph the mica – but those bells really do shine.

As a finishing touch, I added glue to the berries then glitter.

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

Addicted To Stamps & More – Christmas

My Time To Craft Christmas Christmas and use glitter

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media

Creative Artisteanything goes mixed media

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Shaker Holiday Cheer

Hello everyone. I have a fun Christmas shaker card to share today as The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas. Here is my card:

I used a Tonic Studios shaker pocket to create this. I first cut a panel of red card stock, then adhered the shaker pocket to three sides, added just a small amount of sequins and beads (a lot actually!), then stuck down the last edge.

This shaker panel was then adhered to a white card base.

The frame image is using the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Joy of the Season’ suite, and foiling the image and sentiment in black foil, then using the matching layering stencils to colour them in with a traditional colour pallet. Once die cut, the frame and sentiment were glued to the shaker panel.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

My Time To Craft ChristmasChristmas and use flowers

Peace On EarthAnything goes Christmas with optional mood board

Creative Fingersanything goes

12 Months of Christmas link-up anything goes Christmas – option of blue and gold not taken

Christmas Bingo column O – free/sequins/vellum or clear plastic overlay

Merry Little Christmas Challengeanything goes Christmas

Holiday Cheer

Hello. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has begun a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

I started off with a lilac panel, and Pinkfresh Studio cover plate ‘Stitched Pinwheels‘ to the stitched background.

The frame image was hot foiled, then coloured using the matching layering stencils. I went a little darker with the blending for the centre of the larger poinsettias.

Once coloured, I used the matching die to cut it out, and also cut out the sentiment from the same suite – also hot foiled.

The lilac panel was attached to a white card base, the frame image added, then the sentiment, and some gems to add some more interest.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

My Time To Craft ChristmasChristmas and use foil/foiling

Time Outchoose 2 or more – I chose stencil and florals

Die Cut Divas die cuts and flowers

Sparkles Forum ChristmasChristmas Foliage

12 Months Of Christmas link upChristmas anything goes – option of vintage not taken

Snowflake Swirl

Hello once again. It is time for the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have reached the letters ‘H’ and ‘I’, and we want to see your Christmas creations following these two themes:

H is for Ho Ho Ho (Santa) and/or I is for Ice

Here is my card for the theme of Ice:

This is quite a clean and simple card for me, with only a few elements, but I do think it makes an impact.

I first die cut the Snowflake swirl die out of silver glitter card stock. This die is from Simon Says Stamp and is quite delicate.

I chose to highlight the die cut with a blue textured piece of card stock from my stash – goodness knows how old this card is – and used two strips of the same silver glitter card to run down each of the side edges.

I added the silver foiled sentiment and some silver gems to the centre if the snowflakes, with some extra for the edge of the sentiment.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels anything goes

Crafters Caféanything goes – option of CAS

Christmas (or not) Bingo column I – free, Christmas, no stamping

Merry Little Christmas Challenge anything goes Christmas

Peace On Earth anything goes Christmas

12 Months of Christmas Link Up Christmas – option of vintage not taken


Warm Snowflake Wishes

Hello everyone. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’ Here is my card:

The background panel is a previously created panel using alcohol inks and water – you have a shallow dish of water big enough to take your card panel, add alcohol inks, stir a little – then place the card on top for a few seconds, lift it up – et voila…..a fabulous card panel. You can use any card – normal 80lbs – so I hope you give it a go.

This was cut down to just smaller than an A2 card base, then adhered flat.

The snowflake is from a Simon Says Stamps die, cut out of white glitter card – and layered with another plain white piece for more stability.

I added the silver foiled sentiment – from Pinkfresh Studio – then added some silver pearls to parts of the snowflake.

I hope you can com and join us and prepare your stash for the end of the year. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Createanything goes – option any occasion

Crafts Galore anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link Up Christmas – option of owls not taken

Aud Sentiments sentiment – with glitter and bling or St Patrick’s/green

Peace On Earthanything goes Christmas

Ally’s Angels anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challengeanything goes Christmas

Merry & Bright

Hello there. A new challenge has started at ABC Christmas Challenge, and having reached the letters ‘E‘, ‘F‘, and ‘G‘, we want to see your Christmas creations following these themes:

E is for Embossing and/or F is for Focal Sentiment and/or G is for Girls.

Here is my card following the ‘F is for Focal Sentiment‘:

The background panel was kept simple – a piece of gold glittery card stock – and the sentiment die from Spellbinders layered and added onto the top.

I chose festive colours for the individual letters which would match with the gold glitter. No extra bling was needed here as this Pinkfresh Studio gold glitter card stock really is very, very sparkly.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends anything goes

Creative Fingersanything goes

Make My Monday use a die or punch

Aud Sentimentssentiment with glitter and bling (or St Patrick’s/green)

Christmas (or not ) Bingo – column I – Christmas – no stamping – free

Merry Little Christmas Challenge anything goes Christmas

Oh Christmas Tree

Hello everyone. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas. Here is my card:

I started by creating the background. Using a Spellbinders embossing folder, I inked up smoother side of the folder, and an it through the machine with a white card panel. This created the embossed leaves, but the blue background to them. I then used gold acrylic ink and created some splatter.

The card base is 5×7 inches, a slightly smaller blue panel adhered, then the white and blue embossed panel was cut slightly smaller than that and glued down.

The tree is a die set from The Greetery, – an interesting die set and an interesting way to put all the levels together. All layers were die cut with the same green card stock, then a little ink blending along the bottom for a slightly darker look – some added dimension.

Once I had set the tree on the background, I though it needed a frame, so I also used the Ribbon Frame die set. As this ribbon frame was created for an A2 panel – I die cut two, did a little snipping, and elongated it to fir the 5×7 card.

The ribbon and tree were attached, and some very sparkly gems added to areas on the tree.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafts Galoreanything goes

A Cut Aboveanything goes with a die cut

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link Upanything goes Christmas – option of couples not taken

CYHTPembossing folder – option of masculine not taken

Delivering Warm Hugs

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is starting a new ‘anything goes Christmas’ challenge. Here is my card:

I first created thew background panel using a stencil from Funky Fossil. I used a light blue card stock, then white pigment ink for the snowflakes. This was cut down to slightly less than an A2 card panel.

The central die cuts are from The Greetery and the die is called ‘Frost Buds’. The branch part was die cut from some white glitter card stock, and the buds themselves cut from silver glitter card stock. These were layered and added as you see.

I die cut some extra small pieces and added them to the background, then added some glitter gems to the centre of each of the die cut snowflakes.

The sentiment is from a previous foiling session.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations – anything goes is the theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Christmas (or not) Bingo column G – free – pearls/gems – die cuts

Love To Craft anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challengeanything goes Christmas

Crafty Catzanything goes – option to use a die taken

12 Months Of Christmas Link Up Christmas anything goes – option of couples taken – a couple of branches

Stencil Funuse a stencil – option of pinks and reds not taken

Warm Snowflake Wishes

Hello everyone. It’s been a busy week so I am sorry I am late with this post for the new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. I’m also still getting to grips with the changes that WordPress has made – small changes – but it has made it more difficult and less intuitive for me.

The challenge is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

For this card, I used some older products. The background panel is a foiled plate from Lawn Fawn – I love this foil plate and have it foiled in a variety of colours of foil, and a variety of colours of card stock. I did enjoy playing that day…

The gold foil is on some blue card stock and cut to an A2 panel.

I used the Spellbinders ‘Delicate Snowflakes’ die set and white glitter card stock for the base layer of the snowflakes, and some purple tones for the layers.

The sentiment is also a Pinkfresh Studio foiled sentiment and I added some Pinkfresh Studio ombre glitter gems for the centre of the die cut snowflakes, and also the centre of the snowflakes on the foiled panel.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas themed creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Give A Crafter A Cookie anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link up – anything goes Christmas – option of Polar Bears not taken

Inkspirationalprompt word – snow

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friendsanything goes

Girls Creative ChristmasChristmas and snowflakes

Addicted to Stamps and More die cuts and/or stencils

Merry Little Christmas Challenge anything goes Christmas

Season’s Greetings

Hello everyone. The Holly and Ivy Challenge is back with their first challenge of the year. There was quite a lot of blogger issues with our leader at the end of last year, and a few of us weren’t able to comment or even find where to add things. We apologise if your entry over the past couple of months wasn’t commented on – it was a nightmare for us all.

Here is my card for the first challenge of the year, with the theme being ‘anything goes Christmas‘:

I decided to try a different colour scheme, using more purple tones, with a little bit of pink.

The background is hot foiled using a Lawn Fawn plate – silver onto a dark blue panel, and adhered flat to the card base.

The ice skates are from Spellbinders, and die cut using different tones of purple, with matt silver for the blades, and black for the sole of the shoes.

The flowers and foliage were die cut and assembled, then all arranged onto the card base. Some silver sequins added for a little more shine – to the centre of the flower and some around the background.

I hope you can come and join us and start building your stash.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earthanything goes Christmas

A Perfect Time To Craft anything goes

Dragonfly Dreams use pinks and purples

Crafty Calendaradd a die cut

12 Months Of Christmas Link Up – anything goes Christmas – option polar bears not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge anything goes Christmas