Christmas

Snowflake Kisses

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has finished their summer break and we start another challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

The blue star background was created using a new product from Uniko. An ink and flip stencil. I did have to watch YouTube videos made by the owner – Bev – to get my head around it.

I used one shade of blue Distress Oxide, and by flipping the stencil and ink blending again, you get the different tones, and the snowflake shape. I still have no idea how it works – but it does. There are a few of the ink and flip stencils on the web site, and I did buy a couple of them, so I’ll be playing with them at some point.

Once the background snowflake was done, I decided to heat emboss some snowflakes on top. I did make sure the inked panel was completely dry before doing this, of course.

I randomly stamped the snowflakes in the background – no rhyme or reason – and used a silver embossing powder.

The snowflake panel was cut with Gina K Master Layouts, a black layer added, and then adhered to the card base.

The foiled sentiment was also layered with black, and adhered flat to the panel.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Daring Cardmakers – Christmas in July

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – the column – free/rectangle/stenciling

ABC ‘N’ and ‘O’

Hello everyone. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘N’ and ‘O’, Fabiola is the host this time round and the Christmas themes are:

‘N’ for No Stamping and ‘O’ for Off The Edge’

I went with the no stamping option. Here is my card:

I am sure you all know by now that I am a Spellbinders fanatic, and this card was created using one of their die sets and one of their embossing folders.

The background was embossed and then a darker blue ink blended around the outside edges to create a halo effect.

The baubles were all die cut, and all those little pieces of white and blue were die cut and inlaid back into their little places – a fiddly job, but I treated as a therapeutic endeavour.

I also used some white glitter card stock for some portions of the die cuts.

The sentiment is from a previous hot foiling session.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Colourful Challenge – mainly blue colour board

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas – handmade ornament or ornament card

Christmas Crafts All Year Round – anything goes Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column ‘I’ – free, embossing (wet or dry), glitter (glitter card)

Christmas Lantern

Hello once again everyone. ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘L’ and ‘M’. The themes this time round are:

L is for Lanterns

and

M is for Music

Here is my card for the Lantern theme:

This card was made from the products received as part of the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Create and Connect’ February 2024 virtual event.

The background panel was created using a stitched panel, and glued down to the card base.

I then die cut the frame out of gold glitter card stock, adding it with 3D foam so I could tuck some elements beneath it.

The lantern and foliage were stamped and gold heat embossed, and then ink blended using the matching layering stencils.

A gold foiled sentiment then added to complete the card.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of inlaid die cut not taken

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Craft Rocket – no designer paper

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and use dies

MAWTT – early Christmas

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of birthday not taken

Stencilled Poinsettias

Hello there. I have had a little time from crafting as it was difficult to sit for long periods, but I had planed ahead for my DT cards. This card is for the new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge‘:

The card was created using a Simon Says Stamp layering stencil set. I added some shading with a slightly heavier hand to the middle of the flowers, and along the edges of the leaves. I also used gold paste through the layer for the middle of the flowers.

The panel was then cut down, matted with a thin black layer, and a gold foiled sentiment on black card stock added.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Peace On earth Christmas Challenge –anything goes Christmas

Allsorts Challenge – flowers galore or anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

MAWTT – early Christmas

Stencil Fun – use a stencil – option of birthday not taken

Floral Christmas Tree

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started their next challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

I began by die cutting all the elements needed from the Spellbinders die set in a selection of card stock from Spellbinders and Concord & 9th.

I die cut the base green leafy layer a couple of times more and layered them together for stability. As you can see, I didn’t use the base rim for the tree, as I wanted the florals and leaves to stand out, and have the background panel show through the gaps in the arrangement.

I also decided to use a dark grey background panel, embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, to create the dramatic look.

I added the small red atg, backed with gold, to the top right of the card base – not intruding on the tree itself.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Halloween and other Occasions Crafts – occasions

MAWTT – flowers

Aud Sentiments – foiling and/or flowers and a sentiment

Jingle Belles Rock – Christmas and tic tac toe – middle column – red or green/embossing/die cuts

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column ‘I’ – free – die cutting – tag

Christmas Four Ways

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new ‘anything goes Christmas’ challenge. Here is my card – and the additional makes:

This is only one of four cards created using an idea from a recent online event. The idea is that you stamp half of an A4 piece of card – then cut it up to create four cards.

I decided to try this with a range of snowflake stamps from Gina K Designs, a few different blue inks.

I also added some silver dots as added extras then followed the cutting guide from that class. Here are the other three cards:

I added some extra detail into the white part of the card base, by adding an embossed panel, and on one card I added dies cuts – like the main picture.

Some strips of navy card stock the complete the card base.

The sentiment was die cut from a Time 4 Tea Designs die and adhered in strategic places on the four cards.

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge – and maybe have a go at the half-sheet stamping then cutting technique. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Krafty Chicks – Christmas

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge – anything goes – option of cute critter not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – make your own background

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Hats and Inky

Hello. It’s time for the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. Carol is hosting this time round and having reached the letters ‘H’ and ‘I’ the themes are:

H is for Hats

I is for Inky

Here is my card for both themes:

I started with the background, as I knew I would need drying time for this – something I am a little too impatient for usually.

I applied some crackle paste through the Tim Holtz stencil in the middle of the panel – not straight, very haphazard – and set that aside to dry. I left it until the following day, then took out my Mica sprays – and just sprayed, added water, sprayed again, moved it around, added some drops of water – you know how it goes……then let that dry…..

I then used some Tim Holtz die sets for the foliage, which were die cut from a couple of previously created ink smooshing panels, with the berries die cut from Spellbinders red glitter foam.

I used a Lawn Fawn die and silver glitter foam for the large sentiment, backed with a layer of white card stock for some stability.

I wanted to add a Christmas hat so Tim Holtz to the rescue again with one of his die sets – and red and white glitter foam from Spellbinders.

This background is really shimmery in real life – difficult to capture in a photo – but I think you can make out some shimmer and shine.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted To Stamps and More – die cuts and stencils

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Craft Rocket – layer it up

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Seasonal Cat

The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘C‘ and ‘D‘, Helene is hosting this time round, and we have the themes of ‘Cats’ and ‘Dogs‘ – Christmas of course. Here is my card:

I used this large cat die set from Spellbinders/Stampendous to create the cat. A few layers to him, but quickly put together. I coloured the ears, nose and mouth before adding them.

I wanted a hat large enough to be able to fit his head, so searched the CML app to find one in my stash. I Saw this – also from Spellbinders – so I die cut the two layers from glitter foam.

I then chose the colour background which would enable to cat to stand proud and used an embossing folder. The sentiment is from a previous foiling session

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations featuring a cat and/or dog – the Design Team has some fabulous inspiration for you. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas Bingo – holiday Bingo – column ‘G’ – die cuts, red, free

Peace On Earth – Christmas

Krafty Chicks – Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Stenciled Merry Christmas

The new challenge has started at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas/Festive’. Here is my card:

I started by using the layering stencil from Simon Says Stamp to create the background and let the inks dry.

I then add some gold heat embossing to the centre of the flowers, and used a gold marker pen to add some extra small and larger dots around the background.

Using Gina K Master Layouts dies, I cut the black layer, then the stencilled layer, and added to a white card base.

The foiled sentiment was added, and then some iridescent gems here and there.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Create – anything goes – option embossing wet or dry

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of leaves taken

Crafty Gals Corner – dots and/or stripes (gold dots around the background)

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Glittery Joy

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

This ‘joy’ die set is from The Stamp Market, who were the guest company as part of the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Create and Connect‘ event. Such a gorgeous stamp, die, and stencil set. I chose to use the die for the word, and die cut out of Spellbinders gold glitter foam, layered with a couple of layers of white card stock for a little more stability.

The background is a dry embossed panel, adhered to the card base, and the word adhered onto that as you see, with a slight overlap on the bottom at each side of the middle letter.

I then used Spellbinders dies and Concord & 9th card stock for the flower, leaves, and foliage, arranged on and around the middle letter. A few gold glitter foam dots in the two diagonal corners and the middle of the poinsettia.