Melt Your Heart

When it comes to Christmas images I think snowmen are my favourite and this image is from Personal Impressions.  Last year I used it to decorate a Finnish Star and after making a resolution to make Christmas cards through the year, to avoid the last minute rush, I stamped and coloured a batch of them and unfortunately they lay unused until this year's last minute rush.

The main image was coloured using Promarkers and Sakura glitter gel pens.  Coloured glitter and Stampin' up's Dazzling Diamonds were added for sparkle.  It was framed and layered using Spellbinders circle dies and bashful blue ink from Stampin' up was sponged around the edge of the image and the scalloped edges of the base card.  Spellbinders heart dies were used to cut out the sentiment, which was created on the computer, and then it was attached to a strip of acetate which was hinged between the main backing layers.  This meant that it stood proud of the card.

The mittens embellishments were made using a Quickutz die.  The mittens were stamped using a Stampin' up snowflake cluster stamp, the edges were sponged with cherry cobbler ink and then it was embossed with the trellis embossing folder.  On the back of the mitten is a punched snowflake from the Martha Stewart snowflake border punch and a punched glittered heart.  The snowflake backing card was from the Papeterie and it is half embossed using a random dot embossing folder.  As a final touch chalking pom-poms were used to represent snowballs.  This card ended up having a lot of dimension on it.

This is how the coloured image looked on the star I made last year.

 

 

Before signing off I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to those of you who have recently chosen to follow my ramblings and to have made it to 100 this week was extra special.   I'd secretly hoped to reach this number by the end of the year so thank you.

Thank you for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge

Make It Monday - Anything Goes 

Raise the Bar Challenge 124 - Let it Snow

Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge 24 - Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments Challenge - Use Any Sentiment

Craft Us Crazy Challenge 33 - Merry Christmas

Crafts and Me Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Inky Impressions Challenge 90 - Sparkle

Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge 237 - Glitter

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Merry Christmas

Joanna Sheen Challenge - With Love at Christmas

 

Another Special "O" Birthday

 

Janet, our monthly Saturday crafting group host, celebrated a special birthday on the 12th of December and this is the card I made for her.  Once again I've cased a card I've made twice this year but I know that Janet likes vintage styled cards, and also stamps of this style, so I wanted to make one for her too.  The colour scheme for this one was taken from the K & Co. patterned backing paper. It's when you change colour schemes and the products used around a rubber stamp that you realise how versatile they are.  To see the blue version I made click here and for a brown and pink one click here.

The Inkadinkado lady images and the Hero Arts flower images were coloured by using three different colours of ink pads.  A dark rosy pink and an antique gold one, which I think came from Anna Griffin kits, and also indigo island from Stampin' up.  

 

I think these Inkadinkadoo stamps would be included in my all time favourites and I could quite happily go on making this card again and again and experiment with different colourways.  Don't be surprised if it crops up again a few times next year. 

Off to do some Christmas decorating whilst waiting for a delivery today as I've promised that it'll be beginning to look a lot like Christmas by the time the family get home today.  Sorry if I've just put that song in your head.  They've been very patient with me by letting me finish off Christmas cards first before concentrating on our own preparations but I think, with less than a week to go, it's time there was festive feel around here.

Thanks for reading
Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

December Birthdays

As well as batch making Christmas cards I've been batch making birthday cards too.  This year there were four celebrating special "0" birthdays in December so I cased a card I recently made for an eightieth birthday to make three of them and I also made this card for a crafting buddy who celebrates her birthday tomorrow.  Amongst the two crafting groups I attend there are five crafters who have birthdays in December.  There must be a link between those under the sagitarian and capricorn birth signs and being creative.  

The fiftieth birthday card is for a cousin whose birthday was on the 8th of December.  Her family managed to organise a surprise party and her brother and sister-in-law secretly travelled all the way up from Weston Super Mare to Orkney to celebrate with her.    

 

The thirtieth birthday card was for a nephew's wife who celebrate her birthday on the ninth of December.

Lilian is a friend who will celebrate her sixtieth birthday on Christmas Eve.

 

Tomorrow is crafting buddy Anne's birthday and as well as exchanging Christmas cards and presents at Crafting Bee today we were also passing on birthday cards and presents to Anne and sharing a chocolate cake with her.  That was our last meeting for this year and I'm sure we'll all be looking forward to getting together again in January.

  

Just one more birthday card and one more Christmas card to make and that will be it for this year.  After the splurge of Christmas card making during these past two weeks I think I'll be glad to have a break for a couple of weeks now.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter these cards in the following challenges

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Stampin' up classes

As well as making the cute Elves in the previous post with Carol she has also run two Stampin' up classes recently.  At the first one we made this lovely Christmas ornament using the Ornament Keepsakes stamps and framelits dies which are available to buy from the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue and is also pictured on the front cover.  Carol had stamped and die cut all the pieces we needed to assemble the ornament but she had card, ink and dies available for us to prepare the pieces for one segment of each of the small and large bauble if we wanted to get our hands dirty.  In all she prepared more than four hundred baubles for this class.

From this angle you can see the depth of the ornament and appreciate all the different layers that were needed to construct it.

As well as making the ornament we made this calendar and post-it note holder which makes full use of the Stampin' up Top Note die.  Each of the panels has a backing in the rich razzleberry card so that the ribbon ends are hidden.  

Both projects kept us busy all morning, just stopping briefly for a cuppa, but we came away with two lovely items and delighted with our efforts. 

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Christmas Elves

Just a bit of Christmas fun today.  These cheeky elves were made during one of our Tuesday afternoon Crafting Bee's with Carol.  Carol is a Stampin' up demonstrator and she used their products to make up kits so that we could all make these cute characters.  A wide range of their punches and dies were needed and some punched pieces are not what they were originally intended to be used for.  The ears are actually bird wings from the build a bird punch and the hair is from the main body of the build an owl punch.  Someone was really thinking outside the punch when they came up with this idea. 

We had great fun putting these together although there were a few mishaps along the way as a couple of legs got broken, one of mine got ink on an eye so it had conjuctivitis, ears were put on the wrong way up, hands were attached with the thumbs going in the wrong direction and bodies were attached too high up the candy canes so that they looked like hunch backs but nobody really cared as it added to the fun.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this project in the following challenges
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Blue Christmas

My Mum liked her poinsettia wreath card but of all the cards I've put together this year it was this one which caught her eye the most and has probably been the easiest to make.  I've got Ali Watson to thank for the inspiration for this one as it was from one of her postings using this discontinued Stampin' up church stamp that I came up with this card.

To make the image topper a nestabilities die was used to make an oval stencil from a piece of acetate and through the oval a blitzer and the marina mist Stampin' up marker pen were used to spray a fine cover of ink on to a piece of white card.  This left a lightly coloured oval and on top of this the church was stamped with pacific point ink, using the Stampin' up stampamajig as a guide.  After the church was stamped the mask was put back in place again and the around the edge of the oval was sponged with marina mist ink.  The edges of the base card were also sponged with marina mist ink.

To add a frosty effect the image was glittered using Stampin' up dazzling diamonds glitter and random dots were added using the ice white Viva Decor pearl marker pen.  A random dots embossing folder was used to create backing layers to compliment this.  Other embellishments were a few crystal dot peel offs and a bow made from Stampin' up's bashful blue grosgrain ribbon.  A sentiment created on the computer finished this one off.

This made an ideal card for male relatives and friends.

Thanks for reading

Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Poinsettia Wreath

Each year I try to make a special Christmas card for my Mum and also Aunties and Uncles and this is what I've made for them this year.  The red poinsettias were made using Spellbinder dies and the smaller white ones were cut using a Marianne Creatables die.  After cutting the red poinsettia layers the edges of the petals were sponged with Stampin' up's Cherry Cobler ink and the different layers were attached using foam pads.  The centre was made using crystal dot peel offs.  The white poinsettias were layered flat and glittered with diamond Stickles glitter glue.  The centre for this one was cut using a die from another set of Marianne Creatables dies.

For the greenery a Quickutz holly leaf die was used to cut leaves from Stampin' up's old olive card and then the tips of the leaves were sponged with old olive ink.  The holly berries were made using a ringbinder punch and red glittered card made using Stampin' up's heat and stick on red card with red glitter. The fern leaves were punched using a Leone Em punch.

The sentiment was created on the computer and then it and the backing layers were cut using plain and scalloped nestabilities circle dies.  For the backing layers Kanban's Happy Christmas card was used and a holographic spot card bought from Create and Craft.  The final embellishments were a couple of brads, a bow and some self adhesive pearls to represent mistletoe berries.

Thanks for reading today
Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
ABC Christmas Challenge "Y" - Favourite Punch or Die  (Spellbinders Poinsettia Dies)
Crafting for All Seasons Challenge 42 - Green and Red plus Glitter/Sparkle
Diva's by Design Challenge 65 - Use Some Red
The Perfect Sentiment Challenge 59 - Anything Goes W/Christmas
Anything Goes Challenge 82 - Traditional Colours
Emerald Faeries Challenge 38 - Christmas 
Celebrate the Occasion Challenge 92 - Christmas (must use a punch)
Deep Ocean Challenge 40 - So this is Christmas
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge 94 - Holiday Spirit
Top Tip Tuesday Challenge 91 - Christmas
Crafty Boots Challenge - Christmas
Kaboodles Doodles Challenge 149 - Use Red
Paper Playtime Challenge 90 - Christmas Colours
Paper Pretties Monday Challenge 69 - Red, Green and Choice
Christmas Card Challenges Week #2 - Die Cuts
Dream Valley Challenge 47 - Christmas
Joanna Sheen Challenge - With Love at Christmas
Ribbon Girl December Challenge - Ho Ho Ho
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 137 - Red and Green
Fussy and Fancy Challenge 77 - I Love Christmas
Paper Crafting Journey Challenge - Christmas Projects 
Make It Monday - Anything Goes