Happy New Year !

I would like to wish all my Readers and Followers

a very Happy New Year

Here's wishing that 2011 will be a great year for us all, one filled with love, joy and abundance  

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Thank You

Today's card is my last one as GDT on the Cute Cards Thursday challenge DT.  The theme for this week's challenge is 'Thank You'.  At this time of year we are all sending out our Thank You's for lovely Christmas gifts received and I know I'll be sending this card out to someone.  I so hope you'll join in with this current challenge, I'd love to see your interpretation of the theme.

I used the 'Dawn with Flowers' stamp from Nellies Choice for my card and coloured it with Copics.  I recently acquired the Spellbinders Lacey Circles die set which is just so pretty and used this to cut out the image layer and a larger background layer from pink cardstock. 

The sentiment is by The Greetings Farm and the flowers created using two sizes of Nellie Snellen punch & emboss flower sets with fronds punched from green card using a Martha Stewart punch.  Background paper is a magazine freebie and I added Fruit Punch Stickles around the edge of the image layer and Waco Pearlmaker pen for the flower centres.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's card, it was such a pleasure working with the CCT DT.

Crafty Play Date

Two crafting pals and myself had an online crafting 'play date' yesterday.  Kathy, Lauren and I all had the same set of stamps from Crafty Individuals to play with and there was an optional sketch to follow if we wished.  The session ran from 2pm to 4pm and we all managed to create two projects in that time.  All of them so very different and each reflecting the broad spectrum of creative skills we have between the three of us!

For this first card, I stamped the image on to watercolour paper, using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, and immediately used a waterbrush to drag some of the colour into the image and blur the sharp edges.  I then cut the image out using an oval nestie, leaving the die in situ whilst sponging the edges with Antique Linen DI.  The scalloped layers under the image were cut from Stamping Up! cardstock in 'early espresso' and 'close to cocoa' using a set of nesties.  I used a cream C6 linen effect deckle edge base card.

I followed the sketch and added strips of the two brown shades of card, finishing with a length of cream sparkly ric rac over the vertical strip.  The sentiment stamp is from the same set and I cut this out with a small oval nestie and again sponged round the edge with Antique Linen DI whilst the die was still in place, to create a faux border.

For the second card made during our session, I used another of the stamps from the set, this time stamping with Rich Cocoa Momento ink on smooth cream cardstock.  The base card is another of the linen effect C6 cards, cut down to make a 4 x 4 card as this stamp is smaller than the one used on the first card. 

I used Bundled Sage DI to sponge round the edges of the image layer whilst the square nestie was still in situ.  The image was coloured with Copics and the sentiment is also from the same Crafty Individuals stamp set as the main image.  Again, this was stamped in Rich Cocoa Momento ink and cut to fit on the edge of the card.  I used the same green Copic that I used on the image, dragged round the outside edge of the sentiment layer, before adding the sentiment raised up from the background using Pinflair glue.

I had lost of fun and I'd encourage you to visit both Kathy's and Lauren's blogs to see their creations from today's session.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today, do come back soon, it's great to see you !

Hopping with sunny Soleil

Today is the last Tuesday Blog Hop of 2010 with Queen Kat Designs. It is in fact the last of the weekly Tuesday Hops as the Royal Court is begining something brand new for the start of the New Year 2011.


This is also my last posting on the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog as I am moving to a new area within Queen Kat Designs from January onwards. I shall be working with other ranges of stamps and posting on the Dark Ink Sorority blog each week. It will be refreshing to work within a new and challenging area (for me) and stretch my creativity a little more!

If you'd like to join in with this last weekly hop, start here and follow the links - there are some stunning projects created by the DT.

We've got an 'Anything Goes' theme for our projects this week so I'm sure you're going to see lots of variety - Queen Kat is happy for us to use any QKD stamp, in any style, using any layout - Yay!!! A great opportunity to dig deep for inspiration.

When making my Christmas cards this year I've used a lot of the 'white on white' theme and, although my project is not 'yet another' Christmas card (I hear you sighing with relief!!) I decided to continue with the white on white as I love it so much. I selected the lovely Soleil for my image as her name means Sun and I for one could certainly do with a little more sun and warmth right now while the UK is locked into a Big Freeze, with no respite forecast for the forseable future.

I embossed the background layer with a 'Crafts Too' embossing folder using white pearl cardstock. I used the Spellbinders nestabilities 'Lacey Circles' die set to cut out the image layer and a larger layer from the white pearl card. The flowers were created using my two Nellie Snellen punch & emboss flower sets and added them around the lacey circles layer, with Waco Crystal Pearlmaker Pen to create the centres. The finishing touch was adding Stardust Stickles around the edges of the embossed layer, and no sentiment on the front so the card can be used for any purpose. I think this one will be one of the 'Thank You' cards I'll be sending out in the next few days.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and are looking forward to welcoming in a brand New Year ! I'm very excited to be starting a journey with the Dark Ink section of QKD stamps and bringing you some great new projects and challenges.

Anna Belle Luminaria

I do hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and are now able to kick back and have a relaxing Boxing Day.  Christmas is such a great family time and I consider myself incredibly blessed to be surrounded by my own family to share the Festive Season. 

I really enjoy all the preparations, the cooking being one of the things I look forward to doing most.  Feeding those you love with all the richness of the season is so heartwarming.  I know that there are many who find themselves alone, homeless or coping with illness at this time and my thoughts and good wishes go to those who find this time of year difficult to bear.  It must be so hard for anyone in these circumstances, knowing everyone else is having an enjoyable time.  Please take just a moment to think of others and give thanks for all that you have in your lives.

I do love to have a pretty luminaria around lighting up the place and now it's easy to get hold of battery powered tealights, it is lovely to create your own as there's no risk of fire as there would be from a live candle.

For my luminaria I used some foiled vellum which I've had in my stash for years; the lovely Anna Belle stamp from Queen Kat Designs; a Martha Stewart deep edge punch; large and small Nellie Snellen punch & emboss sets and  a Waco Pearlmaker pen in Crystal for the flower centres.

Here's another view of the luminaria from a slightly different angle, which shows the vellum flower a little clearer.

It is very difficult to join vellum invisibly and, even though I used special vellum adhesive which shouldn't show through, the join in the back of the luminaria was visible.  I punched out more of the vellum flowers and added them in a line down the back of the luminaria, thus hiding the join.

Here's a shot of the back so you can see how I covered the join in the vellum.

This was a fun project to work with and the battery tealight I have in it flickers like a real candle, it's just so pretty.

Thanks for taking the time to join me today, I do hope you'll drop by again soon when I'll have more projects to share with you.

Til next time - Keep on Crafting !

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !

I'd just like to wish all my Readers a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and to thank you for supporting me and leaving lovely comments on my projects throughout 2010.  I'd especially like to thank those of you who have joined as Followers and all who visit my little bloggy regularly.  I really do appreciate you all.

Whatever you are doing and wherever you are spending this Festive Season, I wish you Health & Happiness for the future.

Frostie the Snowman

Here's a little card I put together when I realised I needed a few extra to add to my stock for this year.  I just love this adorable Snowie from Penny Black, he has such a cheery face.  A crafting pal sent me a couple of images last year and I loved them so much I bought the stamp for myself ready for this Christmas.

The bp was a magazine freebie and the aqua card was from my stash.  I coloured the image with Copics and added Glamour Dust over Glossy Accents on his hat.

The large snowflake was cut with a Martha Stewart punch, the smaller one with a punch I've had for a couple of years and don't know the manufacturer as there's no markings on it !  The flower was made using my Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set and the blue gem from my stash. 

The snowflake border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.  Stardust stickles around the edges of the image layer and the aqua layer was the finishing touch.

For my layout I used the sketch from last week's Craft Mad and Loving It challenge on Craftbubble. 

Thanks for your visit today - I appreciate your continued support.

Cute Card Thursday Challenge - a sketch

This week the Cute Card Thursday Challenge gives us a great sketch to work with, why not hop over to the blog and check it out.   I know just how busy everyone is at this time of the year, but we would love to see your entries for the challenge this week if you do manage to find a little crafting time for yourself !  Just add a link to your new project on the CCT blog and the DT will pop by to check it out and leave you a little lurve!!

For my GDT card I decided to use the adorable 'Uru & Bird' image from Whiff of Joy.  I have a great crafting bud who just loves anything Pink and this is the card I've made especially for her. 

The image is coloured with Copics and I added Fruit Punch Stickles around the image layer, on the centres of the flowers and on the lace.  I used my Nellie Snellen punch & emboss sets to create the flowers, the centre pearl made with a Waco Pearlmaker pen and fronds with a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is from a small set of acrylic stamps I have in my stash, as is the tiny holly stamp I used round the outside edge of the image layer.  I embossed the plain pink layers with three different embossing folders and the snowflake background paper was from my stash.

hugs
wynneth
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I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #46 - Anything Goes

Well the Big Day is almost upon us, but over on the I ♥ Promarkers challenge blog we are launching our last challenge of 2010 - don't panic as you have two weeks to get your entry finished and linked up on the blog as the closing date is 5 January 2011.  The theme for this challenge (#46)  is really easy - 'Anything Goes' - so you can do anything you choose, subject, theme, colour - let your imagination run absolutely W.I.L.D just don't forget to use your Promarkers to create a new card and be elegible for the prize draw !!! 

Our prize sponsor for this challenge is Digi Doodle Shop and the DDS image I used on my DT card is called 'Cruise'n'.  It's my nephew's birthday today and this card was just perfect for him as he's a 'Biker'. 

I've had these lush 'masculine' papers in my stash for a while and they were a magazine freebie, but really good quality paper.  Using a 6 x 6 scalloped base, I created an easel card, covering the front and the inside with two different colourways of the paper design.  The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added Glossy Accents to his helmet and various parts of his bike.  I used plain oval and petite scallop oval sets of nesties to cut out the image layer and smaller dies from the sets for the sentiment, which I created on my computer.

I do hope you will find some crafting time during the festivities and we'd love to see some entries from you on the challenge.  It's so much fun visiting all the blogs of our entrants each week and leaving comments.

hugs
wynneth
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Sweet Christmas Pair

Welcome dear reader, it's so nice to see you today.  Are you completely organised for the Big Day? or more like me with still quite a few items on your To Do list? 

I've a couple of pretty cards to share with you today.  I made the purple one on the left for a dear friend of mine who loves anything purple !  We were craft shopping together when I bought the stamp on the left and she bought the one on the right.  Both of us now wish we'd bought both stamps!!  We allowed each other to stamp up a few images so I have been able to make a few cards with her images.  I do hope she likes her purple card, I should be safe putting it up on here as by now she will have already received it.  These two Penny Black girls are so elegant and great to use, I just love them.

The images were coloured using Copics, with Stickles added around the edges of the image layer and on parts of the image on the purple card.  The background papers are from DCWV.

Hope you've enjoyed today's offerings, it will be quite refreshing to create something other than a Christmas card in the coming weeks I must say !!

hugs
wynneth
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Build a Birdhouse in my Soul

I do love the song "Birdhouse in your Soul" by They Might Be Giants, it's just so bright and cheerful and for some reason reminds me of summer!  The song was running through my mind all the while I was making this little christmas tree decoration for a recent challenge on the Craft Mad and Loving It group on Craftbubble.

My great crafting bud Lauren shared this link for the instructions and template to make this sweet little birdhouse and I couldn't wait to have a go myself.   It was a real fun little project to make and if you don't have the appropriate nesties, you could just cut card to size for the roof and base with straight edges.

I embellished my birdhouse with some holly leaves punched with a Martha Steward punch and flowers punched with my Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set.  I added the holly berries using my Waco Pearlmaker pen and the gold centre in the flower.  I added fronds punched with another MS punch around the back and sides of the birdhouse to represent shrubs as you can see on the second picture.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit here today, at least I've given you a break from christmas cards !

We are in the last few days before the Big Day and I hope you have all your preparations complete and have chance to relax a little and prepare to enjoy the Festive Season.

hugs
wynneth
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Penny Black Trees

Another set of batch cards to share with you today, this time I've used this yummy Penny Black stamp and heat embossed the images with white embossing powder.  This is a very simple layout and the cards are nice and flat and easy to mail.

The sentiment is from the new LOTV set and I stamped them in either Pine Needles or Barn Door Distress Ink.  I matted the image layer for both colours on some lovely gold card I had in my stash, before adding narrow ribbon tied in a bow.

Thanks for dropping by today, I do appreciate it as I know how busy everyone is at this time of year.
hugs
wynneth
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Christmas Wishes Trio

As I didn't get myself sufficiently organised to have had all my Christmas cards made well in advance, I've been doing some batch making, selecting an image and doing about 5 of each design at a time.  I do so love this elegant Ms Christmas from Penny Black.

The background papers are from DCWV and I've picked out a colour from the paper and used that to colour the image.  Each image was added to a slightly larger mat in either green or red and Stickles added around the edge of the image layer.  The flowers were punched with My Nellie Snellen sets and Waco Pearlmaker pen used for the centres.  The fronds were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

I hope you've enjoyed today's cards, I shall be sharing more of my batch creations with you in the next few days.
hugs
wynneth
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Cute Card Thursday Challenge - One for the Kids

Today's card is my GDT card for the latest challenge over on the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog.  For this week we are creating 'One for the Kids' and you can interpret that in whatever way you wish!  I would love to see your entries for this challenge and check out your creations on your blog, just add a link on the CCT blog and I'll drop by and leave you a comment.

I decided to make another Christmas card for my project as a friend asked me to make a card for their Granddaughter's first Christmas, which is perfect for this theme.  This LOTV image is just so adorable and could be used for a baby girl or boy card depending on how you colour the little babygrow and hat.  I wanted mine to be a really girly pink creation and coloured the image with Copics before cutting out.  I then set this over a pearly cream layer cut with a scalloped oval nestie before adding over a layer cut with a Beaded Circle nestie from snowflake paper.  I punched a snowflake border with a Martha Stewart punch from Pixie Pink card by SU! - I used more of the pink card to punch and emboss the flowers with my two Nellie Snellen sets.  I added snowflakes punched from the pearl card inbetween the two sizes of flowers and for the fine fronds punched with a Martha Stewart punch and finished off with a pink gem and a little Fruit Punch Stickles.  The sentiment is from LOTV and I heat embossed it on to pearly card using pink EP before adding using Pinflair Glue.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit here today and that you may be able to play along with us on CCT this week.

hugs
wynneth
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I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #45 - Santa

Whooooo..... Hooooo.... only 10 days now til the real Santa will be flying through the night skies delivering all those lovely gifts around the world!    This is such a magical time of the year. 

This week's theme over on the I ♥ Promarkers challenge blog is 'Santa' - and that could be humerous, modern, vintage, your Santa can be any style you wish.  The prize this week is $15 to spend at Simon Says Stamp our Sponsor, and we hope you'll be posting up your entries on the blog for a chance to win.

My DT card for this challenge was a joy to create.  I do so love this Sugar Nellie Santa stamp, I've had him in my stash for a few years and he always comes out to 'play' every year.  I can't help myself smiling while I'm colouring him, he is such a jolly fellow.  He's coloured with Promarkers of course, with a little Spica Glitter pen on his lantern.  I cut him out and added him over a panel cut and embossed with a Marianne's Designs folder (I've collected all the tiny cut out stars as I intend to find a use for them sometime!).  The other white layers were embossed with various Cuttlebug folders and layered up on some rich gold pearl card.  The sentiment is by Magnolia and the holly leaves were cut using a Martha Stewart punch, with the berries formed using my Waco Pearl Pen in red.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my card today and that you'll be entering this week's challenge.  Thanks for dropping by, it would be great if you left me a comment and let me know if you like my Santa, I love reading all your kind comments.

hugs
wynneth
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Green, Black & White - the QKD hop

December is moving on apace and I guess that, like me, your Christmas preparations are taking up much of your time!

As it's Tuesday, the Queen Kat Designs Royal Court are doing their weekly blog hop.  My project is showcased on the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog and I also add it here for my regular readers.  I do so appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog during this busy time for everyone and would like to thank my Followers for your continuing support.

We're working with a Green, Black and White theme for this week and for my card I decided to use the lovely Luna de la Mur, she was featured on a past monthly WIS kit but is due to be released singly in January - so you are getting a sneaky peek!! shhhh..... keep it to yourself though as I don't want everyone to know <>.

I used a 6 x 6 scalloped base card, some lovely moss green paper and black cardstock. I cut the black card layer with a spellbinders nestie die set and used the cut out dots as extra embellishments in the corners. Luna was coloured with Copics and Promarkers with a little Stickles and Glossy Accents added here and there. I stamped up two of the sea urchin and plant image and used only the sea urchin from the second image to add over the top for extra texture. I didn't put a sentiment on the front of the card so that it could be used for any occasion or even just a notelet to send a message to a loved one or friend.

That's it from me today, I hope you'll come back here again soon.

hugs

wynneth

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Across the Miles at Christmas

We have a lot of family and friends who live in the USA and various parts of Europe and so the 'Happy Christmas Across the Miles' sentiment from LOTV has proved really useful this year.

I cut out a layer with the largest die in the Eyelet Squares set of nestabilities and stamped the lovely holly stamp from one of my Inkadinkado stamp sets in Pine Distress Ink in the centre.  I coloured the outside edges image layer with Barn Door and Pine DI and added a little Stickles around the edge.

The holly leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart punch and the berries were created using a red Waco Pearlmaker pen.

The base card is red so no background paper was needed.  The minimum layers and light weight of the card makes it quite economical to post.  I hope my rellies like the vintagey distressed look of the card!

That's it from me for today folks, til next time - keep on crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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I Come Bearing Gifts....

I've been getting all my small gifts organised to give to girlfriends when we meet up for our pre-Christmas get together next week. 

Each of these bags takes just a 12 x 12 sheet of lightweight card or heavy weight paper and a few scored lines.  I stamped and heat embossed in gold a tree image from an Inkadinkado stamp set before cutting it out using an oval nestie.  I used another stamp from one of my Inkdadinkado sets, which I also embossed in gold to match the tree embellishment.  I used my Crop-a-dile to punch two holes in the top and threaded ribbon through, adding the tag before tying in a bow.

The box on the right was made in the same way as the bags, just an extra set of scored lines at the top so that it finished up as a box rather than a bag.  I used a sheet of the fabulous double sided Costco papers which my crafting pal Kathy kindly got for me earlier this year.  I wanted to take a small gift of some handcream to my pal who is in hospital and it looks so much more special in a handmade box.  The beautiful ribbon was purchased at Michaels when I was in Florida recently, it has just the right amount of shimmer and sparkle.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my festive packaging today, thanks for taking the time to visit my blog during this really busy time for us all - I do appreciate my readers and followers so much.

hugs
wynneth
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Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Floral Frenzy

It's week two of my GDT stint with the Cute Card Thursday DT and this week's challenge theme is "Floral Frenzy".

I chose this cute image by Kanban for my card, she's such a sweetie and I think these lovely pastel shades are just perfect for her.  She's coloured with a mixture of Copics and Promarkers.  I wonder who her bouquet of flowers might be for? 

The image layer was cut using a spellbinders nestabilities die and I inked the layer, whilst it was still in the die, using Spun Sugar Distress Ink, although it does look more beige in the picture!

Using a Martha Stewart punch I created two strips of flowers which I coloured using Promarkers before adding over a background layer of paper from the Papermania Henbury Lane pack.  I used another sheet from the same pack which is a slightly darker pink for the square behind the image layer.  I then punched small flowers from both papers and added these on the 'bubbles' around the edge, putting faux pearls in the centre of each using a Waco pearl pen. 

I look forward to seeing your creations for this challenge, I found the floral theme was a refreshing change from all the Christmas cards I've been making recently!  Just add a link to your project on the Cute Card Thursday blog and myself and the DT will stop by and check it out.  Good Luck!

hugs
wynneth
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I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #44 - A Christmas Carol or Song

We have a fun challenge over on I ♥ Promarkers this week - the theme is 'A Christmas Carol or Song' and the sponsor for the prize this week is Letraset so a chance to get youself some more yummy Promarkers!  Why not pop over to the blog and check out the projects from the rest of the DT for inspiration. 

For my card I chose this adorable Lilli of the Valley image - We Three Kings - aren't they sweet, and a great Christmas Carol too.  It reminds me of when my kids were small and how I had to create costumes for the annual school Nativity Play - Oh happy days!!  I just love how the children put their heart and soul into the performance and I've been lucky enough to sit in on a couple of my grandsons' school plays in recent years.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, with Spica Glitter pen added here and there and Gold Glamour Dust over Glossy Accents on the stars.  The colours on my card are a little different as I used a moss green base card with gold layers and fancy corners cut with a Marianne's Designs die.  The lovely wide checked ribbon was in my stash, I created the sentiment on my computer and cut it out with a nestie deckle edge rectangle.  I used the fancy corners to try and create the impression of the edges of a stage and the gold layer as side curtains, to set the scene for the performance!  Finally I added Platinum Stickles around the edges of all the layers, I added some red PM around the edge of image layer under the Stickles.

Looking forward to checking out your entries this week, so I do hope you'll play along with us on this challenge.  All that's left for me to say then is - Good Luck!  You've got to be in it to win it!

hugs
wynneth
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Gemini Twins are Hopping with me today

As it's Tuesday, the Queen Kat Designs Royal Court is running it's regular weekly blog hop.  My DT project is showcased on the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog as part of the hop and I like to share it on here with my regular readers.  If you'd like to join in with the hop, go to the start here and just follow the links.  I know the DT members would love to welcome you to their blogs and it would be great if you have time to leave a comment.


I did give you a sneak peek of one of the new December Zodiac Mermaids last week when I used the lovely Taurus. For my project this week I'm bringing you the other new release, Gemini

As soon as I saw these gorgeous Gemini Twins, a retro 80's theme came into my mind for some reason. I knew I had these lovely papers from the DCWV Taj Mahal pack in my stash and they were just perfect for my project.

I coloured the girls with a combination of Copics and Promarkers, adding a little Spica Glitter pen here and there. I added Frosted Lace Stickles on the clouds to give them a 'fluffy' appearance and Glossy Accents on the flower vase on top of the pillar. I created the frame, with a set of Spellbinders nesties, from another sheet of the DCWV paper, and embellished it with flowers cut from a scrap of the background paper. The pretty narrow lime green ribbon I got in Michaels when I was in the US recently and the green card is Stamping Up! Certainly Celery which I had in my stash.

That's all from me today folks, I hope your Christmas preparations are going to plan and that you  are still finding a little 'Me' time in your day to do some of the things you love - such as crafting!!!

hugs
wynneth
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Just Cute Bears & Friends Challenge #41 - Anything but a card

There's a new challenge starting today over on the Just Cute Bears & Friends challenge blog.  This time we are asking you to create 'anything but a card' for your entry.  Get those 'thinking caps' on and let's see what ideas you can come up with!  This is the last challenge for 2010 and you have until 1 January to submit your entry.

For my DT project I decided to use one of the baubles I bought last year and didn't use.  It's designed for you to put a couple of photographs in, they were selling them off for half price last January, and I could see lots of crafting potential for them.  Sadly, they've languished in the cupboard since then, so I was pleased to have an excuse to dig them out again.

The stamp I used is from Cuddly Buddly and called 'Heavenly Peace'.  It's quite a versatile stamp as, depending on the colours you use with it and the project, it can be Christmassy or for anything else really.  I coloured the images using Copics and added lots of Spica Glitter pen on their wings, noses, stars and the swirly bits, but it isn't showing up at all in the picture.

There is an identical image on the other side of the bauble and I filled both sides with some irridescent star shaped sprinkles before I closed it up.  They look very pretty when you shake the bauble, but hard to photograph on the move, so you'll have to take my word for it! 

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations for this challenge, it's real fun visiting all the blogs to check out the entries. Just post up a direct link to your project on the JCB&Friends blog and I'll be along to check it out.

That's it from me for today, til I see you again - Carry On Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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A single candle can light up the whole world.....

...... when we share our flame with others.

I can't believe that yet another weekend is upon us, my how the weeks are flying by right now!  I still have lots of Christmas preparations to complete, but everything will be done in time, I'm quite confident!

Another Christmas card to share with you today I'm afraid, I love this Penny Black stamp, it's the one I used on the black and gold card I shared with you a couple of days ago.  I never tire of the image and it can be used in so many different ways.

On the last card I heat embossed the image and on today's I used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink to stamp it up.  I used the same DI to distress around the edges, first placing a circle of paper to mask the area around the flame.  After I was happy with the amount of ink I'd added, I removed the mask and very gently used the foam pad, with only the ink remaining on it, to spread a small amount of the ink over the area which had been masked.  This softens the edges somewhat and gives a more realistic look.

I finally added Stardust Stickles as highlights on the image, although these aren't showing up too well in the photograph.

The patterned base card was created using a swirly holly stamp from an Inkadinkado set and the same DI, randomly stamped over the card.  I matted the image layer over some dark blue pearly card I had in my stash and tied a length of narrow cream ribbon, doubled up, around the bottom part of the image layer and tied it in a bow, before attaching to the base card.

That's it for today folks, do drop by again real soon.
hugs
wynneth
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Cute Card Thursday Challenge - The Blues

Some months ago I was invited to be a Guest Designer on the Cute Card Thursday DT.  I was very honoured to be asked to join the team for the month of December and I do hope that you'll all enjoy my GDT projects over the next few weeks.

This week's challenge theme is 'The Blues'.  As I'm still in full Christmas card production mode, I have used the theme to create one more to add to my stock. 

This cute snowman stamp is from Sugar Nellie and I have had him in my stash for a few years, he comes out to play every year as I love him so. 

I coloured him with a combination of Promarkers and Copic pens and added touches of Spica Glitter pen, Glossy Accents and Stardust Stickles, before cutting him out using a set of deckle edge rectangle nesties.  The background papers are from a pack which I bought last winter from my local Art Shop and didn't use for last year's Christmas cards.  The lacy doillies behind the image were cut using a Marianne's Designs die and I added more of the Stickles around the edges.  For the trellis edging I used a deep edge Martha Stewart border punch and the large snowflake and small doillie were cut with other MS punches.  The small flower was cut with a Punch & Emboss set by Nellie Snellen, the blue gem from my stash and the sentiment is from a small set of clear stamps I've had for ages.  I cut the sentiment out using a small circle nestie and the aqua layer underneath with a petite scallop nestie only very slightly larger, so that it just peeks out from behind.

I hope you've enjoyed sharing my first GDT creation and that you'll submit an entry for this week's CCT challenge.  I'll have another project to share with you next thursday, so hope to see you again then - if not before!.

hugs
wynneth
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I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #43 - Christmas Trees

Welcome to Wednesday and another new challenge over on the I ♥ Promarkers blog for this week.  The theme for Challenge #43 is Christmas Trees and our prize is a £10 gift voucher from Joanna Sheen. 

Now, I know you may be wondering why I used this image for my DT card - it's not an obvious choice for a Christmas Tree theme, but I really wanted to demonstrate a different/alternative way to approach a theme. 

It's tempting to take a theme or a sketch quite literally and there's nothing wrong with that at all!  Just sometimes it's good to stretch yourself a little and use your imagination to find an alternative approach.

I sooo.... love this Penny Black image and she is after all carrying a Christmas Tree shaped cake on the plate.  I also think her dress looks very tree-like, don't you?  I did also use the "Oh Christmas Tree" sentiment from Lili of the Valley to tie in to the theme.  So, do you think I succeeded in my approach?  I'd love to hear what you think.

The lovely background paper is from the 'A Silent Night' pack by Papermania, many of the sheets have some metallic elements and all are very elegant which was perfect for this PB image. The image was coloured, of course, with Promarkers with touches of Spica Glitter pen added and Platinum Stickles applied around the edge of the image layer.  The organza ribbon and red gems were in my stash and I heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder before cutting it out with a plain circle nestie.

I do hope that you'll submit an entry for the challenge this week, I can't wait to pop by your blogs to see your projects.  Good Luck !
hugs
wynneth
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Happy Hop Day !

Happy Tuesday to you and I hope it's a great one ! It's a busy time of year for most of us so I do appreciate you taking the time to join us for our weekly Queen Kat Design hops.  My DT projects are showcased on the QKD Whimsical Ink Sorority blog, but I also like to share them on my own blog for my Followers.  I do hope you enjoy today's card.

This week I'm giving you an early peek of one of the new QKD stamps being released for December, I know it's still November, but the new month is just a couple of days away, so what the heck!!!  Just don't tell Queen Kat, I might just be in BIG trouble !!So, I've sneaked in this  project using the 'uber cool' Miss Taurus - isn't she a stunner?

There's a sketch for us this week and I've twisted it half a turn clockwise and replaced the ribbon and bow with a strip of punched lace and a layered up flower.

I felt this new girl just called out for woodland/organic shades and I had this lovely card in two shades of green in my stash and I used a sheet of pale golden cream pearl as my base card.

I coloured the image with Copics and added loads of Spica Glitter pen all over her wings, horns and the flowers - it's just soooo... difficult to photograph shimmery images to catch the sparkle, but you may just be able to see a little of it if you look carefully. In reality it is very shimmery !

I used a Martha Stewart deep border punch to create a strip of pretty floral lace and added some faux pearls in the centres of the flowers with a Waco Pearl pen. The ornate corner was cut using a Marianne Designs die and I also added Spica Glitter pen to the swirls on the corner. The flower was created by layering up die cuts, with Platinum Stickles in the centre. I also added the same Stickles around the edges of each layer - I love the Platinum as it gives a very much more subtle effect than gold.

That's all from me today folks, so til next time - Happy Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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A Christmas Collection

Just a quick post today, thought I'd give you a little peak at my table from last Saturday's Craft Fair at a local village, plus a few of the cards etc I made for the event. 

That's it from me tonight, the card I'm sharing with you tomorrow features a new stamp just about to be released for December. 

Stay warm and safe during this cold weather!
hugs
wynneth
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Gold & Black Candle

Hope you're enjoying a lovely relaxed Sunday and not snowed in or iced up too badly!  I think the priority for most of us today is to keep warm. 

The weekly sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble's Craft Mad & Loving It group is to use only one colour plus black on our projects and to follow this week's sketch (created by my great crafting pal Kathy) for the layout. 

For my entry I decided to use the elegant and rich combination of black and gold.  My base card has a delicate swirly pattern in pale gold on it and the lovely rich gold card was in my stash.

I stamped this fabulous Penny Black candle image on to black cardstock with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with sparkly gold embossing powder.  Using a set of deckle edge nesties I cut out the image layer and a larger layer from the gold card.  I moved a couple of the sketch elements around a little to balance my image and added the 'merry christmas' sentiment created with a Cuddly Buddly stamp.  The flowers were created with Nellie Snellen punch & emboss sets in two sizes, layered up and a faux gold pearl added to the centres using a Waco Pearlmaker pen - Simples!

I like the finished card so much I shall probably make a couple more.

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope you've enjoyed today's card. 

Keep on Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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Cuddly Buddly - 2nd challenge using free digi papers

Cuddly Buddly have their second challenge up and running this week and they are giving away free digi papers for you to use.  They are quite pretty and as soon as I saw them I just wanted to use them to make this little Christmas tree decoration.  There's also a prize of £20 to spend in their online store for the winner.

I used a set of spellbinders nesties to cut the bauble shapes out using silver card for the base layer and two of the free CB papers in this pastel blue for the other layers.   It's hanging from a mug tree in the picture above as I need to get up into the loft to get at my mini Christmas tree!   It's just a bit too early to put the decorations up in the house I think, even for me - I do like to wait until it's actually December before I start !

I punched a large snowflake from white card using a Martha Stewart punch and added a flower made with a Nellie Snellen punch & emboss set to it before adding it to the front of the bauble.  The ornament is double sided and I added the same embellishments to the other side.  The blue gems are from my stash and I added a loop of white thread as a hanger before gluing both sides together



Thanks for dropping by, if you've left me a comment - thank you so much!  I love to get feedback from visitors, it's always great to find out what someone else thinks of your work.

hugs

wynneth

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Take some Distress Inks, Post-its and.................

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?  Are you one of those highly organised people who have already bought, wrapped and labelled all the presents, made and written all the cards, have a Christmas cake and puddings maturing nicely in a cupboard ready for the Big Day?  Or are you more like me, still struggling to get far too many things done in a woefully short timeframe in order to have everything ready in time? 

I know these are two extremes but I do have friends and acquaintances who fall into the first category and I'm very much in awe of them and their organisation as well as a little envious of their calm and ordered approach to this busy time of year!

Me? I'm still plodding on with making my Christmas cards and, although I have bought some pressies, there are still quite a few to track down - needless to say, none of them are wrapped yet, Ho Hum !

Today's card is a nice and simple one on which I used the fabulous 'post-it' technique which my crafting buddy Kathy uses to awesome effect and which was demonstrated in Craft Stamper Magazine a couple of months ago. 

I masked off a base card with post-it sheets leaving a shape exposed which I then coloured using Distress Inks.  Once the DI's were dry I over stamped this lovely Candy Cane image by Inkadinkado with black ink over the coloured area.  I added some Platinum Stickles to parts of the cane as highlights, the flowers were punched using Nellie Snellen punch & emboss sets in two sizes, from red and white card and layered up.  The flower centres were created using a Waco Pearlmaker pen in red - I've only just found them in the Cuddly Buddly online store and I'm loving them.

This is such a quick and easy technique and a great way to get a large number of cards made quickly if you are short of time, I think they are rather elegant too - what do you think?

That's it from me today folks, hope to see you again soon, til then - Happy Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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I ♥ Promarkers Challenge #42 - Anything Goes (with a bit of sparkle if you wish)

There's a new challenge up on the I ♥ Promarkers Challenge Blog today.  This week the theme is 'Anything Goes' with the option of adding sparkle if you wish.  Our sponsor for this week is Digi Doodle Shop.

For my DT card I chose this really cute Snowman and Friends image from DDS.  I decided to stick to a mostly white on white colour scheme, I do so love white on white it just makes the few coloured parts of the image pop right off the page.

The corners were created using Marianne Designs dies and I added Glamour Dust over Glossy Accents to his hat trims and to sparkle up the snow a bit.  A little Stardust Stickles added around the edges of the image layer and some small clear gems in the corners and I called this card finished.  Nice and simple but effective I think.

I do hope you'll submit an entry for the challenge this week, myself and the other DT members love visiting your blogs to see your creations.

That's all from me today folks, til I see you again - Happy Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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Hopping with Happy Cupcake

As it's tuesday, there's a blog hop going on with Queen Kat Designs.  My DT project is showcased today over on the Whimisical Ink Sorority Blog as part of the Hop but I also like to share my projects on here for my regular readers.  If you'd like to do the Hop just start here and follow the links.

We have a lovely picture  to inspire us this week, lots of gorgeous Autumnal colours and these were the inspiration I took for my project.

I decided to use the lovely Happy Cupcake November release stamp, she's such a darling girl with her sweet and happy smile and, with all the foliage in the background, just perfect for this challenge.

Rather than a card this week, I opted to create a triangular gift box, this size would hold quite a few candies or a small gift such as a piece of jewellery, a silk scarf or maybe a few tealights. There is a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers for the box and they really are very simple to make - believe me!  It was my great crafting pal Lauren who reminded me of these lovely boxes recently - thanks Sweetie! I began by cutting a sheet of craft card to size before stamping a lovely branch and a leaf using brown ink, to create patterned base card from which to construct the box.

I coloured the Happy Cupcake image with Copics, adding touches of Spica Glitter pen and Glossy Accents. Using a plain circle and a scalloped circle nestabilities dies I cut out the image and the layer underneath the image. The flowers were made using a Nellie Snellen Punch & Emboss set (I'm so loving this new 'toy' of mine!) punched from pearl card and adding some punched leaves coloured with a green Copic pen.  This side view shows in more detail how the box is contructed. The green and brown ribbons which hold the box together were from my stash and I added small gold half beads to the centres of the flowers.

I hope you've enjoyed today's project so til I see you next time - Happy Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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Cuddly Buddly Cosy Christmas Challenge

Cuddly Buddly are launching their very first challenge on their blog and we are asked to create a 'Cosy Christmas' project which must have Cuddly Buddly products used on it.  There is a prize of £20 to spend in their store, so well worth submitting an entry.

For my entry, I've used this adorable 'Toby Tumble Pulling the Sledge' image, I just love this little sweetie !

I coloured him with Promarkers and Copics and cut out the image layer with a Beaded Circles nestabilities die.  Inked with Bundled Sage Distress Ink whilst the die was still in place.  I added Glamour Dust over Glossy Accents on the bobble of his hat.  The background papers are from the Toby Tumbles Christmas Papers set of digi downloads.  Flowers were created using two sizes of Nellie Snellen Punch & Emboss punches, with Waco Pearl Maker pen in Crystal added to the centres.  For the snowflake edging I used a Martha Stewart border punch and the ribbon was from my stash.  The sentiment was in my box of ready stamped sentiments waiting to be coloured.

I now have my fingers crossed that mine will be lucky number entry that wins the prize!

See you again soon I hope, til then - Happy Crafting !
hugs
wynneth
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Just Cute Bears & Friends Challenge #40 - A Winter Birthday

Happy Sunday morning to you dear Reader, I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend and not getting too tired or stressed with your Christmas preparations.  Don't you think that Christmas has started early this year?  Maybe it's just that I'm not getting myself organised efficiently enough, but I still have lots of cards to get made and presents to buy, there are also quite a few Autumn and Winter birthdays amongst my family and friends. 

This week's challenge on Just Cute Bears and Friends is to create a Winter birthday card, so this was perfectly timed for me to create my DT card for my daughter's birthday next month. 

I thought I'd use some crisp icy colours for this card as it is to be a Winter birthday card and decided to use this adorable 'Thomas and Champagne' stamp from Lili of the Valley, isn't he just the cutest little chap?  I coloured the image with Copics and added Glossy Accents to the glasses of champers and Thomas' cute pink nose.  The fancy corners were diecut from aqua card using a Marianne die set, the image was cut with a nestabilities circle die and added over a layer cut from more of the aqua card using a slightly larger scalloped circle nestie.  The flowers were punched out with two sizes of Nellie's Choice punch & emboss sets and pale blue gems added to the centres.  The sentiment is from the newly released set from Lili of the Valley and I added blue Stickles around the edge of the circular sentiment layer and the image layer.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's card and that you will play along with us and submit an entry for the JCB&F Challenge #40 - just follow the link to the challenge blog and upload your entry.  Myself and the rest of the DT love to visit your blogs to see your crafty creations and leave you a comment.

That's all from me today, so 'til I see you next time - Happy Crafting!
hugs
wynneth
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Vintage Santa

How are you getting on with your Christmas cards this year?  I had intended to start mine in january and make at least one per week throughout the year so that I didn't have a last minute rush!  Well, I have to confess that I failed miserably and here I am, for yet another year, struggling to get my cards done in time!

Soooo.... I have yet another Christmas card to share with you today.  On my recent vacation in sunny Florida, I picked up a goodly selection of Christmas stamps from Inkadinkado.  This vintage Santa is one of my favourites.  I used Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door Distress Inks to randomly ink up a piece of white card before stamping the Santa image in black over the top.  I added the image layer to a slightly larger piece of pearl card before edging around with Plantinum Stickles (oh how I love this stuff!!!). 

The Merry Christmas sentiment is from another of the Inkadinkadoo sets, stamped in black with more of the Platinum Stickles added and red 'pearls' created with Waco Pearl Maker liquid.

A simple layout but nice and flat and lightweight for posting, so will mail for a regular stamp rather than a Large Letter stamp, saving a few pennies - and aren't we all trying hard to economise right now and yet still produce quality work?  I know I am.

That's it for today Folks, til I see you next time - Happy Crafting !

hugs
wynneth
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