I thought it was about time I started seriously getting on with the job of making my Christmas cards for this year. I am so late starting them this year, that I shall have to really get down to it very soon. So, for this one I used one of my newly acquired vintage santa image stamps from Crafty Individuals. I stamped the image on to bristol board using memento ink in tuxedo black. I then used distress inks to both colour the image and add distressing around the outside edges of the image layer. After it was coloured, I sprayed it with two layers of Crafters' Companion Spray and Shine varnish and one layer of CC Spray and Sparkle (unfortunately the sparkle effect doesn't show up too well on this picture). I embossed a layer of red mirror card in one of my snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folders and layered the stamped image onto this. The BP is from Grahicus which I received as part of my membership of the Graphicus Guild. The flowers were punched from the same red mirror card with punched snowflakes added on top. I used the layout from the Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge for last week over on Craftbubble so this will be one of my entries for the challenge.

Autumn Beauty

This is my entry for the current challenge on the Faerie Song Art Stamps forum over on Paper Craft Planet. I rotated the sketch to better fit the shape and size of the image I used. I coloured this delightful FSAS image with my ProMarkers with touches of Stickles Diamond glitter glue aded to her wings and the bubbles (although they don't sparkle in this picture like they do in real life!) and just a little more on the leaves. The BP's are from A Pocketful of Posies paper pad from DCWV. I dragged a brown chalk ink pad around the edges of all the layers, to distress them a little. The leaves were cut with punches and the tiny flowers were punched from a scrap of the BP. The butterflies were coloured with Spica glitter pens. A very simple layout with the image taking pride of place on the card.

Hugs for Dad

I wanted to share this card with you as I made it for my Dad. As I live so far away from him, I wanted to send him lots of hugs and let him know I am thinking of him at this difficult time for our family. It will be a year since Mom passed away on 31st of October. This little Popcorn Bear stamp was a free gift with purchase from Crafters' Companion recently, and I felt he was just the right image for this card. I used the sketch from the Let's Get Stamping challenge over on Craftbubble this week. I chose these colours as they are subdued but not morbid and it felt right to use them. The image was coloured with ProMarkers, cut out with a circle nestabilities die, then mounted on to a layer of metallic purple card cut with a petite scallop circle nestie die. The background papers are from my stash and I punched the small flowers from a scrap of purple card. I hope you've enjoyed looking at this card and it would be lovely if you could leave me a comment.

Sent with Love

I'm gradually getting started on making my Christmas cards for this year (late again!) I have about a dozen finished now, but need to get 'a wiggle on' if I'm going to get anywhere near enough made in time! This sweet little image was sent to me by a crafting pal and I think she is just adorable, the stamp is called 'Snowflake' and she is from Sugar Nellie, although I can't see her for sale on the Funky Kits website currently, so she may be temporarily out of stock. I used my ProMarkers to colour the image with touches of Spica glitter pen in purple and green on the snowflakes, spots on her coat trim and bows on hair and hat. The little snowflake charm came in the blog Candy I recently won on NG Cards and the ribbon and lace are from my stash. The BP is from Graphicus, which I received as part of my Graphicus Guild membership pack. The flower was cut using my pal Annie's Quickutz Squeeze and the fronds were cut using a Martha Stewart punch. Thanks to my pal Cherry for letting me know about the Creative Card Crew Challenge, I think this card may well fit the bill for this week's challenge which is 'snowflakes' so I shall enter it.

If you visit my blog I'd love it if you could leave me comments, it is great to read them and makes me feel less like I'm talking to myself out here in cyberspace !

Surprise Gift

I recently got this adorable stamp called 'Surprise' - she is one of the new set of Elisabeth Bell for SCACD Special Edition Ornament Collection stamps which are now available in the UK through Quixotic Paperie. All the stamps in the collection are adorable, but this cute puppy in a box image had me reaching for the ink as soon as I opened the package. I coloured the image with ProMarkers and added a few touches of red Spica glitter pen on the puppy's bow, ribbon on the gift box and the bows on her dress. The DPs are from the Deck the Halls paper pad by Papermania, which was part of the Candy I recently won on the NGCards blog. The flowers were punched on my pal Annie's Quickutz Squeeze diecutting machine, which she brought around when we had a crafting get together a couple of weeks ago. I added gold brads to the centre of each flower and punched out some fronds from a scrap of green card using my Martha Stewart punch. This card is my entry for the October challenge on the SCACD forum over on Paper Craft Planet and I followed the sketch for this very simple but effective layout. I am pleased with how it turned out and shall use the layout again, I'm sure.

Get Well K.I.S.S.

I created this card for a dear friend of mine who is due to go into hospital to have a knee replacement operation in November. I though't I'd try to get myself organised well in advance of the event so that I won't be racing around trying to get a special card made at the last minute! This really fun image was sent to me by another crafting friend, she makes me smile just to look at her, so I hope she will cheer my friend up. I coloured her with my ProMarkers with touches of Spica glitter pen added to her shoe laces, hair and spectacle frame. I also added a little glossy accents so there appears to be glass in her spectacles. I used Diamond Stickles on her wings, wand, crystal ball and the centres of the larger flowers. The large flowers were made using a stamp from the Papermania 2009 limited edition clear stamp set for the Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity, stamped on scraps of pink and aqua card and cut out. The sentiment was stamped on the same aqua card and cut out with a petite round nestabilities die and mounted on a slightly larger piece of the pink card, again cut with a round nestie. I then punched out two small flowers from the pink card and added these to the sentiment circle. The DP came free in a magazine and I punched a strip of the pink card with my EK Success border punch for across the middle. Finally I punched some fronds with a Martha Steward punch and added them under the flowers. Once completed, I thought this card would fit well with this week's K.I.S.S. Monday challenge over on Annie's blog which asks us to use handmade flowers, then this evening I read on Annie's blog that the Simon Says Blog challenge this week is to make a Get Well Card, so I'll enter it for that too. A really good value card with 3 functions - result!

Birthday Bunny

This is one of my entries for this week's Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge over on Craftbubble I changed the placement of some of the elements of the sketch to fit in with the image I used, but I did manage to add some embossing to meet the requirements of the challenge. I coloured the adorable Pringle from Sugar Nellie with ProMarkers and added a lttle glossy accents to his eyes and nose and spica glitter pen in purple to the ribbons on his parcel. The sentiment is from a set of clear stamps which came free with a magazine some time ago and the flowers and ribbon are from my stash. The BP is from a pad of Papermania papers which my pal Annie gave me a while ago. The two layers under the image were embossed with my swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Cuttlebug machine. The embossed silver card is amazing stuff, it picks up a rainbow of colours when photographed. I bought it at the craft show at Westpoint earlier this year and am sadly getting towards the bottom of my supply.

Exciting News!

I just had to share my exciting news with you all. It has just been confirmed that I have been selected as a member of the Queen Kat Designs Whimsical Ink Sisters (WIS) Design Team :o) So you will see me posting up projects using these cute stamps in the weeks and months to come. I am so excited and looking forward to being part of this team and working with the rest of the WIS starting in November.

Spooky Sweetie

I thought I'd finished all the Halloween cards I was going to make this year, but when my new Cuttlebug embossing folder, with all these lovely pumpkins came in the post, I just had to make another one! I also had this delightful Belles & Whistles by Elisabeth Bell stamped image just waiting to be coloured up and used. So, put the two together and add The Bubble Club challenge for October over on Craftbubble.com using brown, orange, reds and golds and a Halloween theme and another card just came together. The image was coloured with ProMarkers and cut out with an oval nestabilities die. The flowers were punched from some scraps of orange and peach card and mustard coloured flower shaped brads added to the centres. The three orange buttons are from my stash, with a little string threaded through and tied in a knot.

Manga Christmas Fairy

I used this little cutie to get started on my Christmas card production for this year. The layout is from a sketch over on the Let's Get Stamping sketchie challenge on Craftbubble . I used the 'hangover' method to cut the image out with an oval nestie, so that her legs and feet pop out of the layer. This was then attached to a larger layer cut out with a scalloped oval nestie. The shiny silver squares were embossed in my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I added punched snowflakes to the silver mat squares and the sentiment was cut with a scalloped oval nestie. A really quite simple layout, but with big impact I think. I will probably use this layout again for more of my Christmas cards.