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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