Happy Christmas!!!

Happy (a bit belated) Christmas everyone!

Here's a few final Christmas cards that I made in the run up to Christmas. These snowmen just make me giggle, they're so funny!  The inspiration picture led me to stripes, I seem to really like them right now!

 I CASED myself for this card, remember this one using Lawn Fawn stamps??  You can see the detail here

I'd intended to get these cards blogged earlier, but it didn't quite come together.  Thursday in particular was not a good day.  I had placed a food order for delivery of all of my foods for Christmas, missed the delivery time because we were helping my Mum move in and lost track of time and my order got cancelled!  That would have been fine, we could go food shopping, there was still time, but Natasha and I broke down on the motorway on our way to meet our friends for a coffee/shopping/lunch trip, so we were stuck on the roadside for a couple of hours in the freeeeeeezing cold.

This is when you find out who your friends our, my friend drove over to us (about 20+ miles), got out of the car with her daughter and we sat by the roadside on a dog bed with her snuggling us up in some blankets!!!  Now that's true friendship, sitting out in the cold with you while you wait for the man with the van to come along and tow your car away!  We had a good old sing song and a giggle while we were there though.  My poor little car is not happy at all, the head gasket has gone and I can only drive her short distances before having to top her up with water (yes, she's a 'her' - her name is Zazza!)  Do any of you name your cars?  Apparently a lot of women do!

Anyway, you will be pleased to know Christmas has been lovely :o)  Lots of good company, lovely food and presents and some time to unwind.

I created four cards using the latest Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge with an inspiration picture shown further below and Wee Memories Anything Goes challenge.  I hope I'm linking up right to these challenges, if not please do tell me.  I wasn't sure if I needed separate posts for each entry or not??

 I couldn't stop once I'd started!


The next one was Christmas..

This one was also for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to do an envelope as well but I missed the challenge deadline unfortunately...

Another Christmas one..

and finally a more traditional nativity card using Hero Arts stamps.

It was fun getting out my Copics to colour in some of the images on these cards.  There's still time to join in some Copic fun over at Color Me Creative, in our latest challenge.  Why not make the most of the extra time off and get those pens dusted off and used, you know you want to!

Hope you're all having a wonderful time!

ps - Thank you to all of you that have left me lovely Christmas messages, I hope to pop by and visit your blogs as soon as I've caught up on my design work.

A very quick Play Date Cafe post

Wow it’s been such a full on week so a very quick post from me today. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. We’ve been helping my Mum move so it’s been very, very busy.  It’s been on/off, on/off with the contracts for days but after numerous phone calls she’s finally moved in!  Sorry it’s not a great piccie but I had to take it on my phone.


I have a little Christmas gift bag to share with you using some GORGEOUS dies from L’il Inkers.  I haven’t used these dies before so I was really excited when this gorgeous set came in.  I got out my blue foam that I used in my video a week or so ago and used it to die cut three trees and then once more using patterned paper, making the tree 6mm thick.  The dies cut through the foam so well and make a great embellishment when stuck together a few at a time. 

The bag is a PTI die, as is the label behind the tree and the little heart die.  The scalloped circle is a nestie.  Papers are by Authentique so worked perfectly for these beautiful Christmassy colours.



Pop on over to the main blog for details of the fun prize up for grabs and to get some more great inspiration from the rest of the DT girls.

Thank you SO much for our goodies L’il Inkers, these will be used over and over again!  I am going to try and get some last minute gift tags created with them too if I get some time to play.

Have fun!

Happy Christmas Suzanne!!

Today’s post is dedicated to Suzanne Dean of Color Me Creative!  All of the design team gals decided a while ago that we would club together to get her a Christmas pressie and each of us would also make and post a card for her. 

If you've come here from the lovely Steph's blog then you're in the right place, if not then do check out her card.
Suzanne is a such a kind and genuine person, she is full of fun and laughter and has the most amazing Copic colouring skills, if I can become half as good as her that would be just the best!  If you’re not sure what I mean grab a cuppa and pop on over to her blog here to see some of her creations.

Here’s the card that is winging it's way over to you from the UK.  I hope you like it Suzanne!!


A quick supply list for you.. I used PTI’s border die & Holiday Labels border die and stamp with Lawn Fawn’s bauble stamp set.  The snowman is from Paper Smooches. The ribbon was coloured along the edges using Copics and the image coloured with Copics too.

If you haven’t joined in our Color Me Creative challenge yet then do try, we have some lovely colours for you and don’t forget what I said about Class 5 now being up and running, that could make a perfect hint for family or friends for a last minute pressie!!

Your next stops will be Marie and Shelby who are posting tomorrow 17/12/11  (or 12/17/11 depending how you do it!) so pop back tomorrow to see what delights they've created.

Merry Christmas Suzanne!  I’m so glad I am part of this team, we all have so much fun and support each other along the way.  Here’s to an exciting 2012!

PDCC & Some Snowman Fun

Hello again!

We have another fun Color Splash over at The Play Date Cafe this week.  This time the challenge is to use black, white and a splash of aqua.  My aqua is looking a bit blue but I promise it is aqua, I think it's the background colour I used.



I chose to make this little snowman tag using Paper Smooches stamps and a sentiment from Lawn Fawn.  I had this yummy die from Memory Box which needed using.  I’ve started using these on my Christmas pressies.

We have a fun sponsor this week, Cindy Coutts. She makes some gorgeous things. She’s offering up a fun prize too, for more information pop over to our main PDCC blog.


You’ll also see some more yumminess from our DT girls while you’re there too so make sure you visit their blogs and leave some love.

Must dash, lots more cards to make that really do need to be posted!

More Christmassy Projects - Stamp Attic

Hi there

I have a few more projects to share with you today over at The Stamp Attic. 


Again using my little reindeer and this time a sketch over at Card Patterns.  I missed the deadline for this one but it was still great to create something using it.  It also inspired this card too.

The second card uses some more Hero Arts yumminess.  My final card is another simple one, again using the Hero Arts reindeer set..


I’m entering this last card into the Create: challenge for Cards with a Christmas tree as the focal point.

Finally some Christmas pegs.  These would be so fun used to hang up Christmas cards, all that you need to add is a bit of baker’s twine and ta da, job done!  This was the original set that I made, but it had just a little something missing so I added in the new tattered pinecone by Tim Holtz that you can see in the picture below, mmmm, me likey that die muchly!


For all the details pop on over to The Stamp Attic.

On a separate note we recently got Kindles and absolutely love them!  A perfect excuse for me to try and source a fun Kindle cover. 

I came across this fab little Folksy Shop (kind of a UK equivalent to Etsy) called Baggie Aggie Too and the owner, Rose, is just the sweetest.  She made this Apple Kindle cover for me (made to measure) and I LOOOOOOVE it!  It’s so me! 



Rose also has a website, Baggie Aggie.com.  She makes loads of little pouches and things for phones and passports etc.  The cover came beautifully packaged and arrived really quickly too.  Not sure if you’re like me but once I’ve made the decision to get something I want it now lol!

Well, we’re well on the way to finishing our Christmas shopping now.  Ian and I had a lovely time in Winchester on Sunday, a city not too far from us.
They have a Christmas market each year. 
We managed to get a few presents bought and had some fun too.  It was cold and wet but worth the effort! 
We had a lovely lunch and both had a Bailey’s Latte
at a lovely little coffee shop called Ginger Two to warm ourselves up. 

Really fun!  If only the sun had been shining like in the picture the day would have been perfect!

Hope your Christmas list has lots of things ticked off!  :o)

Tutorial

Hi there

I hope you're all having a good week so far. I'm still running around frantically trying to get things finished but should be done in a few days... hopefully!

Today I have a video tutorial to share with you. It's my first ever video so go gentle with me. This is a HUGE thing for me even to post it because I absolutely HATE the way I speak!



Anyway, I'd love to know what you think of the video.

If you haven't seen our fun Color Me Creative challenge yet scroll down, we have some lovely colours for this challenge that will work beautifully for those last minute Christmas cards!

Have a good day.

Color Me Creative–Gold, cream and white

Hi there

Color Me Creative is running their latest challenge which is Gold, Cream and White.  I’ve been eyeing up the Some Odd Girl digital images for a while now and finally downloaded one to use for this challenge.  They are FAB to colour.


I made this card for somebody that is very special to me (sorry can’t say who in case they’re reading my blog!)  This person is a Mum that doesn’t realise the amazing things she’s achieving while juggling all of the responsibilities and jobs that go hand in hand with being a parent and partner.  She really should be very proud of herself, she’s set herself many goals and is just ticking her way through that list, not letting anything get in her way.  I’m really proud of her and I’m hoping this little card will remind her that you can wish big and that your dreams really can come true when you follow them. Our challenge is ‘Holiday Joy’ in the colours of Golds, Creams and Whites, so this could equally be used as a Christmas card where you’re wishing big for that special something on your list.

What do the words ‘Holiday Joy’ mean to you?  They mean love, happiness and peace at this most wonderful time of year.  Time to appreciate our family and friends.
So more about our challenge…

Show your holiday joy with sparkling colors of GOLD, CREAM & WHITE!

(yes you can use some other colors like hair/skin/etc but the majority of colors should be Gold, Cream &  Whites) 
We want to see you use YOUR COPICS, COPIC REFILLS OR COPIC AIRBRUSH SYSTEM (Or ProMarkers if you have them) 

Use Inspiration Pictures Below as well!


CHALLENGE RULES

-Use any image you want BUT MAKE SURE YOU LINK BACK TO THE CMC CHALLENGE in your blog post!!
-ALL PROJECTS MUST BE NEW & NOT BACK-LINKED!!
-Image MUST be colored with Copics or ProMarkers or Colored Pencils!

I found the cream a bit of a challenge but on looking at one of the videos I used some of the earthier tones.  I think my cream has ended up a bit dark (her hair).  As you all know I often use darker colours for hair but it was actually really nice to try a lighter colour on hair.  I think my favourite colouring technique in Copics is changing, I LOVE the way you can achieve gold using so many different colours, in this case I used Y00, Y11, Y15, YR23, YR24.

Don’t forget we also have some super exciting news….

Suzanne has now written a Class 5 Copic class, this class takes colouring up to a whole new level, you should see what’s in it!  It’s sooo fab, I can’t wait to get to that standard of colouring. 

If you grab it now it’s at the holiday special price of $60.

Pop on over and visit the other girls’ blogs and don’t forget to visit our Guest Designer’s blog too.

Charlene Randall (head gal)

Brook Guinn

Anary Baumgarth

Melanie LaBelle

Marie Gamber

Pat St. Martin

Jenn Cochran

Michele Spera

Sandie Dunne

Dana Joy

Steph Lee

Suzanne Foard

Andi Murdock

Shelby Goolsby

Hazel Parr

Renkata Pacheva 

We have FANTASTIC prizes up for grabs, including a Kindle!  Plus we are also sponsoring a charity, Reading is Fundamental so you have the chance to donate to a very worthwhile cause.  This challenge runs for a month until 5th Jan so you have loads of time to play along.

I’m entering my card into

Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes
Make It Monday – Anything Goes
Deconstructed Sketch – to use this sketch..


Hope you join in the fun with us over at Color Me Creative!

A few Christmas projects to share over at The Stamp Attic

Hello, it’s me back again with a few Christmas projects for The Stamp Attic.

* * Edited to add.. if you're looking for my Play Date Cafe post please scroll down * *

First up is a Christmas tag using more cute Hero Arts reindeer stamps..

Next a more traditional Christmas card that we made at one of the workshops that I ran recently over there.

and finally a quick card made using some snowflakes to create a fun background…

For details of supplies pop on over to The Stamp Attic blog.

Have a great day!

Happy Holidays!

I have a cute little snowman that wants to make an appearance today! We have some fabulous colours for you over at The Play Date Cafe this week, really fresh and fun to work with.  Here’s what I created with some gorgeous stamps from DRS Designs, our sponsors for this week’s challenge. 

Here’s the lovely inspiration picture…

1. Mat two thirds of card base with patterned paper
2. Tie polka dot ribbon around the panel and tie with some twine and ribbons
3. Due cut eyelet circle border in blue and adhere underneath
4. Punch four squares of different patterned paper and attach to the bottom of the card as shown
5. Stamp the snowman onto some cryogen cardstock and coloured him with Copics, adding Glossy Accents to the heart on his hat and the four hearts on his banner
6. Attach the completed panel to some stripy paper after rounding off corners, attaching brads (these brads are sooooo old I have no idea where they came from!) before adding to the card base with pop dots
7. Die cut a mini label, stamp on some snowflakes in Ranger Distress Ink.  I stamped them off onto paper first and then onto the die to make them a little softer in colour
8. Stamp ‘Happy Holidays’ sentiment over the top in black, attach to the centre of the mini squares at the bottom

For some reason that little sentiment in the middle with the squares reminds me of Santa’s buckle and belt lol

Thank you DRS Designs, these stamps really are cute!  I had a lovely time colouring them in, the snowman works perfectly with Copics, lots of lovely open areas to colour.
I made this card while watching White Christmas on DVD, soooo lovely. I need to dig out some more Christmas films to inspire me to get my cards finished and ready to post. I’m going to add this to my Christmas card stash and I’m also linking up to the Create: blog again.

Pop by the other girls’ blogs to see what they’ve created.  Their cards are all up on the main Play Date Cafe blog, along with information on the prize up for grabs.

So, not just one but two posts from me today!  I will be back later with some more to share for The Stamp Attic.

See you soon!

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