Winter Window

A little bit of scene building today, along with some die cutting, to make another Christmas card to add to my ever growing collection.

 The only ink I used on this card was Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink (not Crippled Sapphire as my Mum misread it!), along with three stamps, some torn paper and a Clarity dusting brush.  The sentiment stamp is from a Buzzcraft set, the tree stamp is from a Clarity set, and the sleigh and reindeer stamp is by Inkylicious.
The window frame was made with my Memory Box Madison Window die and the cat was made from navy card, with an Xcut die from a Build-a-Scene set.
All this fitted very nicely onto an A6 card blank to give a clean and simple card, a great way to use up those small cards that have been lurking in my stash since the dawn of time!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Double D - Trees
Addicted to Stamps - #131 - Trees, Branches or Leaves
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Shabby Chic and/or Monochrome - I chose Monochrome
Crafty Friends - #40 - Monochrome
Creative Corner - No Patterned Paper
Craft Rocket - #24 - Mostly Blue

Red and Pink Bauble Card

A Christmas card today, featuring a stamped bauble and some shimmer spray that gave me Shrek hands as I unclogged the bottle to get the spray to work!

 The holly was stamped with a Bo Bunny stamp, all the rest of the stamps used were from a Papermania, Home for Christmas set, including the sentiment.  Once the background stamping was done (Using Evergreen Bough and Twisted Citron Distress Inks), I gave it a spritz of Cosmic Shimmer spray in Mint Green.  The sentiment and bauble string were stamped in black archival ink.  I stamped the bauble in red dye ink onto pink card, and fussy cut, leaving a small border, then stuck to the card, raising it up slightly with dimensional glue.
I used an embossing folder to add some Christmas text to the background and injected a little more colour by using red and pink to mat my layers.
The final touches were to add a small bow where the bauble string meets the edge of the topper and a gem to the bauble string.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Penny Black and More - Add a Sentiment
Creative Fingers - #115 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - #35 - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments - #163 - Anything Goes + a Sentiment
CRAFT - #379 - Embossing

I Love Promarkers DT Card - Christmas in July

It's challenge time again at I Love Promarkers, this fortnight we're giving you a chance to get a head start with your Christmas cards, as our theme is "Christmas in July".  We are sponsored this time by Col Art (Letraset) and Opal Crafts, meaning you have double the chance to win as we have two sponsors for this challenge!
I've gone cute and CAS for my DT card, and I've managed to keep it totally flat so that it can go standard post and not large letter like most of my cards do.

 The cute character and sentiment stamps I used were both from a magazine freebie set from ages ago, until now uninked.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and added crystal glitter to the bunny's fur trim for some festive sparkle sparkle.
I created the background very simply, using torn paper, Salty Ocean Distress Ink and a Clarity dusting brush.  The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that there are snowflakes stamped on the background.  These were stamped in Perfect Medium with Papermania stamps, then dusted with a very pale mica powder, and were almost impossible to photograph.  You'll have to take my word for it that they a lovely and shimmery in reality!
Once I'd matted my stamped and inked panel onto the card blank, the final touch was to go around the edges with some Star Dust Stickles for a bit more twinkle.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Fab 'n' Funky - #315 - Christmas
Crafty Gals Corner - #82 - Anything Goes
Holly Jolly - #77 - Show Us Some Sparkle - Loose Glitter, Stickles, Mica Powder
Passion For Promarkers - #356 - Christmas in July
Christmas Card Challenges - #34 - Anything Goes
My Time to Craft - #325 - Christmas in July
Fantasy Stampers - #67 - CAS
Sweet Stampin' - Outdoors
Brown Sugar - #208 - Christmas in July

A Gem of a Challenge DT Card - Favourite Colour Combo

It's challenge time again at A Gem of a Challenge, this time our theme is "Your Favourite Colour Combo", my favourite is pink and green, pink certainly seems to be popular with the team, I wonder if this will be the same with our challenge entrants?  I decided to use Yummy Mummy Emma for my DT card, colouring her with my Promarkers.

 The papers are from a DCWV pad that's been in my stash for years and is much neglected, I added some bright pink card for matting.
To embellish I added, some pink lace, lime green grosgrain ribbon with a matching button topped bow, a couple of sentiment tags made with Lili of the Valley stamps, a flower made with a Spellbinders die and inked with Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron, and a few pink gems.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Simply Create Too - #108 - Ladies Only
Cardz 4 Galz - #21 - Include a Button
Crafty Ribbons - #149 - Button it Up
The Crafty Addicts - #14 - Use Ribbon
Passion for Promarkers - #343 - Make it Digital

Roses and Ribbon

A fresh floral card today, made with die cuts and stencils, in my favourite colour combo of pink and green.

 I started by creating the circular focal element, using Distress Inks in Twisted Citron and Picked Raspberry, and a couple of Imagination Crafts stencils.  Once the ink was down, I flicked water at it for a soft splotchy effect, once this was dry I stamped my sentiment with a stamp from a Buzz Craft set.
I covered my card blank with bright pink card, stuck my stenciled piece to this, then made a panel from white card, die cut a circle from the centre, added a ribbon border, and adhered this to the card with foam tape for dimension.
The roses and butterfly were made with my Xcut Rose Flourish die set, and I finished my card with some white pearls.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Allsorts - #359 - Ribbons and Roses
Fussy and Fancy - #161 - Pink and Green
Cut it Up - #94 - Spring Flowers
Crafty Boots - Use a Sentiment
Cupcake Inspirations - #356 - Colour Combo

More Inky Fun

Another inky card using Imagination Crafts products again today, this time I've gone for cool colours in contrast to yesterday's red and pink tones.

 I created the background for the topper with Wilted Violet and Blueprint Plan Distress Inks, which I flicked with water after applying to Sheena Stamping Card for a textured look.  I then used an Imagination Crafts stamp to stamp the dahlia image in black ink over the top.
I made my own backing paper using the aforementioned Distress Inks and an Imagination Crafts stencil, using a little Blue Sapphire Sparkle Medium to do a bit of foiling on top of the inking for some shimmer.  The foiling hasn't shown up very well in the photos, it looks much better in reality.
The only embellishment I added  was some black organza ribbon and a bow, I didn't want to overpower the striking image and pretty stencil.

 I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Allsorts  #358 - Purple Passion
Brown Sugar - #193 - Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends - #18 - Anything Goes
Creative Corner - Flower Power

Really Reasonable Ribbon - #138 - Flowers
The Stamping Boutique - Flowers
Simply Papercraft - #27 - Anything Goes

Roses are Red

A very simple, inky card today, made with an Imagination Crafts stamp and a stencil from them too.  The card is 5x7, showing just how large the gorgeous rose stamp is.

 I created the background using Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry, and an Imagination Crafts stencil, then a little Fired Brick Distress Ink round the edges.  I then stamped the rose image over the top in more Fired Brick ink, swirling the ink into the stamp for a textured effect.
The sentiment was stamped with a Papermania stamp onto a piece of card that I'd inked to match the topper, I raised it up on foam pads for a bit of dimension.
A trio of red gems finish my card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Crafty Boots - Use a Sentiment
Crafting From the Heart - #107 - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - #307 - Anything Goes
Dream Valley - #129 - Anything Goes
AAA Cards - #62 - Anything Goes
CAS on Sunday - #80 - Flowers
Brown Sugar - #193 - Anything Goes
Creative Corner - Flower Power

Fun with Foiling

We all got inky fingers on our Monday night crafty get together this week as we got our Imagination Crafts goodies out to play!

 I heat embossed an Imagination Crafts stamp in gold then used Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks, along with an Imagination Crafts mask and a Clarity dusting brush to create a background.  I used my finger to apply some Welsh Gold Sparkle Medium to the seed heads to add a highlight and a bit of texture.
For the bottom layer, I used the same inks, mask and brush, but I did a bit of foiling with Welsh Gold Sparkle Medium over the inked background.
Three orange gems finish my card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges -

Craft Your Passion - #303 - Anything Goes
Love to Create - #6 - Anything Mixed Media Goes
That's Crafty - Stencils and Masks
Crafting With Friends - #16 - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - #28 - Anything Goes
As You Like It - Your Favourite Style of Embossing and Why - I love heat embossing, it never loses it's magic, I love watching the powder change from dull to shiny metal, it's like alchemy!
Through the Purple Haze - #97 - Add Some Warm Colours
Crafting By Designs - Monochrome