Chill Out Snowflake

Ooops I'm a bit slow off the mark.  Still need to organise my crafting a bit better I am afraid, but I've got into some other things - beading and needle felting, so my card making is suffering!  Note to self to do better.  Any way this morning at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown we have a recipe challenge, I love these, we get so many variations and it's great to see what everyone does. Here's the recipe

 Whilst I do like my card, I think I could have done better, but as I said at the start of this post, I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of things. The horizontal border is a ribbon,recycled from a gift, and this was my starting point.

The snowflake die is another of my stocking fillers from my hubby- it's from Memory Box. I've glittered the edges of my scalloped square, added a large rhinestone to the centre and a bit of a contempo sentiment, which is a magazine freebie (again!).
My fellow DTers have come up with other ideas so do check out the blog and I hope to see your creations soon.
I will enter my card over at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra- the monthly challenge for any Christmas card.

Are You Ready For Love?

Well, Valentines' Day anyway! I'm getting mine done early, inspired by the colour challenge our hostess, Karen, at CAS Colours and Sketches has for us this week

 Don't worry, you don't have to use exact Stampin' Up colours, just the closest you have to them. I did an exercise in paper piecing for my card, using the stamp Sweet Cake. I stamped it in purple, red and kraft and pieced the bits together, fussy cutting out the whole image before mounting it onto purple and red cs (does it look blue to you?  I may retake the photo in daylight if I get the chance because it is definitely purple!). I've kept it very CAS with just two small rhinestones and a whole lotta white space.

Non Traditional Wreath

Second week of January and the 52 {Christmas{ Card Throwdown team are here to help you create your cards for Christmas 2014.  The idea is that if you make one card a week for our challenge you will have (almost) 52 cards ready to send without any last minute stress- works for me- everyone got a handmade card this year and I was very proud of myself!
This week it is a colour challenge. You don't have to use them all - a minimum of three, but do not add any colours (other than a neutral for your card /stamping base). They are wonderfully non-Christmas colours so you can have a ball!

 I chose not to use the yellow

I used the sentiment from Delightful Dozen and the wreath stamp is a new one my husband popped in my Christmas stocking -clever of him to know just what I wanted ;) I have added just a touch of Christmas sparkle, which you can see in this close up. I think I'll pop this one into  Crafty Hazelnuts extra Christmas Challenge for January too

Rip Torn Sketch

Wow, Thursday came round quick! One last DT sample to show you this week and it's for CAS Colours and Sketches.  Our hostess for January is Karen, and she has a very unusual sketch for us to play with. I was challenged to do something that remained CAS, featured some stamping and folowed the outline of the sketch.. I've used the colour scheme from challenge #223 at ColourQ -aren't these colours fantastic together?

This is what I came up with

Most of the colours are achieved from using cs, and stamping in the same colour except the poppy red, which is made up by the little rhinestones.  The flower stamp is a magazine freebie (yes, another one!) and I've layered up a couple of ribbons to make the bow. The sentiment is from Sweet Cake.

An Apple A Day

At The Male Room challenge blog a new challenge starts today.  This is a blog for cards for the men and boys and the current theme is Get Well Soon.  My two sons have been a little unwell for the last few days, hopefully they're over it now but I was reminded of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' and so I created the card below

 The DP is Winter Frost from SU, but I think it works equally well here as for a Christmas card- very masculine feel to it. I've picked out the colours to stamp the little apple image ( a freebie) and the sentiment is from Delightful Dozen-which is proving to be a real good buy. I think male cards need a minimal approach to bling, but I couldn't resist adding the pearl brad to the sentiment.

Triple stamped Wetlands

It's a new year, it's a new month so that means that Technique Time Tuesday Challenge Blog must have a brand new challenge. We've also had a face lift and you will I am sure love our new look. The challenge includes a full video clip to help you with the technique, if you've never tried it before - it's one of my all-time favourites-Triple stamping.I've had a sneaky peak at the other cards from the DT and there are so many different ways you can use this versatile technique. I've gone for a scene card, using the amazing Wetlands stamp set from Stampin' Up.

One of the advantages of triple stamping is it creates a dimensional focal point - in this case my pair of geese, which doesn't need to be central. It's a very 'birdy' card as I've also sneaked in the little bird on the reeds from another stamp set, Simply Sketched, which is where the sentiment also comes from. I hope you can see the sparkle on the refelections, made with silver Stickles and the lovely pearl brad which is attaching the tag.
Well and truly back in the mood for making cards again, although I have one or two other crafty projects on the go too.

Christmas 2014 is up and running!

Hey! I'm back! Admittedly it's a little late, but I've been enjoying some quality family time, and my daughter only returned to Uni last night, so until then I put away my crafting stuff. It's all out again now and the first thing I had to do was make a few Christmas cards (!!) for the challenge at the whole-new-look 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. Here's the challenge- a sketch which lets your sentiment take centre stage

and here's what I did with it, this time keeping quite close to the original idea, with the faux stitching around the edge

My top band is a ribbon, the wider one a strip of DP. The sentiment stamp is an old Stampin' Up one from Season Of Joy, I think and I found the perfect coordinating button in my stash- love how it adds dimension to the card. Traditional red and green colour combo, as I'm experimenting with more unusual colours for cards for challenges later this month (no more spoilers!)
Do have a look at the blog to see the fab work from my fellow DT friends. I hope 2014 is a very crafty year for all of you!