Sparkly Snow.

Morning all, hope you are all safe and well.

We had a very quiet weekend due mainly to the eight inches of white fluffy stuff which settled over this part of the Marches. The sun is out and the air is clean and crisp today and to be honest I could have done with my sunglasses coming back from walking the dog. We were restricted to the drive as the snow is too deep for our little Max. Normally he is so small that he doesn't sink into the snow, but what fell this weekend is soft and powdery and he sinks in up to his nose! He loves it really and would stay out longer that is good for him.

Anyway lots of time some crafting as we couldn't get out. Here is a card that perfectly reflects today.

A simple diecut, layered card, using a MFT square frame die, a panel of glitter paper and part of a die cut panel cut using a Creative Expressions die.

So even though the sun is shining I think it will be another day at least before we will be able to be out and about, so it would be a shame not to play a little longer in my craftroom, I will get those Christmas cards posted sometime before this Christmas, hopefully!

Some mid morning shots of the fields, such a glorious morning, taken by the OH.

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Snowflakes

Not four but three candles!

You remember the classic Two Ronnies sketch? 

Sorry but this is just a post to share a card with three candles I made for this month's HLS Anything Goes with dies challenge which starts today!

This is another of the light up cards I made on the HLS retreat in November. When I got home I decided to juj it up a bit with some gold mirri card, Like the snowflake I posted earlier, it lights up when you press the middle of the greeting. The frame looks a bit wonky but it was actually the sunlight reflecting off the mirri card frame, mirri card is a nightmare to photograph.

After cutting out the Memory Box die from white card I coloured the flames and leaves with Copic before adding some red glitter embossing powder to the ends of the sprigs before heating to set. 

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed with gold EP and the centers of the candles put back in and then the group was glued over the circuit, see Kylie's video here for details.

Once home I added the gold frame and foliage.

So for more die cut inspiration check out the rest of the team here.

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Holiday Greeetings

    

Christmas                                  Happy Christmas/Holidays

Red and Green

Morning all.

Hope you are all well and prepared for the cold snap that is forecast to descend on us later today.

Anyway, it's time for a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Galz, we would love to see your projects containing-

SNOWMEN

I know it should really be snowwomen but hey. I chose this snow person stamp because the character looks a little more like a lady than my others! She's all wrapped up in her Santa hat and green and red spotty scarf.

The stamp is from Woodware, I bought it last year but just got around to using it! As it is a large image I kept it simple just colouring with Copics and mounted on a scrap of red paper. I kept to the colour scheme at Less is More, even the carrot is coloured red, from the orange end of the reds, R00, R02 and R04, the hat and scarf using the darker R32, 34, 37 and 39. A little bit of texture was added with Puffy Paint to her hat trim.

A simple sentiment from LOTV completes my card.

Check out the rest of the team here and why not join us.

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          CAS                                                               

Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies

Evening folks. I'm back to share a card I made for this weeks challenge at ATSM. This week our challenge theme is -

ANYTHING GOES

So go wild, it's all in your hands!

I used a couple of challenges and got arty with my inspiration card.

I love the watercolour cards I see on the Penny Black blog by Mimi Jourdain and have loved putting on my watercolour hat. This one uses a trio of fir trees and a larger PB one to create the woods in my landscape. 

I started with a piece of w/c paper, splattered some masking fluid over panel and masked out a circle cut from a post it, then decided where to put my trees. When dry, using a torn paper mask, I wet the background and stamped some pale blue trees in various heights. The sharper ones were where the paper had dried out too much, then once dry but without moving the mask I stamped the trio of trees in black Versafine. As Versafine is not water soluble you get a clear crisp impression that contrasts with the soft blue of the trees behind. Removing the mask I washed in some more of the pale blue as shadows on the snow. When totally dry I removed the mask and masking fluid and stamped the sentiment. The finished panel was glued to a top folding white base card.

For more inspiration checkout the rest of the DT here.

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Winter Trees and flowers

                                                                  edit 7/12 forgot I meant to enter here too, doh!

Skating Snowman

Morning all.

Time for a brand new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This week we would like to see your projects that show a -

SNOWMAN

I knew which stamp I was going to use, this fun skating snowman by Molly Bloom. It's quite an old one but he is kind of cute.

This week layout at CAS(E) this Sketch reminded me of a frozen lake with snowdrifts so off I went. Silver mirri card substitutes for the ice and the snow drifts are die cut clouds! I added some Stickles to give them a frosty feel. The sentiment is from a couple of Uniko sets, such lovely text stamps, clean and crisp. My snowman's Santa hat also follows the challenge at Merry Monday.

Quite a simple little card with a little bit of fun thrown in. For more Snowman inspiration, check out the rest of the girls here, then why not join in.

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Snowman/men                         Snowmen                 

December CUTplorations

Evening everyone in the UK and good morning friends in the US!

The Christmas season is now upon us and with this month's challenge at CUTplorations you'll have the chance to bulk up your Christmas card stash using our inspiration photo. Here's what I made

using this month's picture as inspiration.

  

Lots of interest to get your teeth into with this, Christmas trees, toys, ornaments or just the colours.

I made some paper pieced trees for another card here after seeing the technique online and I had one large one left over which I used here. It's a simple technique but takes a little patience to line up the layers.
Start by cutting a load of rectangles, I used my Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies, from scraps of green card. Then I cut away the corners using the smallest to get a selection of right angled pieces which I layed over a piece of scrap paper, then when glued in place and dried cut into your tree shape. I added a trunk from a tiny scrap of brown card.
For the background I took a panel of kraft card and using my ARTplorations Dots all over stencil, inked through the dots randomly with a Versamark pen before heat embossing with white EP.
I cut a panel of white card for the snowdrift and using the Merry Christmas Phrase Die, I cut a red sentiment. The phrase cuts as one piece but a little judicious snipping soon separates the two halves! I kept the happy for future use and also the negative, more news of that next time!
To complete, I added a simple happy from the Balloons and Banners stamp set in black and a gold star.

For more information and inspiration check out the main blog here.

I'm joining in over at:-


Christmas Carols (O, Christmas Tree)

Glorious Poinsettia

Afternoon peeps.

After a few days of bright frosty and cold days, the temps have risen but with it has come the dark and damp! Mind you that's just how I feel at the mo. I started with a snuffle and tickly cough over a week ago but today I feel no better, still getting my Christmas cards ready to post has diverted me and kept me busy. Yesterday I ventured out to post my overseas cards, I should have known that it was too good to be true not to be on a last minute rush. After 15 minutes of queuing in our post office, I got near to the front when their system crashed, so no post for my overseas friends and relations just yet,  I'll try again in the week!

Anyway I realised that I hadn't shared this card using the glorious poinsettia from Uniko, I just love it.

Embossed with gold EP a simple watercolour wash with my Zigs, is all that is required I think for this OLC. A few gold sprigs of foliage and sentiment complete, great for the post too!

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Masking, Heat embossing and Watercolour

edited 3/12 Thanks for the reminder Loll.