Fun 'n' Flair - Snowmany Wishes

This cute snowman comes in a set complete with sentiments to fit in the board.  The image was coloured in using markers.

Cottage Cutz - Build-a-Poinsettia

No, I have not dropped off the planet but I have been very busy with our upcoming overseas move.  I had no idea things could get this stressful !!

Here is another Xmas card made using Cottage Cutz Build-a-Poinsettia die.  The background is a scrap free from a magazine and on the petals of the flower I did a little bit of Stickles Xmas Red to give it a bit of a festive look.  The sentiment is Hero Art Holiday Cheer in Archival Crimson ink die cut with Spellbinders Resplendant Rectangles.

Cottage Cutz - Carousel Silhouette

In the midst of creating my Xmas cards I realised I needed a birthday card and that I had given all the cards I have made away.  With moving overseas next month I donated all my cards and projects to the local children's hospital charity store (along with half the stuff in the kitchen cupboards - everyone needs an overseas move once in a lifetime to make you realise just how much junk one collects).

This card is another quick and easy one (all I seem to have time for these days) using the Cottage Cutz Carousel Silhouette die.  I have said many times before just how easy most of their dies are to assemble and I am planning to take some across with me in my suitcase, pieces already cut out, so I can still get some crafting done whilst waiting for the container to arrive.  I suspect I will need to de-stress with all that has to be done once we arrive.

The sentiment was one I had made in bulk a while back (planning ahead for the move) but forgot to write down which stamp set it is from.  Looks like it could be a Flourishes one.

Form-A-Lines - Christmas Kit 7 - Winter Scene

A simple scene from using gold thread for this Form-A-Lines pattern.

The sentiment is Hero Arts from the Merry Christmas Trees set inked in Brilliance Galaxy Gold.

Penny Black - A Bright Tomorrow

The wreath is from a Penny Black set A Bright Tomorrow and it is framed using Spellbinders Circles.  To colour in the wreath I used Momento markers, New Sprout and Bamboo Leaves and Distress markers Fired Bricks and Barn Door for the bow.

Background striped paper is a Bo Bunny one called Rejoice Strip.  Cannot recall which set the sentiment comes from, apologies.

Kaszazz Scarf Teddy with Penny Black Let it Snow

Another card using the Kaszazz image called Scarf Teddy.

The background is The Crafter's Workshop Mini Tile Texture done in Distress ink Bundled Sage
Sentiment Penny Black set called Let it Snow in Brilliance ink Pearlescent Thyme
Kaszazz Scarf Teddy large coloured in using

Scarf     Distress Stains - Bundled Sage and Fired Brick
Hat        Distress ink pad Festive Berries and Tombow marker Carmine (845)
Bear      Distress Stains - Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
All the Distress Stains, ink pad and marker used with a paint brush and water to dilute

Peachy Keen - Skatin' By with snowflake background

Peachy Keen has such happy stamps and this little chap is no exception.  He was coloured in using Siren Smooch and Stampin Up Dusty Durango for the beak.  I have a whole lot of different colour Smooches and find them ideal for Christmas cards when a little extra sparkle is called for.

The background is Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake used as a stencil.  I sponged it with Distress ink Weathered Wood.  It is a quick and easy background and I think it complements the image.  The sentiment is from a Penny Black set called Let it Snow and punched with an old Fiskars squeeze punch which I see is no longer available.

Cottage Cutz Santa's Coat & Rack

This is a Cottage Cutz die - Santa's Coat & Rack - from last Christmas which I received too late to use.

I used scraps from my stash to cut it out and it was quick and easy to assemble.  The rest of the card is made up also with scraps from my considerable stash of paper.  The sentiment, I think, is from Lily of the Valley.  It has no name on the packet or the stamp set.  I used Spellbinders Pinking Circles to frame the sentiment.

Form-A-Lines Christmas Kit 7 - Carol Singers

Another Form-A-Lines card kit in which I used a multi colour thread for the carol singers.  The lamp was done in a silver thread with the 'light' stitched in gold.

The sentiment is from the Penny Black Christmas Cheer set inked in Brilliance Pearl Poppy.  The deckled edge to the topper was made using a Creative Memories cutter and blade.

Kaszazz Scarf Teddy large with Dreamweaver stencil Lace Border

In an effort to get a number of cards done in as shorter time as possible I stamped out a lot of this Kaszazz Scarf Teddy stamp.  I reckoned it would not take too much time to colour in and I could do them all on a sort of production line.  Once I had the cards laid out I choose different backgrounds and colour inks which make it quite easy to match them to the stamp when I coloured that in.

I used the following on this card :
Dreamweaver stencil Lace Border - Distress ink Weathered Wood
Sentiment is from Stampin Up Many Merry Messages using Distress marker Weathered Wood.
Stamp is Kaszazz Scarf Teddy Large 1861J

Coloured in as follows :
Scarf     Distress Stains - Weathered Wood and Fired Brick
Hat       Distress ink pad Festive Berries and Tombow marker Carmine (845)
Bear     Distress Stains - Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
All the Distress Stains, ink pad and marker used with a paint brush and water to dilute.

Peachy Keen - Snow Gifts

I coloured this cute snowman from Peachy Keen Snow Gifts in using Siren Smooch for the mittens and Distress ink Evergreen Bough on the scarf.  The nose is Stampin Up Dusty Durango and the  tongue is Distress marker Worn Lipstick.

For the hat I used Festive Brick Distress ink and Tombow marker - Carmine.  The sentiment is Hero Arts Christmas Greetings die cut using a Hero Arts Small Tag Frame die.

The background is Spellbinders Impressabilities used as a stencil sponged with Distress ink Evergreen Bough.  I struggle with the Impressabilities as I am not happy with their effect on the paper - mine come out not deep enough yet when I add extra shim I cannot get it through the machine.  Using it as a stencil makes far more sense to me !

Prick 'n Stitch - Xmas Tree

Prick 'n Stitch is available in South Africa which makes it a lot easier to get hold of for me.  The main design was done using embroidery thread and a shiny cotton type thread.

I used a Stampin Up border punch to frame it and the sentiment is from the Hobby Art set called Christmas Greetings.

Dreamweaver - Zig Zag Xmas Tree

Not sure if other crafters do this but I have little plastic bags with border punch left overs in.  It comes in handy when you need circles like these or eyes on a punch art figure.  So, I am unable to tell you where the circles on the Xmas tree came from other than from my little bag of circles !

This Dreamweaver stencil LL595 - Zig Zag Xmas Tree was sponged using Distress Inks onto cardstock which I got in the left over bin of an art supply store.  They make up piles of offcuts and sell them for next to nothing.  Most of my card toppers use these offcuts.  The border punch used on the red cardstock is an old, un named EK Success one.

Form-A-Lines - Christmas Kit 3 - Angel

The photo does not do this card justice.  The thread used is a shiny silver and is quite a contrast against the blue card stock.  This card did take a bit longer to do than normal but I enjoyed doing something different for a change.  I am not usually too accomplished with a needle and thread but the  Form-A-Lines patterns are pretty much idiot proof !

The sentiment is from the Hero Arts set Holiday Sayings and is stamped in Archival Cobalt.

Dreamweaver - Coil Christmas Tree

The Dreamweaver stencils are fun and easy to use.  I prefer using Distress inks with a finger sponge as I find there is more control this way.

Distress inks used on this coil tree were Evergreen Bough and Mustard Seed.  The sentiment is a Clear Dollar one from the Filled with Cheer set.

Inkadinkado - Filigree Holiday Patterns

I know, Christmas cards this time of the year, but I thought I would get an early start as the next 4 months or so are going to be quite busy and I did not want Christmas to creep up on me this year, again.  So, for the foreseeable future, it will be Christmas cards from me.

I stamped this Inkadinkado Filigree Holiday Patterns stocking in Archival Colbalt ink and mounted it on 3 Spellbinders Classic Circles from the large and small sets.

The sentiment was also stamped in Archival Cobalt and is from the Hobby Arts set Christmas Greetings.

Apologies for being MIA for 3 weeks but, together with DH, did a volunteer stint relocating wild captive animals and it took a little longer than anticipated.

Whiff of Joy - Magical Wishes

Yet another clean and simple card.  I used a card map from Card Positioning Systems blog and pulled out my Creative Memories wavy trimmer (not sure of it's proper name) to cut out the blue "waves".

The balance of this card is made up of Spellbinders Circles Small with Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles and Whiff of Joy - Magical Wishes for the sentiment.

I will try to post some cards for the next 2 weeks but I will be away helping move animals (lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, pumas etc - 45 of them) from one animal sanctuary to their beautiful new one about a 2 hour drive away.  Not going to have too much time to create !  Be back around the end of the month.

Marianne D - Cupcake

This is a clean and simple card cased from Kristina Werner's blog.  I used the following supplies :

Spellbinders Petite Scallop Circles
Spellbinders Circles
Marianne D - Cupcake die
MFT - First Place Award Ribbon stamped with sentiment from Hero Arts Find Joy stamp set

The pink gingham paper is from my stash and it has been edged with Victorian Velvet Distress ink.

Hero Arts - Balloon Ride

On this card I used paper from the DCWV Stack 7 pad and stamped it with a large Hero Arts Newspaper Background in Archival Sepia.

The balloons are also a Hero Arts image called Balloon Ride.  The sentiment has been punched out with a Stampin Up oval punch - not sure where the sentiment came from.  Think I had it in my stash and forgot to put it's origin on the back.

Hero Arts - Thank You Messages

I saw a similar idea for this card whilst trawling through the various craft blogs and, seeing I did not have a suitable tree image, I decided to do one free hand.  If nothing else, my art lessons are giving me the confidence to try something new !

The left hand side of the card was sponged with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink with the right hand side being Spiced Marmalade.  For the tree I used the Stampin Up Basic Black marker.  The sentiment is from the Hero Arts set called Thank You Messages.

MFT - Let's Toast

I love this MFT Let's Toast die and stamp set.  It is quick and easy to put together and looks good on a bottle of wine being used as a gift.

I found a scrap of Creative Memories paper to decorate the label and used a circle from the MFT Sweet Stack Labels die.  The sentiment is from the Let's Toast stamp set.  The wine glass is also part of the Let's Toast die set and I added the 'wine' part by cutting out another die shape in maroon and trimming it down.

Impression Obsession - Tree Line

I was trying to find a particular stamp set the other day and came across a couple of large Impression Obsession stamps I forgot I had.  With the larger stamps I tend to ink them up and instead of picking the stamp up I leave it ink side up on the desk and lay the card stock over it pressing down with an acrylic block.

With this Tree Line image I used Archival Black ink on a linen card stock which gives a dappled sort of a look.  Once it had dried I used Distress inks on the background and finished off with a Cuttlebug alphabet die sentiment.

Hero Arts - Thanks Postcard

This Hero Arts - Thanks Postcard image is one of those quick and easy projects.  I used Maroon Archival ink, cut around the image and pasted it onto a card trimmed using a Creative Memories fancy edge - not sure what the proper name is.

Kaisercraft - Flourish

In my art lessons we have started using oils and at the end of each lesson there is always a little left over on my palette.  I have taken to keeping a piece of card stock in my bag and using up the paint on it - this is one such piece.  The downside is it takes quite a while to dry especially seeing it is winter in our part of the world at the moment.

The stamp used on top of the red oil paint is Kaisercraft Flourish with the sentiment being Kaszazz, Lucy's Stamps - Happy Birthday.

On the Farm

This is one of those cards I had on my desk for ages and built it up over time.  the background is done with Distress Stains, water and a paint brush using the wash technique.  The watercolour paper was lightly painted with water first then the Distress Stain was added, also with a paint brush.

The house, tree and tractor are from Hobby Arts stamp sets and the sheep are from a Stamposaurus set.  All images have been coloured in with Distress Stains, water and a paint brush.

The sentiment is from Stampin Up Fun and Fast notes punched out with SU Word Window.

Memory Box Die - Serene Bird

Memory Box dies are amongst my favourite with this one being no exception.  I have been experimenting with Zentangle  and thought the bird would have a different look if I squiggled a couple of patterns on it.  After that I used Distress inks and a sponge to pop a bit of colour onto the cardstock.

Underneath the bird is a MFT die called Fishtail Stax.  The background paper is a scrap from my stash and the sentiment is a Gina K Design one punched out using a Stampin Up oval.

Hero Arts - Feathers

After seeing a couple of simple one layer cards with a colour strip on I thought I would try it out.  Using post it notes to define the area and Distress Inks I sponged on a couple of different blues.

The image is Hero Arts - Feathers and the sentiment is also from the Hero Arts set called Found Joy.

Cottage Cutz - Eiffel Tower, Lamp and Poodle

The background striped paper is from a local store and is very thin, almost like tissue paper.  The vertical dies are MFT Fishtail Flags cut using Creative Memories paper.

The sentiment is Gina K Designs Enjoy the Sunshine also die cut with MFT Fishtail Flags.  The grey card stock die is from Cottage Cutz Eiffel Tower, Lamp and Poodle.

Kaszazz - Beach Chairs Large

Going through my leftover paper stash I found this interesting background which was begging to be used.  No idea what the manufacturer's name is but I think I have had it for quite some time.

I teamed the paper up with the simple Kaszazz Beach Chairs Large image stamped in Archival Sepia and matted it on brown and yellow cardstock.  The image is from the Gina K Designs set called Lovely Labels 2 and it was punched out using one of the Stampin Up Ovals.

Peachy Keen - cute teddy

This Peachy Keen teddy is from the set PKSC - 13 January 2013 and was coloured in using Distress Stains and a paint brush.  The cheeks were finished off with Pebbles Inc Ikan'dee Pearlescent Chalks applied with a small stencil brush.

All the cardstock used was scraps from my stash.  The circles are cut from a Go Kreate Circle die, the pocket was hand cut using a Cottage Cutz die as a template and the blue cardstock on which the sentiment is stamped is a Marianne D die called Circles CR1201.  The sentiment is from the Hero Arts set Find Joy and was stamped with Archival Sepia ink.