Five Green Trees

Just about managing this by the skin of my teeth! The Christmas Cards All Year Round challenge for October is to make 5 cards using a punch or die plus a colour theme to include at least one colour considered to be Halloween - green, orange, black or purple.


I've gone with the green theme! The very glittery fancy trees are actually Christmas tree decorations from The Range and I've glued (hopefully well!) onto a Nesties cut scalloped circle of some green angel hair like stuff (it originally was wrapped around a bunch of flowers).

I've also added a snowflake die plus gems and doodled a line around the edge of the card.

I've used the current sketch from Kathy's Waffle Sketch File (great sketch!) and would also like to enter the following challenges:

Bah Humbug: Die Cuts
Charisma Cardz: Anything Goes
Crafty Purple Frog: Sparkle
Meljen's Designs: Christmas

• Embellishments: The Range
• Dies: Spellbinder Nestablities, Sizzix Snowflakes
• Everything else: My stash
  

More Christmas!

Brace yourself! There are 5 Christmas cards in this post! All of them use a Penny Black stamp which I've coloured with Aquamarkers and used papers either from Funky Hand - Blue Christmas download or from Mad About Cards (vintage type papers) all of which I've had for a few years.

I've used table confetti for the stars and snowflakes plus various ribbons from my stash, which again I've had for a number of years!

I've either used a blue gel pen to dot around the edge of the image and card or a silver or gold 3d Anita's paint (found that lurking in the back of a drawer!) Each challenge specific to a card are listed directly under the card.

Challenge:
Cute Card Thursday: Sketch

Challenge:
Divas By Design: Sketch

Challenge:
Eat, Sleep, Stamp: Sketch

Challenge:
Dutch Dare: Sketch

Challenge:
ABC Christmas: Shaped Card with Spots, Stripes or Swirls

Apologies for the way blogger has added the above card - it just won't go the right way up!

All the cards also qualify for:
Christmas Cards All Year Around: 5 Cards all supplies older than 12 months
Paper Sundaes: Anything Goes

• Images: Penny Black coloured with Aquamarkers
• Papers: Blue Christmas download from Funky Hand and downloads from Mad About Cards
• Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities
• Everything else: My stash
  

Mainly White with a Bit Of Silver

I know - its glorious sunshine today and here I am blogging Christmas Cards! These five clean and simple cards are for the Christmas All Year Around Challenge which asks for:

Mainly White and Bling

I've used an embossing folder that I got on a DoCrafts magazine a while ago and then layered it onto some pearlescent silver card.

The silver ribbon was originally around some card blanks and it was the perfect shade and size for my cards! A little tiny star has been punched from an offcut of the silver paper and added to the top of the tree.

I've also dotted a silver gel pen around the edge of the card and also the embossed image. A little bit of glitter glue has also been added to the tree here and there.

My cards fit the following challenges:

Craft Your Passion: Christmas In July
Pollycraft: Christmas In July
Christmas Inspirations: Anything Goes (Christmas)
Creative Inspirations: Christmas In July
The Craft Pad: Embossing

• Embossing folder: Free with a DoCrafts magazine last year
• Everything else: My stash
  

Embossed in Turquoise

I've made these really sweet and fairly quick Christmas cards for Kathy's Waffle Sketch file - the sketch is underneath. I've got lots of off-cut card from when I cut down a sheet of A4 so I decided to follow the sketch but to use the off-cuts and my Nestie shapes. The cards, for an idea of size are 105mm square.

To make the shaped edge of the card, I drew around the largest Nestie and then continued the shape up the side as the card was a little wider than the die. And yes, it was sunny when I took the photos - for about 5 mins!!

Apologies for the following photo, Blogger will not put it the right way!

The ribbon is Stampin' Up and I've added some pearlescent snowflake confetti with foam pads for extra effect!
And if you've not already popped over to the Fetch A Sketch pre launch party - please do so! Some candy on offer to two lucky commenters plus some extra prizes along the way! The Fetch A Sketch challenges launch on Monday 27 June at 9am!

The card(s) fit the following challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year Around: Anything Goes (and there are 5 in the second photo)
Lexi's Creations: No Sentiment
Happileigh Scrapping Challenge: Embossing
Sweet Stamps: Embossing
Papercraft Star: STAR (Snowflake, Turquoise, Abstract (?!) and Ribbon)

• Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities
• Embossing: Cuttlebug snowflakes and swiss dots
• Ribbon: Stampin' Up
• Snowflakes: Poundshop
  

More Poundshop Wonders!

It might seem that I'm having a bit of a Christmas card drive at the moment, well, yes I am although I'll probably tire of it and then have another flourish in a month or so! But whilst the going is good, here are my five cards for the Christmas Cards All Year Around monthly challenge which this month is a sketch:

All the papers are from a Mad About Cards traditional Christmas download that I've had for a few years. All the chipboard stickers are from the Poundshop and are all from the same pack - so I made all these cards plus one left over for £1!

The gems are also from the Poundshop.


I've used two sets of Nesties to cut shapes behind the chipboard embellishments, with all the ribbons and raffia from my stash.

Looks like my target is getting closer and closer now!!

• Papers: Mad About Cards Traditional Christmas download
• Chipboard embellishments: Poundshop
• Gems: Poundshop
• Dies: Spellbinder Nestabilities
• Everything else: My stash
  

Simple and Quick!

These cards were made in a few hours from start to finish and to be honest, I think it took me longer to choose the ribbon than to make them!

They fit the criteria for the Christmas All Year Around Challenge for November which is to create 5 cards with:

Trees and Ribbon

I've used the free embossing folder of a tree from a recent Docrafts magazine, added gems to match the backing and ribbon and layered the image onto coloured card (I think Bazzil Basics).

The ribbon has then been tied around the card and finished with a bow at the bottom. You can't quite see it, but I've used some sparkly clear (bit of a contradiction but it is!) glitter glue on the stars on the tops of the trees.

Nice and simple and quick cards! Great for batch making!

• Embossing folder: Freebie from Docrafts magazine
• Card: Bazzill Basics
• Ribbon: My stash
• Gems: My stash
  

Any Shape

I've not joined in with the Christmas All Year Around challenge for a while simply because I never manage to make all 5 required cards for the month! However, this is the month that I knuckle down and participate!

This months challenge is:

Any shaped card (other than the standard square) plus gold, silver, pearl or crystal somewhere

So here are my five! All the cards are from Polkadoodle Paper Boutique - Creative Christmas cd and all are the A5 layered versions. Basically all the shapes are cut out and then layered. For extra strength, I mounted them all onto a sheet of A4 card and then cut round them.

Santa has silver glitter glue on his hat

The gift card has silver 3d paint around the edges of the tags and dotted also

Rudolph has silver glitter glue on his hat and gold 3d paint dotted around the sentiment

The fairy has crystal gem bling on her crown plus silver stars in her hands

And finally, the holly and berry wreath has silver 3d paint dotted around the sentiment

And here they all are together! This really is a fantastic cd - you get all these shaped cards in A4, A5 and A6 sizes plus papers, sentiments, black and white digis plus smaller images that can be used as toppers. Oh, and more shaped cards too!!

• All paperbased items: Polkadoodles Paper Boutique - Creative Christmas cd
• Everything else: My stash
  

Christmas All Year Around - January

I am planning on being very organised for Christmas this year! Probably only in the Christmas Cards, but none the less, organised!

The Christmas Cards All Year Around challenge for January is:

Any Christmas Card Goes!

I have to make 5 cards for the challenge and here are my five:

You'll have to excuse the slightly dodgy set up and wonky photo underneath, but Jacob insisted on helping me....

I've used my Spellbinder Nestabilities die to cut the apertures - the red patterned cards are Kirsty Wiseman, Patti Picklicious cd (which is currently half price!!) and the green are from an old digi freebie download from A Work In Progress.

I've dotted around the edge of the digi image Peas On Earth (geddit??!) which is from Whimsie Doodles. I coloured one image with watercolour pencils and then scanned it so I could print it as many times as I liked! A bit of glitter glue has been added to the peas hats.


The gems are from my stash and the silver snowflakes I got in the January sale at Matalan for £1 - there are 20 in a lovely wooden sectioned box and should be parcel stickers. Too good to stick on parcels if you ask me!

• Backing papers - reds: Kirsty Wiseman
• Backing papers - greens: A Work In Progress
• Image: Whimsie Doodles coloured with watercolour pencils and glitter glue
• Snowflakes: Matalan
• Gems: My stash
  
  

Christmas Cards All Year Around - July Challenge

With the weather being decidedly wintry (again) I decided to have a bash at the Christmas Cards All Year Around Challenge. This month it is a colour challenge:

Red, White and Blue only

I found some blue card blanks which I cut down to be squares. The red slightly embossed and mottled card is from my stash and I've used a Martha Stewart punch on the bottom. I've doodled around the edges of the card with a fine black pen. The blue grosgrain ribbon has been threaded through the top of the red card by holes that I made with a ribbon punch. The actually slots were not quite wide enough so I double punched the holes and the ribbon fitted perfectly! I then threaded some white thin ribbon through, on which the snowflake hangs.

The snowflake is a Sizzix die and I've used white funky foam. The brads are from the Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection and I've been wanting to use them since I bought them (2 years ago!)

The sentiment has been stamped in black ink and is a Studio G acrylic bargain stamp. 5 really easy and simple cards to make, once I'd decided what I was doing!

• Red card: From my stash
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Punch: Martha Stewart
• Die: Sizzix snowflake
• Brads: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection
  
  

Christmas Cards All Year Round - May Challenge

Yep, its the dreaded C word in May!! But it really is quite nice to make Christmas cards all year 'round! The Challenge this month is to:

Use Flowers on Your Christmas Cards

And here are my 5. Very much influenced and inspired by the design team creations so thank you ladies!

You'll have to excuse the dodgy photos - I have had a very hectic week (hence lack of posts) with a lot of meetings and travelling and have been shattered, so I've not managed any challenges so far this week, although there is still tonight and tomorrow night to make amends! We, as a family, go on holiday on Saturday for a week, so in between trying to write a diary for a giraffe called Buttons, (that's another story!) work full time, get everything washed and packed and try and do some challenges, something has to give, and I'm afraid it is the challenges.

Anyway, all the papers used are from the Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection (8 x 8 papers) and the brads are from the same collection. The flowers are generally from the lot Jozza gave me a while ago (not got many left now!) plus I've enhanced them with either folded red raffia, cut red raffia or white gift ribbon. Card candy from Craftwork cards and the sentiment is a Studio G acrylic stamp which I have coloured in with a black pen.

• Backing papers : Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho 8 x 8 collection
• Brads: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho collection
• Flowers: Mostly from Jozza
• Enhanced bits around the flowers: From my stash
• Sentiment: Acrylic Studio G stamp
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards
  
  

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round Challenge - March

I know, Christmas cards in March! The monthly challenge on Christmas Cards All Year 'Round is:

Since this is the month of the lucky leprechauns and Spring I thought it would be fun to create an all (or mostly) green Christmas card and include some kind of leaf on it. (for eg. a holly leaf)

This time I decided to try and make 5 similar cards but to use the holly leaf as the main focus. The holly is my own template cut from a lovely green card that has flecks in it. I've chalked it and then inked the edges in black. A little bit of glitter glue was added to the tips and also the centre of the leaves. The berries are card candy with a large dollop of red glitter glue!

I've printed directly onto the card stock again (makes life soooooooo much easier!) and I've used Big Mini Dots download from Pink Petticoat - there are actually two shades of green that I've used as I wasn't sure which one I liked the best.

I've doodled around the edges. I started using my trusty thin marker but that gave up on me so then used two black gel pens - one was glittery so there are subtle differences. And the ribbon is from my stash - it was wired but I took that out.

Sentiment is an acrylic Studio G stamp.

• Printed directly onto cardstock: Big Mini Dots download from Pink Petticoat
• Leaf: My own template
• Card Candy: Craftwork Cards
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
• Ribbon: From my stash
  
  

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round - February Challenge

Now pink Christmas cards I don't really 'do' - so this Christmas Cards All Year 'Round challenge really took me out of my comfort zone, but I plodded on! After I'd made the first card, I had some inspiration, and the rest, they say, is history!

So, for February the Challenge is:

... get out your PINK, RED and WHITE papers....and let's see a Christmas Card come of it.

I'd also like to see you throw in a heart or two

• Dies: Sizzix Stocking and Sizzix Primitive Hearts
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Brad: From my stash
• Felt: From the scrap store

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Backing paper: Funky Little Christmas from Funky Hand
• Dies: Sizzix Sizzlits snowflake and Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Brad: From my stash
• Charms: B & M Bargains

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Backing paper: Free papers from craft magazine
• Snowflake: Hobbycraft
• Beads & Gem: From my stash
• Sentiment: Free with craft papers

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Backing paper: Funky Little Christmas from Funky Hand
• Dies: Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder
• Topper: Made from fimo by me
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Fibres: From the scrap store
• Sentiment: Computer generated
• Gems: From my stash

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Ribbon: From my stash (donated by Lynsey!)
• Heart embellishment: Part of a handmade button swop from Jacqui
• Holly: Dovecraft stamp coloured with watercolour pencils
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
• Seed beads: From my stash
• Wire: From my stash

Christmas All Year Round - January Challenge

This post has been sat ready and waiting since 9 January but didn't want to publish it until later in the month! I managed one of two of the CCAYR challenges in December but decided that I would do my very best to join in the monthly challenges - a brief is given and 5 cards have to be made for that month. The idea is, that by December I will have made 60 cards. So its either keep all my Christmas bits n bobs handy or panic in November as I've not got enough cards made!

Anyway, the Christmas All Year 'Round January challenge is:

Create a card with VERY traditional red and green colors and a stamped OR a rub-on sentiment!

So here they are!

• Backing paper: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho papers with doodled edges
• Embellishment: Cracker (was actually a gift tag) with green wired snowflakes and red raffia
• Sentiment: Studio G outline acrylic stamp which I have coloured with black ink
  

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug snowflakes
• Image: Cut from a Christmas Card
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Backing paper: Dovecraft Ho Ho Ho papers for the tree
• Ribbon: From my stash
• Sentiment: Studio G wooden alphabet stamp

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Backing paper: Traditional Christmas download from Mad About Cards
• Dies: Sizzix Scallop Tag combo
• Image: From my stash
• Sentiment: Studio G acrylic stamp
  

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

• Dies: Sizzix Christmas Tree
• Backing paper: Red - Funky Hand
• Sentiment: Studio G wooden alphabet set
• Other bits: From my stash
  

Can't wait for the February challenge!