Dreaming of a White Christmas ...

As the saying goes 'desperate times call for desperate measures'  ... well that sums me up this week with some very quick one layer Christmas cards to keep on top of the ever growing list of Christmas chores ... AND as luck would have it it's a ONE LAYER Week at Less is More with a SNOW theme If you saw my blog post yesterday you'll have seen my excited  announcement at being invited to join the DT at Uniko Studio and as Beverley loves her snowflakes I couldn't resist  stamping them up for a few of my cards this week. Here goes: From Uniko Studio I've used: Big & Bold - Snow from the recent release and Stunning Snowflakes released last year I've heat embossed the sentiment in WOW silver glitter EP Stamped the snowflakes around it then dusted some  blue ink around the background to make it an even chillier scene! To finish I've added a few gems from my stash First of all I embossed a stitched rectangle die from the  MFT Die-namics set to add some detail to the card then using  the Stunning Snowflakes stamps from Uniko Studio I've heat embossed the snowflakes with the WOW silver glitter EP and added gems to the centres. The sentiment is from the same set. I've been watching some craft videos by Kristina Werner recently, in particular  her Holiday cards. She often uses EP round the edges of the card so I've  tried it on this card to add some extra interest to the one layer card and  you can see one of Kristina's videos Here showing the technique. The colours on this card appear to be in line with the colour palette at this week's Colour Me...! Challenge so I'm hopping over there shortly to link up my card along with the Timeout Challenge which is a photo inspiration using similar images and layout     

Another of my favourite stamp companies, in case you hadn't realised 

is Clearly Besotted so I've used the following from their range:

Signature Christmas Dies which I've used as a mask

Christmas Sparkle: Tree image to create my snowflakes, which 

are heat embossed in white before inking with Peacock Feathers Distress ink.

The sentiment is from the Little Pudding set and I've hand-drawn 

(yes hand-drawn which was VERY scary)

the strings and bows to my ornaments with a Pilot silver marker

and to finish some turquoise pearls from my stash.

Last but not least ...

The Christmas Sparkle set from Clearly Besotted 

stamped in Sea Breeze chalk ink with the sentiment and star 

heat embossed in WOW silver glitter EP.

A wrap around of coordinating hemp cord from my stash

and some mini gems for that bit of bling to my tree.

Oh speaking of BLING that's the theme at this week's

Simon Says Stamp Challenge so I'm off there to add this card.

Thanks as always for stopping by my blog,

it's always appreciated and thank you for another

fabulous collection of entries using the colour scheme from

last week's Less is More challenge.

Before I go I must thank you all for your comments on my 

'new' Auntie status which I was a week premature on!

At last here he is ... my gorgeous baby nephew

born Tuesday 9th - Harry Joseph weighing 7lb 0.5oz

I can't wait to give him a  HUGE cuddle!

I do hope you can find a little crafty time this week 

to take part and look forward to catching up with you soon.

LAYERED BUTTERFLIES

Happy Saturday and Bank Holiday Weekend! Yippee! Hope you are having some crafty time.

I've 2 very quick cards to share and apologies I've been missing all week ... work got in the way and I was trying yesterday but not getting very far! Except this card which is at a love / hate sort of stage with me. I don't normally use so many layers but I do like this mix of turquoise and yellows with greys but on this one I went for a touch of Orange too!

Challenges for this one:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Colour Me Card Challenge - Anything Goes but use 5 colours of your own choice

So if I had to match these colours with the Stampin Up range there'd be:

Pumpkin Pie
Pool Party
Crushed Curry
Basic Grey
White

My ancient and tatty heat gun seems to have come back out to play quite a bit in the last few months and on this card I've stamped the grey cardstock with one of the circle border strips from Uniko (Background - Circles) then clear embossed it and I quite like that added bit of texture.

Other Materials Used:
Clearly Besotted: Elegant Butterfly Dies, Scalloped Border Die, It's Your Birthday stamp set
Sizzix Nestabilities Scalloped Circles & Framelits Circles, Dotty Embossing folder
MFT Die-namics - Pierced Rectangle (new purchase and love it BUT now want all the pierced stax sets!)
Papers from my stash
Enamel Dots: Stampin Up, Doodlebug & My Minds Eye


   

Back in a mo with another quick post.

STARS AND BUTTERFLIES

Happy Weekend

Had a little bit of crafty time so I've 2 quick posts to enter a couple of challenges so first up is my 'stars' card. I'm always short on masculine cards so when I saw the sketch at Sketch Saturday and the colours at Colour Me card challenge this week I decided to combine the two.

I'm also heading across to Papertake Weekly where the theme is White & 1 other colour or shades of that colour plus Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's a 'Keep it CAS' week.

Just realised I used tonnes of snippety bits on this card so as soon as the gates open at Pixies Playground I'm going to drop this in there too.

Card Recipe:

Papers: From my stash plus Papermania textured cardstock
Sentiment: Clearly Besotted
Stars: Memory Box

    

COLD, WET 'N' WINDY = LET'S CRAFT

What's the weather been doing for you all today?  Appalling here with strong winds and lashing rain which meant one thing once dog-walk done and some housework ... hmmm bit of crafting.

I've three cards to show which are for various challenges so here goes:

This one is for my uncle (husband of Crafty American Auntie) so hoping she's too busy packing up her belongings for heading back to California once he's retired to search around my blog!

                               

I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches so that's where I'll be heading in a moment.

Items Used:
Image: Vintage Boys - Take it Easy from LOTV
Papers: Papermania
Sentiment: Clearly Besotted
Tools: Promarkers and Mosaic embossing folder
Ribbon & Twine from my stash




Next up is a brand new colour challenge (for me) called Colour Me which I'm combining with my interpretation of the CASE Study challenge for this week.  This Memory Box Tilda Flower die has been on my desk since the weekend when I tried my first bit of sponge daubing here but this time I've die-cut the shape using pearlised card and patterned paper from Echo Park. I've then 'painstakingly' re-inserted all the little petal bits then made a circle aperture for the sentiment, which is from Clearly Besotted. The green background image is from Uniko Studio (Background Builders - Circles). Yesterday I received some long awaited items from Craft Mojo ... Doodlebug sprinkles and sequins!!! Love them but may have gone a bit OTT with them as they are new but the photo on the colour challenge had lots of little dots!

    


My last card is quite similar to the previous one in that I've used the same Memory Box Tilda Floral die with re-inserted petals but I wanted to show you how extremely economical and versatile this sponge daubing with die cuts can be.  This is the daubed die cut used in this card here which I've re-inserted into the negative made from the previous card above.

This time the card is to enter the Simon Says Stamp challenge where the theme is 'Glitter It'. I have used a Wink of Stella pen on the petals but because it's pearlised card it's not showing up on the photos clearly. I've also glittered and glossy accented the centre of the flower. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted - Geometric 1 stamped on to an MFT Sentiment Strip die-cut and the twine from my stash.

Think I better have a bit of a tidy up now as it looks like a bomb has hit my little crafty cupboard!