Get Ready For Christmas

Try It On Tuesday's next challenge starts today and the theme is 'GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS'

I  was gifted some dies so have played with them and batch made quite a few cards

Simple snowflake embossing folder for the background and then cut out the dies. 

I die cut the word once on white card and once on gold glitter card then just blended a bit of pink ink (Picked Raspberry) over the white one.

Used the same ink on the edge of the die cut snowflake border.

Offset the wording a little so you could see the gold glitter underneath and popped on the last of my tiny pink gems into the centre.

I made 5 pink and 5 frosty blue in a couple of hours so was well happy!

Hope you'll join us this challenge and show off your Christmas makes! x
 

Santa

Our last challenge of 2025 at TRY IT ON TUESDAY is called 'All About Santa'

This was one of the quickest cards to come together and is a complete change to my usual Christmas cards.

I had a roll of corrugated cardboard bought for a group project and despite the group using it I still have lots left so here it was used as a backing for my Santa. 

I spattered it liberally with a white Posca pen before sticking it to the base card.

The Santa image was part of a pad of vintage Christmas papers. 

I distressed the edges, used some Antique Linen DI and matted it onto a piece of dark red card, before adding a few more spatters around Santa's face.

A couple of dies, a scrap piece of ribbon and an off cut from another vintage paper to make the tag before finishing with the fabric flower.

Thanks for looking and I hope your Christmas preparations are going well.

The TIOT team is back on 6th January with a brand new challenge so I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and may 2026 be a good year for us all. x

Last of 2024 at Try It On Tuesday!

 Welcome to the last challenge of the year at Try It On Tuesday!
Another year almost gone and Christmas is just around the corner so our challenge this time is called
'SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN'

I once again got out my little lonely boy stamp! I make no apologies for loving this Andy Skinner stamp so much - it has been well used and has been well loved since I got it!

The little man so far has been flying his balloon at the seaside, standing by himself in a country landscape and just simply stamped in lots of other plain backgrounds so it was only fitting that this time he would be standing on an icy pathway looking over the tops of the houses in the street and seeing a very special sight.

The skyline and the Santa sleigh stamp are from Inkylicious.

I used Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserve and Fossilized Amber for the sky.

Highlighted with dabs of Stickles here and there and coloured the little man with Aquarelle pencils. As ever the glittery bits don't show up too good!

Please go visit the rest of the creative team at the blog and I hope that you join us for this challenge!
We'll be back with a new challenge on 7th January.
Happy Christmas! x

Linking up at
Pearly Sparkles - Christmas
Merry Little Christmas- A/Thing Christmas
IYGACAC - (Inspired by the Santa cookie!) - Don't stop Believin'
Peace on Earth - A/thing Christmas
Sweet Stampin' - Christmas Creations
Holly and Ivy - A/thing Christmas
Cardz4Guyz - Christmas card

New challenge at Try It on Tuesday

 Our theme this time round at Try It On Tuesday is called 'MAKE IT MAGICAL'.
Hope that you will join us with your creations and please visit the blog and see what the rest of the team have made!

I have quite a bit of coloured cardstock that gets rarely used except for layering and matting but occasionally I manage to use it as a base card after seeing a blogging buddy use a really dark card for her design.

The Slate Grey card is from Creative Expressions.
Lavinia stamps used throughout and everything was stamped in Versafine Clair Pinecone and Shady Lane.

Starting with the Fir Cone branch stamp,layering it as I went along, then the mini berry stamp and the mini holly. Added the baubles and then stamped Quinn underneath the middle bauble.

Coloured the mini berry and the baubles with my Aquarelle pencils then highlighted the pines and the fairy with a white Signo pen.

I recently bought a white Pan Pastel and used it on the moon and the snow. Although it doesn't show well in the pic there is a bit of sparkle!

Look forward to seeing what you come up with and thanks for looking today! x
Sharing over at
Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas

Card Chain Challenge December reveal

 For the final chain of 2023 I sent my card to Ellie in Illinois and received a lovely card from Imke in Germany.
This challenge was another mega head scratcher as the Tic Tac Board had the annual 25 squares!
This time my five squares were chosen from the diagonal from bottom left to top right.

I confess to a little creative licence with regards to the card I made!

Blue - an ink blended Chipped Sapphire D.I

Bauble -  the ones on the tree - all highlighted with Nuvo drops so they really do shine

Buddy - Rory and Darcy are definitely good buddies! Exploring everything together - and poking at Christmas tree baubles!

Bling - why is sparkle so hard to photograph???
I added lots of Diamond Stickles to Rory and Darcy's wings and a liberal helping along the ground.
I also used a gold glitter Posca pen  and added lots of dots with it on the tree so it does have a shimmer in real life.

Burgundy - well I am hoping that the ink blended Seedless Preserve D.I used for the ground will pass!

It's been a lovely year receiving cards from all over the world.
A huge thank you to those who administer the Challenge too.

It's such a lot of hard work and when you think we've exchanged over 4,000 card in 33 countries it's mind boggling!

Still time to sign up for the first challenge of 2024 too!

Snow Storm

3 weeks before Christmas and Mojo packed his bag and went on his Christmas Holidays!
 
I have discovered it is very difficult to be creative or concentrate when other things are happening around you so at this year's end I want to say thanks for inspirational crafters without who nothing would have been made this festive season! This scene was inspired by a lady called Laura Foster.

There's something about ink blending that I find calming - I like to experiment with colours and see the card background being transformed.

Inks used here were Victorian Velvet, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Lost Shadow and Hickory Smoke.

The holly leaves were stamped using Memento Potters Clay.

I was quite pleased with how Foxy turned out eventually - he was stamped first in Versacolour Bark, then the edges of the stamp were inked with Versafine Clair Nocturne.

Highlighted him with a white gel pen and a black Aquarelle pencil.

Highlighted the snowdrifts with Posca pen and of course I then had to 'spatter attack' the whole piece!

Thanks to everyone who has continued to visit my blog during 2023 and I hope to see you all here again in 2024.
I wish you and all those you care about a very happy and healthy New Year. x

Wishes

There has been a lot of personal stuff going on here over the last few weeks which has left little time for blogging or Christmas preparations.

I am really sorry I have been unable to visit you all in the run up to the big event of the year and hopefully this will change in the not too distant future - not least because I need a little bit of R and R and calling into blogland is one of my most relaxing things to do and I do love to see what everyone has created.

Thank you to all my blogging buddies who have sent me beautiful cards and messages too.
 Here is a simple white embossed Penny Black stamp coloured with watercolours with a heartfelt sentiment to wish you all a wonderfully peaceful and happy Christmas surrounded by those that you love wherever you are in the World. x

More Purple!

 I notice that I've not posted many Christmas cards this year - I have made some but most days the lighting here hasn't been good for pics! Anyway, most are now written and posted so there's only a few cards I can show!

I had some lilac and purple shades out on the desk after making the card for the Card Chain Challenge (post below) so before I had a tidy up I made another.
I used Oxides for this one - Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac for the sky, masking off the moon circle first then some water splatters.
I removed the mask and gave it  a quick light dust over with the Lilac.

I have an Inkylicious moon stamp which has the cloud drifts so inked it with Wilted Violet DI and stamped.  Was pleased with the result.

The snowdrifts were done using Lost Shadow ink.

My Lavinia foxes are very well used and I used a white pen round his body - still practicing with this but I don't think he looks too bad overall altho I was a little heavy handed!

The branches were stamped in Purple, Metallic Silver and Brilliance White - I heat embossed the white then did the same with the bauble.
A few stamped twiggy bits and finished!

Thanks for looking. I hope everyone is well and not getting too panicked about Christmas approaching! I am feeling quite organised this year for a change! x

Catching Hearts!

 My goodness it has been so cold this last week! I know many in other parts of the world experience arctic conditions much worse and for longer periods but here it is so unusual for it to be sub zero for so many consecutive days.

Thankfully this morning, although still cold it is a little warmer than it has been and the forecast is for it to get higher temps in the coming week - but we're to have rain!
So not sure which is the best, cold and ice with bright blue skies or warm and wet but grey overhead!

Whilst making this (another Pinterest inspired card) I thought how cold this poor fairy's bum must have been sat on the snowy floor.....  😨😄 (I resisted the temptation to outline it in white!)

There were a couple of things that perhaps I could have done better -
I was irritated that I didn't manage to align the hanging string when extending the dangling heart but don't think it looks too bad (if you don't inspect it closely!👀🙈)
and I don't think the 'grass' stamped at the bottom of the pine cone spray was the best idea but I will know for next time!

Despite several different stamps this really didn't take too long to do and overall I am contented with how it turned out.
I am now finished with making my Christmas cards! 

Sharing at
Jingle Belles - Wrapping up 2022
Country View Crafts - Christmas
Krafty Chicks - CAS

More Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago a DT post that I had scheduled published - which would have been OK if the  challenge that the post had been done for was still running!

It was only on my blog for an hour and I know a couple of people saw it before I took it down but it was only a couple so I am sharing it now.

I really enjoyed doing this 'reverse stamping on vellum' technique and I have made quite a few cards using different colours for different things.

This snowflake card done in white embossing and a much used icy blue shade of ink was really quick to do with various snowflake stamps and the technique is simple to do.

I started with the white embossing first and then stamped the reverse with a pigment ink.

I die cut the bottom to give lots of white space as this was for a CAS challenge but think I will do a whole panel for the front of a card as the technique gives an elegant look.

I hope all is ok in your part of blogland and thanks for looking. x

Sharing over at
ABC Christmas - X for Xtra Special
Merry Little Christmas - Christmas/Winter
CAS on Friday - Greeting Card
TIOT - Traditional Christmas

Peaceful Winter

I am well into Christmas card mode and here's another.
Have kind of rediscovered my enjoyment of ink blending recently too - I still like CAS a lot but there's something about trying to make a scene blending inks - and of course there's always Pinterest to be inspired by!

The background sky for this was done in Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire Oxides, using a large moon mask.

The fir trees are among some of my most used stamps and are from Inkylicious.

I stamped them in Versafine Clair Morning Mist rather than black ink as I wanted a softer effect.

The tree branches were second and third generation stamping in Chipped Sapphire and a couple stamped in Brilliance Moonlight White.

The little deer (he really is tiny!) was a freebie in a mag - maybe last year - and so was the sentiment.

A liberal spattering with a white Posca pen and my traditional snow scene was done.

I am carrying on making for the forthcoming Artisan Fair and it's strange because I actually don't feel under any pressure to produce lots of stuff, and am just bimbling along! I've done candles, some wooden tree decs and lots of lovely Fairy Baubles as well as cards so maybe it's the variety of makes I am enjoying more?
Anyway, thanks for looking and hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

Sharing over at -

TIOT - Traditional Christmas
Use Your Stuff - Winter/Snow
Holly and Ivy - Anything Christmas

Snow and Ice

Over at CAS Christmas the latest challenge is 'Sparkle and Shine'.
Well, I mean who doesn't love a bit of glittery stuff? Having found the glitter card, I sat and looked at it for a while then I remembered I had bought a Hot Off the Press die last year in a clearance sale and never used it because when it came it was far bigger than I expected! (Note to self - read descriptions and take note of sizes!) It's not massive but at the time it didn't suit me!
Anyway, I used it finally today.

I die cut the skates in silver glitter card then die cut again in bright white Centura Pearl card and pieced the white inside the silver.

The branch is an old Spellbinders one which is probably one of my most used.

Cut the branch from some silver sheen card which isn't as reflective as mirri card and I like it better - I think it looks like the branch has been embossed.

Die cut a couple of snowflakes and then assembled it, using a snowflake embossing folder for the background..

Quite pleased with the result - it really is sparkly and shiny - and I am thinking how nice it would be to be near an icy lake with sparkly skates on - cos after a very dull morning the skies have cleared and it is very warm here at the moment!

Thanks for looking. x
Sharing over at
NBUS #42 - (cos this is the first time for my dies)
Peace On Earth - A/Goes
CHNC - A/Goes with option of the letter 'S'
Sparkles Forum Christmas - A/Goes
A2S+M - Christmas

Watercolour and twigs and Thank You!

 

A quick and simple card - so quick and simple I made a batch of them!
Watercoloured using Distress Oxides, then when dry stamped the twigs.

I resisted the temptation to put berries on them using Nuvo drops as I quite liked them stark and bare. The stamp is by Inkylicious called unsurprisingly 'Willow Twigs'!

One of the things you realise when you're in a confined space is that it really isn't a good idea to spatter your Posca Pen without covering up anything close by - I am currently typing this onto a snowstorm covered keyboard and viewing it through a snowy screen!

I had several small scraps of white card lying about so simply tore them all up and laid over the bottom of the watercolours, then stamped the sentiment (Stampin Up). Altogether I made 8 cards!

As each card only has one tiny snippet I am not sure if Miss Di will allow me to visit the Playground but am linking up and if not she can send me to the naughty step and give me detention!!

Am sure everyone's as fed up as me over my house move saga, so will only say we've not had much movement apart from a suggested date but nothing definite -and it ain't for a few weeks yet cos apparently solicitors (unlike the rest of us mere mortals) have to have extended Christmas holidays... enough said.

I will try and visit everyone in blogland before Christmas Day, but if I don't manage it, I want to wish you all a peaceful, happy Christmas surrounded by everything that is special to you.

Thank you all for sticking with me, particularly the last 6 months which have at times been a hard slog for me, I REALLY appreciate you all, your comments have kept me going.

Christmas wishes everyone and stay safe. xx

Moon

Another Christmas/Winter make.

The Inkylicious moon mask has taken a hammering this year along with a couple of stamps owing to the fact that I cannot access all my stash!

Bottom masked with some torn paper then ink blended the sky. Stamped the Twiggy Branches then removed the mask from the bottom.

It looked a bit bare so more torn paper and more stamping,with a bit (?!) of blending.

I wasn't too happy with the bottom as I went a bit daft 🙈 trying to do snow drifts and used too much ink.
Finished with some White Nuvo Crystal Drops.

Tomorrow should have been Moving Day. Should have been😭😭.

Yet another delay😡 at the top of this chain as their solicitors seem completely incompetent and we were told it is 'unlikely that anything will be done until the New Year'.
Our solicitor is tearing her hair out as we and the lady we are buying from are all ready to go, as is the next two in the chain, it's the one after that that is causing all this stress, grief and disappointment, not to mention cost.
Coupled with the new 'work from home' edict from the Government because of the huge rise in infections here, this will only add to further delays no doubt.
It's incredibly depressing and when you think we should have only been here for about 6-8 weeks and we've now been here 6 months, with cardboard boxes stacked floor to ceiling and furniture stacked everywhere. I am beginning to think we are going to be stuck here forever!
Moan over! x

Majestic

I have ploughed on with the Christmas cards and they're now all done and ready to go.  I held off as long as possible as I thought I may be able to pop in the new address but..................😩😩 so I have spent the morning sticking down the envelopes!

Over the last couple of years I have gone for clear cling stamps and steered away from rubber - I liked the ability to see where and what I was stamping and found it easier to construct scenes.

But there have been some stamps that I liked very much so have stopped bothering about if they're 'see through' or not and just bought them!

This Katzelkraft scene is one of those stamps - and to be honest I have used it to death making lots of Christmas cards with it and just doing different background colours and different moon positions!

This one was an attempt at a subtle Northern Lights background and is one of the lighter coloured mix that I used.

The moon stamp is from Inkylicious
I left them all sentiment-less on the front as I just wanted the majestic image to stand out. I'll share one or two of the others at some point.They have the added bonus of being one layer too!

Linking up at
Sweet Stamping - A/Christmas
Krafty Chicks - Stamp Act
Winter Wonderland - A/Christmas

We have the WORST weather today - lashing rain, some hailstones thrown in and high winds. Winter is definitely here!
Have a good day whatever you're doing. x

Christmas is Coming!

 Despite my entire life being on hold😔 it hit me last weekend that Christmas is not too far away - and although I have some cards made there are a few more that I need/want to do so I thought I'd better make a start!

Here's a share for today.

I made a couple like this - they were quick to do (apart from the fussy cutting of the Robin, not made easy because of the arthritic thumb which has really flared up in the last week)

The twiggy stamp is from PB, simply white heat embossed and then some ink blending done round it.
The robin is from Crafty Individuals and is the smaller one which is the perfect size for a tag (if you use the whole of the stamp!)
I finished it by using some Nuvo Red Crystal drops for the berries.

It's been FOREVER since I managed to post something and link it up for a challenge so am sharing this over at

TIOT - Winter Wonderland
Holly & Ivy - Anything Christmas
TicTacToe #140 - I used the line Red, Bird and Tree

Tentatively we may have some movement on the house - but we have been disappointed so often in the last 6 months we are trying not to get too excited - so we will just have to wait and see!

Thanks for visiting, hope all is well with you in your part of blogland. x

Mid Month at CAS Mix Up

Our 'STENCIL MONOPRINT' challenge is halfway through at CAS Mix Up. My first make at the start of the month is here
It's hard to believe that we are in the middle of November! We all have a little break over December so this is my last CAS Mix Up post of the year - we are back on 1st January with a brand new challenge for a new year (and hopefully a new house for me!)

So I have done 2 cards in anticipation of our little holiday during December - bit of a long post!

The first one is another masculine card using an Art Deco style stencil from Funky Fossil.
The print was done using Chipped Sapphire and Blueprint Sketch inks.

I matted the panel onto dark blue card and the sentiment was stamped in Versafine Midnight ink

The second card has lots of white but has a couple of layers so although not absolutely strictly CAS it does show how much I like messing about monoprinting stencils!

Again my stencil is from Funky Fossil and it gets a lot of use at this time of year - I really like the modern look of the trees.

I used Bundled Sage and Mowed Lawn to pull my print and then die cut the trees.

Added another die cut piece of a snowy hill with trees and an embossed snowy sky.

Lots of gorgeous makes from the DT over at the challenge blog, hope you will have a go at this technique if you've not already done so - it's another way of stretching your stash and the results can be fab!

CAS Christmas - July

 Even though at the moment my life outside the craft room can be only described as 'madly chaotic' - (nothing sinister - more of that will be shared in due course!) - I yesterday found time to continue with my quest to participate in every month's challenge at CAS Christmas.

The challenge this month is 'Poinsettia'.

The die was a present from a friend and it is such a pretty one.

Cut the petals twice then watercoloured one green and one red then layered them - VERY fiddly to do but was happy with the result!.

I fiddled and faffed about for ages in deciding on a background and then just did a little watercolouring with no rhyme or reason!

It didn't look too bad and I added a little bit of stamping with a small berry stamp from an old Choc Baroque set to give it some interest.
The 'Joy' sentiment is from SU.

Sharing over at
Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July
Dragonfly Dreams - Christmas in July
Addicted 2 CAS - Christmas

Thank you for looking and for leaving any comments, I really appreciate it. x

Holly-Days

 CAS Christmas has a 'Foliage with Berries' theme for their May challenge.

I used a much neglected die and cut out several leaves and berries, then watercoloured.

Some Mowed Lawn DI gently brushed through a stencil as I thought the plain white card background was a little stark.

I added some Glossy Accents to the berries and a few red ink spatters!

The sentiment is from PB.
Another Christmas card done!

It is ridiculously cold here considering it's supposed to be Spring.

Although today we do have some blue skies after yesterdays heavy rain and hailstones it is definitely not warm!

Sharing my make over at
Holly+Ivy - Anything Xmas

CAS Christmas April Challenge

It seems even weirder now to be making Christmas cards when we have blue skies and sunshine BUT - having ventured outside it is really cold so it feels more like Winter!
This month's challenge at CAS Christmas is RAINBOW
Here's my card which I am hoping is CAS enough 

I am still trying to keep using all the coloured cardstock that I have so black for this one which is normally used for layering!
For a long time I have tried to achieve a decent attempt at a night sky reminiscent of the Northern Lights.
(I have a burning ambition to actually see the lights for real and it is number 1 on my wish list.)

I used sooooo many inks for this sky but you know, I was really happy with it!

Flicked some white Posca pen across it to give a 'starry' effect.

I cut out two rows of trees, one in black and another in watercolour card.

I tried to watercolour the trees in the same colours as the sky immediately above them!
I offset the black trees behind to give a little 'shadow'.

The sentiment is one of my fave Christmas dies.

I am feeling very pleased  as it is now month 4 and I have kept my promise to take part in CAS Christmas every month!
(But I keep reminding myself it's only a quarter of the way through the year!!!)
Wishing you all a Happy Easter weekend. x

Sharing at
Jingle Belles - Dies