CHRISTMAS CRAFTS ALL YEAR ROUND - JANUARY - THANK YOU

Good afternoon everyone - I'm here to post my mid-month Challenge card for CCAYR - now you might have noticed that we have changed our name from Christmas Cards All Year Round to Christmas Crafts All Year Round - this is because we are more than happy for you to create whatever you like (as long as it goes with the theme that is!).   

Sorry about the colours on here - the gems are all a gorgeous red - unfortunately the weather was absolutely atrocious when the maestro took the pics for me and no matter what he did he couldn't get a better one.  Oh and there's a red glittery strip around the embossed piece of card which looks gorgeous in real life.  

Our theme is a Christmas 'Thank You' so I thought of a special card for a friend who had been really helpful throughout the year.   However having told you about our theme, we are accepting Anything Goes entries as well because there was an accidental faux pas on a Challenge Information site.  Not to worry!

The January prize winner will received the following crafty items

I do hope you can enter our Challenge (here) - you can never be too early starting your Christmas crafting when it comes down to it!!!

Lots of big hugs to you all - hope you are keeping nice and warm as well.

Love to everyone Suexxx

INTERNATIONAL ART AND SOUL - CHALLENGE NO 24 - WHITE ON WHITE

Good afternoon everyone - well here's my second card for 2018 and our theme is White on White chosen by my friend Christine H.    She did say that we could add a smidge of another colour so I added some light blue to make the scene through the window stand out a little.  In actual daylight the blue is a lot paler than shown but I think the camera flash altered it slightly.  I've seen similar cards to this on t'internet and I really wanted to make one just like them.

I thought this could be either for Christmas or a winter Wedding  - what do you reckon?

We'd love to see your WOW creations - the challenge runs for a fortnight and you can enter here.  Whilst you're there check out the DT creations, they are gorgeous and really inspirational.

Anyway must be off now places to go, people to see, cards to make - you know how it is.  In the meantime I would like to wish you a wonderful 2018, if you are under the weather at the moment I'm hoping you have a speedy recovery too!

Big hugs to you all.

Love Suexxx

CRAFTY CALENDAR CHALLENGE - JANUARY - MYTHICAL CREATURES (fairies, goblins, pixies, dragon's etc)

Happy New Year to you all - hope you had a good one whether you celebrated or not!  I hate New Year so I was tucked up in bed with me hot water bottle fast asleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!

So - here's my first card for 2018.  Over at the Crafty Calendar Challenge site we have a theme of Mythical Creatures - examples are in the title of the post but if you can think of anything else we'd love to see what you come up with.  I used 'Growing a Flower' from a Day for Daisies - isn't she gorgeous?

Ages ago I was having a play with some spritzy colours and ended up with a piece of paper that I put away for 'ron'.   When I knew that our challenge was mythical this paper said it all - so I coloured the fairy with her flower in the same lilac and turquoise shades.  I also used those colours for the die cuts although I sprayed the toadstool with Pearl spray (Crafters' Companion) afterwards. 

Our challenge runs until 28 January and we have two absolutely fantastic sponsors

A Day for Daisies

and

Wild Orchid Crafts

Pop on over to the Crafty Calendar Challenge and check out the work of my teamies, we'd love you to join in (here).

Bye for now, just off to give Biscuit his medicine, he has his stuff for his kidneys and every other day (ie today) he has to have an aspirin to stop him having a 'stroke' in his kidneys.  We'll do anything to keep him as healthy as possible 'cos he really is gorgeous.

Hugs to you all

Love  Suexxx

INTERNATIONAL ART AND SOUL - CHALLENGE NO 23 - LOTS OF SPARKLE

Morning everyone - this fortnight over at the International Art and Soul challenge our theme is - whoopee - 'Lots of Sparkle' and as I'm in full Christmas mode I made another Christmas card!!

I use images on most of my cards,  'cos I love to colour and use markers - this must stem from when I was a little girl and I had those lovely Crayola crayons - but this time I just used my dies.   The snowflake die-cut is sitting in an embossed 'reverse' shape of itself, which is explained in the video link in the next paragraph.

One of the ladies in an FB group I'm in told us about a lady called Jennifer McGuire (I've added a link to her page) and she did a technique called 'Reverse Die Impressions'.  Well I watched the video and was totally drawn in, many of you will probably have seen this but it's new to me and I wanted to try it out.  I won't explain how I did it 'cos I wouldn't do it justice.  Just take a peek at Jennie's handiwork - it's beautiful and I must admit I'm quite pleased with the results of my efforts too!!

Soooo it's all up to you now - as I said yesterday I know it's a busy time of year but if you have any last minute cards to create, make sure they sparkle and enter them into our challenge (here).  We'd love to see your creations although, of course, they don't have to be Christmas cards!!!

Catch up with you later and thanks again for checking out my blog.  Sending you big hugs.

LoveSuexxx

CRAFTY CALENDAR CHALLENGE - DECEMBER - IT'S CHRISTMAS!!

First of all apologies to 'the boss' aka Sue J 'cos this should have been on last weekend!   Without any further delay, here's my card for the December 'It's Christmas'  challenge over at Crafty Calendar.  I love that image from Bugaboo - they're so kind to let us play with these!

Ingredients

7" x 7" White Card base - Anna Marie Designs
Image - 'Two Snowmen' from Bugaboo Stamps
First Editions 8" x 8" paper pad - 'Gilded Winter'
HOTP - 'Cardmakers' Christmas' Creative paper pack
Creative Expressions Embossing Folder - 'Frosty Swirls'
Memory Box Dies - 'Frosty Border' die
Cardio Majestix stamps - 'Winter Flurry'
Copics
Stardust Stickles glue
Ribbon - stash

We have two sponsors this month - 

Bugaboo Stamps

and Crafty Ribbons 

We know it's really busy at this time of year but if you have some time we'd love to see what you can create for us to look at.  Our challenge is open until 28 December and don't forget it can be any type of Christmas craft.

Anyway I'm just off to sort me knicker drawer out - only joking - I'm off to do my usual ironing - joy of joys methinks!!!

Sending you lots of hugs and thank you so much for popping over to my blog.

Love Suexxx

INTERNATIONAL ART AND SOUL - CHALLENGE NO 22 - BUTTONS AND BOWS

Good afternoon fellow blogsters.  This fortnight our theme over at the IntAAS Challenge blog is 'Buttons and Bows'.  As it is nearly Christmas I thought I would be able to fit buttons and bows into a Christmas card without too much trouble.   In my stash I've had some really tiny buttons for a while and I decided to use them as 'berries'!!!

This is a 7" x 7" card so the wreath had to be quite large and the thought of using my two 'pine spray' dies over and over again through the machine was too daunting so I used my 'fern' punch and asked the maestro for his help.  I promised that he would get a mention in my post!!!  Bless him - he sat there with a piece of green card and punched out over 65 of these fronds (I think it was nearer 100 by the time he'd finished but I've got some left for other cards).  I cut out a few holly leaves to add to the design so I wasn't idle (sorry for giggling here!!!)  The sentiment is stamped and embossed with red embossing powder and I curled it slightly to make it stand away from the centre of the card.  The gold tape around the edge is quite glittery and shiny but it doesn't 'shed' glitter all over the place.  I love this tape sooooo much and have it in three different widths.

Ingredients

7" x 7" White card blank - Anna Marie Designs

Creative Expressions Embossing Folder - 'Snowflake Lattice'

Elizabeth Craft Designs Dies - 'Holiday Holly and Berries' die

Die-Namics Dies - Stiched Fishtail Flag Stax die

Punch - fern fronds (no name on the punch)

Sentiment - 'Merry Christmas' free with Love Cardmaking magazine

My Colour Studio - 'Red' Ultra Fine Embossing powder

Tartan ribbon and tiny red buttons - ancient stash from the cupboard!!

Glitter tape - stash

I hope you have the time to enter our challenge this fortnight (here) - we all love to see your designs and whilst you're there why don't you check out the work of the rest of the DT.

Big hugs to you all and take care!

Love Suexxx

CHRISTMAS CARDS ALL YEAR ROUND - NOVEMBER - CANDIES, COOKIES OR GINGERBREAD

Good morning fellow bloggers out there - I'm posting my mid-month reminder for the CCAYR Challenge today.  I've had this stamp for a while and thought as the theme included cookies (although over here we'd call them biscuits) this little cutie would be perfect.

I really enjoyed making this card because it was an idea which just came to me - like a light bulb moment!!!   Since having my own blog and becoming a DT member I've started using loads of digi images but my last three cards (one not yet posted) have all been stamps and I'd forgotten how rewarding it is to get a crisp image from a stamp I've inked and 'plotted'.

Ingredients

6" x 6" white card blank - Create and Craft (very old stash)
House Mouse Rubber stamp - 'Christmas Fireplace' set from Joanna Sheen
Sentiment stamp - 'Merry Little Christmas' set from Apple Blossom Clear Stamps
Label stamps - Christmas set from Lily of the Valley Clear Stamps
Tree Lights and rectangle die - Unbranded dies
Copics and Flexmarkers
White Glitter - free with magazine

I hope you can join in our challenge (here) we have a lovely crafty prize for the winner -

I'll say tara now 'cos I'm scheduling this one for tomorrow morning - hope I've done it right, I won't have time to fiddle with it 'cos we're going swimming and I'm hoping to manage at least 60 lengths before they kick us out!

Lots of big hugs to you all and I hope you are feeling OK.

Love Suexxx