Christmas Card Club

Christmas Card Club

Hi lovely visitors to my blog.  I hope you haven't given up on me. It's been a hectic time here with trade shows, christenings, end of term and leaving primary school events for my children and sadly more recently my brother's father in law passed away very suddenly.  A lovely man who will be missed greatly.

Today I'm getting back in the flow with Sue's challenge for our Christmas Card Club.  She asked us to make a card with a Christmas teddy and I know in the depths of my craft room I have one somewhere, but for today he's incognito dressed as a naughty reindeer!!!  This is a stamp a bought years ago and have never used!!!! You can all relate to that I'm sure!  I've coloured him partially with my new blendies and my markers both from Stampin' Up! and I've used the brand new heart border punch to fall in with my sentiment  - Hoping your Christmas is trimmed with the love and warmth of family and friends -  A few doodle dots with my white gel pen and we're done bar the sequins, dazzling details (glitter glue), stampin' distress tool and chalk talk framelits for the sentiment.

Colours used are real red, pacific point, soft suede, crumb cake, daffodil delight, old olive, cherry cobbler, basic black and whisper white.  Sentiment is from Stampin' Up! Christmas Messages which is still available until 15 August.

Please do go check out the other ladies 'teddy bears' by clicking on the links in my sidebar for more Christmas inspiration. After all we're over half way there already!!!

Enjoy what's left of your weekend.

Hugs Zx

Christmas Card Club–Poinsettias

Don't panic it isn't a fortnight since our last Christmas Card Club challenge, only a week has past, but to ensure the challenges fall right nearer to Christmas an extra one has been popped in here!!! The challenge to incorporate Poinsettias was set by Karen B. Thanks for a lovely traditional challenge.            . 

I've fallen back on my trusty favourite Christmas set of Watercolour Winter.  It's a retired set and I nearly sold it to a customer, but I'm so pleased she changed her mind as I really value it and love what you can create with it!  I'm hoping something similar, but different arrives in the next seasonal Stampin' Up! UK catalogue in September. 

I've stamped my Poinsettias with Versamark onto vellum card stock  and then added gold embossing powder, heated it and then flipped over the image to colour the reverse with cherry cobbler marker pen.  I also found that if I used my blender pen it was easier to add more colour and make sure it didn't look blotchy.  I carefully cut out the flowers and also the centre of one to add some depth on my front flower.  I didn't colour the flower centres, but used some pearls which I coloured with my gold pen (I'm hoping these come back again too Stampin' Up! UK please!)  to keep the golden theme.  The greenery is also from Watercolour Winter which is stamped in always artichoke, soft suede and early espresso.  It's a two-step stamp set so you get to highlight the images if you wish which I've done in the case of the pine cones. 

A cherry cobbler sentiment from Christmas Messages and a very gentle 'smudge' around the edge of my whisper white card stock base in crumb cake finishes off what I hope you agree is an elegant Christmas card!

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend.

Zx

Challenges
Crafty Hazelnut's Extra Christmas Challenge - Anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Something beginning with b - bling, bauble.... Pearls!?!
Completely Christmas - Anything Goes
Speedy Fox and Friends - Flowers

Christmas Card Club with Stampin’ Up! UK Christmas Card

It's time again for the Christmas Card Club Challenge, set this time by  Asha. Her challenge is to make a card featuring something that gives Christmas light! Her words were

Streets, shops, homes, trees ... everything looks so enchanting at Christmas. From twinkling fairy lights to flickering candlelight, from brilliant stars scintillating in the night sky to the faint glimmer of lamps and lanterns - lights transform the mundane into something quite magical.

It's a lovely challenge and one I've really enjoyed working on not least because Asha has dedicated this challenge to the memory of her dog Snoopy who she sadly lost a year ago today. Those of you who are pet owners know that pain and tragedy when you lose a beloved pet.  

It's also given me an opportunity to tell you about Ben, our crazy made Border Collie.  He's a rescue dog from the RSPCA and we've had him for about 18 months now and I think he's finally settled with us, but for those of you who know him already you'll know he's quite a character and very mischievious! 

He steals anything from brooms to wellies to itsy bitsy knickers including lacy numbers that my daughter will murder me for saying!!!! He has worked his magic on us so well that we are all besotted with him and can't imagine life without him.  Our pets are such an important part of our lives not only for the fun and cuddles, but also for the friendship they offer, the stress busting skills they have and for the unconditional love they give from the moment you walk through the front door. 
Asha I hope the wonderful memories you have of your adorable Snoopy will bring smiles rather than sadness to you today. 

Card Recipe
Candles - Fancy Foil Designer Vellum and Silver Foil Sheet
Holly - stamp set Watercolour Winter (retired)
Sentiment - stamp set Christmas Messages
Tools - Decorative Label Punch, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, heat gun, Embossing powder
Ink - Metallic Encore Pad silver, marvellous markers real red and gumball green
Adhesives - dimensionals, mini glue dots

Challenges
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything goes
Completely Christmas Challenge - Anything goes

Christmas Card Club

northern flurry stampin' up! embossing - christmas messages

 

Another Christmas Card Club and I've come to post my card with great excitement that it's only Saturday night and I'll have it posted on time for tomorrow. Ah well that would be fantastic if I hadn't got the date wrong. This should have appeared last Sunday so I'm late, but have nonetheless enjoyed making this card. I'm also pleased that I've done a bit of upcycling by using the leftover die cut remains from this kit.

Can you tell which bit is upcycled?

Our challenge was set by the Mary and she set us the task of using red or featuring a heart.  Well I've used red and featured a heart because this card could be adapted very easily for Valentine's with a different embossing folder and sentiment. 
I love the heat embossed doily framing my heart and embellishments and the glimmer paper die cut left over was too lovely to go to waste.  We crafters just can't throw things away can we...... 
Of course I also loved using the Happenings Simply Created Card kit too making cards for all my clever hostesses who've booked a party during Sale-a-bration. 

I will be back soon.

Have a great week!
Zx

Christmas Card Club

Stampin' Up! sale-a-bration sneak peek 2014

Aarrrgh!!!!! I hate it that when I do my best to master technology it lets me down either with slow broadband living in the sticks or HTML codes gone wrong or ........   or maybe (don't tell my husband!!!) it's just me not giving enough patience to deal with the changes, but I've tried for three days on two different pieces of technological equipment to load a picture of this Christmas pudding card!!! I was so thrilled that for once I was going to be on time for the fortnightly Christmas Card Club Challenge set this time by Lizzie with the title of 'Cooking up a storm', meaning anything to do with seasonal food.  Well it's cooked a storm here I can tell you with my frustrations at actually getting a picture onto a computer that will allow blogger to work for me to post.

Enough whining here's my Pud!  I used the circles collection framelits to make my base card ensuring that i left the fold of my card slightly beyond the outside edge of the framelit so that it didn't leave me with 2 circles instead of a card. I also trimmed a little off the bottom once it was cut to make it stand upright.  Using a sneak peek of one of the fabulous free Saleabration free gifts ie the decorative dots embossing folder I added texture to my pud. To highlight some I've used some metallic rub-ons (from deep within my craftroom!), with cotton bud picking out odd embossed dots and also some of the soon to arrive gold sequin trim with the smallest of pearls.  The icing has been embossed with clear powder to give a glazed look, a bit like mine at the moment and the topping of holly and bell is a card topper I bought in the Marks and Spencer sale.  Christmas messages from Stampin' Up! winter catalogue gives a warm sentiment while it pops out of my pudding on a cocktail stick and again adorned with sequins and pearls. 

Please do visit the other lovely ladies in our club who will inspire you with their beautiful and varying offerings of Christmas grub!

Take care til next time.
Zx

Christmas Card Club

 

Well hello gentle readers!  By now you've probably given up on me and decided that I have gone to live in outer Mongolia..............!  I wouldn't blame you.  I've been busy with life, family and friends and with preparations for the Stampin' Up! European 5th Convention later this week. 

 

Finally though I have got to my blog and you kind supporters of it.  I've made my card for the Christmas Card Club, the challenge for which was set by  Carol.  Interesting challenge and not only was it challenging to do, but it stretches your known ideas of Christmas and tradition.  One of my lovely customers sent a beautiful 'pink' card for Christmas a couple of years ago and it struck me then how clever it was as it stood out from all the others as it was so different and actually very appealing.  I hope you like this made with the single stamp Christmas Star stamped simply with pink pirouette and scored on it's design to give it some 3Dness!  I've used a sentiment from Christmas Messages and the small star from the Merry Minis punch pack and my trusty large star punch which sadly is no longer available.  I love bling and so there's mirror card from my stash and silver glimmer paper and of course what's bling without a rhinestone!

 

Gorgeous grunge paint spatter stamp, although you can only just make it out, gave some colour to my Pretty Print embossed background and a bit of smudging everywhere brings it all together! 

 

Thanks Carol for a different challenge.

 

Thanks for your patience, I hope you'll be back for more!

 

Zx