Thursday 23 February 2017

Be of Good Cheer with Glittering Glass Santa

Here is another Christmas creation, this time for a challenge that I found called Creative Knockouts. They had a recipe of using 3 patterned papers, two embellishments and 1 image.
So here is my card:


I have used three patterned papers from a paper stack called Twig & Berry by KaiserCraft, one of them was a scalloped die cut from the back. The green background paper and velvety banner paper have been outlined with brushed corduroy Distress Ink, I even "smooshed" some ink on to the edges of the green paper to make it looked distressed.
The papers were adhered to a Kraft card from Envelope Solutions.

The image that I have used is from Power Poppy - Glittering Glass Santa - he is one of my favourites.  He was digitally printed on to X-Press It paper and cut out using my Silhouette Cameo. I have coloured him with the following Copics markers:
  • face - E000, R20
  • jacket - R32, R35, R37
  • gloves - 100
  • greenery/tree - G12, G14, G17
  • berries - R46, R59
  • top of ornament - Y28
  • background - BG000, BG01
  • sparkle - Wink of Stella
Here is a close up of the image:


I also coloured the sentiment piece (again digitally printed on to X-Press It paper and cut out using my Silhouette Cameo), using the following Copics markers:
  • berries - R46, R59, clear Wink of Stella
  • branch - E09, brown Wink of Stella
  • background - E81, E84, E87
For my two embellishments, I have added some brown and white Baker's twine to the banner paper and then coloured three Rhinestones from KaiserCraft with R59.


I have also used the sketch from Mojo Mondays:

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
CraftyHazelnuts Christmas Challenge #321 - anything Christmas and something green

Thanks for looking!

Friday 17 February 2017

Anything Christmas Goes - Tribute Challenge for Winter Wonderland's Eileen for 17th of February 2017



For the next two weeks at Winter Wonderland, we are hosted by Helen.

As regular followers of our challenge blog will know, our blog owner and coordinator Eileen sadly passed away recently. This challenge is our tribute to her and all the hard work and time she put into running the challenge blog. As it's a special challenge, both teams are joining in.

 And so the theme for this challenge is simply:

Anything Christmas Goes 

....so we want to see all your Christmas projects!

For this challenge, we are sponsored by Little Claire Designs, who are giving 3 digi stamps to the winner
 

Little Claire Designs is based on the Wirral in the north west of England and is owned and run by Steve and Gill. They sell a range of great stamps, digis, outline stickers, ready to use images, papers and other goodies.
You may well have seen Steve at craft shows up and down the country and most recently you will have seen him on Hochanda for Little Claire's debut show. Steve is back on the TV again on Monday 20th of March for two shows! 

 They also host regular craft classes (run by Helen!!) on the Wirral - take a look at the website if you fancy a fun day out with good company and lots of card making.


So on to my card. As I have always wanted to have a drink with Eileen and the February theme at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Drinks", I thought I would use a stamp of a polar bear with a mug of something warm from The Greeting Farm from Let It Snow. So I stamped him using Tuxedo Black Memento ink on to X-Press It paper. 

I coloured the background of the square card from Envelope Solutions using Copics:
BG02, B16, B29 and B69.
The snow is texture paste using the Falling Snow stencil from Simon Says Stamp.
The original idea for this background came from Kathy at the Daily Marker during one of her colouring challenges. I know I have used this background before, but I just love it and it is quick and easy! But this time I have used gloss texture paste - Ranger Texture Paste Transparent Gloss.
So hopefully we will see a bit of gloss!

I have coloured the polar bear with the following Copics:
C00, C3 and RV10 for the cheeks and ears.
For the mug, I started with B14, but then it caused a huge blob of ink on the bear's left paw.....so I finished with B16 and B18, then I went over with B12 to lighten it up a little.
The hot chocolate is E23.
The plaid scarf is B41 for the base, then I drew lines of R29 and YG17. I went back over with R29 for more definition.
I have also used black Wink of Stella on his nose and eyes, then clear Wink of Stella on the red of the plaid and middle of the mug. I used green Wink of Stella on the plaid and blue Wink of Stella on the outside of the mug and handle.
I have then fussy cut the polar bear and outlined him with my Memento Dual Marker - unfortunately, I slipped as I was going around the inside of his legs and now he has a scar! :?

For the sentiment, I stamped Let's be Merry from the Let It Snow stamp set with Cottage Ivy Memento ink on to some scrap X-Press It paper, which I then die cut using a decorative die from KaiserCraft. I outlined the sentiment piece with BG02.

I then adhered both the polar bear and sentiment piece with foam squares to add some more dimension.

So here is my finished card - I was able to take the photo outside, as it is during the day!

 
 Unfortunately, you can't see any sparkle from the Wink of Stella, also the glossy texture paste isn't as distinctive as the regular stuff - I will use the regular stuff for snow next time!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Creative Inspirations #268 - anything goes
ABC Christmas Challenge - C for creature and D for dimension
Crafty Cardmakers #182 - add some texture
Do-Al(l) Kreatives #2 - winter time
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra Feb 2017 - anything goes as long as it is Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #321 - anything goes as long as it is Christmas

There is inspiration from both the Snowflakes and Icicles DT over on the Winter Wonderland blog, so please pop over to everyone's blog by clicking on their name. We always appreciate a comment or two! :) You can also find out what other challenges are out there, which could give you some ideas for your card stash.

We all hope you are able to join us in our special challenge. We look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your gorgeous creations. Please be sure to post a link back to the Winter Wonderland blog in your blog post in order to be eligible for a prize!

Have fun and remember you can enter each challenge up to 3 times. This challenge will end on Thursday the 2nd of March and our next challenge will start the following day.

Please remember to check back at the Winter Wonderland blog to find out the winners of the Spring Fever Challenge.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday 15 February 2017

It's Your Birthday Genie Marci Card

Well I have been busy with job interviews, cleaning our house and organising a birthday party for someone special. 
I can't believe that 10 years ago, I went to the hospital in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a "check up" after not feeling very well the whole day and was told that I was 10 cms dilated and 2 hours later I had a baby girl in my arms! :) 
Time has definitely flown and on Sunday we had an archery party with 7 of Aby's friends - huge thank yous to my mum Julie who did a lot of the prep work at the party place. 
I baked a couple of cakes which looked awesome and layered them together with black butter cream before placing an edible image that I created of a bulls eye with an arrow and "Happy 10th Birthday Abigayle". I also made stickers to place on the party bags and all over the table cloth.





Yesterday I mashed up the leftover birthday cake with the tops of the cake that I kept and made cake pops. Aby took them to school today to enjoy with her class mates. I meant to use the leftover party stickers to place on the sticks, but at 1 am this morning, my head was not screwed on properly! The cake pops were a hit with Aby's classmates and teachers! :)


So enough about the cake and party! I made a card for Aby's birthday using the sketch from CAS(E) this sketch:


I also wanted to use Genie Marci, a La-La Land Craft Club image that I have not used before. I coloured Genie Marci using inspiration from Sandie at The Paper Cove. I used the Copics pens as listed in this picture (hopefully you can all read my writing!):


I had to fussy cut the image and as you can see I have had a bit of an accident with other ink! I was a bit clumsy today!

For the rest of the card, I used washi tape to mark off my rectangle of paper on my card, stamped the sentiment "It's your birthday" from the January 2017 Club La-La Land kit using Vivid! Ultramarine ink. I also used the cupcake from the same kit and stamped it using Vivid! Purple ink and Vivid! Raspberry ink:



So then here is my completed card, after I have adhered Genie Marci using foam squares:




Hopefully you can see all the glittery bits I added to her hair and outfit!

Thanks for looking!