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More playing today and my 2nd Christmas card of the year!
The lovely papers are from a Xmas stack by DCWV which has been in my stash for a long time and the cute ice skater is a digi image called "Ice Skating Hoot" from Pink Gem Designs. He was coloured with Promarkers, before being cut out and mounted onto foam pads. The addition of some fancy snowflakes and a dash of pink Stickles for his bobble hat give a touch of Christmas sparkle.
This week Winter Wonderland's Challenge is "Red and Green Must Not Be Seen" so Pink and Purple fit the bill. Coincidentally, one of the challenge sponsors this week is Pink Gem Designs which I didn't know when I made the card ... isn't that a hoot LOL?
Crafts 4 Eternity are looking for "Wonderful Wings" and there's no doubt that Ice Skating Hoot has wings ... reckon they'll come in handy if the ice melts!
... Christmas card this year.
Yes! Seriously!
For 2 years my good friend Ann and myself were responsible for running weekly challenges over at Bah Humbug Christmas Challenge blog so having a wee stock pile of Christmas cards ready and waiting to be written when December came around, wasn't a problem. When we originally closed Humbug Hall, as it was affectionately known, in 2011, the intention was to continue joining in with other Christmas card challenges without the pressure of forward planning, deadlines etc ... but unfortunately that didn't actually happen. As a result and to my acute embarrassment, many of my friends and family received shop bought cards last year. Shocking I know! I'd prefer not to be in a similar position this year so am making a start now ... which is already quite late compared to some people believe me!
Winter Wonderland is one of the challenge blogs where I used to enjoy playing so thought I'd start off there and see how it goes. Their current challenge is 'Lots of Spots' and I just about have time to get my entry in before the deadline.
Keeping things simple seemed like a good idea, so a DL card blank is covered with spotty snowflake paper ... a square of textured card mounted on foam pads is placed near the top onto which is glued a smaller square of embossed silver mirri card ... and to top it all off, a chipboard snowflake, which has been inked and glittered to within an inch of it's life, is adhered with silicon glue.
There you have it ... no greeting ... no ribbons ... no fancy bells and whistles, just a snowflake and some pretty paper.
Am also going to submit my card for entry at
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Now I can pat myself on the back and head for bed knowing that, unlike last year, my Xmas card stash isn't non-existent.
Well naughty Mr. Blogger managed to send everyone into a tail spin over the last couple of days when he decided to have a major hissy fit and lock us all out of blogland! Kind've makes you wonder what we did with our lives before blogging came along because there were plenty of people who were totally lost for the last 2 days without it lol?
Hopefully he has been sorted out now and we'll have no more silly nonsense ... but just in case ... I'd better show my latest challenge offering for Bah! Humbug! pretty darn quick.
This week we're looking for cards and projects following the theme of Snowflakes and the focal image on my card was something I had a bash at when my Humbugger Buddy Ann came to stay and kindly introduced me to the delights of using embossing paste with brass stencils and then colouring by blending with inks. What inky fun we had that day!
I trimmed the panel and matted it onto pale blue glitter card, before placing it, off centre, on top of a panel of Debbie Moore text foil paper which was also matted, firstly onto black and then onto more of the blue glitter card.
Ice blue sparkly ribbon is knotted and trimmed to add a little interest. The fancy peel off snowflakes are already decorated with tiny clear gemstones and provide a touch more sparkle ... just in case it was needed.
Check out what Ann and our Guest Designers have been up to at Humbug Hall and then join in with our challenge to show us what fabulous ideas you can come up with using snowflakes.
Reckon it's almost time for la-la-land ... but before I go let me show you the beautiful azalea bush that is blooming beside the garage.
Stunning ... or what?
After the rain ...
A beautiful sight to see every morning ... but such a shame that the flowers are so shortlived and will only last a couple of weeks.
Enjoy your weekend ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
Over at Bah! Humbug Challenges, the DT have set the final challenge for this year and are preparing to wind down for Christmas ... unlike everywhere else in blogland where they are winding things up as the magic month approaches.
We will really miss our Friday get-togethers with the loyal friends who have supported us throughout our debut year and "Humbugger Hall" will seem very cold and lonely without them. So it is fitting that this week our challenge theme is "Feeling The Blues"
Icy blue card and pretty snowflake paper, combined with silver mirri card provide a perfect base for this beautiful large white snowflake, which is from a set of tree decorations I spied in Asda. I just lurrrrve the texture and hint of sparkle but if you are tempted to get some yourself, then take the precaution of opening the packet in a shoebox or something similar and spray both sides with cheap hairspray before use to help reduce the 'shedding' of bits.
Silver snowflakes and some ice blue glitter ribbon were added to embellish the greeting which was stamped with a Pearlescent Blue Dew Drop ink pad and cut with a scalloped punch, before being popped on with silicon glue.
Inside was decorated with a leftover strip of mirri card which had been diecut with Marianne Snowflake for another project and was conveniently lying on the desk, along with a sparkly peel off greeting matted onto mirri card.
A couple of blue star gems are the final finishing touch to the snowflakes.
I will be entering my card into Simon Says Stamp Challenge -Let It Snow which qualifies me for entry to Lorraine's sponsored Blog Candy for the chance to win an adorable House Mouse stamp. Am also joining in with Wild Rose Studio's Blog Hop as the layout follows Dawny P's sketch ... if you turn it 90 degrees. There's a fantastic prize on offer and all the DT members have a stamp to give away, so plenty of chances to win.
There's lots still to do at Humbugger Hall before we close and padlock the huge iron gates for the last time and settle down to hibernate with the dust and cobwebs. Including the announcement of our Special Prize Draw winners next week, which will be very exciting, so don't miss it.
Meanwhile there's a challenge for you to be getting on with ... so GET ON WITH IT! Remember to leave us a link or we may be forced to let the Humbug Hounds out ... and you wouldn't want us to do that as they haven't been fed since .... ermmmm ... January!
... is the name of this pretty little Sugar Nellie stamp I used for my card. Isn't she sweet?
She was stamped onto linen effect card with black Memento ink and then heat embossed with holographic embossing powder before colouring with Promarkers and adding Stickles for extra sparkle.
The background papers are from a DCWV pad which has been in my stash for a very long time and never lets me down if I'm in a hurry or struggling to decide on colour choices. Sadly there are only a few sheets which remain untouched now, but I really can't complain as it has served me well being one of the very first items I ever bought from QVC - believe it or not, that was several years ago.
Silver mirri card was embossed with snowflakes in the cuttlebug and then cut in half to provide the panels which sit behind the main image and a snowflake border punch helps to decorate the white spaces.
I only own 2 of the Sugar Nellie Christmas range at the moment, but there are 4 new Christmas Mangas due for release very soon and IF Mr. Random Selector thingy is feeling really kind and chooses my entry number, then I could be the lucky winner of all of them AND a set of Spellbinders. Isn't that a fabby prize?
If you fancy having a go yourself then you'll need to be quick and head over to Sugar Bowl Challenge 41 and get your entry in before midnight. YES - Thats midnight tonight!
Just follow Marlene's cool sketch with the optional theme of using 'Something Old or Something New'. My papers definitely qualify as old so perfect for this challenge extra.
A classic black and white combination was the simple recipe for my Bah! Humbug! Challenge offering this week. It is one of my favourite choices when it comes to quick and easy cards because there's ALWAYS black and white card within easy reach of any crafter.
I stamped these lovely Debbie Moore fanfare angels and Noel text silhouette stamps with black ink onto white linen effect card.
They were heat embossed with black embossing powder and then sprayed with Crafter's Companion Irridescent Sparkle. I really like the sparkle finish but wish I knew how to stop the nozzle clogging up as it's very tiresome having to continually rinse it.
Anyway, while that was drying, I punched 2 strips of snowflakes from sheets of white and black embossed card using the Martha Stewart border punch - part of a recent QVC TSV which was simply too good a bargain to pass up.
A panel of black embossed card was placed to the left of a DL landscape card blank and the white snowflake strip was glued on top vertically using a glue pen, which is pefect for getting to all the fiddly bits. The black snowflake strip was placed horizontally across the middle of the card before adding the stamped image which had been matted onto black card.
Lines were scored horizontally above and below the image up to the edge of the pretty black embossed card for additional detail.
Check out what Ann and Irene have been busy with over at Bah! Humbug! and then have a look to see who the random lucky winner of the stamp set is from last week's draw.
If you own a Christmas Fairy or Angel image that would like to spread it's wings with our challenge, then please don't be shy as we welcome all ages and abilities at Bah! Humbug! This card is eligible for the following challenges so I'm entering them all ... coooooo I must be feeling reckless.
Flutter By Wednesdays 117 - Open Challenge
ABC Christmas - 'Q' for Quick and Easy
Fab'n'Funky 35 - Favourite Colours
Our Creative Corner - Embossable
