Baby, it's cold outside! Merry Christmas~

Hello my crafty friends!

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas! We had an amazing Christmas day and Boxing day. Seeing the exciting faces of the children opening their presents was just the best thing in the world! Now that the chaos and panic is over, I can finally sit down and calmly share some of the Christmas cards I made this year. Starting off with this cute alpaca Christmas card:

I mixed Perfect Pearls pigment powder in water and sprayed it all over the sky (created by using distress ink). This is the first time I used this technique and I love the effect when the water reacts to the distress ink and leaves it washed out with shimmery sparkle dots everywhere. It just creates a starry sky! Lawn Fawn's Forest border die was used to create the background. Snippets of white cards were used to create snow hills, Christmas tree (by Beth Hughes Designs) and the alpaca (Winter Alpaca stamps by Lawn Fawn). Here is a closer look of the card:

Although this is a fairly small 4" x 4" card, a lot of work has gone into it. Lots of layers, dimensions and textures!  

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• Pixie's Snippets Playground- Week 208 and 209
• Lawnscaping Challenge #120- Merry Christmas
• Cute Card Thursday Challenge #405- Anything Goes

During these few quiet days, hopefully I will be able to blog more of my Christmas cards and, if I can, find time to craft would be even better!! ^_^

Thanks for visiting! See you soon~

          

Bright Shiny Snowflake Card

Hello Peeps!

OMG! When was the last time I blogged? Life is getting a bit crazy but exciting at my little house. We had new house appliances fitted and new fences in the garden. (Finally, we have an oven = we will have Christmas dinner this year!! Hooray!) I am busy reading the manual so that I can operate them and my husband is busy painting all the fences to protect them.

Anyway, I am here today to share a Christmas card.

 

I love cards with movements! I used Spellbinders Shapeabilities Snowflake Pendants dies (S5-117) to die cut two of the snowflakes. I then used a metal brad to fix the two sized snowflakes on top of each other. To make the snowflake dangle, I attached it on a silver cord which is then fixed to the back of the backing paper.

 

I don't want to take the focus away from the Snowflake but still want to make it interesting so I chose a plain white card and embossed it with Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder. I hand tore the embossing card at the bottom to reveal the pattern/words paper. I also inked the torn edges by using red ink just to emphasise the unique jagged line. I love the hand torn effect! Revealing of the paper fibre and the one and only squiggle tore line are just something that excite me!! ^_^

 

Here is the close up look of the snowflake. I used a red mirror card for the large snowflake to make it shine! 

 

I am entering this card to Virginia's View Challenge #9 - All Things Metallic. My red mirror card snowflake, metal brad and silver cord should count, right?

 

By using left over pattern paper and cards, I am also entering this card to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 151.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice weekend.

 

      

First Christmas Card of 2014 - Happy Holidays

Hello everyone,

Today I am sharing an one layer card for the Lawnscaping Challenge: One Layer and the Simon Says STAMPtember® "Stamp-It" Challenge.

This is the first Christmas card I made for this year. Am I trying to be organised? Nah~ I simply just want to play with my new Lawn Fawn stamp set: Winter Penguin.

One layer card is always challenging. No additional layers of paper or card can be used apart from the base card. You will also need to keep the embellishments to a minimal. I stamped the images directly on to the base card and coloured them by Copic Ciao marker pens. (The little bird at the left is from Making Frosty Friends set, also from Lawn Fawn.) Next, I cut a hill shape and created a mask for the penguin out of post-it note. After covering up the penguin and the bottom half of the card, I used Tim Holtz mini blending tool to create the blue sky. Then I stamped these little snow flakes randomly in the sky by using silver ink. Here is a closer look of the image:

One layer card is daunting. However, with this cute stamp set, building a one layer scene seems to be easy and it is quick to make too. So quick and easy that I made 4 of the same cards in the end!! That is 4 cards added to this year's Christmas card stock. Well, everyone has to start somewhere and that's a start!! ^_^

Hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by.

Just made it!

Hello!

Hope you all had a nice week so far.

Mine is all busy, busy, busy! However, I had a chance to have a go at the 10 Minute Craft Dash #31 the other day while my daughter was poorly at home. Here are the colours this week:

Colours: light yellow, bright red, green

I guess I am still in the Christmas mood so these colours just shout at me with Christmas cheer! Every time I play at 10 minute Craft Dash, I always feel like I am in some sort of game show. Nerve racking and exciting! My hands shake and my heart pounds fast, just to ensure that I stick to the 10 minute deadline. How did I do this time? Well, close! I mean very close! I finished the card in 9 minutes and 58 seconds. Phew~ and I made it!! ^_^ Here is the finished product:

 

 

10 minutes is not long. So die cuts and embossing folders certainly help to speed up a few things. I used:

• Nellie Snellen multi frame's (MFD 020) - used the negative part 
• Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls embossing folder
• Sizzix Sizzlits Wreath die 655259
• Sequins bought from pound shop
• Chip board sentiment free from craft magazine

I love this colour combination. Very bright and cheerful! Now off to make my daughter's birthday card. You might just see that in the next couple of days! ^_^

Snoozing Santa

Only 15 days till Christmas!! Ahhh..... are you all ready?!

How about sharing another Christmas card? (Well, I am certainly not ready if I am still making Christmas cards!! Hee hee! ^_^)

Doesn't Santa look sweet when he is asleep? I used the clear stamp 'Snoozing Santa' by Helz Cuppleditch for this card. To take some of the thinking out of me, I used the sketch C014 from Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge #153.

I had fun making this card. As this is quite a large image, I decided to paper piece the majority of it. This also gave me the chance to use up lots of little scraps of paper from my snippet folder so that I can join in the fun at Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 102.

Santa's face, hands, outfit, hat, socks, cat and rim of the sofa are coloured in by using Copic markers. The rest are paper pieced. (Well, I did colour in the polka dots too.) The "For Santa" tag is propped up by using sticky foam. Then, a layer of Glossy Accent has been added. Crystal Stickles has also been added on the white part of Santa's hat. What else? Oh~ the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Cozy Christmas stamp set and backing papers are free gifts from craft magazines.

I am also entering this card to

• Just Add Ink #194 - Santa!
• Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Ribbons

Now these Christmas cards are made, maybe it is about time to write them! ^_^ Have a nice day!

Heartfelt Christmas Wishes

Hello there!

Remember what I said in my last post?! I love the brilliant sketch from Seize the Sketch #9 and I think I may just have to use it a few more times!

So here it is! Another card using the same sketch. In fact, it is very similar to the card I made last week (see here). Since the main image is not as busy as the last one, I decided to add some sparkle by using Stickles on the embossed background (hopefully this shows up on the photos) and some red gems. I also added a red washi tape across the bottom of the card and a larger frame for the sentiment.

I have used foam tape on one of the gloves and on the sentiment frame to create dimension. The  two photos below should show the dimension better and, hopefully, you can see the sparkles on the card too! 

 

 

Challenges to enter:

• Less is More Week 148 - Made with Sparkle
• Craft Your Passion challenge 191 - "We Washi You A Merry Christmas" (Add some washi tape to your Christmas creations.)

Haven't really counted how many cards I've made for Christmas this year. Will it be enough? I bet I will still have a mad rush this weekend!! ^_^

Joyful Wishes

Hello Sunday morning!

I am up early today so that I can squeeze in my 2nd card for the Pixies Snippets Playground- Week 100.

The blue dotted background paper and the snowflake embossed white card are from my snippets folder. I also used a tiny small piece of patterned paper to paper-piece the snowman's scarf and ear muff. I have this wonderful tingling sensation every time I use the tiny-winy piece of paper/ card from the snippets folder. Somehow I get this "I've saved the world" feeling when I use up scraps!! Do you have this feeling? Or is it just me? Ha ha!

I just love Lawn Fawn's Making Frosty Friends stamp set. The snowmen from this set is just so cute and the fact that you can dress up your snowmen just brings back my childhood memory of playing paper dolls!

I followed the sketch from Seize the Sketch #9 for my card. Another brilliant sketch, which I think I may just have to use a few more times!!

 

I am also entering this card to crafts 4 eternity: R#152 - Non Traditional Christmas. I do like blue, pink, purple, apple green and silver, the non traditional colours, for Christmas. In fact, my Christmas baubles are in all those colours! ^_^

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Used A Sketch and Some of My Snippets

Hooray! It's Friday!

I get so excited when it comes to Friday. That last working day feeling of the week is indescribable!! Just loving it! ^_^

Here is a quick card to share for today.

 

Simple layout by using the sketch from Seize the Sketch #8. 

 

I wasn't quite sure about that backing paper that I used. I like the stars and wavy lines but was a bit sceptical about the colour. Burgundy and orange - not really for Christmas, is it? However, after I finished the card, my husband said it was a really nice card and looked stylish. So I guess it must be alright and works!! ^_^

 

Here are a couple more photos of the card. The Christmas tree image, from Beth Hughes Designs- Season's Greetings set (code: BHCSA6007), has been propped up by using sticky foam pads. Stickles, 3D Crystal Lacquerer and gems have been added to emphasise the image. 

 

 

I am also going to take this card over to Pixie's Snippet Playground #99 for the very first time. All papers are from my bag of snippets/ scraps. Sometimes I do surprise myself, even the smallest strip or piece of paper (that could be easily thrown away), ends up on another card!

 

Wish you all have a very nice weekend!

 

3D Poinsettia Card

Hello Hello!

An early post for me today or should I say a late past midnight post actually!! ^_^ It will be a quick short one today as I should have gone to bed by now. Just want to share this card I made last Sunday. Yes, what else, another Christmas card!

 

I've accidentally found two packets of Craft Creations Gold Label Peel-off stickers. God knows where they have been hiding! You wouldn't believe this. I bought them about 4, 5 years ago when I first visited the craft show in the NEC Birmingham. I totally forgot about them! Now they have been discovered, I'd better make good use of them.

 

I stuck each four-petal peel-off sticker on acetate then roughly followed the outline and cut them out. As they were on clear acetate, any imperfect cutting will not really show. Then, I simply shaped the petals and used glue dots to stick them on top of each other. There you have it, a pretty 3D poinsettia flower. Here are a couple more photos: 

 

 

I love the fact that these are glittered peel-off stickers. This will save me from adding it!

 

The layout is from CAS(E) this Sketch #54. It is an easy and simple to follow sketch.

  



     

I also decided to use the recipe from Crafts 4 Eternity R#150 - Tic Tac Toe. I chose 3 from the last row- 'Christmas theme', 'Stickers' and 'Red'. In fact, apart from the poinsettia, the strip and frame are all stickers too. Yep, another item which I had for a long time and neglected it!! Hee hee! Naughty! ^_^

Alright, it's meant to be a short post, but turned out.... not so short?! Anyway, hope you have a great day!

Another Christmas Card

Hello Friends!

First I'd like to welcome my two new followers: Diane and Darnell. Di is the owner of Pixie's Crafty Workshop blog where she also runs Snippets Playground weekly. I've only just discovered Di's blog recently and it is wonderful and inspirational. I will join in the Snippets Playground sometime by using up those snippets/ scraps which I'm sure all crafters have loads!! As for Darnell's blog djkardkreations, its fun and she has the most amazing "Playhouse" where she crafts all her creations.  It's worth having a look and you will be amazed. Thanks for following my blog. I hope you will like my blog as much as I like yours!

Now I should get on with sharing the card I made this morning. It's another Christmas card and I hope you aren't fed up with them yet, as I will probably be making a lot of them. Well, it is nearly Christmas. I mean just 5 weeks and 3 days! Eeeekkk.....!!! ^_^ Here is the card:

I used the free Somebunny Christmas stamp that comes with the latest Quick Card Made Easy magazine issue 120. This stamp set is so cute! Here are some more photos taken from the side and close up of the card:

 

 

I had fun colouring the image with Copic marker pens. Glitter (Crystal Stickles) has also been added on various areas of the image. Glitter is a must for Christmas cards or in my case- any card!! ^_^

 

I used the sketch from Just Add Ink #191 this week as my layout. I also hand drew some lines, dots and hollies around the half circle pattern paper. Thus, I will enter this card to Craft Your Passion challenge #188- Add Some Doodling.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Hope to see you here soon!

 

Mmm... not sure...

Hello Friends,

It will be a short post today as it is near bed time! Wanting to join in with the CAS(E) this Sketch #53 this week. Here is the sketch:

I found this sketch quite difficult. Here is the quick card I made tonight:

 

 

I am not sure if I like it or not? I have followed the sketch exactly. Using felt, I hand cut and stitched  two holly leaves. I attached a red button for the berry and added a bow on top. Photos are never great when taken indoors at night. They always look yellowish. Will try to take another one during the day time and replace it. (Edited: Photos now replaced. It captured the colours a lot better. Also added a close up shot.) By then, hope this card will have grown on me.

 

That's it for now.

 



2nd Christmas Card for This Year

Hello Thursday!

We are just over half way before it's weekend again. Hooray! I just can't wait! ^_^

I managed to make another Christmas card last night as I love the simple sketch on Seize the Sketch #7 blog.

This will be my first time to join in and I had so much fun making the card.  So here is my card. I've flipped the sketch 180 degrees.

This simple sketch is so effective and I love it! I want the eyes to focus on the stripe at the bottom, hence, I chose to use a white background but embossed it by using the Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder. Not sure where these snowman and sentiment stamps come from? I got it in my local craft store in a bag full of crafty stuff for just one pound!! If anyone knows which company they are from and what they are called, please do let me know. I used Copic marker pens to colour the snowman and then decided to add extra snowflake sequins, Stickles on some of the embossed snowflakes and 3D Crystal Lacquer on the snowman's nose.

Here is a picture for a closer look:

 

I will go ahead and make a few more of this card. This might well be the card that I mass produce for this Christmas. Maybe I will change another image but definitely will use this sketch again. Love it, love it, love it!! 

 

Have a good day!