Christmas Candy

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #151 has just gone live and and I'm expecting the gallery to be filling up with loads of festive inspiration - we're really getting close to December now!   This post was scheduled before I left to visit family in Australia - by the time it goes live I'll be enjoying the sunshine (hopefully)!

These peppermint candies (WMS Elf Made) were stamped last year but I never got around to cutting them out and putting them to use.  They resurfaced during a recent tidy up and I thought I'd have a go at making up some quick spinner cards.  I cut them out with a spellbinders circle slightly smaller than the diameter of the candy so I didn't have any border - nothing worse than having an uneven border around  an image IMO and these Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles (the only non-stitched circles I own) are very difficult to work with owing to their large inner border.  I stacked a few plain circles under the stamped image and then coated them with glossy accents for some candy shine and some were sprinkled with glitter for some sugary candy shine!   I found a 12x12 sheet of red gingham DP that made me think of festive table cloths and I cut it into 6 panels and cut spinner tracks into these panels.  I die cut some "Sweet" sentiments (Love2Craft Home Sweet Home set) from red card stock and stamped some "christmas wishes" on some plain white and cut these with a suitable frame (Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles was a perfect fit) ... and that was as far as my mojo was willing to cooperate!

   I wanted to make up quick cards, but this was waaay too plain so I added some boughs of holly (Sizzix Winter Foliage) to the bottoms half of the panel in an effort to break up the tedium of the design.

Not one of my more inspired cards but a lot of fun to play with!

After sleeping on it, I tried adding a little more holly around the upper sentiment  - it was already stuck down so not a lot I could do with it.

Better ... but still not happy with and I still had 5 other gingham panels, peppermint candies, holly and "Sweet" sentiments ready to go!  So I fiddled and slept on it and fiddled some more ... and this was what I came up with!

I added another two boughs of holly behind that "sweet" sentiment plus a few little single leaves to fill in empty spots.  I also added some shine to the "sweet" with some glossy accents so it didn't get lost in all that green. 

Lots of snippets of green here and even the white for the stamped and die cut sentiments were snippets left over from cutting card bases so I’d like to enter the Snippets Playground Challenge #466!  

I’d also like to enter the following challenges

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #53 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace On Earth Challenge #50 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Use Your Stuff Challenge #496 - Anything Goes;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And the upside of leaving a comment is that I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Tide of Love

Challenge #250 at Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight it's an Inspired By Words Challenge with this quote from Kristen Armstrong

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.” 

An Inspired By Words challenge works exactly as you would expect - you take the words from the featured quote and use them to inspire your creation!   You can use one word, multiple words or just the general idea of the quote and if it's not immediately obvious, please explain how you were inspired! 

 This fortnight we are generously being sponsored by Poppy Stamps  and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design team a $20 store credit. 

Our Top Pick will also be invited to Guest Design with us in a future challenge.  We're joined this challenge by the very talented Deb Horst as our guest!  Be sure to check out what she and the rest of my talented team members have made to inspire you.  

Where will these inspiring words take you - you can use just one or all of them to inspire your card? We hope you can take Time Out of your busy schedule to come play cards with us!

I was inspired by the words "tide" and "love" - and this lovely Wavy Heart die from Poppy Stamps fitted both!  I cut it from two different card stocks - a patterned and a plain blue and swapped alternate pieces so  I had two Wavy Hearts when I had finished - a real twofer!  

The first was home to a "Whittle Dolphin".  I cut him from white card stock and coloured his upper body, tail and fin with a grey Copic marker.  I then coated him in glossy accents so he had the sleek appearance of a dolphin!  I added a sentiment from Poppy Stamps Whittle Sea Life Sentiments stamped onto a Poppy Word Balloon die cut to make this birthday card.

For my Twofer, I cut some Whittle Happy Jellyfish from vellum  - firstly because jellyfish are translucent and secondly I didn't want to lose the detail of the Wavy Heart!   I stacked them for stability and coated them with glossy accents to give them some added shine and dimension - love how they turned out!  I added some smaller jellyfish (Alexander Renke) also stacked vellum and glossily accented.  Then added another sentiment from Poppy's Whittle Sea Life Sentiments Set - this time centred on the panel.  

I’d like to enter the following challenges

Make My Monday Challenge #212 - Funny/Punny Sentiment;

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - anything goes;

Krafty Chicks Challenge #687 - all occasions;

Inkspirational Challenge #301 - Cold (which is what I would be if I were swimming with these marine animals right now)!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And the upside of leaving a comment is that I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Vintage Christmas

Challenge 151 has just gone live at the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge so I have a new Christmas card for you.  I'm off to Australia this weekend so the next two posts will be scheduled.  Fortunately, I have a good batch of Christmas cards to take with me to post while there.  And when I get back in November, I hope to focus on table decorations and other festive makes because (hopefully) I'll have enough Christmas cards for all my loved ones in this part of the world as well.

For this card, I thought I'd pull out some of my old Waltzing Mouse Stamps and I found this set that I am ashamed to say appears to be NBUS (Waltzing Mouse Stamps Opera Tags Christmas).  I'm not sure how I missed it because it really is quite stunning.  It's one of two stamp sets Claire Brennan designed for this die set (a special collaboration with Spellbinder and WMS) - I had used used the other set but not this one!  

Once I'd stamped, embossed and die cut the tag on kraft card stock, I added this large brad (added gold gilding wax to it first).

I wrapped a length of lace and a length of tiny grosgrain ribbon (both left over snippets) around this Burberry-ish tartan panel.  This tartan panel seemed like a good idea at the time but once assembled I realized it was perhaps too "cozy" for the grandness of the tag!  Ah well, it wasn't quite the vintage look I was aiming for but I don't mind it! 

 I had to add foam tape to the top and base of the tag so it would sit flush on the ribbon and lace and once assembled, I thought it needed a little something in the bottom right corner so made up a little spiral flower (Sue Wilson Spiral Pearl Flower - a prize from the Snippets Playground) using kraft and gold mirri card.  I went over the middle layer of the spiral flower with Gathered Twig DI and the top layer of the flower with Gilding Wax.  Here's a closeup so you can see the lovely detail in this gorgeous Spiral Pearl Flower and some of detail in this stamp and die set (and my imperfect embossing LOL)!

I'd like to join the following challenges

Christmas Craft Creations October Challenge - Monochromatic

Christmas Crafts all Year Round October Challenge - 10 Lords a Leaping

The brown tones make this card ideal for a male IMO

ABC Christmas Challenge - U is for Use it Up which is what I did with the snippets of lace and ribbon;

Peace on Earth Challenge #50 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Retro Rubber Challenge #217 - Anything Goes using old stamps and this set dates back to 2015;

We Love Stamping October Challenge - Anything goes with stamping as focal point;

NBUS Challenge #55 - NBUS Opera Tags Christmas Stamp Set;

Snippets Challenge #465 - Snippets of lace and ribbon and Kraft card;

Krafty Chicks Challenge Week 2 Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And the upside of leaving a comment is that I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Fabulous Vintage

 

Time Out Challenge #249 has just gone live and this fortnight we are challenging you to be 

Vintage

I'd like to thank our generous sponsor Doodle Bugs who are offering a $25 store credit to our Time Out Winner as chosen by the Design Team!  Doodle Bugs carry most of the popular brands and have years of experience in the paper crafting industry!  

The winner will also be invited to join us as a guest designer in a future challenge!

 I went searching for a definition of Vintage and it is more encompassing than I had originally thought.  Here are some definitions I found

• denoting something from the past of high quality, especially something representing the best of its kind:
• used to describe clothing, jewellery, etc. that is not new, especially when it is a good example of a style from the past:

I thought I'd start with ribbon - I felt that vintage definitely involved ribbon and bows and I was looking for a tool I have somewhere that helps you tie ribbons because my attempts without it were not great!  I didn't find it but I did find a packet of vintage photos which I must have bought a very long time ago from Crafty Individuals (might even have been a free gift)!   I was rather taken by this lass wearing a wide brimmed hat with a huge blue bow and finally I had an inkling of of an idea!  

To start with, I made her a frame from a snippet of blue card stock using two square dies.  I stacked a couple of these for dimension so the frame was higher than the photo.

Next I vaguely remembered I had an embossing folder or two that might work and happened upon this one.  I have no idea of the name of it because the packaging had long been abandoned and there is no marking on the folder itself.  I don't think I've previously used it because I was amazed at how deep and crisp the embossing was - I absolutely love it and will definitely be using it again!  Once embossed, I went over the panel with Antique Linen DI to highlight the pattern and to give the appearance of aged lace.

I wanted to add some real lace but wasn't happy with any of the laces I had in my stash. and instead used this border die (Spellbinders Doily Accents) that I had previously used to mimic lace.  Once cut, I distressed it with Gathered Twig and Broken China DIs.

I searched in vain for a button that wasn't too thick (in case I need to post it) but still a good size.  I was about to give up on this idea when as luck would have it, I happened to spot a box of dies I had open - I'd just finished a bunch of dinosaur cards and sitting on the magnetic sheet next to where the dinosaur dies should have been had I put them away once I'd finished with them - were some button dies I'd bought ages ago (PTI Bitty Buttons).   I stacked a few buttons and coloured them with Broken China DI.   

To finish I cut three of this "fabulous" sentiment (Honey Bee), stacked them and coloured them with Broken China DI.

I hope you'll join us and look forward to seeing your Vintage Creations in the Gallery.  If you're stumped, my team mates have plenty of inspiration for you and we're joined this challenge by the very talented Cynthia Olheiser of Stampin' In Alaska!  Do drop by and say hi from me!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Allsorts Challenge Week 749 - Vintage;

NBUS Challenge #55 - the Fleur de Lys Embossing Folder;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And the upside of leaving a comment is that I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Little Town of Bethlehem

This is my DT card for Challenge #149 at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Card Challenge!  

I found a sheet of DP in my stash which I thought resembled sandstone and I used it to cut these two layers of a Bethlehem scene (Gemini Little Town of Bethlehem).  I wish I had thought to add a layer of black card stock behind the buildings - it took me ages to piece in all those windows and doorways.  Another layer of card stock would have put more distance between the two layers of buildings as well.  Next time I'll add the top layer with foam tape too!  

I'd like to enter the following challenges

Paper Players Challenge #660 - Lost in Space (my starry night sky);

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Little Red Wagon Challenge #724 - Layer upon Layer;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #52 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #49 - Anything Christmas Goes.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate