Baby's first Christmas...

I haven't blogged for ages, but I have still been crafting, so I thought it was time to get posting again. I have been continuing with my mission to use up printed and stored images so I made another First Christmas card as I had about 4 of these cute babies from Bugaboo with the sentiment I made around them. I used some papers from an old download from Papercraft Inspirations. To finish I picked some stash card in the colours from the papers to make the snowflake with my Marianne D dies and popped a gem in the middle.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:-

• Catch the bug- anything goes
• Challenge up your life- everything goes
• PTW- anything goes

Bugaboo week of mini challenges- Friday...

Friday's challenge at Bugaboo is a nice easy one to end the week- anything Christmas goes!

Sorry about the rubbish photo- I was rushing to get this one done in time and had to take it at night with a daylight bulb spotlight! I used the super cute freebie Deacon Candy-cane which you can get HERE until next Friday. I teamed him with vintage style papers from a blogtrain called 'Countdown to Christmas' which, I think, was from Stuff to Scrap. I toned down the white around the image with chalk to blend it better with the papers and finished off with a couple of dark red Card Candi.

Well, that's it! I have entered all 5 daily challenges and the weekly challenge. It is unheard of for me to have any Christmas cards done by now and now I have 6! I'm off to follow the Bloghop now and then I will be keeping my fingers crossed that I win something :-)

Catch the bug- weekly challenge...

Bugaboo are celebrating Christmas in July this week so here is my entry.

Sorry about the rubbish photo- I was rushing to get this one done in time and had to take it at night with a daylight bulb spotlight! At least it shows the shine on the pearlised card I used to mount! I made a border o my computer for the gorgeous robins from Bugaboo before printing and colouring with promarkers. The swirls have been die cut with a Marianne D swirl and the end of each swirl has been embellished with a little pearl. The papers are from a digiscrap blogtrain called 'Countdown to Christmas' which, I think, was from Stuff to Scrap.

Bugaboo week of mini challenges- Thursday...

Thursday's challenge at Bugaboo is to make a card with snow.

I used this beautiful snowman from Bugaboo and some papers that I bought when I first began papercrafting from the stationary shop, Partners! All the card came from my stash and I did one of my favourite things, which is to make my own embellishments with dies- so satisfying to turn scraps into embellishments! I used the Finnish Ice Star dies from Marianne D for these and a couple of crystal gems to finish off.

I would also like to enter this card in:

• Stamp Something- Your fave embellishment (making my own with scraps and dies)
• Clear it out challenge- Anything goes (paper that I have had forever!)

Bugaboo week of mini challenges- Wednesday...

Wednesday's challenge at Bugaboo is to make a card following the sketch given.

I thought this cute baby image from Bugaboo would make a lovely 'first Christmas' card for either a boy or girl. I created the sentiment around the image on my computer then cut it out with a Nestie, before colouring with my Promarkers. The papers are a freebie from Shabby Princess. I am rubbish at doing bows for cards but I thought I would have a go with this grosgrain ribbon as it went so well with the papers. I used a bow maker and, for once, it has come out quite well!

I would also like to enter this card in:

• I love Promarkers- Christmas in July

Bugaboo week of mini challenges- Tuesday...

Tuesday's challenge at Bugaboo is to make a card using the freebie image provided HERE.

I decided to make a center stepper card. The papers are another download from Papercraft Inspirations mag that I've had for ages. The sentiment is a freebie from Scrap-a-licious. The flower in the middle was white and I coloured it with my promarkers.

I would also like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• I love Promarkers- Christmas in July
• Anything goes Challenge- more than one fold

Bugaboo week of mini challenges- Monday...

I don't normally do Christmas cards as early as this- we've only just broken up for the summer holidays!- but I couldn't resist playing along with this week of challenges at Bugaboo as they have some fab prizes and I love Jodie's stamps.

Monday's challenge is to make a Christmas card using non traditional colours. I decided to use this ornament ted image from Bugaboo but to colour him blue. I teamed him up with a paper that I downloaded from Papercraft Inspirations mag ages ago, some bright pink card from my stash and a sparkly blue ribbon. The scalloped card was cut with a Go-Kreate card cutting die. I also decided to make a matching tag using the bear tag image and my Sizzix scallop die.

I would also like to enter this card and tag in the following challenges:

• Spoon full of sugar- create a tag
• Papertake weekly- getting cute
• I love Promarkers- Christmas in July
• Die cuttin' divas- shaped die cut cards. (Go Kreate scalloped card cutting die)
• Oh la la- tag it!

Cards for Men is One Year Old and we have 2 challenges and a Blog Hop to celebrate!!..

Wow, can you believe it's been a year of challenges over at Cards for Men? To celebrate we have lots going on with tons of prizes available.
There are two challenges this time, both with a Christmas theme. You can make a card or a present or both, it's up to you. We'll draw a random winner for each category and top 3 as usual. You can get all the details and lots more ideas from the rest of the DT over at the main site. Here's what I made:

Firstly my card. I kept this quite simple- the holly design is some printed card from my stash which I have used to make my base card. The red and green have been cut with Nesties and my scallop scissors. The image is a digi by Bugaboo and coloured with promarkers and I made the sentiment on the computer. It reads 'If you stop believing in Santa you get socks for Christmas!'.

The gift is my homemade Green Tomato Chutney which I made from the plants I grew last summer (seems like a lifetime ago with my garden now covered with snow!). One thing I'm loving about digis is that you can resize them, so the image is a bit smaller here.

The topper was also made on my computer and now you can see how the set comes together. (You don't have to make them match- I just wanted to!)
I made two cards and decorated jars for two of the men in my church housegroup whose birthdays I missed when I was up to my eyes writing reports earlier this year. Here they are all together.

Also, we are having an Anniversary Blog Hop. If you didn't come to me from Donna I would hate for you to miss anything so you can get the full list of blogs on the Hop over at Cards for Men. At each stop there'll be a word to collect and a candy draw. I'm so excited to have 3 fabulous digi images of your choice from Hope Jacare to give away.

Here's a bit about Claire who draws these amazing images: "I'm a SAHM with three young children. I trained in Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art and I love all things handmade, but especially papercrafts.  I love to doodle ... and my doodles are available to purchase as digital images through Stitchy Bear Stamps."

To be in with a chance of winning this great candy  at my stop you just need to leave a comment at the end of this post. A random winner will be drawn on 20 December 2010.

Each stop will have more fabulous candy and a word which you should collect to make up a festive phrase. My word is 'And'. At the end of the blog hop you should have 11 words, work out the phrase and leave it in the comments back at Cards for Men to be in with a chance of winning another great prize. The blog hop will run until midnight on 19th December 2010 and a winner will be chosen on 20th December.

Your next stop is Amy. If you lose your way you can go back to Cards for Men to get the full list. Hope all this makes sense and Good Luck everyone.

Cards for Men DT card- Challenge 24...

Our challenge at Cards for Men this fortnight is to make a Christmas card for a man or boy.

I love this image from the November bundle at Bugaboo- it's actually the reason I got the set! I coloured him with promarkers and even found time to use glossy accents on his nose and to suggest the ice at his feet. The papers came from an old download by Papercraft Inspirations, and the sentiment was a Freebie Friday from Sentiments4you. One thing I love about digi stuff is that it can be resized, so I played with photoshop to make this mini card too.

We are being sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts this time and she is offering a £10 voucher for our lucky winner.

Here's a little about our sponsor: Bunny Zoe's Crafts is a family run online Craft store who ships worldwide. We provide friendly and efficient customer service, with quick processing and dispatch of orders. We sell a great range of Rubber Stamps from around the world, Digital Images, Personalised Stamps, Designer Papers, Stamping Essentials, Copic Ciao's, Distress Inks, Dies, Flowers, Ribbons & Lace, Buttons. Charms, Flat back Pearls and many, many fabulous card making goodies.
The challenge runs until 5th December so why not join in? We have a Blog Hop starting on the 6th December with a special challenge and loads of prizes- so put the date in your diaries!


I would also like to enter this card for:

• The Pink Elephant- I followed their sketch
• Ooh La La- Rudolph
• Digi Doodle shop- anything goes
• The Crafty Pad- red and green

"While shepherds washed their socks by night!"...

...as children down the generations have found it hysterical to sing in place of the real words to this traditional hymn!

Allsorts challenged us to make a card inspired by the words of a Christmas carol this week. I had to have this Jolly Nation stamp when I saw it because having been a primary school teacher for 17 years I have fixed more than my fair share of tea towels to shepherds' heads! It was very simply made from some embossed gold Merry Christmas card from my stash and mats cut and embossed with the Labels 8 Nestabilities.

The image has been watercoloured with brushmarkers scribbled onto an acrylic block and painted on.

My first Christmas card...

I was mulling over the challenges as I went to bed on Saturday night and before I got off to sleep I knew one thing and that was that I was going to dig out my Pink Cat Studio QT Hooty stamps in the morning! I did not set out to make a Christmas card- in fact I was thinking of using the 'get well' image! -but when I started looking for papers I was really drawn to these colours. They are a free download by Summertime Designs called Winter Gifts.
I could not resist using my new nesties- I had the ovals but have just bought the scalloped circles and ovals and the plain circles. I have less time to craft now that I'm working full time but more money to send off for goodies!
ABC have F for Flying as their challenge which is what set me off thinking about QT Hooty. Secret Crafter have 'Dig Deep'- to find an old stamp or image- I got this set for Christmas last year and have used some of the set, but not this image yet, and have not had them out for a while. Just Us Girls have Aqua, red and vintage cream as their colour combo this week. This was what got me searching for papers in my downloads and I loved the crisp look of this set. The DPs have been printed onto a shimmery pearly paper which has not come out in the photo at all and they look much less stark and white in real life!
Getting a photo of this card was a real problem. I finished it on Sunday night and it was too dull to take a picture before work so I ended up taking it to school and nipping outside my classroom to take the photo at lunchtime!