A couple of Xmas cards made at my Langley Stampers Club

Wow...It seems so long since my last post.

After 3 weeks of Doctors appointments and yet still feeling a bit sick and run down,  DH finally made me go to hospital (on Dec 21st). I was admitted with a white count of 20 and a raging UTI.  I had been feeling poorly with infection since I sliced my finger open in November, so just kept telling myself it was from that.

Should have listened to my husband earlier!  Spent Christmas is hospital and finally got released this afternoon.  DH and my daughters visited as much as they could, but it is still a crummy time to be in hospital.

I had a few New Years resolutions planned but have instead decided to focus on good health for 2017.
I wish the same for all of you!

Here are a couple of Xmas cards I made at my Langley Stampers Club. It is always great fun to sit down and open up a package full of everything you need to create a card (or two) of the "teachers" choice. We rotate being teacher and it is always a lovely day out. Our November cards featured dies and embossing folders.

I think the white mat was embossed with Swiss Dots EF, but am not sure of the dies used here. I plan on bringing sticky notes with me in 2017 so I can jot down those details, affix them to the card, and be better prepared to blog them!

 This card features a greyish blue mat that was embossed with birch trees and snowflakes. We sanded lightly across the raised image and revealed the whitish core of the cardstock.

The deer was die cut twice from the center of some silver mirri card that we used to mat the grey embossed trees. We also punched the moon from the center part of that mat! Yes, I know it looks gold in my photo, but it is all cut from silver mirri...it is just the glare of the light when I took the photo.
Our final mat was a crisp black, all layers then mounted on a white side fold card.

I am entering this leaping stag card over at Pixies Crafty Workshop, where you must use snippets.  I sliced out the center of the mirri mat, thereby creating my snippet to use for my dies and punches. The other ladies were showing me to just punch and die cut wherever, as it would not show...but I had an ulterior motive...a fun share for Di!

Bits and Bobs

Here is another card made when I still healing from my cut knuckle. It is made up from bits and bobs on my desk.

The bright aqua card base is from a package of 5 inch prefolded cards and envelopes. The aqua snowflake DP is XXX and I used a snippet of a  bright green card to create a wee hill for my reindeer to stand on. I made sure I cut the hill higher to the right of the little guy so that I could squeeze in my Sizzix die cut Joy sentiment. The holly and the reindeer are from a package of preglittered embellishments  that I have had for quite some time.

I have somehow managed to tear the edge of one of the holly berries...Whoops!   I guess I will add some red stickles to try to hide it.

Only one snippet here, but will enter this card over at Pixies Crafty Workshop where you must use at least one snippet.

Making Do

My knuckle is finally healed enough to start making cards again! I must add that they are simple cards with pre coloured images or cards made just from DP.  Although I can make a simple card, I am still having trouble placing my hand into a drawer of supplies, or pulling one item out of a pile of others as anything pressing against my knuckle is  still really painful.

My husband had a good chuckle as one of the things I struggle with at the moment is pull my debit or credit card out of my wallet! The pressure needed to pull it free is hellish on that index finger joint...I must admit that I have forced myself to manage it though!!!

My card today features a Hobby House pre coloured image from a sheet of various sizes called A Christmas Tale. They are all owls or birds and I think they are quite cute. I have made up the whole sheet of images but will just show you two of them today.

To solve the problem of pulling papers out of my stash, I just used DP from a 6x6 stack that was already  out on my desk. It is called Christmas Wishes from First Edition. The DP all have a fabric texture and many of the papers are glittered already. Bit of a bonus!

Not much cutting of papers here. I just trimmed up my DP to fit my 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 cards and then just added a K&Co border backed with a snippet of the same red Bazzill card.  Normally, I would consider that a waste of paper and would inset the border into the DP... But that way would have been more work for my hands.

Luckily, I had some pre cut Spellbinders scalloped circles already cut from the red Bazzill heavy weight card and had some Stampin' Up ovals already stamped with a variety of words mounted on some oval scalloped punched snippets of the same red Bazzill card.  Snippets of green metallic shimmer card were cut with a  Martha Stewart Holly punch and teensy rhinestones make up the berries.

The second card from this sheet of images is this adorable owl family. I used a strip of script DP from the First Edition stack and again I just laid it overtop of the background DP. Joy is from a package of script dies by Sizzix Tim Holtz and is called Script Holiday Words.

Pretty quick and fairly simple. A random dusting of stardust stickles on the image and the Joy script and these cards were finished!

I am entering this card in the following challenges.

1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets.

November Rudolph Days Winner

I used Random Org to pick the November Rudolph Days Winner.

The winning number is #3 KateP. Here is the photo of the random org selection.

Congratulations, KateP.  You have won the Memory Box Deer Trio Die.

Please send me an email at [email protected] and let me know your mailing address.

November Prize

Just realized that I forgot to display this months Rudolph Days Prize. I have updated my Challenge post to show this Memory Box Deer Trio Die.

November Rudolph Days

It  is time for the November Rudolph Days Challenge. Take a quick peek at the rules if you please...

1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7.  Prizes will be shipped anywhere in the world.

8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month.

Our designers have been very busy making sure you have lots of creative inspiration. In no particular order we have....

Greta @ GG Creations has made this stunning white wreath card. Love the way the white ink pops against the red background

Jenny @ Cardsarus has made a lovely card with a vintage feel. These Graphic 45 papers are so pretty.

KandA @ KandA Creative Moments has used such a sweet House Mouse image. The blue and silver colours featured here are so peaceful looking.

Pat @ Colourful Card Creations has such a pretty bauble on a beautifully inky background.

Sorry, but I do not have a card this month.

Between burning my left hand quite badly and the slicing my index finger knuckle on my right hand, I am very behind with cardmaking, visiting and commenting on your blogs. My knuckle is nearly better but still sore enough to require antibiotics. I want it healed before Christmas baking season begins, so have been resting it...I will get round to visit everyone as soon as I am able.

This is our last Rudolph Days Challenge of the year as January 2017 will be our next challenge date!
Hope your Christmas card stash has grown a little as you have played along with this challenge.

Merry Christmas to you all and see you in the New Year.

The prize this month is this  Memory Box Deer Trio die.

October Rudolph Days Winner

The October Rudolph Days Challenge winner is number 23 Julieanne.

Julieanne, could you drop me an email to [email protected] and give me your address.

You may chose a memory Box die from my prize stash! I can not show the random org draw photo as I usually do. I am typing on my cell phone and do not know how to load the photo.  Will update this post once I am home again.

To all my blog friends:

Please excuse my lack of visits lately. I am still up at my Mum's trying to get the reno's finished so we can list the house. Sadly I tripped and sliced my fingers across the knuckles, requiring a trip to the emergency room in the nearby  city.

Thank goodness for friends as I do not drive and the hospital was 20 minutes away. My friend Anna, drove me in and waited for me! 

Will visit your blogs once home again and once my finger is out of the splint!

My index finger was cut across the knuckle about a quarter inch deep and is currently glued together. The doctor was going to stitch it, but when he heard about the reno's he decided to glue it instead. Now I can get it wet and it is not too big of a problem. If I could just get it to stop throbbing, I would be a happy camper.

October Rudolph Days Challenge

It  is time for the October Rudolph Days Challenge. Take a quick peek at the rules if you please...

1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7.  Prizes will be shipped anywhere in the world.

8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month.

Our designers have been very busy making sure you have lots of creative inspiration. In no particular order we have....

Shaz @ Calligraphy Cards

Shaz has been busy batch baking!  This is such a lovely Bethlehem image.

Gloria Lee @ Gloria's Craft Room has made this bright and fun, nontraditional card.

Linda S@ Snail's Space has also made a non traditional coloured card. This wee angel card holds a tag sentiment.

Donna Rinkle @ Indiana Inking made this lovely Santa snow globe card. So festive and  fun!

Dr. Sonia @ Cards, Crafts, Kid's Projects has a made a pop-up Christmas card with a slider element.She has the instructions on her post.

.

My card was made at my Langley Stampers Club.  I do really like this card but must confess that I have mixed feelings regarding its origins.  The tri-coloured red front panel started off as a paint chip from one of the large Box Stores in our area. The lady who hosted this months class, took enough chips from the store for all of our card kits. Perhaps I am a bit overly picky but I felt like I was using "hot" goods!

We punched out the trees and ran them through a manual Cuttlebug using  a Swiss Dots EF. We lightly sanded those embossed trees till the white core showed through, and then swapped the placement of the darkest and lightest tree. I had some teensy diamond stars from the $ store that I added to the tops once I was home. 

I stamped my sentiment and added another tree die cut to the front of the insert as I want to use the inside pages of the insert to add a bit of a Christmas letter.  Once I was home, I stamped a small Imaginesque Xmas tree stamp onto the flap of the envelope.

The prize this month is a surprise! It will be a Christmas theme Memory Box die of course. I am up at Mum's again and forgot to record the name of the die on this post. Watch this blog for an update once I am home again.

Batch Baking

As you may have guessed from my very sparse posts lately, life has been quite hectic for me. I am still running back and forth to the Okanagan to visit my Mum and do some work at our townhouse there. I do not have TV or internet there and it is a long walk out to access the one local cafe that has free WIFI.

I try to rescue my evenings there, by picking up a shopping bag of books at the local thrift shop in her village. While my crafting and my blogging are almost non existent,  I am managing to finish a lot of books! This is great therapy for me as many of you may not realize that it took me a couple of years to learn to read all over again, after my car accident. I still do not always  comprehend  written directions, so reading is a good therapy for me. Sadly, I have to stick with books that concentrate on two or three characters or I will have trouble keeping them sorted out...lol

Luckily, I have a lot of cards that I had not yet blogged. I have been posting those lately, and will continue to do so till the New Year. Today's cards are a couple from a series of ten that I made up from some pre-coloured images I had on hand. I cut them out with a Spellbinders Labels die and then cut a mat from my snippets folders. Although they are similar colours, they do not match as I am on a quest to use up some of my snippets. My background DP was cut from a 12x12 scrapbook paper. If you have prints that are of a smaller scale, this is such a great way to make multiple cards. You can get 4 6x6 cards from each sheet.

Whenever I have small snippets of green card leftover, I try to die cut or punch it up into greenery. These come in so handy for cardmaking...especially up at the lake. Today's cards feature a couple colours of that greenery.  In much the same manner, Martha Stewart hydrangea flowers were punched from all sorts of coloured snippets and filed for future us...such as today! I used a round stylus to
lightly shape each layer of petals before attaching them to the card.

The "Happy" and "Hello" were stamped letter by letter on a Memory Box banner die. "Birthday" was stamped and then punched out with a Stampin' Up word punch.

A few Dollar Store pearl bling finished this off quite nicely.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets
2. Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - must cover card with patterned paper

Shore Birds

I coloured and stickled a couple of these Stampin" Up Shore Birds image well over 5 years ago.  I kitted up a couple of them for my card making day with my neighbour up at the lake.

The kits were made up from bits and bobs of my snippet busting diecuts.  When bored or when my mojo is sleeping, I often sit and use up snippets with dies and punches.  These come in handy when I am packing kits for the lake or even for a crop. They simplify and quicken up the kit making task!

The look of sea is from a snippet of DP long since unknown to me. The "sand" is a snippet of torn and chalked kraft card. The image was chalked lightly as well...a beige shade for sand and a soft blue for the sea/sky.

I mucked up matting the image the first time. I set the image crookedly on the small dark brown snippet scalloped mat I chose, so I tried to correct that by rematting with a larger scalloped kraft card die cut from my trusty stash. I chalked the edges with a dark brown to give a bit of impact.

The wee sandcastle is from another set I stamped years ago. I dolled it up a bit with blue and green teensy rhinestones (my neighbours idea), and added a couple of K and Co 3D shells. A trio of larger blue rhinestones finished it off.

I quite like this card. Not sure what I will use it for so have left it blank inside.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets.
2. Mod Squad Challenge Blog - for the Birds

September Rudolph Days Challenge Winner

Congratulations to #44, Sandy J who is the September Rudolph Days Challenge winner. Once again, I used Randon Org and here is a photo of the results..

Could you drop me an email at [email protected] and give me your mailing address. Let me know whether you wish the Tim Holtz stamp or the Memory Box die.

September Rudolph Days Challenge

It  is time for the September Rudolph Days Challenge. Take a quick peek at the rules if you please...

1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7.  Prizes will be shipped anywhere in the world.

8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month.

Our designers have been very busy making sure you have lots of creative inspiration. In no particular order we have....

KandA @ KandA Creative Moments has made this pretty card with such a sweet image. The non traditional blue colours are so lovely!  

Jenny @ Cardsarus has made a  stunning decoupaged card. I like the pretty felt holly leaves and the bold traditional colours!

Greta @ GG Creations has made us two beautiful cards with some lovely sparkle bits. One card is distressed and inky and the other is not...hard to pick a fave!

 Pat @ Colourful Card Creations  has made this pretty tree fold card. I look forward to reading all about how to make it on her blog! The embossed trees and sentiment are so lovely.

My card was made with a poinsettia decoupage kit I picked up at a recent garage sales. All the pieces were precut and sitting in a plastic bag. I have no idea of the manufacturer. Sorry!

The background paper is Bazill Basics Snow Storm and the brown stripey paper border is Echo Park Chocolate Dots and Stripes. This was a quick and easy card to make. I just assembled the precut image pieces and gave them a generous coat of Stardust Stickles.  Once finished, it felt a wee bit flimsy. I cut a card stock backing paper to the same size as the image, and used a double sided adhesive sheet to affix the two pieces together.

Since the image was so large for my card size,  I  inked the edges with a brown Momento ink, rather than matting it. I cut into a NBUS sheet of Bazill Basics Snow Storm kraft design paper and the brown stripey border piece is Echo Park Chocolate Dots and Stripes..

A generous coating of Stardust stickles over the various image layers finished off this card off, quite nicely. I am happy with the final result and hope you feel the same.

The prize this month is a choice of his Memory Box Small Pine Branch die

or a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Christmas 3 stamp set

Christmas Card Club - Wooly Hats and Gloves

Time again for the Christmas Card Club. Kate chose the theme Wooly Hats and Gloves.

I had this hand cut and folded acid green card just waiting to be made up. As it was so bright, I decided to use up some muted blue Karen Foster stickers for my card and it seemed from that moment on I could not do anything right! First off, I sliced the bottom third off the tag image while I was cutting the left side strip to size! Yep...just sliced right through the whole sheet,,,what was I thinking.
I decided to make the card up anyways, as my time is very tight this week and did not want to search for more supplies and ideas. I may add a wee bit of real twine to hide that slice mark but sadly I am out of that fine twine at the moment. To finish it off,  I popped forward the mitts, hat and the sentiment words.

Then I managed to rumple the left side piece when I affixed it to the card. I cut a second piece to layer overtop and managed to cut it crooked. When I recut the edge straight, I then had the second piece shorter than the first!

Whew! Hopefully the recipient will have had a couple glasses of eggnog before they open this card...lol

I will be unable to access my blog for a week starting early tomorrow. Please excuse my delay in returning visits and comments.  I will get back to you just as soon as I am able.

Second NBUS Card

Well, I think I am really close to the deadline, but I am y hoping to slide in with a second NBUS card for Darnell's Seventh NBUS Challenge...(Never Before Used Stuff).

My card is a fairly easy one. Once each summer I get together with my neighbour and make cards. We each bring  doubles of 4 or 5 card kits. We finished up early and she let me borrow a couple of her dies to run off some new to me diecuts.

My card today was made with one of those diecuts. I made 5 cards the same but was silly enough to forget to photograph a group shot! I am not sure the name of the manufacturer as she gave me the die from her magnetic sheet storage system. I have a feeling that it may be a Penny Black...

I simply cut and scored a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. I then ran the precut card  through my big shot with the Thank You die as level as I could guess! I placed a snippet of Momento inky looking card (from Walmart) behind the opening that the die had cut away, gluing it carefully around the edges of the swirls cut into the white card front.

I coloured the Thank You with a back sharpie pen and inlaid it back into the cut out portion of the card front. I went over the Thank You script with some stardust stickles and added a bit on the swirls of Momento inky background.

The butterflies were cut with a Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings thinlet die. They are embossed with different patterns...I love that die! I used a couple of black antennae from a Memory Box butterfly die and then threw a diamond on each butterfly and added quick swish of stardust stickles to each set of wings.

I was lucky enough to have a pink coloured envelope and stamped a couple of couple of random butterflies and a Stampin' Up dragonfly in the bottom corner.There is a butterfly on the back flap of the envelope as well.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Djkardkreations 7th NBUS Challenge. - must use NBUS

Christmas Card Club - Winter Scene

Rachel @  http://fisherscardsandcrafts.blogspot.ca/ chose a Winter scene as the theme for this fortnight's Christmas Card Club. This was a great theme for me as I had picked up a Stampin' Up winter scene stamp at Value Village a few seeks ago, and this gave me an opportunity to finally get it inked!

I inked this NBUS image with Momento grey and then carfully dabbed some Prima Ingvild Bolme Moss Green ink over the grey, wherever there were trees. I then stamped it onto a snippet of some VOS (Very Old Stuff) cloudy looking card stock. I then chalked two shades of brown chalk to give the impression of a dirty forest floor. and then added some Frosty Lace stickles to the trees. That seemed to just blend in and not really look like snow so once it dried, I painted over top of it with some VOS White Opal Liquid Pearls. While that was still wet, I quickly dumped some Pearl White Ultra Fine Glitter over top. Finally I had some snow.

I then did two things which I really regret. I painted some globby trails of the Liquid Pearls across the dirt to look like snow drifts, and dumped more pearl glitter of them. I think they look like a two year old created them!

While I was on a roll of wrecking this card, I outlined the church with a Gelly Roll Silver star pen. I quickly realized that although Stampin' Up products are usually so lovely, this stamp has the church sort of lop sided looking. I wish I had just left it stamped in the Momento grey. It was not as noticeable then...sigh...

I opened a NBUS DCWV foiled stack and chose an aqua foil paper to cover my card base as well as mat the image. I then cut into a NBUS 12x12 BoBunny Snowfall Cabin DP as I liked the light and dark aqua embossed glitter swirls.

This was a very hard card to photograph. Every way that I turned it, I got horrid glare. In this photo the aqua mirri card looks silver in some places...just from the way the light catches it. It always amazes me how you can see your errors so clearly in the blown up photos. I did not notice till I posted this card how the snow on the large tree looks strange. Like it blew off in a straight line, slicing right down the middle of the tree...lol

As you can see, I used lots of NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff), so you can probably guess where I will be entering this card. Yep, it is Darnells NBUS #7 Challenge where if is  Anything Goes as long as it is NBUS.

I hope you can find the time to play along. Darnell is just home from her trip across England where she managed to meet up with so many of our British card making friends. This impacted her decision to forgo prizes for Challenge #7.  Let's try to show that it is not only prizes that lure us, but virtual friendship and respect for the challenge host.
You can submit 3 NBUS cards and her challenge runs till Sept 5th.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Chrsitmas Card Club - Winter Scene
2. Djkardkreations 7th NBUS Challenge -must use NBUS
3. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets (my only snippet is the piece of cloudy card that the image is stamped on)

Aug Rudolph Days Winner

Once again, it is time to draw for the winner of the Rudolph Days Challenge.
 I have used Random Org to chose a winner and it is #13, Joan W.

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:13Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Joan could you please email me at [email protected] to let me know which prize you would prefer. You have a choice of the Memory Box Holly Leaf Border die, or the Woodware  stamp.

August Rudolph Days Challenge

August brings a new set of Rudolph Days Challenge Designers. I know their beautiful cards and design styles will bring you with lots of inspiration for your own Christmas cards.

In no particular order,  I am happy to introduce...

Gloria Lee @  Gloria's Craft Room
Hello everyone! I'm Gloria Hayoung Lee. I was born in South Korea and now live in Ottawa, Canada with my husband and two boys. My hobbies are drawing, painting, and paper crafts.
I really love to make various types of cards and share my creativity with you. I am also excited to be part of the Rudolph Days Challenge Design team.

I am loving Gloria's inky Xmas ornaments and the pretty nontraditional colours she used here.

Linda S @ Snails Space
Hello from Ontario, Canada. I've always had a creative outlet, but severe Rheumatoid Arthritis forced me to give up all of my hobbies so I was happy to discover that I could stamp and return to my childhood love of colouring.
 I usually paint images and create backgrounds with Twinkling H2O's, but I also use distress inks and watercolour pencils. I'm happy to be a designer for the Rudolph Days Challenge - Thank you , Maureen..

You can see Linda's signature painted image style here on this adorable Xmas Teddy card.

Donna Rinckel @ Indiana Inking
Greetings! My name is Donna Rinckel and I live in Bloomington, Indiana. I have three grown children and am married to my best friend, Tom. I was introduced to stamping in 2008 after my mother passed away. My Mom sent cards for every occasion and after I discovered stamping, I decided that I wanted to honour her memory by continuing her tradition. I love to paper craft, crochet, and cross stitch.
 I am about to retire from Indiana University. I am so excited to be part of the Rudolph Days Challenge Design Team and look forward to inspiring you with my creations.

Donna's Nativity themed plethora of Christmas cards are so peaceful looking. I love the way the mats are the burst of colour on each!

Shaz @ Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz
I am delighted to be a part of the Rudolph Days Challenge Design team for the next few months.
I have been doing card making since my Primary years and Calligraphy since my teens.
In 1990 I delighted in the new joys of stamping with ink and embossing, after a trip to Cairns, Qld.
In 2009 I discovered the brayer, 2010 the Cuttlebug, and also that year I started reading crafting blogs and  then began one of my own, Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz

I am loving the glitter paper used for the beautiful diecuts used here. Shaz always has the perfect Xmas themed sentiments on her cards.

Dr Sonia SV @ Cards, Crafts, Kids Projects
Hi! I am an ENT surgeon and a Mom to a crafty little girl. I share crafty projects, tutorials and crafty tips on my blog, Cards, Crafts, Kids Projects.  I love making Christmas projects so thank you Maureen for having me as part of your Rudolph days Design Team.

I love the sweet dioramas that Dr Sonia has created here. They are so full of pretty embellishments! Of course there are full instructions on her blog that are always clear and easy to follow. .


1. The Rudolph Days Challenge will start each month on the 25th, and will close at midnight PST, on the last day of that month.
2. The theme is always Anything Goes, as long as it is Christmas.
3. One entry per person and you just need to enter one Christmas card or Christmas project.
4. You may combine your entry with other challenges (maximum of 10 in total).
5. Your card (or Christmas project) should not have been previously posted to your blog. It should be posted to your blog during the current months Rudolph Days Challenge, (between the 25th and last day of the current month)
6. Please link back to or at least mention, the Rudolph Days Challenge.
7.  Prizes will be shipped anywhere in the world.

8. The winner will be selected by random draw and announced on the first day of the following month.

The prize this month is a choice of this Woodware stamp

 or this Memory Box  Holly Leaf Border die

Good luck!

Christmas Card Club - Layers

It is my turn to host the Christmas Card Club this fortnight. I chose the theme of layers. I hope you will like my take on this. If you wish to pop by and see what the other ladies have created, you will see hyperlinks to their blogs on my right sidebar. If you wish to join our group, drop me an email.

My card is made from snippets and although it does not look like a lot of layers, it actually has 5.  Some of these are hidden and now I will explain how that was accomplished.

I started with a background made from snippets of 12x12 scrapbook paper. I then cut a red border strip from a snippet of red glitter paper, being careful to place a narrow 2way glue strip down the middle of the strip. I then punched 6 Martha Stewart snowflakes from a snippet of white glitter card and cut the top third off each one. I then placed a Zot glue dot on the back of each snowflake and tucked them under the red glitter strip. (Because I only used a narrow glue strip to affix the red strip, there was unglued room at each long edge to tuck the snowflakes under). Two went on the top left of the red border and four went under the border on the right side. A small clear diamond finished off this border.

In the bottom left of the card, I punched a larger Martha Stewart white snowflake and then layered the smaller MS snowflake, cut from red glitter card this time..

So far we have three layers for each of these areas of the card. I know you are thinking where is the 4th and 5th layers...they are hard to see as they are hidden!

The Noel has been cut from the same white Heidi Swapp Marquee card that was used for the snowflakes, but this time I backed it with SookWang two sided paper. I then cut four Noels and laid them down one on top of each other. The red glitter paper is quite thick and the white Marquee paper is quite thin. The four layers made the Noel stand out and not seem dwarfed by the red strip!

I added a couple of small diamonds on the N and on the L. One large diamond on the big snowflake and this card was done!

My original idea came from Pinterest and I just made my version of it. Here is the Pinterest version.

I am entering this card in the following challenges.
1. Christmas Card Club - layers
2. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

Snippets and VOS

This post is in tribute to two wonderful ladies, Darnel and Di . These two ladies have blogs that consistently inspire me.

Di  runs a weekly snippets challenge on her blog, Pixies Crafty Workshop. Yes, you read correctly. Di's challenge is that you must use snippets somewhere on your card. Even better yet...on all of your card! Her own cards are lovely. She is brave enough to stamp direct to card and embraces many techniques. Her directions are always clear and easy to understand.

Darnell's blog, djkardkreations, is full of witty posts that leave it  impossible for you to read and not crack a wide smile. Darnell  has created many acronyms that have become used and treasured by other bloggers. She coined the term VOS which stands for Very Old Schtuff ! Darnell has a challenge starting on Aug 27th where she asks you to submit a NBUS card (never before used schtuff). You can find the details on her blog here... hope to see you there!

So, my card today is a tribute to both of these ladies...a card made from snippets and full of Vos items. The triangles of the background DP (dollar store) were leftovers from a previous card. The Dream sentiment was stamped many years ago, using white Brilliance Ink on a purple snippet of card It was then filed away and forgotten (VOS). The two tags, the green Dream rectangle complete with dragonfly accent and the large spotted green paper flower petals, are part of a set I bought a few years ago, at one of my neighbour's garage sales. (VOS)
The butterfly is from a package of butterflies, picked up from  Michaels clearance bins.  The purple and beige petals of the flower are from the glass jars of flowers that decorate my craft room. They are about 10 years old (at least). Very Vos indeed. The black center is a brad...remember when we used those on every card?

So, there you go. A card made with previous rejects, long lost items and some very old schtuff!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop - must use snippets

Christmas Card Club - Baubles

Our own lovely Dutchess (Margaret) chose baubles for the theme of  this fortnight's Christmas Card Club.

When I first joined this club another member mailed me some beautiful Christmas images. So kind of her! She has since retired from our card club but I used one of her gifted images and had some lovely memories of a generous friend.

Not sure of the manufacturer of this stamp but I like the delicate look of it. I got a wee bit carried away with colouring the poinsettia flowers in red copics, and then realized that I had coloured the leaves red as well! Sigh...Oh well, it is now an arty card...at least that is my excuse!

I also managed to get a droplet of red on the diecut shape I had cut the image with. So it was up to my trusty fussy cut scissors to save the day. After fussy cutting the image, I was on a roll and did the same for the silver pearlescent mat and then again for the red mat.

I went over the Holly with a silver Wink Of Stella pen and then went over everything else with a clear WOS. I figured that if the colours weren't right, at least they were sparkly!

When I coloured this image, I knew the DP I would choose. I have had this paper for many, many years. It is 12x12 scrapbook paper and the sentiment "Peace" is actually for another page within the same set. It is a page of words only and I carefully cut this one out and matted it with a snippet of red. Both papers have a pearlescent finish and are quite shimmery.

The scalloped card base and envelope was a gift from another British friend, the sister of my cousin's partner. She knew I was looking for this style of cards when I was over visiting last time, and made me a gift of a large packet of them. I must say I hoard them a bit and only use them sparingly as I don't want to run out!!!

Get Well Wishes

I have a box of  New In Box assorted themed cards from the thrift shop. Whenever I want to upcycle a card, I check there first . The card fronts are in perfect shape and lend well to upcycling. I think I paid 50 cents or perhaps a dollar for a fairly large box of them.

I needed a Get well card in a bit of a hurry and decided this card front needed rescuing!

This is another of my 15 minute cards. Made again from what was out on my desk and my snippets files. The hot pink background DP had been pulled out for another project and seemed to lay there calling out to be used. The vertical panel of  bird themed DP was from my DP snippets and  was matted with a snippet of kraft card.

The stacked circle kraft border was from the papercarft store's garage sale and can be seen on my previous posts outlining my sale bargains. I got a large package of kraft borders for a dollar. A diamond bling was set in the middle of each circle for some extra sparkle.

Quite some time ago, the stars were punched from some more snippets of kraft and the edges were chalk inked and then treated to a coat of Stardust stickles along those inked edges. They were stored along with other random punched, inked, and stickled kraft shapes in a wee plastic drawer unit on top of my desk,  Punching out multiples and finishing them up ahead of time, lends to making up quick and easy cards. Some more gems were added to the stars just for a little impact.

I cut the get well card front down into a square topper, matted again with kraft and touched up the flowers here and there with my trusty Stardust Stickles.

I used so many snippets on this card that I must drop this card by Di's blog at Pixies Crafty Workshop where the theme is always "Must Use Snippets".

Best Wishes

I managed to use up another prefolded card. This aqua card and envelope seemed the perfect colour to give a suggestion of a sky background. I decided to make some quick cards using some dollar store 3D Owl pairs.

To aid in the endeavour to make quick cards, I tried to use stash sitting out on my desk waiting to be filed away, as well as  precut dies. When I am really bored, or when my mojo has gone walkabout, I sit and precut all sorts of dies from my snippets stash. That always leaves me with a healthy amount to take to crops or when we go to the lake. A few days ago, I sat and punched Martha stewart Hydrangea flowers and various small word dies, out of some really teensy snippets. Luckily, these were still sitting out on my desk...waiting to be filed!

Everything on this card was from my precut stash and so in total, this was about a 15 minute card!
I inked the edges of the card to contribute to the sky effect, using a Ingrid Bolme aqua chalk ink.
Placed a stitched Lawn Fawn stitched circle that I had chalked to look like clouds, and then off center matted a larger brown circle behind it. Set that on my card so it displayed just north of my card's center and added the 3D Owls as well as an Elizabeth Craft Best Wishes diecut, dotting the letter i with a pearl.

Used an ivory Lawn Fawn stitched hills diecut that had got a bit bent in my storage system.  I added to the bent look by crumpled it all different ways in my fist and then chalked across it with a couple shades of green.  Added a bit of brown chalk to create an impression of dirt and placed a Memory Box Small Alder Tree tree there.  Slid a scrap paper under the branches and rubbed green chalk over the tree buds with a brighter green chalk.

Added some blue and purple flowers randomly and placed a pearl in the center of each. Grabbed my trusty Stardust stickles and highlighted the buds as well as the flowers petals. I even added a bit to the owls.

The card seemed to be lacking something, so I added a 3D butterfly...another dollar store find.

I am happy as I think this is not bad for a 15 minute card. It would have been faster but I used Dots to affix the flowers and that took precious minutes up to place them! lol

As everything on this card came from snippets, I am taking this card over to Pixies Crafty Workshop
where the theme is always Must Use Snippets...