Phoenix Inspirations

My last DT card of the year is for  CAS - Colours & Sketches . The theme is a past Double challenge - that's a sketch and a colour combo and I chose Here is my card See you in January xx

Here is a card to show you the versatility of a couple of  Christmas stamp sets. White Christmas and Holiday Home are not just for Christmas - take a look at a Four Seasons card I made a while ago These sets won't be hanging around for much longer - they go with end of the Holiday Mini catalogue so if I were you I would snap them up quick and you could be creating outdoor scenes for the rest of the year! Thanks for looking xx

So - the stamp Endless Wishes set fell into my basket last time I was placing an order and I haven't really used it enough yet. I did get to use it on a card I made for a Facebook swap a while ago though - take a look I do love a bit of word stamping around the edge - have you noticed that?! And of course I used my favourite colour Lost Lagoon - this time teamed up with a bit of Blushing Bride. The vellum panel is a piece I was given a while ago by  a friend, it's been embossed with the Northern Flurry embossing folder and I topped it with a snowflake which is made by quilling - a technique recently experienced at a local craft club. It's a Joy Fold card and I hope it bought a little joy to the person I sent it to! Thanks for looking xx

It's the last challenge of the year over at  Make My Monday  and the theme is Nativity - here is my card This was a very quick and easy card to make - after all time is short at this time of the year! A little stamping and gold embossing looks great on navy card stock and the gold bow adds a touch of luxury.  Thanks for looking xx

So time is racing on and time is precious but you have a few short moments to create a few last minute cards - like this one perhaps? I've used White Christmas - the tree stamp is inked with a marker so I can only ink up the parts I need to - like this one lone tree. A few birds are added along with a Rudolf deer and a sentiment - honestly this took minutes to create and a whole batch could be made in no time at all. The set has lots of little extras as well so instead of a deer why not add a snowman, a polar bear or a a car? Thanks for looking xx

Over at the  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  blog. We have an extended challenge that started last week and continues for anther week. We have a sponsor who is also offering a prize so do pop over and take a look. Here is another card using the sponsor's image Loads of sparkle on this, a panel of Cherry Cobbler card stock and the sponsor image printed on to Whisper White card stock and coloured with Old Olive Blendies - job done!

Who doesn't like stars at Christmas? The Bright and Beautiful stamp set has gorgeous star images and co-ordinates with the star dies too - take a look I am also loving the Lost Lagoon blue ink from the In - Colours - it looks great with silver and is perfect for Christmas. I also used the Good Greetings set to make a word border for my card. The centre star is folded and raised up on 3D dimensionals - not good for posting I know but fine for hand delivering. Thanks for looking xx

We are doing Christmas over on the  CAS - Colours & Sketches  blog. You are invited to choose a past sketch BUT - Make It Christmas. I chose the sketch from August 22nd 2013 Here is my card I have used an image from the Festival of Trees set simply stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder on to Mossy Meadow card stock. I then attached it to some silver glimmer paper. I embossed the base of the card using a score board. Hope you like it and pop over to take part. Bye for now - xx

It's time for a new challenge in  The Male Room  and this week the theme is CHRISTMAS. So this is the card I will be giving my other half this year - he never reads my blog so he won't be getting a sneak peek! Here it is take a look This card is inspired by some artwork I spyed recently at a local craft fair. The artwork in question was enamel on metal by an artist called Kevin France and both myself and Clive fell in love with it - it's very expensive however so this will have to do till we win the lottery! I've used soooo many stamps to create this: stamps I've made myself, some Barbara Gray stamps and of course some Stampin' Up stamps. The foliage stamp at the bottom actually has a moose attached to it - I just coloured the bits I needed with a marker! To make it a bit more Christmassy I was going to add some glitter - I didn't think my hubby would like it so I left it off - shame, I LOVE glitter! Thanks for looking - do pop over to the blog

I did a party recently and as I was going through the Stampin' Up catalogue with the ladies one asked "what's the difference in the markers?" Well - one is alcohol ink (Blendabilites) and the other is a water based dye ink (Stampin' Write Markers) I replied. "Yes - but what's the difference?" she insisted. Hmmmmm - time to find out! Here is a sheet of Whisper White card stock. It's very smooth and I find that it is excellent for colouring onto - not water colouring though. I have stamped said card stock with the Blended Bloom stamp and coloured them with both sets of markers - take a look Two of the blooms have been coloured with Stampin' Write markers - reds and greens and two have been coloured with the Cherry Cobbler set of Blendies and the Old Olive set of Blendies (you get three in each set, dark, medium and light). Can you tell which is coloured with which? Well the top two are the Blendibilities. The colours are a lot rich

Today at  Make My Monday  the theme is ANGELS. I had this all sussed out when I set this challenge, I had seen the perfect tutorial on YouTube and I was looking forward to making them. However when I came to do all the die cutting the die wouldn't cut the shape completely. I tried several times and then gave up. Sigh. Plan B - take a look (made at 11pm last night as a last resort!) The star card is die cut and the angel is made from a bow template. I added a golden halo and sparkly flower - punched from glimmer paper. These would look nice just with a little twine added to the angel's halo and hung from the Christmas tree - or as place names on the dining table. They can made bigger too! Please do pop over to the blog and take a look at all the other angelic creations from the dt - bye for now xx

The brand new challenge over at  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown  is ............. We also have a sponsor this month to finish the year off  "AND....we have a fabulous sponsor who is offering a terrific prize for the TOP HONOR winner of the December challenge. Prize is $15 in digital images!!" Here is my card using one of the sponsors designs Printed on to Whisper White card stock the image was coloured using the colour combo from March I made the easel shaped card using Stampin' Up Window framelits and another from Apothecary Art. Card stock used was Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White. Thanks for looking xx

The lovely Laura has chosen our theme this week at  Make My Monday  - Sprays and Mists. Here is my card The only spray or mist I own is a Perfect Pearls one in Gumball Pink but I think I managed to make it look Christmassy! The spray is on the background which is the Hardwood stamp, stamped on to Blushing Bride card stock with Blushing Bride ink. The pearlescent spray was then sprayed on to the background. Thanks for looking - no doubt I shall be back later with my now becoming usual Monday 'catch-up' post! xx