Chrissy Presents

Well I started off very enthusiastically promoting the new stamp challenge blog "Just Add Ink".....then got distracted somewhat along the way ...and here it is Challenge #6 already! Sorry girls! So I thought it was about time I joined in again-especially seeing as I loved the challenge sketch that they provided for us this week. I had also wanted to join in at Winter Wonderland this week with their challenge to make a "Monochromatic" Christmas card. So when I combined the two challenges ... that was how it was the squares on the right of the sketch suddenly became Christmas presents in my mind ! In a perfect world I would have had an old olive scalloped oval to put behind the sentiment ! ....And you would be able to see the sparkle on the stars!! Oh well- can't have it all I suppose!! The DSP I have used is my new gorgeous "Raspberry Tart"- didn't expect to find green sheets that I love in this pack ! The plain greens are old olive and kiwi kiss. The silver stars are more of my "bargain" newsagent bling!

Satsuma?????

Satsuma?? Never heard of that colour but I hope I am right in assuming that it is a kind of orange colour. It's one of the colours in this week's Winter Wonderland challenge. The others are chocolate and gold. The theme is "Christmas Stocking". You can do either or both. I did both.
Here is my entry.....it is a gift card holder that was designed by Claire in Ireland (Waltzingmouse makes). I found the template for it on SCS when it was the Technique Lovers Challenge #248 . You can find the link here
I wanted to make one last christmas ...but you know how it is....just never got around to it! So thanks WW girls for the inspiration to finally making one!

Candy Cane Christmas

The theme at WW this week is "Candy Cane" so we have been challenged to use just red and white on a Christmas Card. (Hope they don't notice my tiny bit of silver bling!!) The other stipulation was that to be eligble for the blog candy we were not allowed to combine their challenge with any other challenges. Well looks like I have blown that one too because I have combined my candy cane card with this week's Clean and simple challenge on SCS (#52 )which was to case this cute layout from. kmahany. Oh well!...don't seem to be very good at winning blog candy anyway ..( my rather depressing score is ZILCH!). Anyway hope you like my card. It uses SU Riding Hood Red Cardstock and ribbon, Big W DSP, Small star punch from Lincraft and sequins from the bling set I bought at my local newsagent which seems to have been a very good buy as I am using it heaps!. Once again I wish you could see the IRL sparkle!

Hot Chocolate!

Well I have to admit that the girls at Winter Wonderland had me completely stumped again with this weeks theme. How on earth was I going to make a Christmas card (that was still usable) with the theme of "Hot Chcolate". No suitable stamps and no punch art possibilities to help me this time! Well with a bit of thinking "outside the square"- this was what I finally came up with The cardstock is (of course!) Choc Chip. The ink is Encore Gold. The stamp set is Baroque Motifs and the gold ribbon is from Lincraft.

Winter Wonderland #8

What do you do if you don't have any "Santa" stamps and this week's theme at Winter Wonderland is "Santa Claus is coming to town!" Why-of course!- head straight on over to my fave place on the web-SCS!!where there is an absolute wealth of inspiration and ideas !! Found some help from"Dostamping" (again! Thanks Dawn !) who had posted this gorgeous little punch art santa
that I have CASEd for this card. She also has a tutorial for this on her blog.
I have used Red Riding Hood and Kiwi Kiss cardstock and "Dashing" DSP (retired...sorry!) Sentiment from Seasons of Joy and button with hemp twine rescued from another project that sadly ended up in the bin!!

PS I will take that ribbon off right now and iron it! - funny how you don't notice things until they are up on the screen- or maybe I just need new glasses LOL !!

Winter Wonderland #7

The theme set for this week by Teri,Pasquale and the other lovely friendly girls at Winter Wonderland was "Christmas Present". I took this literally (hope this was the idea!) and made this card with christmas presents ready to be ripped open !! (out of "Dashing" DSP) Now I must point out that I did not come up with this wonderful idea myself- it is CASED from the very talented and creative Sam Post who made it last christmas and posted it on her blog. (when you get to her blog .....search "christmas"....my computer is running too slow to find the actual post...sorry)
Sam used the "Big bold Birthday" set to stamp the ribbons on her presents- as I do not have this set I had to resort to real ribbons and bows! (Non SU- from my stash!)..... Hope your pile of presents looks like this in December!!

Winter Wonderland #3

Week #3 already! I'm keeping up so far! Even managed to have it done early this week but couldn't get it posted because it was hard to get a good pic. I know I keep saying it but the card does look better IRL when you can see the shininess of the silver embossing .The theme for this week is "Let it Snow". Usually at Christmas it is very hot in Australia so I don't make many "snowy" Christmas cards! But right now it is pretty cold here in Melbourne so it was easy to get in the mood ! The tiny snowflake on the top section is from Short & Sweet and the larger one and sentiment from Season of Joy.The cardstock is the beautiful Sage Shadow ( I don't usually like green but I love this shade!). The DSP is Wintergreen (retired) and the ribbon from my stash. (I think from "The Warehouse" for Aussie readers)

Winter Wonderland #2

This week's challenge was to make a card inspired by a Christmas Carol. The carol I chose was "Deck the Halls" ! I have wanted to make a "wreath" card for ages but never thought that I had the right stamps to do the job. Then one night, lying awake in bed,thinking about stamping (LOL as you do!!) I suddenly thought of using Trendy trees! Do not ask me why!! (Lol ...Who can cure us of this terrible addiction????) Anyway the next day I tried it and it actually worked-well I am pretty pleased with it anyway. (The card does look better IRL)The berries are made using "Autumn Flair" and I have put some "sparkles" on some of them. The cardstock is Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red and the ink is Encore silver. Please tell me I am not the only one who lies in bed thinking about my next creation!!!

Winter Wonderland #1

Don't mean to alarm you... but.....I've started to make Christmas cards! And so have lots of other stampers at a very new blog called "Winter Wonderland" Each week this site will gently encourage stampers with a challenge so that by the time Christmas gets here- you are well on the way to having those cards done! Week 1's challenge was called "O Christmas Tree" and it was simply just that- make a card with a Christmas tree. - not too hard so far! Mine uses a layout from the Clean and Simple stamping blog- it is one of their "10 minute Monday" cards.
I have used Always Artichoke and Purely Pomegranate (retired) cardstock, and Holiday Harmony DSP(retired) The background snow flakes are stamped in silver ink using a stamp from the " short and sweet" set. The sentiment is also from that set. To make the decorations for the trees I punched small holes with my cropadile and added a purely pomegranate scrap behind so that it shows through the holes. A star brad on top and a sprinkling of dazzling diamonds give them that Christmas sparkle! Hope to see you at "Winter Wonderland" next week!