Here Comes Christmas with Polkadoodles

Well it is anything but cold and  frosty where I live today.....we woke up to a complete downpour and we have had nothing but pouring rain and darkness al day so far.....not at all my vision of Christmas!

This card is much more like Christmas time to me, and it's made using a gorgeous digi image and background papers from my Polkadoodles Here Comes Christmas CD.

As you can see, I have used a couple of my favourite techniques here.....colouring with alcohol markers and a little it of decoupage for some lift.

The digi is quite detailed so it took a while to colour, but well worth it I think, and I have gone with a slightly different colour scheme than usual, to complement the lovely Christmas tree backing paper and the tartan one which I have used as a faux ribbon.

I hope you like my little offering for today, and wish you all a relaxing weekend.

Before I go.....some lovely challenges to enter:

http://mymumscraftshop.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-12-winter-christmas.html
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-96-anything-goes.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/last-christmas-card-of-year.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/wk-51anything-goeschristmas-birthday.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/digi-choosday-wk-9-anything-goes.html
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-58final-challenge-of-2013.html
http://christmasatsweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/let-it-snow.html
http://stamp-n-doodle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/stamp-n-doodle-challenge-18th-december.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Stamp-n-doodle+(Stamp-n-doodle)
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/welcome-to-pennys-challenge-158-and-dt.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-38.html
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/last-challenge-of-year-anything-goes.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/crafty-calendar-challenge-cold-and.html

Sharon x

Drink and be Merry with Bearly Mine

It's my final challenge of this Year at Bearly Mine so, although I am not a drinker myself, I thought it would be a good time to raise a toast!

For this card I have delved back in to the Steampunk sets from Bearly Mine and paired them with a GIANT wine bottle stamp from Stamp Addicts. This card is actually  8 x8, so that gives you some idea of the size of the wine bottle.

I wanted a very vintage effect for this card, so I think the the steampunk papers work really well for this and go very nicely with the muted tones that you get from the distress ink pads which I used to  stamp the bottle.

So, the next time you see me on a Bearly Mine challenge, I fully expect to be back in to the Spring Pastels again!

In te meantime, a great Christmas and New Year to you all and I look forward to seeing your crafty creations over on the Bearly Mine challenge site.

Sharon x

The final challenge at Crafty Little Fairies this year - Anything Goes

I can hardly believe it's time for the final challenge of 2013 at Crafty Little Fairies and this time, it is everyone's favourite - Anything Goes.

We started the year as Lili's Little Fairies, so in homage to that, I have decided to go back to a beautiful LOTV image for this challenge.

I'm also looking ahead to the New Year......as you can see, this is a Father's Day Card......well the challenge does say 'Anything!'

I have used an unusual colour combination for me....lovely earthy greens and browns, as I thought this would be a bit more manly, but I have to say I am really liking how this colour combination turned out and I happened to have just the right colours in my Promarker challenge to achieve it too.

So I hope you like my card for today and hope to see you over at Crafty Little Fairies for our final crafty fling on 2013!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Sharon x

Let it snow.....

 I bet you are all humming that famous Christmas song right now!

Let it snow is also the subject of our latest challenge over at Crafty Little Fairies and I thought I would rake the opportunity to crack out some of my lovely Christmassy Mulberry Wood stamps for the occasion.

So how do you like this one with all those cute little mice sitting in a Christmas hat....I think it is just so sweet and really enjoyable to colour.

I decided to follow a sketch (a little loosely I must admit!) from Sketch Saturday and the papers are all printed from the Barkley Christmas CD.....a little mix and match can be a very good thing I reckon.

And here's a close up of those cute little mousey faces.....adorable wouldn't  you agree?

Finally, here are the lovely challenges that I would like to enter:

http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/crafty-calendar-challenge-cold-and.html
http://mymumscraftshop.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-12-winter-christmas.html
http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cwlc-70-anything-goes.html
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/challenge-32-anything-goes.html
http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-116-snowflakes.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/christmas-creatures.html
http://stamp-n-doodle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/stamp-n-doodle-challenge-11th-december.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Stamp-n-doodle+(Stamp-n-doodle)
http://nutcrafters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-58final-challenge-of-2013.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/fabnfunky-challenge-197-snowflakes.html
http://christmasatsweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/let-it-snow.html
http://inkychicks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-19-christmas.html
http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-299-christmas-catch-up.html
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/mim-170-with-pink-paper-paradise.html

Well that's all from me for today....don't forget to come and join us at CLF....not much more time to get those snowy creations in!

Bye for now.

Sharon x

A lIttle Bit of Christmas Victoriana

Those of you who are regular visitors to my blog will no doubt have noticed that I am very much drawn to the Cutie side of life and this is very much reflected in my card making.

However 'cute' isn't everyone's cup of tea and sometimes it does us good to do something a little different, so I couldn't help but be drawn to the Thomas Kinkade decoupage book and CD.

I think I have made 7 cards so far from this CD so it has really paid for itself and I love that traditional look that you can achieve with this style.

The decoupage is very big and very detailed so, as you can see on these A5 cards, you really don't need to add too much else...in my case a bit of ribbon and some glitter!

You can't  really se the 3d effect too well on this card, but the time spent cutting was really worth all the effort when you see the real thing.

Here are some lovely challenges that I would like to enter today:

http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-58-summer-or-winter.html
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/a-for-almost-christmas.html
http://joannasheenchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/make-it-sparkle-christmas-challenge.html
http://christmascardchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/christmas-card-challenges-1-no-stamping.html
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/digi-choosdaywk-7-christmas-cheer.html
http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cwlc-69-christmas.html
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-196-touch-of-frost.html
http://cardmakinmamas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cmm77-merry-christmas-sponsored-by.html
http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/crafty-calendar-challenge-cold-and.html
http://mymumscraftshop.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-12-winter-christmas.html
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/mim-169-with-lotv.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-36.html

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x

Winter is upon us but Spring will soon be here

Well aren't there just tonnes of lovely Christmas around to admire at the moment?

I thought I would break the mould and give my pastel colours a bit of a work out with a more Spring like card.....and here it is using a lovely Lacy Sunshine digi that I printed off a while back and never quite got around to colouring.

I think these characters are so sweet and I particularly love the little frog with his flower bonnet....it's really nice to be able to colour him in with zesty yellows and greens at this time of year too!

As you can see I have kept my card layout very simple with small strips of patterned paper, cupeled with some punched flowers. I can't help thinking though, that this kind of layout would have had more impact with more contrasting backing papers...maybe red or green....but of course then we are back to Christmas again!

There are a few challenges that I would like to enter with this card, so here they are:

http://lacysunshinechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lacy-sunshine-challenge-22-anything-goes.html
http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.co.uk
http://ilovepromarkers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/challenge-197-for-child.html
http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/anything-goes.html
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/mim-169-with-lotv.html
http://sisteractcardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/challenge-35.html

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sharon x