There's No Business Like Snow Business

Here's my last Christmas card this year specially made for someone who likes singing, dancing and musical theatre. The image is a freebie which I found by Googling 'dancing snowman'... 

I've coloured him using promarkers and mounted him on a blue and white spotty background for a 'snow at night' effect. The spotlights are cut from very thin yellow paper and I couldn't resist a play on the famous song from Annie Get Your Gun for the greeting.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:


Order of the Opus Gluei - free for all
Digi Haven - use a free digi
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - anything goes

Cute Cats

Spent a happy morning shopping on line and snapping up some bargains - Samuel Taylor has a pretty good offer on at the moment - 4 sets of Nesties for £55 with free delivery so I stocked up on some new shapes.

I also found time to put this together...

It's an extremely cute freebie from Little Musings, coloured with pro markers. I've added a few pearls and a pink gem to give it a bling factor.

I've entered this into the following 'anything goes' challenges...

Charisma Cardz 
Simon Says Stamp
Delightful Challenges

Christmas Turkey

Are we all looking forward to Christmas lunch?? I was asked to make a birthday card for a work colleague's husband who is obviously the chef in their house. 

I found the perfect image online and I paperpieced his trousers in authentic blue checked paper. The fiddly bit was matting the image on red card whilst leaving the turkey 'overhanging' but I'm pleased with the very retro looking  result.

I've entered this card into the following challenges...




Avadares Challenge  - Anything with a digi
Stampin' For The Weekend - Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers - Paper piecing
Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything Goes

Cheers!

It's recipe week at  Less Is More and the theme is drinks, very suitable with all the Christmas parties going on at the minute! My entry however is a birthday card using an image I found in clip art of all places! I love the quirky blanket stitch effect.

The image came ready coloured. I printed it twice and carefully cut around the second image to create a decoupage effect. The greeting is done in Parisian font which makes me think of posh art deco cocktails bars!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and for those like me who can't wait for tonight's Strictly final - COME ON LOUIS SMITH!!!

Sharon
x

Figgy Pud

Today's card is an example of what happens when your mojo is frazzled - just keep on layering! I got this cutie figgy pud image from Digistamp Boutique's Simply For Christmas set. It's matted using nesties and I've crimped the brown base card to try to make it a bit more interesting!

I've finished it off with a gossamer ribbon and a Card Candi coloured with a pro marker and some red gems as holly berries. Next year I am definitely going to make Christmas cards throughout the year - no way do I ever want to make over a hundred cards in one month ever again!

I've entered this into the following challenges;

Digital Tuesday Challenge - Layers
Celebrate the Occasion - anything goes Christmas

For Dad at Christmas

As much as  I love playing about with digis sometimes it's nice to make a card without having to switch on the computer. I found a sheet with delightful santa and snowman images in my local craft shop in Sunderland - no idea at all who makes them but there's a lovely naive feel to them...

This is made using one of the santa images. It's matted on burgundy coloured card then mounted on a cream swiss dot embossed background. I've used some striped paper from Dovecraft's Jolly Happy Christmas pack and finished off with a ribbon to hide the join. The greeting is die cut and mounted on punched circles.

I've entered this into the following challenges;

Unstampabelles - Christmas (no stamps or digis)
Kaboodle Doodles - Christmas
Hooked On Craft - Christmas

Too Clean and Simple?

Can a card ever be TOO clean and simple? This week's 'anniversary' challenge at Less Is More reminded me I need an anniversary card for my friend's 5th wedding anniversary at the end of this month. She purposely got married at Christmas so she could have a 'sparkle' theme - there were lots of icicles and crystals and the bridesmaids wore the palest ice blue dresses I have ever seen - simply gorgeous.

I know she'll love this because she has often admired the CAS cards at Less Is More even though she doesn't make cards herself and her own style is very understated.

Cute Blue Christmas Card

I haven't stopped all day! Hairdressers at the crack of dawn, Christmas shopping this morning and I finally finished my Christmas cards this afternoon.

This card is for the last of my orders. The cute ready coloured stamped image is from an old issue of Creative Cardmaking, as is the patterne paper. It's mounted on dull mirri paper and I've added some snowflakes with blue gems for a bit extra sparkle.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Cutie Pie Challenge Blog - Cute Christmas
The Crazy Challenge - Christmas Time
Delicious Doodles - anything for Christmas using blue

Non-Traditional Colours

It's a bit more of a challenge making a card using non-traditional colours and still getting a Christmassy feel to it...

The image is from Lili Of The Valley, pre-coloured by Bev Rochester but I've added the pale turquoise colour onto it to match the patterned paper. The papers came from my scraps box - they are both very old!

I've entered this into the following challenges requesting non-traditional colours:

My Time To Craft
Dutch Dare Card Challenge

All In A Row

As usual I've been up since about 4.30 unable to sleep... which, although this is no good for my health, does help with my card making - another 4 cards made!

It's one layer week at Less Is More. I used to be scared of this - I don't do stamping and it can be such a faff trying to position digis just where  I want them. Thank goodness for Microsoft Publisher!

The cute row of trees is a freebie from Alley Way and is perfect for the 'all in a row' theme. I've used saginaw font for the greeting and added glitter on all the red bits. It's still not fully light here in the North East but you can just about see the glitter twinkling!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend folks

Sharon
xx

Sparkling Tree

I was going to post this first thing this morning but I just couldn't get a decent photo - I had to wait until I was at work to get some decent light! As you can see out of my office window we have had snow which doesn't help with the strange light it produces.

I'm now a bit fed up of Christmas cards but that's probably because I've made nearly a hundred! As you can see by the layout of this one my mojo has nearly gone! All my inspiration came from the photo on the current challenge at Crafty Cardmakers:

The clean and simple style also suits this week's challenge at CASology - use 'sparkle' as your inspiration. In the right light the gems and the mirri card are totally sparkle-tastic!

Another of my fave challenges - Moving Along With The Times also has 'clean and simple' as this week's theme so I've entered it in that aswell.

The tree is a glittery peeloff and I've covered it in turquoise gem 'baubles'. The matting is some lovely shiny mirri paper I found in my local tat shop. Corrugated silver card and a matching turquoise ribbon finishes off.

Thanks for looking...

Sharon 
x

Christmas Trees

Have you ever made a card where one little bit of it just wouldn't work? A very simple bit at that! That ribbon just would not lie flat. I teased it, I stroked it then in a total hissy fit I used double sided sticky tape under it which is probably what I should have done in the first place!




I don't normally use patterned paper on CAS cards but I think this works. The gorgeous papers are from Bo Bunny - free with a magazine and so Christmassy.

I've entered this into the following challenges:

Less is More  - Colour scheme - red and green
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - CAS

A Touch of Gold

I don't like peel-offs! I really don't. I think they can make a lovely card look totally naff, especially when a peel-off greeting is stuck on. But when I found these peel-off baubles in a bargain bin in my local craft shop for 10p it would have been rude to leave them there!

I've kept to my usual CAS style but in the flesh it looks very shiny! I've used heavy linen card for the base which I think help gives a classier feel. I may go back to it in a couple of days and add a diamante to the middle of the star and some tiny bows to the top of the strings but I'm pleased so far with the overall feel of it.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - a card for someone special
Try It On Tuesday - Christmas Sparkle
Little Claire's - Christmas
Order of the Opus Gluei - more than one layer

Sharon
xx

Glitzy Blingy Bauble

My dining room table is currently a sea of craftiness as I continue with the Christmas cards, there's glitter and diamantes everywhere! I'm nearly finished now - only maybe another 12 to go so I should have them all finished by the end of November which was my aim.

Today's card is certainly glitzy. I've had some shimmery gauze material for a while which I have always wanted to use on a Christmas card so I carefully die-cut a circle of it and made a huge bauble by layering it on some dark red card and adding some red gems. I've finished off with a lovely bow I kept from some of last year's choccies and there's another card done!

The light has almost gone so I must have looked like a nutter taking a photo of this card in the garden!

I've entered this in the following challenges:

I think the general feel is clean and simple enough for the 'glamour and glitz' challenge at Less Is More and there's certainly enough bling for the 'bring on the bling' challenge at Allsorts Challenge Blog.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend...

Sharon

Jingle Bells

It's theme week at Less Is More and the challenge is to use some 'hardware' made from metal on your card - the perfect opportunity to use one of the bells that came with this month's Simply Homemade magazine.

Rudolph is hand cut - I got the template from an old patchwork magazine. I've added some fun googly eyes and the bell has been attached to his rather shiney collar. Nothing fussy or frilly - perfect for a small boy .

I've now got a lovely day ahead of me making Christmas cards - only another 40 to go...

Sharon
x

Winter Blues

Today's card is made with a wonderful digi by Ladybug Crafts Ink that I got free with a magazine (Complete Cardmaking)

It was so quick to colour and I couldn't resist adding some blue bling! I've matted the image with dark blue card and a matching ribbon.

I've entered this into the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays - a winter card featuring the colour blue

Polka Doodles - a square card with a round element

Deer Husband

I'm well on my way with Christmas cards now - got another 5 made this afternoon. This one is for a friend at work who wanted something 'cute and funny' for her husband...

I've had this digi for years - there's no name attached to the file but it has the look of a MelonHeadz drawing. If anyone recognises it please let me know so I can give the artist due credit.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - a card for a man or boy

Another New Home Card

I laughed when I saw the challenge at Less Is More this week because I knew I would end up using the same image as I used last week! It's 'one layer week' which I am starting to enjoy more and more and the theme is 'houses'. Again I used a delightful image from Digistamp Boutique's New Home Collection, this time using the row of houses rather than an individual image.

So what colours to use? This week's ColorQ challenge has a lovely muted autumnal palette...

I just love the cherry colour - it really makes the image pop from the white card but I'm glad I just used it for accents as I think a red house might have been too much! I have had trouble before with bleeding using this colour so I used 300gsm card so the promarkers didn't bleed through to the inside. 

And back to the Christmas cards...

Girly Birthdays

I have a number of requests for girly birthday cards at the moment and they are making a welcome change from Christmas cards.

 

This was made using the gorgeous Alyssa image from the Digistamp Boutique. I've coloured her with promarkers and kept the background simple using a matching pink spotty paper and black matting.

I've entered this into the 'Anything Goes' challenges at:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog 

Papertake Weekly

Lady Anne's Monday Challenge

Red and white stripes

Living in the north east of England it is hard to avoid football! I have been going to Sunderland matches for over 20 years now - many a Saturday afternoon has been spent in freezing conditions both at the old ground Roker Park and now at the Stadium of Light. I often get asked to make Sunderland related birthday cards for people and this shirt card is one of my faves as it is so easy to personalise.

This one is for the son of a work colleague. The shirt is made from a t-shirt template I found on line and I've added stripes and numbers to turn it into the back of a footy shirt. The badges on the arms are made from the actual Premiership emblem reduced as small as possible in Word.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge Blog  - For men only
Chocolate Coffee and Cards challenge - use stripes

Little Pink House

Today's challenge at Less Is More is the colour PINK. I needed a new home card for someone at work so using one of my favourite Digistamp Boutique images I came up with this..

Back to the Christmas cards now - I have about 50 to make before the end of November. Why didn't I start them in June???

Have a great weekend

Sharon
xx

Can We Fix It?

Today's card is a birthday card for a work colleague's son who LOVES Bob The Builder. He's two years old in November and his mum wanted his name and a number 2 on the card as well as anything Bob related...

 

I got the digi image from a website full of children's colouring pages - I find this the best place to look for images of any popular cartoon characters. I enlarged the image, coloured him with promarkers and carefully cut around him. The speech bubble and number were created in Word Art. Although it doesn't show very well in the photo, I've chalked the background in green to help the figure 'pop' from the card.

I've entered this card into the following challenges...

Pile it On - For the Birthday Boy

Card Makin Mamas - Anything, You Say..

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz Challenge - Male card with the option of a number

  

Thank You Card

 As I've been up since half 5 this morning making wedding invitations, this week's challenge at Less is More came as a welcome break at 8 o'clock! The theme this week is to follow a sketch...

I loved Chrissie's card done in shades of green so I cased, sorry STOLE this idea and used shades on red, orange and yellow. As I don't do stamping I die-cut a simple flower in black paper and added this to the strip of colour. A simple printed greeting was added  then I thought STOP - it doesn't need any more!

It somehow makes me think of the German flag! Never mind...

Thanks for looking

Sharon
x

Dimension - Baby card

This fortnight's challenge at Let's Craft and Create is to add dimension to your card...

To do this I've cut some card slightly smaller than the front of the base card, made an aperture then put the image on an embossed background. Further dimension has been added by using foam pads under the image which is from a sheet of cute watercoloured images by Ruth Watkins for Craft Creations.

I've also entered this card into the 'Anything Goes' challenges at One Stop Craft Challenge and at Lady Anne's .

Autumn Leaves

I love Autumn. I love the way the trees change colour and the nights get darker but it's still not cold. I also love the colours - I seem to have a lot of Autumn coloured clothes in russet, burgundy and burnt orange. We have wonderful trees where I work in Durham - they have started to change colour and I could sit and look at them all day...

Today's card incorporates the lovely colours and shapes but remains clean and simple. The leaves are die cut and coloured with promarkers then mounted on squares. A simple greeting finishes off the card. I did toy with a coloured gem each square but then I just thought, 'stop'! Less is certainly more on this card.

I've entered this card into the following challenges

Less Is More - Autumn
Crafty Cardmakers - Autumn
Charisma Cards - Clean and simple 
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Autumn Colours


Thanks for looking

Sharon
x

Lili of the Vally Toppers

At a recent craft fair I found the most gorgeous LOTV toppers with images pre-coloured by Bev Rochester - they are so gorgeous and only a pound per sheet and there's 7 different sized images on each sheet!

I used the largest size die cut for this card. The original image has the boy in a plain black and white strip but I coloured the red shirt and socks myself to match the colours of the recipient's favourite football team. The backing paper started life as wrapping paper and I've added card candi and peel-off letters on the bunting.

I've entered this card into the current challenges at

Lili's Little Fairies - anything goes
Sentimental Sundays - black, white and one other colour (red)

Love Birds

Today's card is a cute CAS anniversary card done in Autumnal colours using a lovely lovebirds image from the Digistamp Boutique

I've coloured the image using promarkers (cinnamon, coral and burnt orange) and added a couple of brown gems on the tails. It's finished off with a computer printed greeting in Segoe Script font.

I've entered this card into the following challenges ;

Less Is More - one layer with a 'wings' theme
CAS-ual Fridays - a project using a heart
Creative Card Crew - birds

Thanks for looking..

Sharon
x

Decoupaged Flower

Another design from my box of 'things that must be used'! I've had this decoupage flower for ages. I've used the same flower on a number of cards in the past as I bought this design in bulk and this is the last one left.

The spotty borders are done with an X-Cut border die and I've finished the card off with a co-ordinating ribbon. It's not for anyone in particular, just another addition to my for sale box at work.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations - anything goes
Crafts and Me Challenges - anything goes
Let's Craft and Create - borders

Thanks for looking...

Sharon

Silver Dream Machine

This week it's a colour theme at  Less Is More and the colour of choice is SILVER. This challenge should be encouraging me to get some more Christmas cards made but instead the first silvery thing I noticed in my 'things to use before I can buy anything else' box was this lovely silvery grey classic car decoupage. 

I've matted the image  and greeting on to silver mirri card and added some silver candi which reminded me of shiny car bumpers. Another card for my masculine box and I can always start the Christmas cards next week...

Jetting Off To Get Married

Another request to make some wedding invites for a colleague at work whose sister is getting married abroad. I've been working on some samples for her to choose from and I have a feeling she'll like this one as it's personalised.

I've kept this very clean and simple as the thought of making 50 identical cards is quite daunting - the most complicated part of this design is cutting out the aeroplane and I love cutting - I find it quite relaxing.

I've entered this into this week's Love and Marriage challenge at Less Is More

Milestone Birthdays

Today's challenge at The Secret Crafter is to make a milestone birthday card. I always enjoy doing 'number cards' - I can't wait to do one for a hundredth birthday should the occasion ever arise. This one is for a work colleague for her son.







The numbers are done in Word Art in Microsoft Office, enlarged then printed onto patterned paper. This is then mounted on co-ordinating plain paper and attached to the card base with foam pads. I've added some peel-off balloons and squiggles and matching stripes of pattern down each side.

Feathered Friends

The current challenges at Polka Doodles and Ink It Pink reminded me that someone had requested a bird themed card for a 90th birthday. Something with garden birds on it was the request! Well I'm not the world's greatest bird lover living in a place surrounded by seagulls but I found this Craft Creations decoupage sheet in a bargain bucket at a craft fair ages ago and it ideally suits this request.

The decoupage was already die cut so it didn't take very at all and I really like the result - it has a lovely Oriental feel to it. Back to the craft room now - I've got another 6 cards to make today!

Grandson's Birthday

I quite enjoy making cards for kids and an order to make a card for a work colleague's grandson gave me the opportunity to use some digi stamps I recently bought from The Clipart Fairy.

The image was very easy to colour and paper piece with some papers I have had for about 5 years. I love the little boy's face - it's so serious and cute!

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant - Use patterned paper

Sweet ‘N Sassy Digi Challenge - Something old (papers), new (digi) and blue (matting paper and hat) 

Fashionista Challenge    - For a child

Card In A Hurry !

So just before he left the house earlier my other half suddenly asked... "Did you make a birthday card for my Mam?"...

Well I would have if he had given me a bit more notice.

What followed was a mad half hour knocking together probably the quickest card I have made in a while. The rose image is a die-cut decoupage by Hunkydory - very handy for occasions like this. The image took minutes to quickly put together and I cut two strips from the leftover scrap from the image. While the glue dried on these I printed off a computer greeting and insert and had the whole thing put together in about 15 minutes!

I've entered this card into today's challenges at:

Daring Cardmakers - Focus on flowers

Crafts 4 Eternity - Less Is More

In Sympathy...

The challenge at both The Sisterhood of Crafters and The Pink Elephant at the moment is to make a sympathy card, something that nobody actually enjoys making but is more of a neccessary evil. I've used a flower image from the Digistamp Boutique and coloured it using the palest promarkers I have.

I've mounted the image on black paper and added a computer generated greeting. No embellishments, no bling, no ribbon, this takes the clean and simple look to extremes but befits the occasion.

Enjoy Your Retirement!

There seems to be a lot of folk retiring lately - the place I work at is undergoing restructures in every department at the moment and a lot of people are taking advantage of early retirement and redundancy packages, This card is for Terry who I have lift shared with for the past 7 years, a great bloke who is looking forward to putting his feet up!

The image is the wonderful Jim from The Digistamp Boutique, stamped coloured and decoupaged - simple but effective. I've entered this into the following challenges:

Kaboodle Doodles - a project for someone older than me

Penny's Paper-crafty Challenge - masculine

Papelitos Stamps Challenge - masculine

Monochrome Wedding Shoe

Today's card is made with one of my favourite digi images - the gorgeous wedding shoe by just inklined. I made a pink version of this card a few months ago and I've had loads of requests for different coloured versions ever since. The funny thing is I've never used this image for a wedding card!

The shoe is coloured with Spectrum Noir pens - I got a set for my birthday and I'm still experimenting with them as I find them 'wetter' than promarkers. I've decoupaged the front of the shoe for a more 3D effect and added diamantes. The gossamer bow makes this a very touchy feely card.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:

Charisma Cards Challenge - Monochrome

Stamping For The Weekend - Monochromatic