Santa buddy

I've finally had time to play in my craft area, and made about a dozen cards this past weekend. It feels so good to get creative! It's so relaxing and time just flies. I am also in the process of trying to make my craft area more user-friendly, and as soon as it's done, I'll post some pictures.

I got this stamp recently, and I have to say, I just love the way it pops off the page. It was a quick colour, too, which is an added bonus. I made it a while ago, and am just getting to posting it now. I'll have more Christmas cards to show over the next couple of days.

This is a Penny Black stamp, Holiday Hug. I stamped it on bristol paper, coloured with copic markers. I am quite happy with how it turned out. It's nice when the idea in your head translates into real life.

The background paper is from my stash- can't remember who makes it.

I hope Santa and his little buddy made you smile.

Flourishes Christmas Challenge 19

We had our first major snowfall of the season last night, and it looks so pretty outside. Dog 1 and Dog 2 had a blast playing in the snow, and both came in covered in snow.

I did this card a few weeks ago, and haven't had much time to post it. It's for the Flourishes Christmas Challenge. 

I have really enjoyed playing along with these challenges, and can't wait for the next one. This month's challenge was Round like a Wreath. I had a bit of a time trying to come up with ideas for this one- the first card I created was a disaster- was not impressed at all with how it turned out. I absolutely love this stamp, and have used it quite a bit.

 I cut out the shape with a cricut cartridge for the red background, and then did the same with the music paper. I then stamped Santa and coloured with Copics. I think I am getting better with the skin tones, but still need a little work on lips. I'll come with practice (I hope). I added a little sparkle to his glasses with a silver gel pen and to the berries and holly with spica glitter pens.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas mouse

I recently came across a new challenge blog, and this week's challenge is Winter Wonderland challenge- A Christmas Mouse.
I got this stamp last winter and didn't ink it. It puts me in mind of Christmas- nothing better than a cup of hot chocolate with a little something stirred in.

The image was stamped on bristol paper and coloured with Copics. I layered it on blue card cut at 4 inches by 5.25 inches, and added a little bit of white ribbon to break up the blue panel.

The mice look like they are ready for a warm drink!

The next week is going to be very busy, but I hope I'll be able to find some time to play with the new toys I got this past weekend. Lots of fun!

Remember, remember, the fifth of November...

I am a few days late, but when I checked out the Less is More challenge Saturday before I headed to a work event, I immediately had an idea. It had to stay in the back of my head until I got home on Sunday, but I am thrilled with the way it turned out.

The challenge this week is to use red and orange- and given that winter is just around the corner, I will jump at the chance to use warmer colours.

I have the Hero Arts Dandelion flower seed stamp, and I haven't played with it much yet, but I was immediately inspired to use it- reminds me of fireworks.

For this card, I used distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany to stamp the image, and cut the white card to 5x5 inches. I matted it on glitter orange stock cut to 5.25 square. The sentiment is stamped in black. I added spots of sparkle on the flowers with a Spica clear pen. It's a little hard to see, but it looks fab in person.

For the second card, I cut a 4.25x5.5 inch front and created a mask with a 3 inch circle punched out.
I sponged on Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Fired Brick into the mask and dabbed it with a babywipe to brighten the colours, then stamped the dandelion stamp three times.

The black looks a little washed out in the picture- it's more bold in person.