Another Christmas Digi

Hello bloggers from a very grey, wet and windy Scotland - the weather has definitely taken a turn for the Autumnal - leaves falling already! It's hard to believe that the clocks will be going back in just a couple of weeks, it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since they went on to British summer time - our summer here in Scotland consisted of only about a dozen warm and sunny days this year :o( 

I suppose then that it's only natural to have started thinking of Christmas and the card I'm sharing today has been made with Xmas Owl another of my Christmas digi stamps available here at Cardmadfairy's Creations. I used papers from My Mind's Eye, this set is called Holly Jolly, and cut them both with circle templates, then I cut out the pennant shapes and layered them up,  finishing each with a glitter card punched snowflake. I punched a circle of the same embossed, pearlised card I used for the decoration (see previous post) to resemble the moon and popped it behind my owl. The sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo.

Entering my card for the following:
CCEE Stampers - One of your favorite color combo's + half circle on it
Rainbow Lady's - "In the Misty Moonlight"
My Mum's Craft shop - All creatures great and small
365 Cards - Punchy embellishment
There's Magic in the Air - Go green
Bah Humbug - Glitter & glitz
Crafty Ann's - Inspired by any Christmas song ("Holiday Hootenanny" by Paul & Paula 1963)
Floweret - Christmas
Stamp Man - Circle it
Just Some Lines - Reminds me of a song (see above)
Little Claire's  - Christmas

I loved this image from A Day for Daisies as soon as I saw it and was waiting for an opportunity to use it for a few weeks until I had a flash of inspiration and decided to alter a tin I had lying around - I'm so pleased with the result!
First I primed the tin with Gesso then painted it brown with acrylic paint and distressed it with rubber stamps. Then I added a piece of patterned paper which I distressed adding some doodling to define around the edges, I used Promarkers to colour the parts of the image I didn't paperpiece then stuck the image on adding some flowers and gems and a bit of gold chunky glitter. I next glued some glittery gold braid round the edge of the lid and decorated the sides of the tin with more flowers, a couple of doilies and some more gems. When I had finished with the decorating I modpodged the whole thing to seal it and added a decorative jewelled clasp to complete the project.
Now I have a great tin to either give as a gift or maybe just to keep on my desk and admire :o)

Entering my project for these challenges:
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Distressing
Pixie Dust Studio - Anything but a card
Stamp Insanity - Anything but a card
Do You Stack Up? - Inspiration picture* Brown
Creative Belli - Paper piecing
Passion For Promarkers Challenge - Alter something that is not square (hope this counts?)
Hooked on Crafts - Anything but a card
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle - Anything but a card

Orange & black

Orange and black is the colour combo for this week's Charisma Cardz challenge - perfect for Halloween maybe but as I have no real use for  Halloween cards I have used the colours to make a non-spooky card this time. My image is a digi stamp from one of our sponsors - Pink Cat Studios, I coloured the image with Promarkers teamed it with a patterned paper from DCWV keeping the design very simple but adding the gorgeous satin ribbon for a bit of wow factor! The ribbon was recycled from some gift packaging. I added a handwritten sentiment to finish the card off.

Entering the following challenges:
Craft Room Challenge - Featuring Felines
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Animals
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes (plus Ribbons)  
Crafty Boots - Zoo or animal
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Paper Creations Ink - Black and/or orange
Gingerloft - Colour orange  
One Stitch At A Time - Use a digi
Cooking It Up With Katie - fabulous, fun & feline
Crafts and Me - use a digi
My Mum's Craft shop - all creatures great and small

Decorating for Christmas...

...or for Halloween or any other occasion if you prefer! Maybe some bunting, candles, door hangers,

pictures, crackers, storage boxes - anything decorative will fit the theme of this week's challenge at Crafty Creations. I have chosen to make a Christmas decoration and have used another of my new Christmas digi stamps - you can find them all here.
I cut the scalloped circle with a Nestability die and the flourishes are from a Marianne's Creatables die set, I have had the embossed cardstock for such a long time I've no idea where it came from :o)
There is a fabulous Polkadoodles prize for the winner this week so pop on over to Crafty Creations and join in the fun!

Entering my project for the following:
Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - No design papers
Paper Take Weekly - Anything goes
Sweet Stamps - Anything goes
Heart Song Inspirations - Anything goes
Woodware USA - Anything goes 
One Stitch At A Time - Use a digi
Anything Goes Challenge - Diecuts/Punches or Both
Paper Crafting Journey - Die cuts and/or punches 
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes (plus Ribbons) 

Autumn colours for Anything Goes

We're back!! Yes the Crafty Cardmakers are back with a new challenge and some new faces - we're so happy to welcome all of our new members!

I decided to go with an autumnal colour combo for my Anything Goes card, the image is by Pollycraft and was coloured (as always) with my Promarkers, I added some faux stitching with a fineliner and distressed the edges of the patterned papers with my fab new distressing tool - a heavy duty emery board designed for acrylic nails!

Challenges I'm entering:
CR84FUN Colour Challenge - Inspiration picture* Orange, Yellow, Brown
The Hybrid Chick Card Caravan - Autumn/Fall
Just Some Lines - Fall(Autumn) colours
Rainbow Lady's - Autumn/Fall flowers
Crafting for all Seasons  - Fall colours
Phindy’s Place - Autumn/Fall
Creative Stamp Friends - Autumn colours
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge - Fall colours and/or Thanksgiving
House of Gilli - Fall/Autumn 
Make it Monday - Always anything goes

Trimming the Tree

I wanted to share another of my new Christmas images today, this one is called Imogen Trimming the Tree and is available with all my other digi stamps at Cardmadfairy's Creations.

The image was coloured with Promarkers and finished off with ultrafine glitters on the stars and tinsel, I used papers from My Mind's Eye  Lost & Found Christmas set again - (still loving them!), a Sizzix die cut scalloped border and a Christmas sentiment stamp from Stampin Up, then finished it all off with seam binding ribbon, lace from my stash and a glittery snowflake charm which I was sent as part of a little blog candy recently.

  

Entering my card for these challenges:

Fun with Shapes & More  - Shabby vintage

Winter Wonderland  - Use charm

Crafty Purple Frog -  Lots of layers

Paper Crafting Journey - Die cuts and/or a punches 

Southern Girls -  Anything goes

Inky Impressions - Punches or dies

Craft Room Challenge  - Anything Christmas

Die Cuttin' Divas -  Shabby chic or vintage

Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - It's a girl thing

Jen's Digi Stamps - Let's hear it for the girls

Top Tip Tuesday - 2 or more, ribbon, twine, lace, fabric

Halloween time at Crafty Calendar

It's back to work for me this morning after a great week off, I've really enjoyed my break and it couldn't have been better timed because of the fabulous weather we've had this week :o)

On Thursday evening Neil and I went to an open evening to view the brand new visitor's centre at Rosslyn Chapel and to listen to an update by the stone and glass conservators who have been working on the chapel for quite a number of years now - the improvements they have made to the fabric of the building has been tremendous and although they will be continuing with their painstaking work for a bit longer the chapel is looking stunning with it's restored stained glass. Neil has his first full day as a guide for the chapel today and although very nervous is looking forward to his new challenge and sharing the fascinating history of building with visitors from all over the world.

October's theme at Crafty Calendar is Halloween - not a theme that I particularly like as we don't really send Halloween cards in the UK so I never really know what to do with the cards I make. However it was an excuse to use this fantastic Mo Manning digi again, I so love Bronte dressed as a cat - hilarious! The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added a little stamped spider and web which are long retired Stampin Up stamps.

Challenges I'm entering this for:
Art Impressions Stamps Challenge - Halloween
Bronte and Bella's Challenge - Furry Friends
Little Miss Muffet Challenges - Animals and Monsters
Crafty Ribbons - Halloween Projects-Pretty Spooky
Stampin' B's - Make a Halloween Card
Moving Along With The Times - Spooky Halloween Cards 
House That Stamps Built - Animal
Little Darlings Challenges - Fall/Halloween
My Mum's Craft shop - Dress up
Raise The Bar - Hats
Inspire Me Fridays - Always anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - Anything goes

Too early for Christmas?

Well I hope not because today I've got not just one but two Christmas cards to share with you! I have just released a bunch of new Christmas digi stamps - see them here - and the new challenge over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days has a Christmas theme to coincide so here are my cards using two of my brand new images. The first shows off Christmas Kitten - isn't he cute in his cosy Santa hat?

Challenges for 1st card:
Digistamps 4 Joy - Anything goes
House That Stamps Built - Animal
Inky Impressions - Punches or dies
Stamp-N-Doodle - Pets

The second card was made with my Joyful Elf digi and papers from the free MME pack from this month's copy of Cardmaking and Papercrafts - I love the muted colours on this one.

Challenges for 2nd card:
Partytime Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything goes
Magical Mondays - Christmas in September 
Dream Valley Challenges - Buttons  
Paper Sundaes - Anything Goes

Here are the rest of the new stamps which are available now both at the digi stamp shop at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days challenge blog and also at Cardmadfairy's Creations.
I am currently working on a brand new web site dedicated to my digi stamp designs and am looking forward to launching it soon so keep your eyes open for that :o)

Clean & simple

Crafty Creations  new challenge this week is all about keeping  it clean and simple. The image and sentiment I have used were kindly supplied by this week's sponsor - Elizabeth Mae Design's.

I firstly printed out the enlarged black & white image straight onto my cardstock, I then printed it again on some patterned paper and stamped on some flourished and inked around the edges. I used a very light coloured Promarker (Satin) and gave the dress-form a hint of a shadow. I then used a silver marker to highlight the pins, finally I cut the sentiment and some patterned paper with pinking shears and added a pin and some ribbon and buttons from my stash to finish the design off - simples :o) Ooh and I doodled round the edge of the card to frame it all.

Some challenges I'm entering:

Celebrate the Occasion - Any Occasion- Must Use Ribbon

Partytime Tuesdays - Anything Goes

Digi Makeover Challenge - Re-size Your Digi's (I enlarged the original digi)

Heart Song Inspirations - Ribbon and/or Tag

Make it Monday - Always anything goes

My Craft Spot - Ribbon 

Gingerloft - Vintage or Distressed  

Dream Valley Challenges - Buttons 

Allsorts - Keep it Simple

Believe in your dreams

I fancied using this Gorjuss stamp from Santaro to make a card yesterday and I had new pennant dies from Whimsy Stamps that I wanted to try out so the card I'm sharing today is the result of my endeavours. I coloured the image with Promarkers, used papers from Basic Grey, added flourish die cuts from Marianne's Creatables and a sentiment from Kaisercraft and finished it off with lace from my stash and some crystals to give it a bit of sparkle.

Entering the following challenges:
Crafty Boots - Wings
Critter Sketch - Anything goes
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Ooh La La Creations -  Punches/dies
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Anything goes
There's Magic in the Air - Punches and die cuts - at least 3 different
Sparkles Forum - Something that sparkles
The Squirrel & the Fox - Anything goes 
Marks Finest Papers - Things with wings 

One for Christmas

There seem to be a few more Christmas challenges around now that we are creeping inevitably closer to the season to be jolly so I have started making the occasional Christmas card when I have a little time in between work and my dt commitments. This card was made with one of my own digi stamps - find them here - this one is called Skating Josie. I coloured the image with Promarkers and added some ultra fine glitter on her pom-poms. I used distress inks round the edges of the die cut frame and to stamp some swirls in her wake. The papers are from my favourite set at the moment - My Mind's Eye  Lost & Found Christmas. The snow flake and flourish dies are from Marianne's Creatables and the sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

Entering the following:

Craft Room Challenge - Anything Christmas
Jingle Belles - Christmas - Suzy Snowflake song
Polkadoodle - Distress it
Crafts and Me - Stripes
Little Darlings Challenges - Brown and red
Simon Says Stamp - Dies or punches
Digital Tuesday - People Images

Definitely not a card!

Just popping by quickly to share a canvas I made earlier in the week, I have really been enjoying trying something different recently with Christy Tomlinson's online She Girls workshop and this is my 6th girl, you can see the others on my Flickr page if you are interested.

 

I'm entering this in a couple of non-card challenges:

Creative Stamp Friends - Anything BUT a Card  

Lollipop Crafts - Anything BUT a Card 

Quirky Crafts - Anything but a card