Let It Snow Sketch

    After a relaxing few days away in the rain near Brighton I'm ready to get back into action with this weeks Christmas card. My starting point was a sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and the use of die cuts as my Favourite Embellishments at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge.
    I began by colouring my card blank with Distress Inks Broken China, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire. Then I used some snowflake stamps to Watermark the card as well as flicking small drops of water to get little blob marks. This is my favourite technique, if you haven't tried it pop over to Technique Time Tuesday and check out the fab tutorial.
    I die cut some snowflakes using Spellbinders Create A Flake 1 and 2010 Snowflake Pendant from white pearl thick paper. The icicle border is also cut from the same paper and stuck on the back of a silver pearl strip that runs across the card. It was at this point I wish I hadn't chosen to use a card with scalloped edges!
    The centre panel is the same white pearl paper stamped with a greeting from Katy Sue Designs and embossed in a dark blue powder from Personnel Impressions. It's stuck on a very dark blue card mounted onto the card with foam pads. In each corner is a small silver peel off snowflake.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Favourite Embellishments

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas

Mice treats

    This weeks Christmas card is a very simple card. I didn't realise just how few stamps I have that feature Christmas food, but I did eventually find something. Who could resist Housemouse?
    I have stamped on watercolour paper with Archival Ink Coffee, then used watercolour pencils to colour the image. Maxwell, Monty and Amanda are really excited about their sweets on the tree.
    Each sweet has been covered with Glossy Accents to make it shine and each bow has been stamped again and cut out so it stands out.
    The edge was cut with a pair of deckle edge scissors and then dabbed along a gold inkpad.
The greeting is die cut with a Spellbinder die and again dabbed with gold ink along the edge. Both the image and the greeting have been mounted using foam pads to give a little dimension.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sweet treats & holiday goodies

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Festive food and drink

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything goes

Just red and white

     What a week it's been. Hello and thank you to followers old and new. There's so much going on right now that posts are few and far between, all will be revealed in time.
     This weeks Christmas card had it's starting point with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's Red and White Only and it also qualifies for Sparkles Favourite Festive Colours.
     I began by stamping Penny Black's Crystal Wreath and embossing in sparkly white. I then coloured my card red with Distress Ink Festive Berries and added some clear gems. I tried adding a bow....didn't look good......then a small greeting....no, not good either....so it's going to stay almost clean and simple.
     There is a small gem and a small snowflake in each corner to lift it a little. It is then mounted on white card, then red, again coloured with Festive Berries. Finally it's on a white card blank decorated with tiny snowflakes stamped in Festive Berries.

     I have decorated the envelope with tiny snowflakes and stamped a greeting of sorts inside both using Festive Berries again.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Red and White Only

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything goes

Sparkles Christmas Challenges - Favourite Festive Colours

Mynnettes Birthday Blog Hop

     Happy Birthday Mynnette!

Mynnette is our talented leader at Technique Time Tuesday and today is her Birthday. We all thought it would be nice to send our Birthday wishes as a big blog hop surprise. We have each chosen our favourite technique to make her a card, my choice was Water Stamping from last month. 

If you like what you see on the hop then please join us at Technique Time Tuesday and play along with the challenges.

Time for a blog hop with birthday cards for Mynnette and, of course, BLOG
CANDY for one lucky winner! In order to have a chance to win, you need to visit each blog and leave a comment on each one, including this one. One of the sites will be randomly chosen and we will randomly choose a winner from the comments on that site, using Random.org.

 To celebrate, we all chose our favourite technique of this year and made a special card for Mynnette.  To see which technique each of us chose, and to have a chance to win some BLOG CANDY, here is the blog list for you.

 *    Technique Time Tuesday

 *    Ellen In a World of Craft   

 *    Karen  Simply Frenzied  

 *    Die amelie VonPappe II 

 *    Louise Cats Cards and Cupcakes 

 *    Karen P stamping in pink 

 *    Rocky Rocky's Crafting Blog     You are HERE

 *    Hayley Hayley's Paper Garden

 *    Nancy The Trinket Collector

 *    Julz Ribbons  & Julz

 *    Tracey Serene Stamper 

 *    Katy I Like to Cut and Paste

*   Adrienne Paper Diva Scraps
 *    Want more? The Inkspirational DT is also hopping for Mynnette's birthday! 

J&C Creations May Challenge - Armed Forces

     This months challenge at J&C Creations is Armed Forces. You may use anything to do with the armed forces past or present.
    I chose to use the past, living in East Anglia I am surrounded by WW2 airfields. When this post goes live I shall be working at Snetterton Park, a toy, model and craft shop built on the runway of the 96th Bomb Group airfield at Snetterton in Norfolk.
    I have always loved old aircraft and the sound of a Merlin engine is like no other, it reminds me of family and friends and how grateful I am that this country is a democracy.

    I have used scrapbook papers to cover the pages of my mini scrap book, cogs on the left and sky on the right. These photos were taken on a visit to a local aircraft museum at Flixton. The local farms are often ploughing up aircraft parts, many of these belonged to B17's .
    The sprockets are cut from greyboard using Spellbinder die S5-048 Sprightly Sprockets then covered with Distress Embossing Powder-Vintage Photo and finished off with the companion Distress Ink. Once finished they have a rusty look and feel to them. They have been stuck on to the page with Cosmic PVA dries clear glue.
    The small aircraft silhouettes in the sky are from Hobby Art stamp set -Flypast. The set has a Lancaster, Hurricane and Spitfire in two sizes plus the silhouettes and some scenery.
    Pop over to the challenge and have a look, plenty of ideas for male cards and we'd love it if you joined in.

Sparkling Flakes

     My Christmas card for this week is based on a sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. 
    As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I had just the right embossing folder for the job, Crafts Too Snowflake Banner.
    I have used some thick white pearl paper to emboss and then gone over the snowflakes with pva dries clear glue and clear glitter to give them some sparkle.
    I tried a few versions with colouring the plaque in the middle but they didn't look right so I've opted for the plain and simple look.

    I've added a greeting in the centre and two snowflakes either side. The little flake on the plaque has a small clear gem on it.
    The snowflake panel is mounted on a small layer of blue and then on a white card covered with the same pearl paper so it matches. I love blue and white any time of year but at Christmas it's great with silver and my favourite snowflakes.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Sentiment

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Favourite festive colours

Blooming Dahlia challenge at Technique Time Tuesday

    This months challenge at Technique Time Tuesday is Dahlia folding.
    We've had fun making our DT samples so please pop over, have a look at the amazing video tutorial and join in the challenge.
    It's like T-Bag folding but with a circle instead of a square, Tetley not Typhoo!  I must admit choosing a scalloped circle gave me an easier fold as I could match up the edge with no fuss. Each flower takes eight circles which you fold individually, it's not as fiddly as you might expect. There is a really clear tutorial on the challenge blog.

    You don't have to make a full flower, some of my fellow DT members have come up with variations which you will see over at Technique Time Tuesday. The butterfly on this card is made with two medium circles and two small ones, some flower stamens for his antenna and three little hearts for his body.
    It's not limited to flowers, you may have seen in a previous post I made a Christmas bauble with this technique. Definitely one to try now and then again for Christmas.
    The challenge runs for the month so there's plenty of time to have a practise before you play and we've got hints and tips coming up next week too. I hope to see you there, Happy Crafting!