High Hopes Winter Spirit

My card for today combines 3 challenges - High Hopes challenge to use ribbon (number 161), the Ribbon Carousel challenge for January with a theme of Winter Spirit and my CCC13 challenge to make Christmas cards each month - this one will count towards February!

This uses one of my older High Hopes images, but right in the winter spirit - a snowman going skating. 

My snowman ended up a little lopsided, a little like most of the snowmen seen around here a week or so ago.  He was cut out with a Spellbinders die.  The snowflake is cut with my Cricut and then has some sparkly varnish applied - not that you can see the sparkle in the photo.
The image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Zest. 

Thank you for looking and leaving sweet comments.

 

 

 

Winter Spirit

High Hopes and Ribbon Carousel recently ran a joint blog hop and there were some great cards and lovely ribbons on display.  I discovered that Ribbon Carousel have a monthly challenge and this card is going to be entered into that challenge.  Now when I think of winter I think of a few things - hot drinks on cold days being one of them.  Rather than set this cute little guy up against a snowy background I wanted to incorporate him into another aspect of winter - winter foliage!

The image is an early one from Kraftin Kimmie (Oliver is his name) and I have used Spellbinders dies, a circle punch and some ribbon with him.

I do have one more wintry card to post and that is also for the High Hopes challenge.  Next post coming soon.

Penny Black Bonanza

I have several cards to share today so words will be lacking in favour of photos.  My cards all go back to my first love in stamps - Penny Black.

My first three cards all use the theme of Love is in the Air with the 2 cute mice in the Christmas stockings.  I am entering them in the Penny Black and More challenge for January.  They will also be part of my CCC13 total.

My three other cards are below. 

This first one is for the Penny Black Blues Challenge for the month of January at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge site.

 

 This one was just for fun

 

This last one is for the One Layer Wednesday challenge to use doodling on your card.  Now I am not a confident doodler so I just did a frame.

I have used Prismacolor pencils and Zest for all the colouring on these cards with ribbon from my stash.  Papers were all grabbed from my Christmas drawer and are either Papermania or freebies. 

I hope if you have snow you are able to get out and enjoy it, or alternatively can snuggle up in the warm.

FOSTV57 - New Home

Hi - Monday again - a special one today - hubby's Birthday!  That has nothing to do with today's challenge but I thought he ought to have a mention - Happy Birthday Dave.

The challenge number 57 for Friends of Speedy TV (FOSTV) is to make a New Home card.  I used a Christmas present - Songbird Cartridge for my Cricut along with MFP stamps from the sets called Pussy Willows and Tweet That.

The little bird is coloured to be like a blue tit ( I hope it looks about right).  I used some dies to add some greenery, some ribbon (also from MFP) to hold my sentiment and I added a little flowersoft to the buds to make them feel a little realistic.

Please visit Speedy TV and play along with our challenge (FOSTV57) or some of the others you find there.

The set to be won by one of this week's participants is called Amaryllis Definition.  Good luck!

Winter Butterflies

OK I started out with a very simple card in my head but ended up with this card - not that it is overly complicated but it wasn't where I was originally going!

The last sketch this month for VLV is a clean and simple one.  I wanted to use the sentiment shown - one of my favourite ones and a replacement for the snow that has now been washed away!  The rest of the card just sort of happened once I started playing with the distress inks.  Karen at Word Art Wednesday has been encouraging me to play along.  I haven't used a scripture but it is family friendly so I think it counts for their anything goes challenge.  This card is also one of my CCC13 cards.

I have made several Christmas cards today so I will be sharing the rest later in the week. 

Thanks for looking.

Sweet Friend

It is rather late here but we have only just got back from town and I need to unwind before we go to bed. 

Way back last year we organised to go to the Royal Albert Hall and see Kooza, Cirque du Soleil.  It is never a cheap evening out but it was a wonderful show and the skill and bravery of the artistes is amazing.  I almost stopped breathing at a few points as some of the acts are so amazing.

Anyway on to my card which is for two challenges - VLVJan2013 week1 and Twist of Faith challenge 21 Friendship.  I used some Innovative Stamp Creations stamps which haven't seen ink before from a set called Friends are Special.  I stamped with Distress inks and then painted them with more. I used dies for my flower foliage and a mask to create my background.  The sentiment is stamped and embossed with white powder.

Hope you find some time to spend with sweet friends this weekend.  Have a good one.

Sentimental Sundays Negative Space

Well once I started looking through my scraps for negative space I found loads - most without much around them and actually not very useable - I need to have a clear out! 

But as you can see I found 3 that I decided to use together for the Sentimental Sundays challenge.  I used them with 2 stamps which came with Craft Stamper magazine, which I stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Copics.  The feathers were tucked behind the flower to complement the feather in her hat.  I used my airbrush with my Promarkers around her.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink I think.

I took a detailed photo as well so the flower and feathers could be seen.  Thank you for checking this card out and for those of you who visit regularly.

Hope you are having a good week.

All in White

 

 

This card using the VLVJan2013 week 4 sketch is also for this week's OCC challenge which is to use all white and add an edge.  The only element that does not have to be white is the sentiment and that was stamped in purple Stazon as you can see in this detailed shot below.  What you cannot see in the photo is that the shaped panel is stamped with white swirls but I think that is due to the sheen of the card stock. All the panels were cut with Spellbinders dies and the edge was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The ribbons and gems were from my stash.

 

At the moment I haven't stamped a message inside as I don't have a recipient in mind. Please come back again soon and thanks for looking in.

Christmas Card in January

OK so some of you have had enough of Christmas but we have snow on the ground so a Christmas card seems appropriate.  I have challenged myself to do a baker's dozen every month this year as part of CCC13 so this is one of my January ones.  I have a few to go yet!

The card uses this week's JUGS colours (see below) and also a sketch from week 3 of this months Viva La Verve (VLVJan2013).  I used the double embossing technique shared on Jugs last week for my background panel.



The sentiment stamp is from one of my old SeeDs cut with Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles.  I was going to give them to the charity shop but I think the sentiments will stay put!

Thank you for your well wishes - I am feeling less "grotty" today.

Janine

FOSTV56 - Creative Use of Ribbon

Hi - hope you all enjoyed the new sets and blog hop last week.  Sorry I have been quiet since then - sore throat, congested sinuses and a cough have made creating take a back seat. 

I made this card, before I felt poorly thank goodness, using a technique shared on the JUGS website last year in November.  The link was to a clip on you tube so you can check it out if you want to give this a try - I had to watch it a couple of times! 

I didn't have time to do it for the challenge in November but thought it would be good for the FOSTV56 challenge and also it is another Christmas card for CCC13.  I used the sentiment from New Pines and it is also included in the set Joy, Joy, Joy.  The holly decoration is with a punch.

You can show us any creative use for ribbon this week (check my team mates for ideas) and you stand a chance to win a cute MFP Easter set called Blessings.  We would love to see what you create - just put a link on the FOSTV page challenge 56 when it goes up.




Have a good week and hope you can get creative with ribbon.

MFP Blog Hop - Love, Love, Love

   January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fantastic Dogs Featured January 15
No Sour Grapes Featured January 16
In My Den Featured January 17
Love, Love, Love Featured January 18

Please hop along with us! You have a chance 
 to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on January 19, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday January 18,2013.


Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the first blog hop of 2013! We are so excited to share the great stamp sets we are releasing this month and the months to come. 

I made two cards with the stamp set for today. 

 

The first one is in my best shabby chic style (I am not good at shabby chic) and is for the OCC challenge as well as today's hop.  I used a sketch from Bo Bunny (21st June) that I just came across adding lace, pearls, distressing and ribbon. 

My second card uses the rose from the set coloured with Copics and a sketch from Craft's Meow Blog for January.  I used a Spellbinders die with the image and then layered it onto a doily.

 

 

 

 

 

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

" OH Baby"

 

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Not So Ugly"

 

Next on the hop is TammyLee

 

MFP Blog Hop - In My Den

   January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fantastic Dogs Featured January 15

No Sour Grapes Featured January 16

In My Den Featured January 17

Love, Love, Love Featured January 18

Please hop along with us! You have a chance 

 to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on January 19, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday January 18,2013.

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the first blog hop of 2013! We are so excited to share the great stamp sets we are releasing this month and the months to come. 

I like the images in today's set but struggled when it came to making a card - do you ever have those days? 

 

Wanted to make something for either a retirement or for when someone is going off to do something different.  I was originally looking to say something like "you have all the time in the world" inside but I needed to find an MFP stamp that is current and would work so used one from the set called "Here Comes the Grad Mini".  I used Basic Grey papers that have been in my stash for ages and dies from Spellbinders.  Copics were used for colouring.

 

Here is the outside of my card (sorry about the photo quality)

 

 

 

and here is the inside

 

 

  

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

" OH Baby"

 

 

 

Here is another card I made with this set.

 

 

 

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Not So Ugly"

 
Thanks for dropping in again today - next stop is Tammylee

MFP Blog Hop - No Sour Grapes

   January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fantastic Dogs Featured January 15
No Sour Grapes Featured January 16
In My Den Featured January 17
Love, Love, Love Featured January 18

Please hop along with us! You have a chance 
 to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on January 19, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday January 18,2013.


Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the first blog hop of 2013! We are so excited to share the great stamp sets we are releasing this month and the months to come. 

 

 

My cards today show what a great set this is for those of you who love to colour. 

The first card is for someone starting a new job this week. It uses a sketch from the Sketchy Challenge from end October.

 

 

My second card is a simple one and will be mailed off as one of my Christmas Thank You cards.  I used my new Spellbinders Ribbon Threader die, Ivy and Blossoms released last month and the Thank You sentiment from Welcome Poppies.  



 

My last card uses another sketch from Crafts Meow (September sketch) and I have combined it with a challenge from Just Us Girls to use embossing with ink.  I used two different embossing folders with Distress Inks and some Inka Gold.

 



 



Thank you for checking these out.  Your next hop stop is Tammylee

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

" OH Baby"

 

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Not So Ugly"

 

MFP Blog Hop - Fantastic Dogs

   January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

Fantastic Dogs Featured January 15

No Sour Grapes Featured January 16

In My Den Featured January 17

Love, Love, Love Featured January 18

Please hop along with us! You have a chance 

 to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on January 19, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday January 18,2013.

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to the first blog hop of 2013! We are so excited to share the great stamp sets we are releasing this month and the months to come. 

My card using the Fantastic Dogs set is quite a simple one.  I used Spellbinders dies, Copics, some nice doggy paper and some bakers twine on the bone.  The sentiment is from another MFP doggy set.

Late addition: Angela / Debbie posted the new Sketch with a Twist Challenge so I decided to use the other little dog from the set on a card using the sketch that was posted.  Now I am sorry but I could not colour the dog purple but I decided she could sit on some flowery purple paper - in case you didn't guess the challenge is to use Purples with the sketch.

This is my card

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

" OH Baby"

 

The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Not So Ugly"

 

Thanks for your visit, please come back soon.  Try to get round all the designers blogs to see what they have to show you.  Next on your round is Tammylee

MFP Blog Hop Preview

The MFP set that is not part of the hop this month is a cute set called Oh Baby.  Now if you need to make baby congratulation cards this is the set for you.

 I only managed to get one card made with this set but I have at least one more card in my head.

The sketch I used is based upon SC417 and I have used both dies and a corner punch.  I coloured with Copics.  Aren't these ducklings cute?

Don't forget to check out the other members blogs and also to come back tomorrow for the hop.

FOSTV55 - Recycling

Hi Everyone - todays challenge over at Marks Finest Papers Friends of Speedy TV is a recycling challenge - look for Challenge 55 in the FOSTV category appearing soon.

Well I was surprised how easy this challenge turned out to be.  I started with a 2011 Christmas card that I had kept.  With that card and some cardboard from a cracker box, some ribbon from the crackers which ended up in my handbag on Christmas Day this is the collection I came up with.

The original card was a row of three trees and each tree was layered.  The three layered trees ended up on my 3 cards and the base card trees ended up on my 3 simple tags.

These 3 tags use silver card from the cracker box and ribbon from the crackers.  The sentiment is from the set called All is Calm.  The gems are new.

This card was brayered (onto a bit of the stamp packaging from a recent MFP set) and uses the tree stamp from Tree Greetings and snowflakes from the Winter Scenes set.  Glitter was added to clear tape.

This card uses some wrapping paper as the background (it was round my Cricut when I was given it as a leaving gift), a bauble shape I cut when playing with my Cricut which I ran through an embossing folder and sanded to show the core.  The ribbon is from the original card that I "attacked". 

This last card uses the final tree, a star cut from the card that was in the embossing folder when I bought it, some ribbon that was also decorating my Cricut parcel and some new backing paper.  It also uses a recent Sketch Frenzy Friday sketch.

Don't forget to come back every day this week to see the new MFP sets and for your chance to win one set.  We are hopping Tuesday through Friday. 

 

We would also love to see what you can do with our recycling challenge and you could win the lovely sunflower set called "Bring on the Sun".

Thanks for looking in today.