Basic Grey Challenges - Happy Christmas

Time for a new challenge at Basic Grey Challenges and it's a nice easy one that we have for you this fortnight:

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

How easy is that -just don't forget that you must use a Basic Grey product and point out what it is.

I've teamed up Jovial 6x6 papers with this darling Mo Manning Image called Hanging the Stockings- just click on the link to find it in Mo's Digital Pencil.

It's the perfect Christmas scene don't you think - even doggy wants in on the act!

The sentiment is from Cat's Life Press and the holly is from a Marianne die.  Finally I added some Aged Ivory Frantage for the finishing touch.

As always, we have our one and only regular sponsor, Simon Says Stamp, and they are offering a fab $25 dollar voucher to the lucky winner of this fortnight's challenge.

My BG teamies have made some gorgeous cards, as always - check them out here

Have a great weekend!

Lavinia Stamps - a new addiction!

I've finally succumbed to the fabulous Lavinia Stamps and this is my first card using this technique!  I just love all the little elements you can buy to make up your scene and it makes a change not to colour up an image first!  

I wasn't going to do the embelllishment thing with this card, but was actually pleased I did, as I like the overall effect.

I finished off with a Punch a round the Page set from Martha Stewart.

I made the card for my younger sister whose birthday was this week - the first since her husband passed earlier this year and the moon has special significance for her and her family, so I wanted to reference that.  

Such a difficult time still, and she is doing amazing!!

A Trio of Valeries from Mo Manning- warning - picture heavy!

I think these images - Valerie in Winter Trio - are going to be my new favourite stamps from Mo Manning - I just adore them, and when I couldn't decide which one to colour up first, I decided to colour all three and make three similar cards, whilst I had all the colours, papers out etc.

I think this one of Valerie hugging her frosty friend, is my most favourite of the three but only just!

The papers I've used are from a Tim Holtz 12x12 pad - I love the mix of designs on the papers - it meant I could make what actually turned out to be quite quick cards.  The sentiment on this card, is from Stampin Up.

I also love this one of Valerie with her puppy who has all but disappeared under the snow - just gorgeous!

The mittens are a Memory box die and the nordic print buttons are from Hobbycraft

The Let It Snow sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

Finally a picture ( a rubbish picture) showing the three together!

I think I've now made about 60 of my cards for this year - only another 25 to go!   I'm not ready!  Hope you're doing better than me!!

Mo Blog Hop - Make a Tag

Hi Everyone, it's the third Thursday in the month which means it's time to hop with Mo's Dream team.  This month's theme is Gift Tags and is being hosted by our fabulous Alexandra, so that is where you should start if you want to hop along from the beginning.  If you're already hopping, you should have arrived here from Gretha's blog, who I 'm sure had an awesome tag to show you.

For my tag, I've used First Christmas Girl - she is such a sweetie. I've used a Prima Mixed Media tag for my base - it's nice and large which optimises the embellishment potential!

The stocking embellie is from a Tando set which I 've paper-pieced and added snow flock to the cuff. I then added some teeny parcels and some chipboard candy canes which I painted with white acrylic and then added the stripes with a red flex marker. The tree is a die I bought on sale in the US, and I've added more teeny bauble shapes, painted white and then coloured with the same red flex marker. 

The little snowman and large parcel are from a K&Co set that I just love and the lettering was cut witth a Tim Holtz die.

Thanks for stopping by and for joining in our hop.  Dont' forget to leave a comment along the way as there are two Mo's Digital Pencil  vouchers hidden on two of our blogs and  one could be winging it's way to you.  Your next stop on the hop is over to Debby Y's blog - she'll have a wonderful tag to share with you!  

The full hop order is below, (links in my side bar).

Alexandra, Anneke, Danielle, Kaly, Mina, Jak, Gretha, Julie, Debby.Y, Heidy, Alice, Vili

Passion for Promarkers - Check It Out

We have a new challenge starting today at Passion for Promarkers and so I've returned to my trusty PMs to colour this image.  Our theme for this week's challenge is to use checks, gingham etc.  I ended up using a PTI gingham stamp as I didn't have papers in the exact colour I wanted.

As our sponsor is the DigiStamp Boutique, we were lucky enough to be able to choose an image from their fab catalogue to work with.  I chose this little cutie, Belle Angel, which comes in a set of two.

The backing paper is from a Tim Holtz pad, the poinsettia is a Marianne Die and I've also used Memory Box corner dies and their Haydon Twigs die for my silvery bouquet.  The silver ricrac is from this year's Christmas wrapping selection at Marks and Spencer, I always love their wrapping embellies!  Finally, I sprinkled some Shabby Pink Frantage to finish off.

You can check out the rest of team one's fab creations here,

New Sketch N Stash Challenge

Today's card is for our new challenge over at Sketch N Stash and as we're being sponsored by Lili of  the Valley, I used this gorgeous and new image I bought recently.

  For once I haven't deviated too far from the sketch, nor twisted, flipped or rotated any part!

I decided to depart from my usual colouring medium for today's card and got my Distressmarkers and Inktense pencils out.  This is quite out of my comfort zone and I did spend a couple of hours practising with them while we were on holiday.   I wasn't entirely happy with my colouring here, but liked the effect overall - just don't look too closely!

The papers are a My Mind's Eye 12x12 pack, the sentiment is also LOTV, and the rest of my embellies are from stash.

You can check out the rest of my SNS teamies' cards here - take a peek and be inspired to play along with us.

I'm still catching up after our holiday, and my yourngest daughter Emily returned yestgerday from her three months' travelling around Europe - she had the most fantastic time by the sounds, and it was everything she hoped it would be.  She also looks so well, which  I didn't really expect.  We had a lovely family dinner - Sunday Roast - her request - and now it seems hard to imagine her ever being  away!  Glad to have her back safe and sound though!  I will try and visit you all soon though, I promise.

Basic Grey Challenges Cold and Frosty

Morning and a Happy Saturday to you.  Can't believe that this time last week we woke up in sunny and warm San Francisco ready for our  journey home!  It's certainly cold and frosty here compared to San Fran!  Apparently it's their rainy season now but we didn't see a drop -  just lovely clear skies and warm, sunny days.  Quite funny looking at all their Christmas decorations in the sun! 

On to today's card and it's for our new challenge at Basic Grey Challenges where we have a theme of Cold and Frosty for you.  I struggled this week, what with jet lag, a heavy cold and being busy  at work, so decided to use one of the ready coloured images from a Lili of the Valley Christmas Art Pad. For me colouring an image is usually a big part of my card making, so I felt I was cheating (myself) but you know, I still put in a fair amount of time making the card.  

I also decided to kick off the frosty theme by covering the image with some transparent stardust embossing powder and I don't know if I'd have had the courage to do that if I'd spent a couple of hours colouring the image!  Especially as you get this effect where the image becomes very soft and muted - good for hiding any colouring mistakes though!

 

I cut out the card blank and frames with Go Kreate Frilly dies and then stardust embossed one of the frames which I then layered onto Basic Grey Lime Rickey Blue Moon 12x12 papers. I then added some clear twinkly embossing powder to the tree, deer fence and stars, and also over the sentiment to complete the cold and frosty vibe. The sentiment is from Cat's Life Press, and the various dies are Tim Holtz, Marianne and Whiff of Joy.  The chiffon roses are from the Hobby House. 

As always, our terrific sponsor is Simon Says Stamp who are again offering their very generous prize of a $25 dollar voucher to the lucky winner of the challenge.

Check out the rest of the Cold and Frosty fab makes from the rest of the BG DT here!

I've got a bit of shopping to do today, a bit of cardmaking, a lot of tidying up to do in my craft room and a lot of eagerly waiting for my youngest, Emily who returns from her three months travelling around Europe tomorrow!  Can't wait to see her and give her the biggest hug!

Waltzing Mouse Lanterns

I made these couple of cards a few weeks ago using some new Waltzing Mouse stamps - I love these lantern stamps with the candles and the halo of light stamp that goes with them!

I was also really pleased as WM now do a matching lantern die which arrived today, so I'm going to have another play with these soon!

Nearly the weekend everyone!

This is what 10 kilos of paper looks like!

Hi there - well we got back from San Francisco yesterday having had a fabulous holiday, and I'll put some pics up soon.  But I know all you crafters out there will want to  see my bargain buys from Michaels, Joanns and others!  The above is all the paper pads I bought - we weighed them up and it was over 10kgs but they were just so cheap, especially as Halloween had just finished - the large pads with the blue stickers at the back were 4 dollars from 20, the Crate paper towards the front was 5 dollars and the rest, maximum were about 9 dollars with reductions and coupons!  The 6x6 pads were no more than 4 dollars and the halloween one at the front was a dollar - now how could I leave them!  Still came within our  weight limit too!  (Some eagle-eyed amongst you might also spot some Ghiradelli chocolate up there!)

I've included all my Christmas dec purchases here, and you might see that I have a fetish for bottle brush trees this year ( I'm pinning them like mad on Pinterest) so I bought the large one at the back with baubles on and loads from Michaels for craft projects if I ever get round to them.   

This Martha Stewart letter mould was about 8 dollars so around £5 - half the cost of them over here in the UK. The stamp sets below were on special for 6 dollars and the Sissix dies were around 8 or 9 dollars. 

I promise to put  up some pictures of our holiday soon, once I get over the jet lag and back into the swing of things at work - it's only be just over a  week off but it feels like an age.  I will just leave you with a pic of our great niece, Isabella, who we stayed with (along with her mum and dad of course).  She was a little treasure and I would have popped her in my luggage and brought her home with me if I could have, such a little sweetie!