Forgotten Friday 42

I really needed a break from seasonal projects so was glad of the opportunity to look through my stamps (it took a while) to find something neglected to use for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  I enjoy this challenge because it really does make me use items which have lain sadly neglected and this time it wis this lovely bird stamp from Crafty Individuals - can't remember when it was last used.  It was stamped with black archival inkk, then the sections were cut apart and sponged with Wild Honey distress ink; these sections were then adhered to a Spellbinders die cut and in turn onto to smaller die cuts in green to match the background paper which was printed from Chocolate Baroque Essence of Nature CD.  I thought this would be a handy card to have on hand for any occasion so I left it without a greeting.  If you have time in this busy run up to 'the day' take a look at some of Judiths beautiful work.

Another Tag

This is the other tag and this was made using the reflection technique from Tim Holtz.  A tag was cut out in acetate and coloured using alcohol inks, I then used stamps from Chocolate Baroque Christmas reflections on the inked side using black archival ink which was then removed leaving a clear impression in the colour - clever or what??  The acetate tag was then adhered to another one cut in white card. I added an embossed border together with a pine branch (Marianne die) textured with a Sizzix embossing folder - the bird was one which I'd stamped and gold embossed a while ago and not used so I simply turned him into a robin with a little bit of red Copic pen.  I have enjoyed following the progress of his 12 tags which he has done for several years now but I think this is the first time I've ever had a go.

Make My Monday week 28

I can now show you another of my tags which I made for a Guest Designer spot which I was kindly offered from the team at Make My Monday - thanks for the opportunity folks.  The theme is still seasonal and this week it was 'anything goes' with the added touch of some red ribbon.  I decided to make a tag based on  Tim Holtz resist techniques so the tree from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas set was stamped using Versamark and clear embossed before inking the tag with fired brick Distress ink, spattered with water drops and then some overstamping using the same colour. The panel at the bottom was embossed using a Cuttlebug gears folder onto adhesive foil tape from the DIY shop, coloured using alcohol ink.  The poinsettia flower is also from the same stamp set as the tree and the swirl is grunge board coloured and brushed with Distress stickles.  Finally the required red ribbon (and some green) were coloured using the same Distress inks to match the colours used on the background and flower.
Do go and take a look at their blog to see some more great red ribbon inspiration from the regular design team members.

Christmas Tags

Like many other people I've been following the progress of Tim's (Holtz) 12 tags of Christmas with the intention of making each one or something like it day by day but somehow time has been running away from me as usual.  I have however made three (two of which you might see another day) all based loosely on some of his techniques.  Needless to say despite the huge number of dies and other things I have there are items he's used which I don't have - yet!!  The background on this one is his 'rusty' embossed look but I used a brocade stamp from Chocolate Baroque.  I don't have his fab pine cone die so I used a rose die to make flowers, leaves used a Marianne die and the border is a Tim Holtz die.  The lamp post is also a Marianne die and the letters were cut out using X-cut dies so as I said this is very loosely based on more than one of his 12 tags but it was fun to make.

White Christmas Challenge

There is a White Christmas challenge at Chocolate Baroque with a prize - a voucher to spend on some of their gorgeous goodies.  I decided to go with something fairly simple because some people don't really like cards to be too elaborate.  The background was printed from their Seasons Greetings CD with the text added on the computer.  The image is from a CB stamp set, stamped with distress ink and the colour pulled into the roof area using a water brush.  This was then glittered to look wintry, cut out using a Nestability label die and a little Distress ink brushed around the edges.  The little glittered wooden reindeer was a lucky find recently.

Make My Monday Challenge 27

I've not done much by way of making cards for a few days - other things do get in the way sometimes and I have to say I struggled this morning to come up with an idea for the Make My Monday challenge where they are asking for a seasonal project with added glitter.  Several attempts later I've eventually come up with these trees which are from Chocolate Baroque Fat Robin stamp set, stamped in Versamark onto dark blue pearlescent card and embossed using WOW platinum glitter powder. The blue panel was mounted onto a gltter layer as was the little sentiment. Background paper is from my stash and I added some glittery silver ribbon.

Bah Humbug Challenge 47

Well this week's challenge at Bah Humbug is the last one for 2011 which means I have at least 47 cards in my box ready for the festive season - thanks so much to the team and the guest designers for organising this and for showing us so much brilliant inspiration during the year.  This final week the theme is 'cute critters' and I've chosen to use an image from Docrafts From Me to You CD with Tatty Teddy posting his letter to Santa.  Background papers, border and greeting are all from the CD, as is the holly embellishment which I printed, cut out and layered adding some glitter along the way of course.