Allsorts Challenge #814

 The theme for the first Allsorts Challenge of the year is **Matching Pairs** (card and tag/gift bag/ envelope ...) or of course there is always the *Anything Goes* option.  Don't forget that this challenge is now running on a fortnightly basis and you can see full details of how this will work by following the link to the Blog.  Prizes this time from Lavinia Stamps.

I've made a card with matching envelope - stamping a border onto a piece of card slightly smaller than the card blank using Versafine Clair ink and then using Distress Oxide inks to watercolour around the area and then painting into the tiny hexagons, which then made me think of honeycomb so I've added two die cut bees.  The sentiment was produced on the computer.  For the envelope I simply stamped the border down the left hand side, leaving it uncoloured because I thought the Oxide inks would run or smudge if the envelope got wet while it was in transit.

It will be interesting to see just what ideas come up as matching pairs for this theme so why not see if you can surprise us 😉

Border Stamp - from Crafty Roo Designs
Bees - dies from Gummiapan
Sentiment - produced on computer using Microsoft Word

Rudolph Days

 Well, it's the last Rudolph Days challenge of the year and it will soon be time to start on cards for 2025 - time certainly flies.  This time I'm sharing a tag which I made as part of a tag book project aimed at using stamps which were revealed daily in a super Christmas Countdown (Advent calendar alternative) thought up by Kym from Crafty Roo.  I've really enjoyed opening the little numbered packets each day to reveal the stamps and have watched the videos Kym made for inspiration.  This tag is my variation on one of the tags which I thought suited the Christmas theme.  Background was inked and stamped using Distress Oxides and the flowers stamped, coloured and fussy cut.

Happy Rudolph Days everyone (and Happy Boxing Day too) - here's to a creative New Year

Stamps all from the Crafty Roo Countdown apart from the word which is from Lavinia

Tags - using a Tim Holtz die

Christmas Candle

 First of all I'd like to wish all my Blogging Friends and Followers a wonderful Christmas and the very best wishes for the coming year.

I'm also taking this card along to the Snippets Playground where there's a great party going on with a bowl of punch and the usual fun and games.  Apart from the card blank everything else came from my various Snippets collections.  A few larger pieces for the background and then some small bits and pieces for the candle, foliage and the sentiment.  Sorry no pictures of the snippets this time as most of them were really tiny so they went into the bin.  The white layer was embossed with a snowy effect.  Quite a lot of layers to the candle so it was quite tricky to assemble - got there in the end though.  Don't forget there are bumper mystery box prizes to be won so why not use up some of your Snippets and see what you can make.

Embossing Folder - an 'oldie' from Sheena Douglass (no longer available)
Candle and Foliage - dies all from Tim Holtz
Sentiment - Die from a magazine freebie set (quite recent)

Allsorts Challenge # 812/3

 I was invited recently to be part of the Design Team for the Allsorts Challenge and this is my first 'designer'  post. The challenge will run for two weeks with prizes from Oakwood  and full details can be seen on the Allsorts blog.  

The theme, chosen by Sarah, is **Use Dies** or of course, as always, there is the option of *Anything Goes*.  For my card I cut a panel slightly smaller than the card blank and lightly stencilled an area using Distress Oxide ink.  The white die was used twice and naturally I saved all of the little 'fall-out' circles.  The flower was also cut using white card and then gold embossed.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut, with a larger die being used as a backing layer.  Finally a few of the little dots were coloured with a gold pen and added for extra interest.

Stencil - from Lavinia
White circles die - from Tattered Lace (several years old)
Flower - from Tim Holtz Wildflowers #2
Sentiment Panel - from a retired Snowflake Stampin' Up set

Winter Themed Challenges

 There are two stamping challenges both with a Winter Theme so I'm popping along to We Love Stamping and Stamping Sensations with this card.  There great prizes from Aall & Create for both of these.

My card is loosely based on a tutorial which I saw on YouTube from, I think, one of the Lavinia designers but I'm afraid I can't find it again to give proper credit.  I really should make a note of things which I use as inspiration.  I clearly need more practice with the water colouring of the background and I also 'borrowed' an idea from Jo Rice to stamp and fussy cut the two robins as they didn't really stand out sufficiently from the background in my original attempt.  The important thing is that I really enjoyed making this card and will try harder another time.  Practice makes perfect as they say 😉

Stamps - Lavinia designs
Christmas Word - from a set of magazine gift stamps
Inks - Versafine Claire and Distress Oxides
Colouring - watercolour pencils

Allsorts Challenge for This Week

 The All sorts challenge this week is to **Use Lots of White* or of course there's always the *Anything goes* option.  I'm a fan of white on white cards although the one I've made here also has touches of silver. There are three prizes of great stamps from Aall & Create and don't forget to make a note of the changes coming to this challenge.   Read all about it by following the link.

This is yet another Christmas card but I think now I've made all that I need in that area and quite possibly have a goodly number to put by for next year - can't stop making once I get started 😉 but must put the seasonal things away for a while.  The main part of this card is white on white with some sparkly silver used as a background and a backing for the sentiment.  The white layer has been die cut which left a curvy piece of 'ground' which I then decided to emboss with a snowy effect.  Sentiment was stamped and layered onto silver and that was job done - quite quick and easy really and certainly lots of white.

Die - unbranded
Embossing Folder - a discontinued one from Sheena Douglass (had it for years)
Sentiment - from a set of Seasonal stamps which were a magazine gift (also an oldie)

Snippets Playground Challenge #495

 Time to visit the Snippets Playground with my card for the first of the two December challenges where there are to be four prizes of bumper mystery parcels for the lucky winners.  Definitely time to rummage through your piles of snippets to see just what you can make with them.

For my card I've used a sentiment  die which I believe was won from Snippets a couple of years back and paired it with a Gnome/Santa die which I've had in my collection for even longer.  The sentiment was layered up on a couple of white squares, one of which has been embossed with a snowfall embossing folder.  I did have to cut into a whole piece of white card and also of the red for the background but of course I have quite large snippets left for future projects.  I also remembered to take a picture of some of the smaller snippets left over from die cutting the squares. sentiment and Santa.

Sentiment - die from Memory Box
Santa/Gnome - die from Simon Says Stamp
Embossing Folder - from Sheena Douglass a while ago, no longer available