Happy Rudolph Days

 I was very lucky recently to win a bumper bundle of Christmas related items in one of the Snippets December challenges so I thought what a great idea it would be to use one of the die sets to make a card to celebrate the January Rudolph Days.  I started with a pile of green and red card snippets to die cut all the pieces from the set.  These were then assembled and the flower was painted with Wink of Stella, which sadly doesn't show in the photo.  Next move was to bring out a die set which I've had for many years to make a background on which to mount the floral spray.  This in turn was mounted onto a piece of suitable design paper and a sentiment was stamped and added.  That's it - I've started on my cards for this year - entering a challenge such as this on a regular basis will build up a nice collection of cards for later on so why not see what you can find to make something for Rudolph Day each month.

Background paper - printed using a download from Buddly Crafts
Background shapes - die set from Sue Wilson, Creative Expressions.  Probably no longer available
Main Motif - Die set from Sizzix Holiday Brushstroke #3
Sentiment - Stamp from Contempo Christmas, Stampin' Up (retired)

Snippets Challenge #498

 There's an optional theme on the Snippets Playground challenge this time to make something incorporating hearts, bearing in  mind that Valentine's Day will soon be here or of course an anniversary card could be made. I've used various snippets to make my card which doesn't really feature hearts although I did notice that the little leaves on the sprays are vaguely heart-shaped 😊.  Everything apart from the card blank has come from my snippets collection and I've included a photo of the smaller remnants.  The design is loosely based on a card made by Chrissie Stokes who posts a video  on You Tube most days showing her latest makes and giving lots of useful hints and tips along the way.

I started by embossing a snippet of cream card using a text E/F using a plain strip with embossed edges to give it some extra interest (one of Chrissie's tips).  I then die cut two sprays of leaves in gold along with a cream vase, which I've just noticed has cut-out hearts at the top.  Finally the sentiment was die cut in gold. As usual there is a great prize to be won so why not sort out some snippets and have a go.

Leaves - die from Gummiapan
Vase - die from retired Stampin' Up set Boho Indigo
Sentiment - Die from retired Stampin' Up Hey Chick
Embossing Folder - unbranded from Amazon

Allsorts Challenge #815

 The theme for the current Allsorts Challenge, chosen by Brenda, is **Close to Nature** (animals/trees/flowers etc) or of course you can always choose the *Anything Goes* option.. Prizes this time are from Aall & Create.  For my card I decided to use a stamp featuring a hedgehog and baby which came with a matching die.  Stamped and coloured using Polychromos pencils before die cutting.  I used some green inks and random stamps to colour a scrap of white card before die cutting some grasses so the hedgies had somewhere to sit.  A simple sentiment was added, making this a relatively CAS card with everything being placed onto a tattered edge square die which is slightly smaller than the card blank.

Tarttered Square - die from Gummiapan
Hedgehogs - Stamp and Die from Gummiapan
Grasses - unbranded die
Sentiment - Stamp and Die from a retired Stampin' Up set

Mystery

 I occasionally treat myself to one of the regular monthly mystery stamp sets from Crafty Roo and this card has been sitting in my draft file since  last year so I decided I'd share it with you.  I started by stamping the main background image onto a square of white card using Versamark ink and embossing with clear embossing powder to act as a resist..  This was followed by inking the background using yellow Distress Oxide and finally a few droplets of water for a bit of visual texture.  The remaining stamps in the set were the 'splats' and tiny numbers texture stamps.  A butterfly was then stamped, coloured and fussy cut, popped on top to form a focal point.  A stamped sentiment and that was it - job done

.All stamps from Crafty Roo

Apologies

 I'm afraid I've not ben too active on my blog recently but fortunately I still have a few cards which were  made last year and tucked away in my draft file.  I've not been particularly productive so far this year - along with quite a few other crafters Mr Mojo seems to have deserted me but at least I've tidied away most of the Christmas 'stuff' and should be ready to get back into the swing shortly.  The cold spell of weather hasn't helped - making cards with cold hands isn't the easiest 🙄. Excuses, excuses - anyway here's one I made earlier as the saying goes.

I've used a sticker stencil and some Distress inks before stamping the flowers, foliage and a bee.  A little colour was added to the bee and Wink of Stella on the wings.  The stopper for the jar was also stamped.  I decided to add a sentiment to the inside rather than detract from the image on the front.

Sticker stencil - Lavinia Stamps
Flowers, foliage, bee and stopper - all Lavinia stamps using Versafine Clair ink

Snippets Challenge #497

 Monday (I think) and it will be good to be back into routine weeks after the holidays.  With both of the occasions being mid-week it seems as if four weekends have been crammed into just two weeks which I've found somewhat disorientating.  Anyway it's time to visit the Snippets Playground with my latest Snippets card and there are celebrations afoot because it's been 13 years since Miss Di took charge of the keys - 11 of those years running solo until Sarn joined her a couple of years ago to ease the load somewhat.  I wonder how many kilos (or tonnes) of Snippets have been used during that time, yet the supply seems to be endless, certainly in my case as I can't bear to throw out even the smallest scrap of anything which could be deemed 'useful' 🤣🤣.  Many congratulations on this Blogoversary and thanks for making the Playground such a sunny and happy place to visit.  A very generous prize this time for a lucky winner drawn at random.

Anyway onto my card for which I've used a stamp and die set acquired very recently.  After some thought I decided to print a 'word cloud' which I had saved on the computer - this of course had to be printed onto a whole sheet of card but once it was die cut I have the large snippet of white card left over for future use.  I used a large Snippet of white card to cut a layer slightly smaller than the card blank. This was then smooshed with Distress Oxide ink and overstamped with some light circles and edged using a fine liner pen.  The little parcel was stamped onto a snippet of a gel print from my collection and the blue circle cut from another Snippet.  A bit of extra colour was added to the spots and bow on the parcel. Phew! that took longer to explain than to actually do 😉  The shades of blue are in fact better matched than they appear on the screen 🙄

Just a picture of the smaller snippets here

Parcel - die and stamp set from Gummiapan
Blue Circle - die from Daisy Mae
Circle stamp - texture stamp from Crafty Roo
Word Cloud - produced by me a while ago using Craft Artist (I think)

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