Winter Town!!

 I really love my Winter Town stamp from Hero Arts and have made quite a few different cards with it this year.  I decided to ink it up again at the weekend and make a couple of cards for the new Hero Arts challenge "Bring on the Bling".  My bling is very subtle, just some glitter for the snow but I love the effect it has even on a fairly simple card.

This card is also for the challenge at A Blog Named Hero which is to use punched or die cut shapes.

Here is my second card with just a ring of glitter round the central oval.  This town stamp really is so versatile and I now have two more flat cards to post!!!

Take one stamp!!!

I treated myself to a new Christmas stamp last week and set myself a challenge to make five different cards that were also flat enough to post without having to pay extra for bulk.  The first is also a shaped card so I am entering it in the current Simon Says Challenge.  I have stamped the image and then coloured with my distress markers, I have also stamped the image again and cut out some of the leaves to layer up.  The berries are coated in Glossy Accent for a little shine.

 With this card I have stamped the image in Toffee Memento and coloured the berries with copics before coating the whole image with Glossy Accent.  When dry I over stamped with Music background and distressed in Peeled Paint.

 For this one I stamped the Italian  Poetry and stamped the Holly over the top and coloured with Distress Markers.

 This one has the Musical Collage as a background and is also coloured with Distress Markers.

Lastly another card with the holly covered with Glossy Accents to form a resist when stamping the Music Background.  Another 5 cards down on my Christmas Card list, I still have quite a few more to make!!

Its the end of my half term holiday from school and I did manage to get most of my jobs done, Its a beautiful but cold day here so I am off for a walk, love these autumnal days.  Have a good weekend where you are.

Christmas Wine Labels

I paid a visit to my local craft store today and bought myself a new Christmas stamp, I decided on this Classic Holly stamp, as this year to save money on postage I want to create lots of one layer cards.  Here is my first little experiment using it, and some of the gorgeous wine labels that Jacqueline sent me in the summer. I have been saving a few of them especially for my Christmas cards.  As you can see the Winter Town stamp is still a feature in my designs, I love the versatility of that stamp!!!

Another wine label card, not so pleased with this one as the poinsettia image wouldn't stamp cleanly, I decided to smudge the images with a wet cloth to make them less defined.

Its the start of a week of work for scghool half term and I have lots of things planned, the first job is to tidy up my garden for the winter.  I have done some this morning but its so cold outside that I have given up today and am now going to play with my new stamp.

Hope you have a fun weekend and thanks for stopping by.

More of my Blue phase

 I have been trying to find different ways to use the Hero Arts Winter Town stamp, here is a CAS card using the scene cut into rounds and then stuck to Die-Namics die cut doilies.  I have added some glittery highlights to the roofs of the houses for a bit of sparkle!!

Here is a little close up.

This card is for the current challenge at A Blog Named Hero which is to make a Clean and Simple card.

I am struggling at the moment with my Christmas cards, I think I need to buy some new stamps as the Winter Town is my only new Christmas stamp for quite a while .  I think I need to get myself some new inspiration. (Any excuse for a bit of shopping lol).

Hope you have had a great weekend, I have one more week and its the half term holidays, this term has flown by!

My Blue Phase

I had a little spare time yesterday, so I created another Christmas card using the lovely Winter Town stamp from Hero Arts.  I have stuck to the blue theme again and this time I have framed the image with my Simple Frame stamp.  The town has also been sprayed with shimmer mist so it has a lovely sparkle.  Another flat card so cheaper to post!!!

Published in PaperCrafts!!!!

After months of trying I have at last got a card published in the Nov/Dec PaperCrafts magazine and I am thrilled.  I guess now that it has been published I am allowed to show you my card.  PaperCrafts is impossible to get in the UK unless you subscribe so this is for my UK visitors.

The HA Leaf and Floral background has been embossed in gold before adding my poinsettia flower which has been dry embossed using a herringbone folder.  Quite a simple card but quite a thick one to post ,  to cut my postage down this year I am trying to make as many flat cards as I can.  Here is one using the Winter Town a favourite of mine.

Here is another using the same stamp I love the water colour effect you get when spritzing the (Distressed) inked stamp with water.

There seems to be a bit of a blue theme going on at the moment with my Christmas cards.,

Hope you are having a great weekend, we are having the perfect Autumnal day here at the moment, blue sky but chilly, I love days like this. Hubby and I have been for a long walk over the common, just perfect..

Christmas pastels!

I wanted to make a card yesterday for World card making day but spent most of the day in bed with a headache and feeling sick.  I do feel a little better today so have spent the morning playing with my new HA mid tone inks.  An unusual colour combination for Christmas but I love these two colours Tide Pool and Grape Juice, this card is for the current challenge on the Hero Arts blog.  I have just got the spellbinder Create A Flake 4 die and after cutting the snowflake have added some Frosted Lace Stickles.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

"Guest Designer"

I'm excited today because I am one of the guest designers this month over at "A Blog Named Hero"  They have a new challenge starting today called "White Out".. 

Here is a sneak peek of my card,  to see it in full please visit "A Blog Named Hero"  and if you have time please join in the fun!!

"Jars of Joy"

Unfortunately my FIL passed away last week, he was 91 and had been ill for quite a while, he had been diabetic for 40 years and it took its toll on his health, he was almost blind and found it hard to get around. He is now at peace, we will all miss him.    We have lots to sort now so my crafting may have to take a back seat for a while.

I did have  chance to make one more card for the Moxie Fab Challenge "Jars of Joy" Just a simple card using the jar as a vase and adding sunflowers coloured with distress markers.

"Envy becomes you"

I have found time to play with this weeks Tuesday Trigger challenge cat Moxie Fab World,  aren't those shoes gorgeous, I love the beautiful green colour.  

I have used an old Hero Arts stamp "Antique Brocade" for the background stamping in Lime green and then clear embossing.  The flowers are hand rolled using some Cosmo Cricket polka dot paper.

The weather here has turned decidedly autumnal its wet cold and miserable, hope its better where you are and you are having a fabulous weekend.