Christmas Chris

The image used for this card is Christmas Chris by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

I hope you have all had a magical Christmas and not suffering too much today.  Poor old Christmas Chris is going to have belly ache I think as he is still tucking in to yesterdays leftovers lol.
Design paper was used to back the card I created a circular frame with my die cutter using gold card which I placed the design paper behind - alas this looked really bad, so fussy, so I coloured the holly and berries in to tone it down a bit.  Christmas Chris digi was coloured with Copics and fussy cut and a pre printed sentiment was used along with pre cut holly leaves to decorate.  Simple strips of gold glitter paper were used to frame the card.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Elliot & Elvis

The image used for this card is Elliot and Elvis by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

 Merry Christmas everybody, hope it is a wonderful one for you full of happiness and wonderful memories :).

I coloured the image with Copics and fussy cut it ready to added to my card.  The card base was covered with design paper then I added a red mulberry paper layer, do love how the transparency here allows the Christmas trees of the backing paper to shine through.  The text was designed on SCAL with the shadow layer matching the backing paper and the sentiment on top cut out of sticky back felt.  I do love a bit of touchy feely on cards lol.  I finished off the coloured image with some gold glitter for a bit of sparkle too then attached it to my card.  Simple but effective I think.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

• Sisterhood of Crafters 2nd/4th Wed,3E - Christmas
• Digi Choosday Challenge -W,E2, - #51 - Anything Goes
• Everybody-Art-Challenge 2W - #460 - Winter Landscape or Christmas Colors (week 1)
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 2W, C15, E3 - #62 - Anything Christmas Goes  - runs till Jan 12, 2020

Lilac

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'Anything Goes'

and the sponsor for this challenge is IKEsART with $15 prize to spend in the store

For my design creation I have used the IKEsART image Lilac, I have had this image for quite a while and loved it from day one but shamefully, this is the first time I have coloured it.  I had such plans for this card in my head and grrrrrr they fell apart when I tried to pull them off but never mind, I had fun really and sometimes it is good to have an experimental day lol.  I did want to have a yellow and orange alcohol ink background with the image printed on acetate and coloured from behind but the Promarkers were not dark enough to stop the inked layer below it shining through.  So I opted for a clean and sharp card instead hahahaah.  This card has several simple layers with a white layer behind the mauve vellum gingham layer to keep the clarity of the colour.  The sentiment is stamped with Hero Arts white stamp pad, the addition of a few gems and a wee butterfly were all that was needed to complete the overall effect.

I am entering this card in the following challenges :-

Caffinated-Craig

The image used for this card is Caffinated-Craig by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

 For this thank you card for Barry our builder I have used a photo taken just after the kitchen / dining room wall was knocked out.  Barry really deserved a cake and cup of tea after that lol.  The image is really a guy in his home lounging clothes and slippers but a bit of creative colouring changed his slippers into work boots I hope and although Barry did not wear clothes like this to work the actual image looks so like him :)   I coloured the image with copics and embossed the silver backing paper with a brickwork folder (think I got that the wrong way round but cool effect anyway).  Hubby made me the big hammer with his 3D printer and I coloured it with acrylic paint and finally I foil embossed the Thank You Barry using the WRMK foiling tip which can be used with a die cutter.  I designed the label and text using SCAL and print/foiled with my Silver Bullet.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Peace Angel Bag

This bag was so much fun to make and a real challenge lol.  You know when you get an idea and then have to work out how to achieve it, well that was very much the case here.  I wanted so much to play along with the Aurora Wings FB December challenge and then an idea sprang into my wee head which really put smiles on my face hahaha.  Before I talk about the bag I have made let me share with you the reasoning behind it - this Christmas is the first Christmas in about 20 years my hubby and our 2 grown up daughters along with me will be together on Christmas Day, between hubby working overseas for many years, the kids leaving home and starting their lives etc. we have not managed to be in the same place at the same time for many many years until now.  My Mum joined the angels last year and my youngest daughter and her wife (who are in the army)  changed their long term plans of moving to New Zealand and bought a house about 40 minutes from us in Scotland, my other daughter lives about 5 minutes away from us :).  One of the things I always gave my Mum at Christmas was a box of Maltesers, she loved them and it was a real sharing event between us so I thought, what would be a beautiful way to help us know Mum is also there with us on Christmas Day would be to have some Maltesers from her for us all to share.  With that idea making me smile and knowing it will be a touching moment when the kids see and share on the 25th it was then to set about making the gift bag.  I have loads of small gift bags to decorate but nothing the right size for the Maltesers. My best choice was a big bag but it was green and I just could not imagine the digi on it.  That led to me hunting through all my rolls of A1 size wrapping/hand made papers and just as I was about to give up on that when one roll jumped out at me - the perfect blue.  My Mum was a spiritual healer with White Eagle and the main colour that was associated with them was blue, the gowns worn were blue too so I had to colour the Peace Angel gown blue.  The White Eagle group are peace loving, respectful of Mother Earth and all that lives on her.  The teachings are from White Eagle, a Native American leader from times gone.  Another thing associated with White Eagle is a 6 pointed star so I designed the gift tag for the bag as that - more symbolism.

I disassembled the bag to make the covering easier.

When Mum died I had a letter to read out from her to family and friends and in it she mentioned several times that when we wanted to be close to her we would find her amongst the trees, hear her in the bird song (there was a lot more but those two things really stick with me) - so with the Peace Angel dressed in blue, holding a dove all I needed was to add some trees to complete the gift from Mum.  

Enough chatter so here is a quick recipe of what I did : - 

• Covered bag with blue patterned paper and reassembled.
• Printed image - PEACE ANGEL SPRITE approx 19cm and coloured with Copics, completed by masking dress, face and hair so I could add spray gold glitter varnish to the wings.
• Designed a sort of scene for the snow area and cut with die cutter.
• Used tree die cutting pattern from Treasure Box Designs - Snow Place Like Home.
• White heat embossed snow on lower edges of tree layers and dots on the snow background.
• Die cut in several sizes snowflakes out of white vinyl - snowflakes from rom Treasure Box Designs - Snow Place Like Home.
• Added blue ribbon handles, bow, recycled pearl string and snowflakes on twine wrapping and attached the tag too.

I was trying to work out how to get about 500g of Maltesers into the bag, should I aim for one big box or several then the brain kicked into action again and it was out with the 'boxer' by Crafters Companion and I made a lovely big box which fitted perfectly using 2 A3 sheets of card.  A super simple decoration but a bit more symbolism lol to complete it.  When I started card making I managed to get Mum to make some too, she did not colour etc. but used to love taking photos which I would get printed for her, she then added these to card blanks and used stickers to embellish.  With that in mind it could only be peel off stickers that were used for decorating the box.  Now it is fingers crossed the box is big enough for around 500g if Maltesers lol.  I have put a pencil in front of the box so you get an idea of the size.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the rather symbolic background of this bag, how it all came together and is still making me smile.

Challenges entered

• Artsystamper Challenge (2W) - #5 WINTER HOLIDAYS  (Week 2)
• Colouring in Scrapland  (M 1st Mon, 2E, No digital coloring, must have a hand-colored image) ANYTHING GOES OPTION CHRISTMAS (WEEK 2)
• Double Trouble Challenges  (2W/1W, 4E) #44 - "WRAP IT UP" opt. 1 - INCLUDE RIBBON OR BOW |opt. 2 share at ARTSY STAMPER - WINTER HOLIDAYS
• Path of Positivity  (M, 1st Monday, any positive/inspirational project or idea welcome)  #74 ANYTHING GOES OPT. twist PEACE
• Addicted to Stamps 4W, winner + Top Picks, Must include digi or rubber/clear Stamping (no precolored digis) - Cold and Frosty (Week 1 of 3)
• We Love 2 Create  - 2W (ends Tuesday) - Always Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes
• Die Cut Divas (M P1, E4, die cuts) December - Winter/Christmas
• Sweet Stampers (M, P10, E3, use stamp or digi) #38 - Christmas
• Allsorts  W,3E  - #549 - Snowmen and/or Snowflakes
• Challenge Up Your Life M - December - #118 - Christmas Packaging
• My Time to Craft 2W  - #411 - Christmas Scene (W2 of 2)
• Alphabet Challenge - 2W, 1E -  S FOR SNOW (W1 of 2)
• Crimbo Crackers 2W, Must Be Christmas Related #199 Gift Boxes (W1 of 2)

Clothes Peg Circular Advent Calendar

 International Art & Soul, a challenge which has been put together to incorporate any type of craft, paper, wood, flowers, recycling, glass - the world is your oyster :).  Come on over an join us with you artwork :)

Challenge #73
Anything But A Card

This fortnights challenge Anything But A Card has been chosen me, I hope you have lots of fun making something a little different for this time of year.  My youngest daughter is in the British Army and I made this for her to send to South Sudan where she was posted for 6 months back in June.  Although home for Christmas I thought this would also be a fun way to countdown the days until flying back.  With South Sudan being so hot a lot of the time I used a die cutting file by . . . . .  I have just spent the last 4 hours going through all my die cutting files and deciding to put them onto Evernote - found it lol - Summer Santa by My Scrap Chick.  I did make this project about 4 months ago in readiness to send to my daughter.  Oh dear, I am all over the place with this post hahaha :).  My daughter returned home early from South Sudan due to injury and is now awaiting an operation on her knee which is holding together with just a few very damaged fibres inside bless it.  She got the injury during an organised rugby match which she was asked to play in as from the age of 16 she has played rugby for various clubs pre army days and then for the army after joining but she retired a couple of years ago as she is getting old !!!!!!!! :) :).

The idea for this wreath was from Debi Durrant the Sheena Ink-ettes group on FB where she created an awesome wreath using one of Sheena Douglas's images in the centre.  You can find simple instruction on how to make a clothes peg wreath here.

Challenges entered:-

• A Gem of a Challenge  2W, 3E  - #24 - Anything Goes (W1 of 2)
• My Time to Craft 2W  - #411 - Christmas Scene (W2 of 2)
• Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers 2W, C10  #149 - Y is for Yummy (W2 of 2)
• Jingle Belles - 2W - must be Christmas - TAKING BACK OUR NINTH (W1 of 2) (Ends December 24th) - Next Challenge Jan 1st, 2020
• Creative Knockouts W,2E,C8 #327 Christmas Delight
• TIME OUT Challenges 2W #150 Merry & Cheerful *( W1 of 2)
• Fab n Funky W,1E, #460 - Anything But a Card
• Cuttlebug Mania 2W, 3E - Christmastime (week 1)
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - 2W, C15, E3 - #61 - Anything Christmas Goes (week 2)
• The Paper Girls  (2W 1st & 3rd Mondays, layouts, cards, F, 3E, A grand prize winner is randomly chosen every quarter) #189 GIFTS (Week 1)

Man About The House

The image used for this card is Man About The House by Dr. Digi House of Stamps.

This thank you card is for Leo who has done a tremendous about of joinery work in my Mum's house during a major renovation.  I used wood design paper to cover the card base and a digital version of wood flooring paper behind the image.  The image was coloured with Copics and hubby printed the border for me with his 3D printer and I then painted it with acrylic paints.  The die cut border on the right was a pain in the you know what lol - it is cut using a very thin layer of wood veneer, the first time I tried it was hopeless so I glued the wood to some thick paper and cut again.  It sort of worked but if you look closely you can see where the wood has lifted off, obviously where the glue has not held, never mind, it adds character.  The label was created with the hot foil attachment from WRMK using my Silver Bullet and designed on SCAL software.

I am entering this card in the following challenges : -

Circles

The challenge this fortnight at I ❤️Promarkers is

 'Circles'

and the sponsor for this challenge is Bugaboo Stamps with $12 gift code for the Store 

For my design creation I have used the Bugaboo image Flower Doodle 2 Colouring Page.  The image was printed twice, one copy for colouring and the second copy to use as masking and for the flowers, 2 of which were cut out with a circle die and the other fussy cut.  I hot foiled the sentiment with silver but it is hard to see in the photo unfortunately as in real life really brings the card to life. Images were coloured with Promarkers with the addition of silver and turquoise Stickles on the flowers.  For the background I masked the leaves,  again using Promarkers and my air brushing attachment gave it a good spraying, the card base was also sprayed.  Once all the colouring was done I mounted the image on black and then silver which I had embossed with a leaf pattern.  Finally the flower tops were added with foam tape for a bit of dimension.
Promarkers used - Moss, Olive Green, Pesto, Holly, Pear Green, Bright Green, Orchid, Grey 4, Black, Aegean, Cyan and Cool Aqua.

This card is being entered in the following challenges : - 

Poinsettia

IKEsWORLD

Challenge 127
Looking Forward to Christmas

Welcome back to the IKEsWORLD challenges :)  do pop on over to IKEsWORLD to join in the challenge, it is always so much fun and  Ike produces the most amazing stamps, everything from off the wall to cute and fluffy :) :) :)

Well, hard to believe this is the last challenge at IKEsWORLD this year, where has the time gone I just don't know, maybe 2019 was a year with wings on it :) :)

It is a long time since I have made a digital card so I thought for this months challenge I would get the old tablet out, relax in my recliner with a cup of coffee and go all digital.

A vintage Christmas card was the end result although the vintage thought only happened once I had played around colouring the image in Photoshop.  Not my careful sort of colouring and that is because I found an awesome oil painting brush by Kyle that just moves the paint around, and around, and around and the feeling of being a kid and finger painting was the nearest I can come to describing how I felt lol.  I do rather like the slap dash, free flowing strokes and from a distance (or with your glasses off) it looks even better hahahaha.  Once I had finished in Photoshop I saved the poinsettia with a transparent background and brought it into Illustrator, oh how I love Illustrator, my favourite program probably because I am so used to working with shapes etc. with creating a lot of my own .svg files for die cutting.  Anyway, back to what I did, first bring in some digital paper for the background, next I created 2 rectangles, 1 was white with a red border which I reduced the transparency of and the other was a red border with no fill.  These were placed on top of the base paper background.  Onto the image, drop it in place and resize.  It was now that I was thinking this looked a bit vintage so hunted on the net for how to create Vintage text and found a some great help from Graphic Burger with ready made Illustrator actions, all I had to do was change the wording and - perfect - just what I was looking for.  Rather like the end result although I don't normally with digital and may just print this up half a dozen times for quick and easy Christmas cards or use it on FB in its digital format, to wish all the folks I don't send a card to a seasonal greeting.

Ingredients:-

• image - Xmas Poinsettia by IKEsART
• colouring medium - digital
• other items - 

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-