A card for Rudolph Days

 Hello! It seems like a long time since I was last here- time kind of got away from me in the run up to Christmas, I fully intended to wish  my lovely friends, followers and visitors a very happy Christmas and also to express my thanks for all the kind and generous comments left for me- all very much appreciated! I hope you all enjoyed the festive season, however it was spent- with all the fun and chaos of a family Christmas or quietly and peacefully. Best wishes also for 2026- wouldn't it be wonderful if there could be a solution to all the endless wars and unrest on our planet? Sadly, I think it's very unlikely but we can hope.

It's been crazy busy here- a party for friends on Christmas Eve, my son, daughter and their families on Christmas day- 10 for dinner and total chaos, but a lot of fun and laughter, yesterday a quieter day with just my brother and cousin joining us for lunch. I have spent a LOT of time cooking!!!

Today has been so peaceful- no visitors- no cooking! I had a lovely walk with Marvin, trying out his new ball flinger , so good to be out in the fresh air after being indoors for days!

I still have a few Christmas cards I haven't blogged yet, this one was made using a stag stencil/mask and stamps from various Cardio sets, distress inks and a sprinkling of glitter. Before inking and stamping the stag I used an embossing stylus to trace around the edge of the stencil after placing the stencil on a light box and the cardstock panel on top, it gives a nice raised edge, saw this tip somewhere on YouTube and thought I'd try it.

Thanks for stopping by

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

Rudolph Days

pattiescreations #237

CRAFT #770

thesisterhoodofcrafters- anything Christmas

stencilfun. December Challenge

Winter magic

 

Good morning, a quick reminder of our December Challenge at Stamping Sensations.

The theme is Fantasy or Anything Goes

I made a wintery card using some beautiful Lavinia stamps and one of their lovely stencils.

I sponged  Elements Della Blue ink across the left hand side of my card blank, then stencilled over it using the Feather Leaf stencil and the same colour ink. I die cut a square panel of white cardstock and stamped a little scene using Christmas mistletoe , Briana, Basil and the Winter Magic sentiment stamp. I added glitter to Briana's wings and white perfect pearls for the mistletoe berries.

Please take a look at the Challenge Blog, you will find some magical creations from the rest of the Team, and full details of how to join in -and the prize of some beautiful Lavinia stamps.

Thanks for visiting

Chris

x

lilredwagon #838

thesisterhoodofcrafters Christmas

conjurerofdreams #15

crafterscafe #325

thefourseasons December Challenge

Mistletoe Sprites

Good morning, It's time for our December Challenge at Stamping Sensations, the theme for this month is Fantasy or Anything Goes.

There are fabulous prizes of Lavinia Stamps for the lucky winners.

 I stamped a little scene onto kraft card using (mostly) beautiful Lavinia stamps, first I used a mask and created a moon using Pan Pastels, then stamped the Star Gazers using black Versafine Clair, next I stamped half wreath they are sitting on using a Card-io twig stamp and Lavinia Mini Mistletoe, and  mini Holly stamps, then the Christmas Mistletoe (a lucky win at we Love Stamping which I was delighted with!)

I used a white gel pen for the mistletoe berries and around the edge of the moon, a red glitter pen for the holly berries and added a red floss bow to the mistletoe.

This card could easily be a Christmas card, but it's intended to be an anniversary card for my son and DIL who will be celebrating their 10th Anniversary at the end of December.

I had a wonderful time in Edinburgh, such a beautiful city-thoroughly enjoyed learning a little more of its history and seeing some of the amazing churches/ palaces/ monuments etc I've read so much about. We only had time to scratch the surface and I plan to go back and discover more! So lucky with the weather too- milder than I expected and just a spot of rain on Friday evening. My daughter was the best company- and made sure she looked after her old Mum! So tired when I got home- not a long flight but still took most of the day to get home.

I have some lovely photos that I'll share later.

Thanks for visiting

Have a good day

Chris

x

Christmas at Crafty Calendar

 Hi, I'm back with my second DT card for today- this one is for our

 Christmas Challenge at Crafty Calendar-

 Anything Christmas Goes

There is a prize of 2 digital images from LOTV

I inked up this gorgeous House Mouse stamp that I was lucky enough to win at one of the HMFMC Challenges, I've coloured the little mice with Copics and lightly ink blended the background to match the DP as closely as possible. I framed it with a diecut scalloped frame, cut several times and layered together to give it some depth then placed in the centre of the beautiful DP. I stamped the sentiment and added a few sparkly die cut snowflakes to finish.

Don't forget to check out the Challenge Blog to see the lovely creations from the rest of the ladies.

Well, that's it from me for today,

Thanks for visiting and have a lovely weekend.

Chris

x

Challenge entries;

HMFMC #454

aperfecttimetocraft. December

christmasbingochallenge #16 - I-Winter/free/snowflakes

morgansartworld #95

allsorts ~838 - (new stamp!)

cardz4galz #264

I spy... #32

Christmas- at Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning, I've two cards to share today, both of them DT makes, this one is for our Christmas Challenge at Sweet Stampin' which will run for the whole of December, so plenty of time to join in. 

Anything Christmas goes- but remember to include some stamping (digital stamps are acceptable!)

I used the cute owl from Ember Designs again, coloured with Copic markers and white gel pen, glitter on his hat. 

I cut a circular aperture from a square of DP - the Works I think - mounted it onto a slightly larger square of red card, stuck the image in place leaving a small red border. I added the die cut sentiment and some glittery sticker embellishments.

Please hop over to Sweet Stampin' for some fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Sweeties- hope you choose to play along!

Thanks for stopping by- will be back later today.

Chris

x

Challenge entries

addictedtostamps #507

critter crazy #105

MLCCB #65

mirtillamente #50

tripleb december

aplacetostart. December

Christmas trees

 Good morning, today sees the start of our Christmas Challenge

 at Fab'n' Funky-

anything Christmas themed goes!

I used an Aall and Create stamp set which I bought last year and never got around to using (they do have some amazing bargains in their clearance sales and I tend to get a bit carried away!)

The trees are individual stamps, so a lot of masking went on to stamp this little 'forest'.

I've used watercolours and gel pens to colour, the stamped embossed sentiment is from another A&C set and the tiny stars around the edge are Lavinia. 

There's more to see over at Fab'n'Funky where my lovely team have created some beautiful cards for you to enjoy, I hope you can find some time during these bust two weeks to join in.

I'm going to be missing for a few days after today- I'm off to Edinburgh for a few days, somewhere I've always wanted to visit, looking forward to it so much!

Thanks for visiting 

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

addictedtostamps #507

mmmchallenge #266

girlzcreativechristmas #153

New Stamps!

Good morning, last weekend I went to the Stamperama show at Detling. Before I went I told myself very firmly NOT to buy any more Christmas stamps as I have a few new Lavinia ones that haven't seen any ink yet. Unfortunately I did not listen and ended up buying some Cardio sets that caught my eye (as stamps do...) I made a few CAS cards to try them out! A one layer design using just a few stamps, torn paper and ink.

 I've added glitter to all the little stars and dots but you can only see it in the photos if you squint a bit and use your imagination! There are a couple more which I'll share another time.

Thanks for visiting

Have a good weekend

Chris

x

Challenge entries:

First card

scscards. November Challenge

CRAFT #769

beccysplace Day 4 -One Layer

Second Card

CAS on Friday #323

daisychain #102