Merry Little Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes for November

 

November? How did that happen? Goodness, it's not long until 'Ho, Ho, Ho Season'!

Thankfully, I have quite a good stash of Christmas cards, but you can never have too many and so I grabbed one of my fave stamp sets and got crafting to create a card for the brand new Anything Christmas Goes at MLCC.

To make my card I combined Altenew Chrystal Wall 3D and Dear Santa from Avery Elle. Unfortunately, neither of these lovely products seem to be available these days. I wasn't going to colour this cat as a Siamese, but I couldn't resist doing so. 

You can hop on over and see what my talented MLCC teamies have created for this challenge by clicking here. 

Let's Squash It! Challenge #22 - Keep it CAS

 

We're all about clean and simple cards over at Let's Squash It! this month as we play Keep it CAS!

I think I've kept things reasonably CAS for my creation, although I did get a little carried away with the boots and the flowers. The EF is Altenew Dotty Circles - isn't it pretty! I really do like these 3-D folders from Altenew as they give great depth and pristine embossing. The boots and flowers are from a set that I don't think is quite kosha, despite being advertised as such. 

We have a lovely new guest over at Let's Squash It! as Empress Carol joins us with a beautiful card which is just so perfectly CAS.  And you'll all go 'squeeeeeee...' when you see Gail's card for this challenge. Come and take a look and please play along!

Let's Squash It! Challenge #17 - Grasshopper Green Reminder

It's reminder time at Let's Squash It! as we continue to play with the colour green, an insect of your choice AND those all important embossing folders!

We're thrilled to be joined by the lovely Marianne as our Empress this month. If you take a peek here you'll see her gorgeous card, plus the little bit of fabulousness that Gail created too.

Here's what I made as my second card for this challenge.

To be honest, I followed a very similar formula to my first card, and let this beautiful EF from Altenew do all the work. My insect is a tiny Hero Arts ladybird from a set I bought very early on in my cardmaking career. I don't think I've ever used this little stamp before. After embossing and inking the cardstock I stamped the ladybird on the stalk of the daisy, and then stamped and fussy cut another body. This looks quite effective IRL as I added some Glossy Accents to the ladybird for a little shine.

We've got three beautiful cards in the gallery for this challenge, but to be honest, Marianne, Gail and I would love to see a few more and very much hope you'll come and join the fun. Don't forget, there's always a random prize from our fabulous Prize Vault on offer for one lucky player! 

Let's Squash It! Challenge #13 - Double Emboss

 

Hi folks, it time to emboss things as we start a brand new challenge for this month over at Let's Squash It!

During October we'd like you to use an embossing folder and pair it with another embossing technique. You can use two embossing folders on the same piece of card or combine dry embossing with heat embossing. The two types of embossing must be together, so an embossed background plus a panel with an embossed sentiment won't pass muster. If you need any guidance Gail did a fabulous inspiration post to get your mojo revved up and ready to go!

Here's what I created for this challenge. Sadly, I needed a sympathy card as my friend has just lost her beautiful dog. I kept the card very simple and first embossed with Couture Creations EF Fudge (so pretty) and then swiped a Versamark pad across the raised areas and then heat embossed with Altenew Translucent Pearl powder. The end result is so pretty and sparkly, and so hard to photograph!

Gail and I would love you to come on over and play along.

Let's squash It! Challenge #11 - Not Paper, Not Card...

 

Greeting to all you Squashettes, it's time for another fabulous theme over at Let's Squash It! Central where we challenge you to emboss something other than paper or card!

Gail has really gone to town on this theme and there is an awesome inspiration post available here to get your mojo moving.

Here's my first card for this theme. I was very excited to upcycle some plastic packaging from a die set. Do watch your hands if you are cutting plastic packaging - it's surprisingly sharp!

I started with a Gelli Plate background and then added some heat embossed flower images in copper, which I think are from Lavinia Stamps: the packaging went AWOL years ago!    I then embossed the packaging with Altenew Flowery Field 3D embossing folder. I assembled the card with 'hinges' so that the plastic was folded neatly behind the cardstock. I  adhered the resulting 'package' to my base card. 

It certainly has an unusual look to it! I think the idea needs some finessing, but as a first attempt I didn't think this was too bad.

We have a brilliant guest with us this month and I know you'll love her card. Gail, as always, has me in awe of her creativity, so please head on over and take a look! We all hope you'll feel inspired to join the fun and play along.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #149 -

The Sisterhood have a brand new challenge on offer for the next fortnight and it's connected with all things 'yummy' - including heart throbs!

My card uses a great quote which really speaks to me, plus a lovely image from Altenew which belongs to the Celebrations set. I decided to colour with pencil crayons for a simple, slightly naive look, but I'm not entirely loving it. I might add some chocolatey brown into the colour palette and see how I feel then.

Edited to add: Yep, better with the addition of brown!

The sisters have had a ball with this theme and our reigning queen has produced a tea/coffee/beer - spittingly funny creation which is also a little x-rated!

Hope you'll come and play along.

The Library Challenge

A little while back I was delighted to have Marina from My Perfect Life and The Library Challenge guesting as the elf over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I was completely bowled over when she asked me to reciprocate and be her Visiting Librarian over at The Library Challenge!

I love the whole concept of The Library Challenge; there are just so many fabulously inspiring book covers out there! As I am a real life librarian (I work in a primary school) I spend a lot of my time looking at and talking about book covers. Marina's challenge combines my two great passions.

Isn't this cover a beauty? The book itself is a very lovely story which has been made into some gorgeous films. If my memory serves me, the first version of the film was shot in black and white with the garden scenes being shot in glorious technicolour!

For my card I've picked up on the colours and also those gorgeous swirly flowers that straight away reminded me of the larger stamps in the Altenew Simple Flowers set.

I've really enjoyed being Marina's visiting librarian and can't wait to see what appears in the gallery over at The Library Challenge inspired by this cover!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #139 - J is for Joke

It's Challenge #139 at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and I'm not joking when I say that we have a great challenge on offer today! Yes, it's J is for Joke.

We all had waaaaaaaaaay too much fun with this one.

Please excuse the poor photograph. I might try and re-take this later as it looks a little blurry - which is much how I feel myself thia morning after a school trip yesterday.

The chickens are from a new Picket Fence set and the background was created by repeat stamping of an image from Altenew's gorgeous Simple Flowers set. I thought the flowers complimented the slightly woodblock look of the chicken images.

We've got a fabulous new queen and I know you'll love what the sistahs have created, so why not come and join in the fun...