5 favourite Christmas cards of 2013

Well, I think it's time for me to join in with everyone else, and have a go at Debby's 5 favourite Christmas creations...

But before I do, just a heads-up that The Ribbon Girl has a brand new challenge blog, and they have a button prize to give away! Go take a peek!

In 5th place, it's actually not a card, but this "Christmoose" wall hanger I made for my daughter Kayleigh.

It was a lot of fun to make, and I took some much needed inspiration from the very talented Dawny P.

The 4th place goes to this creation:

I'd won the image over at Beccy's Place, and was very pleased with how this card came out. I'm kinda loving the colours... I gave this particular card to my grandfather, and he has it displayed on his mantelpiece!

In third place:

A very recent one which I'd made as part of the Milk Coffee DT.  Aside from the adorable image, I was very fond of the traditional colours and the way the tinsel came out. This card went to my aunt, and everyone came to exclaim over it, so I guess I'm not the only one pleased with it!

Second place:

James the Bear, naturally. And a CAS one at that! Although it's not my preferred style, it's nice to know that maybe I can manage CAS when I need to! - Card went to little brother.

And for first place, I found it very hard to choose, so we have two!

First, another James, and a completely different style of card

I just adore this image, and it seemed perfect as the focal point for this cracker card. It went to one of my best friends (who has two young daughters I thought would appreciate it...).

And then finally the card I posted in my "overall favourites of 2013"

I'm still very pleased with it! lol.

Anyways, I shall be having another peek at everyone else's over the next few days. Still trying to get back into the swing of things after our trip away!

Hope you're all doing well!

Sammy-x

Favourites of 2013

Hi all,

We got back from Scotland last night. We had a lovely Christmas, really enjoyed seeing my family and had a relatively straight-forward trip home (except for being stuck at the top of Glen Shee for an hour and a half!). I know I'm woefully behind on all things blogland (sadly, I didn't get much chance to log in while I was there), but I hope you'll all forgive me!

I also hope you've all been having a wonderful holiday! And if Santa's been, I hope he's been good to you!

Now, I fancied doing a post today, but as I've only just returned, I've obviously not had a chance to do any crafting yet... (My post earlier was a scheduled one, which just isn't the same!)  However, while browsing blogland, I found that both Kath and Enfys had done a "review of 2013"-type post, and I thought this was a great idea!
I guess for me it was especially interesting to see  how my style and techniques have changed during this time. I only began card making in the summer of 2012, and didn't start my blog until July this year. August saw me start stamping, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, here's a review of some of my favourites of each month, near as I can tell. And as you can see, it's not just the card making that has improved somewhat... The photography is also substantially better now! lol.

January:

At least, I think it was January when I made this. It is part of a set of 4 I made after seeing a very similar design in a magazine. They were rather a lot of fun to make, and a great way to use up scraps!
Hmmmm... I may well try this again now that I have a die cutting machine and don't have to cut them all by hand!

February

My favourite from this month was my first ever attempt at steampunk. Even though I don't make them all that often, I have a huge weakness for steampunk designs.

March

Another steampunk design for March. Most of the supplies from this and the previous card came from a Docrafts goodie bag!

April

For April I chose the card I made for my twin nieces. They turned three and are very much in that age bracket where anything princessy is a go!

May

For May, I have a travel-themed card. I adore making cards with this theme, though I don't actually know anyone that ever goes anywhere, lol.

June

June's card is my husband's birthday card, and another steampunk one. It was also my first attempt at a different type of easel card.

July

July. Shortly after my first ever visit to the LOTV shop! I wasn't yet brave enough to get any stamps, but I instantly fell in love with the colours of this mini masterpiece, so naturally had to make something with it! It's also one of my earliest attempts at the shabby chic style.
My blog had been active for a week or two at this point...

August

One of my first ever LOTV stamps! This may not have been the very best of my cards that month, but I so adore the nautical theme! It is also one of the very first cards with a stamp I coloured myself!

September

My favourite card of September, and my favourite Christmas card to date! This one ended up going to my son's 1-1 teacher, who is a huge fan of pink, and I'm so glad she loved it!

October

Not a card, but my first ever mini album was definitely my favourite project of October!

And this would be my favourite card. I am so pleased with how it came out. The colours and the hessian... Loved making this one!

November

I had trouble choosing November's favourites, so chose a boy's and a girl's one!

December

And for December it has to be the first real commission I'd worked on. It has my favourite vintage feel, and is the first time I really feel like I might just be getting the hang of this shabby chic thing!

So there you have it! Sorry about the long post... I was going to split it into two posts, but I got carried away, lol.

If you've posted up any "favourites", please let me know so I can come and see!

Have a great day my dears!

Sammy-x

Sweet Stampin' DT - A little bird told me...

Hi all,

Well, if all has gone according to plan, I should have arrived home last night. I have scheduled this post though, as it wouldn't be the first time we've gotten snowed in at my parents' house!

Anywho. I'd like to share with you my DT card for Sweet Stampin' this morning. The theme this week is A little bird told me, and we're looking to see a bird on your creations!

This is what I came up with:

I used a Helz Cuppleditch "London Line" stamp (I was surprised to find I have almost nothing with birds on!!) and teamed it with First Edition "Spring Feast" papers. Impossible to tell from the picture, I'm afraid, but the birdie paper is glittered. Sooooo super sparkly!  There's also glossy accents on the "windows" of the postbox. I thought about covering the whole thing, but decided that would probably be a bit much...

I'd love to see what feathered creatures you all want to share with us, just remember you have to stamp! (rubber or digi)  Too many people are disqualified because they don't have any stamping on their work!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafts 4 eternity - Something new (just got the paper pad, and this is the first time I've used it!)
Stampin for the weekend - Anything goes
Clear it out challenge - Warm Fuzzies and something textured

Have the most awesomesauce of days!

Sammy-x

Crafting Cafe DT - Merry and bright

Hello all,

When this post reaches you, I should be in Scotland and we'll all be waiting for the jolly chubby one to make his appearance! With luck the kids will be happy with their loot tomorrow!

I'd like to share with you now my first DT card for The Crafting Cafe. I've technically been on the design team for quite a while, but as I'm posting late in the month, it's just taken a while for my first post!
Anyways, the theme is Merry and Bright and we are working with sketches this month. I chose sketch number one, and made this card

Yes, it's James again, with his stack of Promarker-coloured pressies. As you can see, I've gone back to the darker fur here (the base colour is cinnamon), which is my favourite on him. There's a plenitude of Stardust Stickles on his hat, and Gold Stickles on the ribbons of his presents.
The card base and the mat are both foil embossed card (sorry, can't remember exactly where from, but I'm almost positive they were a magazine freebie last year.)
A little bit of gold ribbon (scrounged from last year's Christmas crackers!) just finishes it off.

The whole card is super shiny and sparkly in person, which definitely takes care of the "bright" part of the theme. ( and I will most likely be working on the "merry" part some time this evening! ;-)  )

I hope you all have a most wonderful few days, and if you happen to have a little time to play, why not come and play with us at The Crafting Cafe?

See you when I return!

Sammy-x

Drawings!

Hello peoples,

I've not really been around this week, and I do apologise. The Christmas shopping turned out to be a bit much for me, and I made myself unwell by overdoing it. At least that's it for the next year, so I've plenty of time to recover! lol.

Anyway, I'd like to share something different with you all before we scoot off up to Scotland tomorrow. I have here a trio of drawings by Kayleigh, who decided to draw three of her favourite characters from a series of books that is particularly well-loved in out house. The Belgariad, by David Eddings. Eddings is particularly good at creating characters, so I'm not surprised my daughter felt the need to put them to paper!

First, there is Barak. He's a bit of a grumpy bear of a man, and I just love Kayleigh's visualisation of him. Aren't his eyebrows just awesome?
I also love his nose... None of this dainty pretty little nose business, this is a warrior's nose!

Next up is Belgarath the sorcerer. He's the wise old man of the series, and I just adore his hair. And how brilliant is that cloak?

And finally, pretty much everyone's favourite character... Silk. Silk is the cheeky "wiseguy" character of the series, though there is much, much more to him than meets the eye. I just love how Kayleigh captured the mischievousness of this character!

So there we have it, three beautifully drawn gentlemen. I have to add for the record that she does not get this talent from me... I can't even draw stickmen! lol.

Kayleigh would very much like to enter these drawings into the current Ribbon Girl challenge too.

And just in case I don't get the chance later... Merry Christmas to you all, may you have a fantastic holiday season!

Hugs,

Sammy-x

Anything Christmas Goes! - Milk Coffee DT

Hi all,

Here with another card (mine this time, lol) for the new challenge over at Milk Coffee, which is anything Christmas goes.

I'm sure you can all manage one of those, no? And remember, we love it if you use a Milk Coffee image, though it's not essential. There's some utterly gorgeous Christmas digis available, so if you can, I suggest you treat yourself to some!

I have to admit... I am so very thrilled still to be a part of this fantastic design team! Not only are my fellow teamies incredibly talented and kind individuals, but I also get to play with the most adorable images!

Like this one. It's called Charlotte and Christmas Tree and is so very sweet!

I added Stardust Stickles to the tinsel, and I LOVE how it came out. The picture below shows it quite well, but in person it looks even better! (Hope my aunt thinks so too, as the card is on it's way to her as we speak! lol). The baubles have naturally received the Glossy Accents treatment and the image was coloured with Promarkers as usual.

And I decorated the inside to match, just switched the papers around...

Right. Off you all go to see what the rest of the DT have been up to.
Seriously. Go!

Have a fabby day!

Sammy-x

Another guest post!

Hi all,

I have a card to share with you all this evening, only it isn't mine!  My daughter Kayleigh has had another go at making some cards, and would like me to share this with you.

Will you all be surprised if I tell you there's a LOTV image? Well, she is my daughter, after all... :-)

As you can see, she raided my stash for more than just my stamps! The papers are from the Dovecraft "Tea party" pack, the flowers are mostly WOC and she's had a generous amount of my Stardust Stickles!

The sentiment is from the Dovecraft "Cupcake Boutique" sentiment set and she borrowed my Promarkers to colour the image. (There's quite a lot of stickles on the image too, but it's hard to tell from this photo!)

She wants to enter this into the Ribbon Girl kids challenge, and is already working on another card (with... wait for it... another LOTV stamp, lol) and will also have some drawings to share. I'm very proud of her artistic abilities and handiness with a pencil (which she most definitely did not get from me!) and will be so happy to share those with you too!

Until later my lovelies.

Sammy-x

(And Kayleigh)