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)

Rhedd and Rosie's DT post - Let it snow

Goooood morning everyone!


I was MIA yesterday, sorry about that. I was on my annual Christmas shopping trip to York, and by the time I got back I was so tired I couldn't move. The jury is out on whether or not I'll be able to be on my feet today!

Anyways, I would like to share with you my DT card for the new challenge at Rhedd and Rosie's. The new challenge is Let it snow, so break out your glitter, snowflake dies or stamps or other snowy items, and join in the fun!

For my card I chose a Papermania stamp, which I believe was either a magazine freebie or part of a grab bag... I can't remember! I do know I've had it since last Christmas and have never used it before!

I decided to go with browns, as if it is a sepia photograph, but then to add pops of red where appropriate. And there's plenty of Stickles and Glossy accents too!

The background is kraft card with Sizzix snowflakes stamped on with white ink and heat embossed, and then a sprinkling of frantage here and there too.

I'm not 100% sure about the ribbon... I believe I either found it in the offcuts bin at the habby's in Leeds market (where I get most of my ribbon and lace!) or from my mum's sewing stash!

The result is altogether pretty snowy!

So, what say you? Can you manage one more Christmas card this season? Sure you can! Just make it a snowy one, and come play with us! In the meantime, please go have a peek at my fellow teamies' creations, as they're gorgeous!

Hope to see your entries there!

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

Papertake weekly - Last Christmas card of the year
Inky Chicks - Christmas 
Oldie but a goodie - Winter (Stamp is over a year old, ribbon older still!)
Lexi's Creations - Snow
Dream Valley Challenges - Christmas

Have a good one!

Sammy-x

Another commission

Hi all,

Well, the lady that commissioned the wedding card loved it so much, she's asked for another! This time it's for a 50th birthday. Colour-wise she wanted pinks and purples, and the birthday girl is apparently very fond of cake!

So here goes:

This is, incidentally, my second play with Core'dinations cardstock (the wedding card was the first). Can I just say that I am in love? Yes.

I used LOTV's "Cake Glorious Cake" and coloured her with Promarkers. I then teamed her  with Dovecraft Back to Basics papers. The 50 is covered in Stickles, but just looks somewhat odd in the picture, lol.

The flowers are mostly WOC, and just look how gorgeous the large white and purple one is! Especially with Stardust Stickles to make it pop a little more...

And I made another presentation box for it to go in... (Using one of the large LOTV sentiment stamps)

I hope she'll like this one as much as she did the other. There's already noises about more cards to come, and I now at least have some money to go toward Make-A-Wish! :-)


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge - Anything goes
Crafty Catz - Anything goes
Sister Act - Anything goes
4 crafty chicks - food and drink
Crafty Girls - Anything goes
Whimsy Stamps - Party time


Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Sammy-x

Craft room reveal - Crafting with Dragonflies

Hi all,

Over at Crafting with Dragonflies, we've been showing off our creative spaces, and this week is my turn!

Now, I don't have a craft room, unlike so many of you lucky peoples out there, but I do have a craft desk. And a craft floor, lol. I craft at a desk in the livingroom, and use the floor under and beside the desk to stack stuff too...

This is it. Most of it is crafty, except the drawers in the desk (household paperwork, booooring!)

The area under the desk houses my box of ribbons and my bag of flowers. Under the drawers I also have a basket of punches and a bag with materials such as hessian (burlap) and such.

On the floor beside the desk I have my 12x12 papers, my cardstock and my box of stamps. Also a couple of boxes for finished cards (one Christmas, one everything else)
In front of all that are my new embellishment boxes, which are always in the way! lol.

On the left hand side of the desk I have my 8x8 and 6x6 paper pads, and my jar of lace! Next to it is a box full of toppers and suchlike (which I rarely use anymore, so I should probably move to somewhere else!) on top of that box are some magazines, my box of charms, my box of card scraps and some bits and bobs I'm working on.

Shelves that house more ribbon and some buttons, and most importantly, my LOTV stamp folders and art pad and sketch pad. this is my favourite shelf! lol.

And finally, the area I work at. As you may be able to tell from the cutting mat, knife and ruler and distinct lack of guillotine, I cut everything by hand (card blanks, mats, you name it). I would be lost without my knife and ruler! On the righthand side are my two extra large pencil cases full of Promarkers, and there are various tools and supplies dotted around the desk. I also have my "Tim Holtz Corner", with my stack of distress inkpads, Stickles and other "potions" :-)

So there you have it. It isn't much, but we live in a shoebox and I am taking up far too much room already as it is! Hopefully we'be be building a conservatory next summer, which will then become my craft room, and give us a little breathing room back in the lounge!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my little tour... I'd love to see where you all craft too!

Have a fantastic day!

Sammy-x

Last Minute Christmas - Sweet Stampin' DT post

Hello wonderful peoples of blogland, this is me reminding you all that it is Saturday, which means not only is it the weekend, but also it's the start of a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'!

This week the theme is a very apt one, namely Last Minute Christmas. Not that any of us need to make any more last-minute Christmas cards, right? I'm sure we're all super organised and finished ours weeks ago. *cough*

Yeah. Me neither.

So, I figured I'd whip up a quick card, nothing too fussy and fancy, just stamp it, colour it, layer it and be done.

Turns out my last-minute card still took me well over an hour, not counting drying time! lol.  However, I liked it so much I made two more just like it! And here it is:

The image is LOTV's "Christmas Baubles", which I picked up at the last open day and coloured with my Promarkers. The sentiment was a magazine freebie, which I have used on about a dozen cards so far this season...  (And it's kinda true at that... We just put our tree up this evening, and it's all sparkly and shiny... Very Christmassy!)
It's pretty much impossible to tell, but the baubles are all covered in a mix of Glossy accents and Stardust and Gold Stickles. They are shimmery and shiny and look gorgeous in person!

Right, your turn! Why not take this opportunity to make another last-minute Christmas card. And if you just happen to be one of those sickeningly organised people that actually did finish them all weeks ago, you can always make one ready for next year! And if you're stuck for ideas, make sure you visit my fellow Sweeties who have prepared some delicious examples for your perusal.

Oh, and of course there are the sponsors! Our monthly sponsor, with a £10 voucher is still the Ribbon Girl, and this week the sponsor is Cuddly Buddy, who are also offering a £10 voucher for the winner.

Hope you all have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Commissioned card

Good eve all!

So, yesterday I got my first "real" commission... Since the people in question aren't followers of my blog (that I'm aware of! lol), I think I'll be safe to share it with you all, as I have to admit I'm a little nervous and could use some last-minute tips!

So, the lady that asked for the card asked for "Ivory", but beyond that wasn't too certain, but between us we settled on "vintage".

so I made this:

I used a LOTV image, naturally, and the papers are from Melissa Frances, mounted on Coredinations cardstock. The flowers are mostly WOC, the corner is a Joy crafts die and there's a generous amount of Stickles involved! And there's pearls... Can't have a wedding card without pearls!

And then there's the inside too... I Did some faux stitching, and added some card candi too...

And a close-up of the image

 And I made a little box for the card to go in too. She didn't ask for one, but I felt like giving it a go, lol.

So, verdict? I'm happy with it, yet terrified she won't like it! As you may have noticed, I've gone for a Becky-esque card here (yes, that is now an official cardmaking term!), as the lady had bought the card I'd made previously CASE-ing one of Becky's cards, so I figured it was the kind of style she was after.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Divas by design - Anything goes
Live and Love Crafts - Stardust  (There was LOTS of Stardust Stickles involved in the making of this card!)
The Artistic Stamper - Anything goes
Desert Islands Crafters - I did 4, 5 and 6, (charm, lace, distress) and technically 8 (gift) too, maybe?
Stamp and Create - anything goes

Hope you're all having a most wondrous day.

Sammy-x

Crafting with Dragonflies DT - Christmas tag or tags.

Hello all,

Stopping by here to share with you my DT post for Crafting with Dragonflies, where the new challenge is to make a Christmas tag or tags.

There are two brilliant sponsors this challenge,

 -  with 5 Digis of the winner's choice

and

with 4 Digis of the winner's choice

For my project, I decided to make a set of cards for my daughter to put on her presents this year. If you remember my previous CWD post, you'll know the "moose" story, so these tags will come as no surprise to you...
I decided to go with the "mini card" kind of tag, as I personally prefer using that type on presents.

I just adore this image from QKR! She looks highly unimpressed at being made to dress up as Rudolph. Unsurprising really, as she is a Moose, and Rudolph a lowly reindeer! lol.
I made a set of four, varying the colours (to stop me from getting bored! Usually three of a kind is my limit) and kept the design fairly simple, as the paper I used was quite busy and interesting in itself.

Naturally there are glossy accents on the baubles and noses and gems for a touch of bling. My daughter loves them, and will no doubt be sticking them to her pressies when she gets back from Christmas shopping on Friday...

So, by now you've all finished making Christmas cards for the year *cough cough splutter*, and are ready to get stuck in with the tags, right? Well if you do, make sure you swing by CWD to share them with us. And don't forget to go see what my fellow dragonflies have made, because it's well worth your while!

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x