christmas tree

Having used trees on the last few Christmas challenges, I thought that I ought to use a different tree this time - still an Elusive Images stamp though! I stamped it in versamark onto a scrap of Artylicious bp, embossed it in white regal ep, then cut it out with a small nestie - having mounted it, am not now sure it was in just the right place when cut.......anyhow, it was mounted onto copper card using the next size up, then onto another sheet of Artyylicious paper - this time from the Seasons Greetings cd, that had been spritzed with glimmer mists. White peeloff greeting added to a copper mount using the smallest nestie in the set - have loads of DL blanks that need using up, so there may be quite a few DL cards being made!
This is for the latest Bahhumbug challenge 12, for Christmas trees - hopefully I won't need a Christmas tree again for a while!

Fountains abbey

The challenge 7 at Less is More is for a masculine card - while I have been making some recently, they did not really fit the CAS requirement!
This set of stamps by Crafty Individuals features Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, a really beautiful place to visit if you are that way, looks much better in rubber than on my photos! I stamped the base card with a  script stamp from Artemio using tea dye DI, which was also sponged around the edges. The stamping was in black versafine, and the separated images mounted onto copper card - it needs a greeting, but I haven't found one that fits yet..............

silver tree

challenge 11 on Bah Humbug is metallic, and that on CHNC 12 is silver - for once, I  was sort-of organised, so one card for two challenges! When I wanted it earlier for an embossing challenge, I couldn't find the cuttlebug tree folder, no problems this time fortunately - I didn't have any metal, ( have too much stash anyway, so resisting any more techniques)  so used silver mirri card to emboss the tree. Silver card for the base, and I cut a freebie piece of dufex card in  a wavy line for the backing - looks a bit too much in the scan, but ok on the actual card

CHNC 11

the CHNC challenge 11 is 'go for gold' - I took the easy way and used gold EP! Stamp by Clarity stamps, BP from Glenda's cd Season's greetings sprayed with English ivy glimmer mists to make it tone in better.
I really crawled in under the tape for this one after Mr Linky played up a bit- thanks Hazel for fixing it!

off the page

the Less is more challenge this week is for a one-layer card off the page - snag this week was that i had planned to use the big Elusive Images butterfly stamp, then realised several others had already done this in much the same way that I had thought of - great minds obviously think alike! With time running out, I dug out my wild meadow stamps,  also from Elusive Images. I used a grassy stamp in the background, in distress inks in weathered wood, shabby shutters and peeled paint, then the cow parsley(?) in forest moss in the foreground. the butterfly was added using faded jeans.
Apologies for the scan, for some reason it insists on leaving a black line at the top at the moment, and the card is clean, all marks from the scanner!!

Bah humbug 10

The challenge this week on Bah humbug is to use an aperture - I was a little limited as I only have a few nesties, none of which really seemed to match any of the stamps I had thought of using. In the end I  cut a middle-sized oval out, used the Judikins angels behind the aperture and the Elusive Images tree in front to hide some of the spare space. The angels were coloured with promarkers, and the tree with H2Os.
Just crawled in under the finishing line this week.............

Bah Humbug 9

Embossing is the challenge for Bah Humbug this week - I had intended to use the tree embossing folder, but couldn't find it - I did find a snowflake one, so used that with pearlescent bluie card. One of my many angel stamps  (this one from Anita's) was stamped onto the same card, embossed in gold and simply matted onto mirri card. A very quick card once I had made my mind up what to do!
Thanks to Hazel telling me about another Christmas challenge, I am also entering this for CHNC 10 this week

pastel poppies

Pastel colours were the challenge on Less is More this week - think I may have gone a little too pale here, as the scanner at first decided it was black and white.............I usually stamp and emboss this Elusive Images stamp in gold, and have the traditional bright red poppies, but for this card I stamped in smoky grey Versafine, and coloured the poppies with watercolour pencils in pinks and lilac. I matted it onto a pink card, not quite the right pink, but the nearest one I had  and I think it came out as quite a pretty card - will probbaly become a Mother's day card eventually.

colour splash

Play Date challenge 71 is for black, white and a colour - after rejecting several favourite stamps, I decided to use this image from a set of stamps by Carrie Dennison for Elusive Images as I thought that all it needed was a touch of green for the grass - I was very tempted to just add pale blues and make it a winter scene, but it was nice and sunny today!
The image was stamped with black Versafine, and coloured with watercolour pencils - backing strip is from the Essence of Nature cd by Glenda Waterworth

butterfly squares

I was wondering what image to use for the Less is More challenge this week of  use 3 squares when my new issue of Craft Stamper arrived - the free stamp was this lovely swirly butterfly designed by Glenda Waterworth for her new company Chocolate Baroque - problem solved!  I used the colour scheme from Playdate challenge 70 - I haven't got around to many of their challenges this year - and soon had a pile of rejects; this is the only one that survived, despite the inky squares being on the dark side. The one absolutely perfect pastelly one had the stamp dropped  on it, and of course it landed inky side down...........now I remember why I was never that keen on stamping directly onto my card in the first place!
The squares were sponged in distress inks - wild honey, tumbled glass and shabby shutters - through a punched mask - and I found that a cosmetic sponge worked better than the tool or cut'n'dry, but that was probably due to the card surface more than anything else.