I Believe in Father Christmas

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Through the Looking Glass - Projects with Depth".  This 3D diorama card is over 2 inches deep, so fits the challenge perfectly!  This has always been one of my favourite Christmas songs, though when you actually listen to it it's kinda depressing! LOL  The Polar Express movie played it's part in the inspiration for this too :)

 I've used rock candy stickles on the snowflakes and it always saddens me that the sparkly frostiness of it is never done justice in a photo!  White enamel accents that I used for the snow on the tree branches is wonderfully dimensional, but alas that too is lost in this picture!


Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

There's no people like Snow People!

"Snow People" is the theme over on the Gingersnap Creations blog this week. Does anyone else remember those old animated shows from the 60s of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman? I have them on DVD and plan on having a viewing session as the holidays get closer, to get me in the mood! :)

Die-cut elements were my own designs cut on the Cricut and colour was courtesy of Distress Ink pads and Promarkers. The snowman is a Tim Holtz stamp. There is Rock Candy stickles on the snowflakes, but as ever, it doesn't really show up in the photo!

Pop over to the GC blog to see how the other DT members have interpreted the challenge - go on, you know you want to! :)

Oh no, another Santa tag!!

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "make a tag". I'm really loving all of the vintage Christmas images that Tim Holtz has released through Stampers Anonymous, so I thought I'd give this Santa an outing :)

He was stamped with Fired Brick and Black distress inks and then coloured with a red pen. Rock Candy stickles was used to give some sparkle to the ornaments. I planned on doing a whole lot more to this tag, but when I got to this stage I thought that adding more would spoil it rather than improve it, so I left it as it was!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

Just hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling!

I'm not sure why I've picked that title, there's not a sleigh in sight here, but the song is in my head right now so that will have to be reason enough! :)

The tag, reindeer and "believe" were cut on the Cricut. (The reindeer I think was designed by Denise from Boca - I've contacted her to confirm that, and if it is I will put in a proper credit and link).

All stamps were Tim Holtz @ Stampers Anonymous and colour was mostly distress ink pads, with a bit of promarkery thrown in for good measure! Rock Candy stickles was wiped over the letters. As ever, click on the image for a larger view. Comments welcomed! :)

A (Gr)inchie Christmas Card

I hesitate to call this a Christmas card, as it was thrown together with so little effort I'm embarrassed! Having said that, I didn't set out to make a card at all, I had realised earlier that I hadn't stamped some of the Inkadinkado clear stamps I got a few weeks back, so had a little play with them to see how they'd turn out. I don't plan on sending this out to anyone, but it gave me a chance to play around with arranging the images and see how they worked in relation to each other. Having said that, there is a LOT of Rock Candy Stickles glitter on this, and it looks a whole lot better in the flesh than it does in this scan! :)

3rd Time's The Charm!

This is the last Santa tag you'll see from me - when I close my eyes I can see them dancing in front of me! LOL I like the snow much better on this one, it was stamped with a paint splattery image and makes nicer snow I think. I'm going to do half of my tags like this and half like the Santa with holly one. (Like many of you, my family don't really appreciate or understand how much time and effort go into these things, so I've tried to make a trade off here between how good it looks and how quickly copies can be made!).

Grungepaper Rose

Well, I saw that bandwagon truckin' on by, and I just had to jump on it, didn't I? LOL

Here is my take on a grungepaper rose. It's the first one I've made, and I need a little more practise in folding the petals just right, but I don't think it's too bad all things considered! LOL The rose shown is cut from cardstock, inked, stamped, assembled and rock candy stickle-d. I have also cut one from grungepaper but I haven't assembled it yet, so will add that one later!

And here's the grungepaper version, a much better result, I think you'd agree!

I can see now why these are usually made from grungepaper, it's much easier to work with, more forgiving and gives a much better curl on the petals!

Santa Card

I'm lucky enough to have a friend in the US who will get things for me and ship them over, so a couple of days ago I received some of the new Christmas stamp sets that were launched by Stampers Anonymous at a stamping convention in California last weekend. This is their first outing... I love the Santa image!

The card blank was a design I created and cut on the Cricut using the Sure Cuts a Lot progam. The main image was stamped in Archival Black ink and then masked with a second copy stamped onto scrap paper and cut out. The snow was stamped and embossed with white powder and then Broken China and Faded Jeans inks were applied to the rest of the card. Finally the main image was coloured with distress inks/water brush and Marvy pens and Stickles glitter glue. I hope you like it! Click on the image for a larger view.

TH November Technique Challenge

I thought I'd take a crack at Tim Holtz's November technique challenge, seeing as I already had most of the elements needed to complete it! I had to use regular red stickles instead of the distress one, and a text stamp I've always liked by the Artistic Stamper rather than the one he used, but apart from that it's pretty much the same!

I really enjoyed using his mask, and I think I might try and make a few of my own using the Cricut. Watch this space! :)