Sleigh Bells Ring

Hi there - how come everytime I make a card it becomes my new favourite?? This one is soooo sparkly and blingy!! I used Waterfall Stickles, Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds and a little bit of Heirloom gold Perfect Pearls mixed with water in a spritzer. I chose this dp because it's blue and I love the snowy squalls and I wanted to enter it over at Paper Sundaes for Challenge #44, Pick Your Sundae Toppings (Punches, Embossing, Ribbon and the colour Blue). I used three of the four! I'm also entering this in The Crafty Pad's Challenge #97 Christmas Sparkle. The CTMH stamp set came with the blog candy I won from Monique over at For the Love of Paper. I believe this is card number 11 of the 20 I need for Christmas. Getting there.......

Paper: Fancy Pants Tradition Strips dp, kraft cs
Stamps: CTMH Magical Season
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics
Accessories: MS Snowflake punch, Marvy Snowflake punch, Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds, Ranger Perfect Pearls heirloom gold, Basic Grey brads, Waterfall Stickles, ribbon from stash

Christmas Countdown - 3 special cards

The countdown is on now for me to finish my Christmas cards. According to my count, I need 20 cards - I have 10 so far - better get my butt in gear. Today I wanted to share three special cards. These cards were made at some classes I've attended recently at Dat's Scrapbooking and were designed by Ellena using Stampin Up products. They are special because sadly she is not with us anymore. I only met her once, at the Charity Pajama Stamping Party. She was not well enough to teach the classes but her friends stepped in and we were able to make the cards anyway. I think it will be hard to let these go.

Ho Ho Ho

Presesenting Jinglebellabella!! This was sooo much fun!! I'm entering this card for Bellarific Friday over at Stamping Bella's Bloggabella and also over at Paper Sundaes Challenge #43 Let It Snow. I finally got to use some of these great sparkly buttons I picked up - can't remember what brand they are though. And this is the first time I've inked up a Bella Stamp I beleive! Of course I had to add some glitter to the tree. I also used a technique I learned from Amy Rysavy by cutting out the tip of the tree before using the nestabilities to cut out the image! That is something I'll probably use a lot. Did you notice the glossy stipes in the dp and the snowy accents on her outfit??

Paper: Imaginisce Cottage Christmas Peppermint Stick dp, Stampin Up Real Red cs

Stamps: Stamping Bella's Jinglebellabella, Amy R's Winter Sentiments

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up Real Red, copics

Accessories: red glitter, buttons from stash, red emboidery floss, Liquid Applique, Petite Oval and Petite Scallop Oval nestabilities

Deck the Halls

I finally finished the third and final christmas card using the Bo-Bunny Winter Joy dp. This one was a little tougher for me to finish. I had such a hard time figuring out what to do for the sentiment - nothing looked right, it was always too big and I have this issue with not wanting to cover up too much of the dp so I opted for stamping directly on the dp instead. I couldn't find a sentiment any bigger that wasn't too big for the space so I settled for the 'deck the halls' stamp from Amy R's Winter Sentiments set (I love this stamp set by the way and the 'settling' had nothing to do with the set, lol). I can't say I'm too impressed, I like the overall layout and the embellishments but I wish I could have come up with something better for the sentiment. Oh well, more challenge for next time.

I am impressed though with the copic colouring. I tried something new this time. Usually I colour with the lightest colour first, make my shadows with the darker colour then go over the entire area with the lighter colour. Since the purples I have are little deeper than I wanted, I put down the shadows first with the darker colour and then blended the edges with the lighter colour and then went over the whole thing with the lighter colour. So even though I only have the two colours V15 and V17, this technique made it seem like I was using a mid colour as well. And to finish it off I used the clear Spica pen for Birgitta's wings and some Frosted Lace Stickles on the fur around her hat.

Oh yes, something else I tried new this time was to outline Santa Birgitta with the BG000 copic. I liked how that that turned out too. I think it gives her a sweet little glow. I'm entering this card in the All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge - Double Challenge Week.

Paper: Bo-Bunny Winter Joy dp, mauve cs, white Bella cs

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up Chocolate Chip, copics

Accessories: Bella Dots, ribbon from stash, Frosted Lace Stickles, Clear Spica pen

Sugar Pea Designs Blog Candy!!

Check out the blog candy available over at Sugar Pea Designs until December 4th, 2010 in celebration of Wendy's 100+ followers, her birthday AND anniversary!! She does some really lovely work and is one of my inspirations!