CAS(E) this Sketch

This is a card I have made for this week's 'CAS(E) this Sketch' challenge based on the sketch to the left.
I have flipped the sketch around as my reindeer was facing that way! I used two stamps from the Hostess set, Warmth and Wonder' and stamped the reindeer in Early Espresso and the tree in Old Olive. For the baubles on the tree and the sentiment I used the Gold Metallic Encore pad - the shine shows up much better in the close up above left! For the sentiment banner I used a stamp from Sweet Essentials, masked to leave the word Christmas, then used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the 'merry' from Pennant Parade just above. To finish the card I matted the panel onto Early Espresso cardstock and then onto a Crumb Cake card blank.

Christmas Trees

White Christmas

First of all can I say how honoured I am that one of my White Christmas cards has been showCASed by Chrissie and Jen this week. If you would like to see the card then click on the LIM Badge above. Thank you ladies, it's very much appreciated, as are all the lovely comments I receive week after week.

Now onto this week's LIM challenge which is Trees. I decided to stick with the Christmas theme and used two stamps from the Pennant Parade set - clearly this set is not just for flags, there's even a 'trunk & pot' stamp to transform it into a Christmas Tree!

Using my stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the trees in Wild Wasabi and the trunks in Early Espresso and the sentiment is from Sweet Essentials. I toyed with the idea of adding glitter and rhinestones to the trees but decided I wanted to keep this card very CAS so ended up adding a Basic Rhinestone to just one of the trees and a row of four to highlight the sentiment. I may be back with more entries to this challenge :0)

It is a horrible wet, dark day here at the moment so, whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope the weather doesn't spoil it and you have a good one!

Margaret x

Card Swap Group

This is the card I've made for this month's Card Swap Group and is for Zoe Tant (her bog is here). It was Zoe's birthday last month so I happen to know her favourite colour is purple and, knowing that, I just had to use Elegant Eggplant. Jane, the organiser of the group, has set a little challenge to use embossing this month and this could either be dry or heat embossing - I chose the dry embossing. I started by embossing a piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock with the Chevron Embossing Folder and, once this was done, I placed it onto Whisper White and embossed zig-zag lines on either side using my Simply Scored Borders Plate. Three butterflies were punched from vellum using the Elegant Butterfly Punch and then embossed using three different folders. The sentiment from Pennant Parade was punched with the small Scallop Circle Punch and layered onto Word Window and Modern Label punched pieces. A few Basic Rhinestones were added for the finishing touches.
Well it's Friday again, let's hope the weather is a bit better than last weekend!!

Wish big!

‘When you wish upon a star – makes no difference who you are’

Now I’ve got you all singing I’ll go onto my entry for today’s LIM challenge – Lime & Black.

When I looked at the challenge something immediately sprang to mind, but could I execute it? Well I think I managed it but, right at the last minute, I managed to splodge a bit of glue onto the black card (which I can assure you shows up much more in the photo than in real life). The hardest part of this exercise was undoubtedly photographing it!! I don’t know whether it is the colours, the light or a mixture of both but this is the best one out of about 20 :0(

I used the star punch from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and randomly punched a piece of Basic Black which I then matted onto Lucky Limeade. I made a bow with some retired Lucky Limeade ribbon and placed this round before mounting onto a card blank. The sentiment is from Pennant Parade on a little handcut tag. Because the star punch is only small it limited where I could punch so, to fill in the gaps, I coloured some Glimmer paper with a Lucky Limeade marker, punched a couple of stars and used these in the spaces. A few Basic Rhinestones were added for extra sparkle.

I hope you all have a great weekend and get whatever you wish for x

Pink and Sparkly

 Back today with something a little prettier than my recent posts. It is my Grandaughter's 4th birthday next week (4 going on 14!!!) and she likes all things pink & sparkly - unlike Granny who hates pink and is not so keen on sparkly either! Anyway this is the card I have made for her using Pink Pirouette, Whisper White and the Pennant Parade stamp set along with the Petite Pennants Punch. The number and letters were cut with the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet die and I embossed the edge of the Whisper White card with one of the Adorning Accents Embossing Folders. The sentiment and balloons are from retired sets and for the sparkle I added quite a few Basic Rhinestones.

Let's 'Celebrate' Challenges

My second post today!! I am entering this card for two challenges and first of all can I say that the St.Luke's Charity Card Challenge site certainly have something to celebrate. It has now been a year since Tara set up the challenge site to raise money for the hospice who helped her during a difficult time and to celebrate they are offering a bumper prize worth over £50. They are aiming to reach 100 entries for the challenge this month which is 'A bit of bling' so why not hop over and enter a card.

I have to admit that this card was actually made for the Simply Stampin' challenge who are asking for creations using Wild Wasabi, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White. This card has been in the making since yesterday morning, I kept having a go and then, after having coloured in the sentiment, couldn't decide what to do so it was put on one side. This morning I cut it out with the Top Note die and then it was tossed aside again while I made some other cards. Inspiration struck and I decided to use the Pennant Parade stamp set to make flags in the three different colours which were punched out with the Petite Pennants Builder punch and placed across the Top Note then the small star from the same set was inked and stamped off, using all three colours, and stamped randomly to fill in the gaps. This was then matted onto Wild Wasabi cardstock and layered onto a white card blank. The sentiment, also from Pennant Parade was punched out with the Modern Label punch and some Basic Rhinestones (a bit of bling!) were added to finish the card. Oh and by the way the 'Celebrate' was one of the recent SAB stamps but no longer available and the rest of the sentiment is a stamp from the Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes

Treat Pouches

Here are two little treat pouches I made using the Two Tags die. It is very difficult to credit anyone with this as there are so many similar ones across the web that it's virtually impossible to find out who was the originator but, suffice to say, the original idea was definitely not mine! It is made by cutting two of the larger tags on the die and gluing them together at the bottom and decorating as you wish. Here I have used one of the stamps from Pennant Parade to make the 3D Christmas tree on Real Red and the other with the Polar Bear from Polar Pals on Old Olive which was embossed in the Perfect Polka Dots folder. A piece of ribbon and a piece of the brand new crochet trim was used to tie the top of the pouch.

Wish upon a Star

Yes another go at the Less is More challenge 'Stars' using Polar Pals again but, this time, a side-step card. I made the card blank with some white card and sponged the sky with Night of Navy ink before adding some torn White Whisper card for the snow, then it was just a case of making up the story. Mr Polar Bear bringing presents for the little penguins who are 'wishing on a star' that they get what they want!! (are you ready for bed yet??) I used a snowflake stamp from Serene Snowflakes for the stars in the sky, the star the penguins are holding and sentiment are both from Pennant Parade - all silver embossed. The sentiment was punched with the Modern Label punch and layered onto a Decorative Label with copious amounts of Dazzling Diamonds sprinkled around the card. I'm not too sure that this card can be considered 'Less' but I'm hoping that, as a lot of is white, Chrissie & Mandi will let me get away just this once!

The Polar Pals set is a fabulous set and absolutely perfect if you have to make children's cards (or even for some big kids) You get 9 stamps all for the incredible price of £22.95 for wood mount (or £17.95 for clear mount) so that works out to £2.55 per stamp (£1.99 for clear mount) - such incredible value for a set of stamps which can be used together or individually.
If you would like to order this, or any other products from the catalogue then please do not hesitate to contact me and I'll be happy to help.
(Individual orders carry a p&p charge of £4.95)