More Festivities

It is a big week this week, the list of stamp sets that are retiring out of the US Idea Book & Catalogue was released a couple of days ago, and wow what a list it was.  Here on the other side of the world in Australia we have our own retirement list but are always eager to see what is staying and what is going from the US, and lots of guessing happens around this time - a bit like guessing what is in packages at Christmas time!  What a great lead in to the reason for this post  ....

                     

I have been enjoying making Christmas cards recently, and enjoying using both traditional and non-traditional colours. My card this time around is being entered into Merry Monday, and Creating with Connie & Mary as the non-traditional colours!

When deciding what to do with this card I decided I wanted to try something a little bit different, so I used the lovely Velvet ribbon to make the stripes on the card backing, with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder it really makes me think of the old wallpaper.  I quite like these colours for Christmas, and am going to miss this stamp set if it retires here in Australia like it is going to in US.

Happy Stamping

Anything But A Card

I wanted to make this ever since I saw the Glimmer Paper in the new Summer Mini Catalogue and how please was I to see that this week the Friday Mash Up was to make something wintry, and over at Stampin' Royalty the challenge was to make 'anything but a card' ...  perfect.  

Now the photo just doesn't do them justice, but they are so pretty in real life and catch the light beautifully. I can't wait to wear them as my Christmas earrings this year.

To make them was super easy, I just punched 4 snowflakes using the Doily Triple Layer punch from the Silver Glimmer Paper.  I adhered these back to back to make two snowflakes (I think they look far more like snowflakes than doilies!!!).  I grabbed a few supplies that I had in storage from my jewellery making days and hey-presto ... a beautiful pair of glittery, wintry  Christmassy earrings.  

Happy Stamping

Freshly Made Sketches

I had a bit of inspiration this evening as I was flicking through the blogs I am following when I found the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge with this layout ...

I have been looking at this new challenge blog lately and just haven't had the time to participate, but life has settled a little so I wanted to join in.

I had made up the stamped background a while ago and thought that it would be great for this card, as I could just see the doilies and snowflakes working together with the elements of the sketch.  I am so loving the colour combo of Pool Party, Concord Crush and Wisteria Wonder together, and although you can't see it easily the doilies have been stamped onto shimmer white card stock which gives them an added frosty feel.  I just had to add a couple of rhinestones to help bling it up.

I have a bit of time on my hands the next few days, so you can expect a few more creations from me, as well as some pictures over the next week or so of the lovely gifts I have received as part of Secret Sister Swaps.

Happy Stamping

Three in One ...

Inspired by the Blog Hop yesterday I have had a surge of creativity making 3 cards, two I can show you today and the 3rd I will post tomorrow as it is a surprise for my daughter's birthday.  I went flicking through my usual challenge blogs and inspiration was just popping into my hear.  I decided to start with the Sketch from Saturday 411, the colours from Crazy for Challenges, and the theme from CAS-ual Fridays "Falling to Pieces".  

I have seen these cute little trees popping up all over the place since the release of the Doily Triple Layer Punch.  The trunk of the tree is a rectangle with ovals punched out of the sides, and one petal of the 5-Petal Flower Punch.   While the theme was Fall with paper piecing, here in Australia it is heading into spring, so while I kept to the theme, I did use the green as the primary colour on the card!

Happy Stamping