Ribbon tree

Christmas is all about lights, food, trees and presents but don't forget

that's our challenge at 52CCT this week. 

If you are like me you  have a box of ribbon which explodes when you take the top off and never seems to get any less no matter how much you use. Perhaps yours is neatly stored on rolls and never gets in a tangle. 
Glitter is now controversial, what isn't?, but I've used edible glitter so I hope that is better for the environment. Biodegradable glitter is now available. A world without glitter would be sad. 

I made a little ribbon tree using a twig and some scraps. It's not my idea, I did see one on Pinterest but couldn't get to the bottom of who had posted it. Sorry not to be able to credit the maker. 

I made the background with a few Christmas stamps. 

It was a little fiddly but once glued down is fairly secure. I used glue and tape to fix the ends of ribbon and the stick. I don't think I'll send this one through the post as it may not survive. 

We look forward to seeing how you use ribbons and glitter to add to your Christmas card stash. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Joining in with 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #413 Optional theme make your own background. I did. 

The Card Concept #102 Homestyle Holiday. Inspired by the tree and the homestyle take on Christmas. 

Spin the Butterfly wheel

In the nick of time, I'm posting this card for Mrs A's Butterfly challenge. The weeks go by so quickly and even though the challenge is two weeks it just disappears. 

This time is the letter R

I used ROSE PINK ink and water in the embossing folder to before embossing. REPEATED and the die cut and RUBY border on both sides. Used a RECYCLED piece of ROYAL (it looks more royal irl) paper for the sentiment and added ROUND RUBY gems and a RECYCLED flower, from a birthday card I think. 
There is also some Perfect Pearls brushed over. I was using it on another project and you might know when you use it it gets everywhere!

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day! x

Snowy village

Welcome to another week at 52CCT. We have a lovely challenge for you this time. 

I've always loved them but not sure if I've ever actually owned one. 

You don't need to have a snow globe stamp or die for this, they can be made in several ways. I used the base of snow globe stamp but the top is made using two circle dies. Of course it's also perfect for shaker cards.

The village is a Little Claire stamp which I masked and used on two levels.

I added some glitter, of course. I love the look of the bright blue against the white. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Skipping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground with this card. 
CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge #412

and another one

...or three.
Here are some more cards I made using my Crafter's Companion 3D embossing folder 'Country Garden'. You can see the first ones I made here and here. 
I was inspired by the CAS Mix Up challenge which this month is:

The first card is made by inking the top of the folder with Angel Pink ink and then running through my die cutting machine. 

It gives a beautifully subtle effect. I did add a little more ink with brush in a couple of places where I thought  it was a bit pale. 

The next two are made by inking the folder with Seedless Preserves and then spritzing with water before embossing. I liked the effect so much I made two. 

 I think it looks like embroidered fabric. 

I couldn't decide on a sentiment for this one so I've left it either to add one later or just to leave in as it is. 

I've made them all in a similar style as I'd embossed on scraps of card and couldn't bear to cut them down and lose any of the patterns. I used pink paper for the die cut edges and inked again with Seedless Preserves so it matched. 

I hope you like them. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day. x

Christmas pastels

 Good morning
We are racing through November and you know what comes after that! (Does anyone else think time goes faster now?

Our challenge for you this week at 52CCT is:

Not the usual Christmas colours perhaps, but our team never let us down and we always get fabulous entries. 

I've got quite an unusual look. How did I do it? I'm glad you asked. 

I started with a piece of white card and stamped and embossed the baubles in silver. (Still in a masking mood from a recent challenge). 
I coloured with pencil crayons and then comes the magic ingredient. Baby oil. I sometimes use that on pencil crayoning to burnish and when I used it here it gave the paper a translucent look. I was surprised (I don't know why) but I like the look. 

Does anyone else deconstruct their cards after they have made them? 
I made this all up on white card and it looked a bit meh. Carefully, I prised off the colouring and remounted on black and the difference was amazing. 

The final touch was drawing around an edging die with a silver pen. Wish I'd thought of that sooner.

We always look forward to seeing your entries. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Joining in with 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #411

Pink passion

Following on from my last post here is the second card I made using the Crafter's Companion 3D embossing folder Country Garden. 

As you see, completely different from the first. After I'd tried the Wedgewood effect previously shown, I tried inking the other side of the embossing folder. I didn't like the look nearly so much so I flipped the card and inked on this side. 

This pink beauty is made by inking with Picked Raspberries. I put the ink on heavily with the pad and then filled in with a sponge. When the pink was dry I sponged on Gold, again fairly heavily. 

I've used embossing, sponge inking, stamping, die cutting. I have stamped on the die cut edges but you can't really see it. 
I wanted something around the sentiment area so tried splatters. I didn't manage it very well, they are too uniform, I think and perhaps shouldn't be over the sentiment. At least I didn't ruin the card!

Again I'm linking to CAS MIx Up challenge:

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Wedgwood blue

Hello lovely crafters

A wet weekend and inspiration from a challenge was what I needed. 

The November challenge at CAS Mix-up is:

Listed on the blog post there are links to very many ways to use embossing folders. I had a look at these and then with a head full of so many new and fun ideas, didn't know where to start!
I decided to chose one folder, a pile of scraps and try different inking techniques. I found it easier to start with smaller pieces of card. It may sound daft but a whole blank sheet can be intimidating. It's expecting a lot from you whereas a scrap is already a scrap!

The embossing folder is Crafter's Companion 3D Country Garden. It gives a very deep emboss. I bought it at a craft show about a year ago. It was the one I 'had to have'. They had amazing sample cards but could I make anything similar? Not a chance. 
Today I am thrilled with what I have done with it. I've made two cards and there are more on the way. 

For the first one I wanted to try a 'Wedgwood' sort of look. I inked the folder in Danube Blue before embossing and got this look first time. I love it. 
You can see the depth here. 

I've used embossing and inking, die cutting, stamping, ribbon. The ink was on the top part of the folder.
A sweet and simple card where the embossed panel does all the work. The second card is in my next post. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Snowflake shimmer

Oh my goodness, how did we get to be in November? It seems like only yesterday it was April and the daffodils were out. Now frost has killed off most of my flowers and the clear up starts. 

Time to think about the Christmas cards and we have a new challenge here for you at 52CCT.
This time it's a sketch. 

I really struggled with this for some reason and now I'm looking at this I can see I've done it wrong, I just wasn't feeling the creativity this week. In the end I went for the easy option of a die cut and ribbon. 

Here you can see the shimmer on the card in a completely different colour! The photo above is the correct one. 
I'm sure you will be much more inventive and follow the sketch properly. The range of cards we get in our gallery is staggering. Every one would be worthy of winning and some weeks it's very hard to choose. 
Thanks for visiting. 
Enjoy your day. x

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge #410