Christmas sparkle

A quick post today as my youngest is nagging me to have his turn on the computer. The card I'm sharing with you today is a simple Christmas card with tonnes of glitter and sparkle. The digital stamp is from Bugaboo and is coloured with Copic markers. The Christmas ornaments he is sitting on are peel-off stickers on acrylic - I then used Stickles glitter glue to colour in the different sections. By popping up the cut-out ornaments, the sparkle quotient is maximized! The background papers are Basic Grey.

And now off the computer I go so that my DS can watch those so-very important you-tube videos.

Challenges:
ABC Challenge - Deck the halls
Basic Grey Challenges - Christmas
Card Makin' Mamas - Christmas
Copic Marker Europe - Christmas
Crazy Challenge - Christmas time
Emergency Crafters - Deck the halls
Jingle Belles - anything Christmas
Top Tip Tuesday - anything goes Christmas

3 looks with 1 design

I love how a simple design can be changed so easily with a change in materials, or in this case, a change in topper. I decided to (finally) use up some sparkly white cardstock scraps rescued from Christmas crackers (from several years ago) and was inspired to turn it into a sparkly snowflake border using the Memory Box "Frostyville" border die. It took quite a bit of fussing to get the card to cut properly since it was both thick and rough but the result is very pretty. I added a rectangle of black card and a backdrop of shiny silver striped paper for a really elegant look but the overall effect was too plain. I decided to use a variety of toppers that were sitting in the drawer already coloured/assembled.

The first 2 cards use Bugaboo kids all dressed up for the holiday. Aren't they adorable? They are coloured with Copic markers and placed over chipboard sentiments. I think the result is quite fun.

For the next card I used a Forever Friends 3D decoupage image that came free in a magazine. I don't often use this sort of freebie but I like how it turned the card into something more fun & child-appropriate.

The final card stayed elegant with the addition of a layered white die cut snowflake (Spellbinders). The 2 layers are held together with a white enamel snowflake brad that has been in my stash for just short of forever (i.e. over 5 years!).

I think the first set of cards are my favourite, probably because I love the Bugaboo kids so very much but I wish I could have made a few more of the last design too. How about you?

Challenges:

• ABC Christmas - favourite punch or die (Frostyville is a total favourite of mine)
• Christmas Card Challenges - die cuts
• Clear it out - Christmas
• Die Cut Divas - Holiday spirit
• Forever Friends - Christmas
• Holly Jolly Christmas - metallic Christmas (metal brad in the bottom card)
• Oldie but Goodie - use a 2012 sponsor image (Bugaboo!)
• Unstampabelles - Christmas w/ no stamps (cards 3/4)
• Use it Tuesdays - Christmas

Glitter galore

Today's Christmas card is one of my favourites that I've made this year as it combines some wonderful elements AND was super easy to make.

I started the card by putting gold peel-off stickers (the Christmas baubles) onto an acrylic sheet (the type you use in an inkjet printer) being careful to place them on the smooth side of the sheet. I then turned the sheet over and applied different colours of Stickles glitter glue onto the acrylic. By using the rough side of the acrylic the Stickles adhered better, plus I didn't have to worry about getting any glue onto the gold outline sticker since I was working on the back. It took about a day & a half for the glue to dry but once it did - wow!

Next I coloured (with Copics) and cut out this cute little elf (from Bugaboo) so she could perch on the ornaments. The card design is based on the current sketch at Stella Says Sketch. The red strip is an embossed cardstock strip matted on a gold background with a few golden tree stickers. Super easy and super cute, even if I do say so myself. I ended up making a batch of these cards cause they are so darned cute!

Challenges:

• Crafting for all Seasons - red, green & sparkle
• Crazy Challenge - Christmas
• Creative Card Crew - star
• Deep Ocean Challenge - Christmas
• Top Tip Tuesday - Christmas

Fishing boy

Today's card is based on the current sketch at Stella Says Sketch and uses an adorable Bugaboo digital stamp. I coloured him using Copic markers and the background was created using Dylusions ink sprays (aren't the colours gorgeous!). I love the blues on the bottom of the paper (suggests water) coupled with the browns/reds & green on the top (reminds me of the woods in Autumn). I chose an embossing folder from Cuttlebug for the kraft card base - I think the folder is supposed to be a space design but I thought it was suggestive of ripples in water. I plan to use the card as a thank you for my Dad (he recently helped me with a whole bunch of work around my house). He's an avid fisherman so I think he'll like this little guy.

Challenges:

• Little Red Wagon - kraft
• Paper Crafting Journey - kraft
• Pause Dream Enjoy - 3 of something (3 brads)
• Simon Says Stamp & Show - a bit of brown
• Stella Says Sketch - sketch 

Out of this world

I am particularly pleased with today's 2 cards. First off, the images from Bugaboo are just such fun. Second, I went pretty wild with the colouring, using my favourite bold Copic colours that so rarely see the light. Next, I got to use patterned paper from my newest Basic Grey paper pack (and I luv my BG). I was pretty surprised, too, when I saw that the grey PP matched the grey coloured background of the stamps since I coloured these before picking my papers. But what really makes these cards special is that they are headed for the BC Children's Hospital via Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada). The hospital is always looking for cards to use for their kids - these will be great to celebrate an achievement such as going home or making it through a tough procedure.

Challenges:

• Basic Grey - Anything goes
• Cupcake Craftroom - Anything goes
• Magical Mondays - Anything goes with a magical creature (I think monsters and aliens would count?)
• Partytime Tuesdays - Something new (papers)
• Pile It On - Anything goes
• Stella Says Sketch - Sketch
• Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes
• Totally Gorjuss - Something happy

You're Udderly Amazing

I made this card for Send A Smile 4 Kids - the hospitals are always looking for cards of congratulations/encouragement for their kids (currently cards are being supplied to BC Childrens' and Stollery Hospitals). The papers are from Basic Grey and the digi is Bugaboo.

Challenges:

• Craft Your Days Away - buttons or bows
• Divas By Design - anything goes
• Fab 'n Funky - anything goes
• Lily Pad - buttons
• Paper Crafting Journey - anything goes
• Southern Girls - ribbon
• The Crazy Challenge - anything goes

Merry Christmoose

I've been shopping (again) and picked up some great new digital stamps from Bugaboo. These 2 cards are made using Christmoose from their Make It Snappy set. These images are pre-framed with a great sentiment so all you really need to do is colour and stick. And urghhh, I went over to their site so I could hyperlink this post and they've added more images to the set so I guess I'll be shopping some more later today!

One last thing, I'll be donating these cards to Send A Smile 4 Kids (Canada) so they can be shared with kids at B.C. Children's Hospital.

This first card uses Basic Grey patterned papers and a super-simple design.

Challenges:

• Crafty Catz - digital image
• Creative Craft Challenges - minimalist
• Digital Tuesday - Christmas
• Paper Creations Ink - holiday wishes for a kid
• Send a Smile 4 Kids - holiday wishes for a kid

This card uses the latest sketch from Eat Sleep Stamp along with some Basic Grey scrap and die cut trees from a freebie I got last year in a magazine.

Challenges:

• 365 Cards - use only 4 items (digital stamp, cardstock, pattered paper, tree die-cuts)
• Clear It Out - favourite holiday (Christmas, of course, and the trees have been gathering dust since last year)
• Digital Tuesday - Christmas
• My Partner in Crafting Crime - use a freebie
• Paper Creations Ink - holiday wishes for a kid
• Paper Sundaes - digital image
• Send a Smile 4 Kids - holiday wishes for a kid
   
  
  
   
  
  
   

A Magical Halloween

Halloween doesn't have to be all spooky and scary - sometimes it's about magic and make-believe. This little cutie is part of Bugaboo's Harry Potter/wizard set and he's all set to make some candy disappear. The colouring is all done with Copics and the bats are rub-ons. The sentiment is computer-generated using a free Harry Potter font I found online.

This card will be donated to Cards for Kids (Canada) - a charity that donates handmade cards to local Children's Hospitals.

Challenges:

• Bloggers Challenge - Stars
• Bugaboo Wacky Wednesday - Sketch
• Colour Me Creative Copic Challenge - Fall or Halloween
• Crafty Emma - Make it magical or spooky
• C.R.A.F.T. - Children
• One Stop Craft - Food/drink (check out all that candy on the paper)

Halloween

I'm getting ready to put my house up for sale which means I've had to pack away most of my crafting supplies. I'm feeling very deprived as I've put away everything but a few project boxes. To minimize what "needed" to be left out, I decided to focus my energies over the next couple of months on making Hallowe'en & Christmas cards to donate to the local Children's Hospital. I'm hoping to make at least 20 of each that can be given to Cards for Kids (Canada) and then distributed to hospitalized kids.

To start, I have 2 different Halloween cards to share - the first for a teenager and the second for a younger kid.

Bugaboo rocker:

The digi image is from Bugaboo (SKELB You Rock My World) and is coloured using Copic markers. The paper is from

Challenges:

• Card Makin' Mamas - go digi
• Cards for Men - "G" is for (guitar)
• Catch the Bug - anything goes
• Color Me Creative Copics Challenge - Fall or Halloween
• Creative Stamp Friends - for a man
• Less is More - CAS & metallic colours (gunmetal grey, silver metal button)
• Ribbon Carousel - all tied up (ribbon & floss)

Cutest bat in town:

The image is from The Stamping Bazaar (Marvin) and is coloured using Copic markers. The papers are from

• Creative Card Crew - anything goes
• Do You Stack Up? - friendly critters
• My Mum's Craft Shop - 1 (image), 2 (design papers), 3 (buttons)
• Papertake Weekly - sketch
• Partytime Tuesdays - anything goes
• Pile it On - "B" things (buttons, bat)

A dragon for any reason

UPDATE:  365 Cards chose my card as one of their Spotlight Designs! I also won the random draw at Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday! It's been a great week for winning!

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I coloured this absolutely adorable little dragon awhile ago and finally got my act together and made him into a card. I haven't decided whether he'll be for a birthday, thank you or just because so he'll go without a sentiment for now. I just love how the colours and image are perfect for a boy even though the main embellishment is a pair of stacked canvas flowers.

The papers and flowers I used are from Basic Grey's "Life of the Party" set and the dragon is from Bugaboo. Isn't he cute? As usual, I used Copics for my colouring.

Challenges:

• 365 Cards - pair of opposites (first set: colours - blue & orange - that are opposite to each other on a colour wheel; 2nd set: masculine image - dragon - with feminine embellishment - flowers)
• Anything Goes Challenge - flowers
• Basic Grey - sketch - too late to enter the challenge :(
• Craft Us Crazy - anything goes
• Fabulous Friday - colour in an image
• Lil Red Wagon - critters
• Scrappin' Chic - banners/pennants (on the patterned paper)
• Stamp Something - use a digi

Hanging out on Father's Day

It's Father's Day on Sunday and unfortunately I can't mail this card that I made to my Dad (Canada Post is on strike) but at least he can see it online.

I used a digital stamp from Bugaboo which I coloured using Copic markers. I tried a different (for me) technique for the bathrobe - I coloured it with blue and then dabbed at it with the blender pen to get a fuzzy-looking texture. I also coloured the dewdrops (they started clear) which are placed in the corners. The image is framed with a Spellbinders' diecut with a couple of matting layers. The card design is this week's Midnight Madness sketch challenge.

Challenges:

• Blogger's Challenge - masculine
• Craft Us Crazy - masculine
• Cupcake Craft - for Dad
• Dutch Dare - masculine
• Fashionista Friday - masculine
• Glitter Geeks - Father's Day
• Just Add Ink - Colouring
• Little Red Wagon - for Dad
• Papertake Weekly - for Dad
• Partytime Tuesday - for Dad
• Sisterhood of Crafters - for Dad
• Stamptacular Sunday - for Dad
• Totally Papercraft - die cuts/punches

Bugaboo garden

Today's card is uses 3 of my favourite crafty things - Basic Grey papers (Marrakech line), Bugaboo digital stamps and a Midnight Madness Challenge sketch.

The card is pretty basic although I did try a new embellishment technique by taking two strips of paper and then pleating them to form a pleated ribbon. Both strips are adhered with gems because every card needs a little sparkle!

Challenges:

• 2 Sisters - Use a digi
• ABC Challenge - Unusual fold
• Basic Grey - Use a mix of BG products (papers, sticker embellishments)
• Card Makin' Mamas - 1 image, 2 papers, 3 embellishments (gems, stickers, pleated paper ribbon)
• Catch the Bug - Summer celebrations
• CCEE Stampers - Flowers
• Crafty Catz - Anything goes
• My Mum's Craft Shop - Anything but a square

Have a super birthday

The kids have 3 birthday parties to attend over the next 2 weeks so I'm tasked with making a stack of boy birthday cards this week. Here is the first one.

I just love the Bugaboo digital stamp line "A Kids View" - they are so striking and fun. I went very primary with the colours on this card so I kept the embellishments to a minimum. I was thrilled to find this scrap of patterned paper with wonderful bold stars that quite coincidentally matched the shape of a small punch in my drawer. I punched the small stars from scraps of the pattered paper so the colours matched.

Challenges:

• Critter Sketch - use 2 different punches and/or dies (I use a star punch and a Spellbinders die)
• Going Grey with Scrap-Creations - use a digi
• KB Cute Monday - birthday
• Simon Says Stamp - card for a child
• Stamp with Fun - birthday
• Stampavie & More - birthday

Birthday book

Update:  Yippee! This card was chosen as a reader favourite on the Scrapbooks Etc gallery.

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I created this card template after seeing something similar in a crafting magazine. I used nothing but scrap papers (the diamond paper is left over from a Halloween Harry Potter scrapbook page) to create this book-shaped card. The image is part of a Harry Potter-inspired digital stamp set from Bugaboo - isn't it just fabulous?

One weirdness about the card - in the picture it looks like the top left brad is black but I swear that all 4 brads are the same colour burgundy!

Challenges:

Charisma Cardz - mythical/fantasy (Hermione, the wizard, is definitely fantasy!)

Copic Creations - use warm colours (the robes are neutral, but the Griffindor colours in the scarf, book and papers are all warm)

Karber Weekly - use a digi, birthday

Our Creative Corner - feature some kind of cutting technique (I hand-cut the swooped line to give the appearance of pages)

Stampin With The Dragon - anything goes
Stamping Vacation - no flowers
The Outlawz Copic Challenge - shading & highlighting

Blog Hop winner and birthday cards for kids

Before I show you today's cards, I need to announce the winner of the recent Ezee Pzee Blog Hop. We had a total of 33 entries so I put the number into the randomizer and the winner is:

Michelle

Michelle, please send your information to engravit@albertacom.com so we can get your prize out to you. Congratulations!!!
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I have 2 cards to share today. Both use images from Bugaboo as well as Basic Grey papers. These are very fun & bright birthday cards that I will be donating to Cards for Kids. If you haven't heard about Cards for Kids yet, this is a project to collect hand-made birthday and special occasion cards that can be given to hospitalized children. It's a great excuse to craft and a great use for all the cards that we (meaning us crafters) make. I encourage you all to think about donating a card or two!

Challenges:
Allsorts - for a boy/man
Do You Stack Up? - patterns
Fairy Fun Fridays - birthdays
Paper Play - layer it up
Creative Belli - beginning with "P" (I've used lots of "p"atterned paper
I Did it Creations - card for a child
Stamp Something - cute somethings

Cats in the garden

Update: I'm just thrilled to report that my second card was chosen as card of the week over at Digi's With Attitude. Woo hoo! I can hardly wait to spend the gift certificate that I've won. Thanks!

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The rain has been pouring down and I really need for Spring to arrive, but unfortunately I don't have control over Mother Nature. But I can make Spring cards so I pulled out a couple of fun Bugaboo images, some flower-filled Basic Grey papers and my freshest Copic colours and got to work. I'm looking forward to sending these cards out to friends who are suffering the winter blah's.

Challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - flowers
Digi's with Attitude - add raindrops (I added Stickles to make the drops stand out in card #2)
Fab 'n Funky - use a digi
Fuzzy Wuzzy - animal; anything goes
Quirky Crafts - in the spring garden
Simon Says Stamps - animal antics
Stamps 'r Us - animals
Stamp Something - cute somethings (nothing cuter than a cat)

A trio of birthday or love cards

If you are looking for the Ezee Pzee blog hop (and a chance to win some excellent blog candy) then keep scrolling down or click here.

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I had a super productive couple of evenings spurred on by an absolutely incredible sale at Bugaboo. Ending TODAY (Jan 22) Bugaboo has all their stamps on for 60% off. I went quite crazy and bought myself a whole bunch of new images including the three I have used here.

I kept all three of these cards simple so that the images would really stand out (and even if I do say so myself, I think my colouring is extra good on these!). I'm going to donate all of these cards to Cards for Kids so I wanted them to be usable for all types of occasions although they are each quite clearly most suitable for Valentine's Day or a bithday.

I used some red foil paper that I saved from a box of chocolates (I love repurposing) to matte the image and create the band along the bottom of the card. I also used a square of the foil and embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder. I went back & forth on whether I should touch-up the embossing where white from the back of the paper came through but I decided to leave it as is to match the worn look of the boy's coat & boots.

This next card is definitely for a birthday. I used two embossing folders (notebook from Tim Holtz, "Happy Birthday" from Cuttlebug) to create the background. I used the sketch from Cards & Things.

This is my favourite of of the cards - I'm quite pleased with how tasty the cupcake ended up looking. Kind of a light chocolate with caramel! The sketch for this card is from Moving Along with the Times.

Challenges:

All Sorts - for a boy/male

Challenge Up Your Life - clean & simple

Copic Creations - use something new (the digis)

Moving Along with the Times - SKETCH

Simon Says Stamps - BINGO (I chose die cut, embossing, ribbon

Sisterhood of Crafters - birthdays

Stampin' Royalty - anything with wings

My Time to Craft - spots & dots

Cards & Things - SKETCH

Aly's Sunday Challenge - things with wings

3 monkeys & a cupcake

I had a super productive evening last night and completed a total of 4 cards for Cards for Kids (which provides hand-made cards to Children's Hospitals for distribution to hospitalized kids on their birthdays and other holidays). 

These cards were pretty quick to put together as the images were already coloured and I used card sketches from a couple of challenge sites for the designs. All that was left was the selection of papers (Basic Grey, of course) and embellishments (buttons). All of these papers came from the Basic Grey "Wander" collection. All of the images are from Bugaboo.


Challenges:
Sisterhood of Crafters - birthday
The Crazy Challenge - animals
Crafty Pad - birthday
Pile it On - cute kids (card #4)
Basic Grey - dots & spots (cards #2, 3)
Catch the Bug - anything goes
Crafty Emma - all creatures great & small
One Stop Craft - card for a child
Crafty Catz - food or drink (card #4 is a cupcake)
Sew Many Cards - flags (pirate flag in cards #1, 3)
Stamp Something - use a digi
Fuzzy Wuzzy - anything goes (with an animal)
Charisma Cardz - birthdays
Delightful Challenges - buttons
Corrosive Challenge - sketch (cards #2, 3)

Friday Sketchers - sketch (cards #1, 4)

A bad attitude?

What is it about Christmas that brings out the bad attitudes? Anytime I have to enter a store during December I end up leaving in a very bad mood. Perhaps I'm not quite as cranky as Bugaboo's Gus, but sometimes it's pretty darned close. This is a super quick post because, really, Gus says it all, doesn't he?

Challenges:

One Stop Craft Challenge - sassy Christmas

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Moving Along With The Times - lots of spots

Cards for Men - Christmas

The Crazy Challenge - use at least 3 patterned papers

Stamping Vacation - use paper with Christmas trees on it

Lost at the mall

I'm feeling the pressure - it's December 7th and I still have Christmas cards to finish making. Yikes! I may actually have to resort to mass production or ... horror of horrors ... buying some. But before that happens, I have 2 one-of-a-kind cards to share. Both cards feature Bugaboo digital stamp images, Create with TLC digital sentiments and Basic Grey patterned papers. If you aren't already a follower of Bugaboo and Create with TLC, then what are you waiting for? There are lots of freebies to try at both sites and so many wonderful images & sentiments to purchase (at very reasonable prices).

Card #1 is a clean & simple design featuring a great snowman that Bugaboo offered a week or two ago as a freebie. I coloured him with Copic markers and then added Glossy Accents to the hat, carrot nose, coal buttons and bells. There is also a bit of Stickles glitter glue added to the snowflakes and snow on the ground. The sentiment was also a freebie, this time from Create with TLC. I coloured "Snowman"in green and then added Glossy Accents for shine & dimension. Both are matted on leftover red cardstock. The background paper is from Basic Grey - I think the snowman theme works really well. Lastly, I added the strip of red rick-rack ribbon.

Challenges:

Creative Belli - use your "R" embellishments (I used "r"ickrack)

CCEE Stampers - snowman

Catch the Bug - anything goes (using Bugaboo)

Digital Tuesday - baby, it's cold outside
A Spoonfull of Sugar - Christmas
Stamps R Us - Holiday cards
Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Christmas

Card #2 is actually a gift card. As you'll see in the first picture, the front flap opens to show that there is a gift card tucked inside. This is another clean & simple card with little embellishment. The image is again from Bugaboo and the sentiment is from Create with TLC. I couldn't resist the idea of matching this shopping sentiment with a gift card! I kept the card very simple with only a scalloped border punched edge and a single turquoise ribbon. The background paper (from Basic Grey) and the colours I used for the image are so bold that I didn't think anything more was needed.

Challenges:

Crafty Creations - gift card holder

Our Creative Corner - Christmas using light pink/dark pink/turquoise/kraft (I know it's hard to see but the first layer of the card is kraft)

Catch the Bug - anything goes with Bugaboo

Papertake Weekly - red or green must not be see

Creative Card Crew - anything goes

Tuesday Throwdown - clean & simple (both cards actually apply)