Life Is Good

This is what we're doing right now - relaxing, snoozing, swimming, sipping cool drinks, staying out of the sun ...  oooh (sigh) lovely.

I had fun working with these citrusy colours outside my comfort zone.

Image: House Mouse coloured with Copics
Drink:Hero Arts coloured with Distress Inks
Doily diecuts: Couture Creations
Sentiment: Hero Arts coloured with Distress Inks
Also: Kindyglitz


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Floralie

A challenge that's RED & GREEN, that's on at Incy Wincy, here:  incywincydesigns
Check out all the fabulous work from the design team and get out your stuff and GO!

Mari Ko is one of our sponsors, so check out the goodies here: floral-wreath-1-digital-stamp-set

Image: Mari Ko - Floralie Wreath & bonus flower
Coloured with Copics
Coated thickly with Glossy Accents
Diecut circle:Sizzix
Diecut sentiment: Lawn Fawn

EF: Craft Concepts
Gold Stickles








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Calendar Girl

December brings us to the Come and Get It   NOT A CARD challenge.  Bring your ideas and share with us here: cagichallenge




This great image is from Bugaboo and is being retired ( I don't know why, it's a great image!) so if you want it you'd better be quick, here:
bugaboostampscollections/retiring-jj-garden

I got the design from an internet tutorial (Stamping it My Way - Post It Calendar notepad easel, no name  included, but thank you),  but I've moved the notepad over and added a little pen.  There is space under the fold for an inspirational thought for the new year  " One who gardens always shows hope for the future"

Image: Bugaboo - JJ Gardening
Coloured with Copics
Calendar I picked up from somewhere a couple of months ago
Blue card, green card, patterned paper

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Oops .. too many cookies

Crafters Café have a Christmas or red-green-white
 challenge this time.  I combined both and check out what the design team did, here:  crafterscafe














Eureka provided the image and have a shopful of wonderful artwork, here: santa-stuck-in-chimney-digital-stamp    Thanks Eureka!


I cut and coloured the image, and added fluffy Flocking to his suit trim.  The roof is made with punched layers and inked edges.   A tiny stamped bird with a touch of gold is watching and giving his opinion on the problem (circle punched and handwritten).  Stars are stencilled and a dusting of snow on the roof using glitter paste.

Image: Eureka - santa stuck in the chimney
Coloured with Copics
Flocking:
Glitter paste: Glitter Kiss frosty sparkle
Bird stamp: Papermania
Gold pen, black pen


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Meri Kirihimete

Meri Kirihimete is Merry Christmas in Maori.  The flower is a pohutukawa which is called the New Zealand Christmas tree as it blooms in December.  I used a weave EF to represent the kete or woven bag.  Because of our summer Christmas, these are pretty much the dominant colours for us: the red blossoms, green foliage and sea/sky blue.

Dies: Craft Creations
EF: Spellbinders
gold floss, gold Stickles, inked edges







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Hot Tag

A hot colours tag, perfect for a southern summer Christmas, and would be great for a man too because it's not too fussy but still has lots of texture.

I started with a smooshed card using distress inks, stenciled pastes, added a reinforcer ring.  The rosette is two punched circles, one of them with wet and crunched paper dyed with distress inks.

Sentiment stamp: no brand
Stencil: Rosies Studio
Star stencil: homemade with a punch
Circles:  punches
Partial die for top: Spellbinders
Little tag sentiment: Hastings Art Stamps
Little tag: punch
Clear glimmer: Glitter Kiss Frosty Sparkle
Gold glitter paste:Glitter Kiss Golden Sand
Nuvo Crystal Drops copper penny






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Snow Jar Tag

While we have Christmas in the heat of summer, sometimes snowy things make it feel cooler - I guess it's the colours.

When I was a kid I had one of these shakers with a house scene in it; haven't got a clue where it went, but now I have a couple to put out at Christmas for the grandchildren to play with and they love them too.  I even have a sneaky play now and then, I'm really just a big kid.  ;-D

I stamped the jar, house, trees.  Stamped the snow and heat embossed it in white (a little just happened to get on the trees too), then using a mask sponged distress inks for the sky.  The lid is coloured with gold Sharpie pen.  I glued then flocked the ground snow and house roof.  Metallic glitter tape bands and (using a mask) a border stamp of trees and reindeer.  The a soft grey-blue for the stamped snowflakes.  Edges inked.

Snow Jar stamp set (jar, house, trees, snow): unknown
Snowflakes stamp: Papermania
Border stamp: unknown
Metallic tape, flocking (so soft and fuzzy)

Click on for a close-up & spot the flocking!
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Sea Necklace

This fortnight at Incy Wincy it's such a great challenge - SILVER AND/OR GOLD. 
Check out the challenge, and drool over the design team's work here:  incywincydesigns


Fabrika Fantasy is our Sponsor this time, and provided this beautiful digi:
fabrikafantasy.com/sea-necklace-digital-stamp




Left:
This is what it looks like when it catches the light.


Click on image for a closer look.





and a detail pic:

Image: Fabrika Fantasy - Sea Necklace
Coloured with Copics, Gilt Flakes, silver, gold, black & white pens.

I had a play with some gilding flakes (new to me) which seemed perfect for this project.  I used two shades of blue card,  and applied gilding flakes in a couple of colourways, adding in detail with pens.  I matted with  gold mirror card, stamped the sentiment and heat embossed with silver embossing powder and added ribbon.

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Christmas tags

I had a tag making session to go with the grandchildrens gifts.

The backgrounds for most of them are snippets of smooshed background that I had made for other projects (always good to use up leftover bits), and simple stamped images.

You might notice one has 'Rhiannon or Ruby' on it.  Ruby is Rhi's name for herself when she is being a dog!  At our house, she has made herself a kennel from a big cardboard box and decorated it with drawings, pawprints, a welcoming door mat on the flap and holes punched for air!!!  ;-D

I made the tags double with a coordinating colour (their own favourite colours) slightly off centre, it added a bit of interest as well as substance and weight.  After the first couple I decided to have the message stamped on the back.

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The Christmas Tree Fairy

Come and join in our Christmas fun at Come And Get It challenges, this time it's a card: cagichallenge



And I used a beautiful image from one of our sponsors - All Dressed up.  Have a look at the wonderful images here: alldressedupstamps


I coloured the image with pencils, then sponged three shades of Distress Inks around the edges and spritzed with water, blotting to remove colour when it was how I wanted it.  I masked the image then used a toothbrush to add gold acrylic paint speckle, and a spray of green mica mist.  When it was all dry I stencilled some stars (stencil is made with a star punch).  Lastly I brushed the wings & dress with clear Wink of Stella, and stars with Kindyglitz.  Double sided tape strips on the side were covered with pastel lemon superfine glitter.






Image:  All Dressed Up - Christmas Tree Fairy
Coloured with pencils
Distress Inks
Star punch: Unbranded
Gold acrylic paint
Green mica mist - own mixture
Kindyglitz, Glitter, Wink of Stella

Shared on challenges:

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Little Note

Heat Embossing, Dry Embossing, any kind of Embossing is the theme at the Crafters Café.  See what the design team have done and then see what you can do:  crafterscafe



Sponsor Rick St Dennis provided this fantastic image:  rick1949/euro-girl-Sharon


This looks a bit like me: got dressed in the dark, hair that won't behave, always slightly bewildered and haven't got a clue what I'm doing!

I used dry embossing for the banners and brick wall, and heat embossing for the sentiment.

Image: Rick St Dennis - Euro Girl Sharon
Coloured with Copics
Banner die: Kaisercraft
EF: Sizzix
Metallic rub on (3 colours)
Sentiment stamp: Rosie's Studio
Embossing powder: Ranger
Perfect Pearl mist

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