Welcome back with a cup of coffee!

OK so don't die of shock, but I'm back posting after a brief (2-and-a-half-year) hiatus.

I have been doing a little crafting on the side, mostly as an excuse to go away for weekends with the girls and chat and catch up, and throw a little paint and wine around on the side lol.

A bit of a shock to realise how many of the stamping companies and challenges I used to frequent are no longer with us!

Here's my offering for this week's combined Masculine and Coffee Christmas Challenges with the fabulous Stephanie & Lauren at Jingle Belles and the Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge (which I missed thedeadline for!) and playing along with Less is More CAS Challenge.

This little beauty of a stamp set from Stamping Bella, coloured using Born markers (from Kaisercraft I think!) with patterned papers from Kaisercraft and die cuts from Avery Elle.

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Challenge me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton and Friends...

So glad you can join me as I play along with 

"Challenge me A Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton and friends".

My challenge for Michelle this year was to combine die cuts and fussy cutting. 

As you can see, I was just a bit excited about this and got carried away, 

with not just one but nine cards...

First two feature Winnie+Walter stamps and Lil Inkers Stitched Oval diecut...

Also playing along with AAA Challenge - Maxi white

Technique Tuesday's Celebrate the Seasons by Ali Edwards sentiment paired with 

My Favourite Things window diecut and santa stamp set...

Also playing along with 
Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Technique Tuesday's Celebrate the Seasons by Ali Edwards with dies from

Poppy Stamps Pine Tree Border and Memory Box Deer Trio and Lil Inkers Stitched Oval...

Next up two cards featuring Simon Says Stamp Holiday Frames die cut

 and Inkadinkadoo stamp set, with Bo Bunny patterned paper...

Also playing along with 

Challenge up your life - Black and white +1 colour

Inspired by the Bathurst car races on the weekend I was card-making, featuring 

Winnie+Walter Merry and SC Christmas dies..

Also playing along with the fabulous Jingle Belles

Is it Christmas Yeti - add a creature Challenge

And finally two cards featuring Stacey Yacula's Purple Onion snowman, 

and Simon Says Stamp Holiday Frames. Created the sparkly background

using Lindy's Stamp Gang Magical Shaker Afternoon Delight Denim...

Love it if you are inspired to create your own die cut and fussy cut Christmas card!

"Challenge me A Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton and friends"

FUSION Triangles (and a Trio of Trees)

Had some sparkly fun with this fortnights FUSION! 

Tipped the FUSION sketch on it's side, and took inspiration from the golden triangles on the rug to create a super simple Christmas card. Die cut some cute Christmas trees using glitter foam sheets and dies from Paper Smooches and Reverse Confetti. Paired this with a stitched snowbank from Paper Smooches, and super cute Paper Smooches sentiment. Love this American Crafts sparkly background paper too.

Here's some more inspiration from the fab FUSION team:

Betty J. - Jeanne Jachna - Jen Mitchell

Karren Johnson - Linda Callahan - Michelle Leone

Michelle Lupton - Michelle Williams - Wanda Cullen

Can't wait to see what you create!

Also playing along with the gang at 

Jingle Belles (Snow Much Fun!)

This made me smile!

Challenge Me A Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton...

 

So thrilled to join in this year with the fabulous Challenge me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton. My challenge was for her to create a card with Alcohol Inks and Die Cuts, although looking at some of her gorgeous recent posts I don't know how challenging it actually was lol. You can check out Michelle's gorgeous creation here.

As Yupo paper can be a tad on the expensive side, I created a themed set of 4 gift cards from one A5 sheet of Yupo paper. The Alcohol ink background was created by randomly dripping combination of Alcohol inks in a variety of shades of greens, mine include Pinata Rainforest Green, Arto Teal, Tim Holtz Limeade and Turquoise with a touch of Pinata Mantilla Black. While the ink was still wet I moved it around the A5 sheet of Yupo paper by tilting the paper in the direction I wanted the inks to run, and the Yupo paper was then blotted with a scrunched up sheet of A4 copy paper in a diagonal pattern. Once the inks were dry, the sheet of Yupo paper was cut in half. One half of the Yupo sheet was used to make the first two cards. 

Onto the second half of the Yupo sheet I also added some Pinata Claro Extender, to reactivate the base layer of inks, together with Tim Holtz Pearl Mixative and Pinata Old Gold. This layer was also blotted with some scrunched up A4 copy paper to create the background of cards three and four.

The first three cards feature the Merry Christmas Holiday Frames photo frame die by Simon Says Stamp, paired with one of the Deer Trio by Simply Dies. The final card once again features one of the Deer Trio by Simply Dies, together with Memory Makers Countryside Circle, and Avery Elle Seasons Greetings sentiment. The American Crafts glitter paper in gold helps to add a little festive sparkle.

I hope you are inspired to challenge yourself and join in the fun of creating with Alcohol inks and die cuts!

Card #1

 Card #2

Card #3

Card #4

Perfect set of gift cards for playing along with Simon Says Stamp & Show

and Simon Says Anything Goes 

Also joining in the fun at Muse Christmas Visions

and the Jingle Belles Christmas

Inkspirational Uniko Christmas...

I don't know about you but Christmas seems to sneak up more quickly with each passing year! Even with the best of intentions I did not get much of a head start on my Christmas card stash this year!

I had some left overs from creating some gorgeous Uniko poinsettia CHristmas cards earlier, so combined these pieces with Neat & Tangled sentiment stamped and embossed in Tinsel Silver, and added a strip of American Crafts red sparkle paper. Only another fifty or so to go LOL!

Playing along with the Uniko Christmas Challenge,

Inkspirational CAS with Sparkle, Jingle Belles and 

52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown (Previous) Glitter Challenge

 

Be-paws it's Christmas...

Discovered another new(ish) Christmas Challenge over at The Merry Christmas Challenge, and thought I'd join in their Add a Cat or Dog Challenge, with my Be-paws it's Christmas card! Perfect occasion for playing along with Less Is More's 300th Challenge - Celebrations and Festivals too!

Inspired by this weeks super versatile CAS(E) this Sketch (and cause!), stamped and fussy cut this gorgeous Simon Says Stamp trio, added some Copic marker highlights. Stamped part of the sentiment using Paper Smooches sentiments, added "Paws" for effect (lol), and Simon Says Stamp "Christmas" diecut sentiment to complete.

Playing along with The Merry Christmas Challenge Add a Cat or Dog,
Simon Says Stamp, CAS(E) this Sketch,  
Less Is More 300th Challenge Celebrations and Festivals

Jingle Belles Not a Creature was Stirring

  

Extra Happy to receive Pick of the Week @ 

The Merry Christmas Challenge and Jingle Belles

and HM at CAS(E) this SKetch

CAS(E) this Sketch on a Merry Monday...

Stamped these gorgeous Mama Elephant deer and bird silhouette images in Momento ink onto Lawn Fawn patterned paper, only to find you could still see the background through the image. Not wanting to see my patterned paper go to waste, I stamped onto plain paper in Watermark ink and heat embossed with Copper for the deer, and clear over red Momento ink for the bird, fussy cut and adhered the heat embossed images over my original stamping - patterned paper crisis averted!

The circular shaker box was created using Lil Inkers Stitched Circle and Dienamics Circle diecuts, to create a sandwich of foam sheet, clear acetate, and inserting "snow" glitter before adhering to the stamped pattern paper base. Added snow drift created using Mama Elephant diecut, and topped with Simon Says Stamp "Merry" sentiment.

So glad you could stop by!

Playing along with this versatile CAS(E) this Sketch, Merry Monday Birds, 

52 Christmas Cards Embossing (Heat), Winter Wonderland Frosty and 

Less is More Acetate or Vellum challenges.

Mojo Merry Christmas...

In an attempt to beat the mojo blues, this was the first card I created on my crafty Sunday. I revisited a couple of pieces from my stash which I had created when I went crafting for the weekend about a year ago. This gorgeous vintage Santa stamp had been embossed with Red Tinsel, and the Christmas Carol stamped in Brushed Corduroy Distressed Ink. I paired these with some gorgeous self-patterned velvet ribbon and some tiny pearl beads, then added this gorgeous Winnie and Walter "Merry" die cut and "Christmas" sentiment stamped in Momento Luxe Olive Grove Ink - a perfect match to the Basic Grey paper, inked the edges with more Brushed Corduroy Distressed Ink and voila - the mojo is back :)

Playing along with Simon Says Anything Goes,

Addicted to Stamps Anything Goes,

Winter Wonderland Christmas Pearls and Ribbon Challenge

 

Jingle Belles Banish the Holiday Blues (No Blue)

and Pile it On Tic-Tac-Toe Emboss/Image/Die Cut

Christmas JOY...

Inspired by the gorgeous MUSE Christmas Club reindeer, I found this left over sparkly reindeer diecut in my stash on the weekend (I think it is WPlus9), and paired it with the "Joy" and tag diecuts from Winnie and Walter, together with two impressions of Tim Holtz Vintage Snowflake embossing folder strip to make this very simple CAS Christmas card.

Also playing along with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Dies and/or Punches, CASology CAS, Jingle Belles - Banish the Holiday Blues (No Blue) and 

CAS on Sunday Sparkle Challenges 

  

Something OLD and Something NEW...

Not as much crafting was done last year, so I was a little (OK a lot!) behind with Christmas card creations, so I thought I'd get a head start this year LOL!!! Too easy with the CASology Merry Challenge, Freshly Made Sketches and Jingle Belles Something OLD, Something NEW Challenge. Unfortunately as I had not stamped for a while, my "NEW" is a new ink pad as my old one had dried out! Created using Tara Wakefield's gorgeous deer and bird stamps, paired with Winnie and Walter's Merry and Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle diecuts with Kaisercraft woodgrain paper background.

Rememeber there are still a couple of days to join in with FUSION, 

before our extra special 2 year anniversary celebration!

P.S. I would love you to join along with my 2015 A Few of My Favourite Things too!