We Love Stamping November Reminder

Today is the 18th so time for a reminder for the current challenge over at We Love Stamping. The challenge where you can showcase your stamps and your skill at using them.

This month our theme is:

**Anything Stamped or Christmas Characters**

We would love to see all sorts of Christmas Characters, from Gnomes to Robins, Santa to Angels. 

Today I have some elves. I think these are the only elf stamps that I have and they are part of the same Woodware set that I used on my first card for this challenge.

My idea for this card came from the wonderful Therese Calvird . She shared a video (click the link on her name to see) on how to use small stamps. I really liked the look of the diecut circles arranged on a card, so I started out by making 9 circles but couldn't get them to look good when I arranged them on my card. Maybe because I am using a metric A6 card and she used an imperial A2 card. Anyway, in the end I settled for the line of 4. My stamp set has a total of 18 little images which include 4 little elves.

The card below is the one I made first. I foiled the background using an Altenew bebossing plate and glued down my elves and attached the sentiment. I didn't like it - the sentiment was wrong and the line of elves seemed to be missing something, so I made another - the one you see above, except I skipped the foiling on the background. Moving the sentiment and adding the ribbon helped. I pondered how to rescue the first one and decided to try the little twine bows. As luck would have it I had the right coloured twine for each circle (really not sure how that happened!). I then added little gold embellishments and it was done. I am pleased with it now, so much better, although the sentiment is still in the wrong place. The foiling does give it an extra lift though.

You can see the shine on the picture below.

I ended up making 4 of these. Thanks for the inspiration Therese.

I was originally going to heat emboss all the little characters, but decided that was a step too far as it would have been very time consuming.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are three prizes, two dies from Sizzix and stamp from Craft Stash  Why don't you head over to the challenge blog to check it out? The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose one entry to join us as a guest designer for a future challenge.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is ensure that there is some stamping (including digi) on your card. It would be great if you could join in with our theme, but anythings goes is always an option if you are out of ideas. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 29th November.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

Supplies:

Ink: Brusho powders; Catherine Pooler: deck the halls, glam, martini, cranberry fizz, flame; versamark

Stamps: Woodware JGS824 bubble large tops; Tonic Studios stamp club stamp and die set 12 Christmas rose

Dies: Nesting circle and scalloped edge

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

We Love Stamping November Challenge

Today is the first Sunday of the month so time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping. The challenge where you can showcase your stamps. This month we are introducing a change. Although we love stamping, with so many new products and techniques available to crafters we want to be more inclusive of different styles. So with immediate effect, we now require at least one stamped element on entries. Of course, as seasoned stampers, we will still love seeing fully stamped entries, but from now on your entry will be welcome as long as there is at least one stamped element on your card, regardless of whether it is the focal point or not.

This month our theme is:

**Anything Stamped or Christmas Characters**

We would love to see all sorts of Christmas Characters, from Gnomes to Robins, Santa to Angels. 

I started this by taking a piece of watercolour paper and stamping and clear heat embossing the wreath. I then spritzed it with water and shook some brusho powders onto the damp paper, lots of spritzing and mopping later I was happy with the look.

The little robin was stamped and heat embossed and his red breast coloured with a red pen. I mounted him onto another larger circle that I had coloured with the same ink (Catherine Pooler icing on the cake), finishing off with a few tiny gems.  The sentiment was also stamped and heat embossed.

Don't forget there is always a prize to be won and this month there are three prizes, two dies from Sizzix and stamp from Craft Stash  Why don't you head over to the challenge blog to check it out? The prize winner is selected randomly and in addition the DT will choose one entry to join us as a guest designer for a future challenge.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month, all you have to do is ensure stamping (including digi) is the main focus on your card. It would be great if you could join in with our theme, but anythings goes is always an option if you are out of ideas. The challenge will close at noon (UK time) on Wednesday 29th November.

I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

I am also sharing this at:

NBUS #56: the wreath and robin are NBUS

Supplies:

Ink: Brusho powders; Catherine Pooler icing on the cake; versamark

Stamps: Stamps by Chloe, leafy wreath; Woodware JGS824 bubble large tops; Tonic Studios stamp club stamp and die set 12 Christmas rose

Dies: Nesting circle and scalloped edge

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

October Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 34 card makers took part and I sent my card to Gundi in Germany.

This month I used the theme options of bears and friendship and got my inspiration from 2 cards I found on Pinterest. This one for the background and this one for the design. Thanks Ellen and Hideko, pinterest is so helpful when your mind is blank.

I bought these bear stamps by Sunshine & Bee designs earlier this year as I have nothing like them in my stash. This is their first outing. I also bought a set with some cute koala bears, which are yet to be used.

I started by taking a piece of bristol smooth card and blended distress inks for the background. I added some white pigment ink through a circle stencil to add interest. I then took a piece of linen textured paper and cut the aperture and used a stitched rectangle to cut the panel to size. The bear was stamped, coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut. I coloured round the white edges with a black marker and cut his arm so that he could poke out of the window. The flowers are diecuts coloured with alcohol markers.

I used some scrap card to cut 2 extra panels so I could get some dimension . I didn't want too much because it had to be posted to Germany. The sentiment is part of the same stamp set. I tried stamping it on vellum first as I thought it wouldn't work very well on the textured cardstock, but that didn't work well either so I stamped it directly on the card in the end.

Unfortunately this little bear took his time to reach Gundi in the forrest because customs decided to open the envelope. Perhaps they were unable to resist the little bear and flower on the envelope! Anyway, I am glad it arrived in the end.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Brenda in UK. You can't really see on the photo, but the sentiments and wellies are silver heat embossed and they give the whole thing a lovely shine. I also love the 'straw' under the wellies - thanks Brenda.

I am also sharing tis at NBUS #56 - the stamps are NBUS

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it.