At our local art supply store, I found this stencil and I just had to have it. I went into the store to return a defective pen and came out with the replacement plus the stencil. I decided to try using the Nuvo Glimmer paste for my first try and this is the result. It was so striking that at first I wasn’t sure how to use it. In the end I used a scrap silver frame piece around it and I heat embossed the GKD sentiment adhered it in the middle and edged it in a bit more silver. The corners of my frame looked messy so I covered them with some tiny die cuts in a white sparkle and then added the dove which is on a wobbly so it stands out quite a bit. I’m looking forward to using this stencil with inks on my next try. This fits the basic challenge at Double Trouble but my next card will fit both the basic and the twisted parts of the challenge.

I honestly had fun creating this card. I love playing with the Crazy dog/cats sets by Tim Holtz and adding Santa hats just added to the fun. For my background scene I used a Hero Arts set purchased last year and after stamping and colouring these images with Inktense pencils I added the swag trim to the stair bannister. I also added some colour to the stair carpet to make it look as if it had a pattern in it. Sparkle has been added to the tree baubles and star as well as the sentiment at the top. The 3 dogs were done separately, coloured with a mix of Inktense pencils and Prisma colour ones and then I added googly eyes, the precut Santa hats (all slightly different shades of red) and some Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the noses and tongues. All the dogs are popped up but the one in the middle is on a wobbly so when touched he moves. He also sticks out a lot more but it doesn’t show on photo. Layered over the red and then onto the gray GKD card stock.

I think I must be getting tired as I am not feeling very inspired today and making any kind of card is a challenge. That I managed this one is a bonus and doing a colour challenge is never an easy one for me. I got as close as I could to the colours particularly as the Just Jade is a brand new colour and I don’t have much like it in my supplies. The image is from a GKD set called Dashing and the sentiment from a set called Noel by GKD too. I stamped through a mask after I had done the background colour. Should have done it the other way round but I wasn’t thinking properly obviously. I clear heat embossed and then used a pencil to add the colour after which I added a bit of sparkle to the veins of the flower. I mounted it onto the red piece which in turn was mounted to the green card front. Added the bow and a few gems after I added the sentiment panel.

It has been ages since I used my Gina K wreath builder template, so long in fact, that I had to find a video to remind myself of how to use it. LOL. I pulled out a stamp set by GKD called Noelle Mouse and used a few of the small stamps in the set to create this wreath with the aid of the template. I also used one of the circle stamps from the original set called Wreath Builder. I used pencils and some sparkle pens to colour the images and I also added sparkle to the snowflakes and sentiment.

This bottle die is one I haven’t used for a while and it came out of a British Crafting magazine that I used to get once in a while. I backed the gold onto some scrap CS to give it a bit more body and then die cut the bottle. Frenchie Stamps had a YouTube tutorial HERE on what she calls a Skylight Diagonal Fun Fold and I followed this to make the shape. My triangular side pieces are from a paper pack by Reminisce. The swirls are some precut pieces of sparkly bits I’ve had for a while and often forget to use. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Seems like the only one I’m using lately, partly because I like the font but also because it is the right size for many of my cards right now. I think this differently shaped card qualifies for the Sisterhood of Crafters challenge so I’m entering it there.

Using one of my recently made striped background pieces, I die cut the trees. The background piece is a bit leftover from something done a while ago where I stenciled the stars in versamark and then inked the panel in various distress inks. I added this panel to a navy blue card front and then added the trees to the bottom. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. so my card fits the challenge in 2 ways as I used both stripes and stars (S). Finished it off with some tiny sequins also from Hero Arts.

On occasion something viewed on TV will inspire a card. This entry is one of them. We were watching a British Live Theatre performance with a Christmas theme and the backdrop was lit in such a way that I wondered if I could recreate it. Considering how fiddly this was to do, I’m surprised it worked. I took some thin silver cord and added to the the white base and then spent some time adding the sequins to the cord. It took forever but I do like the end result so it was worth the time. I used a GKD stamp from a small set called Noel and heat embossed it with Cosmic Shimmer Powder which I love. Added the panel to a red base and it fits the Sweet Stampin challenge of stripe or spots. Cord is the stripes and the sequins the spots and amazingly it is also a CAS card.

Once in the past I tried to make one of these recessed panel cards and while it worked I had no guide on how to do it and my math being so hopeless meant that I wasted some CS in the process. This week I found HERE some actual instructions and decided to try another one. This was so much easier and way more successful too.

The PP is from a package by Reminisce and I used a snowfall embossing folder on the triangular pieces. I die cut 2 snowflakes one in mirror card and one from PP and put them together for more dimension. They were popped up on foam at the corner. The ornaments used the Pinpoint Ornament dies from Poppystamps that I cut and then embossed from blue foil and from the same blue foil I added some edging to the white pieces. I really like how the blues play together. I counted my cards today and have about 25 more to go before I’m finished – Yay!

The snowflake PP is a scrap piece from a package by Reminisce that I mounted onto another scrap piece of darker blue. This in turn was added to the silver base card. Before that step I used a tiny stamp from a set that I won (long time ago) from Inspired by Stamping called Sweet Aviary and I heat embossed the chain in silver step by step. The ornaments are die cut and embossed on mirror card and they are called Pinpoint Ornaments by Poppystamps. I added some foam before putting on the chain ends. I love the way the embossing turned out on these as usually I cut and paper piece the design sections. It took me forever to tie the little bows as my arthritic fingers no longer like to fiddle with tiny cords. I’m glad I persevered as at one point I was ready to throw them away in frustration. The sentiment was heat embossed onto another scrap of the blue paper and is from Hero Arts.

This card was made weeks ago, and I was waiting for a challenge to enter it into. This one at JUGs seems like the perfect time to enter it. The card started with some scraps, the plaid came from an envelope, the packages are from a napkin that I fussy cut after mounting onto some card stock and I also glittered them. The dog is from a Tim Holtz, Crazy dogs stamp set as is the Santa hat. These two images were coloured with pencils and then put together. I also added some googly eyes to the dog. The sentiment is from a set called Snowman by Dare 2B Artsy as is the holly image. I added a few tiny red dots with a pen.