Global Design’s weekly challenge is to use a tree in the card and I had some paper scraps that needed using so this is how they got used.

PP is a leftover piece from a paper pack by Recollections, the tree was cut sometime ago and not used and I backed it with a white piece slightly offset to give the illusion of snow. Stamp is from Hero Arts. A dear friend shared some of her metallic gold paper with me so I cut a frame using a PaperRose stitched rectangle set and attached it to a small scrap of sparkly cs I had made myself. After gluing all this to the card front I added the tree by popping it up and added a tiny bow at the bottom. Used another small piece of sparkly scrap card to stamp sentiment and die cut that with a die from LawnFawn. It is quite a shimmery looking card but can’t get it to photograph the shine.

The Paper Players challenge this week and the last one of the season for them is to use Blue, crumb cake and either silver or gold.

I chose the CS first and then die cut two of the snowflake Marquees using the die from Memory box. I backed this with some gold mirri card and then die cut more snowflakes so I could paper piece in some blue. The blue has a slight shimmer to it and is also textured but I didn’t have enough for both so I also used a piece of the same colour but no texture and I added my own shimmer to it. I put one textured piece and one of the non textured into each marquee. I added 2 small sentiments on each. Added a few gold gems to finish it. Its a very simple card but looks pretty. I’m having some issues with getting my photos from my phone to the computer and at the moment cannot resize them properly so not the best photo unfortunately.

As you see it challenge is asking us to fill in the blanks for what brings us joy at this time of year. If I were to write down everything relating to this topic it would probably be a book so I picked just one thing out of a long list.

My card is created around memories relating to my tree and the 2 cats we shared life with at the time. Firstly I call my tree a memory tree as everything on it is about a memory of either making the ornament or a vacation. Our tradition is to buy one holiday ornament from each vacation. Some of those ornaments are real treasures and as such get hung out of reach of any pet we have. That said anyone who is sharing or has shared life with a cat knows how difficult it is to prevent them access to the tree. We solved it by having a few somewhat tacky items which we hung low and if they decided to pull one off and play it didn’t matter much. I always made sure they would come off easily thereby preventing the tree from possibly falling. Fortunately ours never once tried climbing our tree.

Using a theme from another card made this past week I used my set Crazy Dogs and Cats stamps/dies and I built a tree out of fish bone die cuts. I die cut this piece using Spellbinders Distressed edges and I added a touch of gold to the edges. Added a ribbon bow at the bottom and a star at the top. Did the same thing to the sentiment. Once I had stamped the two cats I coloured them with Prisma pencils and die cut them. Added both at the bottom of card with one playing with a leftover fish bone die cut. I also added googly eyes to both cats. In addition I’ve added this card to the challenge at Artsy Stamper and Double Trouble blogs this week.

When I noticed the card my friend posted to this challenge I decided I would have a go and do the same. I already had an idea in my head so making it work for a challenge wasn’t difficult.

The PP was added to cf which is from GKD and colour is Fresh Asparagus. I wanted something fun so I created a tree out of dog bones using a Tim Holtz Stamp as well as the little gift box and Santa hat. After colouring the gift I added a touch of shimmer and die cut it. Using his Crazy Dog stamp set I chose one of the dogs stamped and die cut it and used Prisma pencils for colouring it in. I also added a touch of shimmer to the dogs tongue. The dog bone tree was done on a separate stitched rectangle die cut and I coloured the bones slightly to make them stand out. Added a tiny sequin star on top. PP is from a paper pack from Recollections.

After adhering the rectangle panel to the card front I popped up the dog at the side and added the package at the bottom of the tree. Added the Santa hat to the dog and some glitter to the hat. Added the sentiment on an angle and it was complete. Sentiment is from a GKD set.

As this card has a holiday theme and has a bow on the package I’m including it in the Artsystamper challenge as well.

For this weeks Mod Squad challenge I created another card, which my hubby loves …

Using totally non traditional colours I die cut the dove in a mulberry paper so it has subtle shading to it. I had already die cut the sentiment in white but I have a new product purchased yesterday called Shimmer Stix dauber in Rose gold so I used it over the white sentiment and got a lovely shine with a hint of the rose gold. I love it. Got one in frost too and that was added to the embossed piece so the whole thing has a shimmer. The folder was given to me yesterday and I have no idea of brand. Used a scrap piece of pink glitter CS for underneath the embossed piece and adhered it all to the Plum Punch CS from Gina K. I had a few pink/lavender pearls left so I used them here for added interest. I am really happy with how this one turned out.

For the Double D challenge I created this card …

I found a free digi stamp here – https://beccysplace.blogspot.com/2010/11/partridge-in-pear-tree.html . Printed and fussy cut it out before I painted it. Using mostly my shimmery water colours I coloured in the image. I did use a few copics here and there to get more definition. Using a Sissix EB folder I made a panel with snow falling and added to front. I then cut out the frame with an unbranded rectangle set and popped it up with foam tape. Added the sentiment at the bottom. Added the fussy cut image inside the frame with some of it popping out at the top. Hubby brought me a glass of sherry with the consequence that the frame is slightly crooked. Remind me not to drink when crafting – lol.

CAS Colours and Sketches has a new challenge and although I thought I was done with making Christmas cards I realized that I could make a few as a gift set for a friend so this is part of what I did.

I started with the corrugated card front in one of the stated colours or as close to it as I can get. I then took a cherry red cs and tore the edges over which I adhered the stamped music piece. Stamp is a very old wooden block and I have no idea of the brand. Using some foam metallic gold glitter I die cut the snowflake and adhered to the front. Die is from Gina K. I quite like how it turned out.

This weeks Global Design challenge is a sketch and the following is what I came up with …

One of my stamping buddies gifted me with a lovely scrapbooking package earlier this year and the pp in the card came from that package. I just love this type of pp, but hate covering it up so in an effort to keep as much visible as possible I used vellum for the center pieces. I also used a left over strip of cream to go behind the heart die cuts. Using a stitched heart die set I cut the two bigger hearts and attached them as shown. I then cut 4 of the small ones in a gold cs to pop up on top. The gold cs matches the gold in the pp. The sentiment strip is from the same gifted package. I am so blessed in my on line friendships.

I really didn’t intend to make another Christmas card but I came across this particular challenge and simply had to enter it.

Funnily enough I actually had the snowglobe die on my desk because I thought I might use it these past few weeks and then didn’t. It is called Winter Fun and is by Precious Marieke. I decided to make it into a shaped card and played around until I got a good cut with top fold. Using the inner circle die that comes with it I also cut another piece which I had dry embossed with a Sissix Snowfall Speckles folder. Then I die cut the houses using a Cottage Cutz die. It was a little too long so I snipped off the last house and snowman. I added tiny pieces of foam to the back of the houses and adhered them to the card front. I also added the tiny snowman to the middle of the circle as he was too cute to waste. Using a sentiment die for which I cannot find the name but think is from Sissix, I die cut the words twice. Once in plain white and then again in a Lawn Fawn cs called Pixie Dust. I added the two together to the card front. It still needed something so I used a small amount of a HeroArts glitter lacquer on the roofs of the houses. The glitter doesn’t photograph but it sure adds something special to the look. My hubby was impressed – lol.

I made a series of this card for a special group of people in my life. Hadn’t yet uploaded any so here is one of them …

After choosing the image I wished to use and also the card stock I proceeded to make the background paper. This is my version of a card I saw on Pinterest – and from this person – https://lisasstampstudio.com/2019/10/handmade-christmas-card-with-some-delightful-techniques.html . I decided it would be fun to try her idea and technique. In her technique, for the cream coloured background I am using, she used a mix of glue and water to create spatters to which she added EB powder and heat set. I tried it but wasn’t happy – I even hand drew a few lines and swirls with the glue but for me the effect wasn’t enough. In the end I looked in my stash to find an old bottle of embossing fluid that I’ve had forever. I dipped a brush into this and spattered it all over the cs. Then I added my favourite EB powder Cosmic Shimmer and heat set the lot. Now I was happy. I actually did this on a full 81/2″ by 11″ sheet so I could cut it up and make multiple cards. Worked perfectly. I had strips of glitter cs left over so I decided to use them as shown and I also cut up some strips of the green to make things match. In later versions I used washi tape for the strips as it was faster and easier. I added the strips as per instructions on video and also added the sentiment panel I had pre-cut and heat embossed. After die cutting the snowman – a GKD stamp – which I had coloured using some Pigma markers I added him on the side. You can’t see the shimmer in the background but in reality the entire cream panel glows.