A Little Sugar in Your Christmas

PolkaDoodles Week #48 Sketch

Here we are, my friends, it's the last day of November - Feast of  St. Andrew and the birthday of our fur-baby André. He's 11years old today, which makes him 70-something in human years. And although he's still a puppy at heart, most of the time, there are days when he's definitely a cranky old man!


Anyway, back to the card, it's Week #48 over at Polka Doodles and our hostess Mel has an interesting sketch. I'm partial to sketch challenges because the card practically makes itself. Wonderful for when you need a card at short notice...and with Christmas just around the corner (eeeek!), a quick and easy fuss-free card is the way to go.






From the Polka Doodles/Studio 12 PickNix2 Gingerbread Twist CD I picked a couple of papers, a cute digi and whipped up this card in no time at all.

The papers are from the Gingerbread Twist CD and I like the blue-red combo. Not traditional but still very recognisable as Christmas.  

Isn't that dolly just the cutest thing! A delight to colour and I used alcohol markers , picking up the red and blues from the patterned papers. 

Then I fussy cut her and popped her up on some foam tape.  I was debating whether or not to  have a greeting  but decided to go for that poinsettia instead, courtesy of Marianne Creatables Poinsettia die. 

Here's a close-up of Poinsettia. Inspired by Dolly's spotty sleeve, I gave Poinsettia the Swiss Dots treatment. There were no complaints, so I went ahead and gave Poinsettia some sparkly highlights. Still objections, I threw in a blue brad to hold everything down in place.

 For the inside I picked one of many wonderful sentiments and greetings on the Gingerbread Twist CD.

Also linking my card up with Cute Card Thursday #245 "Snowflakes", Oo La La Creations #119 "Spots & Dots", Paper MakeUp's Digi Makeover #64 "Christmas" and The Paper Shelter #92 "Christmas is Coming".

I really had fun making this card and I hope you'll play along with us. For inspiration, drop in on the rest of the DT members and then share with us your take on the sketch. Remember,  there are cool prizes to be won. So hurry! Head on over to the Polka Doodles Challenge Blog and link-up your project.

Before I sign off, I want to leave you with a picture of the birthday boy and his dolly.

Happy Birthday, André! 11 today but you're still Mama's baby boy.

Thanks for stopping by. Have great weekend and I'll see you real soon!

Beijinhos!


Blogged to:
Black Forest cake and

Holiday Treats

Hello my friends. I'm just flying in, very quickly, to show you a box I made to house some festive cookies ... which I have not yet baked but I plan to...at some stage...this side of Christmas, I hope.  I'm kinda, sorta pleased with how it turned out and am toying with the idea of making a few more, maybe. As you can see everything is pretty much up in the air.... But, tell me what you think? Good idea? Should I proceed as planned or put my feet up and wait for Christmas?

It's a milk carton style box of decent size. Not one of those dainty little receptacles. This one measures 7.5" x 3-5" x 3" and can hold loads of goodies... even a small plush toy. The base of the box is made of grey CS. 

This front panel measures 5" x 3.5" and I've decorated it as  I would for any card front .  The burgundy CS was given the Swiss Dots treatment. I cut some cream CS using Spellbinders Labels 23 and stamped the "greeting" from WMS Say It Loud Winter Holidays using Memento Rhubarb Stalk.  To finish, I adhered some cream lace and cut out the grey ornament with the smallest Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornament die and tied a little twine bow and gave it some shine. The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches #174.

And here's the fun part. You can lift up the label to take a peek at the goodies inside!  How fun!

On the left we have a side view of the box and on the right is the view from behind. The entire box Swiss Dotty.

To get into the box, simply untie the sheer gray ribbon and  the "roof" straightens out.  

To avoid snagging and wear and tear, I used a gray eyelet to pass the ribbon through. And to further strengthen the edge, I folded down some cream CS along the top, gave it a lacey edge and stuck it all down with some Score Tape. 

The sketch for the box-front came from Tuesday Morning Sketches #174 and the colours are from CR84FN #68 "Burgundy, Gray, Cream". I'm also playing along with the good folks at Tuesday Alchemy #42 "Anything Goes".

That all from me today. Thanks for popping in for a peek. I'm of to get something sweet and creamy to get me into the mood for baking. Have a lovely Wednesday and I'll see y'all soon!

Beijinhos!

Baby's First Christmas ...

... is special for both the baby and parents. The little nipper is quite understandably oblivious to the solemnity of occasion, but it would be nice if, 20 years on, he could reminisce about his first Christmas with something other than snapshots of his parents and god-parents emptying a bottle of Moet Chandom. (Just for the record, his god-parents are looking forward to that part of the celebration).

With that in mind I decided to make his special and decidedly non-traditional Christmas card for very special (and very) young man.

The papers are from Me To You Tatty Teddy's "Especially For You" 8x8 pad. These are not traditional Christmas papers but I was going for an out-there, non-trad approach to mark this auspicious event!  

I'm also giving him loads of layers, a generous serving of foam tape ....

... tons of bling, some pink dots, a sprinkling of shimmer...

... and an abundance of love to mark his very first Christmas.  

Ideas for this card came from this week's MojoMonday sketch #269 (square) and Ribbon Reel Challenge #42 "Pastel Christmas" photo inspiration with the colours baby blue, pink, cream and bling. Oh, and there's also Dream Valley Challenges #46 "Non-traditional Christmas".

I'm off to see to dinner. Thanks for dropping in today and we'll chat again real soon!

Beijinhos!


Blogged to:
Hummingbird cupcake and

Star & Pearls

Pelted by celestial hooligans! I'm talking about hailstorm, my friends. All day we were attacked from above; bombarded with whopping big chunks of ice. Nuclear powered hailstones - I kid you not! It wasn't safe to venture out so we stayed indoors, huddled in front of the fire in pre-historic fashion. The 21st century version goes something like this: "Man lights fire. Woman puts her feet up!"  And as soon as the familiar synchronised snoring of man and beasts began, I snuck off to make this card:

The paper is from Papermania's Liquorice & Sherbet A4 pack. I think today's icy weather may have influenced my choice of colours. To keep it soft, I used white lace and sheer white ribbon too.

My focal point is that star from WMS Seasons of Love - Tags. I stamped it with Versacolor Silver onto dark blue CS, sprinkled with Silver Holographic EP and heat set it.  Then I cut it with Spellbinders Stars Five S4-092. The greeting is aslo from the same WMS set, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on silver-grey CS and cut with Spellbinders Standard Circles die. Then I adhered pearls all around it.  

I stitched some vertical lines in grey and added more pearls at the end of each line.

On the inside, I continued with the Seasons's of Love tag and stamped two sentiments in Memento Danube Blue.  

Inspiration for this card came from WMSC#125;  52 Christmas Card Throwdown November Embellishments#11 "Pearls"; CSAYL#37 "To Die 4"; Daring Card Makers "Twinkle Twinkle";
Totally Papercrafts Friday Challenges #144 "All Stitched Up" and Crazy for Challenges #164 "Put a Bow on It". You can also catch me at MIM#118 - loads of inspiration from fellow crafters!

That's all from me today. Thanks for dropping in. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you soon!

Beijinhos!



Blogged to:
Sweet potato pie and

Sparkly Winter Cottage

Christmas is just around the corner, folks...and I am fretting....BIG TIME! How about you? All is calm, all is bright in your world? Not so over here. There's so much to do, cleaning, baking and selling at church bazaars and fairs, more baking and eating and drinking ...it's a never ending cycle until I stuff that bird and shove him in the oven on Christmas day! Truth be told, I don't really eat turkey. Side dishes like roast veges, creamy mashed potatoes, sauteed greens, parsnip gratin,  chutneys... these are a few of my favourite things.  One Christmas I might just forget the turkey altogether...wouldn't that be a dinner to remember!

Took a little time out from fretting (and daydreaming) to make a sparkly card for the 7th Eclectic Ellapu challenge, which is aptly named  Celebration With Sparkle. I used lots of Stickles, shimmer dust and embossing powders on my card. And here it is:

Made a honkin' big card: 6x6 to frame the 4x4 image. The papers are from  Studio 12  PickNix Collection 2 Gingerbread Twist. The greeting is from Chocolate Baroque's "Warm Christnas Greetings" clear stamp set. I heat embossed it with Silver EP.

The image is from Chocolate Baroque's "The Gift of Christmas" set. It's absolutely gorgeous and a delight to colour.

Here's a close-up. I used SN markers. Although this looks like a wintery image,  is so versatile you could make it  for any season. All that snow can easily be coloured as grass and leaves.

All that glistens is snow...and with that in mind I generously, liberally and all-too-muchly applied Crystal and Frosted Lace Stickles on the evergreens and snow.

And here's the inside. Lovely sentiment from Chocolate Baroque's Warm Christmas Greeting set.

That's my contribution for this challenge.  But have you seen what the other DT members have created? What are you waiting for? Head on over to Eclectic Ellapu and be inspired! We're waiting for you!

Also linking up with these challenges: Challenge Up Your Life #83 "1st Snow", Hiding In My Craftroom #73 "Christmas" and Wags n Whiskers #93 "Christmas". Don't forget to swing by Make It Monday #117 and gawk at some wonderful creations.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend. Thanks for dropping in and we'll catch up real soon!

Beijinhos!


Blogged to:
Tiramisu and 

Goin' traditional

Its Friday...finally! Another cloudy cold day but, hey, that's life. All that matters is today is Friday and we're at the cusp of the weekend. I like that word - cusp. I've only ever heard astrologers use it and since I've got a star on my card, I too have earned the right to throw it in a sentence or two. Cusp - I've said it again! I'll leave you with my quick and simple card while I carry on playing with my word of the day...

I made this card in response to a friend who recently asked me if I am capable of making something simple.  Well I never!!!! Here's another CAS-my-way for ya!

To accomodate that gorgeous stamp by Chocolate Baroque, my card base is 6" x 3.5".  Nothing fancy here - it's as simple as can be. Sometimes low key is the way to go. No stitching, glitter, buttons, bells or whistles. Keeping it real!

To layer I used red and green CS. Ran the green CS through the BigShot with the Swiss Dots folder.  The greeting is from WMS Nutcracker Sweet, heat embossed in white.

I coloured the image with SN pens. Kept it simple, without any fancy-shmancy shading.  After some fussy cutting and foam tape,  I called it a day.

Linking up with Whimsy Stamps #53 "Traditional Colours", Delightful Sketches "Red & Green", Moving Along With The Times "Let's Go Dotty" and  Crimbo Crackers #29 "Anything Goes".

I'm going to scoot off and scoff down the last three Ferrerro Roche... To many have been eyeing them but those little darlings will be better off with in me.

Thanks for stoping by and have a great weekend!


25-Nov-2012 Update:
I made a couple more cards in the same style, but different colours. I've got it in my head that my German friends prefer strong no-nonsense colours....I may be wrong.  Here they are:

Beijinhos!


Blogged to: 
Ferrerro Roche and 

Yuletide Joy

It's been a strange ol' day today. You know those days when things just don't fall into place like you want them to; when even the simplest task takes forever to complete; when everyone seems to be getting in your way. It's been one of those days for me. And I'm glad the day has finally come to an end.

This is going to be quick post to show yet another of my struggles today. It took forever to finish this card and I must say I am not entirely convinced by the outcome. Tomorrow is another day, but today I leave you with this:

No patterned papers because I couldn't decide on any. So I went with embossing. I used HOTP's Snowflake border folder and ended up with embossed and debossed panels .... another fruit of my indecision.

In an attempt to obscure my "deliberate" mistake I went ahead and and stamped little snowflakes in the gaps  in the my embossed/debossed  background.  For the banner, I curved the border stamp from HOTP's "Enchanted Christmas" stamp set, inked with Memento Bamboo Leaves and fussy cut it. Then I adhered it to the card with some pop dots and added 2 brown buttons on the ends. I still didn't have a clear plan ... and no focal image...   

I picked the reindeer stamp from the HOTP set and stamped him with Memento Rich Cocoa. Rudy was too tall, so off went his legs, leaving just his top half in the Spellbinders Standard Circles die-cut. I layered the image on a red Spellbinders Scalloped Circles die-cut. For embellishment, I tied some red raffia into a bow and stuck red rhinestones on Rudy's antlers. Then I stamped "Joy" in Memento Rhubarb Stalk... and I have no idea why.  

On the inside, there's faux stitching and a greeting from WMS "Compliments of the Season" stamped in Rich Cocoa.

So there you have it - my meandering mind in action! Ideas and inspiration came from Tuesday Morning Sketches #173; The Shabby Tea Room #141"TicTacToe: Stitching, Embossing, Buttons" and Holly Jolly Christmas "3Rs" Raffia, Reindeer and Red Rhinestones.

I'm going to call it a day and head on off to bed. Thanks for dropping in and I'll see you real soon.

Beijinhos!


Blogged to:
Mon Cheríe and