Spot the Snark! (challenge reminder)

Here we are, the day after Christmas, if that's your thing, or just happy Saturday! Popping in with a reminder that our current Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, X is for Xmas, continues for another two weeks while the Sisters recover from their seasonal merry-making. Forgot to send someone a card? Make one now and link it up! Here's one more from me, with just a little bit of snark when you look closely...

Whatever or however you may be celebrating, enjoy your weekend! Our next challenge launches January 9th, 2016.

Supplies: white cardstock, Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together stamps and dies, My favourite Things black liquorice, Ranger classic cherry & milled lavender & tumbled glass distress inks, distress markers, homemade confetti white Perfect Pearls mist, pop-dot tape


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The Stockings Were Hung...

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for a new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge! Even our mascot Edna is getting into the holiday spirit... and perhaps spirits, come to think of it. ;) Our latest challenge: X is for Xmas! 

NEWS FLASH — to accommodate this busy time of year, this challenge will last

not just two, but FOUR weeks! If you're at all like me, you may have a card or two

left to create. (We won't even talk about getting them in the mail; 

that's not nearly as fun as making them.) 

Here's my latest...

This idea had been lurking in my brain for ages, and I finally let it out onto a card. I found three cats that would more or less fit into the three stockings die cuts, and then gave a vague impression of a fireplace mantle behind them. The sentiment is computer-generated. I'm submitting this card to the current STAMPlorations Stamp & a Holiday challenge. 
I hope you'll join us with any last festive cards you make! Be sure to pop over to the Snarky blog to see what my sisters have created as well as our latest guest designer Ike! 

Supplies: white, grey & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Echo Park Christmas This and That patterned papers, My Favourite Things I Knead You stamps and dies, Paper Smooches stockings dies, distress markers, Papertrey Ink woodgrain texture plate, Wink of Stella clear glitter marker, Recollections black half-pearls, pop-dot tape 

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Still No Stamping

I have my second stampless card for the current Shopping Our Stash challenge. And this time, I didn't even use patterned paper! 

Embossing paste-stencilled snowflakes on a red card base and a die-cut sentiment panel. I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp's current "Let It Snow" challenge as well as the current Just Us Girls word week: Merry. 

It really doesn't get too much easier than this. ;) 

Supplies: white & textured red American Crafts cardstock, Memory Box winter tiny snowflakes stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Memory Box grand Merry Christmas die, pop-dot tape

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No Stamping???

The current challenge at Shopping Our Stash is No Stamping. Somehow, that always feels a little bit like cheating to me. On the other hand, I have lots of not-stamp supplies to make cards, so why not? Here's my first attempt: 

Here I'm letting patterned paper do all the work. But not just any paper... Christmas Carol paper! (World's biggest Dickens fan here.) While these supplies don't count as ancient stash, I have been happy to just admire the paper pad since I bought it a few months ago, so it was more than time to cut into it. No stamps doesn't necessarily mean no ink, so I sponged some ink around the edges of the card base to match the already-done distressing of the book pages. It seems once I really get going with patterned papers, I don't want to stop, so I decorated the inside of the card as well.  

The sentiment is from a package of die cuts, to keep with the no-stamping theme. 
I do have a second card in mind with an entirely different way to avoid the use of stamps! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up naturals ivory cardstock, Graphic 45 Christmas Carol patterned paper, antique linen distress ink, Kaiser Craft Christmas Carol die cut, pop-dot tape

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Muse Challenge

Having started with Ardyth's Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge, this week I decided to play along with her original Muse challenge. (About time! She's already up to challenge #144.) This week's muse is Ardyth's talented daughter Kate, and this is her card: 

So cute! I chose to be inspired by Kate's line of fun and colourful theme-related images and her clean design. Here's mine:  

 Kate's row of images reminded me of this prehistoric Stampin' Up set. I stamped the trees in bright green, then coloured any ornaments in red. I get a little stuck on realism sometimes, so the trunks are brown. Each star is bright yellow with some clear glitter pen for shine. The sentiment is stamped in matching green on the card base — props to Kate for making a one-layer card! I tend to find them daunting... no room for error! ;) 
This card was so quick and easy to put together, I made another! 

This one is closer to the original inspiration, I think, since I used more colours and there is more variety to the images. Each ribbon and bow is traced with a clear glitter pen for some sparkle. 
Thanks for the fun inspiration, Kate! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red & basic black cardstock, Stampin' Up Crazy for Christmas stamps, My Favourite Things black liquorice & Ranger lily pad & classic cherry inks, various markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter pen

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The 25th Tag...

And with this post, I complete my goal of making and posting a tag for every. single. day. of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags! For my final tag, I was inspired by Tracy Gruber's terrific snowman tag to make my own snowman on kraft tag:

I picked a more solid image than Tracy, as I wanted the white to really pop. Instead of a red backing tag, I added a little red heart and some wide red linen ribbon for my colour contrast. With my snow guy taking centre stage, I'm adding this to the new Simon Says Stamp "Let It Snow" challenge. (But no thank you to the real stuff.) 
Thanks again to Tracey for organizing this fun event! :) 

Supplies: Stampin' Up kraft & real red cardstock, Unity Snowbody Warms My Heart stamps, Versamark, Wow white embossing powder, tiny random heart die cut, hole punch, May Arts linen ribbon

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Tag Day 23

On to Day 23 of Tracey's re-opened 25 Days of Christmas Tags, with a tag inspired by Marcie Sharp. I loved her use of foiled music paper with a big red stocking. Here's my version: 

Marcie's paper reminded me of this foiled vellum I've had for ages. I cut tags out of both it and white cardstock. The body of the stocking is cut from red glimmer paper, and the cuff from white felt. The stocking still needed a little something, so I added a snowflake. I didn't want to cover up too much more of the music background, so instead I cut a little tag... but what would be small enough to put on it? Masking off the other options, I stamped just the "nice" portion of a naughty or nice stamp. A little twine finished this off.

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up red glimmer cardstock, foiled music vellum, white felt, Stampin' Up Visions of Santa stamp, Stampin' Up real red ink, Paper Smooches scallop tag & stocking dies, Spellbinders Charmed I'm Sure die, Snowflake punch, May Arts gold and white twine

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Here We Go Again!

Tracey maust have sensed my disappointment at not being able to complete each day of her 25 Days of Christmas Tags event, since she has reopened the link-up! So I am going to be completist and post my final three tags tonight, starting with Day 22. I took Tracey's tree tag as my inspiration. As well as the tree, I looked at her sponged background and her clean design. Here's mine: 

After sponging the background, I stamped and embossed the bottle-brush tree with green tinsel embossing powder. Since my tree was almost as large as my tag, I overlaid my sentiment strip across the tree. I looked in my bag o' star die cuts and found this gold glitter star. I picked up on the gold with some white and gold twine. (This twine is awesome! Other metallic twines I've used unravel very quickly; this seems much more robust.) 
Two more tags on their way! ;) 

Supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts Friends and Family & Simon Says Stamp Furry Christmas Friends stamps, Versamark & Ranger lily pad inks, Ranger green tinsel embossing powder, (?) tag die (cut for me by Jessi!), random die cut star, small heart punch, 1" circle punch, May Arts gold and white twine, Affray green ribbon, pop-dot tape

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Merry Holiday Leftovers

Click HERE for this month's

Naughty or Nice challenge!

While the current Jingle Belles Holiday Leftovers challenge is still on, I decided to use up my own stash of leftovers a little bit more. Lots of bits and pieces went into this one! 

Leftovers include:

- the snowman and the bird, stamped and die cut at least a year ago at Emily's house

- the sky panel, from when I mopped up some leftover distress inks onto a piece of watercolour paper a few months ago

- the snowhill, which was a scrap I had spread some leftover embossing paste plus glitter on, again last year

- the frame, die cut several weeks ago (also at Emily's)

I hadn't coloured my snowman or bird, so that was done today, as was adding the woodgrain texture to the frame. I also added the notes, to give the bird something to say. The sentiment was a happy accident — I stamped it in blue on white, then accidentally grabbed my white embossing powder instead of my clear! So I stamped and embossed it again, but then thought, hmm. So I sponged over the white embossing with distress ink, and liked it much better than my original plan. 

My little bird qualifies this for the current Merry Monday challenge! And I will also add this to Simon Says Stamp's current Anything Goes challenge. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Fabriano hot-press watercolour paper, Echo Park Keepin' Cozy patterned paper, Paper Smooches Cool Dudes, Stampendous Eighth Notes & Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey Tis the Season stamps, Memories black, Brilliance Mediterranean blue, & tumbled glass, broken china & shaded lilac distress inks, Zing clear & Wow white embossing powder, Paper Smooches Cool Dudes & Scallop Frame dies, Papertrey Ink woodgrain texture plate, Spectrum Noir markers, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds glitter, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape 

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Show Us Some WING!

Happy DECEMBER!!! Along with the rest of the Naughty or Nice Challenge troublemakers, I'm starting off the month by introducing our latest challenge: Show Us Some Wing. Any winged thing, real or imaginary, is welcome! 

While this challenge will fit quite nicely if you're working away on Christmas cards, I decided to take a break and make a birthday card. It was a perfect way to sneak in a little bit of naughtiness: 

I love these crazy birds! And while I've had the stamps and dies for a few weeks now, it's only now I'm inking them up. I thought this one had just the right look on his face for the sentiment. I kept the design very clean and simple, but putting the main panel on an angle added just the right amount of wonkiness. I'm going to wing this card into the current Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge. 
Wings — I bet you have some winged things that can go on a card or other project! We'd love to have you join us this month... and the challenge is open until Christmas! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine patterned paper, Tim Holtz Bird Crazy & CASual Fridays Whole Shebang stamps, Versafine onyx black & Brilliance Mediterranean blue inks, distress markers, Zing clear embossing powder, pop-dot tape

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