'U for Upon' and 'V for Very Quick' at ABC Christmas Challenge

'V for Very Quick'

Hello and Welcome!

I've been on a blog break while recuperating from my surgery in August but it's good to be back. Today's share is a design team card for ABC Christmas Challenge. I am hosting this month so along with a sponsor's prize for our lucky winner I am offering a cute stamp set by Andrea Gomoll. 

Our sponsor this month is All Dressed Up

They are offering 2 free digi's from Wendy's Etsy Shop. 

To play along create a Christmas themed project using the letters 

'U for Upon' or 'V for Very Quick'

and yes you can create two projects using both letters or incorporate both on one. Enter as many times as you like and be sure to specify which letter influenced your project. Be sure to check out all of the DT inspiration here on the main challenge blog! 

Good Luck!

Lisa xx

N for Name, O for 'On Skates etc' at ABC Christmas Challenge

Ice Skate Card

Christmas in July is what I was thinking when I created this design team card for the ABC Christmas Challenge. With the record hot temps here in the U.S. I'm definitely dreaming of a white Christmas. :) I'll stop and confess right now that I'm no ice skater but I wish I was. Ice skating is a beautiful sport and I love to watch it!

I used a SVG file by Daniela Moscone available at Silhouette Design Store called Ice Skate Card. 

The inside sentiment and image are by Verve Stamps which sadly closed their doors the end of June. I used stickers by Simple Stories on the opposite page.

For the front of my card I used a merry mix of embellishments and ephemera. The seasons greetings stamp is from G45's Night Before Christmas 3 stamp set and I backed it with a 1" punched circle from black cardstock. Years ago Pink Paislee offered a collection called  City Sidewalks and I still have some of the papers and ephemera in my stash. The bell ephemera is from that collection as are the fishtail banners. I ran some red/white twine through the tag and secured it with Tim's tiny attacher. The rosette is a dimensional sticker from Recollections and the glitter red heart was punched using a Fiskar's heart punch. I also used a circle sticker from G45's A Place in Time sticker sheet on the right side of the cluster and foam tape to give some of the elements dimension.

White and black gel pens add highlights and faux stitching. I added a chipboard 'Believe' by Echo Park to the blade, tinsel by Tim Holtz to the base of the ice skate and flat back pearls where the laces pull through and that completes this card.

I used the fold card and layering pieces from the SVG file to create my card. My Silhouette Cameo made this an easy task to do. Check out the Silhouette Design Store to see what is currently on sale and if memory serves me correctly I believe they have a big Christmas sale during July. If I learn when I'll pop in and edit this post and add a direct link. ;) You can also visit my dear friend's online store, The Cutting Cafe, as Regina offers several Christmas themed files and each one comes with various electronic cutter SVG files as well as a PDF version in case you don't own an electronic cutter.   

Sponsor

Neat and Tangled

Prize is a $25 gift certificate to our lucky winner.

also

Helen is our hostess this month and she is offering this stamp set from Lily of the Valley as a prize. 





You have from today, July 4th, until the end of the month to play along and as long as your project is Christmas themed you can enter as often as you like. The DT will be by to visit your inspiring creations soon and we all wish you the best of luck.

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa xx 

'J' for Joy and 'K' for Keep it Simple

There's a brand new challenge beginning today at ABC Christmas Challenge and Dorte is our hostess this month. We are nearing the mid-point of the alphabet with the letters 'J' and 'K' and to play along create a Christmas themed project using one, or both, of these letters. 

J is for Joy and K for Keep it Simple

For my card above I used glitter letter stickers by American Crafts to spell the word Joy out. I kept everything simple on these two cards using the CAS (clean and simple) design style. The addition of sequins elevates it for the holidays. 

For this card I used the Angel Stickers set by Dazzles. These are great cards to mail out because there are no bulky embellishments therefore no extra postage. That's a win in my book! 

Both card bases were from a blank card set by The Paper Studio. Love having blank cards at the ready for quick card making. :)

Be sure to visit the challenge blog to see more inspiration by my design team mates. You have all month to play along and as long as it is Christmas themed you can enter as many times as you like. 

SPONSORED BY

Crafty Ribbons 

They are offering a gift voucher to their online store.

and 

Digi Stamp Boutique

They are offering a gift voucher to their online store.

Our lovely Dorte also has a prize for the lucky winner so that's a total of three prizes up for grabs. 

That's all for today!

Lisa xx

H for Hat, I for Ice at ABC Christmas Challenge

It's good to be back with a post and design team project for ABC Christmas Challenge. I truly meant to be more regular with my posts here but I've been sidetracked with an impromptu craft room makeover. It took longer than I planned but glad it's done and I am back to crafting again. A big thanks to Samantha and Helen for giving me the month of March off to finish everything up. In a few weeks I'll be sharing the transformation right here on my blog. :)

This month we are on the letters H and I so a hat or ice on your Christmas themed project will work. Click the link above to visit the challenge blog and see more inspiration for both letters by my incredible design team sisters.

SPONSOR

All Dressed Up

For my card I used a wood stamp that belonged to my mom. I love having some of her crafty supplies in my stash, brings sweet memories to mind of all the cards she made me throughout the years. It's from Hampton Arts stamps and it's called Frosty. While Santa's red hat is iconic at Christmas I think Frosty's black brimmed hat is a close second. 

Join us this month and if you win you'll receive two free digital images from Wendy's Etsy shop. 

Good Luck!

Lisa xx

C for Clean or D for Distress at ABC Christmas Challenge

Our February challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge is live and this month we want to see

C for Clean

or

D for Distress

on your Christmas themed projects. Our sponsor is Lawn Fawn and I used two stamp sets by them on my Clean card above. The trees are from the Joy to the Woods stamp set and the rabbits and stars are from the Upon a Star set. 

My first card is a CAS style card with no embellishments just stamping and coloring. The background was created with blueprint distress oxide ink and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things - Clearly Sentimental About Christmas stamp set. For the next card I used another stamp set by MFT - Sophisticated Snowflakes. 

My second card is D for Distress and I used distress oxide inks to create my background. First I stamped the snowflakes with Versamark ink then embossed with WOW's Sparkling Snow embossing glitter. The embossing resists the ink and allowed me to blend faded jeans and chipped sapphire distress oxide inks over the background. A soft cloth rubbed gently over the snowflakes restored their pristine image. I fussy cut a fishtail banner and stamped a sentiment from Verve's Holiday Treats set in black tie ink by Ranger. 

To see more inspiration visit the challenge blog to see what my design team mates created for you. You have until the 28th of February to play along with this challenge.

Good Luck!

Lisa xx

A for Antler, B for Birds

Happy New Year!!!

It's 2018 and our first challenge of the year is live at ABC Christmas Challenge.

A for Antlers, B for Birds

I combined the two on my shaker card using two adorable stamp sets by Lawn Fawn. The reindeer are from For You, Deer and the remaining images including the trees are from Joy to the Woods. The snow bunks are also by Lawn Fawn and they are from the stand alone die set Stitched Hillside Borders. Love having this set for creating winter scenes! As for the sentiments I used one from each set on this card. 

Our sponsors for this challenge are

and 

The design team has a lot of inspiration to share with you so be sure to check out the main challenge blog. You'll have until January 31st to play along and we hope you'll join us.

Good Luck!

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa

The Night Before Christmas Flip Book

{I wanted the front cover to look like a package would}

ABC Christmas Challenge

U - Unlimited as in Anything Christmas Goes 

V - Vibrant

Hello everyone and welcome!
Well I'm a little late with my DT post but things are busy in my corner of the world on many levels. We have entered the holiday season here with fall upon us now (decorating today) and right behind it Christmas. Throw in a few baby showers (lots of little ones making their arrivals very soon) and homemade gifts for those occasions plus regular life stuff and it's been a bit crazy. There's more going on but I won't bore you with that. ;)

So today I am finally sharing a flip book that I made to swap with a friend next month. It will travel all the way to India and I've used one of my favorite Christmas paper collections by Graphic 45. It is so fun to flip the pages and find little treasures and notes.! So without further ado let's get started.

 The Merry Christmas page is not what you actually see when you open the book, actually the right page will be the reindeer page (below) but either way it works. That's the great thing about flip books, right! The left pocket is red vellum and I am gifting her some ephemera, small gift bags, and die cuts. There's also a striped paper clip which she can add some jingle bells to and pass it on to another friend. The right page spells out Merry Christmas with red glitter thicker alpha's by American Crafts. The die cuts on the pocket and right page are from Pebbles and it's from one of their new Christmas collections this year.

Love the double sided papers in the Night Before Christmas collection by G45.

A gold glitter reindeer die cut is my Rudolph for this page and I cut out some words from a cut apart sheet. If you click on the photo (any photo actually) it will enlarge it and you can read the tiny word sticker sentiment better. 

This is the other side of the Rudolph page and there's a journal card which I am using as a pocket. I went over the leaves and green Wink of Stella brush and used a clear one for the berries. In my opinion, these brushes are the best way to add a glitter look without the mess of glitter. If I want more sparkle I simply apply more color.

When the book is partially opened this is what she'll see. The large envelope is chock full of G45 ephemera from the collection I used and I think that will make her happy. It folds down to reveal the pockets page below.

Bottom Flap

 This is the other side of the envelope page and I created another vellum pocket which I stuffed with pockets from the G45 collection. A die cut sentiment was added to the outside with a gold paperclip and I fussy cut a border from the cut apart sheet.

Top Flap

I used a clear vellum piece of paper to create this makeshift pocket where I stuffed tags (which I made for a previous DT post). She can use them or pass them on if she prefers. You probably can't tell but I went over this fussy cut image with a clear Wink of Stella brush pen and I love the shimmer it adds.

Fully Opened

You can see how I have added the pages with washi and I would advise that you first put some double stick tape down and then lay the washi on top of it. Washi tapes come with differing "tackiness" which means some hold up better than others. To be safe it is always good idea to add the tape or a glue that will dry clear to enforce the washi tape. Just a tip!

Center Page

Under the vellum sheet I created a page of stickers - puffy and dimensional - for her to use in her crafting. I know she loves woodland animals so these will put a smile on her face. :) The puffy stickers are from a new 2017 Pebbles collection and the dimensional stickers are by Recollections which you'll find at Michael's.

 This is the back of the flip book and it features a journal card from the cut apart sheet. Two gold snowflake stickers and washi is all I added. The button holds my twine in place which I used to close the flip book and I added some green washi to tone down all of the red on this page.

 

Thanks for looking!

Two lucky challenge winners will receive prizes in a random drawing and the winners will be announced on November 1st when the winner's post goes live at 7am BST. 

A prize from Carol

Build a Bloom Stamp Set from Craftwork Cards and Handmade Paper Tags and Ribbon

Challenge Sponsor

Freckled Fawn

Good Luck!!!


I do hope you'll play along with us as there's still plenty of time!

Be sure to visit the main challenge blog for more inspiration by my incredible teamies and to see what the other participants linked up.

Have a wonderful day, wherever you are!

Lisa xx

S for Sketch T for Trio at ABC Christmas Challenge

Angel Trio

I'm hosting the challenge this month at ABC Christmas Challenge and we're already up to the letters S and T. To change things up we'd like you to link to a current sketch for S and for T create a project using a trio of images/items. Click the link to see inspiration by my teamies and see if one of their sketch challenges will work for you. 

Remember to create a Christmas themed project!

For my card I used a designer paper which I layered on a white mat frame and adhered it to my red Bazzill cardstock base. I stamped a trio of angels from Verve's Angel Voices stamp set onto vellum using Versamark ink and sterling silver embossing powder by Stampendous. A trio of Tim Holtz mirrored stars and white opal Liquid Pearls by Ranger added the finishing embellishments. A sentiment from the same Verve set was stamped in Ranger's Black Tie ink and added above the center angel. I love the addition of vellum and the way the embossing looks on it. :)

As the hostess this month I am also offering our lucky winner a prize.

Two stamps from Impression Obsession

Sponsor

Bugaboo Stamps

One lucky Random winner will win 4 Digi images for their choice

and 

Sponsor

Visit our blog http://blog.craftyribbons.com

Inspiration Blog http://craftyribbonsinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/

The challenge ends on September 30th at 1pm BST and I want to wish each of you good luck!

Happy Crafting,

Lisa xx

Christmas Tags

Well I am a bit late with my design team share for ABC Christmas Challenge but nevertheless I wanted to join in. We are on the letters P, Q and R and I used two of the letters for my project - Quick and Red - to create tags for presents during the holiday season. P is for People and you can use one or all three letters on your Christmas themed project. 

Samantha is hosting this time and she has a cute little Gorjuss girl stamp offered as a prize. 

Our SPONSOR is

A 6x6 stamp pad of winner's choice.

For more inspiration visit the challenge blog at the link above and don't forget to link up by the 31st. 

Remember there are only 129 days left until Christmas as of this post. 

It will be here before you know it! ;)

Have a great day, wherever you are!

Lisa xxx

N for New, O for Old at ABC Christmas Challenge

N is for New, O is for Old

Hard to believe it is July already! 

A brand new challenge is up at ABC Christmas Challenge and we are on the letters "N" and "O". 

The NEW on my card is the digi image and the sentiment stamp (new to me) from Avery Elle. The OLD is the holly paper which has been in my stash for so long I can't remember. There's a feeling of satisfaction when you cut into a paper that has been around 10+ years...think I am going to do that more often and stop hoarding. 

SPONSORS

Prize is a $10 gift certificate to our lucky winner.

Our second sponsor is 

https://sweetstampshop.com

They are also offering a $10 gift certificate as well. 

Last but not least...Helen is hosting this challenge and she has a prize to offer as well.

Today's card was made using a digi that one of our sponsors provided, Fred She Said, and it's Little Fat Santa Digi. This is such a cute image and it is a great purchase because several options come with the image including a printable sheet of mini-Santa's. I requested the uncolored version however there is a colored version and after looking at my image I wondered why I did not request the colored one. ;) I readily admit that coloring is not my gift but one of these days I plan to sit down and really apply myself to learning to use my Copic's and other markers to their full advantage. Does anyone else struggle with coloring? I'd love to know if you do or if you've found some awesome tips or tricks you'd like to share. 

Be sure to visit the challenge blog to see more inspiration using digital images from our sponsor, Fred She Said. Samantha has a handmade crochet project to share that you won't want to miss! Hope your summer (winter for Aussie's) is going better for you than ours is.....too much rain here. ;)

I'll be back Thursday the 6th with a design team project for The Cutting Cafe. 

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa xx

J for Jingle Bells and K is for Keep It Simple at ABC Christmas Challenge

J for Jingle Bells

is the theme of my card and the sponsor for our current challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge is 

Digi Stamp Boutique

They are offering our lucky winner a voucher to the online store.

I used their digital image, Happy Penguins, on my card and instead of using actual jingle bells I decided to incorporate the song on my card using rub ons by Bo Bunny and tiny word stickers by Faith Illustrated. 

The challenge runs through the end of the month and I hope you'll join us. 

Click the challenge blog link to see what my design team mates created for your inspiration.

Crafty Hugs,

Lisa 

E, F and G at ABC Christmas Challenge

We have a brand new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge that runs the entire month of March. We are on the letters E, F and G and you have the choice to play along with all three letters or combine them as I did on my card. 

E is for Edge

F is for Family

G is for Girl

Sponsors

Wild Orchid Crafts

Prize is a gift certificate to their online store.

Helen is hosting this challenge and she is also offering a prize. 

Set of Sizzix Dies

My edge is snowbanks created from a My Favorite Things die and my family is from the Taylored Expressions stamp set-Penguin Pals.

I colored my background with distress inks and added my heavy snowfall scene by diluting gesso with water then splattering with a paintbrush. The images were stamped with black Archival ink then colored with my new Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils which were gifted to me by my dear friend, Katrin. It is my first experience coloring with them and they're awesome! Thank you for sharing those with me sweetie. :) I love snowy scenes and I created some dimension between my snowbanks with Scotch foam tape. For a little sparkle I added glitter and subtle shading was applied with Copic markers. 

We look forward to seeing your creations. To see more inspiration for our E, F and G challenge visit the link above and check out what my design team mates created. 

Before I close today I'd like to share that on the 22nd of February my mother went home to be with the Lord. I will miss her but I am grateful that her battle with Alzheimer's on this earth is over. It is a disease I would not wish on anyone. I pray for those who suffer with this disease and for the families affected by it. May God bless and comfort each of you!

Thank you for your visit today, it means a lot. 

Lisa xx