Rudolph Day - June 2024

I'm a bit late with my card for this month's Rudolph Day.We've been a bit busy with various medical appointments and the week just seemed to disappear.

Fortunately I had the set of dies sitting on my desk waiting to be used so I didn't have to go rummaging for anything! The dies are from Lawn Fawn and were part of my NBUS stash. The sentiment is one I've had for ages, but the packaging is long gone and I can't remember the make. The lights were all made from snippets.

 

Challenges:

Rudolph Day

NBUS

Snippets Playground

Rudolph Day - September

I bought this stamp last year but hadn't used it. All the cards I had seen using it were so pretty I decided to show it some love and ink. The first six attempts went in the bin! I was using markers to colour the stamp but it either didn't stamp properly or was too dark. Spritzing it with water was also a disaster. Eventually I turned to Youtube for some hints.

 

So this one was inked with Distress Inks then some painting added on top. I used some Hot Press Watercolour paper which is why it is creamy. I wasn't convinced that the stamp was stamping properly so I made a second card using just one colour.

 

 

Brown didn't seem very Christmassy so I added a liberal amount of gold stickles and a gold mat. I've since watched another video so I'll have another try with it before I decide that Brushstroke stamps are not for me!

Challenges:

Scraps of Life (Rudolph Day)

NBUS challenge

HLS Watercolour

HLS Christmas

Roy's birthday

The beginning of April brings a number of family birthdays, all fairly close together. The first one is Roy's. As many of you will know he is a keen collector of model soldiers, so when I came across this stamp from Picture This last year I had to buy it, and had been waiting to ink it ever since.

I coloured him with a mix of Copics and Promarkers then fussy cut him out. The background is made up of snippets of scrapbooking paper. I thought the stripy one looked a bit regimental! The sentiment strip is computer generated as I added his old Regimental cap badge to either side. I'm pleases to say it was very well received.

Challenges:

NBUS 

Snippets Playgound

Happy Little Stampers Birthday Challenge

Rudolph Day - November

Well here we are at the last Rudolph Day of the year. I can't believe how fast it has come round. I'm also happy to say that although I still have some Christmas cards to blog,I have made enough for this year!

Back in October when I guest designed for Darnell at NBUS I used some freebie stamps which featured the Twelve Days of Christmas. Here are some more from the set.

 

All were coloured with Copics.

Challenges:

Rudolph Day

NBUS

NBUS challenge - GDT

I am absolutely delighted to have been invited by Darnell to be Guest Designer on her NBUS Challenge this month. It's a challenge I find very easy to play in as I'm sure a lot of you do too! The NBUS stash never seems to reduce, does it?

I have used a stamp that was a freebie with a magazine - maybe last Christmas or maybe even the Christmas before. I coloured with Copics before mounting on a red mat. It looks a bit skew-whiff in the photo but not in real life. I did have to look up the colouring for Turtle Doves, what would we do without Mr Google? 

I'm looking forward to seeing your NBUS makes in the gallery, I might end up with an even bigger stash!

Another Wreath!

When I was looking for the wreath die for my previous card, I came across another one. Again it is a magazine freebie and also NBUS!

I used the Penny Black border die again this time in red but left the wreath and sentiment in white. Apart from putting the glue on the wreath it was a fairly simple card to make.

 

Challenges:

Cas Christmas Challenge

NBUS Challenge

Sympathy for Less is More

That is of course a sympathy card for the latest challenge at Less is More. I didn't set out to make a sympathy card, it just sort of evolved.  I decided to use a NBUS stamp from Visible Image and stamped in black and clear embossed it. I had intended adding some colour to the flower and making a birthday card.

However after I had done that I rather liked the look of it as it was and thought it would make a good sympathy card, and as I have sadly had to use a few just recently my supply did need topping up.

Challenges:

Less is More

NBUS

October Rudolph Day

Only one more Rudolph Day this year after this one! Where has the year gone! This month there is an extra prize for paper piecing as a tribute to Kath of Plain and Simple who sadly died earlier this year.

No paper piecing from me though as I had made my cards in advance.

 

I used a stamp set and matching dies from Simon Says Stamp that I bought last year! They have been patiently sitting on my desk ever since.

So I made four - two of each design for the grandchildren and grand nieces.

 

I'm also sharing over at the NBUS challenge as well.

Christmas Bauble

I finally succumbed and bought the Sweet Poppy Bauble stencil. Another NBUs make as this is the first time I have used it. I had a couple of false starts with colours that didn't work for me. The final version ended up being inked with Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

 

Rather than put an image in the middle of the bauble I decided on just a sentiment, which I stamped in gold. I'm sharing this over at CAS Christmas and NBUS challenge.

Rudolph Day - May

I'm not sure where the month has gone but it's time for Rudolph Day again! Normally I have a card made well in advance but not this month!  I  have used a NBUS Woodware stamp that I won in the mega Christmas Draw at Pixies Crafty Playground. Thank you Di.

I stamped the image in  black and heat embossed it on  watercolour card as I have a lot of offcuts lying around from my painting classes. I coloured it with Derwent Graphitint watercolours, then added a slimline scalloped frame from Simon Says Stamp ( another snippet and NBUS) so I'm also sharing this at Pixies Playground and the NBUS challenge.

Rudolph Day April

Thank you all for your good wishes and comments on my post about lack of making. But without further ado its time for another Rudolph Day!

I used a NBUS Tim Holtz Stamp Set that fell into my basket last September! The border is a Penny Black die. 

Now that the meds have kicked in I am able to do a lot more but do still have to pace myself. It’s easy to  overdo things!

Twofer Flower Challenge

As usual with the Twofer challenge I've left it to the last minute to enter. I always think of it as a monthly challenge, which of course it is, but is only a fortnight long!

I used a new stamp set from Visible Image that I have reccently bought ready for a workshop next month. For my first card I stamped the flower,vase and stalk in black then coloured it with polychromos coloured pencils.

I trimmed and matted it with some orange card, added a sentiment and doodled round the edge.

For my second card I used just the flower head and embossed it in silver. Then sponged Speckled Egg, Milled Lavender and Spun Sugar DI over it giving it a very subtle look.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment onto a piece of torn vellum and wrapped it round the panel. And here are the two together.

I'm also sharing at the NBUS challenge.

LIm - Festive

The last challenge of the year at Less is More is a one layer festive card. I used a Sweet Poppy snowflake stencil which I dabbed Versamark through  then added some WOW embossing powder. (Note to self: remove stencil befor adding embossing powder next time as it was a nightmare to get off the metal stencil!)

A simple sentiment completed the card. In real life it is very sparkly, hope you can  see it in the next photo.

As it is a brand new stencil I am going to share it with Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

Christmas Kraft

I recently came across the Split 4 Stamping technique and had to give it a try.  You can see a You Tube tutorial here.

I used a Hero Arts stamp set that hadn't seen ink before for the foliage and a variety of Christmas sentiments.

 

 I'll certainly be using the technique again. Im entering this at Cardz for Galz and NBUS challenge.

OLC Christmas in July

The challenge at Less is More is for a one layer card. This phrase used to be one of dread but not any more. I actually like making one layer cards! The theme is Christmas in July so I had lots of stamps to choose from. Every year I buy some more even though I haven't used all the ones I've got. This year I am determined to be strong!

This one was a freebie last year. I coloured him with pencils and added some sparkle with a Nuvo glitter pen. As the stamp is  NBUS I'm going to share at the NBUS challenge as well.

Less is More - Colour challenge

Now that I have no DT commitments I've been finding it hard to come up with any inspiration for making cards. So this week I have trawled the challenge sites and made a list of some I want to enter.  Whether I manage them all is another matter!  I liked the sound of the colours that Less Is More want, fuschia, yellow and grey. They said flowers to me!

I used a NBUS stamp from Uniko and stamped it in Smoky Slate then coloured it with Copics. The sentiment is from a HLS set.

NBUS and Gelli Plate.

 Well this is the third week of Darnell's extended NBUS challenge. For those of you who don't know what NBUS is, it stands for Never Before Used Stuff! This week the optional extra is to use bubble wrap.

Now I have had a Gelli Plate for over two years now and it has never come out of the box it arrived in!Time to try it out. As it ws the first time I'd has a play and I was running out of time I stuck to a simple use of it, one colour and bubble wrap. I really liked the effect and thought it would make a great background for this Penny Black die, another NBUS.

Rudolph Day - January

Well it's time to start preparing for Christmas! Yes it's the first Rudolph day of 2017. and Scrappymo had some lovely prizes.

I have used a die that was a freebie on a magazine before hristmas and I just never got round to using it. it also came with the embossing folder to frame it. So a card for Rudolph Day, two NBUS items for Darnell's NBUS challenge and black and gold snippets for Miss Di at the Playground.

NBUS cat!

I had seen this cat stamp in blogland and loved it so found myself one on that well known auction site. Then it sat on my desk uninked for quite a while! Darnell is running her NBUS challenge again so it was the perfect opportunity for it to get inked. Or so I thought! Even with the Misti and repeated  stamping I couldn't get a decent image, the cat's middle just wouldn't stamp.  Eventually I abandoned the Misti and went back to a clear block and managed to get a reasonable image, or at least one I could go with.

Then I sponged distress inks around the cat, a sentiment from Stampin' Up, coloured the flowers,added some WoS to them and some ribbon. Job done, but not sure I'll be using the stamp any time soon!

Less is More - Citrus

First of all I would like to say a warm welcome to my newest follower Karen and apologies for my lack of commenting - life is geting in the way!

 This week's challenge at Less is More is "Citrus". I chose to go with the colours rather than fruits as I'm not sure that I've got any citrusy stamps!

I used Stampin' Up!s  Awesomely Atistic stamp set and coloured it with a selection of Distress Inks and the new Distress crayons. As both the crayons and stamp set are NBUS items this is going to be my 2nd entry into Darnell's challenge. The yellow mat was out of the snippets box so I'm off to the Playground as well.