Crafts Galore Encore January 2016

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a lovely time over the festive season and my deepest sympathies go out to those affected by the awful weather in parts of the world recently.

 The first of January means it's time for a new challenge on the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. Thank you to everyone who supported us last year and joined in with our challenges. We hope to see you all again this year. Last month's winners are on the challenge blog 'winner's page'. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. A full list of rules are on the challenge blog.

Our theme this month is everyone's favourite
"Anything Goes"
and our fabulous sponsor is Fabrika Fantasy who have some of the most gorgeous digis on offer.

The team were allowed to choose an image each and I made a card to celebrate the new year with the digi I chose.

I printed a couple of wood effect papers and a stripey one I thought would look good as wallpaper. I cut one of the wood papers to resemble a mouse hole door and matted it onto black card to create the shadow. I added a gold gem for the handle.

The super cute image I chose is Happy Mouse. What better way to start a new year than with a huge smile? I coloured him in with my Copics and cut round him before fixing to the card on foam pads.

The balloons were cut with an X-cut punch and I used gold thread to tie them to Happy Mouse's tail and a champagne bottle which I created from an X-cut die set.

I finished the card with some purple pearls and a banner to wish all my friends and family a Happy 2016!
We have some talented new DT members joining us today so, please show your support and visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog to see the fabulous projects they and the rest of the team have created for your inspiration.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:
http://lilredwagon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/little-red-wagon-challenge-322-happy.html x
http://inspirationdestinationchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/ag-no-66.html x
http://brownsugarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/challenge-179-happy-new-year.html x
http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.ca/2015/12/fussy-and-fancy-challenge-154-happy.html x
http://stempelsonne.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/157-bis-140116.html Winner

Hubby's 60th

Have you all recovered from Christmas yet? And are you all ready to welcome the New Year? It's busy enough at this time of year with all the festivities but we also have a few birthdays in our family. It is my husband's turn today. It's his 60th and this is the 'super 60' card I made for him.

I used linen card for the front and hand drew and cut out the '60' leaving a border all around. I scored a flap on the side of the linen card and attached it to an 8"x 8" card blank.

The paper behind the cut out page is from Graphic 45's Artisan Style pad and has been matted on to black card.

I printed the 'Super' and the sentiment on the computer and matted them on to black card.

The gorgeous image is from JadeDragonne (see below) and is called 1920's Flapper. I coloured her with Copics and cut her out before fixing her to the card.
I finished the card with some randomly placed pearls in red, black and gold.
We are off to Cardiff with friends for a few days to celebrate hubby's birthday and the New Year. I hope you have something nice and fun planned.
I wish you all a happy, healthy and wealthy 2016! Enjoy your celebrations everyone and I'll see you next year.
JadeDragonne is a talented artist who very generously shares her fabulous artwork. It is free to use as long as you abide by her rules. Please visit her Deviant Art or Facebook page for her copywrite message and be respectful of her wishes.

Helga Frost Birthday

Just a quickie today as I know we are all busy with the last minute preparations for Christmas but I wanted to show you this card.
Today is my brother's birthday.  Every year I make him a card featuring a sexy lady and this is the card I have made for him this year.

I started with an 8"x 8" Kraft card base. I created the paper in MCS by adding the sentiment  'Time is the wisest counsellor of all'  to a patterned paper from the Tinkering with Steampunk CD.

I was lucky enough to win a Top Three spot at Kenny K earlier this year and this is the image I chose as my prize. Her name is Helga Frost. I just love her Steampunk look. I coloured her with Copics and framed her with Kraft card.

The clock die is from Marianne and the cogs are a Memory Box corner die. I have cut some cogs apart to dot around the card.
Finally,
I would like to wish you all a very festive and joyful Merry Christmas xx 

I have entered this card in the following challenges:
http://kennykskraftykrew.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/challlenge-209-anything-goes.html Top 3
http://karleighsuechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/challenge-7-anything-goes-with-optional.html
http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/sisters-of-craft-december-anything-goes.html x

Kajsan's Birds

A very big THANK YOU to everyone who sent me Happy Birthday wishes for yesterday. I had a lovely day with family and friends, a fabulous lunch out and lots of gorgeous presents.  I also managed to finish my Christmas shopping yesterday. Yay! Now just to wrap the pile of presents. That will have to wait until tomorrow as I'm heading to Bournemouth for an overnight visit with my brother today.

First, I'd like to show you some cards I made with some fabulous freebie bird digi images from Kajsans Scrapblog. She also has a store where there are more gorgeous images to purchase.

I thought the adorable birds would look wonderful as robins so, that's how I coloured them. I used my Copics to do this and piped on some white acrylic paint for snow.

The papers are  from LOTV and a pad that a lovely American friend sent me as a gift. The music die-cut is from Memory Box.

I die-cut the skates twice with an Amy Design die I purchased from Oyster Stamps. I cut away some of the red skates and stuck the two together. 

The poinsettias have been cut with a Marianne die and I finished the cards with some red gems and sentiments made with a Docrafts stamp and die.

It was my birthday yesterday and it's my brother's on Christmas Eve so we shall be going out for dinner tonight as a joint celebration and a well earned break from all the festive build up. I hope you all find some time to relax during this busy period too.

I'll be back on Thursday to show you the birthday card I have made for my brother.

Kit & Clowder Christmas Swap

It's the weekend before Christmas and it's going to be a busy one for me.
I have another Christmas card that was sent to Australia to show, but not a snowflake in sight today.

One of the Facebook groups I belong to held a Christmas swap this month and my partner lives in Australia. This is the card I made for her.

All the layers are Heartfelt Creations and Papermania papers matted onto Kraft card. I tattered the edges and used Antique Linen Distress Ink before arranging them so they would fit in an 8"x 8" envelope. I then added a strip of lace.

The image is one of my favourites. It's Conie Fong's Angel of Christmas Stars. I coloured her with my Copics before cutting her out and mounting her on gold card.

The poinsettias and ferns were made with Marianne dies. I coloured the ferns with Copics and added DecoArt Snow Writer to the flowers.

The bow is seam binding that I coloured with Copics before tying up with a piece of string. I finished the card with a few gold gems.

This is the wonderful card I received in return from my swap partner. Thank you Melinda, it's gorgeous.
Have a good weekend everyone.

I've entered my card in the following challenges:

http://artbymiranchallenge.blogspot.ca/2015/12/challenge-47-anything-goes.html Top 3
http://brownsugarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/challenge-177-anything-goes.html x
http://simplypapercraftsforalloccassions.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/challenge-20.html x
http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/anything-goes-challenge.html x