Avenger Merry Holidays!

Happy Friday and Merry Holidays to you all!


This is Christmas Avenger from the Tiddly Inks Basement along with Make It Crafty's - Gift Way all blinged up and combined with Echo Park - Season's Greetings DP. The snowflake ribbon is re-purposed from gift from a friend.


Originally this was just suppose to be a shaker card for this weeks Tiddly White Christmas challenge, but as you see it got VERY BRIGHT! I also converted the shaker into a detachable Christmas Tree Ornament in the end. I adhered the shaker ornament to the card with re-mountable adhesive (it looks like white gum), I'm not sure of it's proper product name.

Here is the Splitcoaststampers - Shaker Card Tutorial. My kiddies LOVE ornament, they are always make the snow fly.

Hope you are all having a fantastic and non frantic lead up to Christmas. I have one more project coming up next week, so if you have time please stop by. If you can't, I wish you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season!!!

Tiddly - White Christmas #76

Hey all! Wow, has all of your free time been gobbled up by Christmas happenings? Mine sure has. But if you can, please make some time to join us today for our Tiddly Inks Challenge - #76 White Christmas! It's our last TI Challenge for 2011! Great way to knock off a much needed Holiday card maybe!

I have a confession. This wasn't my original't card for the White Christmas challenge. The first one, I went all out of control with colour so decided to give it another go. I'll save the original for the following week, so don't forget to come back ;D

Enough of that, meet Tiddly Inks - Lilli Claire - Warm Wishes. Being inspired by Dorcas Designs, I just had to color on kraft paper with Prisma Colour pencils. Dorcas colours on kraft cardstock like no-one I have ever seen before, she is phenomenal.

I did the fur and the falling snow with a white Sharpie paint pen, which made the white pop. I didn't use mineral spirits or anything such thing, just the pencils. I found that they were creamy enough to blend on their own. I have to laugh, this card displays every PrismaColour I own, I only have 10 :D DP is Bo Bunny - Snowfall Collection

Sorry for more die cut snowflakes, but there is a bunch hanging around my crafting table from earlier projects, so they snuck in.

Don't forget to check out the Teamies! Wowzer - you won't be disappointed.

AMANDA of CCC

ARABELLA of ChickieChirps

CHERYL of Ink Trap
CHRISTY of Tiddly Inks

JEN of Deconstructing Jen

JOEY of Joey’s World

KINDRA of Creations by Kindra

LARISSA of Car-d-elicious

LOU of Loopy Lou’s Thoughts

MARLENA of Paper Paradise

MELISSA of MelissaMade

POPS of Pops Cards

TRACY of Stamping Seasons

This card is submitted in the following challenges:
Alphabet Challenge Blog - W is for White Christmas
There She Goes Challenge - TSG134 Colour Challenge

Tiddly Inks Treat Bag - #73 Anything Goes!

Hey friends! Welcome to another Tiddly Inks Tuesday - Challenge #73. Today's challenge is another Anything Goes to help all of us get caught up before the Christmas craziness sets in.
I found this adorable and incredibly easy Treat Bag Cover on Splitcoaststampers. I made the width slightly bigger then the instructions to fit my plastic treat baggie.

I incorporated Tiddly Inks - Inky Critters snowman with Echo Park - Season's Greetings DP . The snowflakes were cut on cereal box and cream cardstock using a Cuddlebug snowflake die. The inside flake was popped up on a similar snowflake sticker from the coordinating paper set as was the Naughty Nice sticker.

As an after thought it occurred to me that it would be cute to place a gift card on the inside striped panel. So when you unfold the treat bag, you have chocolates and a Spa card. I plan on making another one, this time adapting my gift card idea for my kids teachers. Chocolates and Spa time, great combination.

There are much more inspiring creations over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge blog, don't forget to head on over there to check them out.

Candy Cane Sweetness

I know, I know. It's the day after Halloween and I've jumped right ahead to Christmas. What's a girl to do. Actually, December seems likes such a busy month, I don't know how much scrapping I can fit in then, so November works for me. ;D

You are going to love the challenge over at the Tiddly Inks Challenge site, because today's challenge is #71 - "Anything Goes". I love no parameters ;D

I just can't help squeal with delight over this Lilli Claire - Sweet Christmas Dreams. She is one of my very fave Christmas images at the Tiddly Inks store.


I have a quick Copic tip for you. I don't have a lot of reds, in fact I only have the standard R20 R22 and R27 standby that I use for all my red and pinks. I needed to make this standby go a little further and do deep red or burgundy for this card. W1 worked perfectly. It deepened and dulled down the red giving it a darker red appearance. My wish list is quite long. More ranges of red Copics are waaaaaaay down the list.

DP: Imiginisce - Polar Expressions.

This card is submitted for the following challenges:

A Gem of A Challenge - #33 Cold and Frosty
Come and Get It Challenge - Anything Goes Week
Lollipop Crafts - #55 Anything Goes

Christmas Wreath - Clean & Simple

I have offered to donate a set of Holiday Cards for my local PTA's Bingo night. Because I've been making a conscious effort to watch my card-making pennies, I wanted a card that had very few layers.

I picked up this set by Studio G iClear a few weeks ago and have mulling around with a few ideas.


Details:
Stamps: Studio G i Clear - wreath, Hot Fudge Studio - sentiment
Ink: Memento - Cottage Ivy
Paper: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, stock green

Kindergarten Snowman Soup

I know I made these last year for my husbands staff, but why dropped a good idea. This year they are for my daughters Junior Kindergarten class. I did change the design a bit and glued the labels onto the front of the bags. Made things very quick and easy. Gotta like that.

The snowman/puppy frame was found here, made by Barry Meyer. I removed the Merry Christmas and in it's place is Snowman Soup.

The poem reads:

Was told you've been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it
With freezing weather drawing near,
You'll need to war the spirit.
So here's a little snowman soup,
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow,
It's sure to do the trick.

Throw in a package of hot cocoa, some mini marshmallows and a mini candy cane or two and there you have it.

Ba Humbug - Cards!

I have not been in the Christmas spirit this season. To makes matter worse, every time I tried to do something for this years X-Mas card, I hit a major roadblock.

After much hard ship I gave up and didn't revisit it until last night. Ditching my original plans, I went online and grabbed a pre-made photo-card template from Shutterfly.com.

You would think that printing your own photo cards would be cost effective - NOPE! My brand new ink cartridge is more then 3/4 gone, at $60 bucks a pop for a replacement cartridge, not cheap, not to mention the matte photo-paper which I already had on hand.

Oh well. Here it is, this beautiful template was created by Jen Wilson . Much nicer then what I have ended up making.

To make matters worse, when I dropped my cards off at the post office this morning, I checked and in order for the USA bound cards to make it to their destinations before Christmas Day, they needed to get into the mail YESTERDAY. Can you Say BA HUMBUG!

Oh and another kicker, posting this card was a hassle too. For some reason my newly installed Photoshop CS4 wouldn't allow me to save to web, even though I verified that the file was 32bits/channel and not 8 or 16. Had to email it to my hubby because his save to web feature wasn't greyed out. Apparently changing it to 8bits/channel was the solution - the exact opposite of what it said to do online.

Now I am off to make snowman soup packages for my daughters Kindergarten class, wonder what problems I will run into there.

Hope your Holiday preparations are going more smoothly then mine.

FTL#56 Christmas

I made this card a few days ago, but thought I would save it for later in the week when I wouldn't have a post. It just would be like me to keep it going to too long ;)

I used the FTL#56 from Clean & Simple Stamping. They have some really great layouts, especially for me who is still learning to un-clutter some of my designs. It's fun to change it up a bit.

Again, I am trying to come up with an easy and inexpensive Christmas template to mass produce for my daughters charity bizarre.


Details:
Paper: KI Memories - Joyful Skinny Stripe, Riding Hood Red
Stamp: Hero Arts: Merriest Wishes, EK Success: sentiment wheel
Ink: Memento Red, Garden Green
Accessories: Green felt ribbon

Triple Snowflake

I finally made a one layer card that doesn't look third rate. I have really struggled with one layered looks. I like the results so much and it was WAAAAY easy - this may just end up as this year's holiday card. How much easier can you get with no layers and no adhesive required, as well as cost affective.

I made a die cut template of the 3 windows or panels on a scrap piece of cardstock and laid it over my card in order to sponge. This will make it easy for mass production.

The ribbon photographed much darker then IRL.

This card was inspired by LaLatty's Stamp & Stuff September 20, 2009 post found here. I loved the sponging technique with the snowflakes and gave it a whirl, but used my Cuttlebug postage stamp die cut for the 3 panels sponged in Bashful Blue and Baja Breeze.

All that was needed to bling it up was some Stickles and a gemstone in the centre snowflake.

Here's my case of LaLatty's & tankgrl 's snowflake cards.

Details:
Ink: Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy
Stamps: Hero Arts: Diamond & Crystal Snowflakes, Hot Fudge Studio sentiment
Accessories: ribbon, Stickles, gemstones

Non Traditional Colours

Here is my take on the Hero Art: Merriest Wishes stamp I used in my previous post, but with non traditional Christmas colours - again my goal was clean and simple for possible mass production.
I really love the colours. It was a bit of a pain trying to get the individual colours on the stamp using stamping dots. I should invest in some SU markers. I have tried my Tombow markers on stamps without much success. This would be fairly easy with SU markers I think.

I also wish I had purchased the rhinestones I was eying at the craft store today. Oh well. Live and learn.

Details:
Stamp: Hero Arts: Merriest Wishes
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, pink
Paper: Pebbles:The Pathway
Embellishments: Stickles

Crisp & Clean Christmas

Again another photo where you can't quite see the glitter. There is red and green stickle dots in the Christmas tree as well as in the 3 stars at the bottom of the green mat.

I bought this stamp set a few years ago and never used this Christmas tree before. I really like it, I think I am going to play around with it and and try some different things maybe some different colours too (thinking pink brown and green).

Details:
Paper: Riding Hood Red & Garden Green
Ink: Memento Red & SU Garden Green
Stamps: Hero Arts: Merriest Wishes
Accessories: star stamp, red & green Stickles

'Not Quite Baja' Christmas

I've been thinking that I would like to make up a small Christmas card set to sell at my daughter's school Christmas bizarre (if they have one) so, I sat down today with intentions of making a simple and easy to replicate card.

*Wish the sparkle would show up better in the photo*


This card looked very crisp and clean without any background images, but I have been meaning to use these flourishes by Inkadinkado for some time now.

If this is the chosen cards to make as a package, I will definitely go without the flourishes to make the mass production easier.

Get prepared for an early X-mas. I have half a dozen ideas already planned, although admittedly some duplication of layout.

Details:
Paper: SU: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze
Ink: SU: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze
Stamps: SU: All Year Cheer II, Inkadinkado: Dot Flourishes, Hero Arts: Diamond Snowflake, Crystal Snowflake, All About Winter, Christmas Tree Trimmings
Accessories: Skittles

Snowman Soup

I haven't disappeared entirely. We have been battling one illness after another in my house. No wonder I haven't been exactly in the Christmas spirit this year.

I was in a mad panic this weekend to get the Christmas cookies for my husbands work started. As well I planned on making little "Snowman Soup" packages for his employees. We just can't afford to buy for them all individually this year.

I found these great little gift bags from the Dollarstore, threw in a package of hotchocolate mix, some mini marshmallows and a candy cane. The poem I found on line. I mocked up the tag on the computer rotating one of snow man upside down so that the card stock could be folded over then stamped with one of my Hero Art stamps.

I hope his staff doesn't mind, but the pizza party or wine was out of the budget this year. I think the gifts would have looked a little chinsy if not for the cute bags. Gotta love the Dolalrstore.

The poem is:

Snowman Soup
Was told you've been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near,
You'll need to warm the spirit.
So here's a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow.
It's sure to do the trick!

Stamp Simply

Oi! I need to re-think Christmas cards for next year. I love the template card I made, but it is just has too many layers and too much painting detail to mass produce. Next year I will think more simply.

This is what I have been up to:


I still have to cut and scallop all the burgundy mats and mount to the card fronts as well as mount the card front to the folded card, heat set the liquid applique on ALL the cards and apply ribbon. Did I say "Oi!" already? Wish me luck!

Hedgehogs in the Snow

I adore these little hedgehogs. They are the reason I bought the "Bubbly" clear stamps set by Penny Black. I had been admiring these little critters for so long, but couldn't decide which "one" stamp of them to buy. When I came across a set with a couple of hedgehogs I had to have them.

I even finally used one of my SU - Circle of Friendship stamps, which I bought last summer at the Stamp Retirement party and had yet to even open.

I told you have been making a REALLY good effort to use stamps I already have, even the DP is left over from last years Christmas stock.

Details:
Stamps: Penny Black - Bubbly, Su - Circle of Friendship, and Hero Arts - Merriest Wishes (ornament & star)
Paper: Rhonna Farrer - Flourishes & Fun, Certainly Celery, and Riding Hood Red
Ink: Certainly Celery, Tombows
Accecsories: Colluzle circles, Skittles, SU - Scallop Punch, Ribbon

Christmas Case

I saw these cute little Santa gift tags by Vicki (It's a Stamp Thing) on Splitcoast over the weekend. She linked the directions to Heathers site (Stamp with Heather) There is a video with clear and super easy directions. I couldn't believe how easy these were to make. Heather has a few really cute images made solely from stamps.


I didn't have the SU "3 for you flower" punch for the hat, so I improvised using another flower punch.

Heather uses these Santa's on Scrapbook pages using the pop up beard for hidden journaling, but they also can be used as gift tags. I plan on making a bunch to hang on my tree.

Hush Puppy Christmas

I bought the cute little "Bubbly" critter clear stamp set by Penny Black back in August. It has a few darling little hedgehogs which I have been desperate to get my hands on. I couldn't wait for them to arrive in the mail, yet I never got around to using them. Guess I lost my mojo.


The stripe DP is from last year's stash, it is so awesome, but I didn't have a good co-ordinating DP to go with it. The Designer Series DP from SU in Old Olive is a dead match, I love the two together. I just picked my SU DP yesterday. You may end up seeing more of this combo.

I am a little miffed that the sentiment isn't centered. It was originally, but then I decided to add a pink mat. In order for it all to fit into the Nestability, the sentiment became slightly off centered. C'est la Vie!

Details:
Stamps: Hero Arts - Merriest Wishes, Penny Black - Bubbly
Paper: KI Memories - Joyful Skinny Stripe, SU Old Olive Designer Series, Riding Hood Red, Pink
Ink: Old Olive, Tombows
Embelishments: Large rectangle Nestabilities, Bella Baubles, Stickles and Ribbon

Stampendous Christmas

It's been a while, I was in a bit of a funk and didn't do any cards. I'm back and I have a dozen ideas, here's hoping I actually get them down on paper.

I tried to be good this year and not buy any new Christmas stamps and just use what I already have. I fell in love with the Santa Trio stamp by Stampendous last year, when I saw it featured on Stampers Dream, with full intentions of using it on my Christmas cards. Of course I didn't, but I have this year.

I sort of had some of my layout already planned, but was struggling with some of the details. I knew before purchasing my DP that I wanted the colour combination to be a bit different from the traditional green and red. The DP changed a few times going from brown, blue & green to red, blue and green. Blue and green were the key ingredients.

Thanks to Kerry J. for the use of her cuddle bug folder and for brain storming with me over the layout. As well, if Kerry J. is ever so gracious as to share her LOW FAT lemon square recipe with all of us, YOU MUST try them, they are FAB!

I am so happy with the results, I love the the colour combination, although IRL the red is more burgandy and the white cardstock is shimmery white by SU, which you can't see in the photo.

Details:
DP: Karen Foster - Christams Stripes, SU cardstock - Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue & Shimmery White, Michaels cardstock - burgandy
Stamps: Stampendous - Santa Trio, EK Success - Sentiment roll
Embellishments: Tombow - markers, Cuddle Bug Folder - Christmas Ornaments, SU - Scallop punch, ribbon from my mother-in-law, Stickles

I have am going to try Marvy Liquid Applique on the Santa Hat and Boots, but it takes 24 hours to dry then needs to be heat set, not so sure that I am going to want to do that on 30 odd cards so Stickles on all of them may be the out come. It's a lot of colouring in for this card, I thinks thats why I didn't end up using it last year. I still love it though.

Ornamental Card & Scrap-pages

I first thought of making Christmas ornaments with my large circle punch last Christmas season, but never saw it to fruition. I found some lovely striped Christmas paper last month that just begged to be made into ornaments, so the idea was born again. Originally it was just suppose to be for a card, but when I was shading in all of the circles to give them depth, I loved them so much that I decided they would make a great scrapbook layout and although I try to make my kids pages look different from one another, these darling ornaments made it into both of their scrapbooks over the weekend.



Last night I worked on a card using an ornament that I embellished with Versamark and copper Ep. I am not sure that I LOVE the Ep, it didn't turn out as I had envisioned, but it an interesting look, but I think it takes away from the 3D effect.



Details:
various Sandylion Dp, punch with a large Megapunch, edges antiqued with bronze pigment, and adorned with copper paper cut onrnament tops. I also used the antique feature in iPhoto before printing my photos.

Scrapbook Alert

I have no cards to post this evening, but that does not mean I haven't been up to my elbows in ink and paper. I did 5 scrapbook pages as well another from late last week and that's not counting one more page that is on my desk waiting for some journaling. I've been busy!

The layouts of the snow pages in pink and in blue were cased from SplitCoastStampers, however I made my own pink paper.

Pink page: stamped in white color box pigment using various Hero Art Stamps, Cuttlebug snowflakes, dollar store sticker letters. I like the affect of making my own patterned paper, I've never done that with a scrapbook page before. Original here.

Blue page: Figgy Pudding Dp - Silent Night, Sandylion Dp - Let It Snow, Hero Art Stamps, Cuttlebug snowflakes, white ep, corner punch, traced dollar store letters. Original here.

Christmas page: My Mind's Eye Dp, Sandylion DP - O Christmas Tree / Florentine Ribbons, Sentiment Sandylion - Season's Greetings, Quick Kutz - flourish, Distress Ink

I love this Harvest layout , it is simple, but very effective, I borrowed the layout from Scrap Maps.

Harvest page: My Mind's Eye Dp, Scenic Route Dp, Title by Bo Bunny Press - Pickin' Pumpkins, Michaels Dollar stamp, Distress Ink, bronze brads.

These last two pages are photos from the same day. I was planning on doing a double page layout, but when I put the pony photos onto the brown gingham paper from My Mind's Eye, it didn't work because of the orange ribbons I used. I kept going back to the polka dot paper also by My Mind's Eye which is almost identical to the hat my daughter was wearing, hence no more double page.

Harvest page: Bo Bunny Press embelishments - Pickin' Pumpkins, My Mind's Eye Dp, coorinating ribbons from the kid's nana.

Pony page: originally the journaled tag was going to go on the upper left hand corner and the Title where the tag is now. I glued all the photo's into place then started moving things around and liked the journal on the bottom better, but now had a big blank space in the upper left hand corner so I borrowed the layered bubble idea from my son's swimming page. I like the effect of writing around some of the bubbles, although in this case I guess they would be polka dots, not bubbles.

Hey, I think that's all of them "phew". Have a great day!