It's (nearly) Christmas!

Have you got all of your Christmas cards made?  Here we are at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' to help you with that final push to get all of your festive makes done!  It's time for our last challenge of 2018 and as always our challenge theme is "Anything Goes at Christmas".

Here's my card for this month:

I was super-pleased with this Penny Black cling stamp and it was indeed an absolute joy to colour.  I did this one with Copics but I really want to try colouring this image with my Zig watercolour pens, too. 

The sentiment is by Wplus9 and has been stamped with black Versafine ink and clear heat embossed to help it stand out.  I created a bit of a frame around the image by smooshing on a bit of Antique Linen distress ink around the edges of the card.

I really hope you can play along this month and would point you in the direction of the gorgeous projects my lovely teamies have made to inspire you here.  most of all I wish you all a fabulously happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas.

Tracey xx

The end of an era

I'm here today for a bittersweet occasion.  My lovely friend Abi, who took over Sweet Stampin' with Fabulous Fi some years ago, is moving on.  Life has changed a lot for Abi since we joined the Sweet Stampin' blog and she's now a (very young) granny with a hectic lifestyle.

I'm really happy and honoured to have been asked to return to Sweet Stampin' as a GD for today to wish Abi all the very best. 

The challenge theme is week is Sparkle and Glitz and here's what I made

I die cut a coverplate panel from Altenew woodgrain paper.  This paper is really quite thin so I use a couple of layers.  I then stamped and die cut some layered florals from Wplus9 and MFT and arranged them in a loose bouquet.  

For the Sparkle and Glitz I covered the flower centres with clear Wink of Stella and added sequins which I also painted to add a bit more glimmer.

I used a Clearly Besotted die to cut the word "friend" from gold cardstock and adhered this using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

Hope you can play along this week at Sweet Stampin'.  The DT have made the most gorgeous projects to celebrate all that Abi has done for the blog over the past years, so if you have a moment, do check them out.

Tracey xx

CaSS and a Happy Accident

Another month gone by and another epic fail in my mission to try and post more regularly!  Hey ho.

I'm here with my DT card for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' as our latest challenge starts today.  As always, our theme is Anything Goes at Christmas, so feel free to use your Christmas stash to make anything you like.

My card this month came about via a bit of a happy accident...

The original plan was to stamp the image in light grey ink but I obviously hadn't managed to clean off all of residue from some Versafine black I'd used previously.  The result is a darker grey which I then painted with clear Wink of Stella.

The sentiment is from a Wplus9 set that was part of a Simon Says Stamp collaboration.  I wish I could remember who makes the image stamp - it's foam rubber, so Hero Arts or Penny Black? Stampendous?  Do let me know if you recognise it.

I hope you can play along with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month - check out the fabulous inspiration projects the CaSSettes have made. Only a month and a few days to go until the big day!

Tracey xx

Christmas Countdown at CaSS

Hello!  I'm back with my card for the October challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.

I used the new Mama Elephant Santa's Sleigh set to make this shaped card and I'll admit to having to make "a few" before I got the layout right.  The card looks best with light coming from behind it so unfortunately the photo doesn't do it any favours but hey, I live in Scotland and it's autumn ;)

I hope you can join us over at CaSS - all of our challenges are Anything Goes at Christmas so you can enter with any of your Christmas projects.  Only 2 more challenges after this one before Santa arrives!

Tracey xx

A little something non-Christmassy

Hello!

Thought I'd stop by to share a little birthday card to make a change from the Christmas production line.

I'm so sad that I missed out on the Simon Says Stamp/Wplus 9 collaboration stamp set for this year's Stamptember.  It looks like it sold out in record time.  Wplus 9 make the most fabulous layering stamps so I decided to dig out an older set that I haven't used for some time.

I used the Freehand Florals to stamp and die cut the flowers and made a simple arrangement on the front of a white panel cut from a Papertrey ink set.  Once this had been matted onto blue cardstock I stamped the sentiment (by Altenew) and mounted the panels onto a white card base.  A few sequins completed the design.  This was surprisingly quick to put together so I made another one!

Does anyone else like revisiting stamps you haven't used for a while?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracey x

Strictly has started...

Yes, Strictly Come Dancing is back on the box and for those of us in the UK, this means the countdown to Christmas has started.  Good job Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is here to keep you on track with those Christmas makes!

Our new challenge starts today and as always, our theme is Anything Goes. I decided to do something a little different (for me) this month so I've made a super-sized gift tag.

I can't remember where the large tag die set came from although I have a funny feeling it may be a Tim Holtz one.  Well, the tag is pretty big, certainly big enough to take a decent sized stamped image like this cutie from Stamping Bella.

I coloured the bear and the mouse with Copics: W0-3 for the polar bear's fur and W5-8 for his paws; C0-2 for the mouse; R24, 27 and 29 for the clothing; R00 and R30 for the ears.  A bit of sparkle was added with some Glamour Dust before I threaded some red and white twine through the top of the tag.  Quick, easy and lots of fun to do.

I hope you can play along with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  Do check out the challenge details and the fabulous inspiration projects the lovely CaSSettes have made here.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Tracey xx

The Christmas Production Line Begins...

It's the second Wednesday of the month which means it's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme is always "Anything goes at Christmas" so all Christmas projects are eligible to enter.

Here's my DT make for this month

I've got to admit to being every so slightly obsessed with this Concord & 9th turnaround stamp.  So much so, that I've actually had a bit of a production line going and have managed to add a number of cards to my Christmas pile.  I've even tried to push myself out of my comfort zone by trying some new colours (for me)

Trust me, this turnaround malarkey is addictive!

I hope you can play along with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  The schools are about to go back here so it really is only a matter of a few weeks before the festive season is upon us!

Thanks for stopping by.

Tracey x

Christmas in July

I'm scheduling this post as we're off on our hols soon, but hopefully the weather in the UK will still be warm and sunny as you read this.

I'm here to let you know that the July challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is now live.  For the first time in ages it's seemed odd making a Christmas card when the sun is shining, but that's living in Scotland for you! 

I went with a sweet LotV image this time and something a bit more like the style I started out with a few years ago.  I've got loads of flowers to use up but I feel I've lost the knack of arranging them.  Definitely need to practise with them a bit more if I'm ever going to make a dent in the boxes piled up in my craft space (aka corner of the kitchen).

I hope you can play along with us at CaSS this month.  Do check out the challenge details and the fabulous inspiration projects my lovely teamies have made.

Tracey xx

Half way through the year... must be nearly Christmas!

Where, oh where have the first six months of this year gone?  I can hardly believe it's time for our June challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  Won't be long before all the new Christmas stamps and dies start appearing as if by magic in our shopping baskets 😉

As always our challenge theme is very simple - Anything Goes at Christmas.  Here's my DT card for this month

This image from Power Poppy was a joy to colour with my Copics.  I added some sparkle with a little sprinkle of glitter on the berries and added a Wplus9 sentiment which I stamped in black and clear heat embossed.

I do hope you'll join in the challenge this month.  It certainly seems that a lot of you are making your cards nice and early.

Hop over here to check out the challenge details and to see the lovely designs the CaSSettes have created to inspire you.

Hope you're managing to avoid the rain and gales if you're in the UK!

Tracey xx

Christmas in May

We're celebrating Christmas again at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' in our attempt to help you get your cards ready for the festive season.

I finally inked up a wanted-it-really-badly-but-then-didn't-get-round-to-using-it stamp set from Papertrey Ink for my DT card this month:

The image comes from a layering stamp set with lots of (as yet unexplored by me) possibilities. I kept it simple and stamped the tree in shades of green with a little gold heat embossing and some self adhesive pearls.  The sentiment is from the Wplus9 baubles set and I love the font.

I really hope you can play along with us this month.  Check out the inspiration projects from my lovely teamies, plus the challenge details over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.

Have a great week.

Tracey xx

Christmas at Easter?

Easter may have only just gone by but it's Christmas every month at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.

It's time for our April challenge and as always our theme is Anything Goes at Christmas - you can make anything you like as long as it has a Christmas theme.

Here's my DT card for this month:

I used a Simon Says Stamp large stripes stamp to create my background using a soft grey ink.  The flowers and leaves were stamped and cut out using one of the MFT florals sets - the flowers could be anything really, but a bit of deep red ink and some gold Nuvo drops were all I needed to give the impression of poinsettias.  The large sentiment is from a Wplus9 set and I popped this up using some foam dots.

I hope you'll be able to play along with us this month. You'll find my teamies' lovely inspiration projects and all of the challenge details here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tracey xx

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' March Challenge

Hello!  I'm dashing in to share my DT card for the March challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme, as always, is Anything Goes at Christmas, so feel free to make anything you like that has a link to the festive season.

Here's my card:

Another fairly clean and simple one from me this month. I used Altenew's woodgrain stamp to create the background and their lower case alpha dies to cut out the letters for the sentiment.  I cut the letters from both white card and fun foam to give the letters some extra dimension.

The branches and berries were stamped and die cut using a set from Papertrey Ink called Beautiful Berries (Winter).  I adhered these directly to the card base and then glued the sentiment letters on top.  Apart from the faffing about to arrange the foliage, the whole thing didn't take too long to make. I've seen the foliage stamped in blue/teal and it looks gorgeous, so that might be a combo to try at some point.

Loads going on here which is why I'm still not able to craft or blog as much as I'd like.  Mum broke her wrist and hip (although the hip break wasn't diagnosed for 2 weeks after she fell) and had to have a hip replacement op. She's back home now but still having all sorts of problems. To say it's been awful for her is an understatement, poor thing, and my poor old dad is just exhausted. Still, we carry on regardless! 

 I do hope you'll join in with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  Click here to check out the challenge blog and see the lovely inspiration projects my brilliant teamies (who are also the kindest of pals) have made. 

Hugs to all

Tracey xx

A snowy scene

Christmas may be 10 months away but with the weather we're having right now fits perfectly with the festive season!  There's snow in the forecast again - we missed the last lot (only by a mile or two though) but it's sooooo cold!

My DT card for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month was inspired by the weather and the fact that we're seeing so many deer out in the open in the middle of the day, something that wouldn't normally be the case here.

I die cut a stitched rectangle from Neenah card and then cut the Memory Box deer scene into the top portion of the cardstock. I stamped a Wplus9 sentiment underneath the image in Versafine black ink.

I cut another piece of white card, masked off a snowy layer using post it tape and ink blended blue Distress inks to create my background.  I diluted a drop of white acrylic paint and splattered this onto the cardstock to create a snowy scene.   I found some matching blue DP in my scrap box and cut a rectangle to fit the card base.  I adhered the ink blended panel behind the die cut image once the paint was dry then popped the whole thing up on some craft foam.  A few enamel drops completed the card.

Our challenge theme at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' is always "Anything Goes at Christmas" so why not take advantage of the wintry weather and stay indoors and craft. My teamies have made the most lovely inspiration projects, so do check them out here.

Hope you can play along!

Tracey xx

Keep those Christmas cards coming!

I know that some of you will be all Christmassed out by now, but over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' we're starting our Christmas projects for December 2018!  As always our theme is Anything Goes at Christmas so if you were lucky enough to have received some Christmas-themed crafty goodies from Santa, here's a great opportunity to use them!

I treated myself to "one or two" items from Lili of the Valley's sale recently - you might be seeing a few of their cute designs from me in the coming months!  Here's my DT card for this month's CaSS challenge:

I coloured this jolly Santa with Copics and added lots of sparkle with Glamour Dust and some chunky glitter.  The DP was from my stash and the image is matted onto a Wplus9 die-cut scalloped rectangle.

I do hope you can join in the fun at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  My lovely teamies have some great inspiration projects for you, which you can check out here.

Here's to 2018 being a wonderful year for you all.

Tracey xx