Not one but 2

When I saw that Crafty Hazlenuts challenge was for Father Christmas I could not resist. After all he is an important chap in the whole Christmas proceedings! Over at Humbug hall its also an oldie but a goodie week and this def fits into that category too!This stamp was sadly neglected last Christmas so it was the perfect opportunity to give him some time. I love this colour combo too.
so what was the recipe?

Santa stamp - Habico

Snowflakes - Tim Holtz mini holidays

Merry Christmas - magazine freebie

Ink - stampin up

punch - stampin up

glitter - stickles

card stock Kanban

and feeling in the mood I spotted this Kanban fella in my stash so I gave him some lovin too

Recipe for this one

Image - Kanban

Inks ranger archival

Music and believe stamps - Tim holtz

Papers by Bo Bunny

Merry Christmas stamp - Forever friends

Gingham ribbon in stash

and that gorgeous cream eyelet ribbon is an absolute bargain and can be found here at 10p a metre - yes you read right 10p!

So I am off to add this is Crafty Hazlenuts challenge - Thanks for the inspiration hazel x

Winter wonderland

This month has been far too long! I am beginning to think I made a mistake saying i would do a monthly spot at the end of the month LOL as I have been chomping at the bit to play with my WW teamies!
And Wow what a team! We have some new DT members and its been fabulous getting to know them and all their gorgeous work if you havent stopped by WW please do and take a look - awesome!
The challenge this week is my sentiments exactly! Make the sentiment the focus of your card. I love these digi sentiments from our fab sponsor this week - great to have something you can size up or down as the fancy takes you - as you can see I sized up then added this little Angel ontop of a snow flake. I dont know her stamp make as I was given this by a pal but I think she is lovely. The colour scheme was dictated by my printer playing up and printing everything navy blue LOL but it works well with this ancient papermania paper and a little chipped sapphire distress ink. Just got to hide this from Mum now - a bit difficult when we share a craft room.
So we will be in 2 teams from next week and a whole month before I'm on the DT again - can I stay away that long? if I have a minute you know I will be playing LOL. Hop on over to Winter Wonderland where not only are there new DT members but new logos, headers, buttons - the lot - its a maga talented team over there thats for sure x Janet

Winter Wonderland

Over on Winter Wonderland this week the theme is to use some Paws on your card. A perfect excuse to ink up this cute previously unused stamp! Papers are basic grey - I am on a mission to use up all my leftovers before starting on the gorgeous papers I bought in the sales.
So although I am playing along I cannot win the prize being a Dt member even though it is now once a month but I thought it would be fun seeing as I was making cards yesterday anyway. Do stop by the WW challenge my teamies are awesome!

Bah Humbug - Challenge 1 of 2011!

The first challenge at Bah humbug for this year is to use holly or Fairies on your card. Fabulous when I picked up these gorgeous holly papers by craft creations in the sale! So I decided to stick with the holly theme. I have used a cute forever friends bear who also happens to have holly in his hat. I've also used a holly motif stamped then coloured and cut out. The berries are tiny gems which I have coloured using promarkers. Some pricking , faux stitching and some gold ribbon and its complete.
I wonder why I love the preparations for Christmas so much? My head is full of ideas for Christmas 2011 already. I even bought some pressies in the sales! I know most folks are ready to move on from Christmas now but I feel at my most excited about it - maybe I'm just odd LOL - answers in the comments box please :0)

and so it all begins again...............

I started this blog 12 months ago as a place to record my preparations for Christmas 2010. I have to say i was really pleased with the organised feel i had to Christmas which meant that December could be focused on other things than making cards and gifts - having the luxury of time to make some decorations was in itself a real pleasure. So now I begin all over again this time for Christmas 2011!

This card was made using the waste from cutting out a reindeer from my new Tim Holtz dies. I spent yesterday afternoon die cutting away so I have lots on hand when I want it. This seemed to work quite well although I still prefer the stamped version.

Sentiments are by butterfly kisses. inks used are cherry cobbler SU and black momento.

This was one of my fav buys of last year and he didn't see enough ink so out it came. Again from the same set of butterfly kisses stamps and simple matting and layering complete this card. I really must try to make flatter cards this year as the postage was horrendous for all my bulky creations so these three work well with that in mind.

So I am entering this in Crafty Hazelnuts first Christmas challenge which you can find here

A great way to get ahead for 2011!