Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

 Hi there and thanks for dropping by today. I have to confess that this is a last minute card as we are in the middle of swarm season and coupled with just getting back from Scotland, I am completely swamped! What more appropriate a header than a photo of my first swarm this year! I had the first one on Friday and then a second on Sunday! The bees are certainly keeping me on my toes!

My card today is for the Holly and Ivy Challenge, which is always an anything goes challenge. I don't know why, but I decided to go with some watercolor pencils on Kraft cardstock for a change of pace and I kind of liked the result!

So I started with inking up the background foliage stamp, which has no name on it, in Versafine Claire Pinecone ink.

Next step was to color it in with colored pencils. These were old Stampin' Up pencils that hadn't seen the light of day in I don't know how long!

The recollections holly stamps and dies were then stamped in the same ink and colored with the same pencils.

.... and then die cut.

The sentiment from the same stamp set was stamped in the Versafine Clair Pinecone ink too and then die cut with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Labels.

The sentiment and the holly sprig were then popped up on top of the front panel, which was attached to a white card base to make the mistletoe berries pop?

... and that's it for today's card. Hope I've inspired you to get out something to create a Christmas card and join in over at the anything goes Holly and Ivy Challenge? 

Till next time!

Shona

Snow Much Fun

 Hi there and thanks for stopping by! I was able to change my header today. I had had a quick trip to Scotland last week to celebrate my Dad's 90th birthday. My three brothers and some of their families, my hubby and daughter Gillian had a great weekend of celebration with Mum and Dad, whom we had not seen for almost 2 1/2 years. Needless to say we had a wonderful time, making more memories! I got back on Friday to very warm weather and had to go into my hives to check for swarming clues and try to reduce the chance of it happening. I took a few photos, this one is of the girls festooning between two frames. Aren't they so cute?

My card today is for the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. Using the skiing snowman from a stamp and die set, that I recently purchased from Lifescraft, I have my little guy speeding down the snowy slope!

I began with stamping the snowman from the stamp set in Versamark Clair Nocturne ink. 

He was then heat embossed with Clear Detail.

I colored him with Copics and then die cut him.

I took a piece of light blue cardstock and using the Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder, I sanded the raised dots down to make them more white, like snowflakes. A piece of double-sided tape was layered to a scrap of white cardstock and was layered to the base of the blue background. I removed the protective layer from the tape and added Twinkling Clouds flocking to the sticky surface.

I placed the sentiment, from the same stamp set in my stamping platform and stamped directly on to the blue sky using Versafine Clair Paradise ink, I then added some Blue Ribbon glitter to add some sparkle.

The background was added to a white card base and then the little snowman was taped down to the snow and his body popped up with a foam pad for some dimension. White organdy ribbon was tied around the top of the card to finish.

I hope I have inspired you to pop on over to the Holly and Ivy Challenge? It's always an anything goes theme!

Till next time!

Shona

Christmas Tree Joy

Hi there and welcome back. Today I have a card for the Holly and the Ivy Challenge, where it is always anything goes. An easy way for you to keep adding to your Christmas card stash twice a month throughout the year. I haven't changed my header this month as blogger has changed something with the header option in layout! So you are stuck with a bee for a bit longer!! This happened before, so I am hoping that it will revert back to being able to change the header image. Anyway, on to my card!

Another of the die cuts that I recently purchased from Lifescraft. It's a Christmas tree edger, but I decided to use it a little differently. I ran the die cut through my machine with white cardstock.

Then I drew around the outline of the tree and flipped the die to pencil in both sides on a darker piece of green than the card base that I was going to use.

This was then fussy cut along the inside of the pencil marks and was taped down to the inside of the tree. The tree was then taped down to the front of the card base. The sentiment and little package were from the following stamp set.

The sentiment and gift were stamped with Versafine Clair Shady Lane Ink and were then heat embossed with Clear Detail powder to give them a little sparkle.

I wrapped a green organdy ribbon around the left side of the card to finish it off!

Hope this has inspired you to join in with us at the Holly and the Ivy Challenge? 

I'll be back soon!

Shona