It's PARTY Time!

Well, part way through the week between Christmas and New Year most people are looking to find that PARTeeeeeeeeeeeee venue before the 31st December rolls around - just so they know where they are going to be seeing the Old year out.  I know I won't be partying as my babysitting skills are needed for a grandchild. Mum's birthday falls on 31st December and party celebrations are being planned.

The new Delicious Doodles Challenge this week - LET'S PARTY

I made a "little card" to go with her gift.
Using Delicious Doodles' Celebrate With Cake, Let's Party Freebie, and one of the sentiments from the Mens' sentiment range.

I used the sketch from the Outlawz sketch challenge this week as inspiration.

The cake was paper pieced using some pink starburst paper and some red pearlised paper from my scrap box.

and layered up for added dimension

Mirri card - something I had to hunt for because I don't use it that often - to add a bit of a party/disco ball effect. The recipient does like her shinies so stickles on the flowers for added sparkle.

A bow to mirror that of the cake and put it all together.

I am entering this into the challenge at

Outlawz sketch challenge - Their Sketch

Cat and Mouse (and a couple of birds)

Way back .................. oh, months ago ........... A new challenge blog was launched. There was a massive prize on offer for those that completed a challenge piece from then ..... until now. It has become a weekly and pleasurable job to make sure I get my project in on time. By the skin of my teeth once or twice but I am one of seven that has made it through to the end. Phew. The blog in question is

Through The Purple Haze

I might not have won many of their weekly challenges - there is some stiff competition out there - but I have done my best. All I could ask of me. This week is the final week of that initial challenge. I made it !!!
Penny Black are the sponsors this week and I just happen to have one of their stamps - lucky me won it on this very blog in a challenge months ago. As luck would have it - it's Christmas themed as well. Just right for this Christmas themed challenge.
I made a gift bag from a single piece of 12"x12" patterned paper. The design of the paper is much better suited for a larger project or scrapbook page. As I don't do scrapping - the larger project it is.

The front with the stamped image sitting on two die cut shapes from pearlescent white card

This shows the dimension - the "puffy white stuff" with added glitter for the snow and the decoupaged robins and mouse. I had to have them proud of the snow.

 This is the back - a third die cut from the spellbinders "labels32" set and two of the memory box "La Rue Flourish" - with some red gems added.
A bit of silver ribbon through some holes and ready for filling.

I am entering this into the challenge at
Through The Purple Haze - Here comes Christmas Day

Starry Night

Hello to you all out there, today's project is a card that I made as guest designer over at the C.R.A.F.T. challenge blog. Rick St Dennis is just one of the fabulous sponsors this week. You really do need to have a look.
The challenge was to use the sketch provided......

This is the card I made using Starry Night Santa.

Isn't he cute!

Coloured mostly with promarkers with silver gel pen on those twinkly stars 

The card base edges were coloured with gold promarker before adding my layers of silver and red papers.

The red ribbon with gold edges and silver satin ribbons add more sparkle and opulence.

There are die cut snowflakes adhered to golden circles and dusted well with silvery white glitter.

The sentiment was stamped with and heat embossed with red. Matted onto more gold card with more glitter.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes on offer, you'll have to visit the C.R.A.F.T. challenge blog to get all the details.

I'd like to enter this into the challenge at 
Cards Galore - Christmas
Feeling Crafty - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Christmas

Shake It

For today's post I bring you a "Shaker card". For full details on how I made it please visit Rick St Dennis' Tuts and Comments blog. I'll just show a few pics here. This is my contribution for the RSD EDT team into the Smeared and Smudged 12 days of Creepmas hop. I know - not very creepy but the style of card can be used with any image.
 The image is "Silent Night" from Rick St Dennis.

The papers are all from Southfield Paper and Card.
Please show some support for us over at the Tuts and comments blog, maybe some suggestions on what you'd like to see us make - as a team

Did I say Baubles?

The last bauble post of the day - honest.
These ones were all made using Indigo Blu stamps.

and just for a change - some beaded ones

More of those Baubles

Please see the previous post for the rest and my story.
In fairness to the different artists/companies I have separated the posts.
This bauble features a little tree. One that Rick St Dennis drew last year for the Creepmas bloghop that I took part in. This year is far too busy for me to undertake it on my own so I'm just doing a couple of posts for the RSD, Tutorials and Comments blog.  This little beauty is called the Creepmas Tree Monster.

This one was primed first with black gesso before applying picket fence crackle paint. When dry my little pre-coloured tree was printed onto cheap printer paper and fussy cut out. Gel medium applied to the front of the image and pressed into the surface of the bauble. Then more of the waiting game until this was totally dry (overnight). Water and a gentle rubbing finger to remove the paper leaves the image in place. A gentle dusting of burnt sienna and copper pan pastels to add a bit of depth. A further coating of crackle paint - this time clear. Then when that was dry the whole thing was given a coat of sealant. (Americana Decou-page) 

Baubles and more baubles

Well, so far I have fought off the putting up of "The Tree", I like it going up after my daughter's birthday on the 12th and it's always been a tradition in my home for a family activity when all are present just before the big day. Looks like it's be this weekend that the battle will be lost by me. No more excuses. I have however been making some new baubles for the seasonal decoration that takes over our room.
I have used a variety of techniques and, in deference to the different tastes of family and friends, stamps from different sources.
My first batch are using my new rubber stamps from Smeared Ink and images drawn by Rick St Dennis - Dark Holidaze.
All are wooden, some are altered jigsaw pieces and some are precut from Indigo Blu.

 Primed with white gesso, stamped with green pigment ink and dusted with yellow ochre. burnt sienna and copper pan pastels

 Primed with black gesso, stamped with clear embossing ink and dusted with copper panpastels

 primed with white gesso, sanded back slightly, stamped with green pigment ink and heat set. The other side  was primed with black gesso stamped with clear embossing ink then dusted with copper and green perfect pearls. purple gilding wax round the edges

Primed with black gesso, stamped with silver pigment ink. Heat set before painting with perfect pearls

Primed with black gesso, stamped with silver pigment ink that was wiped randomly on the bauble as well then all heat embossed with clear EP.

I'd like to enter my tree baubles into the challenge at
Left of Centre - Winter or Holidays

Mistletoe Kisses

More Christmas cards to make. Someone just ordered 3 more - and were specific that they had to be 8"x8". Back to the Cubbyhole I go. Feminine without being too glittery - here goes.
The traditional festive colours of red and green was my first one. I suppose in many peoples eyes, Christmas IS red, green and white. The colours of holly, ivy, fir and mistletoe - the natural decorative items in days gone by.
I chose the image "Mistletoe Fairy" from AuroraWings. Coloured with promarkers with a drop of glossy accents on the mistletoe berries.

The card itself was made with the sketch by Tuesday Morning Sketches as inspiration.

The main paper is DCWV with a MME panel. All matted on pearlised dark green card with TH leaves from the offcuts.

 A shiny red satin ribbon with pearly clasp

 and a little Die'sire sentiment on pearlised white card 

One down - two to go.

I'd like to enter this card into the challenges at

Tuesday Morning Sketches - their sketch this week

Through The Purple Haze - Favourite Christmas colours (this is another one)
Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas challenge - include a sentiment

Craftitude - Anything goes/Christmas Sparkle

Hairy Legs and Delicious Doodles

Morning folks
Something a bit different in the challenge over at Delicious Doodles this week. Something that is only Christmas if you choose it to be. The theme is

Hairy Legs

I did choose to go down the Christmas card route - another to add to the pile. Seems I need a few more for a couple of family members.
The image I chose is "Bark at the Moon" a beautiful image for winter.

Teamed with the Christmas Snowflake Border
The Snowflake Border was finished off with icicle stickles with some on the snow of the tree.

The colour palette of pale blue, white and silver - well that is one of my favourite combinations for this kind of card when giving. So many are red and green, it makes a change to have something different to give.

The papers have been in my stash since last year sometime and I have no idea of the origin but the pack came with sheet of silver on white and silver on blue and because I didn't have any double sided papers that would suit I backed the blue version with the white. 

The aperture measured and cut to size and the flaps secured with snowflake brads  A little Christmas greeting stamped with blue archival ink onto shrink plastic and affixed with clear thread with some silver balls.

After attaching all this to the card base, more little blobs of stickles added to the edges of the pre-shaped card.
Now to make the envelope, lol
Looking forward to seeing your Hairy Legs guys

I am entering this into the challenge over at
Through the Purple Haze - Favourite Christmas colours (This is just one combo I have)

Sugar Plum Fairy

Morning peeps.
Today's the day when all the EDT of Rick St Dennis get together and showcase the freebie that went out with the monthly newsletter. For those that missed the boat and have not signed up for the newsletter, all is not lost as our little mouse is available in the Zibbet store. She's not the only one and I think I have shown a lot of them in the last month and still not got round to all of them. Remember those little Calendar Mice I featured the other day? Well they're still on special - but you'll have be quick.
We're not having the normal challenge this month as there are far too many other things going on, including Christmas. There have been a few lovely examples showcased by some very talented ladies over on our facebook page but it's on the Sparkle and Glitter blog of Rick's that we are getting together as a team. My contribution is a little post-it note holder.
They're so simple to make and are great little stocking fillers.

This one is made using silver textured cardstock. All that was needed as decoration were a few gems and, of course, a pen. The glittery card stock die-cut was decoration enough.

Coloured with promarkers with just a touch here and there of glittery gel pens on her wand and shoes and what Sugar Plum Fairy would be complete without a touch of glitter?

That's about it from me at the moment folks. Except to say, if you like the drawings of Rick St Dennis, and there can't be many, check out the rest of the Zibbet store and signing up for the monthly news letter is just plain common sense.
Oh and one more thing - there's news of another freebie  - but you need to start on here for that.

I'd like to enter this post-it note holder into the challenge at
Through the Purple Haze - Christmas is coming
Totally Papercrafts - Anything Chrstmassy but a card

Second Day of Creepmas with RSD's Tuts

Hi, The project/tutorial I have for you all today can be seen in it's entirety over on the Second Day of Creepmas post of the Tuts and Comments blog of the Rick St Dennis' EDT so just a brief synopsis here so you all know about it.
I made a couple of Jacob's ladders. One of those toys that both young and old can enjoy.

I used a rubber stamp from the Smeared Ink "Morte" rubber set, drawn by Rick St Dennis and "We Three Geese" available from Rick's Zibbet shop.

One for those that prefer "the Dark Side" and one lighter themed one. Both employing heat embossing. The geese were coloured with a mixture of promarkers, sparkly gel pens and metallic markers. 

I'd like to enter this project into the challenge at
Through The Purple Haze - Christmas is coming, The goose is getting fat
Addicted to Stamps - Embossing - Heat or dry
Anything but a card - Holiday Themed - these are to be presents
Stamping Sensations - Free and Easy

Grumpy For Christmas

Me, I'm always grumpy leading up to Christmas. Not my favourite time of year for many reasons. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say, the best time of the day is midnight - just before the 26th. I do however make a few cards for those family and friends that will appreciate them. Some of my favourite characters are The Grumpies from Smeared Ink. They fit just about every occasion and there are now quite a few to choose from and make fab cards for the menfolk in our lives. There's one particular man in my life that just adores them and this is his card.

 I followed sketch # 73/74 from the Papertake Weekly files. The spotty DP is from a #2papercraft 4 you"  Christmas collection and already has "Merry Christmas" printed all over it. That's the sentiment taken care of. A square of frayed hessian with some copper and gold ribbon. A square of green inked kraft coloured card and topped off with our main character. The card base was dusted lightly with distress ink to take away that stark whiteness.

This little Grumpie comes from the "All Occasions" rubber set from Smeared Ink. Coloured with promarkers, glittery gel pens and metallic markers with some woodware "Fluffy Stuff" applied on the hat fur.

I's like to enter this card into the challenge at
Papertake Weekly - Sketchie Free-for-all using sketch # 73/74 (they are both the same)
Smeared and Smudged Forum - "Smudgy Antics" Anything Goes with a Smeared Ink Stamp
Stamping Sensations - Free and Easy

Inspired By A Movie

It's the start of another challenge over at Delicious Doodles' Challenges. I don't know about you but the theme this week of "Inspired by a movie" is always a tough one for me. I never know which film to choose out of the many out there. I started of by thinking I'd do something like "Terror of the Deep" but somehow this film kept coming into my head. So went with it. I chose "Queen of the Damned"
It did give me the excuse to use some gorgeous flocked pieces that I have been hoarding - die cuts from a RAK received about 2 years ago. The edges are cut like that of an old-fashioned film reel and has apertures for pics - so more for scrapbooking I think, something I don't do. I ended up cutting those edges off to use here.

I followed the sketch over at Papertake Weekly for my design. The digi stamp is La Rosa Muerta from, of course, Delicious Doodles. Mounted onto red pearlised card, after colouring just the hair, lips and rose with promarkers and framed with those edges and TH iron gate die cuts.

Then there's the sanded black/red coredinations piece behind that. The BP is from Southfield paper. Lace, ribbon bows, crown charm and flowers all from stash.
All then attached to a black inked card base.
What film will you choose to depict? Come show us at Delicious Doodles Challenges please so that we can be inspired by you!

I'd like to enter this card into the challenge at
Papertake Weekly - Sketch #85
Through The Purple Haze - Use your Craft Stash (I always do)

Perpetual Calendar with Mice

Hi every one,  What have we here?















A calendar that will not need replacing year after year.
It features twelve little mice in a variety of poses - a different one for each month.
The full story can be seen over on the Tutorial blog.of Rick St Dennis' EDT.  I hope you can take the time and visit.
I have used many old items from my hoarded stash. The base box is an empty laundry soap box - cut to size. The DCWV paper on the box - well that's at least 2 years old. The mount board to make the card inserts - that was a big box gifted to me about 3 years ago. Then there's the cotton lace.... I hate to think how long I've had that. The embellishments on each month card - nearly all from that buried box of stuff that "I'll never use that, but keep it just in case". Haven't we all got one of them?

Here's a little teaser of the months. Now you know you'll have to check out the rest.

The Mice used in the calendar are now available as a set with a special price 25.00 USD, only available for a limited time here.  Then they will be on sale in Rick's Zibbet shop at the normal price.

Regular price $36.00 or $3.00 each. The special saves $11.00

I'd like to enter this calendar into the challenge at
Through the Purple Haze - Use your stash
Clear It Out Challenge - Anything Goes

Through The Craftroom Door - Anything Goes
Oldie but A Goodie - Ribbon and/or Lace
Anything But a Card - recycle
Quirky Crafts - Christmas like in the good old days - Altered items only

Anything Goes at Smudgy Antics

Hi there peeps. It's the last week of not only this Anything Goes challenge at the Smudgy Antics blog but also the last challenge on the blog. All future challenges will be held within the Challenger section of the Smeared and Smudged ning forum.  It's free to join and so much going on with all the new stuff, as well as old favourites, it's well worth a visit or four.
My piece for this week is a variation on the Christmas Wreath. I used the Smeared Ink rubber stamps from the "Gothic Christmas" collection.

The images were stamped using Stazon onto felt, cut out and glued to the prepared wreath.

The wire ring base was first wrapped with wadding and strips of hessian on top of that a couple of retaining stitches held it all in place.
Some colour was added with fineliners. I was not about to use my promarkers near the stazon ink.
Some felt mistletoe added with a little bow and a grosgrain ribbon hanging loop before topping off with that fabulous reindeer head.
That's about it from me today.
Come along and join us with this fun challenge. Think outside the box and surprise us.

I'd like to enter this Christmas wreath into the challenge at
Stamping Sensations - Christmas

A Colour Challenge

OK, I read the challenge wrong. OOps. I'm sure I saw use purple, pink and red. I go to link up my project and it says EITHER. Oh well looks like I might have to either take my chances or do another project quick as the closing date is tomorrow for Through The Purple Haze Challenges.
Anyway, this is finished so might as well blog it.
A Christmas tree ornament. The original inspiration came from Southfield Paper and Card Shop's newletter.

Just a collection of card rosettes in graduating sizes. Hot glued together. Some shiny fibres wound round and some gems lights glues in place.

The top has been decorated with snowflakes and snowballs.

So as you can see - all the colours have been used but I could easily have used just the one if I'd been able to read that day.

I am entering this ornament into the challenge at

Through The Purple Haze - Colour Challenge

Crafty Creations - Christmas or Thanksgiving

It's a Cute Christmas Card

OK folks, don't faint but we're going from Gothic to cute in one short step.
It's actually a card I made as GDT for Sister Act Card Challenges but for some unknown reason it got lost in cyber space and never got to it's destination for inclusion in the challenge on time. Rick St Dennis is the sponsor this week and it's in the capacity as a member of his design team that this card came to be.
It features one of the adorable Christmas mice. This one is pretending to be Santa so fittingly called Santa Mouse.

The design has been kept simple on purpose. Don't most people want to see Santa out in the open?

Coloured with promarkers I did add some stardust stickles sparingly to the fur on his suit and to the candy cane.

The papers are from an old DCWV collection and plain pearlised paper in stash. The die cut corners are from a sizzix set.

So if you want to be in with a chance of winning this little cutie get on over to Sister Act Challenges and link up your card.

I'd like to enter this card into the challenge at

Make my Monday - Santa
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes