It's started! ...........

Happy Monday .........

It's a bit of a chilly one here.  We've had our first frost this morning ......... brrrrrr!  Winter is coming!

Did you have a nice weekend?  It was a bit of a quiet one here so I decided to round up all the Christmas decorations ready to make a start on the trees.

Ooops! It looks like the day we moved in, again ...... there's boxes everywhere!  

Have we really got that many baubles ..........

Apparently ..... yes we have!  

I did make a start ...... the first tree was up in no time and not a bauble in sight

Then Mr Buble arrived, and Lauren joined in, and the first decorated tree is done ...... I think!

Looking at it in the daylight it might just need a few extras here and there.

Anyway, enough of the trees, I've got two cards to share with you for the final challenges this year at CAS Mix Up and CAS Christmas

CAS Mix Up is a Stencil challenge this month with the theme .....Stencil Monoprinting

Here's a really quick and easy card using a stencil monoprint that I found in my stash, along with a pretty frame die from Penny Black

The print was done by applying Distress Inks directly from the ink pad onto the stencil, spritzing with a little water, and then laying the inky stencil down onto a piece of watercolour card.

Mop up any excess ink, gently lift the stencil, and voila!!  One piece of pretty printed cardstock.

I used the Penny Black die to ........ a) cut out the frame from the centre of a square of white card, and b) to cut the frame from the printed card.

I then placed the white die cut frame back into the square card and inlaid the coloured pieces to create the complete square.

  I mounted this on a larger square cardblank, added a simple sentiment and a few sparkly gemstones.

CAS Christmas is all about ...... Christmas Critters

You can't get much more CAS.  The background was an embossing folder with just a touch of added glitter

Stamped and die cut this little guy ......

Added some colour using ZIG Markers ....... stamped my sentiment on the bottom of the card and attached the polar bear off to the side

Another Christmas card done!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

It's time to sort through those boxes and get another tree done I think ......... are you ready Mr Buble!? 

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

CAS Mix Up

Stencil: Floral Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz)

Inks: Distress Inks - Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed

Other: Framed die (Penny Black); Sentiment Strip (Simon Says Stamp); Self adhesive gems

CAS Christmas

Stamps: Polar Bear Pals (My Favourite Things); Christmas Time 3 (Tim Holtz) - for the sentiment

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Versafine - Crimson Red

Others: Polar Bear Pals Die-namics (My Favourite Things); Quickie Glue Pen; Fine Crystal Glitter; ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers

Make a splash for the Perfectly CAS Challenge .......

Happy Sunday evening .......

And a Happy Valentine's Day to you 💖  I hope you've had a lovely day. 

It's time to get the next Perfectly CAS Challenge underway ...... you know the one, where you have to use just one third, or less, of your card space.

We're on Challenge #12 and the theme for this one is ........ Splash

I decided I'd go cute for this one ..... 

I started with a stencil and Distress Ink to create the look of waves along the bottom edge of my card

I added a touch of sparkle to the sea with some fine crystal glitter ........

....... and then stamped my sentiment just above the waves

The cute little dolphin was stamped onto a snippet of left over card, coloured using Distress Ink and a water brush, and then die cut using the matching dies

He was then attached onto the card with foam pads to add some dimension.  I also stamped the 'splash', coloured with the same Distress ink that I used for the stenciled sea and then added a layer of Glossy Accents over the top to give it a wet look (not sure this shows well in the photo, but trust me it's there).

So, how will you make a splash for this months challenge? ...... can't wait to see your designs in the gallery.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

It's take away and movie night for us, with the little man.  We're working our way through The Hobbit films (again!) ..... Alex hasn't seen them before. We're on the second one this evening .... lets hope I can stay awake, we're watching the extended version!!

Cheerio until next time .........

Products used:

Stamps: Friends with Fins stamps and matching dies (MFT); Sentiment from my stash

Stencil:  Waves stencil (SugarPea Designs)

Inks: Distress Inks -Tumbled Glass, Hickory Smoke (for the dolphin); Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Quickie Glue Pen; Fine crystal glitter; Glossy Accents