CAS Christmas Card Challenge ......

Happy weekend folks ........

What are you up to this weekend? 
Not to worry you but ........ there's only NINE more Saturday's before Christmas ...... eeeeek! Scary or what!!!   

If you're like me, and need a mountain of Christmas cards and you haven't really made a start on them, don't rush out and buy any just yet ....... although I must say I have seen some in town that are looking like a nice option right now .... oh yes! I have looked!!  But, I'm not giving in just yet. Instead I'm playing along with this month's CAS Christmas Card Challenge .......

As you can see, the theme for October's challenge is ...... Birds
And I couldn't resist playing with one of my favourite little bird stamps .... well, three of them actually .....

I never get tired of using these cute little guys and they're perfect for quick, CAS designs.

I simply used my MISTI to stamp the birds, and heat embossed them in a clear powder ......

What did we ever do before the MISTI ...... such a great tool for batch making (I can see a few more of this design being made!!)

I coloured the Santa hats with ZIG markers and used my Distress Inks and a water brush to colour the birds .....

A touch of glitter on the hats for a little festive sparkle .....

A sprinkle of snow, using Chunky White Embossing Powder (something I use on nearly all my Christmas cards) ......

Finished off with a simple sentiment stamped in gold ..... again done on the MISTI

Ho! Ho! Ho!  Well ..... that's one more for the festive box!

No Christmas card making for me today though ..... I'm still trying to find some tubs for the patio.  I need to find some soon .... I have bulbs that need planting!!!
I did look the other day but I think the shiny, sparkly, festive stuff got all my attention ......

A little treat for me in there too ...... dark chocolate Lindor, my favourites! 

We're off out this evening .... the second (oops!) third little blip in our sober October.  We were only supposed to be allowing ourselves the two ...... our meal out the other weekend which had been planned for a while, and this Saturday but .... we had a family roast dinner during the week and I weakened.  I only had 2 glasses of wine though ..... well it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it.  Hubby on the other hand had a little more.  No will power!!

I think I'll be having a little more tonight though .... we're off to an Oompah Night down at The Railway, on the Quay

Bavarian beer, food and music with Baron Otto's Brass Band.  Should be a fun night.  Lederhosen optional, thank goodness.

Thanks for popping by ..... have a fabulous weekend.

Cheerio until next time .....

Christmas is coming .......

Hello again .....

I know, I know ......... some of you haven't had your summer holidays yet and here's me going on about Christmas.  I do have a good excuse though .... it's time for this month's Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge ..... Ho! Ho! Ho!

The theme is Anything Goes .... anything Christmas that is ..... with an optional twist of using a Poinsettia

I love poinsettias at Christmas time but I do struggle to keep them alive past the end of December ..... it's not just poinsettias, plants in general really. I'm definitely not green fingered ..... I had a cactus that died!!!
That's why I have a beautiful fake poinsettia ..... comes out every year and goes away with the decorations in January ..... easy!

I have a few poinsettia rubber stamps too ....... here's one of my favourites, Scarlet Majesty from Penny Black

Speaking of Penny Black ..... that's where I spotted this idea of using black ink on this style of stamp along with the Kraft card.  One of their Design Team ...... Heather Hoffman, created some beautiful designs, I just had to give it a go.   A totally different look from the traditional red, but quite elegant I think. I love it with the touch of gold too.

I did use the MISTI, and quite an old Onyx black Versafine Ink pad as I didn't want the colour too dark. I also stamped onto Crumb Cake cardstock from Stampin Up ...... this is a lovely smooth card and a great Kraft colour.   I love how you still get all the detail from the stamp, the veining in the petals and the shading ...... gorgeous!

The sentiment ..... one of the HLS Christmas Sentiments, has been heat embossed using a gold powder

And I finished off the design with a sprinkling of Fran-tage Chunky White embossing powder, to give the look of falling snow ...... sprinkled randomly on the top and gently heated from underneath, so as not to blow it all away.

I do love how this turned out ....... it's so different.   In fact this might just be one of the designs I use for my Christmas cards this year. What do you think?

Check out the HLS Blog for all the challenge details along with more festive inspiration from the rest of the Design Team

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy your weekend.

Cheerio until next time ......