A Free and Easy end to our Challenge year

Well, it's time for our final challenge of 2013 at Stamping Sensations. If you're like me, you'll be frantically trying to get the Christmas preparations sorted at the same time as keeping up with all the regular stuff. Anyone who has finished making all their Christmas cards by now has my ardent admiration! The rest of you will, I'm sure, be grateful that our December Challenge has the theme of

***** FREE AND EASY *****

so anything goes! If you're still on with the Christmas cards (like me!), you could show us those. If not, we'd love to see what else you've been working on lately.

As usual we've got a fabulous sponsor to help us round off the year, Visible Image, an all-British company with a fantastic range of stamps, no less than 5 sets of which have been very generously donated by them for our prize.

Anyway, on to my card. It's a Christmas one, of course, 40 down, about another 30 still to go!

I treated myself to an early Christmas present of a couple of Memory Box dies which I've had my eye on for quite some time. The one I've used here is called Tessatina Border. I cut it out of both red and green card, and then inserted the green cut-out into the space left in the red card. It was then framed with the X-cut Poinsettia Border punch. That was another new buy! I was delighted recently when The Range opened a new branch not 10 miles away from me, a small oasis in the crafting desert in which I live! Had to go and check it out, of course, and couldn't resist the Poinsettia punch. So pretty, and needn't be confined to Christmas cards!

The card was finished with some flowers cut with the Marianne Design Mini Poinsettia die set, a Spellbinders bauble diecut overstamped with a Waltzing Mouse stamp, and a sentiment also by Waltzing Mouse. The background paper was a freebie from Making Cards Magazine.

My amazing teamies have some stunning samples to inspire you with. Do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. We had a brilliant response to our Christmas theme last month, and I'm sure you'll all do us proud with your entries for December. Can't wait to see them!

Now, back to the Christmas card production line.......

Christmas is coming!

Well, it's still a few weeks away yet (thank goodness!), but as far as Stamping Sensations Challenge is concerned, it's already here! We know this is a busy time of year for everyone, and most people will be well into Christmas card making mode now, so our theme for November is simply

*****   CHRISTMAS   *****

We would love to see your Christmas projects, whether cards, layouts, decorations, hand crafted gifts, or even creative wrapping.

I have made a simple card using a lovely stamp from this month's sponsor, Stamp Addicts.

The picture, having had a bit of shading added with a Promarker and some glitter glue, was cut out with a Spellbinders die. The background papers were part of a freebie from Making Cards magazine, and the top border was made with a Dovecraft corner punch with the corner guide removed. Here's a closer look.

The lovely people at Stamp Addicts have generously donated a whopping £35 voucher for this month's prize! That will cover a fair bit of crafty Christmas shopping! Should you need any inspiration for your entries, just take a look at the gorgeous projects my talented teamies are showing off on the Challenge Blog. We look forward to seeing yours!

Fur and Feathers

We had some wonderful entries for our January theme at Stamping Sensations. Already it's February, though, and time for a new challenge. This month it's

FUR AND FEATHERS

Plenty of scope there, I think. I decided to go for feathers, being unable to resist these adorable owls by Little Claire.

I wanted the owls to be the centre of attention, so, after colouring them with Distress Markers and cutting them out with a Spellbinders die (Labels 10), I kept the rest of the card quite simple. The background papers, which just happened to go perfectly with the image, were a freebie from Making Cards magazine. I computer-generated the sentiment on to a Spellbinders tag, and the diecut flourish is a Marianne Design.

Our sponsor for this month is once again the fabulous Stix2, and just look at what they have generously donated for our lucky winner!

My lovely teamies have excelled themselves with their creations this month, so do go and check them out on the Challenge Blog. I think this is going to be a very popular theme, so I'm looking forward to seeing lots of Fur and Feathers!

Spring at last!

Well, today is officially the first day of spring. You wouldn't have known it here - wet, grey & dismal all day. But we have had some really nice days lately, and the spring flowers are beginning to come out in the garden. The snowdrops have been beautiful this year, and now the crocuses are blooming.

The daffodils, however, are only just coming into bud, so when I saw that this week's Allsorts Challenge  (Week 44) was "Spring is in the Air"  I thought I'd make a card with daffodils to brighten things up until the real ones take over. Lots of challenges with spring themes this week, so I'm also entering it in  Rosie D's and By the Cute and Girly. Another easel card! I really like making them - they are easy to construct, look lovely, and stand up so well!

The daffodil stamp is PSX, coloured with Promarkers, and the tiny butterfly is by Crafty Individuals. The background papers and printed sentiment (I added the butterfly) were free with Making Cards Magazine. The sentiment says " May your spirit keep the freedom of a butterfly in spring, and and may your heart be filled always with the joys of simple things" which I thought was rather nice and quite appropriate. The border is my favourite Martha Stewart punch, with ribbon from stash.