Joy to the World

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a little over a month away. We're still experiencing extremely mild weather over here, which means we still have not turned on the central heating. The nights are getting colder, though, and on rainy days it can be a little chilly inside, so my husband is now lighting a fire in the living room to keep us warm and cosy tonight. Maybe I'll even manage to create some more Christmas cards.

Below is the card I created this week. Most of the materials are relatively new and are being used for the first time (PPs, stamps). The pearls and lace are from my old(er) stash.

The layout is based on the following sketch.

Materials used:

Kraft cardstock
Circle die - Lifestycrafts

PP - Marianne Design, Warm Winter Wishes

Lace - Marianne Design

Snowflake wreath - Verve, Christmas in the Air set

stamped in clear distress ink (Ranger) and heat embossed with

Twinkle embossing powder (white, Crafter's Companion)

Sentiment - Verve, Glad Tidings set, 

stamped in red Versamark ink and heat embossed with

Frosted Crystal embossing powder (Ranger)

Pearls - Kaisercraft

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sketch N Stash - #100 Use any SNS sketch

Catch the Bug - Bingo, middle row: Glitter, starts with T? (Twinkle ep), emboss
Christmas Card Challenges - #51 Double embossing (theme always optional)
CHNC - #99 Use sth. over 6 months old (lace, pearls)
Holly Jolly Christmas - Inspired by a carol (Joy to the world)
Paper Creator's Craft - #1 All about Christmas
Crafty Catz - #159 Let's have sparkle
Polka Doodles - #46 Square card with round element
Great Impressions - Holidays

Pink and purple penguins

Because I've been unable to craft for a while, I'm now trying to make up for lost time and make some quick cards. The image for this card comes from an A4 sheet of precoloured images by Digistamp Boutique. Who would be able to resist this cute couple?

I printed the entire A4 sheet (more quick cards to follow LOL), cut it to size for the die-cut panel (Die-sire Grace frame) and used a corner punch to round the corners. The background is from the Humphrey's Corner CD by Crafter's Companion, printed directly onto the Neenah Classic Crest card that I used for my base card.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Jingle Belles - Holiday creatures
Tuesday Morning Sketches - Anything pink for Theresa's virtual birthday party
ABC Christmas Challenge - V for Vibrant colours
The Perfect Sentiment - PSC54: Think pink for Christmas
Ooh La La - #117 C.....Christmas
LCI - I need a P (pink, purple, penguin, pretty cute LOL)
One Stitch at a Time - #137 Make 1 for Christmas

Another quick birthday card

This is another quick birthday card I created with an image and background paper from the Humphrey's Corner CD from Crafter's Companion.

I printed the paper and image on Neenah card and printed the balloons again in order to cut them out and adhere them with foam tape for some added dimension. I added some Glossy Accents to the light spots on the balloons and on the hat. The frame was cut out from Coredinations cardstock with my new Die-sire Grace frame. I really like this frame but had not realised it would be so big when I bought it, considering that I normally make A6-sized cards (like this one). Like before, my sentiment was computer-generated and hand-cut. The blue rhinestone is from my stash.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafter's Companion - October Birthday challenge

Simon Says Stamp - Get in shape (no square cards)
Charisma Cardz - #42 Don't be square
Fussy and Fancy - #74 Anything goes