my first DT piece _ Tim Holtz Christmas Carol stamp card

I am so excited to be sharing my first piece that I created for Eclectic Ellapu's  design team.

 I am a pink lady over there and our theme is "traditional Christmas"  I am really looking forward to looking at your creations so please pop along and enter your own pieces.  If you are not a traditional type of crafter than the purple team are doing "anything but a card" the options are endless and both teams inspirational creations are well worth a peak.

My first DT piece :)

I looked through my stamps and decided I wanted to use one of my favourite christmas stamps, Tim Holtz's Reindeer Games stamp.  I love the texture you can achieve with thin one it embosses beautifully for such a detailed design.  I dont have  a huge collection of embossing powders and aalthoughI had tinsel powder in gold and red I don't have a green.  No problems though I just used clear embossing powder that I had mixed with a little glitter powder over pine needles distress ink and voila.

DoDon'tave the right embossing powder clour, no problem just use and ink and clear embossing powder.

I wanted the background to be kinda plain as my main focus is the stamp, but not too plain ;)  I used an ebossalicious folder and brought the pattern out with vintage photo distress ink.  It was a little too dark so i sponged some picket fence paint over and when dried sanded back a little.

Remember there is never a crafty addition that cant be adapted if you go a little heavy, picket fence is great for toning down an over eager hand :)

Although I was really pleased with the stamps on the background it felt a little austere.  I layered some hessian, green ribbon (a bargain at £1 a roll from the range) and some thin crochet trim and placed the stamps over this.  They looked a little lost so I mat and layered the stamps on the same card as the background, glitter card in gold and a gorgeous holly patterned paper from one of my many craftwork Cards pads.  I cut a doily into bits and popped it peeking out of the two end and above the middle stamp.

If your focal image looks a little lost, mat and layering can really help bring your eye where you want it too.

I wanted some kind of pretty embellishments at the top, I had in mind the traditional swags we place over fire places and up banisters.  I made a long chain of jump rings, threaded some ribbon through every third ring and then hung some gorgeous christmas stockings and bells.

I just love brass embellishments,  I have a large range in my collection (magpie) and buy most from Ebay :)

I finished my card with some docraft red sticky glitter dots and a bow i made by wrapping some twine in natural and red.

Bows don't have to be made with ribbon :)

I had a blast making this card and am so thankful to have made the DT over at Eclectic Ellapu. I am honored to be showing my creations alongside the lovely and Uber talented ladies.  Pop over and see for yourself how inspirational their makes are.

Merry Christmas x

I am entering this card in the following challenge: Outlaws Twisted Thursday
Simon says stamp Monday challenge
And Hels Sheridans Ink on my fingers Christmas challenge 

A card for my Bird loving Bro

My Brother is really into animals,  his latest addition to the family is a stunning falcon.  He also loves, motorbikes, cider and anything outdoors and messy.

I treated myself to the Pinflair rust it mediums and love them,  such messy fun and a fab result, it even feels like rust.

I didnt use the pinflair on the falcons I used crackle glaze, embossing powders and distress inks,  a bit of gilding wax and two grungy but fabulous falcons, even if I do say so myself ;)

Some really cool manly papers and embellishments came with the rust it kit and they gave me loads of choice for this card.

I popped in a couple of real feathers for some lush texture and used foam pads on the for you letters.I crackle glazed the garage sign and distressed the edges.

I have had these fab little tool split pins for ages, I ised the rust it to distress them as they were silver and am really chuffed with the look for this card.

I built a decoupage motorbike from the kit and highlighted some of the bike with glossy accents.

I squished some bottle tops with my embossing machine and added a greeting to one and a cider logo to the other,

I used a few more bits from the kit for the envelope and job done.

I am entering this card in the following comps
 Eclectic Ellapu's "texture"
Simply Create Too "lots of orange or Halloween"
And over at the Outlawz for the October challenge and the Friday colour challenge.