Mr Robin (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a card featuring one of the new stamps called Mr Robin, I adore robins and mince pies so this stamp is going to be one of my all time favourites.

I stamped the image and coloured it with Lyra Polycolour Pencils. I inked around the image using distress inks (Pine Needles and Festive Berries) and then added a little distressing with Gathered Twigs. I stamped and embossed a holly border using one of the little stamps from Family Christmas with versamark ink and used a chunky embossing powder, and then added a sprinkle of gold frantage powder. I stamped the sentiment and added a bow topped with a little button and some twine to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting today. 

Claire xx

Two Birds Flying Free (by Asha)

Good morning, fellow crafters. I've got two cards to show you today - both featuring stamps from the new July release stamps: A little Bird Told Me and Free As A Bird.

In the first card, I created the background on pale purple card stock with a stencil and Distress ink. The bird is coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut. The two little cages are heat embossed in white.

For my second sample I used one of the birds from A Little Bird Told Me, to make a Christmas card. I coloured him with Polychromos. The snow flakes, heat embossed in white, are from Family Christmas A4 sheet, and the greeting is from Christmas Magic clear stamp sheet.                    

That's all from me today. As always, details on how I made these cards are available on my blog. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more crafty ideas from the rest of the design team.

Beijinhos,
Asha 

Christmas Window (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with another card made using  'Dressmaker's Window'. Its such a useful stamp and one I'll be using again and again. For this card I've teamed it with an old 

favourite stamp from Family Christmas.

I began by stamping the tree and rocking horse stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, I masked the image using masking tissue before stamping the window. I coloured the images and a snowy scene behind the window with Derwent Pencils and added some snow to the sky with a white pen. For a little Christmas sparkle I used stickles to create the lights on the tree.

I used a Sofft Sponge and Ultramarine Blue PanPastel to create the striped 'wallpaper' in the background. Its really easy to do this if you use the square edged Sofft Bar (here) and run it down the edge of a ruler. Use the ruler to 'mask' the white stripes and in a couple of minutes your background is done. I used grey PanPastel to ground the tree and rocking horse.

I used silver mirri card distressed with a craft knife to mat and layer and to finish off I've added little pearls, ribbon, pompom trim and a tiny snowflake button topped with a twine bow. 

Thanks so much for visiting today

Claire xx

Stamp of the Week - Harlequin Christmas

Each week we are picking a favourite stamp and putting it on special offer for just one week.  You will find the details here on the blog every Friday and if you are signed up to our email newsletter, you will get the details in that too.

This week it is the turn of the beautiful Harlequin Christmas A4 set and as an added bonus, if you buy it this week, you will also get a free Harlequin download (worth £2.99) with your order.

It is reduced to £17.99 this week (normally £22.50) and the same discount applies for trade/wholesale customers too.


There's still time to take advantage of last week's special too, Family Christmas - we're extending the discount on that one til Monday.

Here's a lovely card made by Craftymamma when the set was first released:

You can see more Family Christmas samples on the DT's own blogs - check out the side bar for links.