Wooden Snowflake and Day 20 Advent Village

Here's another Christmas tree decoration, this time courtesy of Marks & Spencer in their half price sale.  It's a beautiful burnt orange colour, so I wanted a neutral background to show it off.  I just repeat-stamped a background using the Christmas Calligraphy stamp from Crafty Individuals and Versafine Smokey Grey ink. 

I'm entering it into the Curtain Call Sweet Snowflakes challenge,

and Nonni's Stamp a Happy Christmas, which is open until Christmas Eve.  It's sponsored by STAMPlorations - and I'll be on the Design Team, starting January 2014 (yay!).  Shery is looking for a couple more people for the DT - why not try for it?

and Simon Says Monday Challenge, Stamp out 2013.

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Day 20 Advent Village

Reindeer and Ribbon and Day 4 Advent Village

Sometimes I make cards specifically to meet challenges, and sometimes I make cards because I'm playing with new stamps, then I have to find challenges to fit.  Today I've been playing with new stamps (again!), so I needed a challenge or two to fit this card.

The cue word at CASology this week is ribbon.  It just so happens that this reindeer (obviously not Rudolph on account of the nose colour - looks rather cutesy so I think we'll assume it's Cupid) has a ribbon garland tied to her antlers.

I'm also entering it into Curtain Call Christmas Countdown:

And Nonni's Stamp Happy Christmas challenge, which is open until Christmas Eve.

I combined two sets from Paperbabe Stamps: Reindeer Fusions and Bottle Brush Tree Stamp Set.  The garland is made from the Christmas tree trunk.

I would just like to state that no animals were harmed in the making of this card and Cupid is now resting having been relieved of the garland and baubles.

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Holly Sprig

So yesterday I made this card for Cheryl's One Layer Wednesday Challenge.  As I started to write my post I re-read Cheryl's challenge - it was for a one layer Christmas TAG.  Oops!  But all is not lost, because this week's One Layer Wednesday, hosted by Heather, is Just Add Water.  I'd coloured the image stamp with markers then spritzed it with water, so I get to join One Layer Wednesday after all.

CAS-ual Fridays and Curtain Call are having a joint CAS-ual Christmas bash, so I'm joining the party there:

Nonni's other Christmas challenge on her blog Korttikarkuri is Stamp A Happy Christmas.

And finally, the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More is 

MAKE YOUR MARK!

Snowflakes and Scraps

I've finally finished hopping my way round the mega Moxie Fab flash mob blog hop for Cath, which started ten days ago - but there were 285 stops along the way.  And I've nearly finished making an advent village, which has taken a few weeks but I've really enjoyed doing it.  I got the idea from this month's edition of Craft Stamper, so if you're a Craft Stamper reader, you'll get an idea of what I've been up to, but I've added a bit of a twist.  I'll post some pics in December.

In the meantime, I've made this card for several challenges:

The colour scheme comes from Dynamic Duos, and I couldn't turn down the dessert option!

The challenge at Less is More is to use designer paper in a CAS way.

I've used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

And Nonni from Korttikarkuri is having a couple of Christmas challenges (with prizes).  This challenge is to use scraps or old stash on your Christmas cards.  Both challenges are open until Christmas Eve.  Pop over and take a look - better still, join in!

When I was photographing the card, the sunlight was catching the Stickles on the snowflakes beautifully, but unfortunately the camera doesn't capture it.  Just use your imagination.

Stamp: Inkadinkado