Away in a Manger

And a new card to share :)

I recently won this Little Shepherd Boy stamp on the Lili Of The Valley - Ideas to Inspire 12 days of Christmas Candy.  I was thrilled to get this as its been one of my favourite images for a long time.

I followed the sketch by Dena on the Lili of the Valley challenge blog and I flipped it to the side.

I coloured using pro-markers, and used HOTP papers, snowflake brads, glitter, stickles, germs and pearls on the stars..  I made the mat for the image by cutting two panels from a Marianne Die and merged them and trimmed off the excess. I thought it worked quite well :)

I am entering this card in the below competitions: 

Lili Of The Valley - Great sketch by Dena

Simon Says Stamp - Silver, Blue and White

Bunny Zoes Crafts - Sparkle and Shine

Allsorts Challenge - Anything Goes

Passion for Promarkers - Mega Christmas challenge - Anything Goes

Totally Gorjuss - For Someone Special.  My dad had dibs on the card I made originally for my husband, so I had to make another card today just for him.  He's quite special ;)

By The Cute and Girly - Children

Ooh La La Challenges - Nativity Scene

Spoonful of Sugar - Christmas Card

Lexis Creations - Glitter and Pearls

Paper Playtime - Christmas

The Crafty Pad - Anything Goes

One Stitch At A Time - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations Challenge - Anything Goes Christmas

Alys Sunday Challenge - Anything Goes

Sentimental Sundays - Inspired by a song - 'Away in a Manger'.

Sundays with Crissy - Christmas is coming

.......and breathe! :) Phew, thats it!

Finally I would just like to wish all my blogging friends and visitors a very wonderful and Merry Christmas and a fantastic and Happy New Year!

Thanks for looking, and good luck to everyone in these challenges.

Crafty Cardmakers - Mega Christmas Challenge

Today, I am sharing two cards that I am entering in the Crafty Cardmakers challenge.  The rules are quite simple and for once only, we are allowed to backlink to previous projects and show how far we have come on our card-making journey.

So I am entering the below two cards as;

My Greatest - Original Post Link: Little Princess

Now I enjoyed making this card more than anything! :) I loved colouring this image, loved working with this colour scheme and these papers, and I think I smiled the whole time I was making it. :)  I consider it to be my greatest card, not because it won a prize, it didnt, but it did get picked for the top 5 Passionista on the Passion for Promarkers  and the top 3 in the I love Promarkers challenges.  I was blown away to have been picked by the respective DT's and awarded my badges!

My First:  I could enter an early card for this, but a real landmark for me this year in cardmaking was using watercolours.......... (Original Link: My First... )

I was really nervous attempting this card, as I had NEVER used watercolour pencils before.  Sadly I lost my mum late last year and she had quite a large collection of these pencils, which my dad then passed to me.  Anyway, after staring at them long enough, I thought I really must try and give them a go.  I enjoyed taking my time with them, and even though it took me a lot longer than I would normally spend colouring an image, it gave me time to reflect and I found it quite peaceful and relaxing.

I think she would have been really proud, as she loved painting and drawing, and in later years card-making, and my mums creativity was always an inspiration to me.  

Thanks so much for looking :)