J is for Joke

We enjoyed our first asparagus of the season last night. I love watching those little beauties come up from the barren ground all beautiful and green and purple. I took some pictures of my asparagus the other day. It was the tastiest asparagus ever, and we enjoyed them with some parma ham and hollandaise, and it was absolutely wonderful. 

The current challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is "J is for Just Kidding". And of course there is only one lady that can pull off that theme - Stella. I seem to go with Stella quite often for the Sisterhood Challenges... When I saw this image in the Bugaboo store I knew I had to have it, as I have always been the girl who fell for the gay guys. The two great loves of my life are both gay and I keep telling the Culinary Consultant I will turn him gay one day, although he keeps denying it. Oh well, time will tell. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is "In the Middle" as Stella is in the middle of the card, but she is also in the middle, between two sentiments. I'm also linking up with Clear it Out where the theme is yellow. 

Anyhow, for today's card, I simply printed out Stella in all her glory and coloured her with Copics. I used Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle dies to cut out the image and I wanted her to have a really sunny time on the beach so I matted everything onto bright yellow cardstock. Then all I did was addd the sentiment, and as they say - Bob's your uncle, who lives with his friend George in San Francisco. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Hobbycraft three shades of yellow card
Image: Bugaboo Stella - Perfect Man
Colouring: Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Angels or Fairies

I'm very excited as today we have a new challenge for you over at Holly Jolly. This time the theme is Angels or Fairies. We are sponsored by A Day for Daisies, QKR Stampede and Bugaboo. There will also be fantastic prizes for three lucky winners. Everyone has a chance to win prizes as they are randomly drawn. Remember, you have to be in it to win it! The DT will also select favourites who will get a badge to proudly display on their blog. 

The wonderful Holly Jolly DT has a lot of inspiration if you are stuck with a bit of mojo gone AWOL. You can also have a browse on the sponsor's pages to find fabulous digis to work with.

I always love the challenges where Bugaboo is a sponsor as I get to play with the fabulous Stella. This time I used Stella Tidbits Fairy Visit. She is just the best, and I love her in her little fairy costume. Nothing says Christmas like a happy little Stella fairy, right? This time I thought I would try to make a bit of a mixed media tag. The great thing about starting your Christmas crafting early is that you can put quite a bit of time and effort into each piece. It will be November again sooner than you think, and then you have to come up with simple designs for mass production, so the beginning of the year is the perfect time to make your more elaborate Christmas crafts. 

I started by creating the background onto a kraft tag using Tim Holtz distress paints. I dabbed the paints onto my craft mat, spritzed generously with water and swirled my tag in the paint. After thoroughly drying the tag with my heat gun, I used Distress Inks and a star stencil to created the stars in the background. The I used a beautiful Christmas ornament stamp which I heat embossed in gold powder. I coloured Stella with Copics and fussy cut her. I die cut the snowflake and bow from copper cardstock and printed and inked the words for the sentiment. Last I added some ribbon, twine and a bell, and a die cut border to the bottom of the tag. As a finishing touch, I added some Ice Stickles to the Stella's stars and the centre of the snowflake flower.

I would like to enter my tag into the following challenges:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - Snarker's choice (I chose I is for iconic, because I think by now Stella has made the iconic status in the snarky world!!)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Something Beginning with B (bow, bell)

Merry Monday - Bows

ABC Christmas Challenges - B is for bows, bunting or baking

Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes

My Craft Creations - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - H is for... (Have yourself a magical Christmas)

Sparkle n' Sprinkle - Anything goes with loose glitter, embossing powder or flocking (gold embossing powder christmas ornaments in the background)

Use Your Stuff - Inspired by a song (One of my favourite Christmas songs, Fairytale of New York (you get it, *fairy*tale... hehe) but also the bit where they sing "You were handsome, you were pretty, Queen of New York city)

Incy Wincy Designs - Tic Tac Toe (use a punch (bow builder punch), something that sparkles (adhesive gem), ribbon)

That Craft Place - Anything Goes

Card: Ranger Inkssentials Kraft tag #8, Copper metallic card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Real Red

Background: Tim Holtz Distress paints Barn Door, Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Antiqued Bronze

Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress inks Forest Moss, Iced Spruce, Pine Needles, Black Soot

Stamps: Bugaboo Stella Tidbits Fairy Visit, Stampin' Up Ornament Keepsakes

Colouring: Copics YG13, YG15, YG17, R24, R46, B00, E34, E39, YR00

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes and Stitched Journaling Card dies, Stampin' Up Bow builder punch, Tim Holtz Vintage Lace dies, red ribbon, twine and a bell from my stash, Tim Holtz Stencil Stars, Ranger Ice Stickles Coffee Ice

Valentine's chocolates

Well, who would have thought, but we are already on the better side of January. Time flies when you are freezing your bottom off, that's what they say, right? From a cardmaker's point of view, after the big push for Christmas, there's a month and a half until the hearts and pink stuff come out for the chocolate holiday. I'm not a huge fan of V-day, but when I saw Stella I thought finally someone who understands how I feel about Valentine's. And I bet my bottom one of my best friends feels the same way, which is why I made her this card. This digi is actually part of a bunch I won a while ago over at the Bugaboo challenge, I was like a kid in a candy store picking my prize digis.

I coloured the image with Copics, and inked the edges with distress ink. I matted the digi onto pink cardstock with an edge punched with my heart border punch and inked around the edges of the pink cardstock. For the background I used a heart pattern paper from Stampin' Up which was again matted onto pink card.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday
Crafty Creations - Something old and something new (old - heart paper, new - digi)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart
The Pink Elephant Challenge - Love

Card: Kraft card, Coloured 240 gsm kraft card Baby Pink, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamp: Bugaboo Frame It - Stella Valentine's Day
Paper: Stampin' Up More Amore
Colouring: Copics B00, E29, E33, E43, R20, R24, R46, V04, V93, V95, V99, Y13, Y15, Y19, YR000, YR00
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress ink Worn Lipstick
Other: Heart Border punch