Vintage Christmas - lots of freebie stash and DPs

 I have not made many Christmas cards so far this year, which is unusual for me. But I think (hope) I'm on a roll here. I received this paper with 12 vintage images as a advent calendar gift from my mum some years ago (no, I'm never going to be too old for that, lol), and finally I had the courage to cut into that paper. Sometimes when I like something so much, I want to "save it" for a special occasion.
All the other DPs used are freebie ones that came with 2 different magazines. 

Here are the first two cards I've finished using these vintage images. 

1) Card with the rectangle shaped topper

The lamp post was made with a Memory Box die, and I heat embossed with thick embossing powder, I like the metallic look it gets. The wreath I used to decorate it with was a freebie gift together with some of the DPs used.
I added red and white twine and gold elastic ribbon and strip of DP with sentiments on it. 

This card is for:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - #560 Anything Christmas Goes (or include the word Joy)
Make My Monday - #158 EMBOSSING (the lamp post)

 

2) Card with the rounded tag shaped topper

This lamp post was a freebie gift together with the DPs used. I attached red and white twine to it.
I added a die cut fence, the word Christmas (Hero Arts) which I combined with a Dymo sentiment,

This card is for:
Dream Valley Challenges - #255 2 or MORE PATTERNED PAPERS (3: the background, the border with buildings and the topper)
Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - #38 Anything Goes

R is for Red and Rhinestones

I'm a cat person and I love Tim Holtz fun cat images and sarcastic sentiments. I fussy cut the cat and heat embossed the sentiment.

I stamped the background with the Pinkfresh Diamond Tiles stamp and added red glitter embossing powder. It might be hard to see in the photo, but IRL it adds a nice sparkle.

The Snowflake Swirl die is from Amy Design. I cut three poinsettias with a die from Marianne. 

Finally I added rhinstones and frantage for snow effect.

This card is for:
Christmas Crafts All Year Round - Something starting with Q and/or R
September Rudolph Days Challenge

INK #248 Retro

For our challenge at Inkspirational this fortnight, we have a word prompt: RETRO.

When I think of retro I think of spots and dots and women with beautifully styled hair.
I found such a lady on a DP I belive I had for close to a decade, so I cut her out, placed or onto a tag, then the tag was placed onto a bottle tag with red spotted paper. I heat embossed the sentiment with red, I thought it fit the image and being on a bottle tag.
My mum likes to use my bottle tags on wine she gifts on birthdays for her friends, it makes the gift more personal and is appreciated by her friends.

Please head over to the challenge blog to see the wonderful makes of my INK-teamies.  

This bottle tag is also for:
AAA Birthday - #29 NOT A CARD
Crafty Catz - #564 ANYTHING GOES with Optional Twist Use 2 or More Design Papers

Gnome in field of paper pieced flowers

I love this gnome from Stamping Bella, it's a favorite, especially for masculine cards.
I chose to paper piece the flowers, I heat embossed with white EP, used a white Posca pen for the centres, along with Wink of Stella for a touch of sparkle, not visible in the photo.
The background has been made with my new- and favorite - stencil, called the Deco Wallpaper from Altenew. And I think you'll see more of this too on future cards, the Altenew Mid-Century Frame Die.
Sentiment is made up with dies from Concord&9th and Penny Black.

This card is for:
Stamping Sensations - Stamp of the Moment
Allsorts - #641 Favourite Stamps with the option of Paper Pieced Flowers

Mice and sweets

For this card I've followed a sketch and a color challenge.
For the background I used old Magnolia sweets stamps and grey ink. The stamped panel was mounted onto light cardstock.
The cute mice from Colorado Craft Company are new to me, I find them perfect for many occasions and suitable for cards for a person of any age and gender. As my family contains mainly males this card will probably be put in my selection of masculine cards:) The sentiment is from the same set.

This card is for:
Cardz 4 Guyz - #279 Blue, Yellow, Gray
Freshly Made Sketches - #502 Sketch

Not my typical choice of colors

I wanted to make a card for a man using other colors than those I typically use, like black&white, blues, greens and/or greys. So out came red and yellow inks and markers, and a grey one as well!

I picked a favorite Stamping Bella gnome stamp and I cut the image to put the tag at an angle. The background has been made with 2 stencils - the Deco Wallpaper from Altenew, and the numbered one is Tim Holtz.
I debated whether only to use string, but I liked the effect of the yellow seambinding ribbon in there. I think both ribbon and flowers can be used for masculine designs as long as it's not "too frilly". The birthday greeting is made with my Dymo. 

This card is for
The Paper Players - #557 By The Numbers
Addicted to Stamps and More - Birthday
The Male Room - Nature's Bounty 

INK #247 - Autumn leaves

For our new challenge at Inkspirational Lindsey has chosen the theme of autumn leaves! Even though we've enjoyed summer temperatures in my end of the world lately, you can feel the colder autumn air approaching.

I've enjoyed working with some new goodies for this card - a stencil from Altenew, stamps from Colorado Craft Company as well as old Lawn Fawn leaf dies. I used a mix of Distress and Oxide inks in autumnal colors.I heat embossed the sentiment in gold.

Please head over to the challenge blog to see the wonderful makes of my INK-teamies.   

This card is also for:
Cute Card Thursday - #692 Anything Goes
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - #54 Anything Goes with a Critter