Tropical Christmas Greetings

Hello crafting friends and welcome back to

The Merry Christmas Challenge

Challenge #10 ~ Anything Christmas Goes

Optional Theme this week ~ Tropical

When I came upon this cute image, I knew I would have to save it because I would use him some day.  Well, today is the day :-)
Having grown up in Durban, South Africa, I spent my Christmases for many, many years on the beach.  We would get up early, open our presents and then head off to the beach where we met up with family and friends for brunch. And yes, I do think that a White Christmas is lovely ... on a postcard! :-)
 Well, enough about me, let me show you my tropical Christmas card.

Isn't he the happiest Santa ever? I don't blame him one bit ... I would be smiling like that too if I were heading to the ocean for some surfing :-)

Now let me tell you what I used to put this card together.

Card base is 6.5" x 5.0" - Recollections.
White, and Teal card stock - GinaK.
Memento Ink - Summer Sky - to sponge the sky
Memento Ink - Teal Zeal - to sponge the sea
Sand patterned paper - scraps drawer

Santa - .png - Google
Palm Tree - .png - Google
These were uploaded into the Design Space program and cut with a Cricut Explore.

I used the following dies to add to scene.
Small Beach Grass - io Dies
Sea Gulls - io Dies
Crab - Cottage Cutz
Puffy Clouds - Memory Box

Stamped greeting - Winter Cheer - Cardz TV

Now it's your turn to join in the fun.  Don't forget to visit our blog for more inspiration from the Tinsel Team.  Looking forward to seeing your festive creations.

Till next time,

Crafty hugs,

Elf Christmas Tags

Hello crafting friends and welcome back to

The Merry Christmas Challenge.

Challenge #8 ~ Anything Christmas Goes

Optional Theme this week ~ Elves

Here is what I made for this fun challenge ...

It's never too early to start working on your Christmas stash!  Last year I found myself making quite a few last minute tags, so this year, I decided to get a little ahead :-)  I made 20 tags in total.

All Elf images were print & cut designs from the Silhouette store, and printed on Neenah white card stock. The Christmas paper used on some of the tags was from my scraps drawer. I used various embossing folders to create the backgrounds of the white tags. All elves are foam dotted onto the tags for a little more dimension. Ribbons and flowers are all from my stash too.

On the back of each tag I stamped the greeting using the Naughty or Nice stamp set from Cardz TV. The "To" and "From" stamps are very old and I don't have info on them anymore.

Now it's your turn to join in the fun.  Don't forget to visit our blog for more inspiration from the Tinsel Team.  Looking forward to seeing your festive creations.

Till next time,

Crafty hugs,

Christmas Gift Card Holder

Hello crafting friends and welcome back to

The Merry Christmas Challenge.

Challenge #6 ~ Anything Christmas Goes

Optional Theme this week ~ Christmas Lights

Here is what I made for this fun challenge ...

Crafty Ingredients:

Silhouette design no. 103276

Black card stock - Recollections

Red and green card stocks - GinaK.

White card stock - Neenah Bright White

Christmas lights stamp - Sorry, no info.

Sentiment stamp - Cardz TV - Naughty or Nice

This gift card holder is so easy to put together and would be very easy to mass produce.   I was able to put this together in less than 15 minutes :-)

It's such a cute and festive way of giving gift cards.

Now it's your turn to join in the fun.  Don't forget to visit our blog for more inspiration from the Tinsel Team.  Looking forward to seeing your festive creations.

Till next time,

Crafty hugs,

The Three Wise Men

Hello crafting friends and welcome back to

The Merry Christmas Challenge.

Challenge #2~ Anything Goes

 (as long as it's Christmas)

Optional Theme this week is "Wise Men"

Instead of using layers of card stock for my project this week, I used layers of fondant :-)  I made this cake to celebrate King's Day.  It is a tradition in Portugal, to bake a little gift and a bean in the cake.  When you're sitting around the table celebrating, whoever gets the gift, keeps it, and whoever gets the bean ... well they have to buy/make the cake for the following year :-). Of course the cakes look nothing like this one, they are rich in fruit and brandy, but in my family no one really likes fruit cake, so I made this cake which was all chocolate as per my son's request. Yup, he is definitively his mommy's boy!

I used the Winter Frolic Cricut cartridge and cut these cute wise men with my Cricut Cake. The key to get sharp cuts on the fondant is to roll the fondant to about  1/16" and keep it in freezer till you're ready to use it.  I find this works for me every time. I have several Cricut cake mats and roll out the different colours of the fondant on the different mats. I place a piece of parchment paper in between each mat and keep them in the freezer till I'm ready to make the cuts.

I sprinkled light brown sugar over the top of the cake not only  to resemble the desert sand, but more importantly, to prevent the moisture of the icing from making the fondant soggy.

Now it's your turn to join in the fun.  Don't forget to visit our blog for more inspiration from the Tinsel Team.  Looking forward to seeing your festive creations.

Till next time,

Crafty hugs,