Holly Fairy and Poinsettia Fairy

A very good friend of mine, Debbie, introduced me to Sweet Pea Stamps about 5 years ago.  I fell in love with many of their images and bought a lot of them in rubber stamps.  My favourites though were "Holly Fairy" and "Poinsettia Fairy" and have used these rubber stamps year after year and this year I have done the same.  I have problems with my eye muscles and struggle to colour these small images and have to use a handheld magnifier but have just ordered a large handsfree magnifier which will hopefully enable me to colour the many (too many!!) Sweet Pea Stamps rubber stamps that I have.

Sweet Pea Stamps also then sold digital stamps so I acquired more and more images.  Sadly due to Lynette's health Sweet Pea Stamps has had to close at the end of November.

Some of my favourite images at Sweet Pea Stamps were by Ching-Chou Kuik.  She was a wonderful array of stunning images available in her Etsy Store.  To my delight she has a special offer for her customers:

in that you can purchase Holly Fairy, Cherish Christmas, Poinsettia Fairy and Merry Season all for an amazing £8.20 in her Etsy Store at the moment for ALL four images.  Obviously being digital stamps you can re-size to whatever size you want.

For my cards I have used my Sweet Pea Stamps rubber stamps and therefore as the images are quite small I have made 5x5 inch cards.  For the backing of both cards I have used a red and green Pan Pastel, blended together with the Blender Pan Pastel and added the Coarse White Medium Pan Pastel over the top.  For the above image I have then used a harlequin stencil and used the green Pan Pastel through it to add some detail.  For the card below I have used a Dutch Doobadoo stencil to add some texture to the card with a red Pan Pastel.

For the "Poinsettia Fairy" card I have coloured the image in with Promarkers, highlighted the centre of the poinsettias with a gold Stickles glitter glue and added my Sparkle Gold Graph'it pen to her wings.  I have used a poinsettia embossing folder and some white card and then brushed over with the red Pan Pastel.  I have used a poinsettia die to make the 3 dimensional poinsettia and added a card candi to the centre.  The card has been finished off with a stamped sentiment and some ribbon.

For the "Holly Fairy" card I have coloured the image in with Promarkers and added Glossy Accents to the holly berries.  I have used a swirly embossing folder with some white card and then brushed over the embossing with the green Pan Pastel used for the background.  I have used a Marianne Designs holly die and a Sissix holly die and cut both out from green card.  For the Sissix die-cut I have added red Card Candi for the berries.  For the Marianne Designs holly die-cut I have coloured some white Papermania Glitterations with a red Promarker for the berries.  This card has been finished off with some ribbon and a stamped sentiment.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

As You Like It - Favourite masculine or feminine and why (I have to say I prefer feminine cards as you can add a small amount of embellishments or you can really go to town!!)
Cute Card Thursday - Festive colours
Winter Wonderland - Holly and/or ivy (the second card I have used holly)
Polkadoodles - Traditional Christmas (I have used red, green and some gold)
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Shimmer and shine with ribbon or trim (Both cards I have used my Gold Sparkle Graph'it pen but the top card I have also used gold Stickles glitter glue)
A Gem of a Challenge - Anything goes Christmas
The Corrosive Challenge - Merry Christmas
Love to Create - Anything mixed media/creative goes
Stamping Sensations - Anything goes with a stamp and ribbon
613 Avenue Create - Anything goes with an optional twist of bags, boxes or tags
Come and Get It - Anything goes Christmas
Robyn's Fetish - Christmas cards
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything goes
Pile it On - Anything Christmas/winter
Not Just Cards - Anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage - Anything goes
Crafty Boots - Christmas challenge
Craft Your Passion - Always anything goes
The Crazy Challenge - Christmas
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything goes
Passion for Promarkers - Let's celebrate
Crafty Sentiments - Christmas card
Creative Card Crew - Holiday season
Fan-tastic Tuesday - Anything goes with a twist on the day of Christmas
Sparkles Christmas - Die-cuts for Christmas (poinsettia die-cuts on the first card and two different holly die-cuts on the second card)
Crafty Hazelnut Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything goes
Card and Scrap - Anything goes
Eureka Stamps - Christmas is coming
Lemon Shortbread - Anything goes