Welcome to my crafty blog. Today’s card is one for a young person who’ll be celebrating their first Christmas this year – I thought the Claritystamp ‘Christmas stocking’ set would be ideal.

I started by stamping out the different elements in the set, colouring them with Stampin Up alcohol ink blending pens and then cutting them out. I’ve been doing lots of practice with colouring and am gradually getting better at shading and blending

Next was to add some sparkle to the top, heel and toe of the Christmas stocking. The easiest way to do this was to go over the white areas with a Versamark pen, and then heat emboss them using WOW clear sparkle powder.

I then worked out where the stocking would be positioned on the card, and stamped the candy cane in red, so it sits out of the stocking top. I attached the stocking with foam pads, and then tucked the teddy and the gingerbread man into the top of it.

Once I started putting the elements together, I decided it needed more presents around the stocking, so cut out and coloured a couple more.

The words for the sentiment are a mix and match of the various Claritystamp sets in Barbara Gray’s handwriting – the relations, months & numbers, and Christmas sentiments. I love having co-ordinating sets that I can then use to create more personalised cards.

I mounted the white card topper onto a red background, and then onto a 7×7 square card blink, and added a few red gems for effect. Not sure the little one that this card is for is able to count the weeks til Christmas yet, but it will arrive at the same time for them anyway. I might take that approach myself and stop panicking about how many cards I’ve still got to make in the weeks that are left!