Merry Monday- More scrappy cards

Hello! I am back to share more of my holiday cards, and once again, I challenged myself to use scraps!  I am proud to share that I have finished my cards and will be posting them in the days leading up to Christmas. 

I'm also pretty excited that in one week, I won't have to get dressed for work and can enjoy my coffee in my jammies!  Christmas Break can't come soon enough!  I really love my job, but DD1 is home from college and I am enjoying every minute we have together (when she's not running off with her boyfriend and friends).  It will be nice to have a whole day to hang out and make some memories.

My cards today have a rather nontraditional color scheme, but since I love blue, I'm loving these colors together!

This one is a bit more traditional, and I actually used a whole piece of DSP to make six of this style.  I also played a bit with punches and layers on the focal sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipes: Paper-Snow Festival DSP, baja breeze, cherry cobbler, whisper white, gumball green, Stamp Sets-Joyous Celebration, Crazy for Christmas, Timeless Tidings, Ink-soft suede, gumball green, tuxedo black (memento), assorted markers, Accessories-small oval punch, 2 x 1 3/8 oval punch, decorative label punch, cherry cobbler scallop dot ribbon

Cozy Little Christmas Card

Hello!  I'm so glad you stopped in again!  My mini break taking care of DH has come to an end and I'm back to work again.  It was actually pretty nice having the time to get the decorations up and I even did a little baking.  I didn't get a ton of crafting time though.  However, I did manage to make a few cards using the Snow Festival DSP that was in my paper pile.

This pattern reminds me of a cozy warm sweater that someone's granny may have made as a gift, so I'm going with the cozy little Christmas card theme!  The hardest part was finding a way to add a sentiment without taking away from the sweater theme.  I probably spent over an hour thinking and testing out different ideas.  I finally settled on the layered circle oval with a little soft suede distressing around the edges to make them stand out from the white and baja breeze on the pattern.  It took me another 10 minutes to get the right sharpie shading for the enamel dots so they went with the colors as well.

I ended up making 6 of these and now I think my card stash might just be complete!  Now I just need to get those Christmas stamps purchased and address those envelopes... Wish me luck!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day.  Happy crafting!  For my fellow Christians of German descent, Happy Feast Day of St. Nicholas! Hope he brought you something wonderful!

Monday is Merry!

 Hello!  My stash of Christmas cards is looking a bit empty and now that it's October, I'm getting a little worried that I may not be done on time!  I always think I'm going to make cards all summer long and then that never happens...  So today, I threw together some super simple and quick cards to add to my box of cards.

I love the fun patterns in Home for Christmas DSP and they make creating a quick card so easy.  All I needed was a little sentiment and some ribbon and these were together in no time!

 I used Warm Words for the sentiment on this one.  I absolutely love this sentiment set!!

I inked the set Reason for the Season for the first time with this card.  I'm itching to play with the poinsettias in this set!! So pretty!!

I'm thinking I'll be doing quite a few cards like this if I want to have all of my cards ready to go by December!  I'm counting the days until our fall break when DD2 and I can have some time to do fun things together and I'm hoping to squeeze in some creative time as well!  Only two more weeks!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipes: Paper-real red, whisper white,  pool party, Home for Christmas DSP, Ink-pool party, real red, Stamp Sets-Warm Words, Reason for the Season, Joyous Celebrations, Accessories-large oval punch, pool party satin ribbon, gold glitter ribbon (from stash)

Scrappy Christmas Cards

Hello! Just a quick post with some Christmas cards I created from a pile of scraps.  I decided since so many of the scraps were pretty small, I would go with a quilted theme.  I'm not sure what you would call these particular quilt patterns, crazy??  No matter what you call them, they used up quite a bit of the smaller pieces of some very old Christmas DSP.  There are still a few bigger pieces left, but I think they'll have to wait for another day (maybe a scrapbook layout).

I pieced and glued my scraps onto a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of copy paper, ran the whole thing through the embossing folder and finished my card.  Not too difficult other than trying to find the right placement for the scraps...  I also managed to use the negative cut of a top note die that has been in my stash for a loooong time.  So glad it has a home now!

School and DD2 have been keeping me quite busy and I really need to get more Christmas cards made if they're going to be ready in time!  Wish me luck and thanks so much for stopping by!! Have a wonderful day!

Card Recipes:  Paper-real red, very vanilla, Merry Moments dsp, Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Joyous Celebrations, Accessories-oval and scallop oval punch, hexagon punch, top note die, square lattice folder

The last of the mini album

Hello again! As promised, I'm sharing the last of my mini Christmas Traditions album.  I did manage to keep the washi obsession to only one page today!

an old glimmer brad & using up some retired paper too...

finally using some stickles I've had for ages

-a green and red mixture

pulled out the silver glass glitter too!

I managed to pull out some neglected supplies for this project.  I hadn't used the glass glitter in ages and almost forgot how awesome it looks.  I HAD to have this bottle of red and green stickles a few years ago and this is the first time I've used it...  I also used a little more of Be of Good Cheer DSP left over from last year.  I was amazed at how many things I pulled out for this album.  Usually I try to keep everything really simple and don't pull out the fancy stuff, but it was a lot of fun playing with the pretties and not really all that time consuming either.  Once you've brought something out, you might as well keep using it! Maybe that's what happened with the washi... yeah... let's go with that!

We only have a week of carefree days left before school resumes and my girls are determined to fill them with lots of fun activities.  We went to one of the free movies at a local theater this morning and they really want to go to the pool tomorrow.  I'm hoping I can convince them to be crafty on Friday so I can have some playtime too! Wish me luck and happy crafting!!

Project Recipe: Paper-Be of Good Cheer (ret), Ink-black stamp and write marker, cherry cobbler, Stamp Sets-Tags til Christmas, Joyous Celebrations, Accessories- Season of Style washi, silver glass glitter, silver glimmer brad, postage stamp punch, extra large tag punch, circle framelits, very old stickles

Anything But a Card Challenge 24-Christmas Album

Hello! We are in week 2 of challenge 24 at Anything But a Card Challenges.  Our challenge is to celebrate Christmas in July (or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or winter) and you are welcome to share just about anything!

I had originally planned to scrapbook some photos from past Christmases, but it has been so terribly hot and humid here this week that I just couldn't get myself motivated.  I did however begin to alter a chipboard mini album which will feature some of my favorite holiday tradition photos.

The chipboard album came from the clearance bin at Michaels.  I think they were a quarter and I just couldn't pass them up.  Since I'm making an effort to actually use some of these things instead of letting them gather dust, I chose the wreath shape for this week's project.

I also used the retired Be of Good Cheer DSP.  This pattern reminded me of a berry covered holly wreath, so much so that I added some cherry cobbler dazzling details to really make the dots dimensional and festive! The silver ribbon is from the new Holiday catalog which goes live on August 1st.  I absolutely love this!! It's the perfect size for cards and smaller creations and it's so pretty!!

a close up showing the 'bling' factor...

On the back side, I painted the chipboard with Folk Art vintage white acrylic paint.  After the paint dried, I added a few strips of Season of Style washi tape (from the new Holiday catalog too) and mounted my photo on another piece of DSP.  I was debating what to add next when a piece of cherry cobbler tulle caught my eye.  I played with this a few months ago and opted not to use it.  I wanted a slightly tattered look, so I cut fringes  and scrunched them up before using glue dots to attach my shabby bow.  The snowflake was an extra punched from wax paper for a project completed long ago, but I kept it in my 'someday' container.  Apparently today is 'someday'!

You probably can't tell from the pic, but my DD is making Christmas cards.  The girls and I get together every year with my sister to work on Christmas projects.  Usually it's cards, but we've also made a Christmas Bingo game, and photo ornaments over the years too.

I'm hoping to get a few more pages finished this week since it's the last week of summer vacation.  I'm sure things will get quite a bit busier once the girls are back to their activities and schedules...  Maybe I'll manage to keep myself busy with some crafting projects while they're gone during the day!

I hope I have inspired you to pull out your holiday goodies and make something crafty to link up with our challenge!  Just remember, anything BUT a card!

Project Recipe:  Paper-Be of Good Cheer DSP (ret), very vanilla, Stamp Set-Joyous Celebrations, Ink-cherry cobbler, gumball green(sponging), Accessories-silver dazzling details, cherry cobbler dazzling details, silver 1/8" ribbon, basic rhinestones, large scallop circle punch, non-su snowflake punch, Season of Style washi tape, chipboard mini album, cherry cobbler tulle

Anything But a Card Challenge #9- Sisterly Love...

It's time for week 2 of Challenge #9 at Anything But a Card.  We've made it so easy for you to play along with this challenge! The challenge is Anything Goes or Your favorite project from 2012. Now how simple is that! I hope that you will find time to link up a new or favorite project this week.  The design team has done a wonderful job with their submissions as well, so be sure to stop by and check them out.

I had something of a crafter's block going on the week before Christmas.  I managed to complete all of my projects but kept putting off my gift for my sisters.  I really wanted these to be special and was hoping my mojo would return before Christmas day.  I finally broke down on Christmas eve and decided these had to be finished one way or another.  I printed out the pictures I wanted to use and noticed that red was a focal color in both photographs.  Then I started the daunting task of choosing papers.  After discarding several options, I settled on the retired Sending Love DSP. I love the glittery accents on this specialty paper! Apparently this was just the jump start I needed. As I played with the paper patterns I started visualizing each little frame and the whole project fell into place.

I even manage to squeeze some sneak peeks of new products onto this! Of course, using the retired paper helped reduce my growing stack of DSP, and that's always a good thing. Gotta make room for new stuff!

The flower trim in this picture is one of the new products

available in the spring catalog, available January 3rd!

Vintage yumminess!!

I used three glimmer paper hearts symbolizing the 3 sisters.

Another new product-Real Red Core'dinations paper!

Well that's it for me!  I'm off to do a little more organizing of my crafting table (imagine an explosion in a paper crafting store...)  and then hopefully work on a few ideas that have been floating in my brain.  I hope you had a wonderful December and managed to share some crafty goodness with others!  May your new year be filled with happiness, health, and peace! 

Project Recipe: Cardstock-real red core'dinations, very vanilla, Sending Love DSP (ret), red glimmer paper, Stamp Sets-Joyous Celebrations (oval frame), Fabulous Phrases, Ink-real red, chocolate chip, Accessories-frame from Hobby Lobby (1/2 price sale!!), full heart punch, large oval punch, Holiday Frame embossing folder, sanding system, vanilla flower trim, Victoria crochet trim, 'sisters' metal embellishment from my stash

Flashback Friday, Another Christmas Card, and A Close Call!

Hello all! I have reverted back to my older Christmas DSP again for this week's flashback project!  I also pulled out an older stamp and a retired stamp pad to keep with my oldies theme!

I am amazed at the number of Christmas cards that are in my stash now!  I might actually be finished before Thanksgiving!  Then what will I do?!  Hmmm... I may have to rethink this whole process or I will lose my membership card to the Procrastinators Club. (I don't really have a card... they keep telling me they'll send me one...)

But anyway! On to the card!!

I really like the little snowman image and it was fun to pull out the blender pen to color in the bits and pieces too!  Not a very difficult card to make and now my Ski Slope paper is all but gone as well!  I think this will make a nice card for a little one!

My flashback items were the Ski Slope DSP, a retired Kiwi Kiss ink pad, and the non SU snowman stamp.

Now... on to something a little more personal.  As the post title states, I had a very close call the other day.  No, not a car wreck, accident, or anything like that... THIS was much more serious!
The girls and I are sitting on the couch watching a movie and the phone rings.  Youngest DD truly believes she was born to answer the phone, so she sprang up to grab the phone.  This is where the story begins...

DD-"Hello?....Yes..." a very confused look crossing her face as she hands the phone to her sister...
"It's for you?!"
As DD #2 takes the phone, DD looks at me with wide eyed wonder and whispers "It's a BOY!"
Mom-"GASP!" then a bionic Mother's ear kicked in as I shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation...
DD#2- "Hello? Oh, Hi (enter boy's name here)"
*I felt a tiny bit of relief as it was one that I knew well, but only a little relief...
"Umm... I'm not sure... I'll have to ask..."
*At this point, I have a dull ache in the pit of my stomach...MY BABY IS ON THE PHONE WITH A BOY!  AND SHE HAS TO ASK ME SOMETHING!!!!!!! I suddenly begin to have flashbacks of her playing in the dirt... climbing trees... begging for a softball glove, helmet, and cleats so she can look like a real ball player... throwing on the closest shirt and hoping it's clean... No...It can't be...Must be a mistake...
DD#2-"Mom, it's (boy's name) and he wants to know..."
*Before she can ask I'm inwardly pleading 'please don't let me have to be the mean mom yet...please don't let this be a date request...I am really not ready for this yet!'
DD#2 continues "if I can play on the whiffle ball team he's trying to get together for the fest."

OH THANK YOU GOD  for small miracles!! My baby is still a tomboy and her friend is only calling cause he knows she will be a good athletic addition to the team!  So, after breathing a sigh of relief, I said 'of course she could play' and got the details for the weekend!

While I realize this really isn't as life altering as an accident or illness (had plenty of experience with those!), it really was a major deal for me.  I realized that my baby is not really a baby anymore and that I have a new role as Mom.  Because at some point, it will be a boy that doesn't want to play whiffle ball, and 'likes' my daughter, and I get the nasty job of telling her that there is no way that my middle school aged daughter is going on a 'date'.  But better me than her father, who almost busted a vessel in his forehead as I shared this story with him! Tee! Hee! He has a new role coming too!
Oh...did I mention she's starting to enjoy clothes and shoe shopping, and makeup...sigh...

Thanks for letting me have my Mommy moment and have a wonderful weekend!!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-riding hood red, whisper white, Ski Slope DSP, Ink-chocolate chip, marina mist, riding hood red, kiwi kiss, pumpkin pie, Stamps-Four Frames, Joyous Celebrations, Accessories-decorative label punch, blender pen, marina mist dotted scallop ribbon

Merry Monday Sketch 14

Well, I managed to squeeze in one more card for the Merry Monday Past Sketch challenge!  Today's card uses sketch #14!

I was trying to come up with a card for this sketch and saw the piece of green patterned paper from the retired Ski Slope.  I thought it would make a nice little wreath and after that the rest just fell into place!  I couldn't resist breaking into one of my NEW stamp sets! Joyous Celebrations will be available next month and features images that fit perfectly into ovals or circles!  I used one of the sentiment stamps in the center of the wreath.

To make the wreath, I used two scallop punches.  I find that it is much easier to punch the smaller scallop first, then line up the larger punch around the 'hole' left by the first punch. A few colored rhinestones and a little bakers twine bow finished it off nicely!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today! I hope you have a wonderful day and happy crafting!


Card Recipe:  Cardstock-baja breeze, whisper white, Ski Slope DSP (ret), Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Set-Joyous Celebrations, Accessories-2 3/8 scallop circle punch, large scallop circle punch, white bakers twine, rhinestones, red Sharpie,  chocolate chip scallop dots ribbon.