Color Me Beautiful Challenge #14-Holiday Tints and Goodbye...

Hello! I'm running a little behind on today's post, but I do have a good report on my Dad! His carotid surgery yesterday was successful and he is already resting comfortably in his recliner this evening! We knew he was going to be OK when he complained about his clear liquid diet for dinner last night. Seems the ICU unit frowns upon steak and potatoes after major surgery...

On a sad note, I am posting the very last challenge for Color Me Beautiful.  I have really enjoyed being a part of the design team and the ladies are absolutely fabulous!  It has also made me step out of my comfort zone several times as I used colors I don't normally gravitate towards.  The good news is that everyone who plays along this time is a winner (not that you weren't already winners in my book!).  So without further ado, here is the last inspiration photo...

and the lovely Stampin' UP colors...

I fudged the rules just a bit and added quite a lot of silver glitter and shimmer.  I really was drawn to the silver trim on the ribbon and thought my Christmas card needed that special touch.

The swirly tree just cried out for a bright silver star and some silver dazzling details, and my layered snowflake (leftover from my ornaments!) really needed a silver brad to bling it up a bit.  Of course when I was almost done, I just HAD to put a few spritzes of vanilla shimmer over the whole thing! My picture does nothing to show the shimmer and shine that really appears on the card! I could use this baby to guide Santa in for a landing!! Hee!Hee!

I really would love to see you play along with our final challenge and link up your own version of Holiday Tints!  All of the team members have made some amazing things and would love if you popped in for a little visit!!

Well, that's it for me tonight!  The girls and I are going to get some much needed cleaning done tomorrow so we can start decorating for Christmas.  I'll be back on Sunday with my Beside the Sea project for ABAC that doubles as a little Christmas gift!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-primrose petals, baja breeze, crumb cake, sahara sand, Ink-rose red, Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-snow flurry die, silver glimmer brad, rose red seam binding, silver dazzling details, vanilla shimmer smooch spritz

Color Me Beautiful Challenge #13 Christmas Sweets

Hello! I hope all of my blogging buddies in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't overindulge too much!! We are back, a day late (took a holiday!) with a new challenge at Color Me Beautiful!

**Warning!  The next part of my post relates to my creation for the design team.  It is a little lengthy... If you want to bypass the back story and scroll down to the challenge and my project, I will not be offended!** 

On Thanksgiving day, my Mom and her sisters gathered their families together for our traditional dinner.  It is A LOT of people, A LOT of food, and A LOT of fun!  When I was little, we would also get together for Christmas, as well, and draw names for a gift exchange.  As the families grew and our lives grew busier, we stopped doing the Christmas celebration but kept the Thanksgiving dinner.  About 15 years ago, we decided to add a bit of fun and festivity to the celebration with an ornament swap.  Each person wanting to play along brought an ornament (or two) and then played the Sneaky Santa game (nothing like stealing gifts to put you in the holiday spirit!!) to see which ornament would go to each person.  After a few years, I stopped participating because I already had so many ornaments, and being sentimental, couldn't part with the ones that were special and from family...  Fast forward to 5 years ago and my girls REALLY wanted to be a part of this.  So we went out and bought ornaments and they played along.  It was a lot of fun for them and they wanted to continue the tradition. 

Now, anyone that knows me, knows that if I can take something simple and make it more difficult, I usually do! So the next year, I suggest that instead of 'buying' their ornaments, we could 'make' them.  DD#1 already had better sewing skills than me so I thought this would be a fun thing for us to do.  So we searched online and in books for the perfect ornaments and found some very simple felt ornaments that the girls could make.  My aunts and cousins went crazy! As soon as they found out the girls made their ornaments, the battle to go home with the handmade ornaments was on!! So unwittingly, I started a tradition for my girls and a bit of a headache for me...  With each year, the girls would find a fabric/felt ornament to create, get supplies, and then torment me to 'help' them finish the ornaments on time.  Well, this year, I had a brilliant idea!  DD#1 was getting tired of sewing every year, and DD#2 (who has skills like her mother) was frustrated that her stitches never looked as nice as #1.  Enter brilliant plan...  If you have seen the Holiday catalog for SU, you have seen the beautiful paper ornaments shown in the photos.  Now THIS was right up my alley!  So we decided that this would be the ornament design for this year (not the really fancy one on the front, but the more simple ones inside...) and tried to decide on a color.

Now... If you are still with me, Bless You! Because this is where the CMB challenge finally comes into the story.  I wanted to play with these colors as soon as I saw the fabulous inspiration photo.  I mean, who doesn't love a box full of gorgeous, yummy cookies????

And I just knew these colors would make something equally fabulous and less fattening!

So without further delay, here is the ornament that I made as part of my girls' ornament exchange gift...

and the back w/ a picture of the lovely sisters...

AND... Drum roll please................................................................... From the 2012 collection of C&C Creations, I present to you....... The Paper Ornament!!

They each made one, but silly Mom only took one picture, so I will be trying to pass this one picture off to both of them as their ornament! Quite honestly, I don't remember which one I used for the picture, so technically it could be either one...right???? 

If you are wanting to recreate these, I must give you a tip.  They are NOT difficult at all, very easy to put together as a matter of fact.  After all, if a 10 year old can do it, so can you!!  However, if you are looking for something really quick to throw together, this is NOT your project!!  The cutting alone took quite a while and then we scored the middle of each ornament to make folding easier.  But it was a lot of fun and my girls enjoyed playing with my toys for a change!  The assembly was a matter of looking at the picture and copying it for me, but if you want details, please leave a comment and I will share the 'how to'.  There are three stamped images for each petal and six petals on each flower.  If you want the back to look more 'finished, add an unstamped ornament image as the base for each petal.

We would LOVE to see what you can do with these colors, so please feel free to link up your creations!! The other ladies on the design team have done some fantastic things with these colors as well (even a super cute card for a boy!!!), so be sure to stop by the blog and leave them some love!!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and especially for sticking it out through my long winded post!! Have a wonderful weekend and amid all of your shopping, find some quiet time to be crafty!!

Project Recipe:  Cardstock-primrose petals, crumb cake, wisteria wonder, Stamp Set-Ornament Keepsakes, Ink-basic gray, Accessories-old olive button (brights collection), snow flurry die, linen thread, Holiday Ornaments Framelits, 2 1/2" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, Tombo glue

Playing with some new toys!!!

Well, I have been a very good girl using up some of my old Christmas DSP and supplies.  So good, that I decided I deserved some time to play with brand new goodies! So today you will get to see some of the lovely items available in the new Holiday Catalog that began August 1st!!  If you would like to view it online, be sure to click on the link in the left column. If you want a real life copy, email me your address and I'll be sure you get one!

As a demonstrator, I actually ordered and received my goodies a month early!  It's a good thing I did, because after paying the dentist for my DD's appliance, taking care of book rental for school, and finishing the back to school shopping, I'm just about broke!!  Good thing I'm heading back to work so I can earn some more stamping, I mean, bill paying money!!  A girl's gotta craft, um..., I mean eat!

One of the main reasons I committed myself to using up some older paper was that the paper in the new catalog was so wonderful, I wanted it all.  I did show some restraint, there may be a pack or two that I didn't order...  But one that I had to order was Snow Festival.  I loved the mixture of colors in this pack.  While my cards today feature more traditional colors, you could easily use some of the other colors in the pattern to go for a fun and nontraditional style.

See those wonderful little images?  They are from a page that has 16 different squares, just perfect for trimming and using as a focal point on a card.  The sketch from Merry Monday worked perfectly with this paper.  I used sketch #16. Both of these cards literally came together in minutes.  No stamping at all!  The longest process was cutting the snowflakes with the big shot and the wonderful NEW Snow Flurry die!

Well, I guess it's time I got off of my computer and did something productive... After this coming weekend, my house will be terribly neglected for a week or two as the girls and I return to school!  I'm hoping Shadow won't be too lonely without all of the chaos of summer break!  Knowing him, he will enjoy having the couch to himself again! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-gumball green, soft suede, silver glimmer paper, Snow Festival DSP, Accessories-Snow Flurry die, big shot, basics glimmer brads