Christmas Blessings to you

Today I am sharing the last of the Christmas cards and enjoying the fact that Christmas has arrived.  I've always enjoyed this time of year, but it's especially true this year.  Nothing like a pandemic to make one appreciate the small everyday things that are really such a big part of our lives.

I have made a conscious effort to find the blessing and gratitude in every day and it is a wonderful habit to form.  Every small kindness is magnified and appreciated.  Something as simple as holding the door or saying hello can make an impact if we're only opening our eyes and our hearts to recognize these things.  Will it end poverty or create world peace? Maybe not, but I think it goes a long way in making us more aware and appreciative.  And those things CAN change the world!  So regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or not, my wish and prayer for you this season is that kindness, health, happiness, and love find their way to your door; and that you find yourself able to share these gifts with others too!

To my fellow Christians, may this Christmas season find you focused on the true purpose of this holiday and may you be moved to share God's love with all you meet!  Wishing you a Christmas blessed with health and happiness! 

 

Glittery Greetings!

Hi! Today I'm here with something a bit new!  I've been putting a lot of effort into using my older supplies for Christmas cards, but I just had to play a little with a new stencil and new color of glitter gel I bought at our LSS.  I used a border stencil, with a tilt to create that glittery green tree. It was a bit tricky to get the placement right and not get glitter where it didn't go, but I thought it made a great tree.  What I wasn't counting on was all the white space left on the layer.  A quick change in plans led to the gifts made of DSP.  A Christmas tree should have gifts, right?!

I heat embossed the sentiment to make it stand out a bit and then ran some cherry cobbler dazzling details around the edge to frame the card in glittery goodness!  A lot more time then I usually spend on Christmas cards, but it was a lot of fun!

I will  have a few more posts with Christmas cards and then I'll be back in scrapbooking mode after the holidays.  Thanks so much for visiting today!

Card Recipe: Paper-whisper white, real red, Dashing Along DSP, Stamp Set-Star Studded Season, Ink-real red, versamark, Accessories-Gina K Autumn Wishes stencil, holiday pine glitz glitter gel, silver twine, clear embossing powder, cherry cobbler dazzling details

'Green' Christmas

Hi!  So glad you're here!  I'm not trying to jump the gun on the upcoming holidays or anything, but I'm in a bit of a panic that I do not have many Christmas cards made and it is the end of October...

Fall break gave me some much needed time to do some sorting, cleaning, organizing, and yes, creating in my studio.  I even managed to use something that has been in my stash for quite some time.  

My DH loves to give me a difficult time about the odd things I save for creative projects, and I LOVE when I use something and can show him that I really did need to save whatever it was that he laughed at!  Several years ago, my MIL used some beautiful textured paper to wrap Christmas gifts.  I saved the paper for future use and about a year later, she gave me the remainder of the roll to use as well.  I decided to use the pretty paper to make some wonderful Christmas cards.  The paper was a bit tricky to cut because of the texture, but I decided that imperfect edges would work well with the shabby style I was creating.

a little inky goodness to add to the shabby effect...

changing up the sentiment on this one...

I think they turned out pretty cute and I'm happy to share that I used all of the paper from the wrapped gift!  I still have the remaining paper on the roll that I can still use for something fun too!  When I showed the finished cards to DH, he just smiled and shook his head.  I'm sure I will never convince him that saving these goodies is a wonderful idea, but he's learning not to ask "What are you going to do with THAT?!", so I guess I'm making a bit of a change in him!

I would love to see what you save and reuse on your creative projects! I think the oddest thing I've used was some funky, crinkly packing paper from Disney World!  If you have something to share, leave me a message with a link and I'll check it out!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Card Recipe:  Paper-Old olive, very vanilla, wrapping paper, Ink-memento tuxedo black, real red, soft suede, Stamps-Star Studded Season (1st card), Stampabilities Blessed Christmas (2nd card)

Flashback Friday and Merry Monday

Happy Friday, everyone!  As you are reading this, I am preparing for a weekend campout with 21 rowdy and hungry 10-12 year old boys! Woo! Hoo! I am praying that a cold front moves in and we have zero humidity for a few days!! Don't need to add stinky to the list of adjectives!!  I honestly have to admit that while this is usually a very hot and tiring weekend, I really enjoy it! Crazy, right?!

I am proud to announce that these are the last two cards using Merry Moments DSP (at least for now...)  I am still planning on using up some of my other older Christmas papers and of course there is the NEW paper that's sitting on my table begging to be used!  But for now, Merry Moments is being re-retired!

I used sketch #11 from Merry Monday and made two cards, both very similar, but using some different supplies.  I used  the retired corduroy buttons and brads on both.  I'm so glad I bought extras of those when they were in the clearance rack!!

I colored my rhinestones with a red sharpie so they would add some color and shine to the ornament.

I used up the last of my leftover scallop ovals from my cricut.  It was the wrong size for the intended project and I just knew I would find something that would work with this one!

My Flash Back items are: Merry Moments DSP, corduroy buttons and brads, the scallop oval, and the sentiment is from the retired set Star Studded Season.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that it's raining if you need it and dry if you don't!!  -I found myself wishing for a way to collect and transport rainwater from flooded and soggy places to other parts of the world that are in dire need of the water...  Now that would be something worth researching!  But anyway... have a great weekend and I hope you find some time to be crafty!!

Card Recipes: Cardstock-very vanilla, Merry Moments DSP, Ink-chocolate chip, Stamp Sets-Tags til Christmas, Star Studded Season, Accessories-chocolate chip corduroy buttons and brads, linen thread, ornament punch, basic rhinestones

Umm... Another Christmas Card...

No, it's not Flashback Friday, but in my desperate attempt to use up my older Christmas DSP, I have another card to share this week!  I had to get a little creative with this one.  I used the sketch #5 from Merry Monday and knew I wanted to use the snowman circle from Tags Til Christmas, but there wasn't any blue in the DSP... So I grabbed the color coach and found that marina mist was suggested with real red and old olive, which were colors in the DSP! BINGO! Of  course, the snowy image just begged for some dazzling details as well!  Who am I to argue with a snowman stamp?!

I colored the image with markers and also did a little 'splitting' of the sentiment using the marina mist marker.  I love being able to color only what I want to stamp.  Makes fitting things into a punched shape much easier!!

I think there's just enough DSP left to make that mini album and possibly a few scrappy cards or a page or two.  As happy as that makes me, I am even more amazed that I have 10 Christmas cards made already!  I just won't know what to do when December arrives...  Maybe I'll get some more scrapbook pages finished!  Hope you are finding time to enjoy your weekend! Happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, real red, Merry Moments DSP (ret), Ink-marina mist, real red, pumpkin pie, basic black (markers), Stamp Set-Tags Til Christmas, Star Studded Season, Punches-large oval, scallop oval, 1 3/4 circle, 2 3/8 scallop circle, Accessories- dazzling details