This year's Christmas cards - Part 1

 In one way, I am shocked that it's been so long since I've blog. In another way, I'm not surprised at all. At some point, I realized that during the biggest part of the stay at home period of Covid, I coped with shopping. And for some reason I'm still working towards fully reorganizing my space to get my stash under control. I've actually already done a lot of purging. I participated in two successful garage sales in the summer of 2022 and summer of 2023. I don't do my own - I get a table at our local stamp/scrapbook store. It's just easier than trying to sell online via Facebook & then figure out getting the items to the person. 

That said, I have been crafting. I have two groups of friends who I make cards with consistently. One is a monthly meet up & the other is twice monthly/every two weeks. Plus I scrapbook with a friend once a month. So I am doing stuff... I just haven't been good at sharing it online, particularly on my blog. I will be changing that starting this month. I commit to one post a week. My hope is that somehow I can figure out how to promote my blog so people comment on it. The lack of comments/acknowledgement of the effort it takes to get photos of the projects & post is what brought me down & deterred me from posting, if I'm honest. 

In the title of this post I said 'Part 1,' I swear there will be a part two. These cards were made for a friend to send out; she specifically wants Christian themed Christmas cards. The next set I will be making this week will be secular, because they are for people at work. 

The first two cards were made using the December sheetload of cards from Call Me Crafty Al. I love her Youtube channel. I made 8 cards with it, 4 of each of the two you see here.

This was the November sheetload. The original doesn't have the border punch at the bottom. It was a 'happy accident' because I needed to do something to make the gold cardstock strip look better; I cut the pattern paper strips shorter than the original by mistake. I'm still not sure if I read the diagram incorrectly or I lined my paper up wrong in my trimmer. Either way, I'm happy with the result. It's another where I made 4 of each combo.

This final set of cards is the May 2022 sheetload of cards. It used 6x6 paper, which I really like because I have so much of it and it was good to use up some of it. 

 

Card details: All products Stampin' Up unless noted otherwise

Sets 1 & 2:

Pattern paper: Photo Play Silent Night                                                                                                 

Ink: Bumble Bee

Cardstock: Basic White, So Saffron, Bumble Bee 
Sentiment: Peace to You

Set 3

Pattern paper: Echo Park, collection unknown                                                                                          

Ink: Bumble Bee

Cardstock: Basic White, Always Artichoke
Sentiment: Peace to You

Valentine's Day challenge cards

 I am back. Let's see if I can FINALLY get in a groove. I have been trying to do more crafting, so far with minimal success. The 'New Normal' of the current pandemic scenario means I can't use my usual space to craft. My building has a common space that normally we are all allowed to use. It has much larger tables than either my desk or my kitchen table. 

Despite the limited space, I did finally find some mojo again & make 4 cards.  Although the kids aren't meeting face to face, the GEMS group from our church still wanted to do a Valentine's Day project. They made cards for seniors at one of the local facilities. It was all arranged by our leaders in terms of how to drop off the cards, etc, so that all the rules continue to be followed. As stressful as things have been for me, it's even harder on those who are in extended care facilities, cut off from many of their visitors, and pretty dependent on staff. I know at least here, the staff are all working as hard as they can to provide the necessary support. So anything we can do to help them provide some cheer to our local seniors is worth it. 

Between us, myself & two friends made 22 cards. I am only sharing mine, because I don't have a picture of one friend's cards, and I don't have permission to share the one my other friend made, though she did ask me to photograph it for her. 

I was inspired, again by the sketch at Call Me Crafty Al. It is the January 2021 Sheetload of Cards. Alicia's sheetloads have become some of my favorites; I love her Youtube channel. She has a great hop every month so viewers can see different takes on the sketch. One of the things I love about using sheetloads is that it's a great way to use a bunch of my older cardstock & patterned paper, because you can make a lot of cards at once. I have 5 more ready to finish & I hope to share them soon, as they will be a different sentiment, and and I may make a few other changes. Although Alicia did make the flag the same colour as her matting cardstock, and it worked nicely, I don't like it as much on mine. I have a few ideas. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Paper Players 527: Theme: Hearts and/or Stars

Double D Challenges: Inspiration challenge: Valentine/Love - New to me challenge blog

Just Us Girls: Word Week - Valentine 

Card Details:

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette (I think?), Primrose Petals (SU)

DSP: Flowers (SU), Pink Polka dot, Black & White Hearts (random paper stack)

Stamps: Heartfelt

Ink: Primrose Petals (SU)

Tools:  Scallop Heart, Heart punches  (SU)

Addicted to CAS #81 - Bloom

Happy Valentine's Day.

I am not actually a big fan of this particular holiday. It's never really appealed to  me. Or maybe it did, as a kid. But I have definitely gotten cynical about it as I've aged.

It's been a really uneventful couple of weeks. I attended a crop on Friday, and a cardmaking thing yesterday. We had our SU group in early February, too. Work continues to go relatively well.

I have a quick card share for a challenge today. I'm actually going to post two cards, because all though I think the first one is a little more CAS, it is a complete CASE. I made it at Crafty Capers a while ago and finally finished putting it together recently. I could have made it more my own by adding some bling, in retrospect. But alas, the card has already been sent; I needed a quick sympathy card for a colleague recently. Sadly, I'll be needing another one this week, as I just saw on Facebook another acquaintance of mine passed away. I hate cancer.

I don't have the product details for this card. I forgot to write down which company makes that flower, the sentiment and that punch. If you'd like me to find out, please mention it in the comments. I definitely have to ask about the punch, as I love it.

The second card is one where while some CASEing took place, it wasn't an exact replica of the original. Made this one at my friend Angela's place. Everyone coloured their flowers differently and chose a different colour scheme. I have always loved purple, so it was an easy choice for me. The colouring is actually done using SU Blender pens. Made it into a birthday card because I knew a friend had a birthday coming up.

Check out the rest of the challenge entries at Addicted to CAS.
Card details

Birthday Card - All Products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Neutrals paper stack
Stamps: Birthday Blooms
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

My 250th post!

I swear, when I started blogging, I didn't really think that I'd make it to my 250th post. But 4 or 5 years later, here I am.

In some ways, it's taken me a lot longer reach this milestone than I'd expected or hoped. Life sometimes just gets busy. Other times, my motivation to craft is just not there. I have found that the times, like now, when I'm in an active blog group are ones when I'm most active. It helps knowing that there is a group of people who will pop over to your blog and comment on  your cards. I mention that because I hope that not only will you comment on my cards, but you'll also take a look at the blogs listed on my sidebar and give my cyber friends some love!

There really isn't much going on right now, so nothing else to share. I'm in a book/study group at church, looking at a book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, and I'm really enjoying it. We're gearing up for budget season on the school board. And I'm managing to keep up with my hockey pools this year. So life is good.

Here are my cards:

I've been spending a lot of my card making time working on my stash of card kits and this one has been there for a long time. I love the way the different label dies look together. And the 'Wish Big' stamp is actually punched out of the old SU ornament punch. The big dot embossing folder has really grown on me, too. 

CCEE1604 - Chocolate Cake Day

The toughest thing about this challenge was choosing which card to post for it. I make a lot of birthday cards that involve cake images. Why? Because I love cake. Birthdays are all about the cake and the presents, when you think about it. LOL. 

Make My Monday - Newest/Favorite Stamp

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes 

Love these darn birds! What more can I say? 

Card Details:

Wish Big - All Products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamp: I can't remember - it's retired.. will try to find the set name

Other: Embossing folder, framelits

Happy Birthday - All Products Stampin Up

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Unsure... 

Other: Cupcake Builder punch, oval punch, scallop oval punch, border punch, dots embossing folder

Bird Card

Stamps: Bird Crazy, Dyane Reavley verse

Cardstock: Bazzill White

Ink: Stazon Black, Memento Black

Other: Tombow markers, Sizzix dies 

Those Crazy Birds!

Well, it happened. A while ago, I fell in love with the Bird Crazy stamps from Tim Holtz. I finally got to play with them recently. I did a little class at our local stamp store, and, as usual, I tried to put my own spin on the cards.

I'm entering the following challenges:

Casology - Clear

I wanted to be different here, and so I used the rain/water/puddles as something that's clear. Even though puddles can be murky, that's not from the water... that's the dirt on the ground. The water itself is clear!

CCEE - Hats

I just love this guy. His nose is perfect. I'm really loving the Crazy Things add on stamp set; they really give the birds extra personality. I also did a second hat card, but I'm having trouble uploading it, so I'll post it on its own, tomorrow.

Addicted To Stamps & More - Make Your Mark
Seize The Birthday - Clean and Simple
Stamp Ink Paper - Birthday

This one was so much fun to colour!

 All the colouring on these cards were done with my Tombos & a water brush.

Another Challenge card

I`m back... two days in a row!

Had a low key day today. I`ve been feeling a bit achy in a few joints due to the weather, and I just couldn`t get myself moving quickly enough to get to church today. I feel really badly about it this time, in particular, because I missed a baptism.

I did continue to get caught up on my reading, which was good. And I finished the card for this challenge, which was even better. It`s another one that was designed by Kathy at Crafty Capers. I made some mistakes and ended up having to change the layout. The purple panel was meant to be one piece in the original design, for example.

The thing I loved the most about this project was playing with alcohol inks. I have really begun to love that medium. I have only picked up a few bottles for now. I don`t want to get too many as I`m not sure how often I`ll use them.

The challenges this cared is for are:

AAA Cards - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS 

Here is the card:

The images are all Ranger/Tim Holtz. The alcohol inks are Adirondack. I can`t remember what colours I used. The front butterfly was fussy cut and raised with 3D foam for dimension and then I applied stickles for some colour and sparkle. 

Christmas card challenge

Wow, the fall has been busy. I've had a lot on my plate professionally. I did manage to get away for a long weekend in Vegas to celebrate my 45th birthday. I took a lot of pictures, which are STILL sitting on my camera. Went old school this time & took the pictures on my Canon, as opposed to my phone.

I also ended up having to replace my monitor. It crashed on me a while ago and one of my wonderful cousins gave me one of her old ones. So even when I was able to make cards, I've not been able to post them. Surprisingly, I've done well at carving out time to do some card making. Self care is too important to ignore, and I find my card making and scrapbooking to be a great stress relief. So I've got lots to share over the next while.

Today's card is for two challenges
 GDP: Christmas
TGIF: Christmas

It's a CASE of a design by a great card maker at a local store. I went in and did it as a make & take. One of the things I love about these events is the freedom we have to change things up. I did my snowflakes differently, and my colours were a bit different for my background. I fell in love with these trees. They remind me of the Wonderland set from Stampin Up, which I didn't purchase, because I have similar stamps. The background is done with Tim Holtz distress inks. The greeting & the trees are embossed in white.

All the products used on this card are Tim Holtz. I can't remember what colours of distress ink I used, or the name of the set.

SIP Challenge #5 - Day 14

There is a new challenge blog on the internet, and I really like it. It's called the Stamp Ink Paper challenge, and today I'm taking part in Challenge #5 . Conveniently enough, the theme happens to be Christmas in July.
Here's the Inspiration image:

And here is my card:

The image is from a kit; I had the card in my stash of 'Things I Need To Finish' and this challenge gave me the kick I needed to do it. I was trying to get the colour of the bird to match the ornaments completely, and I struck out there. He's too pink. But with the markers I have in my collection, that was the best I could do.

I want to say the the image and verse are from Penny Black, but if I'm honest, I do NOT remember.

Day 13

Good afternoon....

Another wonderful day here. I have been thinking, and in an effort to get more traffic, I am offering blog candy. Post a comment to all my July cards, and then at the end of  "Christmas in July" I'll randomly draw a name and send one person their favorite card.

I slept in for some strange reason. Well, I didn't so much sleep as I lacked the energy to get up. I was awake, listening to TSN 1040 sports talk radio.

Went to Crafty Capers for Coffee & a Card. A friend usually goes with me, but she had to work, so she couldn't make it. She had hoped I'd be able to buy her a kit, but there weren't any left. I promised her I'd show her the card & we could make our own version this summer.

That card is very summer, and not at all Christmas-y, so I won't post it today. I'm saving them for August.

Today's card is one of the 2 other cards I made the same day as yesterday's card.

I just gave it a quick water colouring this afternoon and then photographed it. I also had to fix the flaps. Apparently I didn't use very strong adhesive on the larger flap, or the the inside piece, as both came off. I was going to take a picture to show you how it opens, but it's pretty self explanatory. Each of the die cut flaps are tucked under the white lined piece, but they aren't attached to each other at all. You simply lift each one and write your message inside.

The flaps were cut using a Big Shot. I don't remember what die we used. Simply score about a 1/4 inch or so in, so you have a piece to fold under and adhere the flaps to the base.

BTW - in yesterday's post I said I thought the paper was Simple Stories. I'm not so sure of that anymore. It may well be Echo Park.

Day 12

Editor's note: This card actually would have been live last night had I hit 'Publish' rather than 'Save'. Aaargh. 

------

Today is a bittersweet day. My Boo is gone; mom, dad & Boo start their Alaska cruise today. Then, after the cruise they're heading home via the US. So no more seeing my girl until we Skype again in a few weeks. 

Despite that melancholy, I had a relatively good day. My allergies seemed to be back with a vengeance in the morning. I ended up sleeping in and getting to church late, and thus couldn't get a wheelchair-safe parking spot. So home I came to do some proof-reading for a friend. Then I continued the never-ending task of attempting to finally catch up on my email. 

Went to a lovely book launch at a friend's house in the late afternoon. It was good to see some old friends  and meet some new people. And the hosts cooked us a fantastic meal. I got home around 8:00 and I was surprisingly tired.

Today's card is one I made at the former Scrapbookin' Adventures store. They always did great card classes. Luckily, Bianca, who taught the card classes, is teaching at a new store. She and a friend opened up an online venture a few months after SA closed its doors here. SA is also doing online sales, too, but their focus is on kits. 

But I digress. Here is the card. The reason I didn't post it when I made it in 2014 is that I hadn't yet decided if i was going to colour the image. I had originally thought I'd leave it uncolored, to go more with a 'vintage sketch' notion, but the more I looked at the hat, the more I determined I needed to colour it. And then I decided if I was going to colour the hat, I had to colour the scarf and his arms. So I found my Tombows (after spending 15 minutes going through all the drawers, I discovered they were right in front of my nose, on the shelf. Yay me. Aargh.) and gave Frosty a bit of colour. 

I may yet add some Wink of Stella or some other form of glitter on the snowman.. I can't decide if that would be too much. Note that the stamped image is all one stamp, and it was embossed with VersaMark & covered in an antique-y gold embossing powder. 

The patterned papers are either Simple Stories, I think. 

Day 11

Life is good.

I had a wonderful day today. Tomorrow my brother, sister in law and niece leave. They're actually going on a cruise with our (as in brother & my) parents, to Alaska. I'm really curious as to how the munchkin will do. I just wonder if she'll be bored. She does love 'bowts' (a close proximity to her pronunciation of boats.. it may be a bit more like 'boots', actually) though so I can imagine she and Dida (her grandpa, my dad) will have fun looking out the window at them.

Anyway, today was fun because on her last day here, I finally figured out the way to get past her nervousness around my chair. We played with technology. Basically, I found some fun Youtube videos that she was so enraptured by that she forgot to be nervous. They weren't even wheelchair related; they were some Sandra Boynton books. When it was time for me to go, she gave me a big kiss with no need of mommy or daddy to hold her. So my day was made. :)

Had a relaxing afternoon. Then tonight I went to the movies with a friend. We went to see movie Minions. It was utterly hilarious. It stood alone quite well, and as a prequel for the two Despicable Me films, it was fantastic. I have not laughed that hard in AGES.

Today's card.... I thought I'd posted this card in the past, but I can't seem to find it in any previous posts. It was one I made on a Monday Coffee & a Card at Crafty Capers. I also don't see a picture of it on my computer, either filed in my previously blogged folders (I sort by year) or my general 'cards & layouts' folder. So I'm hoping I've not posted this in the past.

This card features a lot of Tim Holtz stuff, if I recall correctly. The tree & the deer should be Stamper's Anonymous. The tag is stamped and covered with distress inks. The stencil is definitely a Tim one. I think this card was the first time I used stencils, and I fell in love. I don't remember what company made the die for the Merry Christmas.

This card was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I'd try something like it again, though it's definitely not something I'd ever try to mass produce.

Until tomorrow...

Day 10

What a wonderful day!

I went over to see my niece again and she my worries were for naught; she didn't act more nervous than she had on Wednesday. In fact, she's warming up to me quite nicely. As long as Daddy was holding her, she was happy to give me a kiss. I got to see her twice today, which was a treat; we had a family dinner at my Aunt's house. She had a lot of fun playing with our cousin, who just turned 5. They were very sweet together.

I also attended a professional event. They had the grand opening of phase 1 of some park improvements at a local place. The new play areas/equipment look terrific and the designs for future phases are spectacular. I didn't stay very long. Just visited with some friends and colleagues, took some pictures of the proceedings, had cake, and headed home. It was very crowded with children who were NOT interested in us adults interfering with their fun.

Today's card:

Like yesterday's (and tomorrow's) card, this one is one I created at a make and take at Crafty Capers, our local stamp store. I think we made it the same day as the previous card. I say that because the snowflake is covered in Inka Gold, just like yesterday's. 

There is no stamping on this card. Everything is die cut, except the small blue snowdrops. Those are made with Pearl Pen, I think. 

Day 9

Well, today was a mixed bag. On the one hand, on Thursdays I get my favorite home support worker who does my laundry. Of all the HSWs I've had, she's one of the two best I've had, ever. And the smoke is gone! Or at least if it isn't, it's faded to the point where it's no longer noticeable. So that makes me very happy.

The bummer about today was that I did not get to see my niece. My mom called when I was out last night. He made arrangements to take her for a play date at a friend's house. The weather is pretty warm so she got to go in the little kiddie pool they have. She was so excited she barely touched her breakfast. Anyway, the friend was only available in the morning, so they had to leave right after they ate. My only worry is I wonder if she'll take a step back and start making strange with me again. She was just starting to get comfortable yesterday.

The other bummer about today... I did NOT use my time wisely. At all. Like, I can't even tell you what I did today. I played games on Facebook. I read multiple threads about local political issues. That is pretty much it. I'm at the point where I think I'll have to ask my cousin to come over and supervise me so I get off my lazy butt and clean my kitchen; it's rather pathetic, but I swear, I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to cleaning up clutter.

I love today's card. It's not perfect - there's a snowflake missing - but I have a sentimental spot for it in my heart regardless. When I say there's a snowflake missing what I mean is, when I made it, there were five. There was a small one in between the top right and centre left. It fell off and refused to go back on now matter what I did. So I gave up. It's hard to tell - I couldn't get great light to photograph this one - but there are little dots of pearl pen in a few places, and the 'Let it snow' is embossed. The snowflakes are convered in Inka Gold.

Day 8

What a wonderful day I had today. It was another one where I took it easy. But in the evening I went out to my friend's house for tea. We have a ladies' group that meets Wednesday nights, and I since I've  been elected to school board, I'm usually only able to attend 1 or 2 times per month. Now that we're on summer break, I should be there every Wednesday. It was our first get together of the summer, because Canada Day fell on a Wednesday this year. The 6 of us had a lovely visit, and one of the ladies brought candy from her recent road trip... a mixed container of huckleberry flavoured treats - mints, gummy bears, taffy and jelly beans. I tried the gummy bears, and didn't like them. Not soft & gummy enough for me; more like jujubes. The jelly beans were delish, though, if a bit too sweet. 

Today's card is another oldie. I have no idea when or where I made it. I'm only just seeing, as I look at the photo, that I'll have to trip the end a bit, and fix the middle ornament.Very odd... I'm admittedly someone who doesn't always get things perfectly straight, but I usually notice when this are as askew as this one! 

This set is retired, but it's one I expect I'll keep forever. I absolutely love it. What interesting is it took me quite a while to notice it. I especially love this colour combination. It's a little atypical for Christmas, but it's not weird, either. These are definitely my colours.. I love bold jewel tones. 

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up
Stamps: Delightful Decorations
Inks: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Paper: Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Ornament Punch, Border punch

Day 7

Another low key day in my world. I had my usual morning visit with my niece. She's slowly warming up to me, which is nice to see. We were signing songs and having stories today. Then I came home  and did laundry. The smoke was still pretty bad so I didn't feel  like going out. I have a ridiculous amount of email to still catch up on, so I work on that when I have free time. On some level, it's a procrastination thing... I should probably clean my kitchen a bit more, but it's too hot to get motivated.

Today's project is a cute little treat pouch/bag.

The bag itself is made using a die. I can't remember what company makes it. The top and bottom pictures are the bag laying flat; the middle is standing up. It was quite easy to figure out - far moreso that I expected when I first saw it. The background is made using Tim Holtz distress inks. The snow is masked on the bench. Truly, the trickiest part of the project was lining up the ribbons/bows between the lights. We used a Gelatos to do the light. I love them, but I don't have any because I know I won't use them enough to justify the purchase.

Day 5 - Congrats USA

Before we get to today's card - congrats to the US Women's National Soccer Team on their World Cup victory. So glad the game was played indoors, at BC Place. I noticed the sun peeking through, so I did wonder if the roof was open. I'd be surprised if it was, though. The Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island are covered in a pretty thick haze due to all the forest fires that are happening throughout the province. It's unprecedented, at least in my lifetime. I mean, sure, we have fires, but it's never been this bad. Normally I'd have my back door open, to get some in air in from off the patio, but I can't. Too much smoke.

Despite all the frustration & nervousness about the haze/smoke, it's been a good day. I had breakfast at my parents' house so I could see my little niece (and my bro/SIL of course!). She's taking a little bit of time to warm up to me. At first we couldn't figure out why, as we try to Skype regularly. Then it hit me that she can't see my wheelchair on the laptop. The way I'm sitting, it's hidden. So she's still figuring that out. And the elevator up to the kitchen isn't a normal, quiet one. 

On to today's project! It's not a card today, in the traditional sense. It's a gift card holder. I made it at the same class where I made these cards. To be brutally honest, I couldn't find this one at the time I posted the first four. Not sure how it got separated from the rest. My apologies for the blurry photo; phone died so I couldn't try again. I'll try to update it tomorrow when I post day 6.

As you can see, it's done file folder style. The file folders came premade by the company we got the kit from. The 'merry' is from a separate die; all the other embellishing is from the kit. The folder is adhered shut along the left & right side, so you can slide a gift card in the top, which is why I'm not classifying it as a 'card,' per se. 

See you tomorrow! 

Day 4 - Happy Independence Day!

I hope all my American friends are enjoying the celebration of July 4th!

It's not a holiday here, as we just had ours, but today was a great day nonetheless. I got up nice and early, which always gets me off to a good start. A friend came by and we went to a garage sale; an SU demo we know was selling some retired products. Surprisingly, I didn't purchase as much as my friend J. I have a  very specific list now of retired stamps I'm looking for, and I do my best to NOT stray from it.

After our successful shopping excursion, we went out for a nice breakfast. We had talked about going to the mall, too (she wanted an oven thermometer and I could use a few new t-shirts) but it was already getting too hot. So we checked out the movie times so we can (hopefully) go see Inside Out this week or next, and then went back to my place, where she kindly helped me get my trunk unloaded... and made me even happier by taking a few of my leftover items from the Crafty Capers garage sale. I still have lots to take up to Parksville to see if people would like it later this month.

Speaking of that - on to today's card.

Today's card is a CTMH card. Like all my CTMH cards so far, it was designed by my wonderful demo Candra Holmes at Paper Dragon Fleur. I don't think I've ever strayed from Candra's design at all... maybe once in a blue moon I'll use the opposite side of a patterned paper. Part of that is that I love her work (as I do all the stampers I know - they're all so different, and it's wonderful!), and part of it is that I don't have quite the CTMH stash that I do of SU stuff at this point, so I'm not yet feeling as creative as I do with my other stuff.

I chose this card because although it's not the same blue as the US flag, it still has some red, white & blue. And the ribbon has some shimmer to it, which makes me think of stars.

Day 2

There is really no good excuse for how late I am with this post. I was ridiculously lazy again today. I had no desire to go out in the heat. I'm also still trying to catch up on some older personal emails that have been backed up due to my focus on school district matters. So I spent far too long today working on that.

I did manage to go out at dinnertime. I got a surprise call from a friend and we went to a place I've never been for dinner. I've been there for breakfast, so I knew the food was likely good, and I was not disappointed. Now that we've lost Earl's I think Frankie's may become the new place to go.

Here is today's card.

I can take no credit for the design of this one. It was something I made last summer, at one of the Monday Coffee and a Card sessions at Crafty Capers, a local stamp store in town. I adore that snowman! I don't think I've bought him yet, and I'm not sure how much longer I can resist. 

I love the dimension in this card. I'm not sure you can tell, but the snowman was stamped on a separate sheet. We used a cutter to get a straight line to his body, fussy cut around the top half/two thirds of him, then created another straight line. That makes the ground line for the trees. The whole  piece is raised with 3D foam to give it depth. The stencilling of the snowflakes was done first, before it was laid down, and before the tree die cuts were placed in the background. This card did take a little longer than some of our Monday cards, because of the extra cutting. Still, I loved it and I can see myself trying it again, at least in some form. 

I don't have card details today, because I can't remember the products used. I know the stamping was done with Memento, the stencilling was done with Tim Holtz distress inks, and the colouring was done with Tombow markers. I think the snow on the trees is liquid applique. 

ABC Christmas Challenge

It is gorgeous weather here lately. In fact, if anything,  it's been a little too hot. And if you know me at all, you know that for me to say that is proof that it is REALLY warm. I love the heat. 

I've had a nice, relaxing few weeks. The school year is wrapping up, so while we certainly still have things we have to do as a school board, now that we've passed the budget, we don't have extra meetings to attend. The quiet lull will end soon, as we get into retirement functions and year end assemblies. The nice thing about the drop in the number of evening meetings is that I've been able to watch some of the NHL playoffs. Loved watching the Tampa Bay Lightning take out the New York Rangers tonight! Now if the Blackhawks can just beat the Ducks tomorrow.... 

It's been too hot to be outside, so I decided I'd work on some cards. I went through my stash of kits and found a couple Christmas cards that worked well for this challenge:

ABC Christmas Challenge - K Is For Keep It Simple 

 The shapes for both of these cards were cut out using the Cricut, and so that made it very simple.

For the first card, I just cut the patterned paper and washi randomly. The rhinestones came in the triangular shape.

For the second card, the ornaments and frame were again, both cut with the Cricut, so it was really easy. The patterned paper was just cut to size to fit underneath the frame. For the bow, the paper was cut a little bigger so I could cut off the excess & properly fill the space. Again, the rhinestones came in the shape of the ornaments.

All the products for these cards were from Close To My Heart.

Playing with new stuff...

I'm back with a card for a challenge, as well as a few others.

My first card is for two challenges. I used a stamp from my new Tim Holtz Bird Crazy set. Love this little guy! I saw it at the store, with some really cute samples, and I couldn't resist.

There is still time to enter these challenges so check out the links!
Crafty Time Challenges - Anything New
Addicted to Clean and Simple - Birds 

A few weeks ago, I took a class at a local stamp store. It was all about playing with distress inks, which I love. I particularly loved that we got to use some stencils. I was finally inspired to buy a few, as well as some embossing paste, and the new Bo Bunny pearlescent stuff. First I will show you the cards that are not for the challenge.

The photo of the first three cards isn't great, I know. I can't quite figure out why it was so blurry, and I'm charging my camera at the moment, so I can't try again. When I get a chance I'll take another shot. I can also take individual shots of the cards if people would like to see them in more detail, so you can get a look at hte stencilling.

The top card uses the new Cracked Pistachio distress ink from Tim Holtz. Sigh.. love it. The bottom one uses a blending of he pistachio & the Mermaid Lagoon. I wanted to by that exact honeycomb stencil, but I they didn't have any left. I think I have a butterfly very similar to this one. That is washi tape in the top and bottom corners.

I really love how this pink card turned out. Kathy, our instructor, did some of the prep for us, such as the background stencilling & the cutting of the chipboard pieces. We coloured them up with Inka Gold in blue, green & copper. I have GOT to get some of this product; it will be great on Christmas cards, with any of my ornament stamps. At first I thought the background was created using an embossing folder, but it turns out it was a stencil and embossing paste. Again, they were out of stock for the stencil, so I'll have to wait to add this one to my collection.

Card Details: All products Tim Holtz, except cardstock (Bazzill)