More Thank You's

Just a couple of thank you cards I made at our craft night!

Fun With Vellum!

Yes, it must be Christmas break since I'm crafting, right?  But I also got lots done on my certification, and in 6 more months it will be done for better or for worse (or at least until November if I don't pass.)  I actually really did feel guilty crafting when I probably could have been studying, but I told myself to get over it!!  I had plenty of thank-you cards to make for my students who gave me Christmas goodies, so I had lots of fun one afternoon with some vellum I bought...no, I've never owned vellum...I know, right?

Sorry for the picture quality...I did some heat embossing on this one with a two-layer stamp from Stampin' Up, and I love how it turned out!  You'd never guess the second layer of the poinsettia is bright pink...

The house and tree are stamps from Papertrey Ink.  You can tell this is my favorite Christmas color combo!!!

Another double layer

Nothing with vellum, but I realized I needed some quick thank yous!

Scrap365 December Sketch Challenge

 Here is the super cute December Sketch challenge from the Sketchbook365 blog.  I will definitely be playing along with this challenge more!  The layers in the sketch are fabulous!

And here's my take on the sketch.  This picture was taken early on Christmas morning a few years ago when my father-in-law sent me this coat he had MADE for me!  I love it so much!  What an amazing gift!

Christmas Tag

We had so much fun with our tag swap!  I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time!  Here is one of my finished tags; it's my take on one of Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags of Christmas from a couple years ago. The best part of it was trying out alcohol ink for the first time. And of course, there's my Christmas Lodge again. :)

I will probably be MIA for a while because I'm having foot surgery and we're moving!  I'm in the process of trying to put together a craft pack to take with me to the temporary house.  I think it needs to be about the size of a big suitcase though...

Wishes and Wonder

I think snowflakes and pom poms make cardmakers happy.  It's like being back in third grade when your teacher showed you how to cut out snowflakes from a square of paper and then hung them all from the ceiling.  The fun just never stops!  

This card was made once again from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather paper that I got last year.  I love the diversity of the colors in it!  There are some with classic red and greens, and others that have purple (the polka dotty one is purple, but it's hard to tell) and light blue.  Gorgeous!

Vintage Christmas

Once again, I had some fun playing with the goodies from my new Christmas Lodge set (and if you want it, it's only available until Jan. 3, so I'd be calling your Stampin' Up demonstrator asap...and if you don't have one, I can get you in touch with a good one...)

This set comes with two cute little stamps that both have evergreenery (nope, that is not a word, but it works for this situation) on them: one with the little birds, and one just with curved branches.  I repeatedly stamped them into a wreath, then fussy cut two of the little birds out, watercolored them red and used Crystal Effects to gloss them up.  If you look closely, one of those little guys is staring straight at YOU!  Oh, he is just so cute.

Dec. 25

How much am I loving this stamp set?  Yep, that's right.  A lot.  The possibilities are endless!

I stamped the lodge in green on cardstock, then stamped it in black and fussy cut it, leaving the trees out.  I glittered the black-stamped house and used pop dots to give it some dimension...which doesn't really show in the picture even though I tried to take the bottom picture at an angle.  But you get the idea.  I paired it with some twine and a little jingle bell, and there you have it.  This card was super fun to make!

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Craft, Naturals Ivory (Stampin' Up)

Patterned Cardstock: Graphic 45

Rubber stamp: Christmas Lodge (Stampin' Up)

Ink: Black (Stampin' Up), Forest Moss and Brushed Corduroy (Ranger Ink)

Twine, Acetate, and Jingle Bell: JoAnn Crafts

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Is it really almost Christmas again already??  Yes, it is!  Yay!  I think I did my first layout last Christmas break, and now it's time for more Christmas cards and layouts!  

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of my hubby, me, and our crew of pets.  I'm getting double kissed :)  Awww.  This is us putting up our Christmas tree last year, and of course, the dogs just wanted to get into everything and the cat (or kitten back then) could not stop trying to tear everything apart.  Afterward, we drank huckleberry white hot chocolate and admired our little tree.  What a good memory.

These beautiful papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather collection.  Love!  (And by the way, Jess, I am so glad I went back and got that acetate pack last weekend!)

Christmas Lodge

My donated Christmas cards packs turned out great, and sold at the auction!  Okay, no one made millions off of them, but I'm glad that at least someone wanted them!  I had to hurry up yesterday between working out, cleaning house, finishing report cards, and my father-in-law coming to get one more card finished, so I broke out my new most favorite stamp set EVER and thought of a simple design that I could do quick!!!  Here's what came out, and I added it to the set with the Christmas tree and angels and called it good.  I do wish you could see the glitter a little better though...

Confession--I had a bit of a hard time giving these two packages of cards away...sigh.

Just the fact that the stamp set is called "Christmas Lodge" just gives me visions of sitting in front of a big fire with cozy socks, hot chocolate, and a book.  Mmmmmmm.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up except the button from my stash.

Christmas Card Pack

So every year I try to find something to donate to one of our local community organizations for a fundraiser they hold every fall.  So this year I FINALLY got my act together, (actually, it had nothing to do with my act and everything to do with being completely consumed by finishing my master's degree)...and I'm going to donate a "handmade Christmas card pack."  Or what else do you think I could call it so it sells big at the silent auction they have?


I think I will put five cards in it, but I've been so inspired, I will have more than five cards to choose from, so help me out by leaving a comment about which 5 you like together!

#1
Yay for my new cricut that cuts cute little trees!

#2
Okay, I really love this card. What a beautiful picture!

#3
Yummy yummy red and blue papers both from Graphic 45.

#4
Papercrafts inspired!

#5
The poinsetta was made with STOP THE WORLD---red GLITTERY embossing powder.
When you heat it, it just gets glittery-er.  Is that a word?

#6
This is NOT my design, it's my sister's.  I made this card last year at a Christmas Stamp-a-stack that she hosted.
I think it's so classy!  And if you are reading this and haven't seen HER blog, sheesh, you better get over there quick for some inspiration.  http://unrepentantcrafter.blogspot.com/

#7
Also NOT my design--my sister's--and an extra left from last year's Stamp-a-stack.

Oh, don't Christmas cards just make you happy?  And a little drooly?  :)

Christmas Cards...so I'm a little behind on posting!

I LOVED this paper with the houses, obviously!


These were so fun! Onto spring cards!

Christmas houses

I had so much fun with this one! These are the Merrymint papers with the stripes, snowflakes, and little houses. Look closely, there is a Santa and a little Rudolph...

The Blessings of Christmas card

This is another picture I absolutely loved. I tried to find more vintage photos of nativity scenes and Jesus, but a lot of them were a blond baby Jesus... I did find angel photos that I plan to work up soon.

Yaaaaay! Thanksgiving Break!

I LOVE this picture of the little girl making cookies. I originally had it with a more modern background, but it is definitely suited for an older touch.

One Card Down, So Many to Go!

Well, here is what came out of the not enough time pity party. Thanks again to Kristii for inspiring me with her great ideas and selling me the stuff to do them! I had also gotten a new border punch for my birthday, but I forgot to use it! Oh well, next time! I still like the way the card turned out with straight edges. Whew, I'm feeling better already!