Home for the Holidays

Last week Our Creative Corner had a challenge called Home for the Holidays that inspired this card. They wanted you to use something about Christmas at your own house to inspire a card--and add glimmer and sparkle. I was interrupted while making it and didn't get to enter it in their challenge, but that's OK. My real intention is to have a head start on cards for Christmas next year while some of the stamps I have are still fresh in my mind. I had already stamped the wintery home and colored it with Watercolor Pencils and blender pen. The image reminds me of our rural home and the snow we had last Christmas. (This year I stood without a coat at my old high school's parking lot taking photos of my younger grandson learning to ride his new bike. It was so warm!)

I used a sketch from Craft Your Passion Challenge #90 to put the rest of the card together. Since I put Stickles on the stamped image, I added them to the snowflakes and the circle shape. I wish the photo would better show the dark green Bazzil paper's color and texture better as well as the antique copper brads that match the brown of the woodgrain dp.

Blog Challenges Entered:

Craft Your Passion - Sketch - Challenge #90

Make it Monday - Challenge # 70Anything Goes

Materials Used:

Paper - My Mind's Eye "Stella and Rose - Mabel" (dots and wood); CTMH Cranberry and Colonial White CS; Bazzil green textured CS

Stamp - CTMH "Snow Days"

Ink - Brown Staz-On

Other - CTMH Watercolor Pencils, Antique Copper Brads, Blender Pen; Stickles, EK Success punch, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Stickles

Watercolored Daisy Sympathy

On my third sympathy card today I used a 6" x 6" Kraft Die-Cut card from CTMH that has an extra flap that is scalloped. I chose to put that flap at the bottom of the card. I made my own design using Basic Grey "Origins" papers and cardstock. I watercolored the daisy after stamping it with Memento Black Tuxedo ink. I picked up ink from the lids of three colors on the wet brush, making the centers a little darker with Sunny Yellow and a streak of Creme Brulee in a line down the inner center of each petal. The Sunkiss Yellow that I painted near the tips of the petals hardly showed at all. This technique was for the Watercolor portion of the Friday Mashup Challenge #38 (not the sketch). I'm also entering this card in today's Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the Really Reasonable Ribbon's Challenge #38. I know my daughter-in-law will love the wide yellow gingham ribbon. This card is also enterred in the Basic Grey Challenge 59.

This second image shows the flap down.

Materials:

Paper - Basic Grey "Origins, CTMH Kraft, Black Cardstock, Bazzil CS (dark brown)

Stamps - CTMH "Card Chatter-Sympathy", retired daisy

Ink - Memento Black, CTMH Sunny Yellow, Creme Brulee, Sunkiss Yellow

Accessories - 3" circle punch



ColourQ and Praying for You

I chose to use a turquoise color with black and white for a sympathy card. ColorQ Challenge #117 is to use Black, White and one other color. I used Lagoon and an older paper from Scenic Route. The design is from Clean and Simple Stamping. This truly was a simple card with clean lines and lots of "white space."

The card is 5" x 5." Black mat is 4" x 4" and the two rectangles are 3 7/8" x 1 7/8." The sentiment circle is 1 3/4" and it's mat is 2." The leaf stamp is 3rd generation lagoon ink. The black flower has a tiny pearl in the center.

Materials:
Paper - CTMH Colonial White and Black, Scenic Route "Sumner Parker Road"
Stamps - CTMH "Treasure Life" (leaves), sentiment retired
Ink - CTMH Lagoon, Black
Accessories - CTMH black ribbon collection, opaque pearl, Sizzix embossing folder

Loving Memories

My best friend's mother-in-law just died unexpectedly. My daughter-in-law's dad died of a heart attack yesterday before paramedics could get there. It's a festive time of year for most people, which makes sudden tragedy so much more difficult. I suddenly need five sympathy cards. It seems like a contradiction to use the sketch from Cute Card Thursday to make such a card. "Cute" and "Sympathy" don't go together, but the design was right, so here it is.

To me there's something comforting about the papers from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry. It reminds me of "things from my grandma." So these papers were my choice for a comforting card and I'm entering them in the Basic Grey Challenge #59.

Materials:

Paper - Basic Grey (Nook and Pantry, Indian Summer); CTMH Colonial White and Vineyard Berry CS

Stamps - CTMH (Comforting Thoughts, Dream Wishes-both retired)

Ink - CTMH Vineyard Berry, Staz-on Brown

Accessories - CTMH flowers (pink), pearls, Unknown larger flower and ribbon

Unscripted Sketch #138 Birthday Card

I need birthday cards for two grand-daughters next  week. For this first one I used the colors red, yellow,  blue, and green in the Basic Grey "Cupcake" paper pack to give the mood of "Celebration." I thought the sketch #138 from Unscripted Sketches was perfect for this card.

Instead of flowers, snowflakes, or such, I used a loopy red ribbon on a gift, party hat, and bow, three different but related elements. The gift and rabbit were stamped on Basic Grey white cs from that same packet. I colored parts of the bow and the rabbit using a Blender Pen and Cranberry Inkpad from CTMH. I also stamped the title three times and used paper piecing to make it more interesting.

The birthday bunny was stamped with Chocolate ink, cut out, adhered to Chocolate cardstock and cut out again to give it more definition on the busy papers. The sentiment that goes on the inside says, "Hoppy Birthday!"

Materials:

Paper: Gasic Grey "Cupcake", CTMH Cranberry, Dutch Blue, Outdoor Denim, Chocolate CS

The stamps come from three different retired stamp sets from CTMH.

Ink: CTMH Cranberry, Outdoor Denim, Olive, Chocolate

Accessories, CTMH retired yellow gingham ribbon, Blender Pen; pop dots; (red ribbon unknown)

MOJO 221 and Embellish challenge

Now that Christmas is over, my friends and family have a lot of birthdays coming up. Yet we're still getting together with friends over the holiday, so I'm crafting between events. I always love MOJO Mondays and their pattern seemed to coordinate perfectly with Embellish Magazine's Color Trends Challenge.

The "Mixed Patterns" that I chose could go perfectly with the strips at the top of the MOJO Monday designs. I interpreted their colors to be Outdoor Denim, Olive, Honey, and Chocolate. The Chocolate and Denim colored patterns were from Basic Grey. The Olive pattern was one I stamped with Olive in on Olive CS using CTMH "Noted Backgrounds" houndstooth pattern. I hope I didn't get too carried away with too many patterns in my background papers. They all seemed to coordinate so well. They were neutral background papers with olive patterns. I also chose an open flower and leaf outline stamp set that I stamped on Close To My Heart's "Mayberry" patterned paper that was honey colored on one side and a light tint of olive on the back.

Since my focal point image was already a flower, I chose an olive button and honey colored baker's twine instead of the flower on the design. I had several types of Olive buttons, but the design that looked like stitching on this one seemed to go with the "Patterns" theme. I really enjoyed working with the elements from both challenges. They seemed to come together naturally.

Materials Used:

Paper - Basic Grey "Origins," "Boxer;" CTMH Olive, Outdoor Denim CS, Chocolate Textured CS (retired), "Mayberry" DP

Stamps - CTMH "Heartfelt Treasures" (flower, leaves), "Party Pennants" (sentiment), "Noted Backgrounds" (houndstooth plaid)

Ink - CTMH Chocolate, Olive, Outdoor Denim

Accessories - CTMH button "Green Collection," My Mind's Eye "Lime Twist" honey & white  twine

December Birthday - Sketch for You to Try

My younger brother is one of those unfortunate people who have their birthdays on Christmas Eve. His birthday was always combined with Christmas celebrations. Of course, I thought he was the best Christmas present that year. I had three younger sisters and had always wanted a brother. Now he has a house in the woods with so much wildlife around. I got this stamp set with him in mind and this sketch was perfect for his birthday card. I especiall chose the aqua glittered snowflake paper with his birth in mind. We were having a terrible snowstorm when my dad had to drive my mom to the hospital many miles away late that night. We were left home alone and I got to play Santa Claus the next morning because the snow was too deep for my dad to drive home until later. I was 13 and knew where Mom had hidden the gifts that were supposed to be from Santa. Christmas morning was exciting in so many ways that year! Happy Birthday, Jeff!

I rotated my card 90 degrees clockwise from Jen del Muro's original sketch. One of the techniques I used was called tissue inking. I inked the tree with swirls in Garden Green, then inked a section of Kleenex in Juniper, which matched the aqua paper better, and dabbed it on the swirl. That both removes some of the green and mixes in some of the Juniper more gradually. I sponged some green on the edges and used that same tissue to add extra Juniper there, too.

Materials Used:

Paper: Reminisce Naughty or Nice; CTMH Colonial White and Kraft CS

Stamps: Nature's Gift (CTMH)

Ink: CTMH Chocolate, Desert Sand, Garden Green, Juniper, Black

Accessories: CTMH wooden buttons and waxy flax, Cricut Art Philosophy (circle), Kleenex brand tissue

The Shabby Tea Room Angel

This is a Kraft-y Christmas card for the challenge at The Shabby Tea Room. Here is their inspiration photo. We're to use kraft, red, silver, newsprint, and a star.

Flutter By Wednesdays Challenge was to use anything with wings. I chose to use an angel from Vintage Holiday Crafts to make a card for my daughter, Lisa. She was always my little angel, and came to love anything "angel" when she grew up. Every Christmas I give her some form of angel. It's my reminder that God always has His angels watching over us. I chose an angel whose coloring seemed really close to that of Kraft cardstock.

I embossed the white with a Cuttlebug snow embossing folder, then rubbed Versamark over the raised surface and sprinkled on CTMH Silver Pearl embossing powder. The red patterned paper was already glittered. I had cut a bracket-shaped square from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge out of Kraft cardstock. I used one side of it to add to the mat under the angel. I rubbed Versamark on the edge of the bracket and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.

The newsprint was an old public domain December 24th paper I found on line that had the words Christmas and Sunday in one of the titles. I used a 2" scallop punch to cut that portion. The silver star was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and cut out. I stamped "peace and joy" with Brown Staz-on. I tied two different ribbons around the card, organdy and a smaller silver ribbon. I wanted layers of fiber. I tied my favorite twine in the button because it goes so well with Kraft cs.

This was a fun card to make and I kept wanting to add more, but decided that Less is More and stopped. Merry Christmas, Lisa!

Challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room #93 - kraft, red, silver, newsprit, a star

Flutter By Wednesdays #183 - anything with wings

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #38 - anything with ribbon

Supplies:

Paper - Reminisce Naughty or Nice (red); CTMH Kraft, Cranberry, and White Textured, metallic(retired) CS

Ink - Brown Staz-On, Versamark, Tim Holtz's Old Paper distress ink (on newspaper)

Stamp - CTMH "Holiday Cheer"

Accessories - CTMH red organdy and wooden button, Michaels' silver ribbon, Papertrey Ink twine, photo of Vintage Angel from Vintage Holiday Crafts (for personal use or crafts to sell you can use up to 5 of their images free of charge-see terms of use) 

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

One more card today. I used a green glittered scrap I had on my table with music from My Mind's Eye that has the tune and words for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." I'm trying to learn how to make Clean and Simple cards so I made this for Less Is More. It was quick and easy, the tag is the sentiment and it has a button, ribbon, twine embellishment. There is lots of subtle white space with the music being so pale. The tag was one from CTMH that had Christmas melodies. The background of the card was embossed with a 5' x 7" Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I also used twine to tie on the tag and to tie a bow in the button that goes around the organdy ribbon. I love the look of elegance mixed with the fine twine. This was for the challenge at the Ribbon Carousel Challenge 32. 

Prince of Peace

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge 120 asked us to show an image or sentiment that gives the real meaning of Christmas. I chose this verse from Isaiah 9:6 that tells more about who is that Baby Jesus born in a manger. I used the sketch #124 from Pals Paper Arts for this card. The sentiment I wanted to use was a little too wide to put the circular feature on top, so naturally, it went under. The Colonial White paper I stamped it on was a little too plain, so I distressed it with Tim Holtz's Old Paper Distress Ink.

Supplies Used:

Paper - Recollections Naughty or Nice, CTMH Black and Colonial White

Stamps - CTMH Everlasting Life, A Holiday (holly border)

Ink - CTMH New England Ivy, tulip marker; Tim Holtz Old Paper, Memento Black

Accessories: 2.5" circle punch for wreath paper, Bow-Easy and red ribbon from Michaels



Mojo Monday 220

I'm still making Christmas cards! Today's Mojo Monday Challenge seemed perfect for this angel stamp, which is pretty big. My card is 5" x 6.5."  I used papers that were embossed and somewhat glittered. I even embossed my black strip under the lace by rubbing it on Versamark and using black embossing powder.  I stamped the plain Colonial White oval with a music background like the dp I used for the angel. I used Bamboo ink so it was very subtle. When I stamped the Sentiment and embossed with black e.p., the Bamboo ink must have still been slightly damp because the black powder stuck to some of the staff and notes. I decided to leave it, hoping it doesn't distract too much from the word.

This next view shows more of the shine of these papers.

I also made this card for Craft Your Passion Challenge 89 - things with wings - and for Our Daily Bread Stamps. Their challenge was creatively called "NOEL," which stands for elements used in my card.
N = Nestabilities
O = Oval
E = Embossing
L = Lace - the black lace along the black strip.

Supplies used:
Paper - Recollections Naught or Nice Christmas pack
Stamps - CTMH Everlasting Life, Universal Backgrounds, Stampendous Wire Works Angelica
Ink - Versamark, CTMH Bamboo
Accessories - Spellbinders Ovan and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, CTMH Black Lace, Gold ribbon - Papertrey Ink

My Mind's Eye Sketch 30

This has been a busy weekend making and getting Christmas gifts, so this quick card was perfect for today. I had purchased four boxes of My Mind's Eye Christmas cards when I was making cards for The Paperie Place a couple of years ago. That was 200 cards! So I'm still pulling them out, trying my had at more creative uses for the 10 designs. I turned this design horizontally.

I used mostly My Mind's Eye product, except for the white snowflakes, which I cut on my Cricut with the Art Philosophy cartridge as part of another project. They were part of some snowflake borders that were cut., then cut apart and stamped with blush ink. The green strip came from Stella and Rose (Gertie Papers) and the pink dotted paper on top came from Lost and Found (Blush) Collection. The Sentiment is from CTMH Holiday Wishes.

Christmas Layouts

Because I teach scrapbook workshops, I'm always a year behind scrapbooking holidays. If I used this year's paper to scrapbook this year's photos, I wouldn't be able to make layouts ahead next fall for the upcoming holiday. Such is my reasoning. Oh, well. It at least gives me perspective and has me choose only the best photos from the hodgepodge. The downside is that journaling details are harder to recall.  Here are the layouts we did in our Lawson scrapbook club. My photos are of the grandkids in 2010 using the 2011 CTMH Believe paper pack. The first four pages used the matching Stickease--so fast and easy! Since they are thicker than regular stickers, I like to pop dot most of them to add dimension. We also added some red and green sparkles.

The layout above was my favorite. We cut the topiary background paper using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for the first page and set the smaller photos at an angle. I love that look! And we didn't know last year, but John and Sydney wore outfits that matched the Sky blue paper in this paper pack. How lucky! It's too bad the sun is so bright today, making a glare on the glossy photos, but you get the idea. The photos are 5" x 7" and 2" x 2." I'll add the next four pages later.

Timeless Tuesday Challenge #148

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #148 asked us to make two cards using the same stamp set that look totally different. They call it "Opposites Attract." I was working on December birthday cards and didn't want these to look like Christmas cards. People like my brother who have birthdays near Christmas often get cheated that way.

So I chose winter colors like Blush, Gray, and Crystal Blue for my colorful card. (Basic Grey-blue pattern & gray background, Kaiser Kraft - striped) It's not really showing in this photo, but the sentiment banner is scored twice on each side of the white strip, then folded so that the center is popped up. The snowman was stamped on a shape I cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

The other card I tried to keep "clean and simple" as well as monochromatic using Colonial White, Bamboo, Chocolate, and Kraft CS (all CTMH). I heat embossed the snowman and used a snowflake embossing folder on that one. The diagonal striped paper is the back side of a retired paper from the set "Notebook." The snowman on that card was embossed on Bamboo cs and colored with a white dye-based ink marker.

Following the Star

I still had the stamp set "Glory to God" on my desk when I saw the new Noontime Challenge from Flourish to make a card showing a time of day or night. I'd wanted to make one spotlighting the wisemen at night. I'd wanted to for quite some time, but this gave me the initiative to do it! Thank you, Flourish!

The stamp shape and frame were cut on the Cricut with the Art Philosophy cartridge. To spotlight the wise men, I stamped them with Versamark and used Black embossing powder, folded a piece of paper the size of the lighter area that I wanted to spotlight, then cut it to fit. I taped it at the top and bottom and sponged darker ink, Moonstruck, on the two sides. It's fairly fast and simple.  I used a Rhinestone Designer brad from CTMH on the ribbon.

In the City of Bethlehem

When I saw Jen del Muro's Design Sketch #106 for Skipping Stones Design, I wanted to do something unique with the three strips. I had been looking for a way to use the CTMH stamp set called "Glory to God," particularly the wise men and Bethlehem in layers. This sketch inspired me to heat emboss the star on the top layer and put Bethlehem on the middle layer. The wise men are stamped on a red patterned paper that has horizontal streaks kind of like wood grain. They don't really show up in the photo, but it gives the impression of the silhouette of the wise men at sunset or dusk. Of course, I had to flip the design so that the circle was on the left since the wise men are going "east" and one of them is pointing to the star in the "east."

I used the same design for the manger scene, but the star and red paper didn't show up well with the angle it was photographed.

Another Snow Friend

I have three friends and a brother with December birthdays. I made this card for one of them this weekend before I got the flu. I love the verse I have inside that says, "Snow friends come and go with the seasons, but real friends last forever."  I used Deconstructed Sketch 30 and the colors from Play Date Cafe challenge 110: lime green, royal blue, crystal blue, and red. (OK, this is brief. Stomach flu says go to bed.) All of the materials are CTMH except for the baker's twine.

MOJO Monday 219 with Snow Friends

Thanks to a mild case of stomach flu, this will be a short post. My inspiration for this card is MOJO 219 and a challenge at There She Goes (TSG134) to use blue, pink, and red with a winter theme. I used the Peppermint Twist inspiration photo at the Ribbon Carousel to pick the Basic Grey papers. Even my snowman is wearing a scarf like peppermint twine. I'm so happy I have a hobby that takes my mind off of the flu!

More Vintage Christmas

At Christmas, I prefer giving cards that keep the focus on Christ. These two cards came together so quickly. After finding free vintage Christmas cards/clipart earlier this week, I just had to make one more card using vintage clipart for the challenge at Little Red Wagon. The rules at Vintage Holiday Crafts say that you can't use more than five on a blog, so I'm still safe. 

I took Freshly Made Sketch 14 and lengthened it vertically to accomodate a rectangular picture instead of a square one. I used 4 rectangles from Basic Grey's "Curio."  The papers are heavily "inked" on the edges already so I cut the pieces from two corners for each design. I used some long-hoarded gold cardstock that CTMH used to sell to mat the vintage print. A simple poinsettia that has a gold-rimmed pearl brad in the center provided the one embellishment. Easy and simple!!

The next card was also easy. I saw Kaboodle Doodles Challenge today to use Christmas colors: red, green, gold, and white. I had a pad of the Paper Studio paper at hand with those colors and knew that the Clean and Simple Stamping Sketch would be great with those colors and 3 stars.

I tried to combine a rustic look of Kraft cardstock signifying Christ's humble birth with elegant gold embossing to show his glory. The inside verse is simple: Wise men still seek him. Merry Christmas.

I used stylus to emboss a line .25" from all four edges on front. I had made the middle star a little bigger on white paper embossed with gold, like the sentiment. I cut the stars on the Cricut with the Art Philosophy cartridge. The two side ones were 1.5" with a one inch star stacked on top. The middle star was cut at 1.75" to match the star in the stamp set "Love Life." It's too bad the design doesn't show up as well in the photo.The embossed sentiment comes from CTMH "Everlasting Life." I think I'll make more of these!!

Oh, Tannenbaum

The snow we were supposed to get last night and this morning didn't make it this far south. It missed us by about 15 miles, but I know the day will soon be here. I wanted to make this card snowy for Christmas, so I used a Cuttlebug folder that has a snowy swirl and some white pigment ink to highlight it. This particular folder has a design that's raised more than some of my other folders, so it's easy to just rub the stamp pad directely across the raised portion. Because it's a pigment ink it takes longer to dry, so I used a heat gun so I wouldn't smear it. I also used Swiss Dots embossing folder on the white square to look like snow.

 I wondered what I could do with my polar bear that was obviously standing upright. This CTMH "Tannenbaum" stamp was just right since it was a little whimsical. I used papers from the Believe paper pack along with some Breeze and Kraft cardstock.

I used the color combination from the colourQ challenge for this week, cQc114 and the sketch from The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog,  #137. Great combination for a wintery Christmas card.

Just Us Girls Christmas Card

I had wanted to try my stamp with ornaments and the design on Just Us Girls looked perfect with the oval. I combined their design with Inkspirations Color Challenge which had perfect Christmas colors. The color equivalents that I used were Tulip, Topiary, Buttercup and White Daisy.

All of the supplies are from Close To My Heart except for the twine by the ornament, which is from Papertrey Ink. The stamp set is called Adorn-able because there are different details that you can add to the ornaments. The photo doesn't show the shine of the embossing. I embossed mine with CTMH Red and Buttercup. The red gingham ribbon is from the CTMH Red Collection. Thanks for looking!