Mojo Monday #425 - Come Let Us Adore Him

This week's sketch at Mojo Monday seemed perfect for combining two of my stamp sets using words of a Christmas carol and outline of Mary holding baby Jesus. I always want my Christmas cards to express some part of the real meaning of Christmas, the gift of Christ as our Lord and Savior, either on the front or the inside. Here's the sketch and my card:

For this card I used the CTMH White Pines paper pack, retired brown glitter cardstock, and retired stamp set "Mary and Babe." I gold embossed the large Christmas carol phrase from the current stamp set, "Christ is Born" and stamped the smaller phrase form that set in Cocoa ink over the image of Mary and Babe. I cut the two stitched circles using Cricut Mini-Monograms and Simply Sweet.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you with His joy as you prepare to celebrate Christmas!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #158 - Inspired by a Christmas Song or Carol (Come All Ye Faithful)

Aud Sentiments #145 - anything goes with a sentiment 

Crafting by Designs - getting ready for Christmas

Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #48 - Christmas/add ribbon

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #257 - use die cuts or punches

DL Art Thankful Thursday #169 - Christmas

Fantasy Stampers Challenge #50 -  Traditional Christmas

Mojo Monday #425 - sketch 

Word Art Wednesday #211 - anything uplifting



O Holy Night Christmas Card

I had seen the challenge at A Gem of a Challenge to use a Christmas song as inspiration. Then I saw that 4 Crafty Chicks had the same theme. Great idea, so I pulled out my stamp for "O Holy Night" and a scrap of music paper on my craft table and the ideas began. I fell in love with this song when I was a young teenager. Not only did we hear it on the radio frequently, we sang it in our school choir and performances. My best friend next door, Pam, would sing soprano and I'd sing the alto part when we'd hang out together. She went on to become a music teacher. I'm so thankful that in "my day" we could sing songs like this and other Christian carols at school and not worry about being politically correct.


I used this Mojo Monday sketch:

The blue and music papers are old, retired CTMH papers from my scrap drawers. The Yuletide Carol music paper was stamped with silhouettes from "Reason for the Season." The reddish paper was the back of a Sangria paper embossed with Cuttlebug's "Frost."   I heat embossed the title and nativity star with Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder. You can see it better, (along with the Recollections heart sparkles on the Martha Stewart evergreen punch,) on this next photo where I changed the lighting.

Thank you for visiting. If you're not familiar with this beautiful Christmas song, you can listen to Josh Groban sing it in the you tube video here. Thank you, ladies, for the song inspiration challenges!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges;
4 Crafty Chicks #278 - inspired by a Christmas song
A Gem of a Challenge #158 - Inspired by a Christmas song or carol
Just Add Ink #289 - Music
Mojo Monday #424 - sketch
Word Art Wednesday #210 - anything uplifting

Blue and Silver Peace and Joy

We had a first few snowflakes today, so here's my snowflake card for today. (The only bad thing about a dark cloudy day is that my photos aren't great. I see the shadow of my tripod on this one today.) I decided to use my circle diffuser to emboss the snowflakes, leaving a circle in the center for a silver embossed sentiment.  If you have a diffuser and don't know how to use it you can google you tube videos that show you how. The sentiment was embossed using the Best Christmas stamp set
and Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder.

The snowflakes are made of silver glitter cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch. I added some old blue sparkles.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Come and Get It - Winter Holiday
Crafty Catz #302 - shades of blue
I heart sketches #127 - only used the twist - mostly white, color added with embellishments
Robyn's Fetish #290 - wet or dry embossing - used both
The Glory of Christmas #72 - CAS Christmas
The Paper Shelter #228 - Brrr it's cold outside - white, blue, silver
Where the HeART Is #3 - anything goes/ winter blues

Embossed Village Christmas Card - Use It Up!

When I saw the challenge for purple and green I thought it would be an intriguing color for a quick Christmas Card. I used this Freshly Made Sketch, a cuttlebug embossing folder, and old CTMH green and purple gingham papers. (I love playing with old scraps!)

 

I stamped the tree with an image from my CTMH White Pines Cardmaking Workshop kit. The sentiment is from the new CTMH Miracle of Christmas stamp set. I dotted Glitz Glitter Gel on each of the embossed dots representing snow and along the branch edges of the Christmas tree. I tied some retired olive/Harvest Baker's Twine under the village. The background white panel was embossed with CTMH Confetti Embossing Folder because the dots remind me of snow.

Thanks for visiting! 

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Nov. color challenge - purple and green 

Cutie Pie Challenge  - CAS, cute, Christmasy

Freshly Made Sketch #213

Jingle Belles - use leftovers (scraps!!)

Joy to the World Christmas Tree Cards

I thought I'd go to town to the grocery store today until it started sleeting and snowing. Hmmmm. . . it seemed better to stay inside and make Christmas cards.  So here's the first of several quick posts showing the results so far.

I used this awesome Inspiration photo from Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge to make these two cards. I used the green, red, and gold colors along with the nativity images in the background to inspire my .inside theme

 

The image I used is an older ODBD stamp called Christmas Tree Collage. It has the music for Joy to the World in the background.  I colored the balls and candle flames with Prismacolor pencils, then added tiny pearls to the first tree and gold and cream organdy ribbon.  I masked and stamped just the word Joy from a sentiment in the ODBD set Christmas Verses. I backed the image block with gold glitter cardstock, black cardstock, and a red scalloped mat cut using Cricut Artbooking.

 This second card is embossed with Princess Gold embossing powder, matted on an old green plaid scrap, Martha Stewart leafy branch punch, pearls, red enamel gems, and more gold-trimmed organdy ribbon.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you as you share your love with Christmas cards for your friends and family!

I'm sharing this set of cards with the following challenges:
Alphabet Challenge - T - 'Tis the Season
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #255 - red and green
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - ribbons and pearls
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge 263 - photo inspiration
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - decorations

A Season to be Thankful

Since I was a little girl, I've had a great passion for history. I've always been inspired by the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. After many overwhelming hardships the first winter in America, they were assisted by Native Americans to successfully grow and harvest crops, fish, and game for a bountiful harvest the next fall. It wasn't until I was much older that I learned that my grandfather's Halstead family also settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony a couple of years after that first Thanksgiving. So now I feel a personal connection to the story of those early Pilgrims.

After going through any type of hardship, we may feel blessed when the difficulty is over, or even just better. But what if there are no obvious hardships? I see what is happening around the world and feel gratitude for things like safety, freedom, and living in a land of plenty.  I see someone with a terrible illness and my own ailments seem insignificant. Yet, I'm constantly aware of the fact that there is so much more for which I should be thankful than what I actually verbalize to others and to God. I love the scripture that says, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18." So I'm still working on giving thanks for "everything," good or bad, happy or sad. If you're still reading this, I thank you for your time and attention. May God bless you richly!

Here's another one of my Thanksgiving cards made with Sangria papers.

The inside has the lovely thankfulness word art from this week's Word Art Wednesday post.

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe:
Paper - CTMH Sangria paper pack
Stamps - CTMH "Blessings of Autumn" hostess stamp, CTMH Sangria Workshop on the Go stamps; retired CTMH spring leaves stamp
Inks - CTMH Champagne, Poppy, Pomegranate, Eggplant, Cocoa
Tools - Cricut  Art Philosophy (leaves, circle mat), Cricut New Arrival (stitched circle)
Embellishments - CTMH poppy thicker twine, Pink enamel gems

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Bitten by the Bug 2 - Thanksgiving with Fall Leaves (from Cricut Art Philosophy p.62)
Crafty Creations Challenge #302 - Give thanks
Die Cuttin Divas #242 - Thanksgiving with a die cut  (stitched circle and leaves)
DoubleClick Skittles #35 - Thank you or Thanksgiving
Freshly Brewed Designs Challenge - So thankful
Path of Positivity Challenge #32 - Gratefulness

 
Shopping Our Stash #228 - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Simon Says Stamp - Thanks/Thanksgiving
The Crafty Addicts #4 - anything goes/use die cuts (stitched circle and leaves)
Word Art Wednesday #210 - anything uplifting

Sangria Thanksgiving Layouts

A few years ago I decided to stop putting duplicate holiday layouts in the albums of each of my eight grandchildren. Instead I started specific holiday albums. I take the albums to our family dinners for everyone to enjoy. My hope is that they will continue to get together over the years, even after I'm gone, and can enjoy looking back at their holiday celebrations. In this album I want each family member to be thankful for blessings God has given us, for our special times together, and to celebrate each family member and the love we share.

I made four layouts using the Sangria paper pack in the Workshops on the Go. Here are two of the quick layouts I made up myself using 4" x 6" photos and clusters of the Sangria complements. Because the complement pieces are small, I lay different groupings of them in strategic places on the layout, usually in a visual triangle. When I find a grouping I like, I adhere some and overlap and pop dot others.

The title mat was cut using the negative spaces of the alphabet on the new Cricut Artistry cartridge and the Explore, which allowed me to move it over to the right so I'd have room for the complements. Here's a closer look at the way I clustered the complements:

I'm never caught up scrapbooking (I take too many photos!) but I'm working on previous Thanksgiving photos right now so I can take our album to our Thanksgiving dinner next week. I've started adding flip flaps over the tops of page protectors so I can add many more photos to one layout. The page protectors and flip flaps tend to produce glare so these photos of the pages were taken before I slippped them into protectors.

Here is the other Sangria Thanksgiving layout.  I cut the title in two colors, using Cricut Artbooking. They were cut the same size then slightly overlapped off-center.

Thanks for visiting. I hope this will give you some ideas for making your own layout or album. If you're interested in using flip flaps to add more photos to your layouts, you can find them here.


I'm sharing these layouts with the following challenges:
All Sorts #337 - Anything but a card
Craft Your Passion #288 - anything goes
Fantabulous Cricut #264 - anything goes
Fussy and Fancy #152 - Thankful
Lasting Memories #268 - Thankful inspiration photo
Not Just Cards #26 - anything goes
Shopping our Stash #228 - Thank you or Thanksgiving

Here are the other two layouts that I made using the CTMH Sangria Workshop on the Go. The first is our vacation with family last year to Colorado. The second is my milestone birthday (65!???) celebrating with family at Overland Park Arboretum. Since I didn't make up these layouts, I'm not entering these in the challenges.

Pink, Green, and White Christmas

This post was inspired by the challenge at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge.  I adore this vintage Christmas picture and coordinated it with more pink and green papers, sparkles and a pink poinsettia.  This card was so quick and simple!

If you're new to free vintage images on line you can google them or you can start with the links I'll post below. I saved my image, named Christmas 58, in a file called Clearly Vintage.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
A Snowflake's Promise #9 - Christmas/Winter theme
Card and Scrap #106 - Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - anything goes
Merry Monday Christmas Challenge #179 - pink, green, and white
Scrap & Craft #15 - Vintage (or Shabby Chic)



Here is a small list of sources for free vintage images. If you decide to save some images to use, you should save them in a file with the name of the source so you can give them credit for the image.
Bumble Button
Carol Ann's Boutique - this page lists lots of other free vintage clipart sites
Catnip Studio Collage
Clearly Vintage 
Free Trinkets and Treasures -  beautiful Christmas art
Magic Moonlight Studio - free images
The Graphics Fairy -  (some free printables and others for purchase)
Vintage Holiday Crafts - lists clipart by Holiday on side panels

Christmas Angel

I've been sick for a few days, but I'm thankful to finally be back in my craftroom and to share with you. Christmas is on my mind so I'm sharing this simple card of the angel proclaiming the good news of Christ's birth, the Son of God who came to be the Savior of the world. Truly good news!

The frame around the angel is a Cricut cut from CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge. The sentiment diecut is from a spellbinders die, Fancy Tags Two. The blue swirl paper is a scrap from my stash that looked heavenly. The angel stamp is from a retired CTMH set called Angelic Blessings. The sentiment is "Glad Tidings" from the former company Layers of Color. I used CTMH Spring Iris to stamp them and copics to color the angel.  Ribbon is from my stash and the Pearls, button, and blue waxy flax are retired CTMH.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
A Snowflake's Promise #9 - Christmas/Winter theme
Fantabulous Cricut #264 - anything goes with Cricut
Holly Jolly Christmas - Ribbons and Pearls
One Crazy Stamper November Challenge - Christmas/Winter
The 12 Months of Christmas #11 - anything (option: sparkle, sparkle everywhere)
Unicorn Challenge #3 - Christmas is coming
Where the HeART is #3 - Anything Goes/Winter Blues

Mojo Monday 422 Lovingkindness Card

I am truly a scrappy crafter. My hubby can attest to the fact that I always seem to have scraps on my workspace. Here's a card I made using the Mojo Monday sketch this week. All of the scraps were still on my desk from the weekend except the very old CTMH "Grace" yellow panel for the verse, which was in my well-stocked scrap drawer for yellow scraps.

In this season of thankfulness I chose to craft a card with this lovely Psalm stamp from Verve:
"Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless you while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 63:3-4" I wanted it to be a bright, cheerful card for a friend as a happy recognition that God has blessed us in so many ways and we will praise Him for it. The verse I chose goes along with the Scripture inspiration at Scrapping Everyday Miracles:

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; 

His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

All of the supplies were from CTMH except for the Spellbinder's leaf die I used and the ribbon from my stash. I daubed Pomegranate and Saffron inks on the New England Ivy leaves for dimension and a fall look.

 Thank you for visiting. May God bless you with an abundance of His lovingkindness.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper November Challenge - anything goes
Dies R Us Challenge #30 - Fall
Mojo Monday #422 - sketch
QKR Stampede Challenge #163 - Harvest Colors
Scrapping Everyday Miracles - November Scripture Inspiration above
Sweet Stampin' - dies or punches (corner punch and leaf die)
Word Art Wednesday #207 - anything uplifting

6.5" x 5" Card Recipe:
Papers - CTMH Sangria (Pomegranate), Nevermore (Sunset links), retired Grace (Sunflower sentiment panel), Slate and New England Ivy cardstocks
Inks - Black, Saddle ( on embossing), Saffron and Pomegranate (leaves)
Stamps - Verve Plain Jane Psalm 63:3-4
Tools and embellishments - CTMH Wood embossing folder, corner rounder, Spellbinders leaf accents die, ribbon from my stash

Double Embossed Christmas Card

In this season of Thanksgiving, I must express how thankful I am for companies who make stamps with scripture and Christian messages. Yesterday I received a set of beautiful Our Daily Bread Designs sentiments that I plan to stamp inside my Christmas cards this year. Here's the first one. It was pretty simple to make using a Cuttlebug embossed snowflake background with silver heat embossed front sentiment from Christmas Flourished Verses.

 Different light angles bring out the two types of embossing. Here's the silver heat embossed sentiment highlighted:

and here the dry embossing is emphasized:

Here's the inside sentiment stamped with old CTMH Spring Iris ink to match the Basic Grey blue violet paper on the front.

For those who translate from English, it says: "Wishing you a heavenly Christmas filled with all God's love and blessings!" You can find this sentiment set, Christmas Blessings, here.
The silver-embossed sentiment on the front is from Christmas Flourished Verses here.
The silver glitter paper is from CTMH. I used it to punch out snowflakes using a Martha Stewart punch. I added CTMH clear sparkles in the center of each snowflake for some extra bling. I finished it off with shiny satin ribbon from my stash.

Thank you for visiting. May God bless you this coming week of November!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
All Sorts Challenge #335 - Christmas
Crazy 4 Challenges 310 - Christmas
Great Impressions November Challenge - Bling on the Holidays (lots of bling)
Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge #260 - Double Embossing, heat and dry
Polkadoodles - add sparkle,  bling, or glitter
Really Reasonable Ribbon #128 - get a start on Christmas, with ribbon
The Glory of Christmas #71 - Glitter and/or shine
Winter Wonderland - anything goes that's Christmas
Word Art Wednesday #207 - - anything uplifting