Festive Friday # 26 and Boo Hoo

I am doing well at keeping up with the Christmas challenges. (see disclaimer below)  This card is for Festive Friday.

I was inspired by the yummy gingerbread and I just happened to have a dsp with the directions for making them printed on it.

The little man was cut from Tis the Season out of kraft cardstock and inked around the edges.  They do get darker there when baked, you know.  I used white Enamel Accents for the frosting and Stickles for his buttons.  A tag from MCS, stamped with a PTI sentiment, is tied on with twine.  So simple.

Now for the bad news.  I had a card made for Merry Monday but didn't look closely enough at my challenge list (AGAIN) and missed the deadline.  I think I need to start posting all my cards on one day and then I won't have to worry about it.  I'm going to show it to you anyway because I rather like it.

The minute I saw this I knew what I was going to do.  I like when that happens and have decided if I don't get an image right away when I see an inspiration photo or cue word, I may not make a card for that challenge.  I've been trying to force some cards and have not been happy with them.  But I digress.

Every year I make Christmas ornaments for my grandchildren. Three years ago I made ones like these, that I kept for myself, and used them as my inspiration.

I didn't need a sentiment because it was printed all over the paper.  I roughed up the edges of the star and stamped stitches with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  The button  is from Button Boutique sewn with gold thread.  Add some greens from a MS punch and a gold bow and it is done.  Too bad it didn't make the challenge.

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope your week gets off to a great start.

Merry Monday #95

Just a quick post for Merry Monday.  I said I was going to do this challenge every week but this week caused some concern.

A Christmas card with an animal on it?  That doesn't sound that difficult unless you have no animal stamps and limited animal cuts that work for Christmas.  I did find one on the Tis the Season cartridge.

I love this stately deer and the shaped card that was on the same page.  The color is a little off in the photo but it's striking IRL.  That top layer is glitter cs.  See?

You can't stamp on that paper so I had to heat emboss the sentiment in gold.  I did a lot of playing with paper and trying out sentiments and inks before the final card, and that's the frustration fun of card making, right?

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful Sunday.

MM #94

I'm having fun mixing Christmas cards in amongst my Valentines. This week the Merry Monday challenge is to used a stocking.

When I went looking for a paper to do the stocking, I fell in love with this grey.  The cuff is from silver paper and the pom poms are from a glitter stack but the shine doesn't show up in the photo.   :(  The red is embossed with Bricks and the sentiment is from My Craft Spot.

Thanks for stopping by.

2 Card, 4 Challenges

It's been fun making Christmas cards for all the challenges.  I usually make just one design to send out but since I have so many different ones, I'll be sending those, too.  It's just so hard to decide who gets which one.  Today I have two cards to show you.

This one is for Seize The Sketch and Curtain Call.

Both the die and the sentiment are from PTI's Rustic Wreath after first cutting the circle using an MFT circle die.

This next card is totally different and is for Fantabulous Cricut (beyond red and green) and CASology.

ETA: I just saw the challenge at Less is More and their theme - metallic with one color - fits this card  perfectly.

The horn and ribbon were cut from the 'Tis the Season cartridge - the horn from gold paper and the ribbon from blue shimmer.  The sentiment is from PTI's Signature Christmas, stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink. CAS all the way.  This is actually a white card base but the sunless days leave my photography lacking.

Thanks for stopping by to look at my creations.  I appreciate your comments so please leave me one.

Muse #26 and OCC

Was there any doubt that an owl collector would miss the challenge at Muse this week?

And I HAD to make an owl.

The shape is cut from the Wild Card cartridge.  The eyes are punched and the chevrons are from Papertrey Ink.

My second card is homework for the Summer Camp 2 online card class.  We were challenged to make a non-holiday card using holiday stamps and the week's color combo.  I don't have holiday stamps (or many image stamps at all for that matter) so I used a Cricut cut from 'Tis the Season.

This cut is snowflakes but it reminded me of fireworks and I was going to make it in bright colors until I checked the challenge again. The sentiment from Hero Arts is stamped in their Tide Pool ink and then stamped again with VersaMark and heat embossed with sparkle powder.

It's after 7 pm and the heat is still at 87 degrees.  It's supposed to cool down as a front moves in and there's a thunderstorm watch. It's not soon enough for me.

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope this heat wave hasn't kept you from enjoying your hobby.

FCCB and MCS

Two challenges with shaped cards:
Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog and
My Craft Spot

The sled is cut from Creative Memories 'Tis the Season Cartridge.  The shadow is cut in white, the runners in red, inked with Black Soot, and the body in a woodgrained paper.  I punched a hole in the runners portion and strung some twine.  From that hangs a tag, die cut and stamped.  The twine, tiny tags die and stamp all come from My Craft Spot.

I hope you are all keeping your Christmas season stress free.

PP and PDE

It's such a busy time of year but I still wanted to get a couple of cards posted.  I haven't been on in a week and it feels like I'm getting out of the groove.

This week both Paper Players and Pause Dream Enjoy have snow/snowflakes as their challenge.
I used the sketch from Mojo Monday.

The blue background is from Core-dinations and embossed with the Snowflake folder.  I then sanded the embossing to lighten the flakes.  The base card and piece behind the snowflakes is cream, with the edges inked with Weathered Wood Distress Ink.  The snowflakes are cut from sparkle paper with 'Tis the Season and the icicles are sparkle paper from MS Seasonal.  This sparkle paper is why I went with cream instead of white.  It matches.  :) 

Now I'm off to the airport to pick up my sister who is flyiing in from Denver.  This may be the first year that weather hasn't caused delays in her trip. 

Merry Christmas

I was going to wait until later to do this second post but was afraid I'd forget if I didn't do it while I was right here on the computer.  Oops, first I have to take a picture of the card.  (Picture me rushing around to find my camera).  There we go.  I'm glad the snow was reflecting the light through my big front window so I could get a good photo.

This is a tent card, I guess you call it.  The bottom portion measures 4.25 by 4.25 and the top is 3.5 by 3.5 and adhered to make the height of the card 5.5.  I used cream for my base and the top portion which is embossed with the Seeing Spots folder.  The holly is cut from CM 'Tis the Season.  The bottom layer is black, the top dark green, and the berries are red glitter.  Everything is inked with Black Soot Distress Ink.  The sentment is from a My Craft Spot stamp, cut by hand.

I am entering this into My Craft Spot's Merry Christmas challenge,  Die Cuttin' Diva's Holiday Spirit challenge, and Little Scrap Pieces' It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas challenge.

Bells Are Ringing

Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright.  All except my mind that is.  Trying to do too many things at once is causing a glitch in my thinking cap.  Actually it's making too many cards at once that is the problem.  Cards for challenges and cards to send.  Did I post that one?  Or didn't I?
I'll have two posts today so the cards I have already made can make the deadlines.

First up is Freshly Made

 

and my take on it.

 

When I saw the circle in the sketch I immediately thought of the jingle bell.  It is cut from CM 'Tis the Season from silver paper (which doesn't show up well in the picture).  The loopy border is cut from MS Elegant and the sentiment is stamped with a stamp from My Craft Spot.  All the parts are inked with Walnut Distress Ink.

How lucky for me that this week's challenge at Fantabulous Cricut is Bells are Ringing.  I can enter this into their challenge, too.

 

No Red or Green?

No red or green?  What were they thinking?  By "they" I mean Celebrate the Occasion.  Their challenge this week is a Christmas card with no red or green.  It's too bad I hadn't seen a holiday show on HGTV before I made my card.  Sarah decorated with pink, lime green and aqua.  I could have done a card with those colors.  Instead I chose a more neutral pallet.

I had these music sheets in a Christmas stack from The Paper Studio.  I cut a gold horn from 'Tis the Season, with a white sparkly ribbon.  The sentiment from My Craft Spot is stamped with Versa Mark and embossed with gold.  It was such an easy card to do and the gold and sparkle makes it so festive.

CASolgy = Sparkle

 

The cue word for CASology:

My card:

The star was cut from 'Tis the Season from two different sparkle papers and white.  The center white piece was then embossed with sparkle embossing powder.  The star is mounted on foam tape on navy blue paper that has been rounded at opposite corners.  The stamp is from My Craft Spot and embossed with white and sparkle powder.  Just so you know it really sparkles, here's a close up.

I had a hard time getting this to show up and it makes the background look black but you can see the different colors in the star.

It's Snowing!

There's something about fresh snowfall that is so beautiful.  My son just texted me to send him a picture of our snow.  They don't have any which is unusual since they are often pelted by the lake effect.

My card today is the only snow I need.  It's for the Fantabulous Cricut challenge - Snow but I'm also sending it to Pause Dream Enjoy for their blue and white challenge.

The background paper is from the first Christmas stack I bought years ago from DCWV.  The snowflake is cut from Creative Memories 'Tis the Season.  I ran it through my Xyron upside down and then poured a crystal snow on it, pushing it into the adhesive.  The stamp is from My Craft Spot and embossed with white.

Since it is a snowy day, I think I'll stay in and make a bunch more cards.  I definitely don't have enough for my mailing list. 

FM Sketch

Quick post today.  I'm already behind schedule.  Here's my Freshly Made card.  And I do mean freshly made.  lol  Just finished it in time for the noon deadline. 

I know the sketch says "any shape" but I thought it perfect for a wreath that I cut from Creative Memories 'Tis the Season.  The tan background is embossed with the Tim Holtz Bricked folder and layered on a red and tan print from an old DCWV stack.  The sentiment is stamped with a stamp from My Craft Spot and the wreath is popped up above two strips of  red glitter paper.  Quick and easy.

Christmas in July

I'm not really in a Christmas mood.   My birthday is in July so I'm more in a birthday mood but when three challenges used that as their theme this week, I decided I'd better get in the mood.  I did make a card but because of my moodiness (lol) I'm not crazy about it.

The print paper is from the Christmas Ornament stack from The Paper Studio.  The snowman is from the Creative Memories 'Tis the Season cartridge.  The sentiment is a stamp from My Craft Spot.  I did use my Xyron and glitter for the face.  Thanks to the tip from Julie at Cricut Chirp, I didn't cut up my fingers this time.  She recommended using my Cuttlebug to press the glitter into the sticky side.  Great idea!  Thanks for sharing, Julie.

I'm not going to bore you with all the changes and wrangling I did with the card to get it to this finished product.  It's done and I'm entering it into the following challenges:  Thankful Thursday, Die Cuttin' Divas and Exploring Cricut.