CAS Christmas June 2026

Today I'm guest designing for CAS Christmas.  That's right.  Loll has resurrected her CAS challenges and the Christmas one starts today. I happened to be the last winner before she closed down in 2022 so she invited me to be her guest on the restart.  I hope you are as excited about this news as I am.  This month's challenge is

That's an easy one since I love my birds.

The cardinal is from Honey Bee's Winter Birds, the greens from their Winter Greenery and sentiment from Let Nature Sing. The panel was lightly inked with Speckled Egg DI and a little Frantage was added for snow.  I love seeing these beautiful birds perched in the trees and also at my feeder. 

I hope you'll check out the CAS Christmas challenge and what the Design Team has made to inspire you.  You have until June 30th to enter your card in the gallery.  

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Just Us GIrls #754 - Mood Board Week

As it gets closer to Christmas, Carol Mc has chosen a great mood board to inspire your cards at Just Us Girls.

Here's a close-up view of a lot of things to choose from for your card. 

I was inspired by the lantern on the lower left.

The lantern is from PTI and the main image was embossed in Weathered Gold and then the detail stamped in black and heat embossed in clear.  The greens are from a TH die that were cut from white and colored with artist markers so I could have red berries that were covered with Glossy Accents.  I also glossed the candle from the set.  The bow is also from PTI, colored with markers, and the background was cut first with The Greetery Crimped Frame and then embossed with the SU Timeworn Type.  

What part of the mood board did the Design Team and our guest Jenn choose?  Take a look and get some inspiration of your own.  We'd love to see what you make.

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Inkspirational #328

I have another card made with the PFS ornaments that had been colored last year.  This one is for Inkspirational - Layer It!

The gray background was embossed with Spellbinders Evergreen and Penny Black's Classy Frames layered onto it three times with the top one in silver.  The center was inserted back in for a backdrop for the ornaments and the branch from TH.  The silver embossed sentiment from PFS is also layered for dimension. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week goes well.

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ABC Christmas Challlenge U V and Stencil Fun Challenge 11/2024

I found some already stenciled ornaments in the package and created a card with them.  This one fits the bill at ABC Christmas - U for unusual Christmas colors - and also at Stencil Fun Challenge.

Pinkfresh Studio Dotted Fancy Frames, hot foiled Ornaments and Basic Banner Sentiments make up most of the card.  Altenew Frayed Leaf to ink the border, Richard Garay Pine Needles embossing folder and TH Holiday Greens make up the rest.  

I need to count but I think I'm close to the number of Christmas cards I need.  How about you?

Thanks for dropping by.

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Freshly Made Sketches #634

Hey there!  I'm glad you dropped by.  

With a lot of my Design Team work done ahead and 24 corn hole bags completed, I finally had a chance to make a card for a challenge.  Freshly Made Sketches had a rather easy sketch and led me to a Christmas card.

The DSP is from BoBunny and the greenery from TH. The sentiment from Spellbinders is foiled in pewter I think.  It was in my sentiment box and made a while ago.  The size of the paper let me make another one so I have two to add to my Christmas stash.  Yay!

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Tic Tac Toe #238 and Inkspirational #304

I've been wanting to make a card with a Christmas swag on it and did one for two challenges: Tic Tac Toe (December holiday, winter foliage and green or red) and Inkspirational (add glitter).

Unfortunately I don't think there is enough variance in the greens to make the different branches stand out.  Most are from Honey Bee's Winter Foliage but the gray green cedar in the back is from Tim Holtz.  The gold glitter cardstock for The Greetery bow is from DCWV and the sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio.  It's embossed in Sparkle powder although it doesn't show up in the photo.  I tried adding Rock Candy Glitter to some of the branches but it didn't show up so I went over it with Puff embossing powder to make it more like snow.  Still not happy with it but it is what it is.  Truth be told, this is my second try.  I feel there'll be a third or fourth until I get it right. 😉

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your holiday preparations are going well.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown #34.23 and Peace On Earth #47

The color challenge at 52 Christnas Card Throwdown was an easy one for me.  Blue, green and brown.

The branches and pine cones are from The Greetery and the sentiment is from Concord and 9th.  I was going to ink a background but found this paper from Honey Bee that looked like a snowy sky to me.  I'm also sending my card to Peace on Earth.  They have a fabulous moodboard but thankfully they accept any Christmas cards since I didn't use their images. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I appreciate the time you take to comment.

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Krafty Chicks #672 - Christmas in July

All the Christmas in July challenges should help you get started on your Christmas cards.  I've been making them all along but have another one I made for Krafty Chicks. 

I used  images from Altenew's Poinsettia and Pine, stamping them in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloring them with Altenew artist markers.   It took a while to arrange everything and I ended up adding more than I had originally stamped.  The sentiment is from their Festive Poinsettia set.   

Thanks for dropping by.  

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 13.2023

It's sketch week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  

I went back and forth on what I wanted to do and ended up using the HoneyBee bear that I used on another Christmas card. 

He's cut from kraft and inked with DI for some dimension.  The DSP looked forest-y to me so I added strips of it along with the pines from The Greetery and pinecone from Gina Marie.  The Brushed Pines folder added dimension to the background and the bear is holding a sentiment from PTI. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your weather isn't creating any difficulties for you.  There have been a lot of storms across the US and I pray for those who have been affected by them.

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Just Us Girls #659 - Color Week

 Carol M has chosen these colors for Color Week at Just Us Girls.

I had a card made and forgot the gold so I CASEd myself and made this one which I actually like a lot better.

The foiled ornaments are the negative images from PinkFresh Studio.  They are hanging from a pine branch from The Greetery made from a panel sprayed with Distress Stain.  The background is a pine branch embossing folder and the foiled sentiment is from Spellbinders. 

Will you make a Christmas card with these colors?  Or do you have other ideas?  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  

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Freshly Made Sketches # and NBUS #

Judy has a great sketch for us over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I'm way behind on my Christmas cards so that's what I made for the challenge.

I started by heat embossing the SSS Hand Lettered Holiday background stamp in gold on red.  I trimmed the panel and added The Greetery Pine Botanicuts.  No need for a sentiment since the background is full of them. ;)

I'm sending this over to NBUS since this is the first time using the background stamp.

It feels so good to do a little crafting again but I'm still not fully settled into our summer home.  I hope to get more cards made while I'm here.  Besides those Design Team ones that are already done.  

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Inkspirational #254

I was one of the top picks at Inkspirational for this card.  When that happens I try  my best to enter the next challenge.  Unfortunately I didn't see the win until after #253 but here I am with a card for photo challenge #254.  You need to see the photo first to see how I was inspired.

See that JOY on the pillow, and the wonderfully comfy looking blanket/rug?  That's where I started.

The ivory cardstock was embossed with the knit folder before adding the word die from PTI cut in gold and layered three times.  To top it off, I made four pine branches from The Greetery, embossing with puff powder for snow.  

That's it for me.  Thanks for dropping by.

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Color Hues #8

Green and blue.  What to do?  This is my card for Color Hues.  I just hope silver is considered a neutral.

I started with the pine boughs from The Greetery and wanted to hang an ornament from SSS.  I cut it from blue foil and added a silver top and star.  It looked a little bare but the Stitched Rays background from Reverse Confetti fell right into place behind the ornament.  A word die from TH in the same foil balanced it out.  

The holidays are getting closer.  I hope you all have things ready to go and aren't stressing out.  It's a time of hope and peace and joy and love.  And that's my wish for you.

CAS Christmas June - Bells

I got out my favorite bell stamp to make a card for CAS Christmas.

Sunny Studio makes one that looks pretty realistic to me although adding the Glossy Accents to it may have tarnished it a little.  After embossing a panel, I cut a window in it using MFT's peekaboo die and put the branch from the SS set behind it, tying the bell on with silver thread.  The sentiment from PB is stamped in one of the grays used on the bell.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Little Stampers Christmas - April 2019

The optional twist for this month's Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is

That leaves it wide open if you decide to use the twist.  I did.

I used Distress Markers on a Penny Black stamp, spritzing at first and then re-stamping several times until I liked the look.  I spritzed again and sprinkled high white embossing powder to make snow.  After embossing the HLS sentiment in platinum, the panel was edged with dark green cardstock and placed on some Desert Storm.

Now that you've seen my card, why not head over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team did for their Christmas card.  I hope we inspire you to make a card for the challenge.