Christmas Stocking Thank You

A Xmas card in May!!?? Yup.  It's actually a Thank you for a lovely woman who helped complete a Xmas stocking for my "little Theo." 

Challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Dies or Punches
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper Challenge - Option of Candy Canes
• NBUS - everything on this card is NBUS!  
  
• Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes
  
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes
  
• Time Out Challenge - Items from your home.  The Xmas stockings are from inside my son's home this past Xmas.  

Backstory: My mom knit gorgeous Xmas stockings for her 3 children. Then she knit for our husbands, and her grandchildren. She knit each person's name onto the top of their stocking. As she was getting older she realized her family might outgrow her ability to continue knitting stockings.  So she made a "stash" of stockings for future family members.  As the oldest I am the "keeper of the stash".  Happily, mom's forecast came true.  Her family grew.  Eventually she was no longer able to knit the names on the stockings, and then she passed in 2019.  Along comes Theo (her 3rd great grandchild). 

My sister-in-law found a lady who was able to knit names onto the stockings.  This thank you is for her. 

Mom knitting a stocking ~2005

Theo's stocking with his Mom's & Dad's

Supplies: 

• diecuts: Thank-you (Simon Says Stamps); stocking (Concord & 9th)
• pattern paper: assorted (HoneyBee & DCWV & My Mind's Eye)

These stockings bring a smile to my heart. The tradition continues. Here's a peek at the inside:

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying a lovely spring day. 

Poinsettia Thank You

I wanted to create a special Xmas thank you card for a friend.  This is for her.

The stamps are old "Outlines" - that I watercolored with Mica watercolors, and cut out.  The paper is NEW from a holiday set made by DCWV that I got on clearance the other day. I was really bummed that the water color of the bottom layer of flowers smudged as I adhered it onto the green base .  Ugh -- but I wasn't going to do it again.

I am putting this into the Just Us Girls Word Week Challenge.

I am also entering this into the Fusion Card Challenge I am just using the photo for inspiration.  The paper pack was marketed as a snow flake color pack.  But the back sides of many of the pages had this great wood grain pattern -- I just loved that!

Well that's all for now.  Back to work tomorrow -- I really enjoyed the time off.  I guess I won't get to do much creating for a while - :( 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Have a great New Year!

Warm Wishes

I made this card, just because -- for no one in particular.  I enjoy reading Sandy Allnock's blog and watching her You Tube channel.  One of her you tube's is the 3 Most Common Mistakes Crafters Make .  It hit home with me -- the part about actually needing to create.  So here it is.  

So my creating journey for today started with this card by Lydia In her blog she explains how she used Frog Tape to create the the mask and water colored the inside.  She really stressed using the frog tape as a mask.  I thought, really -- let me try just using a stencil and used removable adhesive to hold it down.  I should have taken a picture for you - because it came out as a blue, green, brown, blob  of mushed up colors.

So I wandered the internet for some more inspiration and found these challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches  and Paper Sweeties Inspiration challenge --

  

I was inspired by the colors (and the snowflakes)

And the Curtain Call challenge of "Frozen" 

The snowflake stamp is from Outlines - a company now out of business.  I embossed it with pewter embossing powder and water colored it.  Then to try to keep to the idea of Lydia's card, splatter some diluted water color around the outside.  I'm not sure if you can see the embossed lines to create the square shape around the snowflake for the sketch idea.  But it is there and looks good in real life. 

I didn't want this to be a holiday card -- just something I could maybe send to someone over the winter.  

No go create!!  and have fun doing it.  If you get to share it whether on a blog or send it,  that's even more wonderful.  Have a Happy New Year.  

And thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas

When I saw these cards  by Marika, I just knew I had to give her technique a try.  She made it look so easy . . .

 

I tried to play around with the kraft colors, but I didn't like how mine came out.  So I tried this holly branch (from Hero Arts) on a muted green paper (DCWV).  Better - but it could still use some tweaking.   Maybe another day. 

I am putting this onto the following challenges:

Winter Wonderland Challenge where the challenge is traditional Christmas colors.

a2z Scrapbooking Blog - the challenge is Clean and Simple -- this really was simple.  And fun to create.

The bit of pattern paper is from Stampin Up.  I used Inktense pencils to color the leaves and berries.  

As always, thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.  

Merry Christmas

I made this for my Xmas cards this year -- 54 of them!

The tree is from Stampin Up.  I stamped the first one, them just covered the bottom and stamped again to get the smaller lighter tree.  I cut some scrap paper into hill shape, and sponged the snowy hills -- I used the technique demonstrated by Gina K on Stamp TV.

I then used the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil with Aleene's Glitter Snow paste -- which gives a nice bit of glitz to the snow.  I few drops of red from Viva Decor, and a bit of red pattern paper; and it's done!

I'm putting this into the following challenges:

1. Merry Monday - Winter Wonderland
2. CASology - cue card: Snow
   
   
   3. Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
   4. Creative Colors
     
   5. Love to Create - create a scene
   6. Crafty Sentiments - Winter Challenge
   
   
   Thanks so much for looking.  I hope you are having a good holiday.  

Xmas Thank You - CAS(E) this Sketch

I need several thank you cards to use for Xmas gifts -- I probably should have made them sooner  . . . oh well.  This sketch from Cas(E) this Sketch is truly Clean and Simple.  It was a snap to put this together. It could easily have been a One-Layer card, but I do love my layers.  I was able to create quite a few in one afternoon. 

 

 

The holly stamp is from Inkadinkadoo.  I am not sure about the other stamps.  I used Hero Arts Shadow inks. A bit of glue bead for the berries and done. 

 

Thanks for looking.

PTI White on White Blog Hop

My shopping is done, and so is my wrapping.  My niece is hosting Xmas, so I had some free time to play.

I made this for the Paper Trey  PTI December Blog Hop: white on white. 

I did not want to do a familiar snow or wedding themed white card.  So I thought and thought, and this is what I came up with.  I decided not to put on a sentiment, because I did not want to take away from the design.  Plus I didn't make this for any specific upcoming occasion.  This way in the future, I can still put an appropriate sentiment.

I used PTI Mega Gracious Vases die cuts, and the Filigree Border die.  The ribbons, flowers, and pearls are pieces I have in my stash.  You all have "a stash", right?  The flowers are white and off-white.  I liked the bit of contrast they offered.  The paper is from PTI (white and rustic cream), except for the far right side vase.  That is a glittered paper from Reminisce.

I was originally going to have a horizontal card, and scored 2 lines to use as the base-shelf for the vases.  But the vases and flowers were too tall this way, and I didn't like it.  So I was playing around and turned the card base, and I decided I liked the vases on a vertical card. And I really liked the way the 2 scored lines added some more vertical interest.

That's all for now.  Hope you had a great holiday.
Thanks for looking.

Snowman Ornament

Woo Hoo - crafting with my son!!

 

 

My older son's job has a "hand-made ornament" contest every year for their company Xmas tree.   After some encouragement from his girlfriend, Joe created a Pinterest account and found this ornament:

Now, you should know that Joe's job is in a candle-making facility.  So, he did not want to use the flame-less candle, but one of the candles made at his job. 

Joe shared this picture with me, and asked if I had the supplies to recreate it.  And of course I do (but he knew that).  So one night after work, he came over, and we had a good time (at least I did) creating the ornament you see at top.  It is now hanging on the company tree:

 

To make the 2 base circles, we used the white cardboard packing from a package of Stampin Up paper, and inked the edges with some blue - the brim of the hat is the Stampin Up Word-window punch, and some ribbon.  The arms we cut off the Stampin Up large snowflake punch.

Joe needed to incorporate his voting ID number, so that is how the sign came into the design. 

I can't wait to see what he wants to do next year!!

Thanks for looking!

Paper Trey Ink Blog Hop and Vellum Die Cuts

 

I am way behind on making Christmas cards!! Oh well. 

 

On Nichole's blog I was drawn to the Liars book cover.  I liked the idea of a wind-blown feeling.  That is what I tried to portray with this card and the snow flakes.  You can find more information at Capture the Moment November Blog Hop.

I also tried to use Layered Vellum die cuts from Make It Monday.  I inked some of them, and left others white.  Added a bit of glitter and pearl centers to finish them off.

 

I used the color palette from Play Date Cafe and this fits the sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday 

 

 

And lastly, I think this qualifies for Less is More: Glamour and Glitz . The patterned paper is so glitzy!! 

 

supplies:

Stamps: Paper Trey Ink

Paper: cardstock: PTI; patterned: Recollections

Diecuts: PTI and another old small punch

Ink: assorted

other: pearls; white embossing powder.

 

Thank you for looking!!

Make It Monday - Floating Image

Can you see the little bird in the window?

 

When I saw the technique over at Paper Trey Make It Monday, I knew it was one I wanted to try.  Things have finally settled down a bit (for me) after "Sandy", and I've been off from work all week. So I had the opportunity to create this card today. 

It was fun, relaxing and a bit of normalcy creating this. 
I used this sketch from Jingle Bells . And the color challenge from Dynamic Duos .

 

I am also putting this into 52 Card Pick Up .

supplies:
all PTI except for "Nestabilities" circles, and the snowflakes.

That's all from me for now.  I hope everyone affected by Sandy is recovering, both physically and emotionally.  For some, I know, it will be a very long process. 

Bridal Shower

 

Niece #2's bridal shower was today. She loves the expression, "You need to kiss a lot of frogs before finding your prince." She collects frogs also. Her wedding colors are purple and green. So this is for her.

 

I followed the sketch from Fab Friday - I really liked this sketch -it can be so simple or not, as you'd like.

I also found the colors from Colour Q worked really well for me, and it's not even a Halloween card!

 

I am also putting this on the 52 Card Pick Up challenge!  I am trying to do one a week - not always sucessful, but trying!

 

supplies:

stamps -frogs: Outlines; umbrella and sentiment: PTI

papers - purple and patterned: Basic Grey; white: PTI

other - diecuts: PTI; copics, mini pearls

 

Hurricane Sandy is supposed to be impacting the east coast of the US tonight through Tuesday.  My job has closed for Monday and Tuesday due to expected flooding and power outages.  I am just hoping it has been over-hyped, and all will be well.

 

Thanks so much for looking.