Another one for Pink...for the Cure

This is my second card for the Pink holiday card challenge at Jingle Belles. Why are Lauren and Steph prompting us to use Pink?  It's their way of honoring all the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer. This is the third anniversary of their PINK challenge and there it's a create way help a good cause. For each card that we create, Steph and Lauren will each donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation which means the foundation will receive $4 for each card we link up. 

For this card, I used a piece of white cardstock and stamped a snowflake background with pink ink. Next I ran it through the crimper, then made the center medallion with layers of pink patterned paper and a spell binders die.  I also wrapped green embroidery thread around the medallion and layered snowflakes over the top of this. I finished by spritzing the snowflakes with Tsukineko Shrimmer Spritz.


Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Snowflake Stamp: Stacey's Stamp: Triangle of Snowflakes, Studio G Ink, Marvy Uchida Crimper, Emagination & EK Success Snowflake punches, EMC Embroidery thread, Spellbinders Die, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG. Pink Cardstock: DCWV, Patterned Paper: Echo Park: Happy Days

Pink ....for the Cure

The ladies at Jingle Belles are thinking PINK this month. It's their way of honoring all the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer. This is the third anniversary of their PINK challenge and there is an added incentive for all of us to create "PINK" holiday cards. For each card that we create, Steph and Lauren will each donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. WOW! This means that the foundation will receive $4 for each card we link up AND we can link up as often as we wish. So, this is my first card. It has a pink checkered patterned paper for the background and it is matted on a darker pink cardstock. To break up the pink, I added a white wreath with green gems. The sentiment is matted with a foil paper (hard to see that in my photo).  I'm off to create another card!

                         

Accordion Snowmen

There's a "Shape Up for the Holidays" challenge over at Jingle Belles. It's a fun challenge which gets us thinking about making Christmas cards that are not square or rectangular. I decided to cut my card into the shapely form of snowmen. I had fun creating them, probably too much fun!  I just couldn't stop adding detail. I started by folding a piece of white cardstock (accordion style) then cut the cardstock into the shape of a snowman. I used up bits and pieces of patterned papers and cardstocks to create little vests, small bow ties and hats. To ground the snowman, I added a torn white cardstock snowbank, adding a bit of highlight to it with chalk. Next I cut letters for the sentiment and tucked them into the snowbank. Finally, I made two brooms and stuck one on each side. They really helped to "pull" the card together.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Scrap pieces of cardstock,  chalk,  EK Success punches, Studio G Glitter Glue, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG

Shaped Christmas Card

Are you ready for a fun challenge?  If so, look no further than Jingle Belles. The current challenge is to create a card that is Not square or rectangular...but a shaped Christmas card! I haven't participated in a challenge for a few weeks (still experiencing computer frustrations), but once I saw the inspirational cards from Lauren and Steph, I just had to play along. My take was simply to use my computer to print "Merry Christmas" onto cardstock. I folded the cardstock so the top of the letter M was at the folded edge, added some holly leaves and glitter glue berries, then traced over the letters with glitter glue. Once the letters were dry, I trimmed around the letters and holly leaving the folded edge in tact over the M. This was a fun challenge so  I image my brain won't let  me rest until I attempt at least one more shaped card. So, if my computer cooperates, I'll probably be back with another card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Punch: Emagination Crafts Inc., Studio G Glitter Glue, Colored Pencils: Crayola, MS Word

Home for the Holidays

I created this card early yesterday, but had major computer issues and couldn't post. I finally resolved some of the computer issues this morning. YEAH! I wish I knew a computer genius! My computer would certainly keep her busy!

This card is for the "Home for the Holidays" challenge at Jingle Belles. I grew up in a state where there was always plenty of snow around Christmas time. I decided to "go home" with this card and create a snowy scene. I began by inking the sky and then I stamped the trees. I printed a log cabin image, colored it in with colored pencils and fussy cut around it. I even painted a tiny wreath and ribbon on the door. I adhered the log cabin in front of the trees and then had a blast adding snow. (I used to do landscape painting ages and ages ago. It was fun to pull out the acrylics and play around a bit.)  Over the top of the snow scene, I added a die cut frame. The frame needed a punch of color so I also added the red and white twine. I must have had one of my sister's in mind because the scene looks very similar to her first home. I loved visiting her there. It was always so peaceful and SNOWY, but warm and cozy by her fireplace!

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Die Cut: Fiskars, Patterned Paper: Colorbok, Acrylic Paints: Master's Touch, Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Tree Houses

Lately I haven't been in a crafty mood. Don't know what's up with that! It's probably because I am spending a lot of time hiking, biking, gardening and hanging out with the teenage son. We've been trying to take advantage of the lovely summer weather. We soooooo love the summer!

I did squeeze in a card or two for the current "HOUSE" challenge at Jingle Belles. For this card, I decided to hand cut a series of tiny houses. I've stacked them into a tree shape and fussy cut around them. I layered the tree on a piece of green cardstock and then onto an embossed background.  In the end, I felt that it looks somewhat like a quilt block, especially with the addition of the tiny punched stars.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill (light green), DCWV (dark green), Recollections (black), Spellbinders Embossing Folder, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Sleigh Bells ring...

My mind has been buzzing with ideas since I saw the current challenge at Jingle Belles. Are you ready?
It's "Sleigh BELLES Ring.  Isn't that a fabulously fun prompt? It took me all day to narrow my ideas down, before I finally settled on a sleigh bell harness as the focal point on my card. I began by punching six circles from metallic paper. Next I punched two small holes in the center of each circle. I cut away the metallic paper starting at the bottom of each circle, cutting towards the two small circles at a slight angle. To create the strap for the harness, I took a strip of chocolate cardstock, cut it into the shape of a harness then crumpled it up and carefully flattened it.  I highlighted the texture that this created by sliding a brown ink pad over the top of it.  I punched three holes in the narrow end of the harness, added a buckle that I cut from metallic paper and a small gold brad just below it. I adhered the bells with dimensional adhesive and layered the harness over a piece of patterned. Fortunately, among the Christmas words on the patterned paper,  I found "Sleigh Bells ring..." .  I cut this portion off and created a banner and adhered it with dimensional adhesive. I finished by adding red gems. Since the large photo doesn't really show the texture of the gold metallic paper that I used for the bells, I am sharing a close-up of the  belles.

I decided to link this card up with:
Winter Wonderland, since the current challenge there is also BELLS. 

Hazel's Christmas "Anything Goes" challenge 

at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 

and the 

Merry Monday "Anything Goes: Christmas in July" 

challenge at Always Playing with Paper

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill (red mat), Core'dinations: chocolate, Metallic Paper: Highgloss, Dimensional Adhesive: Elmer's Glue Spots, Patterned Paper ? (open stock, not sure about manufacturer),Gems: Studio G, Ink: Memento, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Circle Punch: EK Success

Cardstock Christmas Stocking

I'm linking this card up for three different Christmas challenges. I'm playing along with the Christmas in July challenge at The Paper Players, the cardstock Christmas challenge at Jingle Belles and the stocking challenge at Christmas Card Challenges. Since the challenge at Jingle Belles is to create a card using cardstock only....no patterned paper. I began by hand cutting a stocking shape from red cardstock. Next, I used an embossing folder to add texture. To create the top of the stocking, I reached for another embossing folder. Can you guess what it is? It's really a picket fence embossing folder. I just trimmed around each fence post then flipped the fence upside down to create the cuff on the stocking. I added a bit of glitter to the cuff and small glittered dots along the embossing stripes on the red stocking. For the background, I embossed a piece of white cardstock, added punched green snowflakes and finished by adding a torn cardstock frame.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections (white), Fox River Paper Co: (red), Bazzill (green), Glitter Glue: Studio G, Snowflake Punch: Emagination, Darice Embossing Folders, Adhesive:Scotch ATG

Captivating Digi Santa

Inspirational Photo from
 Christmas Card Challenges

This is my second card for the hybrid challenge at Jingle Belles. The challenge is to create a holiday card with at least one digi image. So, I'm continuing to play around around with the digi stamp of Santa that I found at STAMP-N-doodle. I've already linked up one card at Jingle Belles using this image. I am usually not drawn to coloring images, but this Santa has me captivated. I used colored pencils to color the black and white image then fussy cut around it. I adhered it to a die cut snowflake, using dimensional adhesive in the center and double sided adhesive around the edges. You can't see it in the photo, but Santa looks 3D in person.  I used a red cardstock for a mat, then poked holes around the snowflake.  I love how the light peeks through those little holes. The die cut frame and cardbase have the same scalloped square shape to allow the light to pass through. I printed the sentiment onto the white frame using MS Word. I'm also going to link this card up over at Christmas Card Challenges. They are having a photo inspiration challenge. I love the red door in that photo. It really pops against the white siding of the house and snow.


Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill, Recollections, Die Cut Snowflake: Fiskars, Die Cut Frame: Fiskars, Digi Image: Stamp-n-doodle.com, Scrapbook Adhesives Dimensional Foam Squares, Scotch ATG, Printed Sentiment: MS Word, Crayola Colored Pencils         

Digi Santa

Don't you just love this digital Santa stamp? I found it over at STAMP-N-doodle.com. I printed it in black and white then used colored pencils to add color and detail. Santa really came to life once I added the color.  I trimmed around him and rounded the corners than adhered the image to a red mat. I added the ribbon, bow and pearls than layered the mat on a piece of gray patterned paper backed with red cardstock.  I'm playing with digital images today because I was inspired by the current challenge over at Jingle Belles. The challenge is to use at least one digital image on a card to create a hybrid holiday card.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill (red), Recollections (white), Patterned Paper:Carolina Breeze, Santa Image: Stamp-n-doodle.com, Colored Pencils: Crayola, Corner Rounder: Creative Memories, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Ribbon: Offray, Pearls: Queen & Co

One More Card before Vacation!

I'm fitting in one more card before I leave for vacation. This card is for the sketch challenge at Jingle Belles. I just had to use Stephanie's sketch one more time! To create the card I used patterned Kraft cardstock. I cut three banners and layered them on a piece of polka dotted Kraft cardstock. Then I punched a snowflake from Kraft, punched around it with a circle punch and adhered it with dimensional adhesive to a piece of polka dotted Kraft. I tucked a Santa in between the layered snowflake and the polka dotted circle adhering it with dimensional adhesive as well. The Santa image was fussy cut from a piece of scrap. I wrote the sentiment on a banner shaped piece of Kraft, backed it with polka dotted Kraft and attached it to the panel with dimensional adhesive. I  also added a small embroidery thread bow. Inside, I attached a snowflake punched from polka dotted Kraft.

Thanks for stopping by....I'm off on VACATION!

Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Kraft Cardstock: My Mind's Eye, Santa Image: Fancy Pants, EK Success Punches, DMC Embroidery Thread, Scotch ATG Adhesive, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Handmade Ornament

HAPPY EARTH DAY....Today's card is another project that involves recycling and I had a blast creating it. My card has a handmade ornament hanging in the center of a snowflake window.  The ornament was created using #6 recyclable plastic. I got my piece of plastic from a bakery container at a local market.  The plastic can be used as DIY shrink plastic. I have done a few other projects with this (HERE   and   HERE ).  To make this ornament I used a die cut machine to cut an oval from #6 plastic. Then I used permanent markers to draw and color in the details. After the ink was dried,  I punched a hole in the top of the ornament, poked a skewer through it and heated the plastic with my heat gun. If you've used shrink plastic before, this #6 plastic works similarly. As it heats it starts to shrink, curl and then uncurls leaving you with a smaller version of the original design. After the ornament was cooled, I used a wire hanger and hung it from the center of an embossed cardbase with a snowflake window. I  am submitting this card for the current challenge at  Christmas Card Challenges and for the recycle element  challenge over at Jingle Belles.



Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Embossing folder: Darice, Snowflake Die Cut: Fiskars Fuse, # 6 plastic, Bic Market Markers, Marvy Uchida Heat Gun, Ribbon: Offray, Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Recycled Elements

The Third Annual Earth Day Celebration is taking place at Jingle Belles so the current challenge is to use a RECYCLED ELEMENT on a card.  For this card I cut the image of the birdhouse, the bow and the glittery snow from two cards I received last year.  I fussy cut around the birdhouse and bow, then used a second card and tore the glittery snow from it and adhered it to the base of the birdhouse.  I layered the birdhouse and snow onto black cardstock, trimmed around it and then matted this onto a piece of red cardstock. Using a gel pen, I drew in some snowflakes then trimmed the right edge with decorative scissors. Next I attached this to a yellow gingham background and also trimmed the right edge with decorative scissors.  I mounted this on a cardbase and then hand cut the blue bird, highlighted it with colored pencils and adhered it to the birdhouse roof. It still looked like it needed something so I hand cut some holly leaves, highlighted them with colored pencils and added some berries.  I tucked these into the bird's mouth so it would look like it was "adding" to the decorated house.  I played around with various ways to add a sentiment to the front of the card, but it just looked too busy so I'll add a sentiment inside (Warm Winter Wishes).

Supplies: Cardbase: DCWV, Old Christmas card images: birdhouse/bow, snow, Scrap pieces cardstock/paper, Gel pen: Sakura, Colored Pencils: Crayola, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Building a Snowman

I am playing along with the latest challenge at Jingle Belles. The challenge is called:  It's a Scandinavian Christmas! The inspirational photo was the perfect prompt for me. I was also inspired by a card created by Nikki Foraker. She had created a snowman from cardstock that had text printed on it. I really wanted to try something similar so I began by hand cutting a snowman from a piece of white cardstock with text printed on it. Then I hand cut the hat, scarf, arms, eyes and carrot nose. I used a punch for the buttons. With a white gel I carefully drew a "Scandinavian Snowflake" pattern onto the scarf and hat band and added more detail with a red colored pencil. I adhered all the snowman parts together and then attached the snowman to a white textured cardbase that I had embossed with a scoreboard. As I embossed, I made heavy and light embossing patterns on the cardbase so that the background would have lots of texture. This was a super fun challenge and it was an awesome inspirational photo!

Thanks for visiting!

SUPPLIES:Cardbase: Paper StudiosCardstock: Scrap pieces of white, red, brown & blackScoring Board: Martha StewartGel Pen: SakuraColored Pencils: CrayolaInspiration: Nikki Foraker: http://scrappinnavywife.blogspot.com/2012/12/mct-12-days-of-christmas-day-12.html  Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch ATG

Sliding By

I created this card after being inspired by the challenge at Jingle Belles. The challenge is to create a card with some Christmas food on it.  My card has a gingerbread man sliding on a candy cane sled.  I hand cut all the images and used markers and a gel pen to add detail. For the scarf, I cut a scarf shape and cover it with twine.  The snow is poly fiber fill. I created the cloud background with chalk.  Inside the sentiment reads: Sliding by with Sweet Holiday Wishes.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: DCWV, Paper Studios
Gel Pen: Sakura
Markers: Zig Memory System
Colored Pencils: Crayola
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
Twine: The Twinery
Chalk: Craft T Products.
Polyfil