Christmas Cards .... Almost Done!

I had a very productive weekend.  I got a lot of Christmas cards made.  I'll start addressing them tomorrow and maybe I'll have enough!!  Things have started to slow down for me and I don't feel so stressed about getting everything done.  I put a few decorations up last week and decorated my tree.  Now to get some shopping done!  Tomorrow is my bridge Christmas party and I have all my gifts ready to go.  Saturday night my sisters, my mom and my friend, Margaret attended a Singing Christmas Tree at a local church.  It was awesome .... in fact, I think that is what has finally put me in the Christmas spirit.  Margaret had never been to a Singing Christmas Tree before and I think she really enjoyed it.  Even my Steelers cooperated today by winning by a good margin and not stressing me out at the last minute. 

I received a couple of pretty hand-made Christmas cards this weekend and they are what inspired me also.  Margaret had given me a few sheets of designer paper from a 6x6 book that she had and they got my creative juices going.  Here are a couple of the cards I made with that paper:

 For this one I dug out Flowers for All Occasions (SU) that I bought last year and don't think I've even used it.  I colored it in Cherry Cobbler because it most matched the paper.

 This poinsetta is watercolored using SU watercolor crayons (they are available to order now!!) and my aqua pen.  They look pink but it is actually Ruby Red.  Couldn't get a good picture of it.

This card uses SU's DSP from the Holiday Mini.  The sentiment is from Best Yet (retired). 

Hope your week is wonderful.  It is going to be COLD here all week with highs in the 30's and lows in the teens.  Ashley has been getting a little cold weather over in Iraq also.  The highs for the past few days have just been in the 50's and even getting down to high 30's or low 40's at night. 

How to Achieve Inner Peace

Dr Phil proclaimed recently on his show, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished." 

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos,  a box of chocolates, and a half bottle of rum .

You have no idea how good I feel right now!!

Seriously ... I did finish up some Christmas cards that were on my desk in bits and pieces and I do feel good about that.  Hope you feel good about them too!

 This is a stamp that I have had 6-7 years and probably only used it once or twice.  I bought it when we still lived in Washington - before I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator.  I decided to blow off the dust and use it tonight.  Also - how long has it been since you used your deckle scissors????  I can't believe I could still find mine, but they look ok on this card I think.  You can't tell from the picture but I stamped the image twice - once in Garden Green ink and a second time in black ink.  I cut out the trees and snowman (black ink) and glued them on the larger green stamped piece.

 These cards are left over bits I found from a class I taught at Stampers Alley last year.  It was a One Sheet Wonder class but I didn't have the bits of paper from the One Sheet Wonder so I found these scraps of DSP on my cutting table and used them instead.

 More cards left over from the One Sheet Wonder class.  I cut these vintage pieces out of some DSP that I found in my closet.  Use up your scraps and see what you can create!

 

Another from the One Sheet Wonder bunch.  Those are some bright green trees, don't you think?

So I hope these give you some inspiration to look around at what you have sitting in your scrap pile or even on your desk that you can put to good use on a card and bring yourself "inner peace."

Christmas Cards

I watched the Steelers last night pull off a nail biter!  Our quarterback was in the game with a broken bone in his foot so he had a special shoe on and then in one of the first plays, he broke his nose!  But that didn't keep him from a victory.  What was so neat though was at the last 2 minutes when we intercepted the Ravens and finally went ahead, I "skyped" Ashley and we  watched the game together for a few minutes.  Then we were afraid we would jinx our winning, so we signed off but she called me back 2 minutes later when we WON!   She went to bed early Sunday so she could get up at 4 am to watch the game.  That's a fan for you!!  When I called her, it was 7:30 for her - she had to be at work at 8.  Luckily, the game was over in time.

OK - here are some of the Christmas cards I made on Saturday.  Hope these give you some inspiration making your cards.

For this card, I used Circle Circus.  I'd been thinking about this stamp set and wanted to see if I could use it to make a Christmas card.  Not bad, if I do say so myself!  I stamped the different circles in Real Red, Crumb Cake and Garden Green.  Then I punched the circles from red and green cardstock with the 3/4" circle punch.  The red dot on each one is Liquid Pearl.  The base card is Crumb Cake.

 The pink striped ribbon was the reason for this card.  I just got this ribbon last week and wanted to use it.  I stamped the Pretty in Pink rectangle just using an acrylic stamping block.  Just ink up the block and stamp it on your cardstock.  The ornament is from Delightful Decorations (pg 35).  I inked it in Basic Gray and punched it out with the Ornament Punch.  The base card is Pretty in Pink.

 This card was an experiment!  I stamped the blue cardstock with snowflakes in Versamark.  Then I clear embossed some of them and put white embossing powder on some.  Then Isponged different shades of blue ink over them.  I embossed a strip of green cardstock with snowflakes and wrapped it with the red checked ribbon.  On the ribbon, I sewed a basting stitch down the middle and gathered it.  I put little red rhinestones in the centers of some of the snowflakes.

 This was a super simple card!  I just stamped Peace On Earth (from Holiday Mini - hostess set) onto a piece of the Deck the Halls DSP (from the Holiday Mini catalog) and adhered it to a Always Artichoke card base.  This is just gorgeous paper and makes it so easy!

This is another piece of DSP from Deck the Halls.  The card base is Cherry Cobbler (I think my favorite color!).  I used Spellbinders Circles and my Big Shot to cut out the Always Artichoke scallop circle and Crumb Cake circle.  I stamped the "Dec 25" stamp (from Tags Till Christmas in the Holiday Mini) twice - once in Artichoke and the second time - only Dec 25 - in Cherry Cobbler.  I punched the Artichoke piece with the Decorative Label Extra Large punch and the "dec 25" piece with the oval punch.  The Cherry Cobbler piece is punched with the Scallop Oval.  I punched a white snowflake.  The little flower in the center is made by taking about a 5" piece of Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (holiday mini) and sewing down one side; pull the thread tight until you form a flower.  Glue it down and add a pearl to the center and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding at the bottom.

As Promised - Christmas Cards

Best plans .... you know what they say!  My plan for today was  to stay home and work on Christmas cards.  Well .... didn't happen!  I got an e-mail from a friend this morning asking me if I would come and help out at Christian Missions sorting through our angel gifts we had collected for under-privileged children.  Unfortunately, the way the program was run this year (through Newcomers) was not good.  The gal in charge didn't quite understand how it all worked.  So, some children in the same family were receiving 4-5 packages while others in the family were only receiving 1-2.  And remember - we collected about 85 gifts!  But we got it all sorted out this afternoon - taking from some and giving to others and going to the store to supplement a few.  I think it will all be good and a lot of children will be happy at Christmas.  So that was my afternoon.  My morning was spent on the phone with Social Security trying to sort out my benefits.  I have an appointment next week in Hickory at the Social Security office and hopefully, will get it all sorted out.  I was told to bring my marriage license!  After 37 years, I was a little worried about that one.  But, never fear, my husband is a great one for putting everything in its place and even knowing where it is so he was able to find it. 

After dinner, I found time to make a couple of cards and hopefully, tomorrow, I will make a bunch more!!  I received my first Christmas cards today so I've gotta get cracking!!  It's supposed to be cold here for the next several days - the highs only in the low to mid 40's all week - so it will be good weather to stay inside and get some things done.  I opened the box the Christmas tree was in today and put it up but I haven't done anything else to it!  We got a new tree last week - just a small 5" artificial tree but the best thing is, it is PRE LIT!!  I love it - I don't have to fight with the cords - or with my husband - to put the lights on!!  He was thrilled tonight too when he came to dinner & saw a lit tree.

 

Isn't this adorable?  I CASE'd this from a card that was sent to me last year.   I just used the SU Square Punches for his body and used my Copics to draw on his eyes, nose, etc.  The brown pieces are Early Espresso and Soft Suede punched with the Word Window Punch.

  

This cute little guy is a retired SU stamp - Twigster.  I found the background paper in my stash.  I used my Big Shot and Spellbinders for the circles.  The paper is Poppy Parade (SU Incolor).

Final Days to Sign Up Plus Christmas Cards

If you're considering signing up as a demonstrator during Stampin' Up's great Half-Off Sale, time is running out.  You have until Tuesday - Nov. 30!!  Contact me to get your password and you can sign up on-line!!

I had so much fun yesterday blog hopping!  I visited all the sites on the Christmas Card Blog Hop that I participated in and got so many great ideas!  I appreciate all the people who left wonderful comments about my cards and became followers of my blog.  You inspire me to work harder on being creative!!

So, yesterday and today, I found time to make a few Christmas cards.  I hope you enjoy them.

This is probably my least favorite.  I have just never liked this green color (retired anyway!) but it matched the ribbon and the green leaves (plus I have a bunch of it left over).  I stamped the Cardinal on watercolor paper and used Tombows to color him along with my Aqua Brush.  I cut him out with SU's Top Note Die and matted it with Real Red.  I glued down 2 strips of ribbon on either side of the red strip.  Both the green card and the red strip, I ran through an embossing folder.  The sentiment is a digi stamp and I found.

This is my favorite!!  The snowman and the "Building a Snowman" are digis that I purchased from The Cutting Cafe.  I haven't used digi stamps much but I really loved this one!!  I paper pieced his hat and used Flower Soft on the scarf.  The red ribbon is from Stampin' Up.

This is another digital stamp that I found on the internet.  I colored him my Copics.  The pink ribbon is Stampin' Up.  I dipped the pink brad in glitter after putting Towbow Glue on it.

So which is your favorite?

Christmas Card Blog Hop 2010

Welcome to my Inkie Fingers!  We are so excited to have you join us today.  You may have just come from Courtney's blog or you may be one of my followers or you may have just stumbled here…however you got here, you’ll be very glad you did!  Be sure to take the whole tour! - welcome!   There are about 30 blogs included in the hop and some of them are giving away Blog Candy.   

I decided to make my theme Christmas Trees and used a variety of stamps and folding methods to create three cards for you to enjoy.  The first one uses a retired set from Stampin' Up called Patterned Pines.  I just purchased this set last year and wasn't ready for it to retire!  Oh well, they didn't ask me, did they?  I stamped the trees on white cardstock and then embossed them in copper and cut them out.  The base of the card is Night of Navy with Pear Pizazz and Poppy Parade.  I used the oval Spellbinders dies and my Big Shot for the ovals.  The sentiment ("be merry") is also from a retired set (Warm Words) but there is a very similar set in the current SU catalog (Short & Sweet).

 Here is a close-up of the trees:

 My next Christmas Tree card uses a folding technique that I discovered on someone's blog but do you think I can remember whose it was???  (remembered - it was on Connie's blog!)  I cut out a 5 1/2" circle from Designer Paper with the Circle Scissors Plus (SU - pg 199), cut it in half and then made 3 folds to create the tree shape.  The base card is Crumb Cake and the DSP is retired.  I found this great ribbon in my stash and had to use it!

 Here's a close up of the tree - love that Glimmer Brad from SU's Holiday Mini Catalog!

My next card uses SU's Snow Swirled.  I stamped it on the Bride & Groom DSP and embossed it with Dazzling Diamonds.  I just love the elegance of this card with the pearls.

 Here is a close-up of the tree and the pearls:

I realized after I did these three cards that most of the things I used were retired.  So, I had to do one more and use a beautiful SU Sizzix Snowflake Die!  I just love the simplicity of this card!!

This card uses Night of Navy for the base card and Cherry Cobbler (one of my favorites!) and Shimmery White card stock.  The navy striped ribbon is included in the Ribbon Bundle in Stampin' Up's Spectacular Sale that is going on right NOW but ends Tuesday, Nov. 30.  Details can be found HERE .

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my Christmas Cards as much as I enjoyed making them.    I will be giving away BLOG CANDY if you leave a comment. And I hope you will come back to visit me or even become a FOLLOWER of my blog!!  Here is my Blog Candy - Holiday Planner and a Tag Pouch for 2 lucky people:

EDITED TO ADD - I'll draw for Blog Candy on Tuesday.  Deadline will be noon EST Tuesday, 11/30.

To continue on the blog hop, visit Holly - 1Crafty Dame!!

Not My Usual Trashy Self!

I've been working on Christmas cards the past few days.  I found a few images in my stash so decided to color them and make them into Christmas cards.  I didn't have to cut up a bunch of paper or throw away rejects.  Tonight when Sonny went around to collect the trash from all the rooms to take to the curb, he was quite surprised to find my trash can(s) weren't overflowing as usual.  He asked me what I'd been doing all week - obviously not making my normal amount of trash.  He usually hates to come in my craft room!  I try to have it bundled up in advance or at least to be in the room to empty my trash containers in his black plastic bag.  I have one regular sized trash can under my desk and 3 small trash receptacles scattered about - on the floor and table.  After all the work I had done on various projects for the craft fair the last few weeks, I took a much needed break this week.  I'm sure in the next few weeks, I'll be back to my "trashy self!"  I've got calendars to get done in time for Thanksgiving!

So, here are some of the cards I did this week:

This card uses SU DSP and cardstock, the Big Shot and an embossing folder.  The Christmas light stanp is from DRS.

 Another non SU stamp and DSP.  I colored the pine cones with my Copics.  The one on the right has Liquid Applique on it for snow as well as Stickles and the one on the left just has Stickles on it.  Both are pretty glittery.

I was looking through my stamps the other day for a Santa Claus and realized I didn't have one (except for a very large one).  So, when I was in M's one day, I saw this guy and bought him.  He's pretty jolly!  I embossed him with black embossing powder and used the Liquid Applique on the hat.  The DSP and Riding Hood Red cardstock is from SU. 

I've since bought an SU Santa that I really like.  I hope to ink him up tomorrow!  The set is from the Holiday Mini catalog - Jolly Old Saint Nick.  There are 2 Santas and a darling snowman!   Hopefully I will have some "play" time tomorrow.  We are leaving for Pittsburgh on Friday a.m. and we have to pack and go to town to get my nasty car washed so we can see out the windows when we are driving!! 

I will be in a Blog Hop this weekend.  I will be getting it ready tomorrow and setting it to post while I am gone.  This is the first Blog Hop I have done and I am excited about it.  It is for Operation Write Home so be sure to stop back by on SATURDAY and check out my Valentines!

Greeting Card Kid

I had a late night last night .... biting my fingernails to the quick watching the Steelers play in another nail biter game!  They pulled the win out but almost blew a 20 point lead at halftime.  Tonight we went to the Checkers hockey game after a nice dinner at Black Finn downtown Charlotte.  It was a fun evening even if the hockey game was a bit boring.  The only fight that occurred was before we even got in our seats!  We were only ten minutes late and missed a fight and two scores by the opposing team.   Oh well, it was a nice night out with friends.

Today I worked on a Christmas card using the In Colors (Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzaz) and the little girl from Greeting Card Kids.  I stamped a few of them from Margaret's stamp set - I think she is going to have to stamp a few more for me!

I got the idea for this card from Sandi MacIver's Countdown to Christmas newsletters.

I got a SU shipment today for my club ladies.  I had ordered some more ribbon organizers.  They are great and hold a bunch of ribbon!  See for yourself:  These are three of them (they come 2 to a package).  I have 4 medium and 2 large ones and they all hook together on the sides.

Monday Mailer Christmas Collage

I've had the Christmas Collage stamp (from Holiday Mini) for a couple of months and haven't been totally thrilled with anything I've made with it .... until I made this card!  I love it and hope you do too!

 It wasn't the quickest card to make but that's probably what makes it so special.  I stamped two pieces of Very Vanilla cardstock with the whole stamp in Early Espresso.  One was used as my card base  and the other was cut up - I tore the top corner and cut a rectangle of the song (Silent Night) to use.  I sponged all the edges with Espresso.  The base piece was adhered to the Always Artichoke card.  Then I layered the corner piece with a strip of torn Cherry Cobbler in the right corner.  I used my blender pen and squeezed a little ink (Cherry Cobbler & Artichoke) in the lid of my ink pad and colored the holly leaves, berries and poinsetta.  I used So Saffron marker for the bell.   I punched two holes in the small rectangle Silent Night piece and threaded the Cherry Cobbler seam binding (love it!!) through it and adhered it to the card at an angle.  I stamped Merry Christmas from the Bells and Boughs stamp set and adhered it to the card (with dimensional tape).

Here is a close up view of part of the card.

So, what do you think????

Pinchable Cheeks

I made a trip into Mooresville today and bought the cutest little snowman stamp!  I just love his little rosy cheeks .... so pinchable!  Just like little chubby faced children.  You always just want to pinch their little cheeks.

Here is what I did with two of the stamps in the set:

 For Santa, I used Cherry Cobbler, Black, and Pear Pizazz cardstock.  The patterned paper is some I found in my stash and thought the colors went nicely with the Pear.  I used my Copics for coloring, put a little Stickles in the ball on his hat, a little Liquid Applique on his cap and added a little Silver Spica pen to his beard.  The snowflakes are from an old die I had - just ran it through the Big Shot.  The black "pearls" are some I picked up at CKC this summer (for $1 per package!)

 This little fellow is just so cute!  I colored him with Copics and again used the Cherry Cobbler & Pear Pizzaz cardstock - I love that combo!  The polka dot paper is actually a transparency that SU sold last year.  I bought it and never used it.  I have it layered over a piece of white cardstock.  The snowflakes are from SU's punch.

A close up of those pinch-able cheeks!

I talked to Ashley this afternoon and was asking her about the food there.  She said it is really good ... probably too good!  On Wednesday, they had crab legs for lunch - it was the Navy's birthday so it was a special celebratory meal.  She said normally they have a Caesar Salad Bar, a regular salad bar, a section where you can order paninis - with ham, cheese, and other items; a grill area where you can get sandwiches;  vegetables, meats, some fresh fruit (bananas, apples), and a dessert area with ice cream and other goodies.  She walks to the dining hall every day - about 1 1/2 miles which she said is a good thing so she can walk her food off after eating.   She got a couple of boxes in the mail yesterday and was quite happy with her Aunt Marianne.  She sent her a Steeler tee & Steeler pants!  She has settled in pretty good over there and seems to have adjusted well. 

The Dreaded Day

Well, the day I have been dreading is here.  Ashley will be leaving US soil in a short while (scheduled for 10:30 pm)  I have spoken to her several times today and her Uncle Jack, Cousin Melinda & Melinda's son, Jake, spent a few hours with her this afternoon at the base.  They brought her a meal from Burger King.  The meal the Army gave them today consisted of Bumble Bee Chicken BBQ, Vienna Sausages, Applesauce, Friday's Potato Skin Chips and canned ice tea.  Just what I would have ordered for my last meal!!  Well, she just called me from the airport where they are getting ready to board.  They will be taking a chartered commercial airplane with stops in Maine, Germany and then on to Kuwait.  She has sent us several leaflets and books for parents of deploying soldiers so we will know what to expect.  One of them that I read this morning was written by a wife and mother of three Army soldiers and was very good and informative.  One story she included in the book has stuck with me all day.  She told about when they were stationed in DC on Fort Myer (which is also home to Arlington Cemetery) that she was walking her dog & noticed a family gathered on the porch of the house next to hers.  One of the young men from the group came out to pet her dog and told her they had just buried his brother who was killed in Iraq.  After offering her condolences, the young man told her "I feel so bad I never wrote to my brother while he was over there.  I kept thinking he was coming home, and now it's too late."  That was gut-wretching to me for many reasons.  You can believe I will be writing to Ashley a lot!!  She was able to give me her address before she left and my first letter will be written tomorrow right after I put my yellow ribbon on my mailbox.  

Today was the return of Sunday football!!  I was so excited to watch my Steelers again even if Ben wasn't on the field.  I really did not have high hopes that they would win against Atlanta but THEY DID!!  As usual, they played a "heart attack" game and won it in overtime.  But, a win is a win!

I worked in my craft room most of the day yesterday getting the cards ready for my Club on Thursday.  We will be doing three cards which I will share with you later.  I actually cleaned my desk before I started and it looked like this -

Very unusual but don't worry .... it doesn't look like that now!  But, it is nice to see the surface of my desk once in a while!

I finally got my Monday Mailer yesterday and it is bee-u-tiful.  Our theme this month is holidays and my card is a Christmas card.

It uses Tree Trimmings (pg 44, SU catalog) stamped in Chocolate Chip and glittered.  The vanilla card was run through the Big Shot with an embossing folder.