Winter Wonderland

Well, we didn't end up getting a white Christmas this year. We had a snow forecast for Thursday night, but nothing ever came of it. This morning, however, we woke up to this:

Not snow, but a beautiful coat of frost. Other places in town had even more, but I didn't have a chance to get other photos. I suppose this pretty frosted wonderland is enough to tide us over, but what we really want is some SNOW for Christmas break!

These two cards are from last season, but they're pretty appropriate. The stamp is an old wood handled rubber stamp I picked up at my dollar store when we lived in Tennessee. I believe the brand was Miss Elizabeth's. I colored the images a bit with Copics and accented with Diamond Dust and Martha Stewart Crafts Mica Flakes. All dies are Spellbinders of course :) I used Standard Circles, Scalloped Circles, Petite Snowflake Border and Create a Flake 2. Thanks for taking a peek!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Poinsettias cont.

This is another one of my poinsettia paper cards in a more subtle style. I also used the boxwood wreath and bow from the Flourishes "Boxwood and Poinsettia" set. The sentiment is by Papertrey. I made red berries with dots of Stickles. The lace is a very old vintage that my mom picked up - I love vintage lace! I inked slightly around the edges of the red cardstock with Papertrey's "Fresh Snow" ink as well. The die cut is a Spellbinders Labels Sixteen.
Thanks for taking a peek!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I wanted to do a fun card to send to my sister in law and her kids. I had a large tree left over from the bunch of trees I die cut a while back (from glitter paper I made myself - the tutorial is in the current issue of Scrap 'n Art) and I knew it would be perfect. This is a very simple card - I cut the paper (Cosmo Cricket) and lightly distressed the edges with my scissors. Then I adhered the tree with Zip Dry and I also used the Zip Dry to adhere the buttons. As is the case with many glittered Thickers, they needed a bit more adhesive, so I applied a bit of the Zip Dry to them as well. On the inside, it says, "merry, merry, merry Christmas!"

Thanks for taking a peek!

Pretty Poinsettias

I think poinsettias are such a classy and beautiful flower. Last year I bought the "Boxwood & Poinsettias" stamp set from Flourishes and I have to say I'm getting my money's worth! I love making my own custom poinsettia paper and here are a couple different cards I've made this week.

For this card, I took medium pink cardstock and stamped large poinsettias and petals on the smooth side. I cut out one to use as an embellishment and then cut a piece to fit a 5x7 card. After I cut it, I used IOD Prima tape (it's old from my stash) to add the layer of text. I used Stampin' Up Real Red ink because it can be smeared a bit with moisture. I put some Diamond Stickles on the single poinsettia and smeared it with my finger to get the effect in the center. I finished the card off with a Hero Arts "Holiday Sayings" sentiment and Martha Stewart Crafts "Deco Fan" border punch.

This card was much more simple. I just took a plain white card base and stamped it with the large poinsettias. I glittered the centers and added the sentiment square that I die cut with Spellbinders Eyelet Squares. The ornament is a Spellbinders die from the Poinsettia Frameabilities set. The sentiment is by Papertrey Ink - Mega Mixed Messages.

On this last card, I did the same first couple steps as on the first. Then instead of adding the tape, I stamped text over it with Papertrey Ink's "Fresh Snow" ink and a Hot Off the Press text stamp. I smeared the centers with stickles and added the matted paper to the card base. I die cut a Spellbinders Labels Seventeen die in white and stamped with the Papertrey sentiment. The cute little gold tree is by Paper Dreams Factory - they are an AMAZING source of vintage embellishments!

In other news, we got a new cat! Our Humane Society was having a big adoption day on Saturday and the animals which had been there for a long time were really reduced. We picked up a 4-5 year old neutered male named Max. Our other cat is a 5 year old neutered male of the exact same size. We brought him home and he is just a lover! Such a cuddly guy and a big softie to boot. He so badly wants to be Ace's friend, but Ace is a little anxious.

Neither are aggressive though, so mostly they just follow each other around and stare. Ace had a moment of panic this morning and popped Max on top of the head with his dangerously furry paw and ran away. Max was unimpressed. Most of the time, they can be found standing on opposite sides of a door frame, peering at each other while Max does his purr-meow.

Other times, Max simply gives up and stalks Ace. When Ace gets near the stairs, he chases him up and I can hear him running into the wall at the top. Evidently his previous indoor experiences did not include wood floors.

Warmest Wishes

We're getting our first snow of the season! It doesn't seem like we'll get a lot, but it's soft and fluffy and just beautiful as it's falling. I love the first snowfall - there's just something magical about it. I thought this card was appropriate for celebrating. I used the new Nested Mitten dies from Spellbinders and the new Snowflake Pendant die as well. I LOVE that large snowflake.

I used Papertrey Ink's "Mega Mixed Messages" for the sentiment. The pink strip of words is IOD Prima Marketing Tape. It's old - like 5 years old or so and I decided it needed to once again see the light of day. I used the Martha Stewart Crafts Deco Fan border punch for the punched edges and Martha Stewart Crafts Mica Flake Glitter for the mittens. The center bling is from my stash - I think it's by Hero Arts.

I also finished up my finals this week, so I'm free for a while! It's a great feeling :) Thanks for taking a peek!

Super simple

I guess I'm going through a "simple" phase because this is another card that barely took 5 minutes to create. I did have the flower made ahead of time, but it could easily be made with a Prima or other ready-made flower. I used the Poinsettia Nested dies from Spellbinders to make the flower (Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper) and I glued pearl beads into the center. That was the hardest part of this one, the rest is easy peasy! I just stamped the sentiment (Holiday Sayings by Hero Arts) and glued sparkly pipe cleaners to the card base - I purchased mine in the Hobby Lobby craft supply dept.
Thanks for taking a peek!

Simple and Classy

I'm not so much of a simple papercrafter. I like techniques and all the extra "stuff" - that's what's fun to me. However, sometimes, I happen upon a card that just doesn't need a lot of extra. To me, this is one of those cards. I used the reindeer again from the Spellbinders Fanciful Holiday and it's layered onto a Spellbinders Labels Sixteen. The silver doily is by Martha Stewart. I used a dot of Stickles for Rudolph's nose and a small strip of Hobby Lobby ribbon for an accent :)

Thanks for taking a peek!

Checking in

I'm still pretty busy with classes ending and finals coming up next week, but I wanted to peek in and share a card :)
I've been playing with my Spellbinders a lot this week. It's fun to be able to make up a lot of die cuts to use on cards even if I'm not sure how I'm going to use them. I think it lets me be a little bit more creative, because I make combinations I wouldn't normally think to do - like the one on this card.

I used the Poinsettia Frame die and some gold shiny cardstock. I love how the embossed portions look with the metallic paper! I'm also getting a lot of use out of the reindeer die from the new Fanciful Holiday die set. Of course I had to add a red pearl to his nose! Both of these are layered on a Labels Nine. The plaid paper is from Graphic 45 Christmas Past - LOVE that collection. The sentiment (Hero Arts) was heat embossed with copper detail powder from Stampendous!
Thanks for taking a peek!