Merry Christmas!

Just popping in to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May the good Lord bring you with all good things this holiday season. May craftiness abound during the holidays. From our house to yours...

Donna

More from Beccy's Place

I am thrilled today to show you another new set from Beccy and Beccy's Place! I am privileged to be her guest designer this month. And what a "sweet"new set she has today. The set is called Christmas Candy. I mad e double easel card with this new set.

The candy canes and peppermints are in this new set as is the "sweet" word. The longer sentiment is not in the set. I used Spellbinder ovals and lacy ovals to cut and back the sentiments. I fussy cut each of the images. Part of the base is embossed with the Tartan embossing folder. And I found some candy cane ribbon in my stash. This is my first double easel card. It was fun but tricky. I got the directions of the pieces wrong at first. But it worked out okay.
Please check out all the wonderful projects from the entire design team over at Beccy's Place.

I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Outlawz Paper ala Mode: non traditional Christmas
• Cut it Up: Christmas
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Sentimental Sunday: Christmas - anything goes

Thanks for stopping by. We have lots going on this week. Hoping to get some crafting time after Christmas. Wishing you all Christmas blessings. Safe travels and good health to you all.

Donna

Z Folds

So I think I've already said how I panicked last weekend when I found I needed 15more Christmas cards. I've already vowed to start in January next year to make sure I have enough. And my other resolution is make sure I do the inside at the same time. I always thought it was good to leave the inside empty so you could customize when it was needed. But I am usually in a hurry and wish I had the inside done so I am going to try to accommodate that notion in 2014. So the cards tonight were made pretty quickly. I made 6 of these but I only got a picture of 5 of them. LOL! I was addressing and sending too quickly.

These are Z fold cards and I used the same image and sentiment on each of them. The stocking image and sentiment was a freebie from Paper Crafting World. I cut the with Spellbinders rectangles, both the image and the backing. I just used scraps of paper that I had in my Christmas folder so this got rid of lots of my scraps. I am  entering these cards in:

Sentimental Sunday: nontraditional Christmas colors (some of them are anyway!)

Christmas Cards all Your Round: stockings

Cut it Up: Christmas

That's it for tonight! Thanks for stopping by. Looking forward to the weekend. Hope you are too.

Donna

Piles of Fun

I haven't been very good at blogging lately. I am way behind on getting ready for Christmas so I've been working every evening after work to get some presents finished. I wrote out Christmas cards over the weekend and realized I was 15 cards short. So I had to really get moving on Christmas cards. You'll see more of those later this week. Tonight I needed a swap card. The swap was blue and white.

The image and sentiment is from Doodle Pantry called Snowman Pileup. I just love the image. I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch for the layout. The designer paper is K & Company Citronella. I loved the paper because it reminded me of a blustery snow storm. All the blue card stock is from my scrap folder.  I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Let it Snow

Hiding in My Craft Room: Super scraps

Paper Makeup Stamps: swirls

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Hope your week is going well and your Christmas preparations are going smoothly. Thanks for stopping by! 

Donna

Spiderman

Yesterday I showed you the card I made for the little girl in the family that our department at work adopted for Christmas. Tonight I have the little boy's Christmas card. His favorite is Spiderman.

I had this printable Spiderman that you could decoupage so Spiderman is actually pop dotted in several levels, his legs being the highest level. I made the sentiment on my computer and punched it out with an ekSuccess punch. I added a banner across the top corner. The flags are from a stamps set from Gina K. The background paper is from the Paper Studio. I used the sketch from Friday Mashup. I was too late to enter the challenge but I liked the sketch. I am entering this into Outlawz Monday challenge: favorite movie, TV or book. This isn't quite my favorite but it is our adopted little boy's favorite. Thanks for stopping by tonight. We have another storm headed our way. I hope your weather is what you want it to be.

Donna

Dora the Explorer

Happy Tuesday! The week is really moving slowly. At work, our department adopted a family for Christmas. The family has twin three year olds: one girl and one boy. I volunteered to make them Christmas cards to go with the presents that we bought. The girl's favorite is Dora the Explorer. So that's what I used to make the card.

I found some free clip art on the web to use. I used the sketch from the Outlawz sketch challenge. I embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder and then lined the sentiment with gold Stickles. I added the pink gems since Dora wears pink so much. Pretty easy! I am entering these challenges:

Outlawz sketch challenge: sketch

Delightful Challenge: your a gem

Hiding in my Craft Room: holiday colors

Tomoorw I'll show you the card I made the little boy. I was thrilled the way both the cards came out and my co-workers were impressed too.

So how's your weather? Yikes but winter has struck early around here. We had the foot of snow last weekend. Monday morning school was cancelled because of an ice storm. This morning they had a two hour delay because of the several inches of additional snow we had over night. Tomorrow is supposed to be very cold and I wouldn't doubt that we don;t have another school delay. And we have yet another storm headed our way on Friday. I think I am going to be tired of winter before Christmas gets here. Oh well. Hope you weather is better. Thanks for stopping by. Stay warm out there!

Donna

Guest Designer

For the month of December I am honored to be a guest designer for Beccy's Place. Today Beccy is releasing a gorgeous new set of poinsettias. Here is the card that I made with the set.

The image and sentiment come with the set. I love d the verse and decided to make it the focal point of the card. The spray of three poinsettias are the colored version. I fussy cut the flowers. The sentiment is cut with Spellbinders Ovals. I inked the inside with Certainly Celery ink and the outside with Pink Passion. I added Golden Rodd Stickles to the centers of the flowers and a row of pearls that I colored with Copic markers to match the poinsettias.

Here is the inside of the card. I mimicked the outside of the card with the designer paper and shapes. This sentiment is not from the set. I just think this turned out beautifully! I love Beccy's images. Please check out the lovely projects from the rest of the design team over at Beccy's blog.
I am entering these challenges:

Outlawz CAS challenges: use poinsettias

Hiding in my Craft Room: holiday colors

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you will visit Beccy's Place and check out all the wonderful digital stamps she has to offer. Make it  a great day!

Donna

Playing Time

We had a little more snow this morning but not a lot. We are supposed to get freezing rain this evening. I am hoping that it doesn't happen. I would take snow any day over the freezing rain. With the weather being so contrary outside I got a chance to make 2 cards today. The first is a birthday card for my niece. She lives in North Carolina and probably seldom sees snow so I thought I would share some of our snow with her. Heehee!

So the snowman image is from a Stampin' Up! set called Flaky Friends. I embossed the image with black embossing powder and colored with Copics. I made the background blending Bashful Blue, Morning Sky and Paris Dusk and toward the bottom I used London Fog. I then punched and glued the snowflakes and then added the Diamond Stickles. I also dotted the Diamond Stickles around the background also. The sentiment is from Gina K Birthday Greetings. I am entering this into these challenges:

 Seize the Birthday: Winter

Simon Says challenge: make your own background (I had to use the main blog url since the one for the challenge didn't seem to be working.)
Sentimental Sunday challenge: Snowman

My second card is one I've been thinking about for a while. I had printed the image and sentiment out but hadn't gotten time to put it together.

The boot image is from Doodle Pantry and the sentiment is from Create with TLC. The sentiment is a bit hard to read but it says: "It's not easy being a COWGIRL ... but if the boots fit..." I thought they went together perfectly. I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches. I used the star embossing folder on the gold foil card stock and the scallop punch to make the border on the other piece of gold foil card stock. The sentiment is cut from a die from Clear Dollar stamps and blended with Desert Sand ink. I cut the stars and then used faux stitching around the edges. The image is cut with Spellbinders Circle die and backed with the scalloped circle die. I am entering these challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch

Doodle Pantry: use a Doodle Pantry image

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Create with TLC: show it off Sunday

That's it for today. I think I really need the next 2 weeks off to get ready for Christmas. We did manage to get all the decorations out of the attic today. Now to go through it all. Make this an amazing week. I know mine will be busy. I have a number of evening commitments this week. Tis the season! Thanks for stopping by. Let me know what you think of my cards today. Big hugs to you!

Donna

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Our foot of snow has put me into the Christmas spirit. I may not be that way tomorrow when the new storm hits us. More snow and freezing rain. Guess I'll be staying in. We did get out today to do a little shopping today. The sunshine helped to melt a lot of excess snow on the roadways.
I made  a few Christmas cards. Tomorrow I intend to start writing them out so I can get them out. Then I'll see whether I have enough of them made.

This is the other card that I made at my Copic class. The images are from Lawn Fawn. I am not sure where the sentiment is from. The door is paper pieced. I free handed the hills in the background and added Stickles to the edges. The gumdrop is covered in glossy accents and sprinkled with glitter. The house top has a special white edge for snow and glossy accents on the red/green eaves. I added the patterned paper and the twine. The gingerbread house is popped off the card. I really like this one. I am entering this card into the Outlawz Thursday challenge.

A second card I made was for a swap.

The tree is a die cut from Memory Box. I added some green Stickles. The geometric shapes are from a stamps set called Happy Hexagons by Fresh Squeezed Stamps. I added some Stickles into the shapes also. The sentiment is from Gina K. I am entering this card into these challenges:

Outlawz Paper ala Mode challenge: last minute Christmas

CAS-ual Friday: out on a limb - use a tree

Hope your Christmas preparations are coming along. I do wish I was further along but it always comes together. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Donna

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Oh the weather outside is frightful! About a foot of snow frightful. Tom shoveled four inches off the driveway this morning after I left for work. My boss arrived after 8am and told us we could leave when we felt comfortable going home. I finally left work at 10am and then worked the rest of my day from home. It snowed all day long and finally quit about 7pm this evening. These pictures were taken this afternoon so this isn't the total snowfall.

This picture is taken out my front door and the next weekend is off our deck in the back yard.

I love to watch snow fall and see the gorgeous scenery covered in white. But I prefer not to have to drive in it. Hopefully by tomorrow the roads will be clearer. I need to do some grocery shopping.

I needed another quick birthday card for a coworker. So this is what I came up with quickly last night.

The cupcake was from my stash and I can't seem to find it in my files to know where I got it. The sentiment was a birthday gift from my buddy, Glitterbabe and I think it was a Stampin' Up! stamp. I used a snowflake embossing folder (since the weather forecast was calling for snow) and a Martha Stewart punch. Then added some twine and a few self-adhesive gems. I am entering this card into the Seize the Birthday challenge.
If you are in the path of this storm I hope you can stay put for the weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Candy Cane Christmas

Howdy! How is the weather in your neck of the woods? Last night we had a winter storm warning and this morning they were forecasting 5-7 inches by Friday evening. It wasn't supposed to start until about 10pm tonight. This afternoon all that changed. By the time I left work it was raining ice pellets. And then they upgraded the total to up to a foot of snow. With another storm headed our way for Sunday. Sounds like we'll be shoveling for a while. I hate the ice and really don't mind the snow. People forget how to drive in snow and ice. At least I go to work really early and most people won't be out yet. LOL!
My card tonight is a card that I made last night at a Copic class I went to at our local scrapbook store. We all had a great time.

I didn't catch what company the image was from since our instructor did all the stamping. The red was colored with R27 and R29 and the green was YG06 and YG09. Lots of layers on this. Can you see the sparkle on the candy cane? It has glossy accents on it and fine glitter. The candy cane and bow are popped up with pop dots. I am entering this card in these challenges:

Outlawz Friday challenge: anything goes with a Christmas twist

Sentimental Sunday: traditional Christmas colors

Paper Playtime: anything goes

Through the Craftroom Door: anything goes

I just checked outside. We are "all white" as my hubby would say. And the snow is coming down. I am just hoping that the power doesn't go out. If you are experiencing the nasty weather, please stay safe and warm. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Hedgehog Birthday

I've been a lazy blogger this week. I haven't had a lot of time to craft but I have a few cards that I have finished. The weather was nice today. Warm but cloudy and a bit rainy. It may be our last day of nice weather. Tomorrow night we have a winter storm watch. We are supposed to get more than a half of foot of snow. And some sleet and ice. I really don't mind the snow but I really dislike the ice. We'll see how good the weatherman can predict this.
I did a little decorating for Christmas but I need something for my office. I am hoping that I can find something in the boxes upstairs.
So my card tonight is a birthday card for a coworker. Very simple.

The hedgehog and the brick background are Penny Black. I colored the hedgie with Copics. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and embossed with black embossing powder. I am entering this card in the Hiding in My Craftroom challenge.
Hope your week is going well. If you are in the path of the storm stay safe and warm. Take care wherever you are.

Donna