Day 23: T is for Tombstone

 I decided to leave Christmas for a bit and move to another holiday. When the letter "T" came up in Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards, I remembered that I had a tombstone for Halloween. So that's what I used.

The tombstone image is from Scribbles Designs called Tomb It May Concern. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut it with MFT Stitched Circle dies. I backed it with black card stock. The Spooky circle is from Create with TLC and colored with Spectrum Noir markers and then fussy cut. I edges it with black marker. The designer paper is from my scrap box and I believe both papers are from the Paper Studio. The card base and the dotted paper is backed with orange card stock. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 23: T is for tombstone
• Scribbles Designs challenge: layer it up
• Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2: sketch 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper challenge: use patterned paper
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. Please stay safe and healthy! God bless!

Donna

Day 22 is the S Day

 As I thought about my "S" card I thought of a bunch of "S" words I could use. This morning I saw a video of a simple shaker card. So I thought I would try this easy way to make a shaker by using a plastic bag. And as the card progressed I started to think about how many more "S" words I could use. So, S is for shaker card, snowman, snowflake, Stickles, and sketch. 

My snowman image is from QKR Stampede called Picking a Tree. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. The sentiment is from Beccy's Place Christmas Cardinals. I die cut it with a circle die and then stamped a snowflake over it with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide Ink from a retired Gina K stamp set. The papers are from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. I used Recollection Glitz Glitter on the snowman's hat and cheeks, the tree and the snowflake. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 22: S is for shaker card, snowman, snowflake, sketch and Stickles
• Sketch-N-Scrap: sketch 
  
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge: create your own twist (shaker card)
• Creative Knockouts: winter wonderland

We were supposed to travel today to help my FIL set up for Thanksgiving and get his Christmas decorations up. We usually do that after Thanksgiving but since we were not going to be there for Thanksgiving this year my husband suggested we go in to Cincinnati for 24 hours to get the jobs done. But as we were loading the car this morning, my SIL texted us that someone in (our granddaughter) Valerie's classroom had tested positive for Covid. They have to quarantine for 2 weeks. We had the kids on Saturday so that means we have to quarantine for two weeks. Ugh! At least we found out before we went to visit his Dad (who is 90 years old). We would feel awful if he got Covid from us. So we changed a lot of plans today. We were having Thanksgiving dinner with the twins and their parents but that's no longer happening. It's going to be a strange couple weeks. One bright spot. I'll have plenty of time to craft (if I don't get sick)! Working on the letter T now. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 21: R is for Reindeer and Rudolph

 Can you believe how fast this month is flying by? We are already on Day 21 of Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. Today is the letter "R" and Beccy's card featured the same image that my card does. I liked the set so much I went over to her store and bought it to use on my card. But I used a different sentiment from the same set.

So this big guy has been eating too many gingerbread cookies and peppermint candies to celebrate Christmas. Image and sentiment are from Beccy's Place Here Comes Christmas stamp set. This set has some laugh out loud sentiments in it and I just had to have it. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and his nose is red but it looks brown in the picture. I may go back and use some red Stickles on it to make it really look like Rudolph. My papers are all from my scrap box. The gingerbread paper is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles and the peppermint paper I'm not sure about. I layered with black card stock and have a kraft base card. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 21: R is for Reindeer and Rudolph
• Sketch-N-Scrap: sketch 
  
• Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round: for family and friends
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: begin with the letter R

It's rainy again today and rained most of the night last night. When we had the twins yesterday I sang "Rain, rain go away. Come again another day. Valerie and Arthur want to play." So Valerie had to sing "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day. Grammy and Grandpa want to play." She's a little sponge and just remembers everything. Hope your Sunday was  great and the start to your new week will be great too. Stay safe! God bless! Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Day 20: Q is for Quilt

 This card came out of my scrap pile because the first thing I turned to for the scrap challenge was this Gina Marie Designs Quilt die. I pulled out my American Craft Christmas paper and die cut it with 4 different papers that I thought would go together well. So I have enough pieces for 4 quilts. I have all the squares put together but not embellished yet. I really liked how this one turned out.

The image is from Beccy's Place Poinsettia stamp set. I printed it twice and fussy cut it out. Edged it with a black marker and cut the second one with just the veined leaves so I could pop it up from the first image. To make it pop a little more I used Yellow Stickles for the center of the flower. I used Stick It to hold the die and pieces together on white card stock. I backed the quilt with black card stock and a white base card. The sentiment is from Beccy's Place Christmas Cardinals also backed with black card stock. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 20: Q is for quilt
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft Extra: anything goes

After having the twins all day today I am beat. We pulled the cars out of the garage and let them play out there as it rained most of the day. They could ride their tricycles and roll balls down the boards. Valerie had a great time playing with a badminton racket. We baked chocolate chip cookies and set up the Christmas tree. Arthur was busy looking at the lights and Valerie wanted to know where the presents were. I guess she noticed more last year than I thought. Have a super Sunday. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 19: P is for Penguin

 My DIL is a huge fan of penguins! So I usually send her some kind of penguin "something" for Christmas. This year it just might be this card. 

My apologies. It looks like my shadow might be across the right side of the card. The image is Finn's Hot Chocolate from Beccy's Place. I fussy cut him and popped him up with fun foam tape. His red background is Spellbinder's Tear Drop Circle die. The fun designer paper is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. The sentiment is from Beccy's Place Christmas Cardinal stamp set. I mounted it on a black card stock base. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 19: P is for Penguin
• Stella Sketch: sketch 
  

• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Monday challenge: Happy Holidays
• Sweet Stampers challenge: Christmas

This afternoon we are going to run out to our other property to pick the last of the kale in the garden and then close it down for the winter. We have dinner and cards this evening with friends and then the twins tomorrow. Batten down the hatches because they get into everything. LOL! Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 18: Use Scraps

 I think I mentioned recently that one of my goals this year was to use up scraps from my vast collection. So I was so happy to see that one of the challenges at Beccy's Month of Holiday challenges was to use your scraps. I do believe that I could only make scrap cards for the next year and still have scraps left. So I had some ideas but I went looking for some ideas on the Internet and came up with one (okay way more than one) that I really liked so I cased the idea.

I found this idea at Wizard's Hangout and she actually cased it from someone else. And as I was cutting the first of my scraps I realized that my scrap would allow me to exactly get three out of it. And the second scrap did the same thing so I thought I should just make 3 of them at the same time. After I cut my 3 "box" scraps I inked the edges with Tea Dye Distress ink to minimize the white around the rectangles. I used a scrap of white to glue the "boxes" on to give it more strength and hold them together. I was looking for ribbon in my ribbon box and suddenly remembered this was a scrap project so I pulled out my bag of ribbon scraps and found this sparkly red and gold ribbon. I adhered the ribbon to the stack of packages and then die cut the bows using Gina Marie Designs Ribbon Bow die using a scrap of gold paper. I stamped the sentiment (from Creative Visions) with MFT Cherry crisp pigment ink and then attached the packages with bow to the white card stock scrap. You may not be able to tell in the photo but there is a red layer behind the white card stock and all three are different colors because I was using up scraps from my box. So the only thing that isn't scraps on these cards is the kraft card base. I'm looking forward to making more scrap cards since I found so many wonderful ideas! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 18: use scraps
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Merry Little Christmas blog: anything goes
• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday: anything goes

It was a busy day today between our two volunteering jobs. Tomorrow we are going to run to Baby Creek to finish off the gardening before the temperatures drop and the rain comes in on the weekend. We have the twins on Saturday and Sunday we may run into Cincinnati to help Tom's Dad get ready for his Thanksgiving guests and put up his Christmas decorations. We usually do the decorating the Friday after Thanksgiving but we won't be there for Thanksgiving this year. With the pandemic we've decided we are not going to the family get together. So we'll be driving back Monday after we have all his Dad's jobs done. We'll have a small Thanksgiving celebration at our house with the twins and their Mom and Dad, hopefully outside if the weather is warm enough. So a busy few days ahead, so I'll be behind again with crafting. Hope all is well with you. Stay safe, healthy, and God bless!

Donna

More Napkin Fun

 I like my napkin card from the other day so much that I thought I'd try it again with a different napkin and a different method. 

The red with snowflakes is the napkin and I used glue stick to cover the card stock and adhere the napkin. I liked that method better than the double sided glue tape. I didn't try the Wink of Stella on this method so I don't know if it would pucker as badly as the other card did. I used scraps to cut the Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Frames. The sentiment is computer-generated and die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. I added Beccy's Place Family Reunion, anther one of Beccy's free images. Really like how these turned out! Two more Christmas thank you cards ready to go.

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards: holiday card
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Crafty hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: Snow Much Fun
• Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: winter wonderland

The roof is done. It took them 8 hours to get it done. Our new front door is in place but still needs some work. Our old lock didn't fit so we have to go get another lock this evening. But we are on the down side of getting our renovations done. Tomorrow is our volunteer day. So hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 17: O is for Over the Edge

 I really agonized over my "O" card yesterday. I did some research and thought for a long time before I finally decided to do an Over the Edge card. I didn't really read Beccy's tutorial but looked at her lovely card that she made with the tutorial and then I went looking for an image to use. Lo, and behold, I came across an image I didn't even know I had, so I doubt I've ever used this one before and it's so cute!

I decided to make a slimline card so the first thing I did was find an envelope. And I found this snowflake envelope that I thought was perfect. The designer paper is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles called North Pole Mini Kit. The image is Snowmen Fence Jolly from Beccy's Place (at least that's what I have it labeled as in my files), but I wasn't able to find it in the store or the free page. Maybe it's retired? I'm not sure. But I thought it was just the cutest image. It's colored with Spectrum Noir markers. I backed the layers with black card stock to make the colors pop. To finish off I added Recollections Glitz Glitter to embellish some of the snowpeople and also dotted the center of many of the snowflakes on the background paper. This one had some sparkle!

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 17: O is for over the edge
• Sparkles Christmas challenge: gold, silver, or glitter
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Monday challenge: happy holidays
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

It's gotten kind of noisy around here this morning. A crew is tearing all the shingles off the roof. It was several degrees below freezing too this morning so it's kind of chilly outside. I guess they keep themselves warm by working so hard. 

So before I get the rest of my day started, I thought I'd share a little story that this image reminded me of. This past weekend when we had the twins, Valerie was very into dress-up and Christmas. So when I saw this image yesterday the middle snowperson reminded me of Valerie in her Christmas wrap.

Valerie is wearing my Christmas Tree Skirt. LOL! They haven't been very interested in Christmas up until now, so this Christmas will be very interesting. They have always loved the lights on the tree but this year Valerie has learned the names of all the nativity pieces and she's constantly looking for new Christmas decorations that she hasn't seen yet in my closets. Christmas will be a lot of fun! So after I thought the middle snowperson reminded me of Valerie, I was looking at the other ones. The first one on the left reminds me of Patrick Stewart with his pointy bald head. The second one reminds me of W.C. Fields with his quirky smiles. I haven't figured out the other two. Any suggestions? The last one kind of reminds me of a pig, probably because of the nose. LOL! Hope you have a wonderful day. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Race Time/Progressive Challenge

 Just saw Beccy has a race on. So here's a card I just finished with a Christmas theme. It uses the progressive image at Imagine That! Digis by Kris. Kris just restarted her progressive challenge so this set, Marlene's Christmas Stocking is free right now.

I used scraps from my scrap bin for the background paper. The sentiment is from the same set. I inked the sentiment strip and the edges around the image with Candied Apple Red Distress Oxide ink. The card base is white card stock and I finished off with 3 self-adhesive heart gems.

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards: use a holiday image
• Imagine That! Digis by Kris Progressive challenge: use Marlene's Christmas Stocking
• Cheerful Sketches challenge: sketch ( I turned the sketch sideways) 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

I have another card in the works for the letter "O". I hope to get it completed tonight. Since they are doing the roof tomorrow I might have a day to craft tomorrow but it will depend on how much help my DH needs when he is doing the front door. Never a dull moment around here. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is going well. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 16: N is for Napkin Card

 Happy Tuesday! I took yesterday off from challenges to get other crafty things done. I wanted to participate in a card drive for Wild Hearts that Ricky Burton0Romero (Bromero Cards) was doing. Wild Hearts helps pets who have mobility issues and supports owners of those pets who may need help to care for them. My son and DIL in Boston foster dogs who are looking for homes so I wanted to do the card drive in honor for all they do for the pets they care for. Besides fostering they have a dog and two cats of their own. So yesterday and this morning, I finished up a number of cards and sent off 55 cards to help the organization. If I get more time I might try to send some more since I still have until the end of the month. It will just depend on how things go. So this afternoon I finished up a card for Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. For day 16 I did a napkin card!

The napkins came from Dollar Tree. They always have a nice selection of pretty ones. I watched several videos of how people adhere the napkins to card stock and finally decided to use double sided tape. I made two and as you can see I'm only showing you one. LOL! One of the videos I watched showed you how to embellish the napkin and she used Wink of Stella to give the napkin some sparkle. The only thing my Wink of Stella did was pucker the napkin and run the dark center ink on the white poinsettia. So I'm not showing you that one. On this card I used glossy accents for the center and the sentiment is from Beccy's Place Christmas Cardinals stamp set. I used a white card base and backed the layers with green cardstock. I am happy with this one but I might try outlining the white poinsettia on the other card. Since I probably won't use it I might as well experiment with it, right? Maybe it will look better. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards challenge Day 16: N is for napkin card
• Simon Says Monday challenge: Happy Holidays
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round: for family and friends

I hope to get some more play time today. Tomorrow we are having our roof replaced before winter weather moves in and we bought a new front door so Tom wants to put that in tomorrow while he has a couple extra guys around to help him move the heavy front door up our steps. That will definitely save my back. That will conclude all our renovations for now. I hope all goes well. I'll probably have to wear long underwear on the house tomorrow with all the cold air blowing through. LOL! Thanks for stopping by. Hope all is well with you. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Cool Christmas

 Happy Sunday! Before the twins got here I put together this quick card as an extra for Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. Wasn't sure how tired I would be by the time they left. LOL! It's windy and rainy here so I doubt we will get to the playground. Here's my quick card.

I loved that starry paper that I used on an earlier card so I decided to use it again. The image and sentiment were already printed in my stash that I am trying to use up. The snowman, Jim, is a freebie at Beccy's Place. The sentiment is from Beccy's Place Snow Angels stamps set. I fussy cut the snowman and die cut the sentiment with Gina Marie Designs Wonky Stitched Ovals. The background designer paper is die cut with MFT Blueprints 13 A2 size die (retired). I finished off the card with the fringe embellishment from my stash. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards: make a holiday card
• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: snow much fun
• Merry Little Christmas Blog: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and visiting with me. I should get some crafty time as the week begins. I don;t have a lot on the calendar this week. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 15: M is for Merry Christ-mouse

 One last post for today. I caught up with today's challenge: the Letter M at Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. I finished 8 cards today. Here's the latest.

It took me a long time to decide what to do for M. I started looking for mice right away but didn't like anything I had. I thought about other holidays besides Christmas and couldn't find anything but an old Penny Black stamp set for Valentine's Day. I thought about music and looked at papers and stamp sets but nothing caught my eye. So I thought of Bugaboo Stamps and checked what I had from them and came up with this image and sentiment. It's called Scene It Christmas Mice. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers, die cut it with MFT Stitched Circles, and added some Recollections Glitz glitter on hats, snowflakes and ornaments.  I fussy cut the sentiment and colored it with the same color as my package. I added a layer behind the image and 3 self-adhesive green gems. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 15: M is for Merry Christ-mouse
• Stella Sketch: sketch 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes; use glitter
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Sweet Stampers challenge: Christmas

I can't believe we are halfway through the Month of Holiday Cards challenge already. The weeks are flying by. Indiana hit a new record today. 8000 new Covid cases. Not the kind of record we are proud of. Stay safe and healthy and God bless!

Donna

Day 14: L is for leftovers and Latch Card

 A couple days ago our challenge at Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards was to try something new. I scrolled through and found a tutorial that I hadn't done. Today when I looked at the "L" list I found another type of card that I'd never done: a latch card. So I used the Latch Card tutorial to make this card. Oops, these 6 cards. 

I made the hearts first, thinking these would be my latch at the top of the card. I printed the images from Beccy's Christmas Candy stamp set. I fussy cut each of the candy canes and was going to glue them in a heart shape on white paper, but they didn't make a very big heart so I decided to use Spellbinders Classic Hearts and die cut the heart from "leftover" scraps of red card stock. Then I glued the candy canes on the hearts. After I had my hearts finished I thought they were too big for the latch so I changed my design and kept them for the main section of the card. Since I was making thank you cards for Christmas gifts I thought I would use the MFT Thank You Circle Frame die (cut from leftover green Christmas snowflake paper) and decided to add the heart over top of the thank you circle. I thought that was a bit too plain so I used more leftover textured paper and started die cutting the diamonds, then thought I could make them more unique by adding different shapes. So I used these 6 dies: Gina Marie Designs Stitched Diamond dies, Spellbinders Labels 35 dies, Spellbinders Labels 13 dies, Spellbinders Dahlia dies, Spellbinders Large Octagons, and Gina Marie Designs Wine Bottle Labels. To make the latch I used the peppermint pieces from Beccy's set and added a handwritten sentiment that says "You are so sweet". I like to use white card bases for thank you cards because I usually fill the inside panel with a written note. So I have 6 of my Christmas thank you cards complete. Yeah me! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 14: L is for leftovers and Latch Card
• Catch the Bug: thankful
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: thanks/Thanksgiving
• Tuesday Throwdown: show me the candy and sending thanks (I did both of their themes)
• Love to Craft challenge: anything goes

Another day caught up but these took me all afternoon. So I have lots more to do. Almost dinner time though so I'll take a break and see what I can finish after dinner. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 13: Three Kings

 Happy weekend! It's been such a busy week that I've gotten a little behind on Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards challenge. But I am determined today to get caught up and maybe a bit ahead as we have the twins again all day tomorrow. Plus I have a few other cards that need to be done for some other projects. When Tom asked me this morning what I was going to do today I said, "I'm making cards and you are in charge of dinner." Which doesn't really mean much but throwing everything I have ready into a crock pot. So my first card this morning kind of evolved over the course of several days. I think I make better cards if I really think things through although this one I changed several things on the fly.

I knew I wanted to use this die from Gina Marie Designs called Three Wise Men (Kings in my book, LOL!) I used this same die for my FIL's Christmas cards that I posted about earlier. And I wanted to come up with a variation for using the die. So instead of making the full panel with the die, I die cut the kings first and then die cut around the kings with MFT Stitched Circle die. The designer paper is from my stash. I cut the striped green paper with the same circle die and glued it to the kings die cut and then used craft foam to pop up the entire circle. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday called Christ is Born stamp set and embossed with gold embossing powder. I tried to match the card base with the colors behind the kings so it's a teal color with black layering behind the stars. Really like how this one turned out. Originally I had a red card base and a different background paper but this looks so much nicer! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 13: K is for Kings
• Sweet Stampers: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes; use glitter
• Sparkles Christmas challenge: gold, silver, or glitter
• Christmas Crafting All Year 'Round: for family or friends

I am so thrilled to have a day to do nothing but craft. It's been ages since I had that luxury and I'm going to take full advantage of it (if nothing crops up during the day). Hope you have an opportunity to craft this weekend too. I already have an idea for my "L" card so I am off and running. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Day 12: Try Something New

We took a break from the alphabet once again at Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards and our challenge was to  Try Something New. So I went to Beccy's Tutorial page, and started at the top and right away I thought "I haven't done and accordian card." But it looked so simple that I didn't think it would be much of a challenge. So I continued down the list and I found the Building Block Tutorial. Similar to an accordian card, this tutorial added an extra punch. 

I just loved how this came out! I used two different Beccy's Place stamp sets: Lamb of God and Poinsettia stamps sets. The sentiment on the front is from the Lamb of God set and the sentiment on the inside is from the Poinsettia stamp set. Since the base card is yellow, I used a darker green for layering and left the top layers white. The "Noel" die cuts are from Spellbinder's Holiday Greetings background die (retired). Hope you like this as much as I do. I'll definitely be trying this again! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards Day 12: try something new
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Merry Little Christmas Blog: anything goes

It's been a busy day. Opportunity House this morning. I ran to the store after lunch and did the base of my card this afternoon before heading for Teacher's Warehouse this afternoon. Finished the decoration of the card this evening after dinner. Almost time for bed. Hope you had a wonderful day. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna