Santa over at Merry Monday!

Hi all - another Monday - yay!  It's Presidents' Day holiday for me 

so I checked out Merry Monday for the latest challenge.  

This week, Sue challenges us to use a Santa on our card.

I have the greatest Santa stamp but do you think I can find it??!  So I grabbed some Graphic 45 patterned paper with a charming old fashioned Santa image.  Here's my card:

For my card base I used a piece of Hero Arts designer layering paper.  The cute pierced circle is a die from the Sizzix Circle Flip-its set (#559171) - just love this set!!  Holly embellie is from Jolee.  The paper for the banner is from the same Graphic 45 Twas the Night Before Christmas 8x8 pad.  I varied an OWH sketch (#191) for the design.

Busy week for me this week but I'll try to find my Santa stamp later.  Meanwhile, I hope you'll stop back on Wednesday as there will be a surprise from Hero Arts - I'm glad to be hopping along with some "sistas".

Thanks for stopping and happy crafting!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  It's a cold but sunny, clear day in Minnesota and - big surprise, I'm not out doing Singing Valentines this year.  There were enough other people eager to do it so, since I've done it many times, I took this year off.

I had fun making Valentines this year and have shared some of my cards.  Here's one I made for my sister who has found a second "career" as a quilter!  I used a die from Art Gone Wild to create these cute quilt pieces using paper from BoBunny's Head over Heels 6x6 pad.  I made a 5.5x5.5 square card to be able to fit all the pieces on it.  The xoxo sentiment is from Hero Arts - a set appropriately named XO.

It was a busy week for me but yesterday I had a day off and time to create a card for this week's Merry Monday!  The challenge - use a candy cane on your card.  It may seem odd to share a Christmas card on Valentine's Day but I'm trying to get that quota for 2015!  I actually made two cards but will just link up one to save time.  Here are the cards:

Candy Cane Joy

Supplies:  Silhouette Design ID #52325 and 52613; Stamps: Hero Arts Tiny Ink Spots and Bring on the Merry

Theresa Collins glitter dots, Wink of Stella

Candy Cane with Bow
Supplies:  Silhouette Design ID# 52613; Hero Arts stamp Tiny Ink Spots; Teresa Collins glitter dot

Yay two more Christmas cards done!  I've lost track of my total but I'm over 20 - yay.  Now I'm off to run some errands and have lunch with friends.  Hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping!

Scramble time and another Valentine done!

Well, it was a rough Scramble 102 for me over on the Hero Arts Flickr Group with things going wonky all over my crafty space!  But I still managed to make and upload a card within 60 minutes (we have 90 but - hey - I like to be quick!).  The challenge from Betty was to use one or both of the inspiration photos she offered and create a Valentine.  Here are her inspiration photos:

Just loved both of these chairs with pillows.  The striking color combos and patterns really inspired me.  I used a combo of the two - black and white with the pop of red ribbon and, of course, a heart.  Here's my card:

I used the Hero Arts Heart Background (from the Basic Grey True Love collection) and a white embossed black heart using a stamp from Untitled Hearts.  The sentiment "love" is from a fun set called XO.  This will go to a couple of married friends.

And speaking of Valentines, I heard from my friend Heather saying she received the ones I sent her.  Here is the pair for Heather and her hubby:

These are 3x3 minis - the left one uses a fun Valentine set from Hero Arts called So Sweet.  The cup for the card on the right was stamped from another great Hero Arts set called Need Caffeine.  When I went to visit last May, Philip made me lattes from a mix - they being mostly tea drinkers.  But Philip gamely tried one and I think he's probably still drinking up that mix!

Here's another pair of minis:

On left - a fun set from Lawn Fawn (it was an exclusive for the old Archiver's).  On the right  - a great Operation Write Home set called Dude from Hero Arts.  These went to a friend in California and to one of Heather's sons, respectively.  Heather's other son received the doggie mini I made for a previous Scramble; see it here.

O.K. - let me tell you all the wonky fun for the Scramble.  First I pulled out my beautiful seam binder style ribbon from May Arts - it's hopelessly wrinkled (no surprise, if you know how I store it in a crumple heap).  I get out the ironing board and iron, add water for steam and wait while it heats.  Quickly iron my ribbon.  Then when I was white embossing a sentiment (not the love - I tried a different one first), I realized I had mixed some clear ep with my white when I jarred it last night  - ugh.  So I dumped out as much as I thought I'd added to the jar but to be on the safe side, pulled out a new jar (don't ask where my handy plastic bin, with spoon included, went - it's around here somewhere...).  Had a terrible time getting the wrapping off the second jar!  My patterned paper was ruined and I didn't have any more of that pattern so had to pick a different paper.  The rest of the creating and assembling went smoothly.  I took my photo with a camera but couldn't get the camera to process the download.  Back to take an iPhone photo and finally got it uploaded.  Whew - by then I was exhausted.  But I had a great time and thanks to Betty for hosting!

Hope you're having a crafty day too!!

Using a BOW at Merry Monday!

Hello everyone - Happy Monday!  Ahhhh, it's my Monday off so I could check out Merry Monday right away this morning!  This week's challenge by Nina requires us to use a bow on a card - easy, right?  Well, since we often use bows on our projects, I'm sure anyone wanting to stand out will have to think of something extra creative!  Don't think that's me but I had fun with a Silhouette file Card Christmas Door (#14821) by Samantha Walker.

Here's my card:

After cutting the card base and overlay with a kraft card stock, I stamped both with Hero Arts Woodgrain Pattern, then darkened the overlay with Distress Ink.  Added an enamel dot for the door handle.  The wreath and bow came from the same digi cut file.  I cut each with patterned paper and inked a bit with Copic Markers and Distress Inks.  The gems on the wreath were clear but I colored them Cardinal Red with a Copic.

Reminder to self - don't try to color the edges with the marker while holding them in the air - invariably you get a random line!  I have a few of those on my door and I just left them - they kinda look like scratches that happen to a real door, certainly my front door has some!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Merry Monday - there's great inspiration for anyone (like me) trying to get on track with my Christmas cards!  

Happy Saturday - more Christmas cards!

Ah - it's the weekend - yay!!  After a long week at work, it was nice to get ready for the day at a leisurely pace.  Then I ran some errands, had lunch with my friend Jayne (a talented card-maker who I met through the Hero Arts Flickr Group), and finished another Christmas card!  Although we had gloomy skies, we've seen no snow so far today - perfect!  Jayne and I had a stress-free drive to Anchor Paper, a fun paper warehouse that also sells craft supplies.  We ate lunch at the Good Earth restaurant - love their cinnamon spice tea!

I blogged earlier this week about Merry Monday's caroler theme.  I had done two cards but only got a good photo of one of them.  Here's the second card:

This one uses a Silhouette file by Hero Arts called Carolers Silhouette - just love this quartet that includes a doggie!  Couldn't find the black patterned paper I wanted to use so I cut the image on white.  Then I cut another one on this red patterned paper from Graphic 45 (Twas the Night Before Christmas collection 8x8).  Didn't like either of them alone so I layered the red over the white - liked it enough to finish the card with it.  The snowflake paper behind the carolers is from My Mind's Eye (Merry Little Christmas 6x6).

Then I finished a card I started for last week's Merry Monday challenge to use a house on your card.  I cut a Silhouette file by Jennifer Wambach called Merry Christmas House Card.  Used some Distress Markers to color bits of it and do some faux stitching.  I stamped the house roofs with Hero Arts' Envelope Liner Background stamp.

So I'm up to 18 Christmas cards for my stash - so exciting!  Hope you're having a crafty weekend and thanks for stopping!!

It's Carolers over on Merry Monday!

Hey everyone - hope you're warmer than we are here at 22F!  Well, it's perfect weather for thinking about Christmas cards as I'm doing each week since finding Merry Monday, a Christmas challenge blog.  This week the merry designers challenged us to make a card featuring carolers - see it here.

I grew up in a musical family and spent many holiday seasons singing with groups of carolers through my church and my friends' churches.  Then I joined Sweet Adelines and my choruses would make the holidays bright with Christmas shows and, yes, caroling adventures!  On one such trip when I lived in Eau Claire WI, we visited a locked psychiatric ward in a local hospital.  One of the patients used to be a choral conductor and she started directing us!!  Our chorus director stepped aside and let the patient do her thing - such a thrill for everyone and very heartwarming to see her respond to the music!

I made this card today using a fun singing dog image from Inky Antics Punny Christmas Pups clear set:

I stamped one dog, masked him off and stamped the other two to make a doggie trio.  I colored them with Copic markers, trimmed them out and mounted with foam tape onto a Hero Arts Christmas tag (covered up the hole of the tag with a doggie paw).  Hero Arts makes these yummy folded cards too - this one is grenadine from the Blush set.  I stamped and white embossed the Inky Antics sentiment from the same set.  Then I stamped it with Hero's Envelope Liner Background, inked with Tim Holtz Festive Berries Distress Ink.  The paper is from Basic Grey's Evergreen 6x6 paper pad - it's a diagonal paper but I cut it down to a straight stripe.  Sequins come from Lawn Fawn.  

I have another card but didn't get a good photo today.  You'll probably see me back later in the week if I succeed in getting one.  Hope you're having a crafty week and thanks for stopping!!

More Merry Monday... and a Scramble today!!

Yay - it's the weekend!  I couldn't resist playing again in this week's Merry Monday Challenge to incorporate a house on your Christmas card.  I chose to use an older Hero Arts/Basic Grey set called Happy Holidays for both of these cards:

I just love the cross stitched sentiments and sweet houses in this set, don't you?  I started by white embossing the sentiment, then overstamped with the Tiny Ink Spots background from Hero Arts using Picket Fence Distress Paint from Tim Holtz.  I didn't like the dots around the letters so I took a bit of alcohol on a cotton ball and wiped it off in a swirling motion, leaving a bit of white.  Then I masked off the sentiment and restamped a bit off the first stamping to get a blurry snowstorm effect.  I cut a stitched hillside with a die from Lawn Fawn, stamped and cut out my houses, added some string - done.

This next one started as a CAS on a white card base.  Ugh - random ink on my acrylic block blobbed on my white card!  So I cut the panel down to a small rectangle and matted it; adhered with foam tape to a red card base stamped with a cling background Notebook Paper from Hero Arts.  Put a piece of Scotch washi tape behind the house image and some tiny gems on the flowers - done.

That was my morning, other than a quick trip to Target for a "few" things (which always ends up being more things!!).  Then this afternoon, we had a Scramble on the Hero Arts Flickr Group.  Leni hosted and offered us the theme of using an animal on our card.  I was very excited with this theme as I've been trying to design a Valentine around this darling little dog from a Hero Arts clear set called Life is Not Perfect.  Besides the fun sentiment for the doggie, another fave in this set is "It takes a long time to become young" - so great on a birthday card.  Here's my Valentine and I hope my friend Heather's son Adam doesn't see this one - it's going to him next month!!

I used a speech bubble from a Hero Arts cling set called Psst! but it was a bit long so I cut it down and hand drew the left and right edges.  The postage stamp heart is from a cling set called Untitled Hearts - love this one, especially for Valentines!  The patterned papers came from My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad Happy Day, except for the red strip at the bottom - that's a bit of Basic Grey Evergreen - who says you can't use Christmas paper on a Valentine :)

Well, it's been a crafty day so far.  I'd better head back to clean up the mess - Scrambling tends to make a big one!  Thanks for stopping!