Merry Monday is back!

Happy Labor Day in the USA! Merry Monday returns today from the summer off - yay! Deanne challenges us to use only gold/black/white on your Christmas card - what an elegant combination. I love her inspiration photo!

As usual I immediately had one idea, only to go in a different direction once I started digging through my stash. I was looking for an ornament die cut when I ran into a sentiment die by Sizzix that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby. Then I found an errant embossing folder in the die cut drawer - a lovely woodgrain by Darice that I thought would give nice texture behind the sentiment.

Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White, DCWV foil, Anchor Paper black

Dies - Sizzix 660662; My Favorite Things Die-Namics Blueprints 20 (stitched rectangle)

Embossing Folder - Darice Woodgrain; Other - foam tape

How appropriate that I'd use Blueprints 20 on a Deanne challenge - she inspired me to buy that set with her beautiful cards using it. I now own a bunch of Blueprints but I seem to go to 20 quite often. I die cut the stitched rectangle after I embossed the woodgrain which really softened the texture. Perfect for popping my sentiment panel on top.

The summer passed too quickly for my taste but I love fall with all the beautiful colors we'll get on the trees in Minnesota. If you're in the US, hope you're enjoying the holiday! Happy crafting and thanks for stopping!!

Set for a Scramble

Yesterday, over on the Hero Arts Flickr Group, Kim hosted a fun and challenging Scramble (timed event) to create a matching card, tag & envelope set. It was perfect timing as I had just come from my mailbox to find a box of new Hero Arts goodies, including the Infinity Tags set. I also received some new Christmas stamps I was eager to try. Here's my set:

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts Kraft card and envelope; Paper Studio Old World Winter; Penny Black Holiday Trimmings

Dies - Hero Arts DI197 Tag Infinity dies; Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes (for the plaid stitched rectangle), My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 (for the dotted stitched rectangle)

Stamps - Hero Arts CM102 Vintage Christmas Post & CL983 Holiday Messages and Tags

Inks - Distress Inks: Pine Needles & Gathered Twigs

Other - Copic Markers; May Arts ribbon and twine; Doodlebug enamel dots; Michael's gems

Since the Scramble is only 90 minutes from start to finish, including photography and uploading, I hastily colored the cardinals. I noticed after the Scramble that the card's cardinal needed some more blending - yikes! The other funny thing - I was sure I had ordered the matching dies to the cardinal stamp set (I did!) but I couldn't find them until after I had fussy cut them both - duh! All due to "Misty proofing" - putting away my craft stuff so my brother's cat wouldn't get into it. Misty is here for her fall vacation - loves it at "Auntie" Linda's house!! Luckily Misty was napping during the Scramble when quite a few crafty items found their way back onto the kitchen table and counters!

I don't decorate my envelopes often enough, much less make gift tags, so this was a fun challenge! I'm looking forward to making more cards and tags with new Hero Arts goodies!! Thanks for stopping by!

Grateful leaves

Hero Arts recently released their new fall/holiday line and I ordered a bunch of fun goodies. Today I had a chance to play with the color layering leaves clear stamp set with matching dies. I was inspired by my friend Virginia's post and video about creating a background. She started with a stamped flower which she later covered with a die cut - I decided to try it. Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts mocha folded card and daffodil layering paper, Bazzill orange, vellum

Stamps - Hero Arts CL987 Color Layering Grateful Leaves; 

Dies - Hero Arts DI315 Color Layering Leaves Frame Cuts; Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes (rectangle)

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Twisted Citron, Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twigs

Other - Hero Arts Earth Mixed Accents and Copper embossing powder, May Arts string twine, foam tape

I started out stamping a leaf where I intended to put my die cut and worked outward from there in rings around it, just like Virginia's video showed. The extra yellow leaves at top left were just to fill in the space  but I liked how it ended up. On the die cut, I used colored card stock and just stamped the vein layer - I thought it added lovely dimension. I couldn't find my vellum adhesive so I just hid a glue dot behind the gems for my sentiment strip. Yay, now I have card ready to thank a friend for a dinner I'm attending later in the weekend.

Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday! Thanks for stopping!!

Recap of Heather's Challenges to me

Hi all - I thought it would be fun to recap this summer's Christmas card challenges from my friend, Heather. Here are her challenges to me (the hyperlinks are to her posts, when she was able to do one):

1. Christmas Quilt 
2. CAS (clean and simple)
3. Non-Christmas Image
4. Critter Christmas (use an animal)
5. Blog Title
6. Christmas Shaker
7. Inked Embossing Folder
8. Needles
9. Hearts

Here's a photo of all the initial cards I made for Heather's nine challenges:

I put them in challenge order starting at top left and continuing in 2nd row starting at left. To see each card individually with supply lists, here are the hyperlinks to my posts:

1. Christmas Quilt 
2. CAS
3. Non-Christmas Image
4. Critter Christmas
5. Blog Title
6. Christmas Shaker
7. Inked Embossing Folder
8. Needles
9. Hearts

Sometimes, I was able to do more than one card. Here's a quick photo of the extra cards:

Links to posts for these card: Wreath, Ellie and chairs, Critters

Wow - I made a total of 16 cards for Heather's challenges!! Thanks to Heather for challenging me to keep the Christmas card production going!! I also made 9 cards to challenge her resulting in a total of 27 Christmas cards during the nine weeks of challenges. Heather hasn't finished my challenges yet so I'll save that recap for the future... :)

How's your Christmas card production going? I'm up to 59 cards at this point so I should be done well in time this year - yay!! I'd love to hear your totals so far - remember, only 16 weeks until Christmas and this time will fly! If you need inspiration to get going, head over to Merry Monday where new challenges start next week.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the lovely comments!!

Hearts for Christmas

Hi all - it's the last week of summer challenges between my friend Heather and me. Still having computer issues with her photo software, she emailed me this week's challenge:

 Include a heart on a Christmas card

How fun is that?! Heather knows that I love all things heart related so this one would be a no-brainer. The darling Lawn Fawn petite paper from the Peace Joy Love 6x6 pad (retired) immediately popped into my mind. It has the words printed throughout along with tiny stars and hearts - perfect! I die cut a stitched rectangle with that paper and then thought of the new Hero Arts Peace Stamp & Cut set. And oh - I also have their Joy and Love sets - woo hoo! Decided to use all three words, just like the paper. Merry Monday had this as challenge (I was the guest designer) back on June 20th so I can link it to Lori's Summer Link-up. Note - the last chance for the link-up is 8/31/16, then the Merry Makers will be back in September with new challenges - Yay!

After die-cutting the 3 words from red glitter paper and arranging them on the Peace Joy Love paper, I thought the paper seemed too busy. I loved its pool color, though, and found a light pool with snowflakes in the Penny Black Holiday Trimmings pad. Here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White, Anchor Paper Black, Paper Studio glitter paper, Penny Black Holiday Trimmings 6x6

Dies - Hero Arts DC187 Peace, DC175 Love and DC169 Stamp & Cut; snowflake from stash, 

Hearts from Sizzix Tim Holtz Crazy Things & My Favorite Things Die-namics Blueprints 20 (from the quilt die); 

Simon Says Stamp Bundle of Stitched Shapes (stitched rectangle)

Many thanks to Heather for all the fun challenges this summer! You can find my challenge to her for this week here. I'll look for her cards once she gets her software issue sorted - definitely won't be this week. Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!!

Santa challenge

Hi all - it's the 9th and final challenge to my friend Heather (and anyone else playing along). We've been issuing Christmas card challenges during July and August while Merry Monday was on hiatus. Note: Lori's summer link-up is still active until August 31st so check on uploading cards that might fit past Merry Monday challenges. I've tried to do it whenever I remember....

Challenge #9 - include a Santa on your Christmas card

Merry Monday has used this challenge in the past and I had such fun with it, I decided it would be a great way to end our summer challenge. There's no deadline for making a card; after all, we're always looking to add to our Christmas stash!! Here's my inspiration card for Heather:

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts celadon card, the Paper Studio Old World Christmas (dotted paper), Neenah Solar White
Stamps - Hero Arts CL114 Joyful Greetings - retired (Santa) and CL343 Holiday Sayings (sentiment)
Other - Copic Markers, Scotch glitter washi tape, foam tape; Ink - Ranger Archival "Watering Can" (Wendy Vecchi)

This was another super simple card, perfect for mass production. Added patterned paper to bottom of an A2 card and layered a strip of washi at the top. Stamped the sentiment on the card's top right in the open space. Stamped the Santa head on a scrap of Neenah Solar White (Copic friendly) and trimmed it. Colored with Copic Markers and popped it onto the card with foam tape. Done!!

I will add this card to Lori's link-up and look forward to the Merry Makers' return. Can't wait for Heather's final challenge to me. Thanks for stopping and have a crafty day!

Sympathy cards for a chorus member's death

I got some sad news - one of our chorus members, Carol, passed away today after a long illness. While arrangements pend, I went ahead and made some sympathy cards with a musical theme. Carol also directed another chorus for over 40 years so I made a card for that chorus as well as her family. Here are my cards:

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White, Hero Arts folded cards, Tim Holtz watercolor paper

Stamps - Hero Arts CL342 Everyday Sayings, CL476 With Sympathy (lilies), CG279 Musical Clef

Other - Tim Holtz Texture Paste, Distress Inks and Ribbon, Rays Stencil

May Arts ribbon, Penny Black Dancing Leaves die, gems

One of the songs we sing Internationally is "How We Sang Today" written & arranged by Vicki Uhr, another Sweet Adeline. Some of the lyrics include "I'm glad we laughed, I'm glad we loved, I'm glad we sang - Today". I'm glad I knew and had a chance to sing with Carol! Rest in Peace....