Quick Christmas Card

Sometimes you need a really quick Christmas card in a hurry.  That's what I have for you today.  I think it took me all of about 25 minutes to make.  For me that's pretty quick!  I have a friend who just loves cats.  Even though she has only one at the moment, she refers to herself as that "crazy cat lady."  I think she would like my card.

To start, I cut Miss Kitty from the CottageCutz new Pets release from white card stock.

In addition to Miss Kitty, I cut just the holly leaves and berries from Dakota the Husky, replacing the flower on her hat with the holly leaves.  I then colored all the pieces and constructed my cat.  I wanted the paws to stick out a bit, so I ran a stylus around the back of them and stuck tiny foam pop dots on the back.  I think you can see the dimension.

To reduce a little time, I used a pre-cut card base and then cut a piece of Christmas plaid paper 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" and die-cut the Merry Christmas from a pre-glued scrap of red card stock, which I had previously run through my Xyron sticker maker.

I just glued the plaid paper across the card, added some foam pop dots to Miss Kitty to pop her up, and adhered the sentiment.  I was done -- 25 minutes, start to finish!

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

http://www.scrappingcottage.com/cottagecutzmerrychristmaselites.aspx

CCEE1849 Elf Antics

The CCEE Stampers have only two challenges for December, and Frances is our hostess.  For this week's challenge, Frances tells us that one of the traditions she loves to do at Christmas has to do with the Elf on the Shelf.  She knows that some people love them and some people hate them.  She is in the "love" category and asks us to include an elf on our card today.   I looked through my inventory of stamps and found very few elves.  This one isn't THE elf on the shelf, but it is AN elf on a shelf.  It also reflects my love of Harry Potter!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more holiday elves!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - "Ink It!"

This month's Designer Challenge is all about getting inky.  We were to incorporate inks (or paints or sprays or pastes) into a card of any theme.  I love using inking techniques on my cards, so I tried several different ways of using them.  I finally decided on the Northern Lights Technique, which brings lots of color into a night sky.  I took me a couple of times to get a sky that I liked.  This was my winner.  I used dies from the Karen Burniston Tree Pop-Up, the Houses Pull Panels, and the House and Fence to create my card.

The front of the card is relatively simple, just the tree and a sentiment.

Another top contender for my choice for this month's challenge was an accordion card made using the Galaxy Background technique.  But I use that technique A LOT and wanted to try something different.  I thought I'd show it to you today anyway.  This was made using the Fancy Label Accordion, along with the Fancy Flourish Frames dies.

This is the front of the card when it's closed.

Christmas Ornaments

I have a really quick project for today -- some Christmas ornaments made with a couple of CottageCutz dies.

To start I cut all the pieces of the Snowglobe, Winter Accessories die from white cardstock.

I then colored the individual pieces with Copic markers and constructed each character.

I then cut the largest Nested Ornaments - Ball die from three different colors and the caps from gold cardstock.

It was just a matter of choosing which character would go on which ornament.

I added a bit of gold twine to each ornament. and they were done.

CottageCutz dies used on my ornaments were:

It looks like the Snowglobe, Winter Accessories is currently out of stock, but it will return soon.

Scor-Pal December Challenge -- Anything Goes Christmas

The December challenge on the Scor-Pal blog is "Anything Goes Christmas."  I love making pop-up box cards with my Scor-Pal, but I wanted to try something a bit different.  I had made a pop-up box card once before in which I placed an acetate sheet on the front so that you could see inside the box.  That's what I did for this month's challenge also.  The top of the box is chock full of pretty Christmas foliage . . .

. . . but the inside has a cozy little fireplace scene.

Universal Studios Christmas

My daughter has an annual pass to the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando.  A group of the passholders are having a Christmas party, and she asked me to make a unique card for her to attach to the gift she's taking for their Chinese gift exchange.  She wanted it to include as many of the characters represented at the park as I could.  So, using some computer images and some Kindred Stamps characters, I created this card for her.

The inside was made using Karen Burniston's Twist Panel Pop-Up die and includes quite a few characters.

I hope she (and the recipient) like this personalized card.

CCEE1848 Circles and Squares

Anne winds up her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a relatively simple challenge -- make a card using at least one circle and one square.  As Christmas is right around the corner, I made a Christmas card using some Heartfelt Creations patterned paper.

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog for some more cards with circles and squares.