It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We finally purchased our Christmas tree, and it is in the stand and decorated! Now I've got to finish getting those gifts wrapped and get them under the tree. The grandkids love to see the gifts under the tree whenever they stop by. I've only got one gift yet to buy and I. AM. DONE! It always feels like such an accomplishment to be done with my shopping.

I will also finish up my cards today and then finish the decorating and bake some cookies. The cookie baking is not as onerous as it used to be, since we don't have as many people around to eat them. I will only bake enough to have plates to share with a few neighbors and family members with some left to eat over Christmas.

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share with you today.

I have this Marianne Creatables snowman die that I really love. He is such a happy, friendly-looking fellow! My little lace edge under my strip of red cardstock was made with another Marianne die called "Border Stitch Lace," and my two little snowflakes were made with a small punch (I think it's by Recollections).

I cut my snowman out of white cardstock and then used a combination of chalk and ProMarkers to color a few areas. Once that was done, I covered the entire die-cut with spray adhesive and sprinkled on some clear glitter. He looks sparkly and snowy!

To create my snowy background, I put some white craft paint onto an old toothbrush and flicked it onto my DSP. Note, that I masked off the bottom 2 inches or so before I did that. I love how this turned out. It looks so...so...well, snowy!

I added a couple of layers and a few snowflakes to showcase my sentiment on the inside of my card. My sentiment label was die-cut with a Spellbinders Label 8 die.

Here's my second snowman card. For this one, I did a little light inking on my white CS before dry-embossing it with a "Falling Snow" embossing folder.by Sizzix. The "flakes" that were a little too blue were touched up with a tiny bit of white craft paint. My snowman on this card received the same treatment as the one on my first card.

The inside of this card is very simple. But one thing I did that I LOVE was to run a glue stick along all the edges of my sentiment panel and then dip those edges in clear glitter before adhering it to the inside of my card. If you look closely, you'll see the glittery edges. It adds such a finishing touch and a nice sparkle to the inside. Give it a try. I think you'll love the effect, and it is so quick and easy.

How are your holiday preparations coming along? Nearly there? Or a long ways to go yet?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Let's Craft & Create Challenge #108 - Christmas...

The new challenge over at Let's Craft & Create is "Christmas." It's the perfect challenge for this time of year as most of us are frantically trying to finish up our cards.

As a member of the LCC design team, I decided to try my hand at a pop-up card. And to make it just a bit more interesting, I chose to use kraft card stock for my card base. Not the usual Christmas choice, right? Here's how it turned out:

I used my Sizzix "Elegant Edge" card die to create my card base and to also create a liner with a pop-up mechanism.

I used some Impression Obsession snowflake dies and one Spellbinders snowflake die to cut my snowflakes and inlay them into the same die-cuts in my card front.

Each snowflake was sprayed with adhesive and colored with clear glitter before it was inlaid. I tried and tried to get a picture of the pretty sparkle, but no luck! Maybe if you click on the picture to look at a larger version, you can see just a bit of it.

The inside of my card features more snowflakes (not inlaid this time) and a cute little snowglobe stamp, also by Sizzix. The sentiment is a stamp by Hero Arts.

My little snowglobe was covered with clear glitter to make it look as though someone has just shaken it. It looks so sparkly and fun in real life!

I apologize for the funky lighting on this photo. I tried to remove a yellowish colorcast, and now it's bluish! I think I just made it worse. Oh well, you get the idea.




Now please take a little time to check out the Christmas creations the rest of the Design Team has made to inspire you.

Eileen

Catherine
Cheryl – that’s me!
Gail
Hazel
Ursula
Maryvonne
Mary
Monika 

Aren't they a fantastic team of crafters? Now, it's your turn. Why not make something for the Christmas holiday. Then upload it here. There's a prize to win!
 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl 

I promised you pink mittens...

In my last post, I mentioned that I had also made a mitten Christmas card in pink and teal. Well here it is:

This time I mixed light pink and medium pink embossing powders for my mittens. I also used the light pink embossing powder for my sentiment, which was heat-embossed on a strip of vellum. In retrospect, I wish I had used the darker pink for this. But hindsight is 20/20, right?

My white piece of cardstock was embossed with a falling snow embossing folder, and my little snowflakes were made with a Recollections punch (except for the larger one, which is an Impression Obsession die).

Here's a little closer look at those mittens. I really love how the mix of two different embossing powders adds so much texture.

I also love that the Sizzix Mittens & Snow Globe set has dies for all the stamps. It really speeds things up and they look so much better when cut with a die!

The inside of my card is pretty plain, but I did add a little sparkle to the two little snowflakes and the word "Christmas" in the sentiment, which is a Recollections stamp.

We are having some unusually warm weather here today. We've only gotten a couple of inches of snow so far, and it will be gone in the next few days with temps in the 40s. I won't be surprised if I see people outside without jackets and maybe even with shorts on this weekend. Minnesotans are like that. Whenever it's unseasonably warm - even though it's only in the 40s - they seem to think that summer clothing is in order!

I hope you're having wonderful weather wherever you are. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Wooly mittens...

I recently made this Christmas card using a mitten stamp with matching die by Sizzix. They are from a set called "Mittens & Snow Globe," which includes some really cute images besides these mittens.

Don't those mittens look absolutely wooly?

I achieved this look by stamping them with Versamark and then sprinkling them with a mixture of red and white embossing powders. When I first tried it, I didn't know if the colors would remain separated or if they would mix to a greater degree when melted. They clearly stayed separate and created a very textured look. I love it! I colored the little zigzag areas with a red pen to add some contrast.

My snowflakes were cut with some Impression Obsession dies and my "Warm Wishes" sentiment stamp was one from the $1.50 bin at Michaels.

My inside sentiment is from a Recollections set called Christmas/Noel. I added some sparkle to the snowflakes and the word "Christmas" with a glitter pen. It doesn't show in the photo, but adds a nice sparkle.

I'm entering this card into the Dies R Us Challenge #38: Christmas.

This card was so much fun that I also tried it in pink and teal, which I'll share with you at a later time.

I hope your Christmas shopping, wrapping, decorating, cookie-baking and partying is going well. Mine own efforts are plugging along. Hope to get the Christmas tree up and decorated this coming weekend. I've got to get some cookie-baking done, too. Where does the time go?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Happy birthday silhouette...

One of my beautiful granddaughters turned 9 recently, and I made this card for her. I used a freebie silhouette stamp that came with my last issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine. I heat-embossed the stamped image with black embossing powder and then cut it out with a Spellbinder's Floral Ovals die.

It's difficult to see in either off these photos, but the black strip of cardstock across the center is embossed with a border embossing folder that also came with the magazine. My sentiment is framed with a Spellbinder's Fancy Tags die.

I love this little Silhouette stamp, and I can see myself using it again - especially for those girly cards I will need for my other four granddaughters. Yup - I've got 5 granddaughters and 5 grandsons. It's so nice that they're evenly split like that!

I used a larger oval die from the same Spellbinder's set for my inside. It's such a pretty die and nicely dresses up my card's interior.

If you live in the U.S., did you go out shopping today to catch some of the Black Friday sales? I'm writing this post ahead of time, but as I write this, I am planning on going for a couple of hours with my daughter and her husband. My husband will definitely NOT be going. That is so not his idea of a good time. lol

I enjoy sharing this U.S. tradition with my kids, but I never go out if it's just me. I just wish that none of the stores would open until 5:00 a.m. Friday morning. Some of them are now open on Thanksgiving Day, and I always feel bad for those who have to work instead of spending the day with their families.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A Thanksgiving threesome...

I managed to get enough Thanksgiving cards made and in the mail to arrive before Thursday. Phew! Today, I'm going to share some pics of the final three.

This first card uses a Martha Stewart double-edged punch called Vine Trim. I inked the edges of my vine before adhering it to my card. It was a great way to cover up the seam between my patterned and plain cardstocks.

The circle sentiment was stamped and heat-embossed with a coppery-colored embossing powder. I bought this stamp at a garage sale last summer, so I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

I cut it out with a circle die and added a glitter CS mat behind it. My little leaf was made with a punch (Recollections, maybe). I used some distress inks on my off-white CS first and then punched it out. I added the veins with an embossing stylus.

The interiors of the cards I am sharing with you today are all pretty similar - computer-generated sentiments and a little leaf or two like the ones on the front of the card.









Here's card number two..

For this card I used a different circle die for the mat and a Darice embossing folder for my center strip. I lightly inked the embossed design to help it stand out a bit more.

My little leaves were made the same as on the previous card - ink up the paper first and then punch them out.
















And, finally, my third card for today...

This time I simply added a little seam binding and a bow. Easy, peasy!

We will be heading to my daughter's home (200 miles away) for Thanksgiving. I'm really looking forward to working in the kitchen with her. She has a MUCH nicer kitchen than I do, so it should be loads of fun. She's also a MUCH better cook than I am, so maybe I can even learn something!!

I wish you a wonderful day on Thursday, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A birthday card for my sister...

My sister's birthday was November 19, and I made this card for her with a couple of stamps from "A Year in Flowers 3" by Flourishes. I started out by adding a strip of pink cardstock across the width of my mat and then layering some lace trim on top of that. I also heat-embossed "Birthday Wishes." My DSP looks a little splotchy in the photo, but it's supposed to have a sort of distressed look. That wasn't caused by me trying to make cards with greasy fingers!! lol

I had to look online to see what colors I could choose from for my cyclamen. I knew they came in shades of pink and purple, but I didn't know if they came in other colors, too. What I found is that they are pretty much limited to pinks, reds and purples.

I chose a pink for my image. I know my sister likes pink (or at least she used to!) and it looks really good on her, too.

I colored my image with ProMarkers and cut it out with a stitched oval die.

My little tag was cut by hand, and I inked around it to give it a little more definition.

To decorate the inside of my card, I used a strip of my DSP and cut a couple of flowers from my lace trim for each end of it.

I can hardly believe it is nearly Thanksgiving! I will hopefully have a couple more posts during the rest of this week, but I can't guarantee anything - it's going to be a busy week!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl