day late, dollar short

 

Well, July has come and gone and I missed the whole Christmas in July thing, card making even the Hallmark Christmas movies!! But hey that's OK, because 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is going strong with challenges to get you prepared for the upcoming holidays.

The challenge is to use vellum on a window card. I had to search for vellum. It isn't some thing this CAS girl uses very often.  Luck would have it, that it was relatively easy to find!

I love red and brown together and that is why I stenciled this unconventional colored snowstorm. Brown flakes on the background and an overlay of red flakes on the vellum. I added the reindeer and snowmen from Clearly Besotted's "Christmas Lineup". Some always needed bling, a sentiment and there we go.

This is my first time joining the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, but it won't be my last! So what that I missed Christmas in July, when I have Christmas in August, September, October, November, and December!!

 

Reindeer friends

 

Today starts a new challenge at Christmas 24. It's a fun one for me, because it involves critters! I love my critter stamps and always am on the look out for some new ones.

Today's challenge is all about reindeer. I took a bit of poetic license along with some whimsy and pulled some wanna be reindeer critters. After all what critter wouldn't want to be a reindeer and be part of Santa's team!

My card today uses two new stamp sets. "Peace, Love and Paws" from My Favorite Things and "Meowy Catmas" from Simon Says Stamp.  I added some bold snow flakes and this CAS card was complete.

 

Of course you need some musical inspiration and who better than Burl Ives!

 

You have till the first of the month to play along with our "reindeer" challenge at Christmas 24!

Peace on Earth

Wait a minute!! Isn't the challenge at Cupcake Inspirations still "shades of blue"? Nope?!!? What was I thinking?!!? Hey wait, it's OK!! The theme is SNOWFLAKES!

I have been wanting to use this big snowflake stencil from Gina K this year and the new "snowflake" challenge at Cupcake Inspirations was the perfect opportunity to use it.

This card was so pretty, I decided to try it in another color scheme.

A very tropical snowflake!

This is our last challenge at Cupcake Inspirations for 2020. I hope you will play along. Wishing all of you a very blessed Christmas and healthy New Year!

Christmas wishes

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut with color choices, especially around the holidays. Red and green, blues really what else is there? I was looking at some pattern paper and it had grey, pinks and gold and it was so striking, that I just had to try it myself.

My card today is for the new challenge at CAS on Friday. The theme this week is:

BEST WISHES

I had to turn around the best wishes into best Christmas wishes because that is what my stamping is all about right now. 

I used the new snowflake stencil set from The Greetery: Snowflake Soiree stamp, stamp and die set.

You have two weeks to share your "best wishes" with us at CAS on Friday!

 

 

Flurries

 

Happy Black Friday!! How are all of you feeling? Are you in turkey comas? This was a very different Thanksgiving. I spent it with just the hubs and me. Usually I am at my brother's for three days cooking for 30 plus folks. I am hopeful that next year will be different.

Black Friday is always spent with my BFF at all the major craft stores stocking up on essentials for holiday card making. How do you spend black Friday?

Today starts a new challenge at CAS on Friday. Our theme this week is:

SNOW

That is a rather broad theme and you can go any which way with it.

I love the Taylor Expression's masking stencils. They are perfect tool to make a fast clean and simple card.

You have two weeks to get your snow on and play along with us at CAS on Friday. As each snowflake is different, I am sure each card entered will be unique and beautiful.

3D Christmas

 

I am a card maker. I have always been very upfront about that. I like- no correction, I love making cards. I have dabbled in all kinds of paper crafting, but it always comes back to cards.

So today's challenge at Christmas 24 had me reaching back to some oldie but goodie crafts I have done. My favorite has always been glitter balls. They are quick, creative and fun to make. You can keep them simple or embellish like crazy.

Here is a link to how to make glitter balls. How you embellish them is up to you. I used a snowfake building die from reverse Confetti that is no longer available.

You have till November 1,  to create your 3D project at Christmas 24!. I hope I see some glitter balls!! 

Comfort Zone

 

Yippee it's the weekend!! So happy!! Lot's of time to spend in my studio! Today is a new challenge at Christmas 24! Today is a challenge that is out of my CAS comfort zone. We are asking you to make a card with a fancy fold. 

 FANCY FOLDED CARDS

Fancy fold cards are something I NEVER make. It is just to much work. And somehow I can reconcile CAS with fancy folds. 

So I went to google and asked her if she could help me. She told me to ask Jennifer McGuire. Jennifer never let's us stampers down. She showed me the perfect CAS fancy fold card!

 

I hope this video will provide you with inspiration to join in our challenge at Christmas 24. 

As you can see I am using a really old wooden stamp from Hero Arts- "Stunning Snowflakes". You can still get this stamp on Amazon!! I paired this with Honey Bee's "Season to Sparkle". 

I created a second card that might be a bit easier than my first one that you have to do some partial die cutting for. I agree that it is a bit tricky Jennifer makes it look so easy huh?

I hope I have inspired you to join in the fun at Christmas 24. You Have two weeks to play along!

Bring on the sparkle!

Happy hump day! I am hoping we are on the down swing of the hump for covid. Today is a new challenge at Christmas 24. This one really appealed to me. I like glittery and bright cards.  

And today's challenge is:

 Gotta love the sparkle! My card is totally about the sparkle. From the background to the sparkly snowflakes to the sparkle sentiment. It is sparkle in overdrive!

The sentiment comes from this fun Honeybee set.  I added some plain white nuevo drops for some contrast and this sparkly card was completed.

You have two weeks to make it sparkle at at Christmas 24. 

Rainbow Christmas

Happy December everyone! November and Thanksgiving are behind us, it's now time to turn our creative juices to the Christmas holiday. I have been steadily working on card ideas. The problem is I bought way too many Christmas stamps. I cannot possibly use them all. I remember Sandy Allnock once saying she buys so many holiday stamps and then ends up using the ones she bought the year before. That seems to be the way it goes for me also. How about you?

This is  the last challenge at The Rainbow Card Challenge for 2019. We are challenging you to make a card using a regal rainbow of colors. I used Hero Arts Stacking snowflakes to create a rainbow of snowflakes.

I was torn about your music inspiration. There are not any rainbow snow songs that I know of. I decided on a classic to get you in the holiday spirit.

So get your regal rainbow hat on and join in the fun.

You have all month to play along at The Rainbow Card Challenge. I am wishing all of you a very blessed Christmas and I will see you for a new challenge at  The Rainbow Card Challenge  in January.

Challenge redo 2018

My card that I submitted to the Inky Paws color challenge last year (LOL) has been bothering me. Each time I look at it, I wasn't not happy with it but could not put my finger on what was bothering me. 

While spending 2 hours at the dealership today waiting for car maintenence I just decided I didn't like it. When I got home, I went up to my studio and tinkered around with several changes. I have to say I REALLY like this version. I mixed the colors up a bit and created demension. All of which seem to make this design stand out more.

Not sure if you can submit more than one card to the Ink Paws challenge, but I would like the design team to see my improved design.

I am getting this in just under the wire with only 17 hours left in the challenge.  Check out the challenge, there are many awesome submissions.