The Flower Challenge Reminder: Use Gold

 

Reminder time! The Flower Challenge is challenging us to 'Use Gold'. 

Lots of gold on my inspiration Christmas card! The Greetery's Magnolia is first

cut with reds, and sprayed with Ranger's Mica spray, and finally 'touched' with

Golden Rod Stickles.

Almost 2 more weeks to add your golden creation... 

are  you in? Choose your favorite flower and play along!

Reminder #87 - Use Gold

 

It's a beautiful October morning in my valley.  Perfect for beginning Christmas cards!

I recently  ordered  some of Tim Holtz' Christmas '23, and  created a card

patterned after Barbara Schiassi's beautiful card during the release. Barbara  used

the Halloween moon and Forest  Shadows trees, and I was smitten!

The bright moon's glow on Santa's sleigh and reindeer is my favorite. 

Looks like he's just taking off on his yearly run...

Another of the Tim Holtz' new release is this Christmas tree, all decked out 

with ornaments. 

It's so hard capturing all the glittery goodness on the embossed background  and tree.

Fun to use my Stickles and glitter paper!

It's hard to see, but I first embossed my sentiment (The Greetery) onto heat resistant

acetate, cut around the image before adding it to my card. 

Both cards are 5"x 7"'s to  fit the larger die cuts.

I'm really loving the Sizzix cardstock with the retro images... lots of vintage 

colors too!

Christmas Cards with Leaves All Around

 

Playing with The Greetery's Leaves All Around, and this time created a Christmas

card using half of the diecut.

I'm behind on my Christmas cards this year, so the previous few I have will

soon be joined with a growing stash. (Christmas in August?)

The background panel is stamped several times with Windowpane, a large

rubber stamp. The merry sprigs are from Hoop Wreath and the sentiment

from Opposites Attract 

I had the bottom die cut left over, and created a second card, this time with a

panel white inked stenciled and then cut from Nordic Frames.

I also try to personalize Christmas envelopes to coordinate the Christmas cards.

Tucked in some leftover pieces from the first card, and added some Nuvo drops.

Well, my Christmas stash has officially begun!

Time to put Leaves All Around away for a while. This lovely frame die packs a 

wow on a card, and has so many design options! 

Have a great week!

12 Kits of Occasions: November All is Calm All is Bright

The Holidays are upon us, and at 12 Kits our very special hostess, LindseyLarsen  from 

Occasional Crafting has given us the perfect kit for the season. 

Thanks to Lindsey, we always have the most gorgeous image photo. 

She showcases each image, every paper, and captures perfectly the very

essence of each kit. This month was her turn, and she gave a kit full of Christmas. 

So thankful for her thoughtful and carefully planned Christmas kit!

Here's what I did with 'All is Calm All is Bright.

I love the earthy colors and flora and fauna she provided. Honestly one of the easiest

kits to create with. Lindsey gave us everything we needed!

Really love the wow factor this jumbo ornament gave this card.

Lindsey gave us elements to create cards with the reason for the season.

So happy to have PTI's Petite Places Bethlehem so I could do a few cards with these

precious dies and sweet messages.

Concord and 9th bold black plaid bg, and copper script 'merry' on C&9's mirror green

card stock circle.

And finally this trio celebrating under the mistletoe!

Loved this kit, and love Lindsey for helping speed along my Christmas cards!

I'm working on a few more with my leftovers. I'll post them when done.

Merry Christmas Blessings!

Poppystamps Holiday Blog Blitz

Friends, I have some exciting news... Poppystamps is having their holiday blog blitz! 

It's a time on the blog where you can not only find inspiration, but win a die on each post.

I'm featuring this gorgeous flourish called Merry Christmas Flourish, and I have

2 cards to show you. This one p aired with Poppystamps new 2 sided holiday paper.

And this one, on a striking dark paper with greens and berries. 

Come take a look on the blog to see how I made them, and don't 

forget to leave a comment. You might win the new Merry Christmas Flourish!

And there's one more way to win, Instagram. Tag a friend, like us and you both 

could win!

Happy Crafting everyone!

Peace & Joy

I had some time to play with Papertrey's MIM, and Melissa's 'Deck Your Dies', 

and did a couple of cards for my stash with the new Floral Fantasy set.

I really love the reindeer in red, so festive and bright. I had a few

stamped die cuts left over from the last MIM, and combining them with 

my 'decked out' die cuts showcased that darling deer.

First I cut a window with an oval die, and decked it with 2 more die cut ovals from

silver glitter paper, angling the 2 die cuts a bit.

Scalloped frame provided an addtional dotted die over my stamped BG Basics: Gingham

stamped in black on red card stock.

What to do with the oval cut out? Another card!

Same layout, with my reindeer embossed in white on red, a reverse of the first card.

A little hard to see on this card, but the die cut sentiment is backed with black glitter

card stock.

A close look at the greenery and berries, you can see some double inking and Copic coloring.

Love seeing what everyone does to their die cuts to enhance them, don't you? 

Play along on PTI's blog through the week.

Hope your crafting isn't too stressed this time of year. I know mine is... just hoping

yours isn't! <3 

Floral Fantasy: Christmas Stamp Set

Papertrey Ink - Floral Fantasy: Christmas Die Collection (set of 2)

Forest Floor: Winter Stamp Set

Papertrey Ink - Forest Floor: Winter Die

Papertrey Ink - Noted: Scalloped A2 Die Collection (set of 9)

Papertrey Ink - Scallop Stackers: Small Die

Sweet Holiday Greetings

There's a new challenge at the Card Concept!

Holiday Treats!

I was drawn to the lineup of holiday cupcakes. Who wouldn't be?

And kept my layered card simple and colorful.

Cupcakes: Clearly Besotted Tasty Treats

Poppystamps: frames Art Deco Frames and Phrases set

Sentiment: PTI Sweet Holiday Wishes

Play along for 2 weeks, and don't forget to tell us your the style you used.

For a list of styles, see our definitions and styes here:

The Styles Defined

Happy Crafting!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Make It Monday this week is revisiting one of my favorites, Laurie Schmidlin's

'Love of Layers'. 

Laurie shares several ways to add to a cards rich layering.

I played with Betsy's new 'Fairy Tale Christmas', and the stencils that match

the set.

Betsy thought of so many details. From the stencils to popping up the die cuts, layering

is easy. The layer of snowy stencil was done with Nuvo Glimmer Paste. 

Just may mass produce this one, it's so much fun to play with all the layers!

Hope you're doing well with your Christmas card stash. Enjoy your week!

A Merry Little Christmas

Create Along With Us and Melissa Phillips' beautiful creation:

 

Kept the layout of her card with those sweet elements peeking out 

from the oval die. Just loved how she stamped images on the oval.

PTI products:

Corner Adorner

Cloche Quarters

Cloche Quarters Winter Fillers

Sending Joy

Happiest of Holidays

Poppystamps Blog Blitz! Trio of Joy

Hi folks!  

How would you like to win this GORGEOUS Poppystamps holiday die?

You can! Simply head on over to the Poppystamps blog, 

Holiday Blog Blitz! Trio of Joy by Nancy Penir

and comment on my post. And while you're at it, not just my post but ALL the holiday

blitz' posts for a chance to win one of MANY dies free!

It's that easy! 

On the blog, I explain how I made this trio of holiday cards with the new die,

Mountain Hills Plate.

Winners announced on August 6th.

Good luck! And Happy Crafting!