Ho, Ho, Ho Quick Card

Hello, Stampin' Friends! I've been working really hard recently on getting ready for the Mt. View Holiday Bazaar. It's a huge craft and gift fair, and I'm super excited to be going back for the second year in a row. I've got Holly Jolly spread all over my desk, painty fingers, and glitter on all the things...but the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge calls, so I grabbed some scraps of what I've been using and made this quick and easy holiday card.

I used the outer edge of the ornament banner sticker from the workshop kit to mask off the scalloped border, sponging it in with a soft craft brush. I stamped around it with snowflakes and stars from the Whimsical Holiday Set, then filled in the card front with an older, retried PML card, Aqua shimmer trim, and washi tape. I used another PML card for the snowflake square, and nabbed the Ho Ho Ho sentiment from the die cuts of that Holly Jolly Kit I've been using for so many non-scrapbooking projects.

I finished embellishing with a pink snowflake sticker (Holly Jolly kit), some small white snowflake nail embellishments, and red glitter gems. Then I went around the edges of the stamping and snowflake with a glitter pen, and also added some shimmery lines to the plaid pattern of the background. 

The Mt. View Holiday Bazaar is on Saturday, November 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be arts and crafts, gift items, home decor, antiques, food and more. If you're in my area, I hope you'll stop by and say hi!

Snowflake Peace Card

Hi, Stampin' Friends! I didn't mean to take last month off, lol, but life is what it is. I feel like this year has been a big year of change for me. Without change, there cannot be butterflies, and I sure do love butterflies...I appreciate your patience with me, Stampin' Friends, as I work my way through this cocoon. Getting my paws inky again always feels so good!

This week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge sketch is a cute one! I love working with sketches - it's like coloring with your supplies. Today I combined the new Boutique papers with the Winter Flurries Thin Cuts. I did the snowflake using the Sugarplum Glitter paper and it cut like buttah! Don't get me wrong - I LOVE my Cricut machine, but it sure was nice to just pop out an intricate snowflake with no fuss. I mounted it on a stitched circle cut and topped it with some silver thread, a button from my stash, and a Sugarplum Glitter Gem.

The silver embellishing thread add such a nice subtle touch of sparkle. I used the zip strip to pop a sentiment onto this card, topping it with a single word from the Christmas Bingo stamp set. I added just a couple dots of glitter gel to finish off the design and balance that large sparkly snowflake. This is a great sketch for using up scraps for sure! I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts to play along this week!

Happy Holidays Tree Card

So I had an idea while I was messing about with the October Stamp of the Month. I embossed the tree image (love!) from October SOTM in White embossing powder, and instead of dropping watercolor or sponging ink over the top I went over the image with sponge daubers to fill it in with bubbles of color. I rocked the dauber in a circular motion to make the color bursts, then used a kleenex to clean off the white embossing.

In real life the tree is sparkly with shimmer pen and red glitter dots. I accented the stars in the design with gold Wink of Stella pen. I also daubed shimmer pen over all the holiday lights in the background paper and filled the heart chipboard border with red glitter gel.

The paper is from the adorable new Beary Christmas line, and I started off with the new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Pop over to Atlantic Hearts to share a creation of your own!

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. This month we are featuring the October SOTM, called Christmas Tune, a sweet shaker globe themed set. You may be arriving here from JANNA'S BLOG. You can find a list of all the participating blogs here.

For this project I started with the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. First I used white detail embossing powder to emboss the word wreath image in the bottom right corner of a panel of watercolor paper. Then I painted over the embossing with green and red watercolor paints. I added strips of black stripey Cats & Bats paper and gold shimmer trim. I added some hand drawn stitching around the edges, as well as both gold glitter gems and Bitty Sparkles that I colored with a green alcohol marker.

I painted scrap white cardstock with more of the red and green paint and hit that with my heat tool to be sure it was dry. I stamped the bottom of the tree image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before trimming out just the bottom rows as a sentiment banner. I added some touches of gold Wink of Stella and Gold shimmer pen. The Stella is gold shimmer in a gold base, and the CTMH shimmer pen is gold shimmer in a clear base. I love them both!

Next up on the hop is GINA'S BLOG. Don't forget to click here or ask your consultant about scooping up your own October SOTM, before it melts away! 

Holiday Expressions New Product Blog Hop

Welcome to the Holiday Expressions Blog Hop! Today we are sharing lots of festive fun from the new CTMH Holiday Expressions book. You may be arriving here from SHEILA'S BLOG, and you can find a full list of participants here.

Today I decided to make a quick little holiday card to try out some of my fun new Beary Christmas goodies. The bear image is from Beary Christmas - Scrapbooking, and the matching Thin Cut Dies make these dudes so much fun to color! I was working from this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. Instead of adding a strip of paper or shimmer trim, I chose to fussy cut some of the string lights from one of the Beary Christmas prints to criss-cross my card.

I also fussy cut the poinsettia on his paper pieced hat from anther Beary Christmas print. The sentiment is from Gingerbread Friends, and I went over the letters with both glitter gel and my Spica pen. I added some extra big wiggly eyes to our little bear friend and drew on a little smile. Finally, I made good use of my shimmer brush on all the lights and his sweet pink nose.

Next up on the hop is MICHELE'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Scrapping Our Stash December Blog Hop

Welcome to another Scrapping Our Stash Blog hop. For December we chose an Anything Goes theme. You might be arriving here from LYNE'S BLOG. You can find a full list of hoppers at the bottom of this post!

 A Christmas Story has long been a family favorite of ours, and Ben's love of chunky black glasses helps him bear a pretty good resemblance to Ralphie Parker. I don't know why, but this year he agreed to be Ralphie for Halloween. We thought we'd have to really work on him, but he loved the idea and agreed to give up his typical Star Wars costume for the low, low price of a small custom box of See's Candy. He loves wearing that costume much more than Ralphie did, and so we brought it with us to our holiday family photo shoot.  Apple Blossom Photography took the most amazing pictures of my sweet Ben in this crazy bunny suit, and these pics needed a special page all their own. I used the December 1st sketch from Stuck? Sketches for this single page layout.

I combined a Memo Fundamentals notebook paper with some (retired) Charlotte pink papers, Cranberry and Whisper Cardstock, and a bit of City Sidewalks holiday paper. I splattered some black watercolor over the notebook paper, and hand-wrote Ralphie's Christmas Theme onto the background. I diecut some snowflakes from silver glitter paper to go with the whisper snowflakes I stamped and then I embellished the snowflakes with lots of bitty rhinestones. I cut my title using the Flower Market Cricut cartridge font combined with some stamped words stolen from the February SOTM (sneak peek!). I finished with a lot of rhinestone embellished silver hand stitching and some American Crafts washi tape. I'm also linking this page up to the current issue over at Paper Issues.

Next up on the hop is SANDY'S BLOG. Happy Hopping!

DECEMBER SCRAPPING OUR STASH HOP:

Wendy Coffman

Sandy Ross

Majken Pullin

Lyne Schnable-Blodgett

Merry and Bright Blog Hop

Welcome to the Merry and Bright Blog Hop! You might be arriving her from BECCA's BLOG. On this month's Blog Hops with Heart we made you some fabulously merry holiday projects!

For me, holiday crafts are the most fun. I love that holiday decorations are never too sparkly! This year I added a sweet Holiday Banner and an advent tree to our entryway. I used some rhinestone covered push pins to hold up my new decor creations.If you want a closer look at that triple block decoration hanging from what is normally just key hooks, you can see that ornament up close HERE.

 I found the banner in my to be decorated project drawer. Perhaps it originally came from Michaels? I can't be sure. I painted most of the banner pieces with a dark red acrylic paint and swiped the edges them with the green. I flipped the colors on the dividing banner.  I outlined every letter with glitter gel, and embellished the banner with wooden snowflakes, sequins, rhinestone and bitty sparkles, and more glitter gel. Lemme tell ya, that was a lot of Liquid Glass, Stampin' Friends.  I tied the banner pieces together using baker's twine and topped the bows with more rhinestone sparkles.

I found a blank tree wooden decor piece at Craft Warehouse. I painted it with the same dark red and green acrylic paints. I outlined each tree "branch" with silver glitter gel. I stamped the numbers on for a guideline, and then I filled in the letters with a sharpie marker. I found a very vintage CTMH rhinestone circle frame sticker, which I mounted on Ruby cardstock and topped with a gingham bow to create the Advent marker. It moves along with the help of a glue dot behind the bow.

I coated the entire piece with a glitter acrylic paint topcoat. This isn't the greatest picture, but can you see the bling? It might just be the sparkliest paint ever! I adhered a glittered kraft star diecut to the top of the tree for one last touch of sparkle. I know there wasn't a lick of paper on my projects today, but almost everything (but the tree base) came out of my stamp room stash, so I hope you'll still enjoy my glittery decor items!

Next up on the hop is AMIE'S BLOG. Happy Hoppin' Holidays!

Merriest Christmas Card

I had such a good time this weekend! Between our Gilmore Girls extravaganza on Saturday and the holiday Card Buffet on Sunday, my friendship cup is overflowing. Today I sat down at my table and let the happy sparkle flow through...

This card is based on the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I painted a panel of watercolor paper with wine and green paints. Then I sponged on some Extreme Glitter acrylic paint in gold. I layered on some Kraft CS and Enchantment Fundamentals. 

I stamped my sentiment (shh! That set is retired.) and embossed the MERRIEST word with gold glitter embossing powder. Stars and snowflakes were stamped and embossed using that same glittery powder. It's not the cleanest embossed look, but it sparkles so in the light! I ran some of that glitter acrylic paint around the edges of my card front before I glued it all together. My hands are a glittery, painty mess, but my heart is happy.  

Embossed Merry Christmas Card

I feel like this a lot this year - that the time is just flying by so quickly, faster than I can comprehend. Every now and then it's kind of fun to get a jump on things, since I usually feel so far behind. 

Today's card for the new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge has a little sneak peek of the December SOTM in it. See those beautiful gold embossed pointsettias? Can't get those until December. I also made good use of the Woodland Wishes Thin Cuts Bundle. I know I can fussy cut a banner - but it was way more fun to use the die cuts and have them perfectly formed every time!

I added a bit of ribbon and baker's twine, and accent stars stamped in Sea Glass. I am in love with our color of the year! I hope you've got enough time to pop over to Atlantic Hearts to play along with the challenge this week!

Warm Your Heart Card

I love that it's holiday card making season. Holiday cards are hands down my favorite kind of cards to make. 

I combined a classic green and red color combo with two kinds of gray, pulling the gray tones from the woodgrain background in the card base. I was working off the new sketch from RetroSketches. I stamped the Colonial White Panel with images from Woodland Wishes in Fern, Ruby, and Slate. Then I stamped over the images using the star from the October SOTM  using Whisper ink to fill in the background with swirly goodness. 

I embossed the SOTM sentiment in white onto a Ruby banner, which I threaded through a Thin Cut heart. I topped off my banner with a wooden snowflake accented with some gray enamel gems. I couldn't resist a little hand drawn stitch line around the card base to frame the stamped print.

Ho, Ho, Hope this project warmed your heart!

Magic of Christmas Card

I know it's early for the holidays, but it is totally time to start making holiday cards!

This card is inspired by the sketch over at Mojo Monday. My stamped images are from Season of Magic except for the snowflake which is from Woodland Wishes. I filled in the green panel with that snowflake tilted on an angle. The white background is embossed with a snowflake embossing folder.

I stamped and cut out the flowers and leave individually. I dotted the flowers and wreath with red glitter gel for a bit of sparkle that won't affect mail-ability. I love holiday card making season!

October SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the October SOTM Blog Hop! This month we have over 30 talented consultants sharing their creations with October's Stamp of the Month, Yuletide Joy, a festive set of 7 images. you might be arriving here from MICHELLE'S BLOG. Let's hop!

I wanted to make a simple and easy to mass produce holiday card using this set. I cut some strips from the City Sidewalks papers. I embossed white daisy cardstock at the top of the card using the new Snowflakes embossing folder. Then I added a banner stamped with one of the sweetly fonted sentiments from the October SOTM.

I topped off my card with a Sea Glass glitter paper snowflake, cut with the new Snowflakes Thin Cuts die set. I added a navy button tied with baker's twine to complete my quick and easy holiday card!

Next up on the hop is KATHY'S BLOG. Be sure to hop all the way around to catch all the holiday goodness - and remember to grab your October SOTM before it's gone!

Day 321: Scrap Much? Christmas Joy Layout

Welcome to another new Scrap Much? sketch day! This one is so adorable, I knew I wanted to use it for my ongoing framed page project. I got these 9x9 frames at Ikea forever ago, and they are only partially filled (though hung empty on the wall), so I had to get a little creative with the sizing to make the project fit my frame.

I mounted everything on a kraft cardstock base. The papers are from the Simple Stories Cozy Christmas 6x6 pad. 

The snowflake is wood veneer from American Crafts, and the doily is Doodlebug. I think this tree is one of my favorite images from the pad!

There's also a super lovely page that has these ornaments as a border across the top...and yes, I did fussy cut each element out and rearrange it across the top of the page to fill in the banner element of the sketch. I used the second sheet of the print to help me place the border back together. I added a gold foil overlay for the title, and lots of bitty rhinestone sparkles and glitter gel pen accents.

Here's the original sketch. I hope you'll hop over to Scrap Much? to play along with this new challenge!

Day 305: Easy Reindeer Kid Craft

Today I was supposed to get to sneak off and fit in some card making time with a crafty mom friend...but instead our neighborhood got blocked in by a bunch of cars who were stranded by the snow and a jackknifed semi truck. No one could get in, and no one could get out. So instead of crafty time, I got lots of kid time. We took a snowy walk, sledded, ate gluten free danish bread with homemade jam, and wrapped some presents.

The boys (usually) love to craft, so when I saw this pin on Pinterest, we had to make some. Obviously I made the center sample, and the other two were made by my youngest son, Max. The other two did not want to make anything (except these Disney Shrinky Dinks). We painted the mason jar lids with brown outdoor paint. Max made his first reindeer pretty much according to the instructions...but the second attempt was much more satisfying according to him. I try to encourage them to be creative and follow their own path. So I plan to punch a hole in the tops of these with my Crop-a-dile and hang them right onto our tree, 8 bazillion pom poms and all, once I get the artiste to sign his creations. 

Day 303: Easy Glitter Monogram Gift Tags

I live in a house full of boys. When it comes to holiday traditions, the boys care deeply about Christmas cookies and visiting Santa to drop off their list of demands share their wish lists. No one but me wants to decorate for the holidays. No one but me is happy about the new jammies on Christmas Eve tradition. No one but me cares how the presents are wrapped.  

Since no one else cares, I tend to go very simple and utilitarian on most of the gift wrapping. It breaks my heart a bit, because I'd love to go all fancy on the wrapping doo dads, but since everything gets unwrapped in 3.2 seconds flat, it makes more sense to chill on the frills. Items are wrapped with an easily read tag to show who gets to tear off the paper. No bows, no ribbons, no carefully crafted pretty paper tags that they will scrunch into a ball. But the Santa present...now that gets a bit of care. Extra hooplah and ribbons and specially crafted tags...but not too much like my normal style, because we can't out Santa due to excessive CTMH stamp usage.  

This year I found these inexpensive monogram letters at Target. They are thicker than chipboard, but pretty lightweight. I wanted to jazz them up a bit, so I coated them with Paper Mod Podge and a thick, chunky silver glitter, with an extra layer of mod podge to seal in the glittery goodness. Now they are so fabulous and sparkly! Better yet, the boys can add them to the Christmas tree as ornaments once they are done with presents this year, because they love monogram holiday ornaments (or anything with their name/initial that they can claim only they have the right to hang on the tree). Only four more sleeps!