Merry Christmas...

...in April?  Yep! I wanted to play along at Christmas Card Challenges this week.  The challenge is using a sketch.

I decided to use this sketch in a landscape format.

This really is Christmas paper.  It is from Lily Bee's Christmas Town collection.  Rosettes are just so much fun to make, and it made a great embellishment for this card.  I fussy cut a snowflake from the paper and put a CTMH black button brad through the middle.  I love the simplicity and non-traditional colors.

Joy

It's time for me to start making Christmas cards once a week so that I have them done by the time I need them.  Christmas Card Challenges is anything goes this week, and Christmas Inspirations is looking for a round card.  Well, that led me right to the sketch at Stamp TV:

Here's what I came up with using Bo Bunny Noel:

That lace is so pretty, and I found it at a flea market.  Every once in a while I go to an antique store or flea market to see what kind of treasures I can find.  Lace and buttons are usually a for sure find.  The stamp is Penny Black, the pearls are Recollection, and the buttons are CTMH.

Holiday Travel

On Sundays this month, I am the guest designer over at Christmas Card Challenges.  It has been such a pleasure to make cards for this wonderful challenge site!  Today's challenge is to incorporate holiday travel into your card.  There was one journey that immediately popped into my head:

This is one of Stampin' Up's digital stamps.  I brought it over to Print Shop and changed the colors to make it what I wanted it to look like.  I printed it on Bo Bunny paper.  Such an easy, but beautiful card!

I have to apologize for not being around much lately and for posting things a little late.  I have been working almost full-time - and loving every minute of it!  And I'm really glad to say that my job went from seasonal to permanent.  That is a huge blessing and I am so thankful!  What it doesn't leave a lot of time for is reading blogs and crafting.  But this is just for a bit.  I am quite certain that after the first of the year, I will be getting less hours, and I'll be right back to crafting every day.  For now, I cram it all into one or two days, so you'll see spurts here and there.  Other than the osteoperosis in my hips, I am also thankful to say that my health is really good and I'm able to work with no problems.  That's such a blessing - thank you, Father!

Shane is loving school, and he has already learned how to keep my short hair trimmed.  He was born for cosmetology - and it shows.  He wakes up excited to go to school every day, and Jerry and I love seeing that!  His future is definitely looking exciting!

I am happy to say that I am finishing up my cards tomorrow, and they will be going out in Tuesday's mail.  Nothing like the last minute, huh?  I thought rather take my time than hurry through, so that each one is special.  So this year, late is better than never!  That's why I love Christmas Card Challenges so much.  Next year, I will be completely on top of this thanks to that challenge blog!  But just ot let you know how behind I am this year, I'll let you know that Jerry and I started and finished our Christmas shopping today.  It was a full day, but it was relatively easy.  It was a sunny warm winter day, and the stores and mall were quite festive.  And it's always a pleasure to spend a day out with my hubby!

I hope to catch up with all of you this week.  In the meantime, please know that I am sending happy Christmas wishes your way!

Peace on Earth

Last week I shared that I am the Guest Designer over Weekly Christmas Card Challenges.  It's week two, and the challenge is Angels this week.  I couldn't help but pull out a long since retired stamp from CTMH.  It is actually one of my favorite Christmas stamps.

I stamped the angel on some Fancy Pants Christmas Magic and did a good amount of layering.  The sentiment is a journaling block from the same collection.  The ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

I am so glad I found Christmas Card Challenges!  I will start right away making my cards using their fabulous weekly prompts.  If you are so inclined, give it a try this year!

If you haven't heard, we've been hit hard with snow here in Minnesota.  From Friday night to Saturday night, we gained 20+ inches of snow!  It has been pretty, but wow, this weekend was not so much.  It was very blizzard-y yesterday with blowing snow and drifts.  Many stores and businesses closed early yesterday, but we're back to normal today.  The Minnesota Vikings football stadium is a dome, and it collapsed from the snow - what a thing to watch on the news!  I can't remember the last time we had this much snow consistently before Christmas.  There truly have been some years when we've had no snow on the ground at all for the holiday. Now it's turned to bitter cold - below zero temperatures, so it's another indoor day.  Lots of scrapping to do, so I am okay with that!

Guest Designer at Christmas Card Challenges

Stephanie, the DT coordinator at Christmas Card Challenges, contacted me some time ago to be a guest designer for the month of December.  Well, how could I say no?!  I love this blog and the whole idea of getting cards done all year long.  If you haven't been there, you'll have to stop by and check it out!  Each Sunday in December I'll be one of the designers bringing you a new card for the current challenge.  I hope I see lots of you playing along!

All rightie, the first challenge for the month of December is monochromatic.  This was easy for me, and right away I pulled out my greens.

I have to tell you something honestly.  Every time I pull out Close To My Heart cardstocks and inks, I fall in love all over with paper crafting.  I used New England Ivy, Olive, and Garden Green to make this card.  The tree stamp is CTMH Evergreen, and the sentiment is a CTMH alpha set.  Sanding the edges of the layers gave me the appearance of snow.  This card has many layers, so it will be a good, sturdy card to mail.

Pop over and visit the Christmas Card Challenge blog.  Even if ou are done for this year, you can get a head start on next year!  So, what colors will you be choosing for this challenge?  I can't wait to see!

Monochromatic is the final challenge for Caardvarks, so I am also entering this card in that challenge.

Joy

I know Halloween is right around the corner, but I am still working on my Christmas cards.  It has been really nice to continue them throughout the year so that when December comes, there is no rush!  For this card, I used the Card Crazy #3 sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches again.  I love this simple sketch!!

Here is the card I came up with:

This card also fits a few more challenges. 

• CARDS - bling
• Christmas Card Challenges - flower
• Sarah Hurley Challenges - Christmas card with no red and green

Items used: Bo Bunny Snow Serenade paper and stickers; Petaloo flower; star shaped rhinestones (I'm sorry - I can't remember where they are from, but I LOVE them!)

I have had the pleasure of my own personal retreat this weekend.  We had nothing on the calendar, and I didn't have to work.  So I have been in my craft room creating away all weekend.  What a joy to sit down and create without hurrying.  I love that!  I hope you've had the a good weekend - whatever you are doing!

Happy Christmas

I had so much fun putting this card together!  It was fast and simple, and it will make a great holiday greeting.  I used the sketch from Heart 2 Heart Challenges:

It's always so natural and fun for me to use Close To My Heart products.  The colors blend perfectly, and I love that I have ink for every exclusive color.  (Once a consultant, always a fan that spreads the good about CTMH!!)

I combined this challenge with the Weekly Christmas Card Challenge (distressing) and Keep it Simple (bling).  Loads of distressing on this card and 45 bitty sparkles!  They are so much fun!

Items used (All CTMH unless noted): Jingle Level 2; A Little Bit of Everything stamp set; White Daisy Bigger Brads; Juniper Ink; Bitty Sparkles; Edge Distresser; Spellbinders Oval and Scalloped Oval

Christmas in August

I stopped at an independent stamping store yesterday, and I found some beautiful Penny Black Christmas stamps.  I sat down to play with them right away, and here is what I came up with.

Isn't that embossing powder pretty?  There is not much to this card, but the stamps are so pretty!!  I used Fancy Pants Christmas Magic paper; Judikins White Diamond embossing powder; Penny Black stamps

Click on the image if you want to see a little more sparkle! 

EDIT:  Now my blogging friend Laurel (go visit - she is amazing and has been a tremendous source of inspiration for me!) let me know that this card fits some challenges, so I am going to enter it into Keep it Simple!, Paper Sundaes, and Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge.  I am so glad she tells me about these places because I am always looking for new challenge sites!!  Yippee!!