Personalized Christmas Tags

 A while back Kia was the featured stamper and I used this card of hers for a jump start for this tag of mine. I did switch out the colors and the sequins became white gel pen dots here.

 The leaves were watercolored and the bird was cut from shimmery cardstock as was the white in the Joyful frame.

 

 the big C is an old making memories mailbox letter the other letters are from a Tim Holtz pack of stickers that looked like a matchbook type thing. 

 The snowman is a Sizzix diecut and the birdhouse is a Quickutz diecut and the holly is from a Spellbinders Joy die.

 This one the felt holly was cut with a Hero Arts holly jolly die and that is a sequin in the center of the berries.

 I ended up shooting a shot of things piled up so that I did not duplicate them and make only snowmen or only stockings. (because, when I am on a roll I tend to do that) The bucket in the background is being filled with Tags for her to use that are blank ( not personalized ones)

 Some of these are old ones, I have a basket in the closet where there is wrapping papers of Tags I have made over the years and I trained my family to hand them back to me when they were cleaning up the paper mess after. So, maybe they will save these.

 These were on gifts of stocking holders that I had mailed to them in November and I knew I would not remember what I made by the time Christmas had rolled around so, it was a cool thing to find this in my phone.

 These were done for work tin plaid baskets that are holding wine and gifts.

 This was a preliminary shot before any of the gifts went into the buckets the snowman & elf things are wine bottle wrappers from Kohls.

 

A closer look at this tag, the Santa hats are an jollees sticker.

These are going onto bags of embroidered gifts for newer guys at work. The candy canes are very thick plastic stickers. I have a bucket of embellishments like that to use up still that are just too bulky to me for sticking on cards but, I do think they work for Tags as not everyone saves them. (and they are not trying to fit through postal machines) That's about it from me, Thanks for Stopping by.

Inspired by {Birch Lane}

This week we are peeking at Birch Lane and a funny true story I came across a shot of place mats on their pinterest board ( seen here ) that I actually own. ( I did not buy them from them but, it does give me an idea that the quality of their things is nice so, that was an interesting side thought) more than a few orders have been placed by me following Inspiration challenges going live.
(yeah, if I could roll my eyes you would see me doing that about now)
This year I have started a December Daily Scrapbook binder and I seen these Metal letters below and was thinking that would be totally cool as art this way and I spent some time tinkering with my small alphabet dies trying for "the look" The alphabet I have is a little too small to do much distressing on so, I left mine as plain cardstock.

This was done taking a piece of Neenah solar white cardstock cut to 4X6 so it would slip into one of the pockets of the journal, rounded off the corners and then I ran that through the big shot inside a Tim Holtz brick embossing folder. I did take a pale grey pencil and add some random shadows below some crevices. The letters were cut with brushed silver cardstock from the Tim Holtz Typeset Sizzix die and the pine branches are from the crate paper snowflake collection.

You can find these letters here inside the store And you can find this challenge Here at splitcoaststampers to play along with us. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #550 {Loot with piles}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

 So between the Thanksgiving sale and the Diecember sale... I have a pile of new dies to play with that arrived and I never shot them so, I lumped them all into one pile for this shot. and somewhere between then and today I made more Christmas cards using some of them. There was a VSN at SCS this last weekend and I played a little bit.

 Tuesday evenings desk, so I spent a bunch of time cleaning on monday night from the mess I made during the vsn and my desk was just neekid and since I still have not addressed any of my Christmas cards yet, it feels OK to keep making more. ha, I have for the last two days tried to remember to print mailing labels at work. ( I have a printer at home but, I only have hubs laptop sync'd with it so, when I print things I do it at my office) The sentiments in the back are from the Ellen Hutson tis the season set and the tree clusters in the front that have snowtex drying on them are from Concord & 9th.

now this was the last Christmas card that was in my to be uploaded folder with these desk shots that I did just messing around, one day I cut a bunch of leaf and foliage dies from watercolor paper and off and on I watercolor them and set them aside, this one is a really old one from Cuttlebug that I think I had not used before and the piece I cut out was a little smaller than the die and I thought oh, no big deal you'll probably chop it up later anyways. but, I actually liked how this turned out and so, I kept it the way it was and just glued it to a premade card base. the sentiment is from (I think hero arts mind just went blank) and so, that is about it from me. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday's Cards

 Lee has a warm & cozy what do you do indoors when its snowing outside challenge and the answer is drink coffee and make cards. So, I dug out this new Unity Stamps Joy to go and colored it real quick with some waterbased markers and paired it with this Impression Obsession sentiment.

 This week's featured stamper is Lisa who has this card I love with the holly peeking in from the edges so, to make changes ( I knew I had these Penny Black reds & greens diecuts already watercolored ) So, I gathered up 3 of them and cut one apart to cluster all the leaves and berries into the center to drape over the embossed sentiment. (Honey Bee stamps)

 A closer look at the leaves and berries, done with some kuretake watercolors on Neenah tarragon cardstock diecuts.

 Now Kelly has a do one unique snowflake on the project challenge so, after hemming and hawing about it all weekend I finally decided to add a sentiment to this one and glue it to a card base, the Colorado Craft co. snowflake was stamped with some warm breeze pigment ink on the printed paper and then I went over all the blues with a clear wink of stella pen and outlined some places where I think there would be shadows with a white gel pen.

Misti had one of the Mini (Nov) challenges to do a winter bird watching card and So, I knew I had this old Elyzbells Christmas window stamp that had not seen ink in many years and I did it more or less as a self portrait ha ha. ( I did make the bird red though and we do not have Cardinals here where I live) there is also a bit of Snowtex for texture and the sentiment is from the Hero Arts Holiday tags & die set. I have been fighting with a head ache for a couple of days now so, I have not done anymore of the VSN challenges again yet but, I did get my table cleaned off yesterday after work.
That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

VSN {so far}

The winter theme for this round of VSN is Snow Globe You can find all the challenges here

Sonja has a challenge based on playing golf in the snow where your card needed to have a circle element and mostly white with a pop of color. So, I used this Simon Says Stamp CZ designs ho ho deer circle die (twice) the red was a cut with a scrap and then I tied on the sentiment ( deer delivery set) tag with some iridescent may arts cord. This one finished out at 3 1/2" Square in real life.

 Lee has a build a snowglobe challenge and so, I started with a piece of Neenah cut with the My Favorite Things tall snow dome die and then cut a second piece for the base ( to be thicker) from kraft. I used some of the stamps from the Great outdoors set from Tim Holtz in various shades of versafine claire,  rubbed some antique linen and vintage photo distress oxide inks along the edges, stamped off the sentiment from the Memory Box tidings wreath set & tied it on with some Burlap string. the dome is up on foam pop dots over the pre made Impress card base.

 Lisa has a white on white challenge, so I probably should have left off the sentiment but, I do like how this turned out so it was a fun simple card the woodgrain frame is from the Hero Arts nested set, its up on foam pop dots, the Church was cut from the Simon Says Stamp churches set and the sentiment is from the Memory Box tidings wreath set.

 

Lydia has a challenge that was a real thinking/over thinking one for me to do a holiday card with Bright happy yellow.  So I cut this star from the pale yellow ( scrap ) of cardstock ran it through its matching embossing folder and then swiped some clean brush marker in a brighter color into the debossed parts ( after dark with every light in the room on) and I still could not really see the yellows but, I knew my hand went out of the holes a few times so, I grabbed some "close enough" offray yellow ribbon and tied that sentiment ( Tim Holtz the great outdoors) on around the center to distract from that.

 

Now Melody has a build a snowman challenge ( you are not allowed to use your stamps for that) and so, I know I have seen this before so also knowing I have tons of buttons I decided to go this route. after it was shot I did trim the hemp string from the bottom and top buttons a little closer to the buttons leaving the center like it was to mimic arms. the scarf is some glittery fiber yard, and I cut the hat with scissors and put it up on foam pop dots to get it closer to the thickness of the buttons. The sentiment is from Hero Arts ( its really old) and the DCWV corrugate was cut with a Mama Elephant tags a lot die. That's it so far from me, I am hoping to do a few more of them later today. Thanks for stopping by.

A few Nordic Trees

So, I ordered that Hero Arts Nordic Tree set when it first came out this fall and its been sitting in the lets play with these things basket waiting for it's turn.

I finally stole some time to ink up this tree ( its two stamps for colorlayering) with the bottom layer being SU soft sky and the top layer being Versafine clair tulip red. Added some clear wink of stella over the red parts, which is really hard to see even in person.

And then I cut them out with the matching tree die.

 

 The bases of both of these cards are premade A2 ones the one on the left has some DCWV colored cork paper that was cut with a Simon Says Stamp wonky stitched rectangle die. the sentiments on both of these came in the same Hero Arts set with the tree.

 The tag on the left the sentiment is a single one from Unity Stamps. and the one on the right the tree is popped up on foam dots over that quilt cut tag.

And I had this scrap of this Tim Holtz tree paper laying on the table so, I thought the colors did not look that bad together so, that one on the left is 5" square in real life and that is red dyed cork paper under the tree on that one. the sentiment is from one of the Tim Holtz sets. and the card on the right was done because, I had a couple of these Birch Press diecuts previously done with that sparkle paper waiting to be used. the sentiment on that one I "think" is from Stampin' Up!
There is a VSN going on this weekend and I am hoping to do a few of those, nope I still have not addressed a single one of my envelopes of Christmas cards yet. (maybe tomorrow) (maybe I will just print stickers for the envelopes) maybe. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {LTD Commodities}

This week Angie has directed our attention towards LTD commodities for inspiration hunting.
And funnily enough one of the first things I came across was this kitchen scene and I had already made up my mind to do a red truck card for my son for Christmas. Because, he had sent me a Truck stamp for my birthday and I know its something he is into.

 This truck and tree are from the Honey Bee A little pickup set and the Sentiment is from the Mama Elephant Scripty Christmas set. This was stamped with some Versafine onyx black on Neenah solar white and colored with Polychromos pencils. the tree was stamped with olympia green ink and just is ink alone. The woodgrain/snow printed paper is from Kaiserkraft and the wide sheer ribbon is from Stampin' Up! The sentiment was cut out with a Memory box stitched circle die and is up on slim foam pop dots. The part that makes this even funnier is, a few days after I finished this card (I have all my December samples done already) he text me a photo of his Christmas mantel in his first ever home and there is a framed photo of a red truck hauling a Christmas tree home above the mantel.

A peek at the kitchen shot that inspired this card. Image source can be seen here in their store and you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. thanks for stopping by.

Nativity Silhouette cards

 I had picked up this silhouette die of the Nativity from Echo Park some time in November and messing around with it one day I paired it with this old made background that was done blowing bubbles into acrylic paint on water. ( in a tray ) something like that, its been a while so the how to things are fuzzy now. The sentiment is from Hero arts and heat embossed in some liquid platinum powder. and I really liked how this turned out.

 So, then I went poking about in my piles of printed papers and cut up these seen here and below to do similar design cards. and they sat on the desk for weeks just waiting because, I kept thinking they need something. And eventually I just glued them together. the sentiments are just stamped on these.

I like this one a little better than the one that is darker with the sentiment straight on the sky, that looks cleaner and easier to read to me. I think that was the hang up with the printed paper versions is the one the sky parts are mostly so dark that I knew I could heat emboss it in say white but, I didn't want the words to be first thing you seen. So, that's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #549 {card possiblities}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

So, this where I walked away on tuesday evening from pushing bits and pieces around. I had such a mess going on Saturday night of things I had cut up to use and or things from out of that metal bucket that's in the foreground you can't see from this angle. ( I made something like 20 some odd simple Christmas cards and most of them can be seen in the post before this one) Behind the glass mat are other piles, the rest of the what has been cut up from the snowman dies ( IO new this year ones) and maybe some of the other things from before that too. the large snow. I actually DID glue those nativity die cuts to the printed papers, I decided Julia was right and I was just over thinking the whole thing. (that happens frequently) and I am still making cards, not because I need more just because, the mojo to do so is here.

And nope, I still have not addressed a single envelope. I do not possess that lets write as much in the cards gene as I did 20 years ago. now, after I write in a handful of them I am holding my hands and whimpering. Card making does not make me feel like that as of yet, its holding a pen for a while as I am a have a death grip on it person. 

Can you belive in 2 weeks it will be Christmas? where does the time go? I dug out my old Instax camera hubs and J gave me 5 years ago when I did december daily for the first time ( have not done it since) but, this year I have found my self taking shots and jotting notes. I don't have one of those already prepared albums going on, its more of a wad and stuff and shuffle thing. I never got into the pocket scrapping, I like the idea of it though and bought a drawers worth of the bits and pieces to play with and I am having fun sorting through it. 

That's about it from me, I will be driving all day for work today and will play catch up in the next few days thanks for stopping by.

A few More Christmas cards

 I recently received that Simon Says stamp kit with the gnomes in the mail and I did spend some time Saturday afternoon chopping up scraps and building a few of these guys. The water colored diecuts I did a a week or so ago while Tim was cooking dinner on the island in the kitchen. ( so not as much light as upstairs) and I have this basket going of unfinished objects which makes it handy for gluing quick last minute simple cards. ( IE ones I do not have to stand in line at the PO to mail haha)

 A couple more leaves, the one on the left is my favorite. I just love how that batch of those leaves turned out color wise and want to do some more of those. soon, before I forget the colors.

 The gnome with the curly hat is the one that is called the large one that is sold by it self. the one with the curved hat is smaller and in the kit. The buttons on some hats came out of the IO snowman accessories die set, ( I have a pile of snowman parts and pieces also piled on the table)

 I think these are just so cute and they are fairly easy to build too. Tim thinks they are odd because, they have no face expression and I was like I think gnomes are all about the beard haha.
at any rate I did the beards and nose from watercolor paper and then the rest of the pieces from plain scraps. so that does have a smidge more depth to it.

 Now these, hmph the backgrounds were done a year or two ago and I had added some color to some embossed panels. and I set them aside, I like the colors but. they were just so busy. and then When I was chopping up paper to go behind the gnomes I thought well just chop them up they could look better smaller. and they do but, at first I just had skinny sentiments on them and they were too plain so, then I thought well they need a Pop of something for a focal point and these snowflakes and flowers came out of that bucket of UFO's. ( Tim suggested snow and I was thinking poinsettias but, the flowers I have cut were not the right size and I was in a hurry so, I actually like the snow ones better ha ha, who would have thought?)

 Did the quilt top last year some time when I made a pile of those and set this one and the one below aside for later. the texture panel behind it came from Micheals and these are both 5 1/2" square.

 this one I could see the edges of the panel the quilt top was glued to and it annoyed me enough to try to trim it with scissors and then I made it crooked so, I spent a bunch of time digging in a scrap bin for a color to be similar enough for the mat.

Now this one was done as something silly because, Kim has a VSN snowglobe challenge to do either a someone making snow angels or an angel card. and I knew I had this old Viva Las Vegas frog so, out he came and the sentiment is from Mama Elephant and the lace is vintage. And he is also A2.
I am going to try to get ahead of some of these blog posts and start scheduling some to appear and clean out my to be uploaded folder before the end of the year, hope you want to see more soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Joy Deer Tag

This is from a few weeks ago when Susan was Featured Stamper and I came across this card here of hers. And I was in make all the tags mode so, change #1 was to make a tag and not a card, I also went with diecut deer (Hero Arts fancy Deer & Ornament die) instead of stamps.

 I cut this top layer from Strathmore Canvas paper and colored it with some distress oxide inks, and then used some almost dry markers for shading. The tiny Joy sentiment is also from Hero Arts in the Hero Greetings Christmas Messages set.

I did end up using a marker to draw on some shadows also after this was glue together, and although I used "clear drying" liquid glue what I find is that if you slide something "into place" the glue dries where ever it hits and it acts as a resist. I really like the texture the canvas paper makes and the softness of these colors so, I think this is something I will be doing more of sooner or later. thanks for stopping by.

Inspired By {MacKenzie-Childs}

This week Julie has us peeking at MacKenzie-Childs for inspiration. believe it or not I have not ever heard of this brand before so, it was fun to see especially the pops of black and white checks and harlequin patterns. and the more I looked the more I kept coming back to this Holly Peppermint stick sprig.

 At any rate I think my card does not really look that much like the sprig but, I had at the time when I started this card a pile of some embossed pieces of cardstock that came from tools I have collected over the years and not given much love to.  I am not sure why as I love how the textured panels look on other peoples projects. ( yes, I DO own two baskets of these things ) and so, I am playing around with them. The main focal leaves and berries are from Sizzix BigZ Holly & Berries #2 set (this is a die and an embossing folder) but, for a one piece thing like what I did here, I had embossed first and then water colored this a little and then cut it out with scissors. ( the die cuts the pieces that you can lay in the embossing folder and have a little pile of leaves and berries all cut individually from each other) I did go over the leaves and berries completely with clear wink of stella as the I wanted the sparkle. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set called Sweetest Moments set, its been diecut with a Simon Says Stamp wonky stitched rectangle die and the background is another old Embossing folder this one from Cuttlebug called Holly & ribbon. I had rubbed some green ink over the leaves on this and then added some stickles glitter glue to the berries. I did wrap some old May Arts check ribbon around the panel every where there was a "ribbon" texture. for a nod to the check leaves.
This card finished out at A7 in real life.

The image source for this holly can be found here. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercolored Holly Tags

On the second day of the 12 Tags of Christmas being hosted by Ellen Hutson, 

I came across this gorgeous Holly Tag by Sandy Allnock and gasp'ed out loud. ( seriously ) It just made me stop in my tracks first thing in the morning seeing that in my In-box before work and made me want to come home as fast as I could and watercolor all the holly I could get my hands on. And Yes, I do have the same Mondo Holly stamp set she used but, I just wanted to play not totally case Sandy's tag so, this is where my brain lead me.

 This is a diecut on watercolor paper with the Memory Box silverdale branch (leaf and berries cluster) die, I did watercolor this with some Kuretake gansai tanbi watercolors. It is on a cream cardstock Reverse Confetti Stitched hex tag and tied it off with some really old May Arts ribbon and some hemp string.

but, that paint all the leaves and berries continued, I tend to do two or three or four things when I watercolor because, I am leaving drying time space between the colors, so I may do leaves on one then leaves on another and so on and then start in on the berries of the first one. ( because patience is still not my virtue) :) at any rate this one is some Neenah cut with a My Favorite Things Tall tag duo die with a Penny Black red's and green's (leaves and berries die I am not seeing it in the store its an older die) colored with the same watercolors. the Sentiment on this one is from the Mama Elephant holiday messages set on a Avery Elle party tag die with some distress old paper ink rubbed over it to make it not so white with some old SU sheer ribbon and hemp string.
Thanks for being such an inspiration Sandy, & tfl.