this weekends Christmas cards

So, this was almost the card that wasn't. :) Yesterday i started this and i got it all done except for the stitching. I changed the thread color in my machine and i keep clear thread on the bobbin as a short cut. so, I kept having the thread snarl and it felt like the gears were grinding when i tried to back it up and lock the stitches. ( warning: do not try to operate your sewing machine at the end of a LONG day when your brain is ready to go to bed) ha i could not get it to sew i was ready to demand a new machine for Christmas i was so frustrated. then as i was going to bed i thought you know whats wrong the stupid tension is off. then i thought some more, did you hit the wheel? had no idea but, i was able to actually fall asleep with the thought it was something I could fix my self. haha. so anyways, after the failed threads yesterday the stripe paper ( my minds eye ) had some thread holes in it, so when i got it all up and running today i tried to do one of those wiggle ly type line sewing instead of something straight. when you sew in a mostly straight line on auto-pilot its Hard to wiggle the stitch line. So anyways this card is going to the lady i have at work who answers the phone for me, the snowmans from Inkadinkado ( and colored with prisma pencils), the Sentiment's from PSX the ribbon is May Arts, the blue textured cardstock is bazzill and this ones 5 x 7 inches in real life.

This is another of those Christmas images i colored recently its from an old su set called seasonal birdhouses, the savvy stamps sentiment is on an SU word window punch on old olive cardstock and the yellow mat is so saffron yellow. the red pp is daisy d's and the holly is Basic grey. the big brads are from Bo Bunny Press & do not go inside the card just the mat. The textured cardstocks are Bazzill. best guess on the stitched ribbon is Offray ( either Joanns or Walmart ) but not real positive on that one. This one is 6 inches square in real life. ( and not intended to send to anyone... yippee i have a head start on next year if i dont get one from someone i didnt send one to already. ) ha after i mail them that is, they are still sitting here addressed with postage on, but i have not cut up J's school mug shots yet for the family members getting photos in their cards...

( maybe tomorrow or tuesday i hope )

Blast from Last Christmas'es Cards

Way back in the use the scanner for everything days... this one i did a few of this design ( don't remember how many) the poinsettia is from Penny black and heat embossed on textured bazzill with distress powder.

this one the hero Arts dahlia is stamped repeatedly with fired brick distress on cream cardstock then the centers are colored with prisma pink pencil then there is some random red stickles glittler glue in some centers, ( this is layered a few times) and was about 5 x7 ish i think?

This was just one of those things, had to have this stamp, couldn't make it look good with markers so i heat embossed it in gold on red, and made the flowers into cards with pp scraps. did two or three similar to this, the gold on the paper edges is all krylon paint pen. ( i was all over that pen last year haha)

oh dug this Noel out and did the same things with it more or less...

this one was slightly more 3-d there is another layer of flowers on it...

Loved the lace and the color combo of this one, stamps are Hero Arts.

now this cracks me up, i have all these dies you see, i have never used them in scrapbook pages, but i told my self i had to get my moneys worth out of them so i must have made 60 of this one... ( i still have 30 of these bases just like this with no stockings on them) the flowers in the stocking are from a QK die ( and part of that was vellum) and such a pain in the rear to get out of the die without ruining the paper... the gold balls are beads and if i remember right they rubbed off in the mail and everyone who got this card got gold ball confetti in the bottoms of the envelope. ( this is what it was supposed to look like)

live and learn eh?

these made me smile to find the photos at least i had them on a disk, our computers hard drive died last Christmas and so, alot of the the old stuff is gone, some that was uploaded to the albums at peas is gone, oh well. anyways i think I'm gonna put up the tree today. :)

Last Years Christmas card

The card i made dh's parents last year... the holly and berry stamps are also older PSX ones, Ive heat embossed them in gold and then painted layers of Twinkle H2O's onto them and cut out parts and layered and tucked here and there and there are a LOT of pop dots hiding in that design too... the sentiments from an older SU set called great greetings. so anyways this is whats in the back of my mind about them maybe not liking the flat card below... I thought i had this posted to this blog and was going to link back to last Christmases cards, but last year i must have felt like i should wait till after Christmas to post them because of you know my family does peek at the photos here so... i guess i never got around to posting last years Christmas cards haha... I did do some other designs. so, I wonder if i have photos saved of them? That's curious, I'll have to look later. I have to go back to work. ( had to come home for a bit for the school bus)

A Simple Christmas Card

have i ever mentioned how much i absolutely LOVE prisma pencils?!?! haha I think this is one of the very first stamps i ever purchased. ( a long time ago) and i have Never up until today made a card with it, its not that i didn't like it,but i kept trying to color it with markers and it frustrated me so i set it aside... and then recently i went through the box that has all my Christmas images and stamped every single one of them, and I've been coloring them at night while my family watches the boob tube. Picked up an lap board thing at Staples on black friday and have a floor lamp ott light and my little tote of pencils and I am good to go. Think this one will end up going to my mil & fil. ( hopefully it wont be a let down, the card i made them last year was one of the better ones i have ever made. so?) I know i know its the thought that counts but still... :)

the whole card It's 5X7 in real life, the PSX Christmas Chickadees stamp is stamped in Palette Noir Black ink and colored with pencils, the Hero Arts sentiment is stamped in Ranger Archival Olive on SU Very Vanilla. ( my brain always types ultra smooth vanilla but they don't call it that anymore)

The Solid green pp is from the Basic Grey line Blitzen and its called Holly, the other is from the Fruitcake line and its called Hollyberries & Spearmint. the Textured green cardstock mat is Bazzill, the vintage lace trim is from the embellishment studio and the red ribbon is from Starlitstudio ( Cindy Lyles ebay store)

Some more Happy mail Cards

This one came to me from Jaymerz in the splitcoast wish rak group. :)

This one came to me from Kathi 127 as an RAK Challenge card, ( evidently part of my address is part of her phone number haha) lol : )

This one is an Birthday card from Angie ( Shuggy )

This is Kim ( Spartymom's) survivor card She mailed me a quarter of those cute crab images to play with too. :)

This one is Christie's Survivor card. :)

I have gotten some emails and comments in the past about the happy mail i receive, and i have to tell you i think its just simply i belong to cool groups of stampers and i mail out a lot of cards, and a lot of images, ( i spend a small fortune on postage actually) so, i think its just a case of what goes around comes around... if you want happy mail you need to be mailing out happy mail. ( esp. when you don't feel happy at all ) because, that's when your most likely to receive some.

I got my very first Christmas card of this year in the mail today. ( from Sherri flipflops!!) but, its already too dark to photograph it... I may wait till after the holidays and do one big holiday happy mail post. and i think I may stop posting these cards after that. I don't know if you realize this but, it does take a little bit of time to photograph them then add each makers name to the photos. (that's the hard part looking up the info when you think of them by their real name) :)

If i knew how to make a poll I'd start one that said do you think happy mail posts should continue in 2008 or do you only want to see projects made by the person whose blog you are visiting?

anyways feel free to comment on that one, its something I'm curious about...

They are Done here now...

Yesterday afternoon peeking out of the hobby room window looking west...

Early this morning before i left for work looking south

Looking northwest this morning.

About 4 pm here and they are done in our yard... ( looks like we got a road) haha. ( and some seriously potential flower beds next spring)

they did remove the concrete bridge yesterday, and then have since then put in the new pipe and removed all the pieces of the old bridge that were piled up all day. I know this is going to be a "good thing" next summer during mosquito season, but the resentful part of me does not want to give up my upcoming weekend to reinstall fencing... ( its usually below freezing here right now even during the day) so not fun to be working in. lets hope it doesn't snow! :)

I have some over due photos of happy mail cards to post but, will give them their own post. ( for all the people who are not reading my rants) :)