Christmas 2011

Well, Christmas 2011 has come and gone...and I guess the most honest assesment of it is that it wasn't the total pits, but it sure was a somber time as this was the first Christmas without my Dad. 

Most of my family was in Tennessee with my Mom, which I am thankful for...I really didn't want her to be alone.  I stayed in Florida with my 2nd oldest sister and her family.  We have spent quite a bit of time in TN since my Dad's passing and getting more time off from work for Christmas just wasn't going to happen this year.

I was also on call the week of Christmas for work, so that is never a fun thing.

I really tried to be happy with my sister's kids, but honestly, outside of that, I would have been perfectly happy to sleep it all away.  I'm relieved it's over and we survived it.  How's that for Christmas cheer?

I guess that's all I have for now.  I'm looking forward to getting back to my craft room for some card making that has nothing to do with Christmas...I guess a few weeks of anything goes cards might be what's in store. 

I'm ready to say goodbye to 2011...how about you?

Christmas Card #5

I realize there is more than one card here...but the sketch was the same, so I'm just showing you all 3 versions of the sketch that I created.  All the paper is from the Mistletoe collection, now retired, by CTMH.  The stamps are also CTMH and retired.  I used a kraft card base (kraft paper from Papertrey Ink).  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but on the "Joy" stamp, I used a green pearl in the middle and surrounded it with itty bitty sparkles, and on the "Noel" card, there is an itty bitty sparkle in the middle of the bow on the gift.  I cut all the circles and ovals on my cricut...which makes for a fairly fast assembly.  The colors on these cards are Cranberry and New England Ivy.

Christmas Card #4

This card was a breeze to make.  I used a red card base and then some ornament paper from DCWV.  There is glitter embedded in the paper.  I then cut an ornament and a shadow on my cricut and layered them.  I used some adhesive foam on the alternating swirls in teh ornament to give it some texture/movement and then tied a bow at the top.  Easy peasy!



Christmas Card #3

Today's cards are variations of ones I first made for Operation Write Home (the 2nd card is a copy of it).  On my cards, I used some glitter glue on the trees for just a little sparkle.  The tree stamps are from Close To My Heart and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.  I love how the paper (from DCWV) has non traditional Christmas colors of pink, burgundy and lime green in it.  I used CTMH Pear ink for the trees.  Fun &fast to recreate!  (There are also some itty bitty sparkles the tops of the trees in the 2nd card!)

Christmas Card #2

Yes, I realize this is more than one card, but the layout is the same.  I used papers from Hobby Lobby (not sure of the company brand, but I think the snowmen paper is from The Paper Company) and these cute felt embellishments they had in the Christmas craft section.

I used a sketch from Operation Write Home (#83).  It is a super easy design and I will share a few more cards I made using it tomorrow!  Enjoy!

Christmas Card #1

I have been making Christmas cards for a few years now, but this is the first year I won't be sending any store bought at all...it's homemade or nothing! :)  I typically make a few cards of several different designs so I don't get bored and then I have a variety of styles/colors/sentiments I can pick from when I'm chosing a card for a specific individual.  Here is the first card I'm going to share this year:

This card is CASED from Vicki Wizniuk, a fellow CTMH consultant.  It features the paper from "Believe" which has Holiday Red, Sweet Leaf, Sky and White Daisy in it.  I used a stamp from Papertrey Ink for the sentiment in Black (some say Season's Greetings and some say Merry & Bright).  The snowflake is a Marvy punch and then I used a white snowflake brad in the center I purchased at JoAnn's.  I didn't glue the snowflake down, it's attached with the brad, which allows for it to spin if you want to.  The scallop border across the bottom is a Fiskars border punch. 

The assembly of a group of these is fairly easy and the end result is a nice not too bulky card that is easy to mail.  I made 6 of these for Operation Write Home back in November and 4 for my own use.  Hope you like it!



Samples of the Kits Prepared this Weekend...

I'm way to tired to comment on all of these pictures, but here are the sample cards my sister and I assembled this weekend and a few my friend Lea helped me with last weekend.  The kits contain 6-24 of the same card with the sample included to show party goers how they are supposed to look.  Enjoy! (Maybe I'll be able to add some details in the next day or two).

Some of these cards were inspired by designs I saw in magazines or on other crafter's blogs.  I love how you can take a design you see and it ends up looking totally different with your own papers and supplies you have on hand.

The card I saw that inspired this card was from another CTMH Consultant.  She used more of a red color & used pearls on the tips of the flowers.  For OWH, I'm trying to keep cards mail friendly & this card still was cute without them.  Super cute and these colors were Fall friendly as well!

Card Kits, Card Kits, and More Card Kits

With a little over four weeks (YIKES!) before our Operation Write Home card party, I was once again busy in the craft room working on card kits this weekend.  Here are the sample cards for the kits that were completed. (Well, most of them, I still have some photos to take!)

Birthday Card - Used patterned paper from DCWV and all cardstock is CTMH.  The cupcake is from the new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge by CTMH and it has a coordinating stamp.  The cupcake "wrapper" is embossed with the cuttlebug.  The "celebrate" stamp is also CTMH.  Used Petal, Tulip & Taffy cardstock.

This is a blank Pinwheel card using papers from CTMH's Veranda line.  I used a wooden button in the center of the pinwheel and embossed the Juniper background cardstock with tehe cuttlebug.



This is another pinwheel made with the Veranda papers by CTMH.  I used a different cardstock background and used a stamp that says "There is always something for which to be thankful".  I used a border punch by Fiskars on the background cardstock.



This Winter themed card is a mix of paper from DCWV, CTMH & The Paper Co.  The tag was cut out on the Cricut using "Very Merry Tags".  My friend Lea patiently stitched up the laces on the skates with pink embroidery floss and added a cute pink rhinestone.

Christmas Pinwheel using CTMH Jingle papers and Tulip carstock background embossed with the cuttlebug.  It's hard to see in the photo, but I used a snowflake brad in the center of the pinwheel.  Super cute, super fast, super easy!

That's all for now...I have more cards to share, but I'll have to do a separate post for those.  (And yes, there will be more pinwheels!)  LOL

Christmas Cards for Operation Write Home





I thought I would share some Christmas cards I've put together for my upcoming OWH card party.  These are the sample cards for the kits I've prepared...there will be a total of 15 of each card after they are assembled.

I love the simplicity and clean lines of the first card.  If you can't see all the colors in the paper, there is pink, burgundy and several different shades of green.  This card is really flat, which is good for mailing.



The next four cards all use the same "sketch".  I saw this sketch on someone's blog (I'm so bad at keeping track of that stuff) and on her version of the sketch, she used the same stamp I have!  So of course, I just had to CASE it!  The original design had some stitching on it, but I kept it clean and simple for the OWH card party.  This card is also really flat.

"Noel" with a Colonial White card base.  All paper, ink and stamps are CTMH.  The patterened paper is from the Mistletoe paper line.  Colors featured are Cranberry & New England Ivy.





"Noel" with a kraft card base.  The stamp and Colonial White paper is CTMH, the kraft card base is Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper and blue cardstock is DCWV.  I used Lagoon for the ink color.

"Noel" with a green card base.  All paper is DCWV except the card base, I'm not sure where I picked that up from.  The stamp is CTMH & I used Vineyard Berry ink.



"Noel" with a grey card base.  All paper is DCWV excep the card base, I'm not sure where I picked that up from.  The stamp is CTMH & I used Watermelon ink.



I have a few more Christmas cards I'm working on and several more designs I'm trying to figure out. I hope to post many more before our Card Party on September 17th! 

Christmas 2008 Cards

Here are the Christmas cards I made last year...most with the help of my sister Erica. Joys of the Season & Christmas Cheer cartridges were used on most, but not all. This was the 2nd year I made Christmas cards...and I don't ever think I will go back to the store bought kind (although I need to get rid of some I still have). Enjoy!