Craziness Continues

Sometimes you just have to laugh!  So that's what we did today.  Amidst the craziness in our lives right now, we are having to deal with snow and ice - lots of ice.  We live in a pocket that apparently is the coldest spot in the county.  So while everyone else has seen the last of the snow and 46 degrees,  we still have white yard, porch, etc., ice and 31 degrees.  And now everything, including my car, is covered in an inch of ice.  It has been "raining" for a day with freezing rain so all the trees and bushes are covered and coated with ice. LOTS of damage.  We continue to see our trees breaking.  Now add a power outage.  Oh, yes, so no phone or internet this morning.  As I was using my cell phone to call a brother, my minutes ran out.  Like I said, sometimes you just have to laugh.
We have power now.  I have added minutes to the phone.  I am not even thinking about going outside.  So what's a girl to do?  Make some cards!

I was intrigued by the sketch at MFT:

I used a stamp set that I have probably used only one time before but now with the Misti, it is much easier.
The sentiment is stamped on a hexagon and popped up with a piece of dimensional tape.  As long as I was using the beehive set, I thought I would turn it into a Valentine card.
Oh, oh!  The lights just flickered.  I better hurry and finish this up!

P.S. The power did go out before I finished.  So I am now finishing this 21 hours later.

Challenges:
MFT - sketch
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Crop Stop - anything
Stamploration CAS

CardzTV - anything

December Birthday

Short post today.  Love theses beautiful Elizabeth Craft Design dies - Poinsettias and Holly Flourish.

 Sentiment is Gina K Designs

Challenges:
Die Cut Divas - winter theme
Crop Stop - anythnig
7 Kids College Fund - anything
Simon Wednesday - anything
All Sorts Challenge - seasonal flowers
Scrapy Land - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Cardz TV - anything

Semblance of Normalcy

Hospital, nursing home, broken water pipes, housing and entertaining family members, snow and ice.  It has been difficult to have a semblance of normalcy these past three weeks.  But some of the above list is coming to an end (unfortunately not the broken water pipes under the house!) so maybe we can get back to a routine again. 
Christmas was different for us but we still celebrated the birth of Christ and enjoyed each others' company.  Several of our kids and family could not be with us but  21 of us were able to get together. No family pic this year - hopefully we will get one in July.
Here are some gift cards I made for my teen grandchildren.  Photos aren't the best but I had to take them on a dark day (when I could snatch some time) before I put them in envelopes.

Here is a view of the inside:

Hopefully you can see the half circle.  The gift card is tucked into that part.  For each card I wrote a note, narrow enough so it did not show when the card was closed.
All the shapes were made on the Silhouette.  The sparkle is Stickles.

Challenges:
Scor-pal - Christmas
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Double D - cold outside
Die Cut Divas - winter
Joy Clair - anything
Words 2 Craft By - Christmas all year
Crop Stop - anything
Power Poppy - inspired by Stacy's gift card
Cardz TV - anything

Clever Packaging

Here is one more idea I found while I was preparing for a gift wrapping demo.  Tosh Leyendekker made the prettiest bag topper.  I just had to try this great idea.
Here is my take - not half as pretty as Tosh's but it was fun and surprisingly easy.

The top and sides (which I punched with a Recollection punch) is one piece, scored, and folded to fit around the top of the bag.  Slits are cut for the handles to poke through.
The holly strip is from an old scrapbook kit.  Red glitter strip is ribbon.
I made this tag with three fabulous Elizabeth Kraft Design dies - tag dies, poinsettia dies, and holly die.
I really love this idea and will definitely do it again.
Challenges:
Simon Monday - Christmas
Scrapyland - anything
Cuttlebug Mania - anything Christmas
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Scor pal - Christmas and more than one fold
Crop Stop - anything
Stamploration - tags

Power Poppy - CASE 12 days of Christmas ideas
CardzTV - anything

Fullness of Joy

After spending the majority of the last three days at the hospital with my mom (she is 94 and had a heart attack Monday), I needed some down time.  Of course that means making a card or at least coloring.  I had this digital cup (Verve) and sentiment printed out so I took a few minutes to color it and turn it into a card.

As I was coloring it and adding Stickles to the snowflake, I thought about what it said.  The first phrase reminds me of Psalms 23:5 "...my cup overflows".    Oh, the goodness of God and His blessings.  My cup is not just full but overflowing.  And the second phrase makes me think of  Psalms 16:11 " You, Lord, will make known to me the path of life.  In Your presence there is fullness of joy.  In Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore. "  Those verses turn this sentiment into more than just a sweet wish, they are a prayer for the recipient.

The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The cup and heart colored with Copics.
A simple, CAS card.  I didn't want to spend to much energy on it.  In stead just wanted to relax.
I used a loose interpretation of the MFT sketch:

Off to bed.  Will post this for tomorrow morning (when you will be reading it) before heading out to the hospital.  Today we make arrangements for mom to go to a rehab facility for awhile.

Challenges:
Stamploration CAS

Cuttlebug Mania - Christmas Time
Word Art Wednesday - anything 
MFT card sketch
Coffee Lovers Blog Hop 
All Sorts - snowflakes
Crop Stop - anything
Words 2 Craft By - I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year
 

Tiny Tags

I have a few small packages and maybe some homemade Pumpkin Spice Syrup to give as gifts this year.  These little tags are perfect.

The tags are from Kraft Outlet.  They are only 1.5 x 2.75 inches but the coffee cup die by Latina Crafters fits perfectly.  I cut the Kraft sleeve by hand and wrote the "to" on.
Fun and easy!

Challenges:
Simon Monday - Christmas
Simon Wednesday - gifts and gift tags
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Stamploration Tags

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop - winter
Cuttlebug Mania - anything Christmas 

Caffeinated Laughs

It's the Coffee Lovers Winter Blog Hop time.  I love these hops and all the fun ideas.  Not sure how many cards I will get made but I did make this one with a digital stamp by Tlc Creations.   I have no idea who I will give it too but it makes me laugh and it was fun to make.

The speech bubble is empty so I stamped "I love you" on it with a Verve stamp.
I wanted a busy background so I dug around in the scraps of Christmas design papers and came up with this holly - good colors for the sepia print. (It does have a fold mark in the middle but only noticeable in the photo, not IRL).  I used my new Elizabeth Crafts Design Holly die and added red pearls for the berries.  The sentiment is cut with a Spellbinder oval tag die.
Just a smile for the day (along with your coffee!!)

Challenges:
Simon Monday - Christmas/ winter holidays
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Dies R Us - Christmas Carols - The Holly and the Ivy
Die Cut Divas - winter theme
7 Kids College Fund - anything
Coffee Lovers Winter Bloghop
Joy Clair - inspiration photo
CardzTV - anything

New Idea for a Christmas Bag

Last week I was preparing to give a demo on gift wrapping.  I saw some really cute ideas on different blogs so I Incorporated several into/onto this bag.

I used Scoretape to put the lace on but it is hard to get anything to stick onto the Kraft bags so I will get the sewing machine out and stitch it on.
Instead of using an old Christmas card on the front, I printed out a digital image by Tlc Creations, distressed the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink and a distresser tool.  Then I cut a piece of cardstock larger than the "card", scored it with double score lines and embossed the edges with gold (Versamark direct to paper and gold embossing powder).  I also embossed the photo corners, changing them from black to gold. Here is another photo - hopefully you can see the score lines and the tag a bit better.

The tag is from the Kraft Outlet, already tea dyed.  I added more distress ink.  The stamp is by Great Impressions which I colored with Copics.

Challenges:
Simon Monday - Christmas
Simon Wednesday - gifts, gift tags
CardzTV - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Stamploration Sketch and Theme - stamps and gold
Stamploration - tags

7 Kids College Funds - anything

How About Some Snow Fun

This is the last of the cards for a bundle going to Send A Smile 4 Kids.

The image and sentiment are by Doodle Pantry (no longer in business).  I love so many digital stamps from that store and am privileged to own many as a perk from being on the design team for a few years. They make for cute cards for kids.
The image is cut and bordered with several dies from the Die-namics Circle Stax.  Snow flakes on the sentiment piece are cut with a Cuttlebug die.
The sketch is Die Cuttin Divas:

Challenges:
Die Cut Divas - winter theme
Simon Monday - icy
Cuttlebug Mania - snow
Dies R Us - Christmas songs - Winter Wonderland ("We'll frolic and play the Eskimo way")
Die Cuttin Divas - sketch
Cardz TV - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything

Silver and Gold

Do you remember Burl Ives singing Silver and Gold in the animated movie Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer?  Such a pretty tune.  Good thing too because it was stuck in my mind while I was making these Christmas cards.

  Isn't this a beautiful die cut.  It is a one piece die by Birch Press.   After making the cut on the 4 X 5 1/4 piece of cardstock, I backed the negative cuts with silver, gold, and bronze metallic paper, adhering the pieces with Tombow Mono Multipurpose Glue and Tape Runner.  Last step - adhere it to the card base with dimensional tape.
Just a few more cards to make and send.  Yay!

Challenges:
Die Cut Divas - winter theme
Crop Stop - anything
Joy Clair - inspirational photo
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Dies R Us - Christmas Carols
Cardz TV - anything 

Christmas Tree with Meaning

Hello Friends.  It has been awhile since my last post.  That's because I am still not making very many cards due to the injured hand.  It is difficult to cut, color, glue, etc. with a brace.  But I did get some made and sent to a few friends who live out of the area.  Here is one of them:

I love these two stamps by Our Daily Bread Designs.  I masked the area for the tree then stamped the musical score stamp with brown.  After removing the mask, I could stamp the tree with Artichoke.
In my collection of dies, I have several with different size stars.  I was able to find all the sizes I needed to cover up each of the stars on the stamp. (Cuttlebug, Verve, and a punch) The paper for the stars is a gold metallic paper.

Challenges:
Simon Monday - stars
Simon Wednesday - anything
Cardz TV - anything
Cut It Up - Christmas song
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Dies R Us - Christmas carol
Joy Clair - Christmas photo
Stamploration Theme - stamps and gold