Letter for Santa Snowglobe

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

This month I got my act together and finished my Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Challenge card early! no more of that freaking out over the time differences for me! ;)

The image we were sent for June is called 'Santa's Letter.' I added lots of sparkle to mine courtesy of stickles and some pearl pen drops. papers are from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection. I love the little figures in the bg of the main paper! :)  lace trim and holly pieces on the snowglobe base are vintage, sorry the twine bow got a bit catty-whompus in the scan, the main die is from Spellbinders, and the holly leaf flourish one is by Cheery Lynn. I added one of the little holly leaves to Santa's letter for a festive touch.

Challenges:
Outlawz Wed. Sketch - sketch
CRAFT - Christmas
Christmas Stamping All Year Long - ribbons and trims
Crimbo Crackers - anything goes Christmas
Sparkles Christmas Ch - fave color combo (I really love the pinks, greens, and blues of this paper collection)
Crafty Bloggers - bingo: column A (image, die cut, patterned paper)
Merry Monday - Santa Hat (in bg paper on Santa!)
Digi Choosday - 2 real papers (Basic Grey)

Peace on Earth Wise Man

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Happy Saturday!
I have been so busy with some behind the scene stuff that I completely forgot about getting my project done for the Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Challenge! I made it this morning, but when I went to link it up, discovered (i.e. 2x4 upside the head, oh yeah, goofball!) the time zone difference. linky closed. bummer. but at least I have another Christmas card to add to my stash. sad to be out of the challenges those. it was nice of them to send along a new image each month for everyone to play with. needless to say with everything going on with my biopsies, my head has so NOT been attached this month! ;)

Everyone who played along in April was sent the image, 'King 1 - Time to Go'. love the camel's expression! papers are from the Basic Grey Aspen Frost collection, poinsettia is from Hobby Lobby, gold stick pin is from Maya Road, and enamel dots are my handmade ones. everything else is from my stash. oh yes, crochet trim is vintage. punched star is inked with craft and sprayed with glimmer mist.  wise man's crown is painted with shimmerz.

Challenges:
Christmas Ch w/sketches - ch #125 farewell ch w/sketch :(
TTCRD - anything goes
WAW - anything encouraging goes
Crafty Creations - all about 'S' (star, spots & stripes on bg paper, sentiment, sand, sketch)
Delicious Doodles - for the love of animals
Jingle Belles - Peace on Earth
Christmas Stamping All Year Long - anything Christmas goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Ch - anything Christmas goes
Sister Act - any card goes
4 Crafty Chicks - anything goes
Outlawz Twisted Th - anything goes
Fab 'n Funky - Christmas
Fan-tastic Tues - anything goes

Christmas Robin, with Bells On!

Coffee of the Day - Sweet Potato (don't knock it 'til you've tried it - it's so yummy! a sweet buttery caramel flavor with brown sugar and a bit of pecan. oh my gosh, so tasty!)

for those of you who have asked, we have started getting some of these yummy decaf flavors of coffee from The Coffee Fool. every one we have tried so far is just fabulous! they are a little more pricey than other decaf flavors, but well worth it. as much coffee as we drink, it's worth it to spend a bit more on something so tasty. I also buy it on Amazon. life is too short to drink bad coffee. ;)

Well I woke up this morning in a panic because I realized it is the last day of the month and I still hadn't made my card for the Digi Stamps 4 Joy monthly progressive Christmas challenge. bad me! I hurried over to the site to make sure I still had time to get one made today and uploaded. whew.... still a very few hours left. so into the craft room I ran!

I actually like the way this one turned out, since I thankfully had already printed out the Christmas Robin image that was sent. papers are from the Basic Grey Figgy collection, embossing folder is by Tim Holtz, little burlap ribbon piece is May Arts, and flower is one from Hobby Lobby. the berries were topped with distress stickles. I tied some antiqued and distressed jingle bells to the grosgrain bow. the card has such a natural, rustic feel.

thanks so much for stopping by! hope you are having a great week! :)

Challenges:
Weekly Christmas Card Ch - anything goes
Crimbo Crackers - jingle bells
Winter Wonderland - no sentiment
Holly Jolly Christmas - embossing
Completely Christmas - anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Ch Extra - anything Christmas goes
Jingle Belles - all bundled up (3 or more layers)
Glory of Christmas - bows
Craft-Dee BowZ - anything goes with a handmade bow
Glitter 'n Sparkle - ribbon

O Holy Night - Progressive Christmas Challenge

Hello again!
I am trying to finish up my entry for the Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Challenge.

Everyone who played along last month was sent the image of this Christmas paper. (I used it for the bg) I also added another DS4J image, '3 Kings' to my card. things started off in an interesting way when I ran the Basic Grey paper through my printer. my lovely printer must be possessed by the same gremlins that inhabit my Yahoo email account, because it grabbed the printer all wonky and printed the image out crooked. since this paper has long been discontinued, I only have the one sheet of it. I was gonna have to use it wonky! as I used to tell people taking classes from me, there are no mistakes in crafting, only opportunities for whimsy. well you are staring whimsy right in the face here. ;)

I sprayed the paper with walnut gold glimmer mist and then used a gold metallic gelato to highlight the words 'O Holy Night'.  papers are from the Basic Grey Figgy collection, lace trim is vintage, pretty flower is from Hobby Lobby I think, (picked it up while visiting Ryan in Indiana since we don't have HL near us.) little tabs are made from a SU! punch that was cut in half. stickles and shimmerz paint were added to the crowns on the 3 Kings image.

edited to add new photo. went back and re-made card. really didn't like the other one at all. the free image given printed very pixel-y. took the elements from the other card and came up with this one. new sentiment is from an old Shady Tree Studios stamp set. snowflake dp is what was left from previous printed piece. much happier with this one! :)

Challenges:
Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Challenge - use image
Christmas Challenges - sketch
Chcolate, Coffee, and Cards - glitter (shimmerz & stickles) and lace
Completely Christmas - anything Christmas goes
Scrapping 4 Fun - lace and buttons
Winter Wonderland - kraft (card base)
Crimbo Crackers - anything Christmas goes
Fab 'n Funky - Christmas
Fan-tastic Tues. - anything square goes
Holly Jolly Christmas - bingo:  snowflakes (bg paper), free space (glimmer mist), blue

A Merry Merry Santa Dragon Tag

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Hello! Well I am just all over the place with my holidays today. drinking pumpkin spice coffee and showing you a Christmas tag. what in the world is going on in my wonky little world? probably best to not ever ask THAT question! ;)

but really, I am playing along in the Progressive Christmas challenge over at Digi Stamps 4 Joy. if we participated last month, we were all sent this little Santa Dragon image to use for this month. I thought he would make a fun tag.

the tag itself is embossed and lightly inked with white craft, paper is Basic Grey 25th and Pine, enamel dots are Teresa Collins, flower is a Shape EZ template edged in stickles. shimmerz paint and stickles are also used on the main image, which is popped off of the tag with foam tape.

I have several things going on 'behind the scenes' so to speak and have been really busy working on getting some organization done in my craft room. now that could take me til the end of next year, but I try to do little bits here and there....

hope to be back in another day or two with another project. take care! :)

Challenges:
Digi Stamps 4 Joy Progressive Christmas Ch
Outlawz Twisted Thursday - 3 of something
Crafty Ribbons - anything goes
Crimbo Crackers - Santa (if my Santa Dragon doesn't count, please just delete my entry. thanks!)
Digi Stamps 4 Joy - dies or punches (used both)
Lil Red Wagon - anything but a card, with paper
Paper Shelter - punches and dies
Penny's Paper Crafty - lots of layers
Shopping Our Stash - make your own embellies (flower)
TTCRD - anything goes
{Pin}spirational - anything goes
All Crafts - anything but a card
Eureka - animal friends

Christmas Candle and Snowflakd

Coffee of the Day - Coconut Macadamia

This is a super fast post as we are on our way out the door. I completely forgot about the Digi Stamps 4 Joy Christmas Challenge that ends later today. if you use the free image you get another image next month to play along.

I'll be back later to add all of the details. :)

I'm back..... we needed to take Mick his 'new to him' car, and while we were there also took he & Tyler out to dinner. unfortunately I got really sick as we were driving home. boo hiss on that....

here are the details for the card:
image is from Digi Stamps 4 Joy, papers are from the Basic Grey Aspen Frost collection. the snowflake behind the image is actually a glitter ornament I picked up at Michaels for about 25 cents. it's more sparkly gold irl. shimmerz paint accents the candle flame and stars, while the holly berries are dotted with stickles. frosted stickles outline the entire main image.

Challenges:
Digi Stamps 4 Joy - monthly Christmas challenge
Fab 'n Funky - Christmas
Creative Moments - anything goes/add some sparkle
Penny's Paper Crafty - spots and dots
Sisterhood of Crafters - winter snowflakes
Craft Your Passion - spots and stripes
Christmas Card Challenge - anything goes
Glitter 'n Sparkle - bling it up
Robyn's Fetish - lots of glitter
12 Months of Christmas - monthly Christmas challenge

Guest Designer at Digi Stamps 4 Joy

Coffee of the Day - Red Velvet Cake

I recently won a challenge over at Digi Stamps 4 Joy and they so kindly asked if I would be interested in also being a guest designer. I was happy to say yes! :)  the challenge is to create an easel card that also has bling.

I used the image 'Tropical Sunset' and Basic Grey Shine On paper. the sentiment is from Create with TLC. it reads, "A Sunbeam to warm you."  Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles dies were used for the shapes.

The card base was sprayed with glimmer mist for some added shine. the main image was first watercolored. The sun and water were then over-painted with various shades of glimmer mist to add more sparkle. it really has a gorgeous shine irl - subtle. 

those of you who are regular blog readers know the strict criteria my guys impose on any masculine cards I make. so because this card is going to a guy, I had to be sure to not add any bows or that other 'girly' stuff that makes my  men roll their eyes at me! ;) I did add some rhinestones to the corner, but hopefully the burlap (manly man grunt!) and coconut button (another manly man grunt!) will keep their rolling eyes diverted! ha!

thank you so much to Margy at Digi Stamps 4 Joy for the lovely guest designer invite! I had so much fun making this card! I do hope all of you will give it a go! :)

Challenges:

Paper Pretties - fabulous folds

Loves Rubberstamps - great outdoors

Papertake Weekly- weather with you

Cards for Men - anything goes

Melonheadz - fancy folds

Ooh La La - easel cards

Paper Playtime - more than one fold

Basic Grey - masculine

Word Play Saturday - weather

Digi Stamps 4 Joy Guest Designer

Coffee of the Day - Toasted Almond

I am so excited to have been asked to be a Guest Designer for Digi Stamps 4 Joy for their new challenge this week. We are being asked to create projects for the guys, something I really need to do in order to build up my stash to send off to MY guys at school...... and my guys back here at home as well. ;)


The Digi Stamps 4 Joy store has lots of masculine images to choose from, so I decided to go with Chef Henri. All of us love to cook in our family, so I knew he would make a great card. papers are Basic Grey Basics and My Mind's Eye Union Square. tickets are Maya Road, lace is vintage, & Amour stamp is SU!. I used beige acrylic paint on the card base edges as well as the Spellbinders die cut piece edges.

Crafty Pad - Something for the Boys
Karens Doodles - paper piecing
My Craft Spot - let's hear it for the boys
Scrappy Frogs - Lace