Sending Christmas Wishes

Go morning, and happy Monday! Well, perhaps it isn't a "happy" Monday but it's OK, right? I had a fun weekend of crafting and hope to be finishing up a few projects to share. In the meantime, here are a couple more Christmas cards that I created using supplies from a Photo Express card kit (House Mouse #4). The card kit included all of the papers & ribbons that I've used although I threw in some brads of my own and changed up the layouts.

Card #1 uses a digital image (Bronson & Beaker Letters to Santa) that I purchased from Pollycraft Digi Stamps & More. The image has been coloured for quite a while just waiting to be used and I thought the colours of this paper were a great match. 

Card #2 uses a stamped image provided in the kit - I just love all things House Mouse and this duo is particularly adorable. I coloured the image using Copics and then added a bit of Glossy Accents to the red flowers in the swag. I'm wondering if the gold bow is a bit too small though? There wasn't enough ribbon in the kit to make a larger bow but I think this might be a bit out of proportion - what do you think?

Challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge - let it snow

Simon Says Stamps Challenge - let it snow

Crafty Catz - Christmas

One Stop Craft Challenge - Christmas cuties

Pile It On - feathers 'n fur

Stamping Vacation - snowy Christmas wishes

Stained glass Christmas

So tell me, do crafters ever get tired of glitter? You don't actually have to answer that because the answer is so obvious - everything is better with glitter! And with that idea in mind, I decided to experiment with some acetate, peel-off stickers and glitter.

To create these cards I started with a sheet of acetate that I cut into circles. I adhered peel-off stickers to the smooth side of the acetate and then coloured on the rough side using my Copic markers. Next I added matching Stickles glitter glue to the rough side and let dry. Next, I cut a slightly smaller circle from a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper (Eskimo Kisses) and a cardbase. Once the glitter glue was dry, I attached the acetate between the cardbase and the patterned paper so that the image showed through.

To embellish the cards, I created a swag with pine branch punches and a poinsettia flower. As you can see, I went non-traditional by using a light green and lots of pink. I think the result is a very feminine and sparkly card that suggests stained glass.


Challenges:
Drunken Stampers - no stamps
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas using non-traditional colours
Crafty Creations - Christmas
Creative Cottage - non-traditional Christmas
Stamping Vacation - start here: red glitter (see the second card with it's deep red)
ABC Christmas - "X" is for Christmas, optional: flowers
Lil Red Wagon - Basic Grey
Fussy & Fancy - Christmas with no red/green (see the first card; I used such an unusual shade of green that I hope it counts)

Something to crow about

Today I'm sharing a scrapbook page that I completed about my youngest son's Halloween performance. His kindergarten class has been learning about crows so their Halloween party had a crow theme. All the kids dressed in black and they performed a couple of songs about crows. It was a wonderful performance and, as you can see in the pictures, my son had a great time!

To scrapbook the day, I used a simple layout with bright red and black embellishments. The title is computer generated, as is the journalling block on the page bottom. I framed 2 of the performance pictures with an Ezee Pzee chipboard frame (filmstrip) that I coloured black. I matted the larger photo in black as well. I created the popcorn bucket by covering an Ezee Pzee popcorn bucket die cut with the same red striped paper that I use on the layout. I added some shading to help give definition and depth to the container. For the popcorn itself, first I painted the die cuts using a vanilla colour paint. Then I used a yellow Copic marker to add shading. And then finally, I used a brown marker to draw in some definition lines on the larger pieces. The crow & owl stickers are Martha Stewart (purchased on sale just after Halloween!).

Now that I look at the photograph of the page, I'm considering moving the popcorn bucket and crows up a bit higher - there seems to be a bit too much white space above it. Hmmm. I find it interesting how often I re-evaluate a project when I see it photographed - seems to just present it differently somehow. Do you ever find the same?

Challenges:
Everybody Art Challenge - use shapes (I used several die-cut shapes)
Papertake Weekly - cut it out (use a diecut shape)
Copic Creations - shading your paper-pieced sections
Fab n Funky - go with the flow / anything goes

A Serious Christmas Card

I've been making Christmas cards like crazy so I was just thrilled to find this sketch at Cute Card Thursday because it is so versatile. So far I've made 3 cards using the same sketch (and in fact, the same background papers) and I'm loving each one.

For today though I want to share this card which I made using an Ezee Pzee gift diecut and some Basic Grey papers.

I wanted this card to be more masculine because I intend it for my doctor and I just love how this patterned paper (from Basic Grey) manages to look festive yet not flippant (if that makes sense - LOL).

To make the 3D gift on the front, I wrapped the Ezee Pzee diecut in a scrap of the patterned paper and then added gold Stickles to the inside of the circles so that it really glitters and stands out. To emphasize the fact that the present has a lid, I folded a separate strip of paper and adhered it onto the top - the result is very dimensional. Then I added a gold ribbon and bow, again following the lines of the diecut shape itself.

I thought about adding a sentiment to the front of the card but decided to go with these poinsetta flowers instead. Originally they had coloured gems in the centres but I removed those and added gold Stickles. Then, to pull the card together even more, I coloured 2 of the flower layers to match the green matting of the gift.


Challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - sketch
Simon Says Stamps - sparkle
Crafts & Me - glitter
Our Creative Corner - 3D
Cards for Men - Christmas for a male
Creative Inspirations - Christmas
Everybody Art Challenge - use shapes
Papertake Weekly - cut it out (use a punched shape or diecut)

Teacher's gift

Today's project is my first created for the Ezee Pzee Dezign Team. For those of you who aren't aware, Ezee Pzee is a brand-new company producing laser-cut diecuts and albums. The products are fabulous and of the highest quality which makes them a real pleasure to work with! For my first Dezign Team project I chose to use a die cut apple and alpha to embellish an inexpensive chalkboard that I picked up at Michaels.

I decided to go quite rustic so I stained the frame of the chalkboard using Distress Ink and Copic marker. Next I coloured the apple (again using my Copics) and alpha and adhered them to the frame. I had a heck of a time getting the apple just right - at first it was too flat in appearance, but this chipboard is so wonderfully dense I was able to keep working it until I got the look I wanted. The "A B C" were really easy to colour - just a couple of layers with my Copic markers. I didn't put any finish on the chipboard as I wanted its natural brown colour to come through to enhance the rustic feel.

I went back & forth on whether I should add any finish to the shapes but I decided to leave them plain so that, again, the rustic appearance was enhanced. I figured that even a matte finish would be too much.

I love how easily this project came together - colouring the apple was probably the longest step. My plan is to pack this away now for a teacher's thank-you gift although the kids spotted it and are trying to convince me to let them have it. We'll see ....

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - use Autumn colours

Simon Says Stamp & Show - use your Distress inks

Creative Card Crew - thanks (thank you gift for teacher)

Christmas wish-lists

Christmas is rushing ever-nearer and so the kids are thinking more & more about what they want from Santa. To help them keep their lists in order (and under control) I made up these fun little wish-list hangers for them. I saw this idea on one of the blogs I read but can't remember whose. If you recognize the source, please let me know as I would really like to give proper credit for the idea.

I started with a couple of wooden signs that I bought at Michaels for $1.99 each. I stained/coloured them using Distress Ink and Copic markers to achieve a natural wood appearance. I then attached a long ribbon down the back and adhered some coloured craft sticks (using very strong Sookwang tape). The kids will write their "must-have" items onto the sticks.

To decorate the signs, I used a computer generated label that I embellished with glitter. The key ingredient though was the addition of decorated chipboard shapes that I got from Ezee Pzee.

Luke asked for a snowman on his list so I chose this wonderful snowman shape. I started the decorating process by colouring his hat and arms with Copic markers. I then added Glossy Accents to the hat. Once that was dry, I added green Stickles glitter glue to the scarf and hat band and then orange Stickles to his nose. Again, I needed to give some drying time before covering the rest of the snowman with Sookwang double-sided tape and then pressing in white fun flock. For the finishing touch, I added small black brads in 2 different sizes. I love how dimensional the final product is. And all the different textures (especially the fun flock) are lots of fun.

Alex decided on a pair of mittens and I admit to having some difficulties getting the finish just right. I decided to use 2 colours of fun flock which is something I haven't done before. First I tried adding it with Sookwang tape but I wasn't happy with the final look - it was just too flat. So I decided to add another layer using glue as the adhesive. It gave a much thicker finish but I probably should've scraped off the first layer as the glue didn't go on evenly and so the final product ended up a bit lumpy. I've convinced myself that this is OK since the mittens are intended to be those home-knitted thick type (LOL). I added a bit of green Stickles to finish it off.

And now these hangers are on strong magnets on the fridge just waiting for Santa to come by and fulfill all the wishes. Oh, and I had to add several more sticks as the boys seem to think Santa is a lot more generous than he really is. And talk about generous, you must check out Ezee Pzee's facebook page. There is a brand-new challenge to create Christmas projects and the winner (randomly chosen) will get to design their very, own chipboard shape set! And if you don't have any Ezee Pzee's yet, you will find the order form right there as well as a list of stores now carrying the line.

Challenges:
Ezee Pzee Challenge - Christmas
Critter Sketch - texture
Winter Wonderland - make a decoration
Challenge Up Your Life - Christmas
One Stop Craft Challenge - snow people
Our Creative Corner - 3-D Christmas
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - sparkle
Creative Inspirations - Christmas / Winter

Best present ever

Today's Christmas card features an adorable dog from Mo's Digital Pencil Too.

I coloured this digi image with Copics and then cut out him using a Spellbinders die. Then I lightly inked the edges of the frame with a Copic marker (R25) to help the panel stand out more against the busy background paper. The patterned paper itself has lots of glitter & glitz so I kept the embellishments to a minimum, just adding a stretchy Christmas'y ribbon along the top. The card is quite simple but I'm really quite pleased with my colouring job on the dog - I have lots to learn about shading but I think I managed to capture the ruffled softness of the fur.

This is a super short post today as I am tired after spending last night at a benefit dinner for "Feed the Future" (providing hot lunches to children over the summer months when school lunch programs aren't available. The food was good and the company enjoyable but the highlight of the evening was meeting Chef Michael Smith and hearing about his recent experience cooking for the 2010 Olympics up in Whistler. He had some great stories about the food preferences and special requests of the various Olympic athletes. And it doesn't hurt that he is a super nice guy who had all of the ladies in the room (excepting me, of course) drooling into their prime rib.

Have a wonderful day!

Challenges:
Totally Gorjuss - traditional Christmas colours
The Crafty Pad - Christmas sparkle (the paper & ribbon have sparkle/shine)