Christmas In August

Did someone say Christmas in August? I have to tell you, when you're battling heat and humidity like we are here in the Deep South. it's a hard concept to wrap your mind around. I just had to keep reminding myself of how cold it was last winter, and how I couldn't wait for summer. That old adage about being careful of what you wish for, couldn't me more true this year.

At any rate, the challenge at Phindy's Place Challenge Blog was to create a Christmas Card. Well I didn't really have an image that I thought would work for what I wanted to do, so it was a great excuse to go shopping(as if I needed an excuse). Oh but to make it better, it's Phindy's End of Summer Sale, buy 3 and get one free(enter discount code PS914). Check it out here at the Phindy's Place Store. You won't be disapponted.

I know, I know, just get on with it. The image I chose is called Milk and Cookies for Who? Isnt' he the most adorable little fellow, and no I don't mean the cat. I decided I wanted to do a gate card, but to make it more interesting add an aperture to it. I wanted you to have a peak of my image from the outside of the card. I cut a circle of clear acrylic and then a circle of green. The holly leaves were a free image from Birds Cards blog, that I traced in my MTC software and cut with my Cricut. I added some leaf lines and shaped them a bit, finally adding some red jewels for my holly berries. It's really hard to tie a decent wreath both using 1/4" satin ribbon. I'm much better with 3" wide ribbon. I added the snowflakes to the front, so that I could catch the lip of the wreath under them to hold the card closed. Does that little glimpse of my little fellow give you a clue to the inside of the card?

The papers and the Christmas tree were in a free download from Shabby Princess called Holiday Magic. I colored my images with my Copics and then cut them out. They didn't stand out enough on the stripe, so I added a the blue deckled rectangle(sort of looks like a rug) and the two scalloped circles in the back. If I were an artist, I'd have made a fireplace. I used foam mounting to raise my images. Inside was still a bit blah and needed something. The Christmas light border was a free svg file from 4 Shared Free download(I'd love to give credit to the designer of the file). I again used MTC to resize it and then cut with my Cricut. I cut the lights out of white card stock and colored with copics, adding some white highlights and then covering with Glaze. I love the way they turned out. Sentiment was the last thing added, and it is one of the downloads from Create with TLC's Holiday Package.

Challenges Entered

http://phindysplacechallenge.blogspot.comPhindy's Place Challenge Blog - Christmas in August

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Make a Card for Christmas

Weekly Christmas Card Challenge

Totally Gorjuss - Christmas in August

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget I love hearing from you.

School is Cool!

This week at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog, the challenge was to create a Back to School card. Christy has some wonderful images just perfect for this challenge at the Tiddly Inks store, along with some more fabulous images. She also gifted us last week with a blackboard background paper that came in really handy for this challenge. The image I used is called Schoolgirl, and she's colored with Copics.

The other paper is from Caroline Creations Adorn It, School Academy Collections and is called Girl Academy.

Today I decided to try something I'd never tried before, a tri-fold shutter card. This challenge seemed to call for it. It was a whole lot simpler than I thought, and I really had fun with this one. I found an excellent tutorial at The Craftblog.

The real challenge is to fill all the parts of the card up so there's "flow", and yet not make the card too busy. Thanks to the MTC software and my Cricut, I was able to successfully do that, I think. The apple cut file was a part of the MTC gallery. I used the basic shapes of MTC to make and cut my chalkboard, and then hand wrote the sentiment with a white pen.

One of the neatest things about MTC is that you don't have to cut what you create. You can just print it to your printer. This really comes in handy when what you're cutting is really small and the Cricut just doesn't want to cooperate. I found the freebie for the stack of books with the apple at Christy's Everyday Little Things blog. I used this printing technique to print the file to card stock and then hand cut it. I finished up by adding a deckled rectangle to the back panel and faux stitched around it. It's just perfect for writing that note of encouragement to that schoolgirl.

My card is going to be sent to my cousin's daughter, who is starting her freshman year of college at Auburn. Surely she's not really almost 19 years old and a college freshman. Wasn't it just yesterday when she told me, I was her "other" mother? Well she still feels like my daughter so I'm missing her and want to let her know how proud I am of her.

I appreciate your stopping by and would love to hear from you.

Did Someone Say Polka Dots

I have always loved polka dots, so I was a really happy camper this week when Judy chose Polka Dots for the challenge this week on Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog. The Sassy Cheryl store has an almost unlimited supply of images to choose from. The problem will be narrowing it down to one image. I decided that "Cry Baby" needed to shine this week. I colored her with my Copics, cut her out with my Spellbinders and then sponged some pink ink around the image.

My papers are printed off the Color Me Happy CD put out by Funky Hand. What an awesome CD it is with 20 different patterned papers in 12 different color schemes. This one is called Blissful Baby.

The flowers I made a couple of weeks ago using my MS hydrangea punch with some Flower Soft for the centers. I finished my card off with a ribbon sentiment. Doesn't she look like a "Drama" Queen to you.

Thanks for stopping by, and I love hearing from you.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

MonkeyMoo is all about cowboys Last year for his birthday, he needed cowboy boots, a rope and a buckle. This year I'm making all of his birthday week cards with a cowboy theme.

This week's Phindy's Place Challenge was to create a card for a baby or a small child. Since MM will be 4, and Phindy just happened to create this precious Summer Cutie called GiddyUp, how could I not play along. Be sure to check out the Phindy's Place Store as she's recently added some of the most adorable Halloween cuties you've ever seen.

I printed the gingham from a freebie I got from Bev Rochester's blog (thank you Anne for the link), The rest of the cardstock is some I had in my scrap box. I folded the gingham to look like that bandana around my cowboy's neck. The cowboy boot was a free svg file from Svgcuts.com blog. I used my MTC software and my Cricut to cut the boot out. I made the belt by embossing a strip of brown card stock and adding some "stitching". I cut a piece of silvered card stock with my scalloped ovals nestabilities to make the shiny buckle, and then cut my image to fit inside. The image is of course colored with Copics. I used Word to create my sentiment( I was running out of time as I have presentation to work on also).

Do you think my little cowboy is going to like this card? I do. Thanks for stopping by.

BOO!

I've been working on a box of OWH cards for over a month. I got several general cards done and one set of Halloween cards. I try to mail a box of cards every month and this month is fast running out on me. Today I decided that rather than work on the challenge cards I had planned on, I would make some OWH Halloween cards so that I can get my box mailed out tomorrow.

This first card is one I did several weeks ago. I found some pumpkin and ghost clip arts and using the MTC software, I created the cut files for the pumkins and ghosts. The bat is from Brittany's Svg File. I hate that she's no longer creating files, but she has some really great ones. I used the MTC software again to weld the word Boo to the bat and then shadow it. The background paper is from The Paper Studio.

When I was at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago, I found some great felt Halloween embellies. I decided they would be wonderful for quick Halloween cards. I used the ghosts, pumpkins and Boo from the felt to create this second card. The DP is from The Paper Studio.I got to use my Martha Stewart Dripping Goo punch on this one.

For my third card, I again used the felt embellies, but went for a little more detail. The top DP is the same as in card 1, but the polka dot paper(which I personally love) is from Create with TLC's Holiday club offering that I printed. I used the Large and Small Labels from Spellbinders for the background frame for the cat. I embossed the orange with my D'vine Swirls embossing folder. I cannot remember where I found the ribbon, but I've just been waiting for a chance to use it. The bats are the made from the same bat from above. I just welded 3 together to make a border.

My fourth Halloween card couldn't have been simpler. My star background paper is from The Paper Wizard. I simply added the Happy Halloween ribbon, cut a bright yellow circle and added the felt witch.

I made 8 of each card so there are 32 Halloween cards going out tomorrow along with another 37 cards of various sentiments and 24 Any Hero letters that were written by the residents at the Trinity Assisted Living Facility when I did the craft time for them this summer during their Vacation Bible School.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oh Baby!

Oh Baby is right, and just in time. The challenge this week at the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog was to create a card for a baby or a small child. How opportune for me, as tomorrow I'm giving a Baby Shower Luncheon for my niece, and I needed to make a card to go with my gift.

This sweet image is called Counting Sheep, and I absolutely love it. Of course there are many more at Phindy's Store that are just as suitable for a baby card, and don't get me started on the Summer Cuties that would be perfect for a child's card(in fact I hope to get a birthday card done for MM later in the week). Just go check them all out here. I colored with Copics and added some polka dots to the sleeper. The papers and cardstock are from The Paper Studio. I started out following a sketch I found on Mojo Monday, but I quickly got sidetracked. After I tied the bow, I decided that I didn't want to wrap it around the card, and decided to try letting it "flow". The sentiment is from Bethany's Elegant Word Art and so perfect for this occasion.

Sure hope you'll all come and join us in the challenge. Thanks for stopping by.

Pretty In Pink

Well, this has been a good week for me. I got to use lots of pink, and you all know I LOVE PINK. Imagine my delight when the challenge at Phindy's Place Challenge Blog was to use a card using pink. Could you see me dancing the happy dance? Only one problem, out of all those wonderful images at the Phindy's Place Store, which one to use? I finally picked this Summer Cutie called Patience for what I hope is just my first card for the challenge. I saw a sketch similar to this on a card in Cardmaker magazine and knew it would be perfect for my card.

My image is colored with Copics. The card stock and designer papers are from The Paper Studio. I used my Martha Stewart Edge punch for the outside edges and then used my Spellbinders Deckled oval to cut a hole in the DP band. The flowers were made using Martha Stewart hydrangea and branch punches. I finally used the flower soft I bought a month ago for the flower centers. I think the hardest thing about this card was finding the right sentiment. The first place I go looking for a sentiment is Create with TLC. Paulette just seems to always have the perfect sentiment for Phindy's card, and how perfect is this one for this little girl tending that lone "flower". I rubbed a little pink ink on the sentiment card to tone down the white a bit.