Cardz TV Stamps New Year's card

Now that Christmas is over it's time to head into a new year. As many people do, I've set a few goals for myself for the new year. One of the things I've decided to do is send my grandson Kameron, who is three, a card every week. Kameron's daddy is on deployment. I'm really struggling with the emotions over this and my heart is breaking for my daughter-in-law. She is having a rough time being alone with a three year old and a new baby with no family close by. She is in N. Carolina and we are in Florida and her parents are in Michigan. 

Anyway, this is the first card of the year I will be sending to Kameron. I've kind of picked a basic design theme for every month. Each card this month will have a bear on it. I used my Cricut and the Teddy Bear Parade cartridge for all of this month's cards. I cut my New Year's bear at 3.5". I stamped the sentiment on his hat from the Cardz TV Stamp set "Just Saying. 

On the inside of the card I used the the sentiment Happy New Year from the Cardz TV Stamps set "Happy Days". 

I hope you'll visit me each week as the year progresses to see my weekly card for my grandson. Along with my themed cards for the month I've made special cards for the holidays (Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, etc). So far I have all the cards made for the first six months of the year. I found it was a quick process to make a bunch of cards as long as I had my Cricut machine out. Unlike some of you, I don't have a craft room. It's a bit of a process to get to crafting. I don't have the option of leaving everything out living in a 500 sq. ft. home and using my dining table to craft on. My hubby really likes it when he can have dinner at the table. No clue why-LOL! Just finding time to craft is difficult. Who knew life could be so busy in retirement. I hope you all have a blessed, healthy and prosperous new year and happy crafting.

The Cutting Cafe Gift Box and Bow

Christmas is just a few days away. Just in case you're looking for a beautiful way to present a gift this Christmas, The Cutting Cafe has just what you need. Today I'm showcasing the fabulous Round Box Template and the Gift Bow Template. Both are easy to put together and take no time at all. Add a pretty handmade gift tag and the box will be as wonderful as the gift. I discovered when putting the bow together that thinner papers work better than thick. For the box, a thicker paper works best. Both my bow paper and my box paper are from Michael's Recollection papers. Make sure you head over to The Cutting Cafe Blog on Sunday, December 21 to see the rest of the amazing projects from the Design Team.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed and safe holiday. I'd like to ask for special prayers for all our service men and woman who will be spending this holiday away from their families serving this country to preserve all the freedoms we enjoy. My son was deployed just a couple weeks ago and so I know first hand how difficult the holidays can be for both the deployed and those family members left behind, especially the children. Keep them in your prayers.

Cardz TV Stamps Gallery Christmas Countdown

WOW-can you believe Christmas is only a a couple weeks away? It's such a busy time of year. It's been especially hectic for me as we just returned from seeing our son before he deploys and attending our daughter's wedding on December 6th in Pinehurst, NC. The last of our five kids to get married. Anyway, I have another home decor project to share today. I made this little Christmas countdown chalkboard for my grandson. I was so upset with myself because I left it at home. I had wanted to give it to him when we visited. Now I have to stick it into the mail and hope it arrives in one piece. I found this chalkboard in the dollar bin at Target before Thanksgiving and decided to make it into a Christmas countdown. I attached some washi tape to the top and bottom edges then stamped all kinds of sentiments from a couple different Cardz TV stamp sets. I used Very Merry and Home for Christmas. For my little gingerbread scene I used some Lawn Fawn dies and stamps. I also used the Cardz TV stamp set Sugar Rush to stamp Sweet Treats on the gingerbread house. For the words on the chalkboard I used letter dies from My Creative Time. As each day passes the number can be erased and a new number written in with chalk. I think my grandson will enjoy this, and it will give him something to look forward to while his daddy is deployed. I'm going to make another countdown in a military theme for him to keep track of the days until daddy returns from his deployment. Thanks for stopping by today and thanks for your sweet comments you leave.

The Cutting Cafe Christmas Shaker Card

I love making shaker cards, so when Regina came out with this set at The Cutting Cafe and assigned them to the Design Team for this week I was so excited. The Christmas Shaped Shaker Card Template and Cutting File set comes with 8 shapes: Snowman, Stocking, Present, Christmas Tree, Snow globe, Mitten, Christmas bulb and Bell. I decided to go with the snow globe for my project this week that I hand cut after printing the PDF file. I used an older paper stack from SEI that had this pre-printed deer family. I fussy cut the fawn and popped it up for a little dimension. For the shaker elements I used clear seed beads, clear Diamond Dust glitter and clear sequins. Here's a little tip, if you have problems with your sequins, beads, glitter, etc. sticking to your clear acetate, just rub a dryer sheet over the acetate before assembling your card. I added a sentiment on vellum heat embossed with WOW white embossing powder. I know you'll want to head to the Cutting Cafe Blog to see the rest of the DT projects. They'll amaze you for sure.