Merry Christmas!

Here's the Christmas card I made this year - inspired by Aly Shilling. She made a card similar for a birth announcement. Hopefully, the warm beach in the picture will bring some warm thoughts to those in the cold temperatures! The picture was taken during our summer trip to Panama....such a great trip with great friends....just one of our favorite memories from 2009.

Best wishes, happy memories, and Merry Christmas!

1 day 'til Christmas - Ballet Blue

Well, it's sure snowing and raining here! Everyone is advised to stay at home and off the roads...we'll see if we even make it to church tonight. Kinda crazy!

I'm soo ecstatic to be done with this countdown! It was fun, but I picked the busiest time of the year to make 48 cards in addition to my Christmas cards, swap cards, etc. Oh well, it's done!

Sunday, my sister and I are going to the Very Valentine class at Archiver's. Crazy the stores are already thinking of valentines, but it should be fun. I've been wanting to go to an Archiver's class for a while, and my sister (she's 12) seems pretty excited about it too!

Stay Warm!

2 days 'til Christmas - Rose Red

I made the cupcakes on this card a few months ago at Jennie's house. She had us all over for girls night and we had some fun!

3 days 'til Christmas - Old Olive

4 days 'til Christmas - Real Red

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

5 days 'til Christmas - Creamy Caramel

It's party time! Officially on vacation and ready to relax! Cheers!

6 days 'til Christmas - Garden Green

Another blender pen card....it seems we are actually a day off in this countdown! Lovely excitement of doing this countdown got me a little off....so today, we're doing two cards, and then the last card will be on Christmas Eve, when there is ONE day until Christmas left!

7 days 'til Christmas - Apricot Appeal

I've been having lots of fun with my blender pen...such a great tool!

8 days 'til Christmas - Green Galore

Jennifer created this card for the Hostess club make and take at her house on Wednesday evening. It's fun to see what she comes up with every month, always something new and different!

9 days 'til Christmas - Perfect Plum

Here's the same card I made a couple days ago, just switched around the colors.....The snowflakes don't show up quite as well on the Pale Plum, but the embossing (which you can't see in the pic very well) gives it a subtle look. Can't say I'll do this again on such a light color, but it was something fun to try.

10 days 'til Christmas - Lovely Lilac

11 days 'til Christmas - Pale Plum

I tried something a little different here....the snowflakes are stamped with Whisper White craft ink and then embossed with iridescent embossing powder. It worked ok for the most part - a couple things I need to perfect.. 1 - how to get a good solid white image with the ink - it seems faint in areas, and 2 - when to stop heating this powder! It doesn't bubble up like other colors, so it's hard to know when to stop! If you have suggestions, let me know!

12 days 'til Christmas - Cameo Coral

I actually made the cat portion of this card a long time ago, and it just didn't fit on the card I was making at the time, so I set it aside. This is not my typical kind of color combo, but I thought it was interesting and sort of monochromatic in a sense - cameo coral and regal rose. I used the blender pen to add color to the cat, in hopes of making it look somewhat like my Bailey, but of course, the real thing is MUCH prettier! Happy Monday!

13 days 'til Christmas - Almost Amethyst

14 days 'til Christmas - Pixie Pink

15 days 'til Christmas - Really Rust

16 days 'til Christmas - Yo Yo Yellow

17 days 'til Christmas - Close to Cocoa

18 days 'til Christmas - Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie is one of my favorite Stampin' Up colors, so not difficult to make a card with this color...just difficult to try and do something new that I haven't done before, especially in any of the other 29 cards you've seen most recently. I will be very excited for Santa to bring some new stamping stuff!

19 days 'til Christmas - Brilliant Blue

My family in Iowa is expecting a big snow storm tomorrow....this cards for you!

20 days 'til Christmas - Chocolate Chip

Since chocolate chip is so dark, I decided to do some stamping on the inside of the card too. I've seen this done many times before and I think it adds a lot to the card, especially this one. I'm also liking these ribbon tails on the scallop circle. Just something different, and it doesn't use up all my ribbon! I had a very productive weekend...Christmas cards are started and the shopping continues....it's the most wonderful time of the year!

21 days 'til Christmas - Only Orange

I'm back on track! Hope you're enjoying all of the cards!

22 days 'til Christmas - Gable Green

23 days 'til Christmas - Certainly Celery

24 days 'til Christmas - Always Artichoke

25 days 'til Christmas - So Saffron

This card features the Petal Party simply scrappin kit. I was also inspired by last weeks Mojo Monday sketch. I really like these happy colors!