One Final Card

November has gone by so fast! And I think it's been the best month this year. I not only have my Christmas cards completed but I've made some new online friends and I have a ton of new card ideas that I want to try thanks to Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards challenge. What an incredibly fun month it's been. Thanks to Beccy for everything! I have one last card to post. I would probably have time to make one more but I've decided I need to clean up my craft space. After creating this past month pretty much non-stop my craft area looks like a bomb went off there. So after this post, I'm going to go see if I can straighten it up and get ready to move forward with Christmas preparation.
One of my favorite stamp sets of Beccy's is her Nativity stamp set.  She has a new nativity set coming out in December that I am very excited about. She showed us a sneak peek during the challenge. But I used her original set for this card.

This is actually a second try at this card. I cut the first card up to use as masks for this second card. I printed the nativity scene and the sectiment on cardstock. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I first did the yellow aura with Fossilized Amber distress ink and then covered the image and sentiment with the masks. I then inked the background with Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, and Black Soot distress oxide inks. After I unmasked the areas I used some of the Salty Ocean to blend in the sentiment. I scattered water droplets across the ink to maybe give it starry appearance and finished it off with the die cut star from Penny Black Manger die. The card base is a purple cardstock. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: N is for Nativity
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: Christmas
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Digi Choosday: anything goes

I just want to thank Beccy Muir again for a wonderfully enjoyable month of crafting. I can't wait for next year! Off to clean up my craft area for the next project. Have a super weekend!

Donna

Day 30 Do What You Love

Today is the last day for Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards. Day 30's challenge is to do what you love, kind of an anything goes challenge. So I love penguins and I have a DIL who is a huge penguin fan and I hadn't used that image at all for the challenge so I decided to do a penguin card.

This stamp set is Finn's Hot Chocolate by Beccy.  Finn is colored with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut with MFT Stitched Circles. I also inked the edge with Peacock Feathers distress ink. The sentiment (It's beginning to look a latte like Christmas) is from Create with TLC and die cut with Gina Marie Designs Wine Labels. I inked inside the die with Peacock Feathers too. All the designer papers are from American Craft. The card base is black cardstock and the layering cardstock is also black. I added some snowflakes from a retired Gina K stamp set on the image and sentiment. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 30 do what you love
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: sketch 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Crafting by Designs: get ready for Christmas
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Mod Squad challenge: use a critter on a holiday card

Thanks for stopping by today. December is right around the corner. Christmas is getting closer, oh my! Time to get serious about decorating and send all these cards out. Have a super Friday!

Donna

Christmas Kitty

While looking through some blogs this afternoon I came across a card that had a Zebra Striped frame and a Christmas greeting inside the frame. I thought sure it had to be a Z card for Beccy's challenge. And I thought it was a brilliant idea! But when I went back to look for it again (to give credit) I couldn't find it. Ugh! And I wasn't able to locate it on Beccy's blog either. At any rate I thought it was genius for the Z prompt and I liked it so much I thought I'd do an animal card with animal print paper.

This is Christmas Kitty from QKR Stampede colored with Spectrum Noir markers. I die cut the kitty, frame and the stripe across the background from MFT Blueprints 32. The banner flags in the upper left corner were die cut from MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. All the animal print papers are from my scrap box. For Girl Scout day camp one year we did an animal theme and these papers are left over from camp. The card looks very dark in the photo but it isn't quite that dark in real life. I added three gold enamel dots and and ornament from MFT Happy Pawlidays.

The inside of the card continues the same theme. The sentiment is also from MFT Happy Pawlidays. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 30 do what you love
• QKR Stampede challenge: anything goes
• Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge: sketch (I turned the sketch) 
  
• Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Penny's challenge: anything goes

I will probably have one more card today, at least I hope to. This month has really flown by and I've enjoyed creating all these Christmas cards. I now have a nice stash that I can start writing out to friends and family. Thanks to Beccy Muir for the inspiration and the fun challenges and the motivation to get myself into the Christmas spirit. She is definitely one of a kind. If you haven't been to Beccy's Place please visit her site and check out her wonderful images! Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Donna

Day 29 The Dreaded Z Card

Happy Thursday! This is the first day in quite some time that I have nothing pressing that needs to get done. I am posting my card for Day 29 of Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards. We have come to the last letter, Z! Where did November go? It's gone by so fast. For my card, I made a double Z fold card. As I was deciding how to decorate this card I was thinking that I hadn't used any snowmen on my cards this month, so I actually went back to review all the cards I made for the Month of Holiday Cards challenge. And I used a snowman on my very first card for A. So I decided it was high time to use another snowman.

The stamp set I used for this card is from Beccy's Place called Snow Angels. I used two of the snow angel images and two of the sentiments from the set. I found another envelope of holiday paper scraps last night so I used some of those to make this card. I used Beccy's Double Z Fold Card Tutorial to help me with the construction. She does a wonderful job of explaining exactly what needs to be done. The sentiment visible in this photo was die cut with Gina Marie Designs Wine Labels die. I fussy cut the snow angel images, colored them with Spectrum Noir markers and added Crystal Stickles to the halos and snow area and Wink of Stella to their wings. Here's another view.

Really happy with the way this one turned out. And it was such fun to make. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 29 the letter Z
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Monday Outlawz Greetings: add some red
• Crafting by Designs: get ready for Christmas
• ABC Christmas challenge: W is for wishes
• 4 Crafty Chicks: anything goes

So far this morning I got some errands done and phone calls in that have been on my list. I am waiting on a friend that's supposed to pick something up. I've gotten two loads of laundry and two loads of dishes done so I am energized to get some crafting done this afternoon. Hope you have a wonderful day too!

Donna

Day 28 The Letter Y

I do believe that this is my most difficult letter. Probably a better description is that it's my most unimaginative. I looked at last year's card and I used the same image and the same theme, "yellow."

The image is one of my favorites from Beccy's Place: Christmas Lantern (and it's a freebie!) I colored it with Spectrum Noir and Copic markers and die cut the image panel with Spellbinders Classic Rectangles. I found the sentiment in my stash so I'm not sure where it came from. If you know please add to the comments so I can give proper credit. I colored the sentiment strip with the same yellow as the glow of the lantern and then die cut it with one of the dies from MFT Blueprints 32. I added two heart brads and matched them to the colors of the flowers. The background designer paper is from Imagine That! Digis by Kris. The card base is black cardstock and I made the layering black also to pop the yellow.
I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 28 the letter Y
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Outlawz Twisted Thursday: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

So, for the moment I am all caught up. LOL! At least until this afternoon when the new challenges comes out. I am off to Head Start this morning to play with the twins and their friends. But first I have to bundle up. Stay warm and safe out there.

Donna

Day 27 is X

My card tonight for Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards is for the letter X. Last year I used this same stamp set because it's so perfect for this letter, but I did something entirely different. The stamp set is Simon Says Big Holiday Wishes and it features X's and O's . So I cut the two letters apart and here's what I did.

I created a Christmas tree using my MISTI and some ink. For the X's I used Bundled Sage distress ink on the first inking and then rolled MFT Elf Green around the edges and stamped again. So it gave the X's a two toned effect. I tried that with the star also but it doesn't show up as well. I used Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilized Amber on the star. The sentiment is also from the Simon Says stamp set. The little boy image with the dog is from MFT Little Buddies, which is not a Christmas set at all. But I thought the dog kind of looked like he was giving kisses to his best buddy. And I added some mistletoe to the card just under the sentiment. Using the X's to make the Christmas tree was lots of fun! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 27 the letter X
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes
• The Outlawz Monday Greetings: add red
• Hiding in my Craft Room: any holiday

I have one more card to catch up with for this challenge. So maybe I'll be caught up soon. It snowed most of today. We are definitely cold, cold, cold and white, white, white right now. But by Saturday it's supposed to be back up to 60 degrees again. This up and down will surely have everyone sick. Tomorrow is my day at Head Start so we'll see how the kids are doing. Hope all is well with you!

Donna

Day 26: W is for Wreath

Good morning! I am happy to say that I am getting caught up after the Thanksgiving Holiday. I still have a few things to get caught up on but it won't be today as I am gone from home all day today. Earlier this fall I was able to take a craft class from Gina and Rina K from Gina K Designs. It was all about the Gina K Wreath Builder. I bough the wreath builder but haven't had much time to play with it. So I was excited that "W" had finally come around! Of course I hadn't bought the Christmas Wreath Builder set so I had to go hunting for stamps to use. Here's what I came up with.

The holly leaves and berries are from a retired Flourishes stamp set called Drummer Boy. The flower and additional leaf sprig is from the actual Wreath Builder kit. I stamped the holly in Memento Black ink and then colored them with Prismacolor Pencils. The flowers I stamped with MFT Cherry Crisp pigment ink and the sprigs I stamped with MFT Elf Green pigment ink. The sentiment is from another retired Flourishes stamp set called Christmas Music. I cut the stamp into two words so I could stamp them beneath one another. To finish it off I added some tiny white pearls to the center of each flower. I love how this turned out. Looking forward to playing some more with the wreath builder! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 26: W is for wreath
• Incy Wincy challenge: square card
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas

I am off to exercise class this morning and then volunteering at  Opportunity House this afternoon. Today is half off everything in the store so I know we will be very busy. I'm not exactly sure if I will be a cashier, a bagger, or floating in the store but I'm sure they will keep me busy! Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I will be back with my X card later today. Have a super day!

Donna

Day 25: V for Vintage

I'm back again with another card today. Day 25 at Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Card challenge was the letter V. I decided to go for vintage.

The image is from Luna Girl digital stamps. The sentiment is so cute. It's part of the image. It reads:

Wish I could be there

Your Christmas gifts to see

But since I can't I'm sending

This Christmas Wishing Tree.

I have lots of relatives that we don't see on a regular basis so this image would be perfect for them. I'm not crazy about the card design though. I used the Sketch Saturday sketch. 

I did turn the sketch. The stripes are washi tape. The pendant in the background is a die cut from Spellbinder's Contemporary Hearts Pendant. The background designer paper is from American Craft. I backed several layers with black cardstock. The card bast is white.

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 25 V is for vintage
• Sketch Saturday: sketch
• Penny's Paper-Crafty challenge: anything goes

Thanks for dropping by I am heading back to my desk to work on my "W" card. Hope you are all warm and safe. More snow is coming down here. 

Donna

T is for Teddy and Tree

I thought I would get this posted earlier but time slipped away from me this morning. It snowed too and we had a wintery mix but fortunately nothing is sticking. It was in the 60s over the weekend but our brief glimpse of warmer weather is now just a memory. Winter has returned. Tonight we are supposed to get more nasty weather. So my Stickles has dried and here's my T card!

The image is from Bugaboo stamps called Christmas Teddy Tree. I colored him with a variety of markers, used white gel pen for accents and Crystal Stickles for parts of the Santa hat. The designer paper is from Close to my Heart. The kraft cardstock base was stamped with Versamark ink and a snowflake stamp. The red and white striped paper was die cut with one of the Spellbinders Classic Triple Scallop dies. I added some green self-adhesive gemstones for embellishments. The sentiment is from The Paper Shop (sadly no longer in business). I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 23 the letter T
• Stella Sketch Catch the Bug: sketch (I flip flopped the sketch a bit; turned the scallop upside down and put the image to the right side.)
  
• The Outlawz Monday challenge: add some red
• Cupcake Inspiration: the holidays 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes

So this evening I'll go back to trying to catch up with Beccy's challenge. Not many days left in November so I'll have to get a move on. Thanks for stopping by. I'll leave you with a picture of a little playground excursion we took while the weather permitted over the weekend. The twins had a ball at the playground! 

Have a wonderful day!

Donna

U is for U-Fold Card

Happy Sunday! If you've been following my 30 Days of Holiday Cards at Beccy's Place challenge, you may be saying "What happened to your T card?" It's coming. It's drying right now so I decided to go ahead and post my U card. Day 24 is the letter U and I chose to do a U-fold card.

I used the Santa image from Beccy's The Big Guy digital stamp set and Dasher from the Dasher and Dancer digital stamp set. This is an A2 size card. Everything except those two images is stickers. I looked in my sticker box which I never remember and found a bunch of Christmas stickers. So I decided to decorate the card with these stickers. Have no idea where they are from. But I thought it turned out very cute! I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards challenge: Day 24 the letter U
• Hiding in my Craft Room: any holiday
• Rudolph Days challenge: anything goes Christmas
• The Alphabet challenge blog: R is for reindeer
• Scribbles Designs challenge: reindeer games
• The Outlawz Paper ala Mode challenge: Christmas

This was a fun card to make and fairly easy. The shadows made the photo look a bit funny. I hope it's not too bad to tell what the card looks like. Thanks for stopping by today. I'm hoping to get my T card up early tomorrow morning. Have a good week!

Donna

Playing Catch Up

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Time spent with our family was very special. We had the twins and their Mom with us so it was a pretty busy time. Those two can really keep you hopping. But we had lots of fun! So I am now playing catch up with the challenge over at Beccy's Place. Day 22 is to CASE one of your earlier cards. The card I chose is from November 2014. I'm not sure if it's one I entered in Beccy's challenge that year or not. Here is the card I am casing.

And here's what I did for a new card.

I still used the plaid background. I love plaid! But I added black card stock for layering to make the colors pop. The image is from Beccy's Place called The Big Guy Digital Stamps. The sentiment is from the same set. All the die cuts: the plaid paper (stitched edges), the tag and the star are all from MFT Blueprints 13. I punched a hole with one of my hole punches and tied some ribbon at the top of the tag. The star die cut I edged with Fossilized Amber distress ink before adhering to the tag. I still kept it fairly simple. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 22 CASE one of your own cards.
• Outlawz Twisted Thursday: plaid
• Penny's Challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Winter Wonderland: Christmas/Winter People

That may be all I get accomplished today. We have another event this evening. Tomorrow I hope to get more done. I'm still behind three cards. Have a super weekend. 

Donna

S is for Sentiment

It's hard to believe that we are on Day 21 of Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards challenge already! I thought about going with the obvious like snowmen or Santa but then opted for something that I use in almost all of my cards, and that's a sentiment. I gave it center stage this time.

The sentiment is from Beccy's Place Spirit of Christmas Digital Set. I die cut it with an MFT Stitched Circle die. I then backed it with a Spellbinder's Scalloped Circle. I actually dug around in my Christmas paper stash to find something different and came up with the Close to my Heart paper. I backed the designer paper with black card stock. The poinsettia embellishment is from Beccy's Place Poinsettia digital set. I added some leaves from Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves dies. To finish off I added some sparkly silver gems. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 21 the letter S (sentiment, scallops, sequins)
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes

We traveled this afternoon to our family home for Thanksgiving. The twins were so good driving in the car. But once out of the car they wanted to run, run, run off some excess energy. I am really tired this evening. We'll be with our family for the next few days. I'll have to get caught up again after I get home. Wishing all my U.S. friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. Hoping you spend extra time with family and friends and give thanks for all our blessings. Take care!

Donna

Snow Couple Like You

Welcome to Tuesday! This week is already shooting by. I have a lot to accomplish today to get ready to drive tomorrow for Thanksgiving holiday. I think the worst thing about the holiday is packing everything up and the travel time. Otherwise I usually love the holidays.
My brother and his lovely wife will be married 50 years on December 28th. Since it's so close to Christmas I am often late sending it out. But this year I'm going to be on time.

The Cute Snow Couple are the progressive challenge images at The Outlawz. They are images from Drawn by Krista. I colored them with American Craft markers. The background DP is also from American Craft. The ric rac is from my ribbon stash, I created the sentiment with my computer and then die cut the hearts with Spellbinder's Scalloped Hearts. I added Recollections Glitz to areas of the image. Inside I used the same DP and added the sentiment Happy Anniversary. I am entering these challenges.

• Progressive Challenge at the Outlawz: use the images from Snow Couple
• The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: snowman
• Incy Wincy challenge: square card
• Simon Says Monday challenge: let it snow
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. I am headed off to start packing and baking for Thanksgiving dinner. I am hoping to get back to my craft table this evening. We'll see how it goes. If not, wishing all a wonderful holiday.

Donna

Oh Reindeer!

Back with one more post today for Day 20 at Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards. Today's challenge is to use the letter R in some way. I've chosen ribbon and reindeer.

Indiana Inking
The image and sentiment is from Beccy's Place Dasher and Dancer digital stamp set. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut it with MFT Stitched Ovals. The yellow and green strip is ribbon. The rest is designer paper from American Craft. I layered several snowflakes from silver glitter paper die cut from MFT Layered Snowflakes and to finish it off I added a green gem stone for the centers. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 20 the letter R
• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Catch the Bug Bingo: sentiment, yellow, ribbon
• Simon Says Monday challenge: let it snow
• Crafty Friends challenge: gemstones or pearls
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: Christmas 

That's it for me tonight. Tomorrow is another busy day. I need to pack and be ready to leave for our trip by tomorrow evening. We'll be gone for three days and then I'll be back to playing catch up again. At least Thanksgiving is a bit earlier this year. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you find some rafty time!

Donna

Quarter Fold Card

Happy Monday! The start of another week. This week is Thanksgiving in the U.S. So we'll be out of town for a few days. We are taking the twins and their Mom with us so there won't be any time to craft. Family will be number one for a few days, as it should be. My card today is for Day 19 of Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards and the letter prompt is Q.

I made a quarter fold card using the tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers. I used the pre-colored image from Beccy's Place Silver Bell. You can't really tell from the photo but the flowers were really white so I used a BG1 Spectrum Noir marker to color the flowers to make them about the same color as the music DP. The sentiment is from MFT Happy Pawlidays and I die cut it with Impression Obsession Mini Rectangle Tags 2. And here's the inside of the card.

I carried over the music DP. The sentiment is from an old Flourishes set called Christmas Music. I really had all kinds of trouble getting this card to work. Twice I cut the papers incorrectly. Even after I got the right dimensions I had to adjust the size to make them fit correctly when putting them together. It's a fun fold that I don't do very often. Now I know why. LOL!
I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 19 Q is for quarter fold card
• The Outlawz Monday Greeting challenge: anything goes
• Simply Create Too: more than one fold
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More: holiday 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes

My Monday didn't quite goes as expected. My DH went with me to Opportunity House to fix some door locks. It took him all day and he has to go back tomorrow. We only drove one car so I was stuck. Put in a few volunteer hours today but we got a few things done too. Hope your week is off to a great start. Take care!

Donna

Poinsettia Thank You

So one of the sets that I've won so far at Beccy's Place this month is called Spirit of Christmas. It has these beautiful poinsettias and this particular image has the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" in the background. It's really very pretty. I've used one of the pre-colored images.

Since I have been working on Christmas cards all month I'm in pretty good shape with Christmas cards now. So I decided to work on my Christmas Thank you cards a bit. So this is a very simple card I hope to mass produce. The image was not die cut. I just trimmed it on the paper trimmers and backed it with green cardstock on a red card base. The sentiment is from MFT Grateful for You stamp set, heat embossed with gold embossing powder, and die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiments. It's really very pretty in real life. I have a couple other ideas with this one so you might see a variation sometime soon. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 18 P for poinsettia
• Hiding in my Craft Room: thank you
• Creative Knockouts: thankful thoughts
• 613 Avenue Create: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes

It's getting late and I'm ready to turn in. I'll leave you with pictures of my two favorite little ones from yesterday. We had a ball together!

Take care!

Donna

Penguin with Present

Today I have Day 18's card for Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards. The letter for Day 18 was P. I chose a penguin with a present. And rather than a card I did something a bit different. An ornament.

I make these ornaments out of used ribbon spools. I just pull the cardboard off one side and then file away any excess paper or glue. I did a tutorial for an ornament like this a while ago. This digi stamp was a freebie from Di's Digis. I die cut the image with MFT Stitched Circles dies and added Recollection Glitz to the Santa hat. I added some black dots to the penguin's scarf too. This is the first time I tried using buttons on the ornaments and tied bows with embroidery floss. The ribbon that goes around the outside of the ornament is red velvet ribbon. I need to make about 10 of these since I was going to add them to the kids' gifts this year. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 18 the letter P
• Catch the Bug challenge: Bingo (ribbon, button(s), sparkle)
• The Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode: anything but a card
• Get Creative challenge: anything but a card
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

I almost have my Day 19 card done too. Maybe I'll get that up tonight before I go to bed. We'll see how far I get. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Donna

Day 17: The Letter O

Happy weekend! I have a busy one with the twins coming all day today. So I thought I should get these cards posted before I ran out of time. Day 17 at Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards is the letter O. I actually made two cards for this letter.

I die cut the Birch Press Ornament Trio die twice, once in gold and once in blue. Then I used the die pieces to inlay the ornament designs. The pink background I used glue to inlay the pieces but on the second card I cut a piece of double-sided adhesive. That was much cleaner and faster. But I found that using my embossing buddy helped take any stickiness away that remained on the cards. After inlaying the die pieces I stamped the sentiments for each. The black card stock sentiment is from Altenew Halftone Holidays and the Merry & Bright is from a retired Gina K stamp set. To finish each card off I placed some enamel dots on the ornaments. Here's a closer look at each card.

I wanted to use some no traditional colors. My favorite is the black, blue and gold. I think black and gold together is so elegant! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 17 - O
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: all that glitters is gold
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

The twins are on their way so I have to scoot. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Take care.

Donna

Day 16 - N

Today I have a confessions to make. Beccy of Beccy's Place had a gorgeous no line coloring card for her N card and I wanted to try it out. So I used her tutorial to print off a scene with her Nativity Digital Stamps. I got through that part just fine. But when I tried to color it I couldn't see the lines. I have cataracts and the doctor has told me that I will need surgery but it wasn't critical so I let it go for now. So until then no line coloring isn't in my future. Bummer! So I switched tactics and decided on the North Pole.

The Santa image is from Limited Runs and is the progressive stamp of the month. I colored him with Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut him out. I used Crystal Stickles on parts of his Santa suit. The sentiment us from the Creative Visions Holiday Greetings. It was still on my desk. The slopes are from two different sets. The one with the trees is called Scenic Winter. I believe these came in a craft magazine. I won them as a blog candy earlier this year. The other slopes are Simon Says Stitched Slopes and Hills. The star is from MFT Pierced Star die-namics. To finish off I used a white gel pen for some accents, including the white dots in the background. Originally I meant these to be stars but they also look like snow so you can take your pick. I am entering these challenges: 

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 16 the letter N
• Limited Runs Progressive Challenge: use the Santa image
• Addicted to Stamps and More: holiday 
  
• CAS Christmas Card challenge: Santa 
  
• QKR Stampede: anything goes 
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes

The ice is slowly melting from our storm yesterday. Everything has gotten back to normal I think. Hoping to get some more time to play this afternoon. The twins will be here all day tomorrow so crafting will definitely be out while we play with them. Can't wait until they're a bit older and craft time will be fun! Take card. Have a super weekend!

Donna

M is for Mother Mary and Messiah

I'm back with a second post today. If you are looking for the Dueling Darlings post, please scroll down or click here. This post is for Day 15 of a Month of Holiday Cards at Beccy's Place. The letter today is M.

I found this image in my digital stash.This is Mother and Child from Paper Dreams of Mine. She hasn't posted anything since 2012, but I love this stain-glass look that was a freebie. I colored the image with a variety of markers. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday from Christ is Born Stamp Set. I heat embossed the sentiment with white EP. The card base is purple cardstock. I really like this card! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 15 Letter M
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: Christmas
• 613 Avenue Create: Christmas/winter
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: Christmas
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes

We had an ice storm last night. It was supposed to be snow with some ice but it was mostly ice. The schools are all closed. When they close Opportunity House also is closed so I didn't have to go to volunteer this morning. Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you are warm and cozy!

Donna

Dueling Darlings Fly Away

Happy middle of the month! It;s the 15th already and time to post with the Dueling Darlings. We are divided into 2 teams: the Divas and the Dazzlers. I am part of the Dazzlers team. Our hostesses this month were LJ for the Divas and Darlene for the Dazzlers. Here's what Darlene wrote for this challenge kit:
Did you know that November is National Aviation Month? November is dedicated to exploring, recognizing and celebrating America's Great contributions and achievements in the development of aviation. LJ & I decide it would be a great theme!
Kit Contents:
"Sky is the Limit" images by SU! Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on SU Very Vanilla cardstock.
Sentiments are also from that set and stamped with Memento on Very Vanilla.
DP from "Going Places" pack by SU!
The embossed folder is "World Traveller" by SU! on "Pool Party" cardstock, also by SU!
The polka for ribbon is by SU!, all other embellishments are from Darlene's stash.
Here's my card.

I loved the map paper that Darlene included. All the paper's were really cool. I die cut the image with Gina Marie Designs Stitched Diamond die. I inked around the image with Salty Ocean distress ink and a scalloped edge circle for the look of clouds. The sentiment I die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitch Rectangles. The arrows were part of a ribbon but since it has these awesome arrows I wanted to see the arrows so I cut them apart and used them as embellishments. I also added a few gem stones and a heart that were included in the kit. I used light blur cardstock as the card base and black cardstock as a layer. Thanks to Darlene for the wonderful kit this month. Please check out the other wonderful creations by the team.

Dazzlers:

Darlene | Jeanette | Shelly | Terry L | Tracie | Splitcoast Galleries: Terry A | Debby B | Paola

Divas:

Barb | Carol | Judy | Heather | Kelly | LJ | Tami | Splitcoast Galleries: Suzy | Terry S

I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch as inspiration for my card. I am also entering Seize the Birthday challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today. Thanks to all the Darlings who I've gotten to know this past year. It's been wonderful!

Donna

L is for Lights

Day 14 of A Month of Holiday Cards at Beccy's Place is the letter L. One of my favorite images of Beccy's is this Christmas goose with his string of lights.

I colored the goose image with Bic markers. He is die cut with MFT Stitched Ovals and inked with Mowed Lawn distress ink. The border is Magnolia Berry Lace and I colored in the leaves and berries with Bic markers. The designer paper is from American Craft and the sentiment is from Create with TLC. Lights are my favorite decoration of the Christmas season. I would be happy to have a tree just with lights on it. I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 14 the letter L
• Creative Knockouts challenge: border time
• Atlantic Hearts challenge: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More: holiday

This is the third time since November began that we have a winter storm bearing down on us. It's still fall here and it's very unusual to have this much bad weather in November. I hope that isn't an omen for the winter ahead. Freezing rain and snow tonight so the morning drive should be lots of fun tomorrow. Hope you are all warm and safe. Thanks for visiting!

Donna

Christmas Candy

Happy Wednesday! I am normally not home this morning but wasn't feeling 100% so decided I shouldn;t go visit Head Start. I didn't want to infect the kids or teachers, just in case.So I have extra time to get crafty. Here's a quick and easy card.

The wrapped peppermint is from Beccy's Place called Christmas Candy. I fussy cut the image and thought it would look good with this candy cane stripped paper from American Crafts. I glued the paper to the inside of the card and then cut a 1/4 inch off the front of the card so you could see the paper inside. The sentiment from Creative Vision Holiday Sentiments stamp set, is stamped with Gina K Amalgam ink. I added a faux stitched border around the edge. A vert CAS card! I am entering these challenges.

• Beccy's Place A Month of Holiday Cards: Day 3 C (for Christmas candy)
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: border time (candy cane strips)
• Catch the Bug: something yummy

Since I am home today, I hope to find some more time to craft. I have a few other things I'd like to get done so we'll see. Have a super hump day!

Donna

Give Thanks

One more quick post this evening. I don't send a lot of Thanksgiving cards but I do need a few. So here's a Thanksgiving card that I finished tonight.

The image of the pumpkins and frame is from Eureka Stamps called Fall Frame.  I added a sentiment to the frame from Create with TLC. I colored with Copic markers and die cut the image with Spellbinder's Large Rectangles. The leaf paper in the background is a napkin that's been glued to card stock and the middle designer paper is a scrap from my scrap box. It's backed with black card stock and a green card base. I used a wooden leaf as an embellishment. I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Stella Sketch: sketch 
  
• Simon Says Monday: thanks/Thanksgiving
• Work it Wednesday: fall give thanks
• Simon Says Wednesday: thanks/Thanksgiving

Thanks for stopping by. I took a day off of Christmas cards but I'll need to get back to those tomorrow. Hope you have a wonderful hump day!

Donna