Merry Christmas To All

Okay, folks, one more post before I take a break for the holidays.
I debated sharing the card I made for my dad, but decided against it. I TOTALLY cased one of Maile Belle's cards from the October PTI release here. I couldn't help myself. When I saw Maile's card, it was so completely perfect for my dad. So anyway, have a look at Maile's beautiful card, and you'll pretty much see mine. The only thing I changed was the sentiment, and I made the pool of water a little larger.
So now, off to the rest of the cards...

 This one is simple and to the point, and EASY to mail. Never thought I would use the Grunge Me set on a Christmas card, but I did....

 Another one that could be mailed with no extra postage, but the light hitting all the spots of Diamond Stickles was quite lovely. I debossed the Kraft panel with the Tin Types Impression plate after stamping, and just hit all those circular indentions with a drop of Stickles- perfect placement every time.

This ended up being one of my favorite cards this year. I dunno, something about it just makes me happy. I'm still loving the Parisian Lace doily die as a wreath, too.
So, I'm headed back to the kitchen now; have to make some cookies for Santa, don't ya know?
I wish each and every one of you a happy, wonder filled Christmas, and blessings heaped upon you for the New Year.
See ya next year!

Getting Closer

to Christmas! Are you all ready? Packages purchased, wrapped and hidden? How 'bout those Christmas treats- have you started your baking?
I just thought I would pop on here and share a couple more Christmas cards before the day gets away from me.
So, short and sweet; here we go:

 Yes, I do love that Quatrefoil die- I think it's just gorgeous! The splotchiness on the tree was intentional, although I wish I'd had better control of it. I inked up the stamp, and very quickly (or should I say haphazardly) stamped it off once, making sure I didn't stamp off the entire image. That left more ink in places for a bit of "shading", if you will, on the stamped image.

 I love the poinsettia dies cut from felt! I used the metal shim and did 4 passes through my Cuttlebug (two forward rolls, and two backward rolls). They were cut out so completely they literally fell out. I colored some adhesive backed pearls with a gold leaf pen.

This one was inspired by Lisa Johnson's water bottle tag here. I just couldn't resist those bright, happy colors and sweet little birdy.

Okay, that's it for today. I think I have three more that I'll try to show tomorrow, and then that will probably be it for me until after the New Year.
Now, I've got to finish getting ready. La Princessa is out of school for Winter Break, and it's been raining here the last three days, so she hasn't gotten to play outside. She NEEDS to burn off some energy, so we're headed to Monkey Joe's to let her run around to her heart's content. Did I mention there happens to be a Michael's just down the road from Monkey Joes? How convenient. {grin}

Little Goodies

Hiya, long time no see! I'm sure you've all been just as busy as I have the last couple of weeks, so Thank You for taking the time to stop by.
I've got several Christmas themed projects that I've made, but just haven't had the time to post yet. In order for me to share everything before Christmas (no one wants to see Christmas stuff after Christmas, right?), I'll have to bombard you with multiple projects.
Today, I want to share some gift boxes and gift card packaging.
First up, a few simple gift card holders. The seed packet die from Papertrey Ink makes the perfect size holder that goes together in a flash, in case you're short on time.

I cut the Shape-up Series: Snowman from white cardstock and used the coordinating stamp set to give them a little more personality. The scarves are itty bitty scraps of felt; I cut in about 1/4" wide, and nearly went blind trying to add "fringe" to it. So very simple, but a cute little something for the young cousins.
Next, a couple more gift card holders, this time geared more for the adults.

I kept it super simple again, these did have to travel through the mail. I used the seed packet die again, and this time used the Limitless Layers 1 3/4" dies and 2011 Holiday Tags to dress it up a bit. The banner ends on each were cut using the Spellbinders Nested Pennants dies.

The next three photos are a gift box I made for my husband's grandmother (it contains a gift card, too, but I wanted the packaging to be more "special" for her). I TOTALLY got the idea for the stamping from Betsy Veldman, when the PTI DT did the Vintage Ornaments: Revisited post here. Her card was just SO gorgeous, and I fell in love with it, so here's what Betsy inspired:

 I just love those colors together!

 Thankfully, even my bow cooperated for this project. {grin}

I wanted to use a bell for the center of the bow, but the only bells I had were a shiny brass color, and didn't look right, so I smooshed it around on my Versamark pad and dipped it in the same white embossing powder that I used for the stamping. Ah, much better.
And finally, I have the gift boxes that I made for my daughter's teachers, and this time, not a gift card in sight.

 I started out using the standard "pizza box" template. I really like the way the finished product looks with that one. However, it wasn't deep enough for what I was putting in the box; it's about 1" deep, and I needed 2", so I had to reconfigure the template.

 Some gorgeous Graphic 45 paper, the Damask Snowflakes dies, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" dies, Wonderful Words: Holidays dies, and Holly Jolly dies, and I was in business.

Here's what inside the box- nah, it's not a "big" gift, but it's a "good" gift, right? My philosophy is that good chocolate should be enjoyed as often as possible, and I'm just tryin' to spread the message.
Okay, well, I hope you've enjoyed at least one of my little goodie offerings today- I've been spending TONS of time in the kitchen the last several days, but dear sweet Mr. Brown brought me a big honkin' box of PTI goodies today, and I'm going to kick back and play with my new toys.
Hopefully, I'll be able to share more Christmas cards tomorrow, so maybe I'll see you then.

We Can Build A Snowman

There probably won't be much snowman building in my neck of the woods this winter, but that's okay with me. I'm one of those people that like to see snow WAY off in a field somewhere, but that's about it.
On the other hand, snowmen, are just SO stinkin' cute....
While we're on the subject of snowmen, this wonderful quilt caught my eye on Pinterest:

Is that not spectacular? I could just curl up under this and never come out.
I knew I had to re-create this beauty in paper, or at least attempt to re-create it. {grin}
Here is my card:

Yes, I did stitch between all those sweet little snowman faces, which was the most time consuming part of the card.
Want to make your own? Allow me to share a couple of tips-
Get out the Spellbinders Large Octagon and Large Classic Squares dies. Use the second smallest octagon and the smallest square. Twelve octagons happen to fit perfectly on a 3 3/4" x 5" pices of cardstock. The squares ALMOST fit perfectly between the octagon spaces- there is just the smallest bit of overlap, but if you use patterned paper (thinner than cardstock, ya know) you really won't be able to tell. You'll need 13 (if I counted correctly) squares, some of which you will be cutting in half diagonally for your triangles.
So there you go; I've done the math for you, go make a cutie patootie snowman card!
What's in it:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink- Rustic Cream, Kraft, Simply Chartreuse
Patterned paper: Graphic 45- An ABC Primer (Jumping Joan)
Stamps: Papertrey Ink- Shape-up Snowman Accessories, In the Meadow
Ink: Papertrey Ink- True Black
Colored pencils: Prismacolor (carrot nose)
Dies: Spellbinders- Large Octagon, Large Classic Square, Labels Ten; Papertrey Ink- Pine Boughs, Holly Jolly
Fibers: Papertrey Ink- Dark Chocolate baker's twine, Rustic Cream button twine
Bells: Hobby Lobby
Other: Walnut Ink- Tsukineko
Thanks for visiting, and have a wonderful day!

Make It Monday- Ribbon Pleating

Hello again!
It's time for another Make It Monday project, although mine always seem to get posted on Thursdays.
This week's challenge is ribbon pleating. I'll share a little something with you, the first time I attempted this technique (way back when?), I was less than pleased with the results. but us paper artists don't give up, do we? I had to give it another go, and this time I actually like the way it turned out.
Disclaimer: I visited Nichole's blog yesterday to check the number of entries for the challenge, and noticed that not only was there a ribbon pleated Christmas tree, it got a shout out! Honestly, I'm not trying to copy anyone's idea here. My tree was already finished, and I only needed to finish assembling the card. I'm chalking this up to "great minds think alike", and here is my card:

It's been awhile since I've used ribbon on a card- I think this one takes care of that. {grin}
What's in it:
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink- Vintage Cream, Fine Linen
Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink- Holiday Flourishes & Swirls
Stamps: Papertrey Ink- Big & Bold Holiday Wishes
Ink: Versafine- Onyx Black
Punch: Punch Bunch?- star
Embossing powder: Ranger- Gold (Super Fine Detail)
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink- Spring Moss satin, Simply Chartreuse satin, Ripe Avocado satin, New Leaf satin, Pinefeather satin
Note: the tree base is a Spellbinders Nested Pennant.
Tons more to do today, so see you later!