Happy Holidays and a Few Cards

Hi everyone!! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday.

Ours was jam packed with family and it was nice. I also have had time to go to the movies, walk with friends and today I am going axe throwing for the first time!! It is a family activity that we are doing along with our neighbors.

Today I wanted to share some cards I created for a friend for Christmas. I had started them before Thanksgiving but then things got to busy for me to finish. The sentiment is the tag line of her charity that she has in the name of her late brother. I created each sentiment in Photoshop, printed it out and then used foil over the top.

This one I showed last week for a challenge that I didn't post in time but it is part of the set so I thought I would post again.

I used a Simon Says Stamp die and shaded red Distress Ink in the background for this card. I wanted to make each kind of simple because I figured she could send them out as thank you's.

As per my usual, I had to change up the design on each just a bit because otherwise I would get bored. Hence the square sentiment in the middle of the card below.

This particular green card is my least favorite. I had to put the gold border at the top because I didn't put the background stamp high enough. I had limited time so I couldn't do over.

The card below is how I originally wanted it to look. Simple, simple simple.

On another note, I have been having a really hard time. In order to feel better, I have been planning ahead for things to look forward to. One of the things I did the weekend before Christmas was to go to RI and tour some of the mansions that were decorated for the holiday. I have never been and it was so much fun.

The above photo is from the back of The Breakers Mansion. This place is just so ostentatious. All the gorgeous ceilings were my favorite things about this house!!

This was just one of the Christmas trees at The Breakers.

These were the two friends I went on the tour with. They are the same girls I went to Ireland with. We had a lot of fun walking around Newport, RI.

A poinsettia tree at The Breakers.

This is a replica of The Breakers in Gingerbread!!! The kitchen was gorgeous in this house!!

Some of the gorgeous ceilings for our mansion tour!!

We left at sunset and it was so pretty!!

We had such a great day. We did go to other mansions but they were not as nicely decorated as The Breakers.

That is all from me today. I hope you all have a great night!!

CAS-ual Fridays Post

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a fabulous holiday!!! Today I on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog creating FOUR cards by only stamping two panels. Below is a sneak peek.

Hop on over to the blog to see how I created these cards!! 

I thank you for stopping by!! Have a GREAT day!!

A Quick Post

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope you are all doing well. I am glad my work day is done. It has been so hard for me to go to work lately for lots of reasons.

Today I am popping in with a card that I created for Freshly Made Sketches #415 but alas, just didn't make the deadline. I really tried!!!

I am making a set of cards for my friend at work and this is just one of them. The sentiment is one I created myself and printed out.

I then foiled it using red foil. (that is not a solar flare but the shine!!!)

The background is a new die that I bought from Lil Inkers. All the rest are from My Favorite Things.

Here is the sketch I used for inspiration.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by!! Have a fantastic night!!

Happy Monday and some Christmas Cards

Hi everyone!! I hope the start of your week is FANTASTIC!!!

I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that during this stressful holiday season, take a breath and enjoy the little aspects. I am not fond of the commercial aspect of everything but I do relish having my house all decorated, wrapping my presents up all pretty with beautiful bows, and taking the time to pick personalized gifts to the people that I do buy for. THIS is what makes me happy.

Another thing that makes me happy? Making cards-even if I am not going to send them out this year. Okay, I am going to send cards but home made cards only get sent to a few people. The rest get my photo cards.

Today I am popping in with a few cards I created for some challenges. My first card, I used two challenges as my inspiration.

I used CASE this Sketch #350 as my inspiration, as well as Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge-Traditional Christmas.

 

This card technique was one I used last year on some cards and one that Kristina Werner demonstrated this year on one of her Holiday Card Making 2019 videos. Hers came out WAY better but I gave it the old college try!!

I added some gold Nuvo drops for "ornaments" across my tree. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I have to admit that this sketch was really hard for me for some reason. I have TONS of stuff but just no mojo? Anyway... it is one more card created for my stash.

My second card is another Christmas card.

This card was inspired by Sunday Stamps #219-Feeling Festive graphic and the Paper Player's Challenge #470 from last week. I made the darn card and never posted it!!

Once again I used my Hello Bluebird Frosty Littles stamp set for the little scene.

The colors were inspired by the colors from Sunday Stamps color challenge and the snowman was inspired by both of the graphics.

I am kind of a dork but wanted to make a kind of "snow globe" effect with the little scene in a circle.

I would say that even though this stamp set is not new, it is new to me and is my favorite this season.

Well, that is all from me today. I thank you for taking the time to stop by.


I hope you all have a FABULOUS Monday!!! Don't forget to make someone smile today!!

Some Challenge Cards

Hey everyone!! Happy Sunday!!

Just popping in with a couple of cards for some challenges. I have been busy making cards for relaxation and not blogging lately. Just too tired to do both.

My first card is for the Inspired By challenge.

I was inspired by multiple things on the image below. I combined the deer, the greenery, the hoop, a tree...I think you get the picture!!

I used Hello Bluebird's "Frosty Friends" images for the tree and the deer, and some presents I had stamped for something else that I am not sure where they are from.

The embossing folder is a Richard Garay folder I had from last year. The greenery is from Simon Says Stamp.

I adore how this card came out!!! However, I think the deer is a bit dark. I will use different colors next time I color him in.

I used a bit of Nuvo Glitter drops over a bunch of areas on this card. This has become my new favorite thing to use!!

I am also going to enter this into Just Us Girls Challenge #516-Anything Goes and this weeks Time Out Challenges#150-Merry and Cheerful.

 

My second card I created for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches #414.

I kind of flipped it? Instead of the element strip at the bottom, substituting a little spray of pine cones and branches. I always hesitate when I do things like this because I don't know if I am supposed to go by the LETTER of the law or what inspires me?

I decided to use some of my Christmas pattern paper that I have TONS of in my stash, though this from this year and is Prima "Christmas in the Country" collection.

I combined and Echo Park die cut with the MFT sentiment. That sentiment looks wonky close up but IRL if it even!!

The pine cones, branches and leaves are from Stampin Up!! I coated the pine cones and branches with Nuvo "White Blizzard" glitter drops for some shine.

I really like how this card came out as it was kind of out of the box for me.

On another note, yesterday we decided to give our dog a bath and groom him a bit. We are trying to save money on going to the groomers, which is good. The clippers and Dremel have already paid for themselves after just two cuts at home!! However, it did take both Chris AND I to do it. Zack did not like the cutting part, though doesn't mind the bath or the blow dry.

I am pretty happy with how it came out, actually. Better than our last attempt!! However, our kitchen floor was COVERED with hair, as was I. I think I will be finding it for days-though we did use a huge sheet to try to contain the mess on the floor.

Well, that is all from me today. I thank you for stopping by and I will be back with a post tomorrow to with some more Christmas cards!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!