Let it snow frame

Continuing with the snowy background that I have been creating lately for my cards, I created a framed one. I promise My next card will not be Christmas-y, lol. It feels great getting caught up on my Christmas card stash though. There are times when I want to just buy our cards, but then I look through my stamps and get inspired. Playing along with WMS's Christmas card challenges and Festive Fridays really help inspire me too. In fact, I am going to throw this on into the ring for the current FF challenge: Snow.

This time I decided to use the background as part of the framed scene I created. It was super easy to put together using the Country Landscape die by Memory Keepers. I simply die cut the image three times and cut them how I wanted. I then took a glitter pen and colored and outlined the parts I wanted to sparkle. A few punched, sparkled snowflakes and a sweet sentiment finished it off perfectly. A CAS card without the typical solid background.

Here is a close up of the sparkle.

Stary Christmas

I've got another Christmas card for ya'll today. This one if for the WMS Christmas Card Challenge - July. This is the month I am hosting the fun. We have made it to the half way mark. How is everyone doing with their Christmas Card stash? I admit that I fell behind, but I have now caught up and feeling the pressure (that I create for myself) go down as I watch my stack of completed Christmas cards go up.

The month of July for Americans and Canadians is important because we both celebrate our country's birthday (on different days). It is important to me personally because it is also my birthday month. In honor of all of these big celebrations and the "stars" of them, my challenge to you is to use at least one STAR on your card. Also, be sure you used at least one WMS stamp on your card (this doesn't have to be the star).

I created two cards again with each one being just a touch different but both using the same sketch from CASE(E) this Sketch!. With the one you see above, I splattered some Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist. The one on the right below has no glimmer mist but I did stamp a trio of stars in the upper corner of them main image. The card base is vanilla that I lined in gold. I used a navy c/s for the next layer and stamped three different stars (the largest and smallest are from WMS sets) in gold ink. The gold glitter strip if sticky back paper I found in my stash. Bonus b/c this means the glitter won't come off and create a mess. I used WMS's Festive Foliage for both the sentiment and image. The bottom layer of holly is the second generation stamping for a softer look while the main leaves and berries are popped up and stamped full force.

Be sure to head over to the WMS gallery to link up your card so that we call all "ohhh" and "awww" over them too.

Snowy Christmas

Another Christmas card for ya'll. Hope you aren't getting tired of them yet as I have at least three more to share in the next week. Today's and at least one other this week (and another later this month) use the same background technique I used for the last two posts. I love how fast these backgrounds came together.

This time I focused the technique on the top third of the card to create a snowy nighttime sky. For the scene I used Memory Box's Country Landscape and cut it out three times. The first layer was taped directly onto the base with the other two layers popped up each. I coated the back and top layer with sparkle and outlined the middle layer. The sentiment is from WMS's Compliments of the Season. to finish it off I lightly watercolored the middle house and tree to create a cozy Christmas home. I even added a small bling on top of the tree for the star. To soften the whole then I rounded the bottom corners. I am putting this card in the CAS on Sunday challenge, Christmas in July as well as their DT call.

Santa Claus is Coming

So, he isn't coming until December 25th, but I do have a Santa card to share with everyone. I have been playing catch up with my Christmas cards and the WMS Christmas Card Challenge (CCC). The challenge from back in May was to add glitter. So I did; only I added it in small amounts for these cards (I made two of them). I was also in the mood to play with a different size card. These fit in the standard legal envelopes so there won't be any extra postage. With the longer card I thought it would be fun to use the ornament from WMS's Santa's Coming to Town set. And to play on the sentiment found in the image I added the date from the set too. It also gave that side a nice anchor and didn't make the card so heavy on the left side. The background was created by directly inking/covering white c/s with DI Chipped Sapphire and then stamping the large snowflake from Complements of the Season and the small one from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with white ink. To complete the background I flicked some Perfect Pearl mist and then plain water for a subtle glitter and texture. The background didn't sparkle enough but I didn't want it competing with the ornament so I simply added a thin strip of sticky tape to either side and rubbed glitter into it. Perfect! The image was white embossed onto navy c/s, cut, and popped up with foam for just a touch of depth. The corners were rounded to soften up the card.

I'll be back soon with my June CCC, and then it'll be my turn to host the July challenge.

WMS Christmas in March

March 10th came and went and that means it is time for another WMS Christmas Card Challenge. The idea behind this monthly challenge is that we will have all of our Christmas Cards done by Thanksgiving with some last minute ones in December. I need lots of cards and I don't like doing the same design that many times so this is a great way to spread it out over the months and have different designs. This month is all about Navy and Citrus Green. This one started out difficult and then once inspiration struck I was able to create two designs for it.

The first card was inspired by Amber of Damask Love's heart card found here. I took a couple of the snowflakes found in WMS's Compliments of the Season to create the navy/green snowfall and stamped the sentiment in the center towards the top. Once I complete this cards I decided to try another design before it left me.

The second card uses WMS's Bright season and Compliments of the Season. For both cards I used Distress Inks in Chipped Sapphire and Shabby Shutters. I created the banners by breaking up the sentiment. I ended up making four of these too.

Time for some WMS Christmas

The 10th of this month has come and gone, but I have only now been able to play along with the new WMS Christmas Card Challenge. This month's challenge was to use hearts. Being in the CAS mood as of late I did just that with the challenge: kept it simple. I ended up creating four of these cards too. The sentiment is from WMS's Seasons of Love and the sweet little banners are from WMS's Bitty Banners. The sketch is from CAS(E) this sketch; however, I am posting it a tad late.

Just a short and sweet post today. Trying to find the energy to craft more. That and trying to find inspiration for a craft challenge in a magazine. We shall see where it takes me :)

Long time between posts

I can't believe it had been over a month since I last crafted. I have missed it greatly and was excited when I had the chance to create again the other night. I was able to catch up and complete the WMS Christmas Card Challenges for 2012 and was excited to do so as I greatly enjoy these challenges. The November challenge was to include a light of some kind so I used my new WMS Little Lantern set to create a rather simple card. the sentiment is from a PTI stamp set.

The top and bottom layer of washi tape was created by my stamps and some tissue paper. The red washi I had laying around. I would love to get more of this stuff as I only have two (same pattern but different colors).

The December challenge was to use green. I used one of my favorite WMS stamp sets: Festive Foliage. The banners were created with spray inks, stains, stamps, alcohol inks, and embossing folders. The each have a little something on them even if it is hard to see the details on the white ones.

Christmas for Caring Hearts Card

Here are the latest cards I made for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. I totally CASED these cards; however, I so don't remember from whom or where. I am very sorry. I am start to come to the conclusion that so long as I am working during the school year my crafting/blogging time is more or less put on hold. While I don't really like that (this is one of my stress release), it is only for a season and I do see a light. All but one of these cards uses PTI's Winterberry (the other card uses PTI's Snowflake Melody).

CAS Christmas

I have discovered that when I am crunched for time CAS is the way to go for cards. In under a total 4 interrupted hours this week I was able to create 12 cards. Now for some this isn't all that fast, but for me when I haven't been really focused this is lightening quick. This post is just a quick one so that ya'll can see most of the cards. My favorite ones I created were the Holy Night cards (I created two of these) and you can see that one in the post below this one.

 I made three of these

 Made two. To get the blue I used glossy accent to cover the ornaments and heat embossed the sentiment. I also used a white pen to add a touch of snow to the branches.

These were fun to create and color. Here are the close up of the cute little images too.

Hexagon Kind of Christmas

I found a new CAS(E) Challenge blog and it is all about sketches. It is called CAS(E) the Sketch! Since it is their first challenge, I thought I would play along. I had the idea to make the circle with the image in it a peek-a-boo window. I also wanted to use my hexagon stamps and large die. After combing the two, this is what I came up with. At first, it was a little too simple (not CAS simple...more ugly simple) to me. As I was trying to decide if I should chunk it or try to salvage it, I saw my glitter glossy accent and inspiration struck. I decided to save my card and coat a few select hexagons with the glossy stuff. Not perfect but much better.

Time for a Card Drive

Vera from Ling's Design Studio is hosting her Caring Hearts Card Drive and I knew I had to join in. Even with work being crazy busy and then coming home and being wife/mom I just have to create and this would be a perfect thing to create for. She collects holidays cards (all directions on on her blog) and then sends them to various nursing homes around the country. Since I have most if not all of my cards made for family and friends this would be easy to do.

For my cards today I was inspired by Danielle's card here. First I just had to recreate her card. It was so easy to do with the Mistletoe & Holly stamp set from PTI.

After playing with that set, I decided to try to get the same look with Snowflake Medley stamp set (also by PTI). To get my layers I stampe a large snowflake first in Kraft ink, then a medium size one in Vintage Cream, and the smallest one in Fresh Snow. I then heat embossed the sentiment (from WMS's Compliements of the Season) in white. To achieve the white paint frame I simply used my Snow Cap Dabber. This came together so quickly that I went ahead a made three of them :)

It's a pink Christmas

For many I know pink is the color of preference for the holidays. I don't mind it, but truthfully I am more of a traditional cal. However, I do like to play with different colors for the holidays. This particular color challenge is for WMS's Christmas Card challenge on their forum. I knew I wanted to use my Dainty Dolies for this challenge, but I wasn't sure how it was going to play out. Whenever I get stuck I look for a fun sketch challenge to play along with too. This one came from Mojo Monday and I had lots of fun with it. It seems that I am loving my Festive Foliage WMS stamp set this year too as I have been using for almost every challenge this year. The sentiment is from WMS's Compliements of the Season and the banners our stamped with a wee little banner from Bitty Banners. I really love the touch of green on this card with the holly leaves.

A Rustic Christmas

So I got a chance to craft this week. It took me a couple of days to put this together but I am glad I did. I really miss my crafts. To help me get back into a crafting mood I decided to check out this month's Chrsitmas card challenge from the WMS forum. It was a countdown challenge. As in 3 different WMS stamp sets, 2 embellies, and 1 circle. This one was a challenge too. I wasn't able to wrap my brain around it at first. I had it in my mind that I wanted to go rustic but wasn't sure how to pull it off with the challenge at first. I think the hardest part was the circle. Since I am not all that great coming up with sketch on my own I decided to go through the WMS Sketch challenges to find one. My three WMS sets are Festive Foliage, Musical Background, and Complements of the Season. My two embellies is the twine I wraped around the stem of the misletoe I had stamped and cut out to make the little bow and the three blinged berries that I colored with my copics. My one circle was used to hold my sentiment. I really love how the whole card is in shades of browns so that the sentiment and misletoe can shine. I even found a couple of other challenges for my card making event, lol: Charisma Cardz - Something for the Guys (I like to think rustic is very boyish, esp since I have two that will be going camping soon), CCEE - Make your own pattern paper, and Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes.

Santa Baby..

My favorite fun Christmas Song is "Santa Baby" and it must be sung by the great Ertha Kitt. This month's Christmas Card Challenge over on the WMS forum was to be inspired by Christmas song and use a phrase from it on your card. I used the title of the song for my card. I used WMS's Santa's Coming To Town, Musical Background, and Say It Loud sets. The sketch is from CPS's current challenge. Another challenge I used was My Time To Craft: Christmas in August.