Christmas Art Book

I have had no time to participate in Tim's Tags this year, but I did want to share a book I have been putting together the last few weeks.   It's along the same lines as my Halloween book where I put together some of my favorite holiday art that I have created and received (from some amazing artists I may add). 

 So I want to start off by thanking all the artists that have contributed to this book by sending me some of their beautiful Christmas creations over the past few years :

Robin Woodard (cover), Sarah Hemphill, Jacqueline de Groot, Lynn Stevens,

Nancy Maxwell James and Kris Dickinson.

This gorgeous Christmas card I received from Robin Woodard graces the cover.

I collaged the inside cover and then added a mini paper bag which I decorated with this lovely tag sent by Sarah Hemphill.   Since Sarah and I both share some German roots, I really adore this tag.

I covered the opposite side of the paper bag and inserted inside of it tags I made last year for Tim's 12 Tag of Christmas.

I then cut out two plastic sleeves from my ATC holders and added some of my

favorite Christmas ATC's I made. 

The Christmas arch I included here was one I received from Nancy Maxwell James.  I placed it in a plastic sleeve and backed it with a card from 7 Gypsies.

Another gorgeous arch, this one sent to me by Kris Dickinson.

Opposite that I collaged a bingo tag.

                   I'm thrilled to have one of Jacqueline's grid cards to add to my book.

Opposite that is a large pocket envelope which I decorated with yet another one of my tags for Tim's tags last year.

From the large envelope you can pull out a wonderful Christmas tag created by Lynn Stevens.

The next page I added was a smaller envelope which contains one of Jacqueline's lovely tags.

My final two papes are the back of the envelope to which I added one of my

house-shaped ATC's. 

The inside of the back cover was then collaged by me.

So happy to have this incredible collection of artwork to grace my coffee table this Christmas!

Snowflake Ornaments

I first admired these snowflake ornaments over at Robin's Nest.  Then when I passed some of the snowflakes yesterday in Walgreen's I picked up a pack to experiment with.

I found I had to use a glue gun to adhere my round artwork to the snowflakes because of all the glitter.  I also found since the snowflakes are so sparkly I preferred it without the glitter around the circle.

But I think they are so pretty.....and I am off to make some more!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

I am so blessed to have made so many friends through blogland.  I appreciate every one of you.

I thought I'd share some of the things that showed up in the mail this Christmas season.

This lovely ATC came from Nancy who makes everything she creates look so effortless.

I love her style.

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Sarah sent this card.   I love the way she embossed the snowflakes on patterned paper.

Sarah is a special friend that I got to meet in person when we bunked together on the Tim Holtz cruise.   And, happily, I'll be going down to Texas to visit with her again in January!

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This gorgeous card has an alcohol ink background which is so, so lovely.  It came from Pam and her DH -- who I also got to meet on the cruise in October.  I'll be seeing Pam again in Janaury, too.   Yup, the party is at Sarah's house!!

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This is an absolutely stunning card I received from Barbara, another blogging friend.  You know I love the tag here, plus the ripped and gilded edges making this a very gorgous card.

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You probably can all guess who this tag came from because Jacqueline's work is so distinctive.  I love everything she makes.  It's now hanging on my tree!

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Kris sent this ATC -- the detail on here is unbelieveable.  Until you see one of Kris' creations IRL, it's hard to get the full effect.

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And this terrific pendant came from Lynn.  I'm just blown away by all the talent that lady has!

This was very special and it's hanging on my tree, too!,

Christmas Ornaments

I took a pass on Tim's tag today, his last in the series of 12 Tags of Christmas.  I've made a few of those grungeboard flowers and let's just say I'm good.

I did make some more ornaments this morning which I'll either give as gifts or hang on the tree.  This particular one evolved when I looked at this arched stamp from Stampington and wondered how it would look on an alcohol ink background.  I like the church window effect. 

Thanks, Shelly, for your help in explaining how to post larger pictures in blogger!

They also have a cool feature which lets you test links before posting which I just made use of.

Christmas Ornaments and Happy Mail

I found these odd shaped chipboard pieces as part of a children's game in a thrift shop. Yesterday I thought I'd turn some of them into ornaments as I was putting up the Christmas decorations.
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Yesterday's mail brought this lovely Christmas hanging from Lynn. I was one of the lucky winners at her amazing Blogaversary give-away. This came just in time to add to my Christmas decorations.

Christmas Mini Album

Another little Christmas album I made for my Etsy shop. Used all kinds of odds and ends I had in my Christmas stash. Good thing about making Christmas stuff at this time of year is to remind yourself how much you have left over from last year and how little you need this year.....yeah, that should work:)

Christmas Album

A little Christmas album I made.

Winter Screen

I had initially altered this wooden screen as a Christmas decoration. But the back was still blank, so I decided to make a winter side as well. I love that I can use it as a Christmas decoration and then turn it to the other side when January rolls around!

I used stamps by Oxford Impressions and Art Impressions.

This certainly fits within the "home art" theme over at Arty Girlz. They have a two-week challenge going on as many of the challenge blogs do through the holidays.

All Things Coming Together

My submission to Sunday Postcard Art came together through my desire to use some of the images from the 700 vintage greeting cards I received this week from my sister-in-law. (Click here to see some pictures.)

I also found this grid stamp at a resale shop today while hitting the after-Christmas sales.

I think my SIL will be thrilled to see her card next year which is made from scanned images of the cards she gave me.

I think she'll also be glad to receive this Christmas ornament I made for her (already ahead on next year's gifts:). I had this little ornament book from last year which I found at Wal-Mart at the after-Christmas sales as well. I have not known what to do with it. It's pages are the size of an ATC.

I finally decided to print out scanned images of all of the Christmas cards my SIL gave me and insert them into this little book. I laid out nine on a page and then printed them on self-adhesive paper to make the job easier when adding them into the book.

The cover of the book had the wording on it already, but I added a Christmas tree rub-on.

I outlined each card (there's a total of 27 in this book) with gold pen. I then added distress ink around the cards and on the very white pages.

Christmas Crafting

Over the long weekend I was working on a bunch of stuff, so here's a few things I have to share:

This is a Row House ATC I made for a swap over at Suzanne's blog, owner of Oxford Impressions.

All my stamps are from Oxford Impressions. I used those distress stickles again, and by the time I finished ten row houses, I just about finished the bottle.

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Here's a couple of Christmas notecards I made.
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This is another wall hanging I made from these tin hangings I found at the resale shop. It's similar to the altered postcard I showed yesterday. Lots of yummy stuff on this one -- Tim Holtz tickets, digital image from Shabby Collage Studio, and some of my most favorite Christmas paper ever from K&Co.
Below is a close-up.

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Another find at the resale shop was a bag of these children's block for about fifty cents.

I knew I'd find something to do with them.

Here's what happened to some of them.

My square inch punch worked perfectly to use up some scraps from my favorite vintage Christmas papers. Once I glued them on (good old Elmer's Glue is what I'm finding I like best these days) I finished them with an antique varnish.

Altered Postcard

I really love how this altered postcard turned out.

Click on the image for a better picture.

I sanded it down and added some gesso, distress inks, and then some walnut varnish. I stamped the Postcard and Postmark on it, added the lace trim and the greeting.

I attached it to a metal wall hanging that had the ugliest flower image on it. Found it cheap at the resale store and knew I could make it more attractive:) It already had the ribbon on it, so it was all ready for my Christmas postcard.

Teaching Day

I'm over here today, teaching a card class as well as this ornament!

Easy Christmas Cards

I'm making 50 of them for the local nursing home, so they need to be easy -- but here's three of them I've made so far.

This first one uses the top notes die from SU which I then embossed in my Cuttle Bug with one of the new Christmas embossing folders. The little tag uses a Christmas stamp from Inkadinkado (Big Lots!).

The heart stamp (Inkadinkado) is another Big Lots find. The note cards I'm using are from My Mind's Eye and are pre-made, blank cards all ready for creating on. I was really impressed with the designs on the cards and the weight of the paper.

This last card has one of my favorite Santa stamps (Stamp Francisco) and a date stamp from Stampington.