~The winning Christmas card design~

Design #3 was the winner this year!  In laymen's terms, that means that it only took me THREE tries to come up with a Christmas card design that I really liked.  I added #1 and #2 to the end of the post just because, but I'll focus on the details for the WINNER!  LOL  I also need to clarify that SO far, I have not had to purchase anything except pop dots and adhesive to make these cards.  All bets are off if my husband continues to add people to the Christmas card list!

I started with a card blank of 4 x 5.5.  Just being lazy and I had a 25 count set with envelopes. 
I cut a base of 4 x 5.5 from kraft cardstock for the front of the card blank.  I layered three different pattern papers on top of that from the Ornamental Christmas stack from The Paper Studio.  The music paper was punched on one edge with a scallop and stamped in black with the sentiment.  After the pattern paper was added to the kraft, I stitched around the outside edge with off-white thread and distressed the edges with my fingernails.

Baby Jesus was cut from A Quilted Christmas at 2" using a combination of Recollection and Bazzill cardstock.  Some shading was added with Faber Castell green/gold.  Every layer on the card was inked with a coordinating color of TH Distress ink.  The inside of the card is stamped with a Merry Christmas sentiment in blue.  Thanks for stopping by!

And finally here are designs #1 and #2 that didn't make the cut.  Oh, they will be sent, just not mass produced. 

~Warm Winter Wishes~

In my quest to come up with a Christmas card design, this little fellow was born from my paper scraps.  I don't think I will use this one for Christmas, but I think it's cute to send to someone "just because".  The overall size is 5 x 6.25.

The red border of the card is Washi tape.  The snowman is cut from Quilted Christmas at 5".  The stars are from Art Philosophy at 1.5 and 3".  The background is embossed and inked with both red and blue.  I also applied diamond, silver and gold stickles to some of the embossed areas.  The small star also has diamond embossing.  I hand wrote the sentiment on the large star and attached it to Santa with red twine.  Everything is pop dotted for dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Simple Thanksgiving Cards~

Here are a couple of quick Thanksgiving cards I whipped up this evening using my stash.  The first card uses a plaid background paper (don't ask me why) and the cornucopia was cut from Autumn Celebrations at 3.5 inches.  The second card was my first use of Teddy Bear Parade.  What a cute cart!!!!  This little Turkey Teddy was cut a 4 inches and has 4 layers excluding his "feathers".  I went a little overboard with the pattern paper for his feathers, but I think it turned out kinda cute.  Oh, and since I am now a bow-tying expert (lol!), I added a little yellow ribbon to finish it off.  Thanks for stopping by!

~ A Whimsical Thanksgiving Canvas ~

We probably don't give much thought about the plump little beastie that graces most of our tables on Thanksgiving day except for how hot to set the oven and how long to cook the little guy.  ;-(  
I went a little crazy with the texture on this one just BECAUSE I was in a mood to do so.  There are no cricut cuts.  The little birdie is hand cut.  There is stitching, paint and rub ons on his feathers.  There is modeling paste and cardboard and ribbon and beads on this canvas.  I hope you enjoy it.  Thanks for stopping by!
Here's my rendition of what he may say to you, given the opportunity........

  

~ Faith - A card for a friend ~

A very special lady that I recently met in Atlanta was impacted by Hurricane Sandy and needs a little cheer.  Many of her friends have been sending her cards and care packages to help brighten her day and pass the time waiting for the power to be restored.

The only Cricut cut on this card is the Faith phrase which was cut at 1" from Inspired hearts.  I cut 3 layers of this phrase to give it some depth.  The flowers were stamped on kraft paper and then adhered to a pattern paper and fussy cut.  They were lifted with foam squares The leaves and grass were also fussy cut and inked.  The stems are washi tape.  A couple of red gems finished it.  The inside sentiment says, "He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds".  I hope things start to look brighter in the NY/NJ area soon.  Those folks have been through so much.  Thanks for stopping by!

~ SnowPeople! ~

This is a re-do of a canvas I did a couple of weeks ago.  It was originally inspired by a magazine ad that I saw.  I wasn't too fond of the papers I used or the actual snowpeople, so when I finally starting perusing the Quilted Christmas cartridge and saw Mama and Pappa Snowpeople, I said Heck Yea!  This canvas is going to a dear friend who had us over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and absolutely adores decorating her house for all thing wintry/Christmasy.  I'm sure she'll love it.  Be sure to see the additional details below and thanks for stopping by!

All of the papers I used came from MMEs 6x6 paper packs with the exception of the SnowPapa's vest and hat.  That came from a Halloween pack as it was black with subtle little white circles/stars on it.  I found it perfect for my use. 

 The snow is made from Golden's Glass Bead Gel with some white and off-white acrylic paint mixed in.  I also used this gel on the moon and stars.  SnowMama has some glitter on her belt/hat and she also has a bow on her hat.

 The hearts were hand cut and run through my cuttlbug dots folder before being inked and colored and pen dot-lined.  A little string was added to create a heart garland and the sentiment added at the bottom.  I also created a little additional texture on my snowpeople using modeling paste with white paint added and then a really light blue pigment ink brushed on top.  Some pen doodling and rub-ons finished things up.