A Christmas embellishment tip

Well we are winding down our vacation, just a few more days til we head home but this is the good part - visiting my daughter & family in Arizona. My daughter is a transplant to Yuma from the midwest and she says it still feels weird to her to put up Christmas lights & decorations while wearing t-shirts & flip flops! haha But it sure is looking like Christmas around here.

I have one last card that I wanted to post, I made this before we left for vacation. I love this adorable snow family, I watercolored them using distress inks and my aqua painter, then added stickles for the glitzy look.

Here is a tip; for my embellishment, I wanted a button with a candy look but I didn't have one so I took a plain red button and drew the white stripes on with my white gel pen. I wasn't sure if it would dry on the button and not smear but it worked perfectly!

I will add the stamp name and other mats after I get home because I forgot to bring the list with me and I sure can't remember.... ohwell. Thanks for taking a peek at my card!

Blessings

Hello my friends! I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am still on vacation and had the opportunity to visit the Joshua Tree National Park a few days ago and was so inspired by the beauty there I just wanted to take a moment to be grateful for the Blessings of this earth. Have a safe start to the holiday season everybody!

Joshua Trees

Cricut Cardz Challenge #96 - Christmas Say it with S

Hello all and greetings from Palm Springs, CA! I am on vacation but I can't miss one of the Cricut Cardz Challenges so here is my DT creation for challenge #96. Please join in on the fun, the details for the challenge are below:
#96: "Christmas: Say it with S!" Make a card for Christmas using an image that starts with the letter S, using any cartridge(s) and any colors you'd like.
Link up here by December 5th.

S is for song! That's what my card is all about and one of my favorite things about Christmas is the beautiful  music and Christmas carols. I used the Winter Wonderland cartridge to cut that cute shaped layer that my image is stamped on using the tag feature. How have I not used that feature before??

The stamp is called Falala Mice from I brake for Stamps, the sentiment stamp is from PTI Stylish Sentiments: Holiday (my go to sent stamp for Christmas this year it seems) and I colored the meeces with Memento markers, twine is Martha Stewart. Card base cardstock is Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and I am not sure who makes that musical background stamp that I used for the Versamark watermark background.

Have fun with te challenge!

Christmas sparkles!

Just wanted to share a quick sparkly Christmas card with you all. The stamp is from Hero Arts but I made this just before leaving on vacation and forgot to bring my materials list so I am not sure what the stamp is called. N-E-Way... this is a very simple card, just one layer with the stamped image, a little coloring, dash-doodles in white, sparkle gel pen added, and some metallic thread. I do love this stamp and I hope you can see all the sparkle I added with my Sakura pens because I went nuts! I love the added sparkle though, hope you do too!

Penguins 4 Christmas & coupon alert

I don't know if you are familiar with Stephanie Barnard's The Stamps of Life but if not you should check it out for sure! She has the cutest stamps and a very affordable stamp of the month club, which is a great way to build your stamp collection. I just received her Penguins4Christmas set and it is so stinkin' cute I had to jump right in! I know I am a bit behind everyone else but this is my first Christmas card of the season.

Here is a list of materials:
Solid papers: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: DCWV The Christmas Stack
Penguins, gifts, & inside sentiment stamps: The stamps of Life: Penguins4Christmas (colored with Memento Dual Tip markers & stamped with Memento inks)
Front of card sentiment: Papertrey Ink: Stylish Sentiments: Holidays (stamped with Colorbox Frost White ink)

Embellished with Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pens, Sakura white gel pen, corner chomper, ek border punch

COUPON ALERT: I picked up Martha Stewart's Living Magazine December 2011 Make it Magical and there was a coupon inside for 50% off one MS craft item at Michael's. Now maybe they put that in every magazine - I don't know because I don't usually buy it - but I got excited because it is my experience that MS craft items don't go on sale as often as other items and I would love to start getting some of her punches.

So thanks for stopping by, comments are appreciated!

A Thanksgiving Cricut Cardz Challenge

It's time for another Cricut Cardz Challenge with Mary at Cardz TV.
Here are the details for CCC challenge #95:

"We're So Thankful" Make a card for Thanksgiving using the card feature from any cartridge(s) you'd like, using any colors you'd like.

For my design team card, I decided to make place cards for Thanksgiving Day dinner using a cut from Just Because Cards. Instructions are below the picture - I hope you like them! And please hop on over to Cardz TV to play along, but be sure to link up your card by November 22nd!

1) CARD BASE:  Cut the card on pg 63 of the Just Because Cards cartridge, this one has a slightly scalloped edge. I set the height to 4.25". Emboss your cards, I used my Cuttlebug and the Forest Branches embossing folder. Using the direct to paper method, apply ink over the card to highlight the raised embossing. I used Versa Magic Cloud White.
2) Make another of the same cricut cut using patterned paper (you need 1 patterned paper cut for every 2 cards you are making), then cut this piece in half lengthwise. Trim 3/8" from the straight edge.
3) Cut a strip of coordinating paper 1/2" by 4 1/2".  Adhere this strip to the scallop edge patterned paper piece, about 1/4" from the top edge, and add some faux stitching - I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The strip will be slightly wider than you need so just trim it after you adhere it. Attach this layered piece to the card base matching the top edges.
4) Cut a label for writing the guest's name. I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink to stamp the label from Papertrey Ink's Fillable Frames stamp and cut it out using the coordinating die. I then used Versamark Ink to add a watermark using Papertrey Ink's stamp set All About You. Since it is a watermark, the guest's name can easily be written over the stamped image. Attach the label to the base so that it hangs over the top edge a bit.
5) Add an embellishment. I used a silk flower with a punched flower in the center and attached it with this gem brad, which I am pretty sure came from We R Memory Keepers.

These will make a pretty addition to your Thanksgiving table and are fun and easy to make!

Turkey Invites

My sister asked me to make invitations for Thanksgiving dinner at her house this year. I thought a fun little turkey would be perfect and here is what I came up with. The cricut cut I used for the body of the turkey is a little unusual but it was exactly the shape I wanted. I used one of the Russian dolls on the Paisley cartridge and hid all the inside cuts with my Gypsy. Any my first instinct was to use a black marker for his eyes but I wanted him to have bright eyes so I used white - a bit unusual maybe but I think it works. I love the way the turkeys came out and the swirly dashes and blowey leaves say FALL to me. All materials are listed below.

Details:
Cricut cut: Turkey body is cut from the Russian doll on pg 66 of the Paisley cartridge. H-1.50" W-1.25" (you have to unlink the height-width to get these dimensions) The tail feathers are from strips of paper 1 3/4" x 1/2" with one corner rounded. (I got this idea from KWerner, her blog is here) I just free hand cut a wedge for the beak and a tear drop shape for the turkey hangy down thing - I have no idea what this is called.

Patterned paper: DCWV Amber Autumn stack
Kraft paper for base
Inks - Memento Dew Drops in Rich Cocoa and Potter's Clay
Marker - Memento Dual tip in Potter's Clay
Stamps - Papertrey Ink Fillable Frames #10 for the You're Invited sentiment and Lizzie Anne Celebration Sayings for the happy turkey day sentiment, and the leaf stamps are from Stampin' Up Give Thanks set
Extras - EK Success label punch & border punch, baker's twine (from the hardware store), Sakura white Gelly Roll pen and yellow and orange colored pencils to give the leaves some color.