Last Post for 2012

It's finally all done....I stood on my feet for four hours straight and finished all the other cards that I wanted done. Phew - mission accomplished.
So for this card I started with the challenge over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp. It is a free choice challenge and I chose this sketch.

And with a bit of a twist, some embossing and distressing, this is what I came up with.

So the background paper is embossed and then I distressed it using three Tim Holtz distress pads on the raised surface - Wild Honey, Walnut stain and Tattered rose. The effect is quite spectacular in real life with all three colors competing for attention :) The edges are distressed with walnut stain.

 The center ornament is Justrite ( which I have been using indiscriminately over the past few cards). Cut it using the coordinating die cut. The papers are from Recollections Urban Plaza paper stack and are distressed. The inside of the card is simple ( and in hurry, I forgot to take a picture ). Just layered with paper and a ornament die cut for writing message.
Submitting for the following challenges
Sunday sketch and stamp - sketch

Creative Inspirations - Anything goes

 Try it on Tuesday  - Use 4 ingredients from the list. I chose die cut, stamped image, distressing and sentiment.

Simon Says Stamp  - Merry Christmas

Drunken Stampers  - Stripe

 

Here comes Santa Claus....

When my kids were of the age when they started to wonder i f Santa Claus really existed, the surest way to make them believe was to tell them that if they didn't believe in Santa Claus, he wouldn't bring them any gifts! That took care of the dilemma for a few years, at least. And then they became "know-alls".....Of course, they still wait for Santa's arrival along with the arrival of the gifts that Santa brings :)

The card today was created using the sketch at Mojo Monday Blog

And with a bit of help from Santa Claus, this is what I came up with....

Cute, ain't it ? Santa Claus appearing in stages :)
The papers are from Recollections Union Plaza Paper Stack. The images are colored and then edged with gold glitter. The side flower is a pairing of three different layers - a Spellbinders die cut and two punched out flowers.

The inside of the card is lined with paper from the same stack. The two stamped images are from Inkadinkado stamps

Submitting for the following

Mojo Monday Blog

Divas by Design

Inky Impressions

Deep Ocean Challenge

Charisma Cardz

My time to craft

Sweet Stampin Challenge

A Christmas ornament

This is going to be a quick post since I am still short on cards and there is just no time....Ugh ...Procrastination
So for this card I started with this sketch at Retro sketches

And with a really unusual color combination, at least for me, this is what I came up with

 

Works great, right? It's like Christmas in Santa Fe  :) 

The ornament is Justrite stamp. The turquoise blue border is made with a punch and the flower in the center of the ornament is made with Spellbinder dies and then covered with glossy accents. It looks like morning dew on the flower.

 

The orange paper is K & Co. paper stack whereas the center paper is from DCWV. The sentiment is a Justrite stamp. The inside of the card is very simple. The paper itself is so pretty, it would be a shame to cove it up. 

Submitting for the following challenges

 Retro sketches

Creative Craft Challenges  

Die Cutting Divas 

 Victorine Stamps

If it snows, we can make a snowman.....

I wonder if we are going to have a white Christmas this year, it doesn't seem so though. The weather has been really erratic this year. Some days are unseasonably warm and then others are freezing cold. But we are really hoping for a white Christmas - everyone loves to make snowman.
So for this card, I started with this sketch at Totally paper Crafts

And this is what I came up with

 

Adorable snowman, right ? 

The papers are Recollections Christmas collection. I used a bit of gesso on the edges to soften the redness of the papers. There is some glitter on the magic stick and some liquid pearls sprinkled around in the background to represent snow.

The memory box die edges between the two papers. The sentiment is Just rite and there are a few punched out stars sprinkled around. The inside is really simple - just lined with the same paper.

Submitting for the following challenges

Totally Paper Crafts - Sketch

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Snowmen

Divas by Design - Use some red

Crafts and Me Challenges - Why so blue ? No blues allowed

Goldilocks situation....

The funny thing about taking photographs in natural light is that everything needs to be perfect. It is a Goldilocks situation - the sun should not be too bright. Nor should it be cloudy. And hence, early mornings are not a good time to take pictures - and so I found out today. Usually, I gripe about cloudy, rainy weather. Not today my friend, not today....
Anyway, for this card I started with the sketch at Sketch Saturday blog

And with a little help from Tilda ( what else ?), this is the Christmas Card I came up with..

Really...the picture is too bright and the background too dark. Oh well...
The papers are from Recollections as well as K& Co. paper pads. The star border is a memory box die. The flowers are made using various punches and dies. While it is hard to see, the flowers have been slightly distressed and then covered with glossy accents, so they have nice sheen to them.

The "Joy" sentiment is Justrite and is laid upon a Spellbinder Snowflake die. The inside is lines with the K& Co. paper. On one side is this stamped and colored ornament from the Justrite collection.

The other side has a plain Spellbinder ornament die cut for personalized message.

Submitting for the following challenges

Sketch Saturday Blog

Creative Inspirations Challenge

Sweet Stamping Challenge Blog

A Pastel Christmas

One of the fun parts of making so many similar themed cards ( in this case, Christmas) is that I get to try out different color schemes and see if they work. And of course, since all the Christmas themed stamps are so adorable, they usually make any and all color schemes work well. And so I tried this unusual Christmas color scheme and I think it may just work
Si I started with the sketch over at the The Sweet Stop Sketches blog

And with this adorable Henry Mouse with Christmas bauble stamp, this is what I ended with.

 Isn't he the cutest? Well, in real life, I am not very found of mice or rat or...but these stamped images of Henry, I just drool over them. They are so easy to color and so adorable. I colored them with a mix of Spectrum Noir, Faber Castell and some other alcohol ink markers. The shadow effect is done using chalk pastels and a q-tip...Very easy. There are a few liquid pearl dots in the background.
The star is a Spellbinder. It is a lot more shiny in reality than it appears in the picture. The dark blue color on the star is from a metallic blue marker so it, kind of , gleams. The sentiment is Justrite.

The papers are K&Co. I bought these a long time ago, probably my first purchase of a K&Co. paper stack. I really liked them at the time but had a hard time paring them up. But this time...it worked. I kept the inside simple. The pink twine is topped with a blue punched out star.

 Submitting for the following challenges

Sweet Stop Sketches

ABC Christmas Challenge - Your favorite die or punch. Well, mine are definitely the Spellbinders Snowflakes dies. I think I have used them on pretty much all my cards recently.

Inky Impressions Challenge - Use something old. The papers are from an old stack. Also the twine. I bought it so long ago for gift wrapping and only just realized that they look better on cards.

If the weather cooperates...

I had this card ready since saturday but the weather just refused to cooperate. It has been raining, cloudy or foggy all through the weekend and even yesterday. That is frustrating. But today, thankfully, is a better day even though it s still not perfect. The quality of pictures is not the greatest but still...

For this card, I cased the card over at Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog.

I stuck to the same basic card sketch but changed the colors and the girl image to that of a boy. My son has been complaining that I have been making too many "girl-image" cards :)
So this is what I came up with.

The papers are fro a K&Company paper stack which I picked up at, of all the places, TJ Maxx. Actually I picked up 4 of them and at a bargain price of $3.99 too. Just goes to prove that good deals are everywhere, just got to be there at the right time.

So the image is Edwin and I colored it with alcohol markers - I use three different types, Spectrum Noir, Faber Castell and a South Korean brand. And so far, it has worked well for me. There is a pull-out tag from under the image with a sentiment from Justrite.

The inside of the card is simple.

This one goes in the pile for the cards that my son wants/ needs :)

Submitting for the following challenge
Creative Inspirations

Cupcake Craft Challenge

The Crazy Challenge

Getting Closer....

It is getting closer and closer to the 25th...And while that's great and I love it, it is not so great for my Christmas Card stash. It is dwindling rapidly as I mail more of them and I am sure I will need more than I have currently. So less of chit-chatting on this post...it is going to be a quick one.
I started with this sketch at the Sweet Stop Challenge Blog

Picked up the color combo from the CR84FN color challenge blog

And with Magnolia Tilda, this is what I came up with

 

I have been making a lot of "Tilda" cards recently. Got to remedy that soon.
The background paper is Recollections Union Square paper stack and the grey colored paper is g.c.d. studio's Antiquities collection. The sentiment is Justrite and the star is made using Spellbinder die and then covered in glossy accents.
The following picture is probably a truer representation of the paper colors.

 

The inside is lined with grey colored paper from Recollections. The Stamped image is Justrite and so is the sentiment.

 A coordinating Spellbinder die provides space for writing sentiments

Submitting for the following challenges:

Sweet Stop Sketches

Everybody-Art-Challenge

ABC Christmas Challenge

Simply magnolia Challenge

CR84FN color challenge 

A Red and Green Christmas

Traditions matter....
And when we don't know what to do, we tend to fall back on the known...they give us comfort and they make us happy. And what can be more traditional than the red and green on Christmas? So when I was stuck on what colors to use for my next card, guess which papers I picked up?
Red and Green, of course....

I started with this sketch at Sketch Saturday blog - the first time I am playing there. Something about the sketch just clicked.

And here is what I came up with

Ok...so truth be told, these papers are not among my favorites. They just look too bold but somehow,  I don't mind them here. The papers are from an old DCWV Christmas paper stack. It is probably the first one I ever bought - it was on after Christmas sale at Jo-ann. Probably was $3.99 and I thought to myself, what a good deal. Well, that was then....

I think Jo-ann, Micheal's, and all the other on-line stores got the better of me since one $3.99 purchase hooked me for life. More paper. more stamps, more dies.....
Not that I am complaining, of course :) 
The image is Magnolia Tilda. The sentiment is Justrite and is matted with the Spellbinder Stars oval die. The corner is framed with Memory Box " Madera Corner"

 

 The inside is covered with the same paper ( you can probably guess now why I ain't too fond of the paper). In this case, I framed the sentiment box with the thicker width green paper. When I tried my usual, thin backing, it didn't work too well.

 Submitting for the following challenges

Sketch Saturday

Cute Card Thursday

Chrisma Cardz