Rain in the 'Field

It's raining in southern California. It has been raining for 6 days now and it isn't supposed to let up until Thursday which is 3 more days away! It's the most rain I've seen in the 2 1/2 years I've lived here. It is true about it not raining that much here and it's pretty obvious when one notices that there are no gutters on the houses. Which brings us to roofs. Or is it rooves? No, I think roofs. Anyway, I was headed to my craft room and looked a little further down the hall and something was askew. I went into the back bathroom and it had this 5" bulge that hung from the ceiling like an over ripe pimple and when I poked it - yep! - it burst. I had a bucket ready but look at it now. I am lucky that my house is not flooding like some poor souls! I am going to try to send it to Texas!

Priceless Delights

Here is a different piece of that embossed paper from Tuesday Morning. It is a vanilla paper with embossed sparkles on it and it is absolutely gorgeous! The base card is Lovely Lilac and the next layer is Lavender Lace which is stamped with the large swirls from Priceless in Lovely Lilac. The Vanilla ornament is the tree from Snow Swirled stamped in Lovely Lilac and formed with the Ornament Punch. The other Ornament Punch is the embossed paper sponged with Lovely Lilac and it is adhered with Dimensionals. Merry Christmas is from Four the Holidays and Lovely Lilac is the ink. The sentiment is popped up with Dimensionals. It's all tied together with a 5/8" Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon.

That's all I have to show you. I have stuck them all in envelopes and they are headed in the general direction of Texas except for one heading to the colds of Erie. I hope you enjoyed my 2010 tour of Christmas cards. Merry Christmas!!!

Gray Greetings

Gosh. Every now and then a simple yet delightful card comes out of me. I know it sounds a little icky but when I had sooo many inspirations this week in my craft/disaster room, it made me tear up a little. * sniff*

This little jewel is WW card stock with Basic Gray framing the top card. Lovely as a Tree is stamped in Basic Gray and the Merry Christmas from Christmas Greetings is stamped in Real Red. Top card has a Real Red Grosgrain ribbon with a Real Red Striped grosgrain ribbon tied to it. Bottom card has a 5/8" Organza ribbon.

Night of Peace

Do you love this? I do! I got some Brilliant Blue cardstock and sponged it with Night of Navy. Then I took the Snow Swirled tree and star and the Peace on Earth from Four the Holidays and Versamarked them and embossed them with Winter White and Gold embossing powder. I then tore some Night of Navy cardstock and used a glue pen to add Dazzling Diamonds to the snow mounds. That's all the bling it needed.

Tuesday Morning Blue

Blue is good. This is Ballet Blue with Whisper White and silver. Love it! The gorgeous silver glitter paper came from Tuesday Morning and when I saw it I had to have it. Little clear rhinestone stickies accent the sentiment.

Unisex Birthday

I'm going to slip in these birthday cards before continuing with the Christmas cards. It won;t take long. I promise.

Bashful Blue is a good color. I like it. My husband likes it. Babies like it. My dog would like to eat it. So take my word for it. Everybody likes Bashful Blue. Top card uses BB DSP and cardstock and the Happy Birthday jumbo wheel rolled in Brilliant Blue peeks through a Medium Oval Punch hole. Recognize the ribbon? ;]

Next is the same DSP and of course Basic Black down the middle with a BB grosgrain ribbon. The Happy Birthday is from It's Your Birthday and stamped in BB.

Now, we continue spreading joy through paper crafts of the Christmas persuasion.

Embossed Winter Post

The skaters from Winter Post are stamped in Brilliant Blue on a piece of Whisper White cardstock that has been embossed with the Northern Flurry folder. Brilliant Blue cardstock enhances the Bashful Blue card. Merry Christmas from All Holidays is stamped in Brilliant Blue and the ribbon was in my drawer. I am not sure from where it came but it came at a good time.

Dry Embossed Christmas

This card is so easy! I can't believe how pretty it turned out. Even the one that I de-bossed. LOL. From sitting down at a bare table to start I would say this is a 10 minute card. Whisper White cardstock with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder with Merry Christmas from the Ornament Punch set stamped in Brocade Blue, Bravo Burgundy and Old Olive. Each boasts a grosgrain ribbon in the complimentary color.

Delightful Holidays

Two of the ornaments from Delightful Decorations, the Merry Christmas from Four the Holidays and the large swirls from Priceless were all stamoed in Versamark and Gold embossing powder wad applied and heated on a Real Red cardstock. Bravo Burgundy was sponged over the ornaments on the card with the Real Red grosgrain ribbon. It is sponged on the one with the Bravo Burgundy grosgrain ribbon bow but this one is sponged all around the edges as well.

Olive Swirled

Old Olive cardstock is a favorite of mine most of the year but especially at Christmas-time. It makes the best green cards. This SIMPLE card is stamped with the tree and star from Snow Swirled in Versamark and Winter White embossing powder was applied then heated. The same was done with the Merry Christmas stamp from Christmas Greetings. Clear sticky rhinestones were applied and a grosgrain ribbon in Old Olive was added to one.

Contempo Dasher

I used Whisper White for the card then Old Olive for the center frame and embossed the Real Red card stock with the Square Lattice folder. Looking through my stamp collection for a wreath (I don't have ANY!) and not finding one I noticed that the Vintage Labels set has a stamp that looked very wreath-like to me. I stamped it in Old Olive on Whisper White card stock and used the Real Red Stampin' Write marker to add 'berries' then punched out the center with the 1" punch then punched the 'wreath' out with the 1-3/4" Scallop Punch. I used Basic Black to stamp the deer from Winter Post on Whisper White card stock then punched it out with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch and adhered it to the back of the 'wreath' with Dimensionals. Using the sentiment from Contempo Christmas stamped in Basic Black on WW card stock, it looked a little bland after being punched with the Key Tag Punch until I found that the antlers from Dasher stamped in Real Red looked, well, dashing when added. It was sponged with Real Red and is attached with Dimensionals on a Real Red Striped Grosgrain ribbon. Just so you know, I CASE'd nothing about this card and I feel proud! LOL =]

Ladies' Birthday Card Order

The top card is Pretty in Pink and Basic Black cardstock and Pretty in Pink DSP. I used the 5 Petal Punch and Trio Flower punch. I pieced the paper and added a pink rhinestone brad to each center and adhered them with Dimensionals. The dot embossing folder is from Cuttlebug and the stamp is from Well Scripted and is stamped in Basic Black.

The flower DSP card is on a Soft Sky cardstock base. The large flower was cut out and adhered with Dimensionals. Soft Sky Stitched Grosgrain ribbon is used. Blue Bayou is behind the Whisper White tag that has been embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and stamped with a greeting from God's Blessings and is stamped in Pacific Point.

Pretty in Pink cardstock and DSP offset the Chocolate Chip cardstock with the Elegant Lines embossing folder from SU! The butterfly is from Butterfly Prints and is stamped in Versamark on Chocolate chip then embossed with pink embossing powder and then I used the Butterfly Punch and adhered it with Dimensionals. The sentiment stamped in Chocolate Chip is from Perfect Punches and the Large and Medium Oval Punches were used. It is also adorned with a 5/8" Chocolate Chip satin ribbon.

Last is a Pale Plum card stamped with the Floral background in Pale Plum. Elegant Eggplant is a nice back drop for the More Mustard DSP which is tied with an Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon. The pansies on So Saffron were punched with the Butterfly punch and sponged with Elegant Eggplant then a yellow rhinestone brad was centered in each. They are attached with Dimensionals. The sentiment is from Well Scripted and stamped in Basic Black.

Man Cards

Oh, good grief. I just had a major old timer moment while trying to upload photos. I am clicking on several pics and it keeps denying me the ability to upload more than one selected photo at a time. I am seriously getting angry becasue I KNOW that I do that when sending emails and stuff. Just as I am hitting the control button for the fifth time and clicking to avail it dawns on me - I can only chose one photo to open then come back and browse to open another. Sheesh. I was about to have a meltdown. LOL. Maybe because these are man cards is why it gave me such a hard time. *wink* Anyway, here they are in all their no bow glory.

Friendship Card Box

I made this card box a while back and thought I would share it with you. It is a simple little box that I bought at Michaels for $1. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the box finished with decorations but what I made it for was to cheer up my friends when they were having a bad or off day. Each little card I made has a friend quote on it to brighten their day. I made 2 of these and both recipients were very happy to have received them. =] Click on the picture and it will get big enough to read the little 'happy' thoughts.

Butterfly Birthdays

I have a few ladies in my life that have birthdays in December. I also have a couple of men birthdays but I haven't made theirs just yet. These are very simple and can be made in a few minutes. I really like pink and black together. It's so Jackie O to me. =]

Thanksgiving Spread

We went to Rose and Tim"s house for Thanksgiving and this is the table she had prepared. Isn't it gorgeous? The food was marvelous and the friends were fabulous. The conversations lasted until almost 9 that night. The temps got down to freezing but with all the heaters around we kept quite warm. It was a truly day to be thankful.

Black Friday I got out to get a couple of things for the yard and braved the Target crowds. *GASP* I know!! Anyway, I got a fire pit for cheap and it took me the longest to be able to get back in the aisle to check out. It wasn't too bad as I got there at 4 and was home by 4:20. Then the hardware store was having a half price sale on the large propane patio heaters so I went there at 6 and actually had to block a lady (I felt bad but I WANTED them more badder!) and got the last two. Hopefully they had more in the warehouse for her. I was alone in my endeavor so I felt pretty good about (exception of being rude to that poor lady) returning with everything I went out to get.

Happy Thanksgiving Chocolate Boxes

I had made some chocolates to give to my friends at the Roses' Thanksgiving dinner and had a heck of a time coming up with a box to present them. I searched high and low and then a new friend Curt suggested a couple of ideas and I ended up using a modified version of the cupcake box. DSP for the bottom and coordinating cardstock for the tops were accented by French Foliage leaves stamped in the same color inks. I tied them with a bow and added a Happy Thanksgiving and name tag after they had been filled with peanut butter cups, cherry cream filled hearts and mint hearts all in a dark chocolate fluted bowl. They look all scratchy but they sure taste good. The bouquet at the bottom is for Rose for having all us rowdy people at her house! Cheers to Rose and Happy Thanksgiving to all my bloggies!! =]

Thanksgiving Place Cards

I made these for a friend who so thoughtfully invited my DH and myself to her home for Thanksgiving dinner. These cards are totally inspired from SCS by this lady so I *ahem* CASEd again. It's going to be a slow habit breaking process but I am truly trying! =]

Grateful Days

I had a fellow order 30 cards for Christmas and birthdays throughout this and next year. He was very generous and I wanted to let him know I was truly grateful for his generosity. I know it's plain but sometimes simple is all one needs. Stamps are from the Falling Leaves and Autumn Days SU! sets.

December Birthdays

I have several birthdays in December so I try not to make them very Christmas-y 1- because they are not for Christmas 2 - my bday is December 21 and you would not believe how Christmas and birthday became one event so I feel for my fellow December babies and make sure they feel it's their birthday that's being celebrated too. The top card is embossed and decorated with Bermuda Bay accent color. The bottom ones (hopefully you all got it because my DH did not, he says art interpretation is not his forte - it shows. lol) have small items on the front of the card that reads "wish big" and when opened the featured item has gotten larger and reads "may all your wishes come true". So what I was trying to get across is the small things were wished to be big and they were when the wish came true. Oh well, I tried. =/

Punch Penguins

The Punch Pals set was another set that I wanted and eventually bought last year. I think the penguins are so darn cute and wanted to make a card featuring them. I stamped and colored them then cut them out and placed dimensionals an their back sides. I tied a little ribbon around each of their necks and added bunny tails and a punched piece of silver paper for ear muffs. The sentiment is embossed.

Polar Season

I LOVE Polar Bears!!! I saw them once on a card and knew that I would own that set. This is my first attempt so it is very simple but I need to add some pizazz somewhere. Hmmm . . .

Chaos Before Masterpiece

I forget which artist stated that there was always chaos before a masterpiece was created but I know what he meant! I can hardly walk around but I know where everything is and it's right there in reach. My husband avoids the craft room at this time of year for this exact purpose. We are both pretty tidy people but when it comes to creativity I tend to lean towards the opposite of tidy. =] I am sure that I am not alone. At least, I am hoping that I am not alone. Please don't hate me because I'm such a mess. LOL.