Happy Christmas Eve! I hope that you have some great plans with those you love for today. Hard to believe it's time for Christmas. What a perfect time to be thankful and count our blessings and praise the Lord. We have some fun plans for the evening and I can't wait. One of my favorite acts from America's Got Talent last Summer was the Silhouettes. I was rooting for them the entire time. What a cool concept. Did you see them? Well….tonight we are going to see The Silhouettes perform at one of the local churches here in my town! I can't wait! I think it will be a magical evening. I will have to tell you about it next week. The hubs and I will grab an early dinner and then go to church. Awesome!

Merry Christmas from my craft room to yours….

I made some simple Christmas Thank You cards to send to my kind and generous friends who sent me Christmas presents. Figured today would be a good day to share them. 

A pretty simple layout, with just a few supplies. You can see the inspiration card I cut out of the Papercrafts magazine. I went through my stash and got out all my different Thank You stamps.

 Each card is just a litle bit different, but all have the same layout. The finished card is a 4 inch square.

MERRY MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!
 

Hi everyone! What's going on?! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Are you ready for that one last week leading up to Christmas? I'm trying my best to finish up all the last minute wrapping, cooking, baking, cardmaking, blogging and shopping today so that I can actually take a breath and enjoy the season a little bit. Sometimes I feel like I just go through life so fast that I miss it! So, I'm going to try really hard to relax next week, and take a look around.

Yesterday we went to my youngest brother's house and visited with my two brothers, their wives, and their FIVE sons under FIVE years old! They are so fun! I have to tell you that I was pretty tired when we went home though! I wish I had 10% of that energy!  It was so nice to see everyone and talk and hang out. It did my heart good.

Before I dive into my share for today I just wanted to express my thanks for all the kind, sweet, wonderful comments everyone left for me on Friday and Saturday about my guest designer spot on the Penny Black blog! That was such a fun experience and I read and appreciated each nice note. Thank you!

Today I'm sharing some fun country snowmen cards I made – inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest. I saved it to my Christmas board a while ago, and then decided to make them! HERE is the INSPIRATION, from Anna Wight.  I love her work. She made pins and magnets out of her snowmen, but I made cards. Are you hooked on Pinterest yet? Oy. So many wonderful ideas.

I made six cards in all… They all have the same layout, but I used different colors and different ribbons and backgrounds to make each one unique. I had fun picking out little accents to put on their scarves.

It is too hard to pick a favorite…

I started with circles punched out with my Marvy Uchida punches. I made two different sizes. Then I added some distress ink around the circles. The first step in rustic….

Next, I got out my blo-pen and used black ink to add splotches and spatters to my circles…

I didn't want them all the same, or all too perfect, so for their carrot noses, I freehand cut triangles from a sheet of Bazzill paper.  

Some coal for their eyes and mouths…in the form of enamel accents!

I added some pink chalk to give them rosy cheeks…

Here they are, with their scarves on! I wrapped ribbon around a piece of foam tape to give them "necks" for the scarves.  They're starting to come together now… 

The background papers were all stamped using antique linen ink on cream cardstock. They're all from Hero Arts. Music notes, text, and plaid. I couldn't just pick one so I made some of each. I also distressed the edges of the paper.

Aren't they so fun and country shabby-chic? I just had such a great time with this project. Hope you enjoyed it too!  

Have a FABULOUS week!

AAAAHHHHHHHHH! I'm so totally excited to share happy news today and show you what I've been up to! I'm the guest designer on the Penny Black Blog today! OMG. I can't stand it! I got an email from Jenyfur a couple of months ago asking me if I would like to be a guest designer…and I had to think about it for exactly three seconds before I said yes! Most of my very first stamps were Penny Black stamps – 18 years ago! I have loved their company ever since. I am so flattered and feel very lucky to be a part of the fun today. I made five cards in all…so there are a lot of pictures to share today! Maybe you will pop over to the PB BLOG and check it out?!

The first card is made using one of my favorite techniques – Watercolor with Brushstrokes stamps. You color directly onto the stamp with your Marvy Markers, mist with water, and then stamp on watercolor paper. I think I must have taught this class a hundred times at my local stamp store. I have all my brushstrokes stamps still. This is a classic, timeless technique that never disappoints. The stamp is just gorgeous, don'tcha think?

This second card is my vintage-y take on Penny Black. I added lots of crunchy snow to the finished product and used very traditional colors and and distressed edges.

Now, if you're making Penny Black cards…you know you have to include some hedgies! This card is fun and playful. Love this image. I colored it with my Copics and then added glossy accents to the lights to make them shiny.

And, here's Mimi! I went with a super bright and funky color scheme for this one! Gave her some rosy cheeks and a pretty pink hat! How can you not smile at that stamp?

Finally, this happy snowman makes his appearance on an easel card! I really like using light blue with bright red and it really works for snow people. The icy blue makes it feel cold and the red is just so happy. I colored him with my Copics and then smothered him in ultra fine glitter to make him shimmery.  

If you made it this far…thank you! Hahaha. I know it's a lot of cards for one day! I had the very best time making them all! I hope you have a fabbie day and a great weekend! See you soon!

I have been really wanting to share this card with you! I had so much fun making this card! So many details, and layers and color. I adore the new Echo Park paper collection that I used. I bought it in 6×6 and in 12×12! LOVE. Seriously. I'm all about Vintage Christmas-y stuff. The paper was one inspiration and the other inspiration was that I wanted to make a big, juicy, silvery rosette! 🙂 The finished card is a 5×7!

Here's a snap of that paper goodness! The top sheet is stickers. Yummmmm.

I started my rosette with some Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock in silver and I cut a 12×1.5 inch strip.

I scored the paper strip at each 1/4 inch and then folded it accordian style…

After I made the rosette, I layered an olive green circle, then a Martha Stewart Doily and then a red circle. Whew. Finally, I put on some pretty K&Company layered stickers on the top. I love how all these different things came together. Later I added a pretty snowflake from last year's Imaginisce collection.

For the sentiment, I cut out this saying from one of the paper sheets. I layered a pretty, wide piece of antique looking lace ribbon. Here you can see that little snowflake.

I think this card is like an inch thick! hahaha. It went in a box, so it's okay! Can you imagine trying to cram it into an envelope!? I hope you had fun sharing my process.

Thank you for stopping by my blog to see me! Are you all done with your Holiday projects? I think I am getting to the point where I might be ready for Valentine's Day already! Hahahaha. I feel like I have been making Christmas cards for months!

Please be sure to check in with me on Friday. I have some SUPER exciting stuff to share with you. I am going to be a guest designer for one of my favorite stamp companies…and had to keep a secret so long!

Greetings and Salutations and Happy Friday! Christmas crunch time is here people!!! AAAAHHHHH! We have a fun weekend planned for the DH's birthday. We are going to San Francisco for the day on Saturday to take pictures and shop and dine…awesome! Sunday is his actual birthday and he requested that I make "big breakfast" for him and then he wants to watch football all day. Done!  So, we'll be taking a momentary respite from Christmas to celebrate a birthday! I hope you have all kinds of fun stuff planned for your weekend.

Today I'm sharing a card made with one of my very favorite stamp sets from Taylored Expressions…A Day in Paradise!  Now, you might be scratching your head and saying…that's a beach set! Well, it is, but I made it into a Christmas card. I love the house image from the set, and made it into a snowy scene.

I used my Copics to color the house green and red and also I used yellow to make a warm glow coming from inside. Yes, that's my favorite Picket Fence Die too!  

I found these cute, tiny Christmas lights at Michael's and tied them on the card with some red Doodle Twine. That delicious paper is the MME Lost and Found Christmas Collection. I didn't even have to stamp a sentiment, because the words were already on the paper!

 My Copic Marker choices for this project….

My supplies and the stamp set…I always try to look at my stamps in a different way! With this set, I was also thinking you could use the Chairs and put some snow, or a cute wreath on them and make them a winter card too.  

Thanks for checking in with me today! 

Have a fantastic weekend!