I'm still here - but with a COMBO! Jingle Belles #JB2409 & JB2410

 Yes, I'm still here but by the skin of my teeth.  Real life gets in my way a lot and takes me away from making cards. This time included a non-vacation type trip away but now I'm back and making up for it. It's a Jingle Belles two-fer kids!

 Since I didn't get to make a card featuring Santa for JB2409, I decided to combine it with the current cardstock only challenge JB2410. So fun I made two cards which I like to think absolves me of my tardiness. (yes, I'm joking).

For the Santa HoHoHo card I stamped the Heidi Swapp Santa from the Christmas Fun set in a pattern to create my own patterned paper. The hohoho were cut using my ancient Quckutz Studio alpha dies - classic typefaces don't go outta style right? Makes a very C&S card

Next card, I created my background using another Heidi Swapp set called Merry Little Christmas - I just love that candy cane stamp and it was very easy to create a pattern with it. I think one could create endless combinations with that stamp alone. I also stamped a tiny tag with another candy cane stamp from the aforementioned Christmas Fun set. The tag die is from Sizzix. The red banner die and the alpha dies are from Papertrey Ink. Finally, the gingerbread boy die is  Sizzix and I used a Posca pen to draw in a face 

I did have a lot of fun with this challenge and I am very glad I was able to make up for last time. I hated missing out on the last challenge. Thanks for stopping by and looking. 

Jingle Belles Earth Day #JB2408

 Ah yes Earth Day. Does anyone else remember the first Earth Day? It was 1970 and yes, I remember it well. It was not met with that much enthusiasm at the time - or at least that's my recollection. I remember when it was discussed it was a little bit too "granola" for some. IYKYK. Those were funny times. 

Regardless, this was a head scratcher for me in that I don't keep too much extra stuff on hand. I'm on the "use it up" train. I definitely have supplies I'm trying to use up. And while I was looking through some things I found a card I'd saved because I loved the image. So the main image of the kids decorating the tree is that card front I'd saved. I used some old patterned paper for the background. That paper prompted me to see if I had any die cuts and sentiments in a box of Anna Griffin kit leftovers: I did!  The sentiments were popped up with foam on some green shapes. I took that apart and sandwiched the star diecut in between. I mounted the main image on some red cardstock then used the gold german scrap trip to sparkle it up a bit. That's pretty much it.

I'd love to try to make another card for this challenge but suffice it to say my life is not completely my own - I barely got this card made LOL. But I'm gonna keep playing. Thanks for stopping by.

Jingle Belles JB#2407 Cookie Inspired Christmas

 I am back for more Jingle Belles fun - just by the skin of my teeth. 

Considering the inspiration were some absolutely gorgeous cookies and that my middle name during the holidays is Cookie, I was suprised how long it took for me to come up with my card. Sure there were some life distractions. But in the end, I made cookies. (something I frequently do in real life!)

I used dies to cut out shapes that became the icing for my cookies which I cut out of kraft cardstock. I browned the edges with some chalk.  I painted the cookie icing die cut shapes with watercolors. Used some enamel dots for berries or tree lights. Finally I took some silver metallic cardstock to create a cookie cooling rack.

Thanks for stopping by - happy card making!

Jingle Belles Bling on the Holidays #JB2406

 While I may enjoy it, I don't have a ton of "bling" in my stash. I'm not a blingy card maker. I do like some sparkle and glitter on occasion,  so that's blingy in my book. And I'm a big embossing powder fan. With that said, I give you my entry into this weeks challenge featuring bling. I used old stamp sets from Papertrey Ink and the now defunct Feed Your Craft for the snowflakes, Mama Elephant for the sentiment, and snowflake dies from Papertrey Ink, and my new die (Thanks again Jingle Belle Queens Lauren and Stephanie) from Memory Box. The top layer of silver snowflakes were diecut from a silver metallic cardstock. The embossing powders are in silver as well as that Wow White Twinkle embossing glitter. And I drew the box around the sentiment with a Uniball Signo silver pen. With all that sparkle going on it was difficult to photograph so hopefully all the photos below will convey that bling.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Jingle Belles Holiday Cards to Die (Cut) for # JB2405 Take 2

 I'm sure in the future there will be times I don't make a second card - making one card for that particular weeks challenge will be more than sufficient. But not THIS week LOL. I'd be making more if lif e didn't get in the way! But - as you all know - I digress.

I perused my collection of dies that fall into the Christmas category and there are a bunch. I decided upon an old Papertrey Ink Snow Globe die with accompanying stamps. I created a shaker card using clear sequins but I wished I'd added more before sealing it closed. A number of the sequins seem to have gotten stuck in the layers that create the scene inside the snow globe. Not much to be done now, but I did decide it could use a bit more sparkle. I sifted through my supplies and got a bit of a crazy notion. I took a clear white sparkly pipe cleaner and glued it around the opening creating something of a sparkly frame. It looks every so slightly wonky in the photos but it's pretty darned cute in real life so I'm good with it. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

Jingle Belles Holiday Cards to Die (Cut) for # JB2405

 Dies and die cuts - I got 'em. It was more which one to choose. I imagine I may make a few cards for this challenge but I started with an old die and stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  Phrase Play #9. I wanted to try some metallic watercolors I have - I was thinking of sparkling shimmery  snowflakes. I also used an embossing folder that hadn't seen much love in a long time. 

The first photo hopefully gives you an idea of the shimmer of that metallic blue. It's prettier in real life. Anyway that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and looking. 

Jingle Belles Text Me Challenge Take 3

 I know! not only is it almost the end of February but now I've gone and done a third card for this challenge. (Actually I had 4 potential takes on this one card but selected the one below as my favorite and the only one I turned into a card but I digress...)

Lauren made her 2nd card and it brought to mind a stamp I own that hasn't seen ink in years. It's a very old one from Stampin Up! that I'd always liked very much but hadn't been too successful using. I decided to give it another try. 

I embossed the image using versamark and a Hero Arts Gold embossing powder. Then pulled out a few  different sets of watercolors - Gansai Tambi regular as well as Starry Colors and a set of Prima Metallic Accents. I wanted alll the sparkle. I did try a few different color combinations - and the one you see here was the most successful. I'm glad I finally got a card out of this stamp! Anyone else have some stamps in their collections you haven't been able to make work for you? Thanks for stopping by!

JIngle Belles Text Me Challenge Take Two

I decided I'd like to make another card with text and am hoping this qualifies. Even so, I'm pleased with it. To create the background I used an old Papertrey background stamp called "Background Basics: Christmas Joy". Those background stamps are in reality only 5-1/2 x 1-1/4 inch strips requireing you to stamp repeatedly to get your background. (It takes a bit of practice - fortunately I don't mind LOL). I chose to emboss the background  and sentiment with white embossing powder. The images and sentiment are from a set called Sweet Holiday Greetings from Your Next Stamp. It's an old but very cute set. All images colored with copic markers. Thanks for stopping by and looking.

 

Jingle Belles Text me challenge

 It's almost the end of February and I'm still plugging away. Whodathunkit?

I looked through my stash and found a number of papers with text. This one is pretty old from a company called Creative Imaginations. I decided to glitter up some die cut snowflakes and added them to the card. What you can't see is a strip of glittered up cardstock at the bottom of the card. Oh well - if I have a chance I'll take another pic.  Right now I have to run!

Jingle Belles Rudolph #JB2403 take 2

 

When I decided to do Jingle Belles after all these years, I gathered up all my Christmas items: stamp sets, papers, embellishments of all kinds. I wanted to make sure I use it all up - or at least make a good dent. Let's face it - NEW stuff is fun, right? But I have had a lot of stuff tucked away for years waiting to be used again. 

I remembered I had a box of leftovers from some kits I had from Anna Griffin - must be at least 10 years ago. So my second go at the Red challenge is using some of those leftovers. I had a bunch of card backs, patterned papers, and embellishments. I took apart that piece of holly - it was about three layers thick. It worked a bit better once it was flat. I did the same with the sentiment piece - it was 2 layers thick and wasn't working well on top of the rosette I created until I did a little surgery. Anyway it was good to use a few pieces but I really need to make more from those leftovers (it was a very generous kit LOL) . Anyway another week down - can't wait for the next challenge! Thanks for stopping by.

Jingle Belles #JB2403 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

 I saw the prompt for this week and immediately had a flashback to the first time I saw Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on television. Coincidentally it was the first time it aired. Go ahead look it up - yes that was quite a while ago - and it was just magical. Sort of like the poem our Dad would read on Christmas Eve - A Visit from St. Nicholas. I think a lot of parents read that to their kids on Christmas Eve. 

So I started sifting through my stash for RED -
patterned paper for starters. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? Some great RED papers - especially the one you see I used as the background of my card. Beautiful vintage images in RED and cream by a now defunct company called Daisy D's. Also additional plain red paper at the top and bottom. 

I stamped out the small words with Fired Brick Distress Ink - onto some scraps of the paper and cut them out. The chipboard piece is another ancient item from my stash - from K&Company. 

And that's that for now. I've got some other RED ideas I'd like to try out. Thanks for looking. 

Jingle Belles #2402 Something Old/New Take 2!

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I don't have a lot of new stuff. I did buy some stamps and dies a few months ago but no time to use them. I imagine I'm not alone in having lofty goals of making some things and then all the plans go out the window due to whatever is going on. So with that in mind - I'm using something old and something older still. I don't think anyone is gonna call the Jingle Belles Police on me - whaddya say Lauren and Stef? ha!  

So last year I picked up some Heidi Swapp patterned paper called Hometown Holiday.  In this card I used some of that paper: I cut the word JOLLY out of one piece and used yet another piece for the background. For my something older things - the Sizzix die for the Christmas tree (which I cut up and put back together - cos ya know why leave it be when you can redo it?) The shimmery cardstock is also from the ancient section of my stash along with that star brad. The little Christmas mice? They're an older set from Papertrey Ink - and the stamped words are from a coordinating stamp set. And of course, stitching. 

I am pleased with this one - the little mice are so stinkin cute I'm glad I got a chance to use them. I suspect they may turn up in another card someday soon.

Jingle Belles #2402 Something Old Something New

Hello again friends. I know. I'm back again. But to beat my previous record I've got to at least get to February. That said, on with the show. 

I gotta be honest. Most of my stuff is old. Have I stopped purchasing? Seriously LOL no. But I definitely stayed away from Christmas related things. Why? I've got a bunch.  And indeed I bought a Heidi Swapp stamp set (I believe) in November. I knew I wouldn't be making cards this past year. I stopped putting that particular pressure on myself years ago. I bought it because I knew I use it in the future for other things. Maybe just for tags - who knows. The set has classic elements that always appeal to me so I bought it no regrets. But I did want to use it soon. Enter this challenge. 

So that stamp set is my "new" but what about my old? The washi, the embossing powder, the prismacolor pencils.  

I'm hoping to get another card made before the end of the challenge but not making any promises. Thanks for taking the time to look. 

Jingle Bells 2024 and yeah, hello

 Okay so the last time I posted here was perhaps 9 years ago? Yeah I think so. Then I posted for a while on Instagram. And I guess I could post this there but  not for now. But to those of you who have found me after all this time: Hi. Nice to see you or meet you or whatever. 

I'm posting today because after a long time of not posting drawings or cards I've made I thought it would be fun to join in again with Jingle Bells: that wonderful holiday card challenge where you made  holiday cards all year long so by the time December rolls around you have quite a pile of cards. I will admit I've joined in before, years ago. I lasted 5 weeks. I'm hoping this time I can continue for the duration. 

So the first challenge is called Wrap It Up - you use wrapping paper to create your card(s). I pulled out some scraps from the wrapping paper container before I packed it away a few weeks ago and got to work. I've made 3 sets of cards. No doubt this over-achieving will stop soon so don't be concerned. I made a total of 8 cards.

The first card has that black background with metallic print for the "Merry Christmas". It was a favorite paper this year. I found some of these larger glittery poinsettia's in my stash which I thought would work well. And I stitched around the edge of the cards.

The second set of cards used a penguin wrap from a few years ago. I found some penguin stickers in my stash to decorate the small tags. I stamped a small sentiment from Purple Onion Designs on the tags. And finished it all off with some stitching as well as bows made of some bakers twine from Target (and some glossy accents to keep them in place).

The last set of cards were using that snowflake paper. The aqua, gold and off- white are such a pretty combo. I found some wood veneer snowflakes in my stash. I used Versamark and gold EP to change them into a pretty gold which would complement the paper. Threw in some gold and white sequins to add to the sparkle. Finally I stamped the small tags with stamps from Papertrey Ink and again used gold.

Forgive me- this is not looking great. It's been nine years since I've posted on here LOL. I'm lucky I could remember how to use Blogger. Truth be told I'm posting here so I can hold myself accountable. So I'm posting here and am going to link up to the Jingle Bells challenge for the week. That's one down for me!  Til next time!