A Christmas Prayer for All My Friends Who Visit Here

I pray your heart is merry

I pray your joy is bright

Throughout this special season

Of peace and hope and light!

--- Jennifer Byerly

My son and new daughter-in-law will be arriving in a couple of days. We will be enjoying treasured Christmas traditions as well as making new ones.  I hope that you all will have family close and that your celebrations will be warm and joyful. 

Thank you for all your visits and lovely comments and support this year.  I'm blessed to have met so many wonderful and talented friends here in our blogging community.  Until 2012...........

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings and to a prosperous and blessed New Year! 

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge #93 --- It's Santa!

Just 16 days before the Big Buy starts his annual trek around the world, jumping down chimneys, chomping on cookies and stuffing stockings!  Paying tribute to this bearer of glad tidings is Sassy Cheryl's Design Team with the challenge theme "It's Santa!".

I think I have finally caught on to the clean and simple style of cardmaking, but now my challenge is FLAT cardmaking.  I have lots of cards to mail so I really need to keep them within the one-stamp per envelope range. I do so love layers and embellies, but those will just have to be saved for those cards hand-delivered or attached to packages. With the card for this challenge I managed to keep it flat and with a minimum of embellies that could get into the hands (or noses) of little ones.

I used Jen del Muro's December sketch for this card.  Her sketch is below and I will enter this in her challenge, too.  It's a great sketch and I turned it on its side to accommodate the shape of the image.  All of the papers are from the Jolly and Bright mat stack by Recollections at Michael's.  The shapes are all cut with Nesties dies --- what would we do without them?

Santa is colored with Copics and I used Stickles for the dots on his coat and the swirls.

Now, what would Santa do without his elves?  Since I was making all these clean and simple FLAT cards I thought I might as well show them off here, too.  It's not often I have so many new cards made in such a short time! 

Gotta love Cheryl's new character Polly and she is all decked out to help Santa.  I just can't bring myself to color her pigtails anything but red/orange!  The papers are from the same Jolly and Bright mat stack.

She is also colored with Copics.

Noah is a helpful little elf, handing out the ornaments for the tree.  This card is really simple with the circle die cuts creating an ornament-type layout.

Again with the Copics and dp from the Jolly and Bright mat stack.

Now, this one was really simple!  The Christmas Tree Elves, looking very much like the Marx Brothers, are taking more ornaments to the tree.  The background dp is from the Jolly and Bright mat stack. (I don't know why this is so dark, but the paper is really bright and pretty.)

I embossed the Nesties die for the border around the group.  They are all colored with Copics and I used Stickles to add the sparkle to the ornaments.  I really love this image and just might make a couple more cards like this.  It is so simple and festive.

All of these images, and so many more, are available at Cheryl's store here.  

In case anyone was counting, this is my third post today.  Whew!  I do have more cards to make yet, but will probably have a bit of a break from posting for a couple of days....... maybe ;-)

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to pay a visit to Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog to see some very fun Santa cards by the design team.  

Sketch and Stash Challenge 76 --- Chrissie's Sketch

[Yes, indeedy, this is my second post of the day!  Scroll down for first ever Sugar Creek Hollow entry.]

It's been awhile since I entered the Sketch and Stash Challenge, but when I saw my lovely friend Chrissie's sketch, I just had to take part.  I love the sketch and had just the right new image to use on it.

The rich deep reds and greens come under my favorites for Christmas colors, especially when I am wanting a vintage look.  The Christmas Cheer stack by K & Co. has been my go-to selection for a couple of years, but I am down to just a few sheets of it now.    All the dp on this card is from that stack.  The ribbon is velveteen and the flower is from Prima.  

A new-to-me site is Waltzing Mouse Stamps and this image called "Harriet" is a freebie from the digital products section.  They have a super selection of stamps from which I already have quite a long wish list!  I colored Harriet with Copics and layered it on Nesties die cuts.  

Here is Chrissie's sketch.  The next new challenge will be on December 19, so you still have time to jump in with your project.  Be sure to check out the design team's projects, too! 

Thanks for stopping by again today!  I hope you are having a wonderfully creative week!

Sugar Creek Hollow Challenge --- Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

This is my first entry for the Sugar Creek Hollow Challenge.  My uber-talented friend Peggy is one of the new design team members and when I saw that this challenge features vintage, shabby and primitive designs, I was hooked!  So I hope to be here every week!

For this week the challenge is non-traditional Christmas colors. This gave me the chance to use a piece from a package of K & Co. Vintage labels and to try an easel card made from the Spellbinders Label Ten.  

I like how this came out.  Label Ten is so pretty and the large size makes it just right for a non-rectangular shape.  I used Kraft card stock for the base and layered on the light blue and a crackle dp by The Paper Studio.  The tag with the reindeer is from the package of K & Co. tags.  It has just a touch of gold glitter on the borders.  The poinsettias are little silk picks I found at Michael's and the pearl swirls are Recollections by Michael's.  

A little closer look at the top half of the card.

The sentiment is a stamp from a Cornish Heritage Farms collection. 

I just might use this as a decoration here at home instead of mailing it out.  I know just the place for it!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I have been busily making cards this week so there will be more posts to come.... maybe even another one today!  If you haven't visited Sugar Creek Hollow yet, be sure to hop on over.  You will love what the design team has to inspire and excite us this week!

Bah! Humbug! #47 --- Cute Christmas Critters

When the last Bah! Humbug! challenge of the year is upon us, Christmas is not far behind.  And this week is the last BH challenge of the year --- Yikes!  But if it wasn't for Ann and Max and all the guest designers during 2011 I wouldn't have nearly as many cards done as I do!  For the last challenge of 2011 the ladies of Humbug Hall have us seeking out Cute Christmas Critters.  I'm glad they specified "Cute" or we could see another invasion of the ugly spider critter from last September!  EEK!

So, what would Christmas cards be without a House Mouse stamp or two?  There are so many and they definitely qualify as "Cute"!  

I was going through a stack of stamps and images I had already colored and found this angelic pair that I colored last year.  There was even a sticky note attached reminding me to do white-on-white with candy cane ribbon.  So, that's what I did!  Dotted Swiss embossing on the bottom layer and a Nesties frame around the image which is mounted on a piece of red card stock.  And a simple candy cane bow with Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

I colored them with Copics, but I don't remember what I used to make them shimmer.  I just love the humor in this scene and I get the feeling that the bugle is not only loud but off-key as well!

As sad as it is that we won't be seeing Bah! Humbug! for a few weeks, they will be returning in January with even more challenges to get our creative juices flowing for 2012.  In the meantime, hop on over to take a look at the inspiration by the design team and participants.  

To Ann and Max, thank you for another great year!  Love and hugs and Merry Christmas!

Sassy Cheryl Challenge #92 --- Winter

Today has been a very wintry day and there is the threat of a rain/snow mix tonight.   For southern Missouri that often means ICE.  We have to drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas tomorrow morning, but hopefully we will encounter only wet roads.  In this part of the country there is not a single road that is straight or flat.  That makes for s scenic drive --- on good days.

All of this fits well with Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week --- WINTER.  

Cheryl's image "Winter" just says it all!  Getting all bundled up in boots and mittens and a muffler to run outside and catch the snow flakes of the first snowfall.  Paper like Michael's Recollections and snow flakes from a Martha Stewart punch help to put that first scene of winter right in someone's hands. 

The image is colored with Copics and the snowflakes are Stickles.  

I'll soon have all the cards made that I will need for Christmas and holiday greetings.  Then I'll move on to the next few seasons and should stock up on birthdays and other sentiments.  But in the meantime, I'm loving all the new winter and holiday images by Cheryl.  Be sure to hop over to the challenge blog to see what the amazing design team has created.  

Thanks for stopping by!  If you are experiencing winter weather, please drive safe and keep warm!

Mo's DP2 Challenge #111 --- Great Outdoors

This week Mo's DP2 Challenge is sending us outdoors!  This time of year there are lots of things to do outdoors:  building snowmen, caroling, searching for the perfect Christmas tree, sledding, and all sorts of winter activities.  (Can you tell I'm in the winter/Christmas frame of mind?)

I am actually getting in on the challenge pretty early this week because I had just made this card but hadn't gotten it posted yet.  I used Mo's new image "Shall I Play for You".  When I think hear the song "Little Drummer Boy", which I love, I think of the little lad standing near the manger, softly drumming, his only gift to give the child.  

When I made this card I had imposed my own challenge --- sepia with one color.  I always think of little toy drums as red in color, so that became my theme. The card base, border bunch and corner punches are made from Kraft paper; the punches are Martha Stewart.  The dp are scraps and worked really well with the Kraft.  The card is simple, no bling or flowers.  I know a couple of little boys who will like this and they are young enough that I wouldn't want to put on little pieces that could end up in little mouths, noses or ears!

The image is colored with Copics.  Those corner punches, as I mentioned, are Martha Stewart.  I really like the way these punch out and fold over, giving it a clean photo corner look.

Well, as I said, Mo has lots of images to meet the challenge of the "Great Outdoors", so if it is cold and wintry where you are, you can warm up your work space if you build a card with a beach scene or a backyard barbeque.  However you do it, there is plenty of time to get in on the fun at DP2 Challenge!  You really have to see what the DT came up with, too!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Have a terrific weekend!