Nephew's Birthday Card

My nephew will be turning 3 on Christmas Eve, and we attended his party this weekend. I pulled out one of my favorite paper pads, made by Making Memories, and this went together very quickly. For the left panel, I repeatedly stamped the happy block (Technique Tuesday) over the striped paper. On the diamond side, I stamped the 3 (foam Making Memories stamp - does anyone else still use those?) with white acrylic paint, and added the sentiment (Melissa Frances). Final touch was a bit of fuzzy yarn to add some dimension.

Well, this will probably be the last you hear from me until after Christmas. Just too many other things needing my attention. May you all have a blessed holiday!

Late to the Party!

I'm definitely running behind today; it's time for the smART Cookie Tea Party, and I'm just now arriving (blush, blush).

Our hostess Peggy challenged us to mount our focal image in an oval. Things are quite busy around here with Christmas looming on the horizon, so I kept my card pretty simple. All the images are from the "Purpose Small" set. I stamped the main image onto some pale bluish lavendar cardstock, then die cut it and matted with a black die cut. I knew I wanted to accent it with ribbon, but the white card base needed something more, so I pulled out my box of glimmer screens and grabbed some glimmer mist to create a soft, shimmery design along the bottom. Stamped the phrase, and good to go! It's definitely not a Christmas card, but I can't help but think of how timely the sentiment is... how that baby born so long ago truly can heal.

Be sure to check out the oval-riffic stuff that Susan (also sharing Peggy's card), Dina, Giovana & Donelda have created.

JOY!

Time for another cookie challenge! This time we were each given the Candle Joy set - a very cute set full of possibilities! I made a gift card holder; I seem to be giving more and more gift cards away these days, and this is one way to give them a bit more personality. For this one, I cut the cardstock to 4 1/4" x 10", then scored at 1 1/2" and 5 3/4". I stamped the little holly image on the inside pocket just to dress it up a bit. The sentiment was stamped and embossed, then I stamped the candle image onto plain white cardstock. It was painted with twinkling H2Os - I just love the shimmer those little pots provide! :) I then tore around the image, layered it with just a bit of yellow cardstock, then mounted it over some sheer ribbon.

I also made this card with a row of candles; the red strip across the top is covered with glass glitter so it's quite striking in person, and then I used more of that red paper as a "ruffle" under the candles. What isn't shown in this photo is the big green ink splotch created when I dropped my ink pad *right* after completing the card - at least I was able to edit it out here :)

And finally, I picked up this set of red and green magnetic frames from the $1 bin at Michael's and then made these inserts so that the inside of our front door (metal) now looks quite festive.

Check out the other cookie's creations here, and enter for a chance to win a set of your own here.

Joy to the world! The Lord has come

Let earth receive her King...

Feathery Lady

Can't believe it's been a week since I posted! I've been meaning to share this card for awhile now - the elegant lady is from In Fashion, and I just had to accent her hat with some real feathers (from Michael's). I really wanted to keep the focus on the feathers, so rather than coloring her, I simply masked the image off and stippled with twinkling H2Os. I cut a slit in the hat, then slipped the feathers in and anchored them on the back (just to be on the safe side, though, I did add a few drops of matte accents on the feathers themselves), then matted it with a black panel with the corners rounded. I tied on some ribbon, layered it onto a cuttlebugged piece, then added some pearls for the final elegant touch. On the inside, I added a white panel with the sentiment "Have a feather-fluffin' good day!" from the Feathers set.

In other smARTworks' news, our next tea party will be on Wednesday, Dec 17. Peggy has challenged us to have our focal image in an oval - pretty simple, right? Well how about playing along with us! And I've neglected to mention that Susan (the owner of smARTworks) recently released a bunch of new images - plus shipping is free on rubber-only orders this month! (all the details here). Lots of exciting stuff, I tell ya!

A Parisian Thank You

Some friends of ours spent Thanksgiving week in Paris, and brought a few little things back for us. As soon as I saw this cool Eiffel Tower, I knew I had to make a card with this Prima set (which I just had to have, but admittedly have used very little).

I started with a glimmer screen and a couple glimmer mists, just to lay down a nice sparkley backdrop... and then I just stamped away! Several of the images are done with pearlescent Brilliance ink (very noticeable on "Paris") for added shine. I stamped onto the white flowers and then accented them with a tiny rhinestone. The final touch was some sheer ribbon before mounting it onto a card base.

I don't think I spent more than 15 minutes making this card, but I had so much fun just playing with different elements... and I know that the recipients will appreciate it, too.

An Ornamental Tea Party

It's time for another tea party, and our hostess Dina challenged us to make a Christmas ornament. Fun!

I had a couple different ideas, but finally settled on using Silent Night and Berry Sprigs. For the main panel, I stamped onto acrylic (packaging from a cuttlebug folder - don't throw that stuff out!) with Palette ink. It looked nice, but was hard to see, so I covered the back side with white brilliance ink and heat set. Much better! Next, I stamped the berry sprigs with ivy brilliance ink. I heat set, then traced the branches with matte accents glue (Ranger), sprinkled on "dazzle dust," and accented the berries with fired brick distress stickles. OK, it's officially sparklefied :) To finish the edges, I glued a scalloped red frame to both the front and back. Next, I tied on ribbon for a hanger, then glued on a key (accented with a scrap of rick rack) and then the metal word charm (which I went over with white brilliance ink). These two items aren't just pretty - they have meaning. I chose the key because that baby boy born so long ago truly does hold the key and bring hope to all of mankind.

Be sure to check out what Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda have created for today's party, too. I know you'll be inspired!