Dreaming of a green and red Christmas

Jingle Belles is featuring a card challenge using the colors green and red. I had this funky martini olive green paper that just happened to perfectly match the green in this remnant of old scrapbook paper. I used the sketch from Seize the Sketch, added a die cut from my favorite poinsettia die, a little ribbon and voila!

 

And here is Lori Tecler's sketch, which I LOVE and used for another card as well.

 

 

 

I'm submitting to the following challenges:
Jingle Belles Red & Green
Seize the Sketch #22
CHNC Challenge Extra (anything goes)

 

Layers and layers

I don't like gingerbread. In theory it should be great: brown sugar, ginger, butter...good stuff. But it just never tastes as good as it should. If I make gingerbread men shaped cookies, I use sugar cookie dough. What I do love is this Tim Holtz gingerbread man die. I knew he would work out great on a layered card for the current Jingle Belles challenge. And happily, Merry Monday's challenge is to make a card featuring a gingerbread man. I recently found CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge, a challenge void waiting to be filled! This card is covered ENTIRELY with patterned paper!  I used Seize the Sketch #19 for the layout. All of the papers are Pink Paislee.

 

 

Here's my card:

 



I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Jingle Belles: Layers (I have 5)
Merry Monday Gingerbread man/woman
Seize the Sketch #19
CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge
CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge something beginning with B (bow and the stamped bell)
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra anything goes as long as it's Christmas

This is not an Easter Bunny!

Sure, Easter is a few weeks away. But this is not an Easter Bunny. This is a card for a 7 year old girl named Emma who loves bunnies and the colors purple and blue and green. She is also undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I learned about Emma when I saw a card that a card-making friend (the amazing Stephanie of Ingenious Inkling) made and posted on her blog. Another card-making blogger named Kelly (who has a pretty cool blog Kelly's Place) started the card drive for Emma. For my card, I used Deconstructed Sketch #144 which is a sketch challenge that I just started following and really like.

I decided to use coordinating papers to make the envelope too. Here's the front.

 

 

And here's the back.

 

 

 



Sing a Song of Christmas Cheer

Now that we've gotten some rain in Northern CA, I took a break from my rain dance to make a card for the current Jingle Belles challenge Spirit of Christmas Past. The idea is to make a vintage-themed Christmas card. I scanned a vintage postcard, added a die cut frame, some lace and a die cut poinsettia.

You can't read the poem in the picture so here is it: "Sing a song of Christmas Cheer, Of Santa Claus who'll soon be here; Of dolls and other lovely toys, To please both little girls and boys."

 
 

Jingle Belles Sketch

I have only made birthday cards lately so I'm very happy to have had a chance to make a Christmas card. Here's Miss Stephanie's lovely sketch for the current Jingle Belles Sketch Challenge.

 

 

And here is my card. I don't think I've ever used this vintage looking Santa stamp so I was glad to put it to work.

 

Papers: Pinkpaisley

Tim Holtz Festive Greenery and Sizzix dies

The word is Christmas!

Here's my newest Christmas card, based on the Jingle Belles Oh Christmas Words challenge. For the layout I used Deconstructed Sketch #136. Papers are from My Mind's Eye and the ornaments are a gift tag that just happened to match the colors perfectly. Kismet.

Happy New Year of card-making!

What better way to start off the New Year than with a Christmas card challenge? I was thrilled to see the first Jingle Belles challenge of 2014, Something Old Something New, this morning. The challenge is, well, pretty much self-explanatory. The layered papers are old, from the first batch of Christmas paper I bought in late 2011, when I first started making cards. I realized pretty quickly that I preferred less traditional types of paper but couldn't bring myself to just toss it. But, just like quilting (she says as if she had ever actually quilted), paper that isn't pretty by itself can look quite striking in the right combination. The papers and ribbon have been around for a while and the tag was a surprise with a bunch of other tags that arrived from a great friend just a few days ago. I stitched around the papers, which is a skill I haven't perfected but I keep trying!

Also, I resolved to do more on the inside of the cards this year. I usually leave them blank and then write a message when I send them. But I decided to use stamps and embellishments on the inside as well. It's also a good way to use embellishments that just don't seem to warrant being on the front of the card. Happy New Year!