Winter Woodland

We have been experiencing a deep freeze for the past few days with the temperature below -25 degrees Celsius and then add the windchill and it is just unbearable to be walking any distance outdoors. 

Given the cold temperatures, I was certainly inspired to make a Christmas card.  I am still playing along on the Cricut forum in RAQ's Challenges.  The particular sketch for my card was a Viva sketch.  I have also decided to submit this card in the Merry Monday Challenge.  A great challenge but unfortunately I have not played along in a while.  The theme this week is "For the Birds".

Card recipe

Papers Graphic 45 and Bazzil

Cricut Winter Woodland

Snowflake embossing folder

Miscellaneous stamp and brads

Ink - Distressed Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Sepia archival, Versa white chalk

 

Over the holidays, I watched a few videos and was reminded how inking edges can add depth and layering also helps to give dimension.  For the cardinal, I used the Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge but altered it as the bird did not have a wing nor feathery tail.  I inked the bird's chest and tail in distressed Black Soot ink.  The blue, cream and green frames are also from the Winter Woodland cart. The pine branches were made with the Martha Stewart punch and inked lightly with white chalk ink.  The sentiment is a stamp that I purchased at Michaels a few years ago and it is just hand cut.  I embossed the bottom layer using the Snowflake folder and inked with distress Vintage Photo ink. 

I am really happy with this creation!

I plan on being back soon and thanks for dropping by!

 

Christmas Sleigh

Today was a very productive day as I updated my blog, organized my craftroom (a little bit), did laundry, bought a new Cricut catridge and made a card!

I bought the Pretty Pennants cartridge.  It's not an extensive cartridge but many of my creations have some form of a pennant so I thought it would be nice to add to my collection as I often cut that shape by hand and I'm not always pleased with the final look. 

Before I could design this latest creation, I needed to update my Gypsy and then my Cricut Expression.  I won't get into all of the details but suffice it to say that it did take 2 hours.  Sigh!  In case you don't know, the Gypsy is a handheld device that allows you to work with the images of the various cartridges that you own, scale them to the size that you want and then cut them on your Cricut machine.  It is simple for me and I just love working with it!

So here is my Christmas card.

Papers:  Simple Stories

Cricut: Winter Woodland (sleigh, santa's hat), Elegant Edges (frames)

Pretty Pennants (snowflake pennant)

Spellbinders for scalloped circle frames

Fiskars corner punch

Ribbon - beige silk, brown grosgrain, green checkered

Green ribbon criss-crossed in frame

Small gems and pearl

 

I've been following the Deconstructed Jen for some time now but never took the time to participate in their weekly sketches as I'm often a week or too behind. Happy I could this time and here is the wonderful sketch DS74 that gave me my inspiration!

Thanks for dropping by!  Please leave me a comment about my card or the redesigned look!

Back to cardmaking!

I know I've been remiss in keeping my blog current however I changed careers over the summer and was busy with work and getting my certifications.  So all that is behind me now and I've been able to enjoy my little corner.  If you look under the "Craftroom" tab you'll see that my actual workspace is 11' x 3'.  Small but highly functional!

Here's a birthday card that I made for one of my daughter's friends. 

Papers - Authentique

Happy Birthday - Cricut Paper Lace 2

Crimper for rust border

Buttons from my MIL's stash (probably 50 years old)

 

 

And with Christmas a mere 9 weeks away, here is one of the latest Christmas cards that I made:

 

Papers - Recollections

Cricut - snowflakes, tag and words

MS branch punch

Embossed red tag with snowflake folder

Ribbon and brad

 

 

And lastly, to provide some inspiration for my American friends that are thinking about Thanksgiving, here is a place card that I made for a dinner party. 

 

Papers - unsure

Cricut for the green frame and leaves

Button from MIL's stash

Fiskars Corner Punch

Twine



 



Hope you're enjoying your weekend and I will be back more regularly now!

Vintage Christmas

I haven't posted in awhile due to the end of the school year activities and trip to the cottage.  It's been an amazingly hot week but I did find a bit of time to sneak away to my craft room.

I'm playing along with Jingle Belles Vintage Christmas challenge this week and here is my creation:

Papers - Graphic 45

Cricut - Joys of the Season for poinsettia 

Cricut - Accent Essentials for gold frame (welded with Gypsy)

Gold stickles, beads and gem embellishments

Vintage Photo distressed ink for edges and sentiment

I just love the Graphic 45 papers for this card.  The background paper is the classical "Night Before Christmas" story and such lovely images of old time Christmas.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you are enjoying the summer weather!

Challenge - Jingle Belles Have Yourself a Vintage Christmas JB-12-14

Thinking of You

Yesterday was a wonderful and special day as my great nephew was born.  I was busy finishing up cards for his parents and grandparents but I can't reveal them here just yet as they haven't received them.

A dear friend has been going through some challenging times so I made a card to cheer her up.  This card is part of the ISpySketches and Crazy4  challenges. For the Crazy4, we need to use 3 flowers, 3 papers, 3 buttons and 3 pearls.

Card recipe

Papers - Vintage Heartwarming Collection

Paper flowers

Silk ribbon, pearl embellishments and buttons

Stamp - Inkadinkado with Colorbox ink

Cricut Elegant Edges for all paper cuts except pink card base



Here is the sketch from ISSC

Thanks for dropping by and I would love to hear your comments!



Challenges
I Spy Sketches - ISSC20
Crazy4 Challenge

Frosty Greetings

So I'm switching gears today from shabby tea to a hot cup of cocoa.  I'm playing along at Merry Monday and I've made another Christmas card - #37 for me, to be exact.

Card recipe

Papers - Fancy Pants Winterland and kraft

Cricut - Joys of the Season (mug) and Speaking of Winter (snowflake)

Crimper used on polka dot paper

Fiskars border punch

Distressed Broken China and Inkadinkado stamp

I've kept this card fairly simple. I used my crimper that's been sitting in the bottom of my drawer to give the allusion of the coffee cup sleeve.

Here's the wonderful sketch from Merry Monday

Thanks for dropping by and I always appreciate hearing from you!

Challenge: Always Playing with Paper - Merry Monday #24 Frosty Greetings

Tea time!

I decided to play along again at The Shabby Tea Room for this week's Shabby Beautiful challenge.  I will also be entering my card in the Mojo Monday challenge.  I've re-read the rules for TSTR as I don't think that my hot air balloon card for last week's Sweet Summer quite followed them as I didn't get any feedback.  I used the colours as an inspiration and not really the image.  Oops!  Oh well, the card turned out well and it's all part of the learning process.

So here is my card:

Card recipe

Papers Heartwarming Vintage Collection and Mind's Eye Lost and Found

Cricut - Everyday Paper dolls for teacups and Elegant cakes for aqua doily

Distressing and stitching on rounded rectangular pieces

Button, seam binding, pearls, flower, green ribbon and lace

Gold Stickles ont teacups

And the photo inspiration with the instructions to use aqua, pink, neutrals and flowers and make it shabby!



And lastly the sketch from Mojo Monday

Thanks for dropping by and I always appreciate hearing from you!

Challenges

The Shabby Tea Room Week 118 Shabby Beautiful

Mojo Monday 245