Christmas Cards

My oldest daughter, Jessica, has an on campus job at her college. She asked me to make Christmas cards for her two bosses. Because her co-workers (about 20 of them) are also going to sign, she needed space for everyone's signature. I came up with the idea of doing a simple tri-fold card - an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper folded mountain valley style would fit perfectly into a regular business sized envelope. My daughter chose this cute new Happy Santa set from Torico's Birdie Brown site. I like that the variety of images and included sentiments (love those!) made it really easy to come up with two different cards.

First up, card #1:

Here's a close up of Santa and his reindeer: 

I simply opened up a Word document to create my cards. My youngest daughter taught me how to be able to put my images in Word exactly where I want them. Under Picture Tools, choose Wrap Text and then choose the "Tight" option. Do that for each individual image and then you can move them where you like!

Here's card #2 - just switched out the greeting and the Santa and voila! Fini!

Here's another close up of Santa (excuse the glare on the right):

The sky was the most nervewracking part. I couldn't color it in with Copics, like I did everything else, because it was so large. I decided to use chalk, but I always have a hard time getting my color to be even and not streaky. Whew, I was glad when I was done with that part! (It's a little hard to see the chalk in the photos - it's more noticeable in person.) After I colored everything in, I added some bling with Stickles - Icicles Stickles for the snow and gold and silver Stickles for the reindeers' bells. (I made them silver on one card and gold on the other just for a little variety.) I also used some white flock on Santa's beard and hat. I spent the whole evening coloring and decorating these cards but I had a blast doing so!

Hopefully I've inspired you to get started on your own holiday cardmaking. I still have to decide on the design for my family holiday cards and get going on those, too!
Lisa

More Torico!

Since my daughter used the last one right away, I wanted to make another card with this cute birthday pup by Torico:

You can find this cute image and many other at Torico's Etsy shop, Birdie Brown. I colored him in with Prismacolor pencils and OMS and used more of that great Lime Twist 6X6 paper that I found at Archivers. (It is seriously a good thing that I do not have an Archivers anywhere near my house! LOL.)

Well, I'm off to play Santa. To those of you who celebrate - Have a very Merry Christmas!

Lisa

I Made a Card!!

OK, most of the time that is not big news. But lately - ? Eeek! I haven't made a card since the last Totally Papercrafts challenge. (BTW, are you playing along? You have until the end of the month to join in while the rest of the DT and I take a little break for the holidays.)

I've been a big fan of Torico ever since I discovered her work at There She Goes stamps. Torico also has a little Etsy shop where she sells some of her work in digital form. My oldest daughter needed a birthday card tonight so I whipped out this new image that I just bought. I love dogs so I just couldn't resist! And I used my brand new Lime Twist 6X6 pad that I bought the last time I was at Archivers. I really think great paper just makes so much difference in your cards! (The colors are a bit off. I had to take this in my bathroom - sadly the room in  my house with the best lighting - and then try to adjust for the artificial light with Photoshop.)

The layout is borrowed right from Torico's sample card in her Etsy shop. Embellishments are a computer generated sentiment and a ribbon scrap. (Did you notice the word "celebrate" on the ribbon?) I colored in the image with Prismacolor pencils and OMS.

Now that I'm off until the New Year, I hope to be back soon with another card!
Lisa

Fab Friday for the Frantic

Peter Cottontail will soon be hopping down that bunny trail. If you haven't had time to make your Easter cards yet, check out some digital options.

Sally-Ann has a cute new Easter collection available at the DigiStamp Boutique shop.

(And, yes, the card on the DigiStamp site is one from yours truly!) 
I'm also a big fan of one of last year's releases, Spring Coco and friends.

If you're looking for religious Easter images, try TAC's Digi Design House: Easter images. TAC's own Mabelle Ramirez-Ortiz also has some cute Easter images in her Etsy shop, Whimsy and Stars Studio.

Time for me to hop off to bed! I'm serving Easter dinner for 12 on Sunday and I still have a lot of cleaning and cooking to do.
Lisa

A Digital WWW

I haven't had any cardmaking time this week, so I thought this was a good time to introduce a few digital "TAC-like" stamps.

First up is The Angel Company's own "Digi Design House" line. These are oldies but goodies, retired in rubber but brought back to life in digital form.

And, if like me, you're a fan of TAC's own Mabelle Ramirez-Ortiz, you can find her line of digital cuteness in her Etsy shop., Whimsy and Stars Studio. Mabelle has recently added some adorable new Easter images, just perfect for Easter cards, 3D projects, etc.

I hope to be back with an actual card soon. (I just have to survive this week. It's a rough one!)
Lisa

Fab Friday - Favorites

I found a few favorite challenges this week to participate in. I entered this first card in the current SplitCoastStampers sketch challenge (#318), The Greeting Farm's FFF Hat's Off challenge and in 365Cards Day 337 Ad Inspired challenge. I really loved this week's SCS sketch because it's so simple and straightforward. (I'm not a fan of lots of circles, too many shapes, etc.) And I loved the 365Cards Ad challenge because it has my favorite color combo - pink and brown!

Supplies: Audrey digital stamp (The Greeting Farm), pink swirl dp (the Paper Studio), Copics, pink self-adhesive rhinestones, sheer brown ribbon, brown cs from scrap stash.

Oh and you know what those nice ladies at 365Cards did? They picked me as one of their Spotlight Designers for my Bliss card! (And now I've got a nifty little badge in my sidebar to prove it.) Wow, I'm honored. :) That made my day.

Next up is another favorite sketch from this week. It's Sketch 100 from the CardPatterns Weekly Sketch Blog. Just like the SCS sketch, this one was also simple and straightforward. Just my kind of sketch. :)

Supplies: Bear's Big Gift (Designed2Delight), stripe/turquoise paper (Wild Asparagus), Copics, button (Buttons Galore), twine, paper piercing tool, brown cs & a scrap of some old CM scrapbook paper. 

Isn't that bear the cutest? I thought this would make a good "guy card".

Whew! I'm off to do a little shopping on the Kraftin' Kimmie site. It's the last day of the birthday sale - get 40% off any purchase of $50 or more. I've been wanting a few more KK stamps so this is a good time to expand my collection!

Lisa

Good-Bye!

This will be a bittersweet Sweet Sketch Wednesday for me! After being part of Arlana's wonderful SSW team for almost a year, I'm stepping down to pursue other crafting adventures. This will be my final posting as part of the SSW team, although I plan on stopping by and participating in their sketch challenges from time to time. Good-bye to Arlana and the rest of the SSW team. They are all very sweet ladies, indeed!

Now, on to this week's card! Our SSW sponsor this week is Shirley's 2 Girls. First up, the sketch:

For my card, I used the fun "Gracie".

I don't know why, but I pictured Gracie as a redhead, right from the start. She was a little too young to be a Red Hatter, so I made her into a Pink Hatter (a younger member of the Red Hatter club). She was a lot of fun to work with!

OK, you've seen the sketch and my sample card. Now, head on over to the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog to check out the rest of the design team's cards. Play along with us and you have a chance at winning a great prize from Shirley's 2 Girls!

Snow Day, part 2

I took advantage of yet another snow day to make some more cards. This first card is for the current sketch challenge on the Sugar Bowl blog:


We also had to include lace and use Sugar Nellie images.

The second card is for Mo Manning's Digital Pencil 2 challenge blog. This week's challenge is "wood/would". I don't own any Digital Pencil images that I could incorporate into the wood theme, so I chose a "would you be mine" theme to celebrate Valentines' Day.

I just love this Keisha image! The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Bittersweet collection. I just love BG papers!

A Digitally Fab Friday!

I'm back in the groove! I'm posting (semi-regularly at least) and I remembered Fab Friday! :)

I have become a huge fan of digital stamps. They're cheap, they're resizable and they are *instant* gratification. No waiting for the mailman or the guy in the brown truck. :) So, the topic of this week's Fab Friday is digi stamps. One of my favorite digi stamp stores is, of course, DigiStamp Boutique. If you haven't been in the shop lately, be sure to check out all her Christmas images while they're still on sale 20% off. I'll be posting a Felicity card later this weekend.

In my hunt for fun new digis, I've found several rubber stamp artists' work in digital form. If you're a fan of the Tiddly Inks stamps from Stamping Bella, check out Christy Croll's Tiddly Inks store on Etsy. If you're a High Hopes fan, check out Crissy Anderson's digital artwork on Squigglefly. And if you've fallen in love with the cute little Pure Innocence girls at My Favorite Things, be sure to visit Heather Ellis' Digital Stamp Characters shop at Etsy.

Happy shopping! :)

Yummy, Yummy!

Are you tired of Halloween and pumpkin cards yet? I hope not because I've got another Halloween card on tap tonight and I'm working on another one for tomorrow! :) I bought this adorable digi stamp, Yummy Frogs, from Pink Cat Studios.


The cute little circle image is one of the freebies I mentioned last Friday. You can find it here. (Note: I resized these quite a bit to have them fit the largest of my CM circle punches, which fits nicely inside the SU! scalloped circle punch.)

I got to use my new Mallow COPIC marker on Betty's dress. (It's blended with Amethyst for shadows.) Thank you, Diana, for recommending this color. I love it!

Hope Fights

I ran into a former scrapping & stamping buddy at the Hatton show and she told me that her cancer had returned. (She's been cancer free for several years.) I wanted to send her a card and when I ran across this image last week, I knew it was the perfect one for my card:


Hope Fights is one of the freebies that I shared with you on Friday. While she's not a freebie anymore, you can purchase her for a mere $2.50 on the Whimsie Doodles site and all proceeds go to support breast cancer research.

I'll be keeping my friend, Laura, in my thoughts. If you could send a few good thoughts her way, I'm sure she would appreciate it. Thanks!

Fab Friday

Well, my own Friday did not start out so fabulous... I got rearended on my way to work this morning. Fortunately, there wasn't any damage to my car (can't say the same for the person who ran into me), but it still was not a good way to start the day.

Anyway... since my stamping time these days is pretty limited, I thought I'd try a new weekly feature, Fab Friday, where I share something fabulous (of course!) with you.

This week, I've got a bunch of FREE digital downloads to share. Free is always fab, right?

While blog hopping, I found these great Halloween digis. They would be cute as embellishments on a card or tags on Halloween treats.

Next up is an awesome download of black and white paper from The Angel Company. Check out their downloads page to find other great freebies, including their first set of free black and white digi paper.

My last find, Hope Fights, is fabulous... and not. It's a free digi image for Breast Cancer Awareness. It's fab that Whimsy Doodles is giving this cute image away. It's not fab that there are men and women facing this disease. :-( Today is the last day to download this freebie, so hopefully you're reading this in time.

Go check out these links and create something wonderful with your new FREE goodies! :)

Marissa

Sally-Ann has just released some great new images, including this adorable mermaid named Marissa. You can find Marissa and the other July images here. I've been dying to make a card with this cutie since I saw her. She's my favorite July release. :)


I'm submitting this card to three challenges: A Spoonful of Sugar challenge #58 ("Summer"), Simon Says Stamp (use some combination of lemon, orange, apple green and pink - I used everything except lemon) and DareU2digistamp's embossing challenge (I used my Cuttlebug to dry emboss the bottom pink panel).

I used a combination of Copics and watercolor crayon with Dove blender pen to color in this image. The shells are stamped images (MFT's "By the Seashore"), which I colored and cut out.

Digital Dare

I made this card for DareU2DigiStamp's Chocolate and Orange challenge:


Supplies: Olive (Digistamp boutique). flourish die (Quickutz), flower (Prisma), antique copper brad, brown cs (DCWV), orange paper from Hobby Lobby paper stack, ribbon (Michaels), Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.

Olive - One Cute Kitty

Olive is the newest digital stamp from DigiStamp Boutique. I used her for the sketch challenge over on DareU2DigiStamp. Isn't she sweet? You can see more sample cards from the rest of the DigiStamp DT here: Olive cards

[note:] If you looked at my card a few minutes ago and just came back (I don't know why - maybe it's a slow night out here in blogland!), your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I DID just change the embellishments on this card. It looked too plain when I photographed it, but *somebody* (oh, possibly named DIXIE) was expecting a walk. :-) So now that she's a happy dog, I was able to fix my card and be a happy stamper. :-)

For the Boys

This week's challenge on DareU2Digistamp was "For the Boys". I knew DigiStamp Boutique's Alfie would be perfect! I just had to use "soccer Alfie" because I have become addicted to the soccer heading game on my Wii Fit! I have no hope of ever catching up to Jessica, but I've accomplished my goal of breaking 100. Now my goal is to score at least 200! Unfortunately, this means fighting my kids for time on the Wii. :)


These papers are from my scrap pile. I don't use a lot of masculine colors/prints, but I just love these papers. I think the square brads sort of echo the shape of the black hexagons on Alfie's soccer ball. Well, off to battle Jessica for control of the Wii remote. ;-)

Christmas Lilly

I'm participating in the monthly Christmas Card Challenge over on SplitCoastStampers. (I'm having a little trouble making those deadlines lately.) This is a sample of my April card. I started them in April - does that count? ;-)


I used another cute digital image from the DigiStamp Boutique, Lilly. She's not a Christmas image, but I think she looks cute on a Christmas card, too. :)

Supplies: Lilly with presents (DigiStamp Boutique), striped paper (Paper Studio), cardstock (Hobby Lobby), ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Copics, bright green brads.

A Sneak Peek

Meet Ruby, the newest image from Sally-Ann Hancock!

With a name like Ruby, I had to dress her in red and give her some auburn hair. :)

Ruby will be available soon over at Digistamp Boutique. [5/14 update - she's available on the site.] She's scheduled to make her debut on Friday. While you're checking out the site, be sure to read up on the monthly challenge where you can win free digital stamps!

Supplies: Ruby (Digistamp Boutique), Scarlet cs (TAC), scalloped circle die (Cuttlebug), circle punch (CM), For You (retired TAC), Copic markers, ribbon (HL or Michaels?), MM slot punch kit.

Meet Arthur!

Better a little late than never, here's Arthur!

Isn't he adorable? You can find him in the DigiStamp Boutique now!

Supplies: Arthur (DigiStamp Boutique), Plum Pudding cs (Papertrey Ink), flowers (Making Memories), scallop circle punch (Marvy), ribbon (Michaels), Copics, K&Co rhinestones., large brads

DigiStamp Boutique Sneak Peek

How exciting! The new DigiStamp Boutique is now open! Be sure to check out the new blog as well. There is an opportunity posted to win a great prize! Here's a peek of one of Sally-Ann's cute new designs for May:


I thought that the Love Birds were just perfect for my in-laws' anniversary card! I printed them out on white, light pink and medium pink cardstocks and then paper pieced them. I chose the swirly paper and the scallop border punch to echo the curviness of the birds and hearts. I've used my mini flower Nestabilities before, but I got the idea to curve up the petals from the April issue of Craft Stamper magazine. I love that magazine and am jealous of those of you in the U.K. who get to see the issues before they hit the newstands here!