Elves have been sighted ;- )

     Elves have been getting busy. One is working on the tree and the college elf has been spraying glitter for the Christmas cards and has learned to use a corner rounder ;- ) Amazing growth, that college brings, ha ha. However, today's item, is still not our Christmas card. Instead, it is a square tag that I made using the image from the Freebie Challenge at The Outlaws due, surprise, today!

     The image is from Anne's Digital Design by Anne Fenton. You can find her blog here, where she often offers some great freebies. I colored it digitally in PhotoShop. The red cardstock is from Core'dinattions and the pattern paper is from DCWV Holiday Christmas Stack. I just happened to pick up the ribbon this week from Michael's this week, on sale. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and I embossed it with Kaleidoscope embossing powder.  I went over the sign with a glitter gel pen and added Diamond Glaze to the berries (it appears it's not dry >.<) A nice, very simple tag, where you can put the To: and From: info on the back.

     I'd like to go back to cutting down our tree next year. Just shopping for it, as we have the past couple of years (partly due to the surgeries) causes us to go out for it later and the pickings are slimmer and I don't get to enjoy looking at it as much.  Hope your holiday preparations are coming along on schedule. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please leave a comment before you dash off. I really appreciate them. Have a holly, jolly weekend ;- )

14 tags and the Cookies are on the Way for Finals! Also Freebie links!

     Well, you're probably wondering were I've been. the party's over and no word from me. I did also have a birthday this week and then I heard then some of my college students were on their way home this weekend!!! Yikes! The cookies haven't gone out, what is happening with this thing called time? Now I don't know what is happen to the college system, but it seems some of them just had to write mostly papers, instead of actually taking finals. What's with that. Don't they know it takes me time to make the 14 tags and mail the cookies? It takes days just to go over all of the possibilities of things that could be used on a tag!

     I finally narrowed it down to cutting the front of the tag with the Cricut's Christmas Cheer cartridge using the Joy tag. I used Design Studio to size it and lay it out with 3 tags on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of cardstock. Seemed like a good idea, until I went to cut the solid back and Design Studio can't hide the cuts (contours) of the word JOY to make a solid tag, so I had to do the backs with the Gypsy and due to the way the one program allows you to do the size verses the other, the backs are just a bit smaller. Should have used the Gypsy for both parts. The Baby Jesus in the manger is an SVG purchased from Svgcuts.com and is part of the set O Holy Night and cut it with Sure Cuts A Lot. You can find the link on my sidebar. The sentiment is a digital image from Meljen's Designs that I got as a freebie. You can find her images here. She usually has freebies on Mondays. The red paper is a digital paper freebie from Papercraft Inspirations Issue 94 (online). Go here and the click downloads to check out all of their goodies ;- ) Are you beginning to see a bit of a trend, ha ha. I love freebies! The green paper, between the front and back tag is from Sue at PSP Crafting Gallery. You can find her freebies and those of some others here.  The final freebie is the ticket, which is a Member freebie (membership is free), from Crafter's Companion on the UK site, here. It's part of the Nov. set.  The digital freebies include papers, digital ribbons, tags, buttons and other elements all designed to go together. There is a new set every month. Most of the tag was embossed with Sizzix's Snowflake folder from the Christmas set (thanks hubby for helping out!) Yes, my DH know how to run the Big Kick ;- ) Everything was inked with distress inks to make them pop a bit and there is glitter pen and white gel pen on the holly berries.

     On the back, the gold metallic embossed sentiment is from Hero Arts and the rest is inked with Fired Brick distress ink.  The ribbon is from Michaels.

And here they are with their cookies, waiting to get boxed up.

     Here are a couple of photos of the food from our party. We did it mostly potluck this year for the first time. Yummy!

And finally, this is what you might have taken home if you participated in our White Elephant ;- )

     Thanks for dropping by and making all the way through the post ;- ) Have a wonderful weekend and please leave a comment before you go. They really mean so much to  me!

Tag, you're it ;- )

     Well, for the Creative Freebie Challenge at The Outlawz, I decided to due another tag, especially with the Christmas Party being tomorrow. It would have been done yesterday, except for needing to let the glitter glue dry. Then today, a piece went missing :- p Kind of figures, doesn't it ;- ) So after searching for way too long, I remembered that the DCWV Christmas Stack (which all of the papers are from) has another sheet with the element on it and just re-did it. The image is from Sandi Huggett and you can find Sandi's work at Sandi's Samples here. I used Diamond Stickles on the candy canes, Sparkly Fluff on the top, heel and toe of the stocking,  Perfect Pearls on the body of the stocking. I applied a line of Crayola Pip Squeak glitter on the line between the  papers and glitter gel pen to the gift box that was cut out from the DCWV paper. There is also white gel pen added to the NOEL. The stocking image was printed twice and popped up. I'm not sure whose the holographic snowflakes are, because the company name is cut off of the package > . >

     I was out decorating for the birds, ha ha ;- ) and ... 

     The sun is setting way, way to early and it's way to far south :- ( 

     Well, back to work for me. Thanks for dropping in. Drop in over at the Outlawz and join the next round of the Freebie Challenge. Check it out here. Please leave a comment before you go. It means so much to me to hear from you ;- ) Have a wonderful weekend!

I think I'm ahead, only to find I'm behind ;- (

     I started out thinking I was doing so well. I had finished a tag for the Progressive Challenge at Crafter's Digital Art Center on Saturday, but it was dark when I took the photo and I never got one taken on Sunday and by the time we got back from taking my son back to college, I was too tired to post, so I just figured I re-take the photo during the day today. Still, it isn't due until the 30th and I was done on the 26th and could have gotten it there if I had to. Such an accomplishment. That along with finishing my Aunt's card, mailing her gift and working like crazy on the house, because we have a huge Christmas party coming up on Sat. and my hubby is still recuperating and can't lift over 15 lbs. (How heavy are your Christmas boxes? Mine are a lot heavier than 15 lbs.) Now, I know my neighbor just had a death in the family and that will be 3 cards to make, but I have a bit of a grace period on that, so I think I'm doing pretty good and then.... I remember, just before writing this, that today is the anniversary of some dear friends of ours, so dear that they are coming all the way from Kansas to the Christmas party (Kansas City to Chicago is a looonnng way for 1 evening's visit.) Not only that, tomorrow is another friend's daughter's birthday. I didn't miss the birthdays of either of her sisters :-0 Wait .... what happened, everything was going so well? Maybe this is why the tag is done early!!! and my house is partial decorated!!! and my family room has been dusted!!!

     The tag uses an image by Tracy from Sugar Creek Hollow and the challenge and info on it can be found here. She reminded me of a partridge. I colored her digitally and printed her twice, cutting off her tail, legs and top feathers for the top image. The top image was edged with Zig Gold Painty marker and  sprayed with Crafter's Companion's Iridescent spray, which of course doesn't photograph well. The tail and top feathers on the bottom layer are actually inked with Distress Inks. I hadn't colored them because I didn't know I was going to cut it out like that until I did ;- ) The pattern papers are both freebie papers from Papercraft Inspirations. They have lots of great freebies. check out there site here. The tree came from issue 91 and is called Crafty Orchard and the music paper is from issue 93 and is All Join In. The golden yellow cardstock is Core'dinations and it was embossed with Birds and Swirls by Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps and was sprayed with Yellow Daisy Glimmer Mist. My favorite part is the ribbon, which you can barely see. It's very shimmery and silky. I was inspired to do a tag by Sue at http://scrumplescrunch.blogspot.com/ who was doing the 12 tags of Christmas Challenge. Now she is in a class way beyond me, but that's where inspiration comes from ;- )

     Now on to my Aunt's card. I'll re-fresh your memory with the outside photo, but you can go here for the info on it. I just wanted to show you how I finished off the inside.

     The stamped and embossed image at the top is actually an unmounted stamp. I wanted to give a tip that to use one, that you hadn't gotten around to mounting (I'm not sure that ever has happened to anyone ;- ), but you can use re-possionable adhesive on the mounting block to attach the stamp. That stamp was a gift with purchase and isn't marked so I don't know whose it is. The Happy Birthday is from Scrappy Cat. After I took the picture, I added a gift stamped with blue chalk ink in the huge white space. The gingerbread men were colored over with a glitter gel pen.

     And finally, (I know you thought this would go on forever and it's not over yet) here are a few photos of the gift I sent my Aunt. We found this at a craft fair in Sept.  and this artist had so many lovely pieces in a huge variety of sizes. This is made of clay and the petals are very soft. 

      Thanks for making it through today's post. I'm sure you  have so much to do too ;- ) If you have any time left, please leave a comment. It means so very much to me to know you were here. Have a great week and remember to do something creative that you enjoy!  

Creative Freebie Challenge at The Outlawz

     Well, here I am at another deadline, only this time I have no clue where the time went. I really love the images that we were given and I'm feeling bad that I just remembered today that it's the 19th, because I wanted to send more time with whichever image I chose. You know, do it's wonderfulness some justice.  I had planned on coloring it non-digitally, but with the short time, digital it is. I used a pattern on the top of the stocking to give it a more fuzzy feel. The wonderful image is by Sandi Huggett.  The papers are from K &Companies Peppermint Twist Specialty papers from last Christmas and some cream cardstock I had on hand which was embossed with snowflakes from the Sizzix Christmas folder set from last year.  The top of the stocking is stamped with a stamp by Inkadinkadoo from Christmas Wishes and embossed with Kaleidoscope powder. The inside of the card is unfinished, because I'm not sure who I'm going to send it to or if it will be a birthday card. I embellished the pink border snowflakes with Viva Decor Pearl pens. Sorry, for the poor quality on the photo, but I ran out of daylight :- (  You should come and join us at The Outlawz!

     I also went to Archiver on Fri, before going to get my son from college, and made their Make-N-Take.  I ended up rushing home, hoping that I wouldn't get all of the glitter all over the car >. > then the photo ornament might show my photo at my memorial service, if my hubby found red glitter glue all over the seats. Ha Ha! Here is a photo of the tag. Of course, every time I touched them, I had glitter glue on me!

    The photo ornament photo didn't turn out well, so I'll try to re-take it and post it another time (must have been all of the glitter.)  Thanks for stopping by and please, leave a comment before you move on. I really love to hear from you. Have a blessed Sunday!

Cocoa Pocket Card

     I have nine college students, who live away from home, that I try to send a little love. I planned for the next card to be a pocket card that would hold a packet of cocoa. (Who knew it would warm up in the midwest.) I looked around the internet, but most of  the ones I found were more box size, or just over size. I really wanted to stay with an A2 card, if I could, so I designed one my self. While choosing my papers, I realized I had 2 designs. One for the males and one for the females. Today, I show you the one I made for the females, since that's the only I've done ;- ) I have three to make for them.

     To start I  cut the paper 5 1/2 inches by 11 inches. Then I scored it at the 2 1/2 inch point and the 6 3/4 inch point. I then rounded the corners. The second photo shows how it will look when it is folded up.

     I then choose a pink paper from Paper Studios Pastel Cardstock Pack for the bottom mat and cut it to 5 1/4 x 4 inches. The next mat is a pattern cardstock with glitter and texture, that came from a JoAnn exclusive, they had the Christmas before last called Peppermint Forest. It was cut at 5 x 3 3/4 inches. I used my nestabilities to cut the large scalloped oval and stamped it, with the sledding polar bears from Inkadinkado's Clear Stamps Christmas Characters and also, the sentiment from the same set. The image was stamped with Papertrey's Enchanted Evening Ink and the sentiment with Colorbox's Enchantment Aqua Ink. I colored the snowflakes and the swirls in the image with Gelly Roll Clear Star. The clothing on the bears and sled were colored with Steadtler  Watercolor Pencils and also some highlights on the scarf with the Gelly Roll and the hat with a White Glaze Pen. The black on the bears (nose and eyes) is a Glaze Pen and a used Copic Markers BG10 to shade the bears and B00 to give some definition to the snow and add a base to the image. I also inked it with Broken China Distress Ink.

     On the in inside, I cut a different piece of glitter, embossed cardstock from Peppermint Forest for the front of the cocoa pocket. I planned the cuts to get the images from the paper. I cut a 1 x 2 1/2  inch rectangle of the pink paper, and rounded the corners. I then used my ATG gun to tape the sides of the pocket up. I used Versamark Dazzle and a small snowflake from the Inkadoo stamp set and randomly stamped the paper, then I stamped it with a sentiment from Hero Arts Big Hugs in Tsunkinako Black Ink. Each one of these cards is a bit different inside, due to the different characters on the paper. I didn't pop up the image on the front, due to the fact that the cocoa, already makes it tight in the envelope, however, on the inside I popped up the sentiment, since it's at the bottom and below the the bulge made from the cocoa. Unfortunately, I was out of 1/16 inch pop dots, but I'm thrifty, so I cut up the surrounding paper and used that. Shown below.

     The sentiment label was inked, except for one. That was the first one I put on when I was scrambling around to find my pop dots and so I forgot to ink that one. I get distracted by one thing and forget what I meant to do, hate that.  I decided I should make tags to go in the pockets with a personal note for each one. I stamped a tag with Big and Bossy using a grouping of snowflakes stamp and filling in with the small snowflake stamp and embossed it with White Embossing Powder. My plan was to spritz it using a mini-mister filled with Turquoise Perfect Pearls, water and Broken China Re-Inker. I found that one of my mini-misters is not a mister but a mini-jet sprayer! Well, that was interesting. I dealt with that and the first tag, which is too dark, but I'll live with it . I filled a new mister and did the other 2 tags and also added Worn Lipstick Distress Ink to the tags and wiped off the excess from the embossed areas.

I added Martha Stewart twine and will write a note on the back of this one and creatively on the front of the others.

     So, there you go, 3 card down and 6 more to go. They will probably be basically the same, but with different papers, but who knows. We will see where creativity leads that day. What would I do differently? Well, I am thinking of looking for snowflake buttons for the front yet or buttons in coordinating colors. With a total of 9 cards I didn't want to get too detailed or difficult.  I think I might have papered the inside of the pockets. I also might have embossed 1 or both of the sentiments, again trying to keep it fast. Thanks for coming back and looking. Drop me a word about how you see things.