Warm Wishes

 Good morning. Happy New Year's Eve Eve. Only 2 more days (including today) until 2021. I know we are all looking forward to a better year ahead. 

I do have a card to share today. It's kind of late, but no problem. Every month the Creative Card Chicks post a card on the 21st of the month. Usually it is from a card kit that we have received from the hostess for that month. The hostess sends us images, papers, and some embellishments to use on the card and then we create whatever comes to our mind with those ingredients. For December, we did not have a hostess so we were just encouraged to make a Christmas card with images and embellishments of our own choosing. I had dug out this Power Poppy stamp set to use for another challenge and liked this image that I have not used before.

Materials Used:

• Image - Power Poppy Bottlebrush Holiday
• Sentiment - Same as image
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Real Red; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Tis the Season
• Accessories - Hero Arts Holly Gems; Ribbon from my Stash; Nestabilities large scallop die
• Copic Markers - B000, B00, B01; BV0000, BV000, BV00; E40, E41, E42; G21, G24, G28; R24, R35, R56; Y06, Y13, Y18

This is a good start for Christmas cards for next year although this one is already going to be on its way to a friend for a Happy New Year card.

Season's Greetings - CYS

 Hello, my friends. Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year. It's been awhile since I posted. Things were really busy getting ready for Christmas. I was able to spend the day with my youngest daughter and her family - social distancing and outside. Lucky for us, the weather cooperated and it was a nice day. My children and grands spoiled me and I tried to do the same for them. I think we were all happy with our gifts. Dinner was wonderful. Again, so much food. After dinner and opening gifts, my SIL and the grands and I played a game of croquet. My daughter is recovering from back surgery on December 2, so she was taking it easy still. The croquet game was fun, but of course, I came in last again! I expect the New Year's Eve celebration will be a quiet one here. No plans except to be home with the kitties - watching some TV most likely and early to bed.

I do have a card to share with you today. This is one that I made for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. The idea is to make a card using only items already in your stash - no new purchases are to be used to create your card. Each month there is a hostess who picks the theme for us. This month our hostess was Suzy (suzys1104) and her theme was to make a Christmas card but to include some type of tree on it. This was pretty easy for me. I had the perfect stamp set. Our reveal share date is on the 28th of the month, so I'm just a day late.

Materials Used:

• Image - Power Poppy, Bottlebrush Holiday
• Sentiment - Same as image
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Crushed Curry; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Silver and Gold; Stampin Up, Tis the Season
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Ornament glitter brad
• Copic Markers - E30, E31, E34; G12, G14; G16; R24, R37; Y15

That's all I have for today. I have another one coming up tomorrow using this same stamp set. 

Visions of Santa - IAS #98

Hello my friends. This should say Happy Sunday, but sadly I am a few days late getting my post up. This last week has been a bit hectic. I had a back procedure on December 2 and spent a few days recovering and not doing very much. I am most happy to say that it was completely successful. I have had low back pain for years and it had gotten progressively worse until I knew I had to do something. My doctor referred me to a pain management doctor who was able to diagnose my problem and then fix it. At least for now. We don't know how long the relief will last, but I count every day a blessing and take it one day at a time. I'm told if the pain reoccurs, then he can do the procedure again since we know that what he did was the right thing and brought me relief. I'm doing PT twice a week for the next six weeks and that seems to be helping also. God is good.

I do have a card to share with you for the International Art & Soul month-long December challenge. It's Anything Goes - With a Bow. So you can make any project you like as long as you include a bow on it. This challenge will be up for the whole month of December so you have plenty of time to hop on over and play along.

 

 

 

This is one of the slim line cards that seems to be all the rage right now. It was fairly easy to throw together. I used Stampin Up Visions of Santa stamp set for the images and sentiment and the Santa & Co. designer paper that matches it. The bow is a die made with Stampin Up Real Red as well as for the mats. The Copic markers I used were E23; E50, E51; R24, R35, R39; W3, W7; T10.

That's it for today. I hope that you are staying well and have no COVID issues.

Autumn Leaves - Challenge Your Stash

 Hello my friends and happy belated Thanksgiving. I hope that you all were able to spend time with family and friends for the holiday. I gathered with my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren (adults) for a great Thanksgiving feast. There was so much food. Everyone made something so it was all a group effort. After we ate we played a round of croquet. I had not played that since I was a kid. It was slow going because the grass at my daughter's  house is a little rough. No problem, it was still fun and my grandson ending up the winner!!

Today I put up my Christmas tree. It's a new one and pre-lit. It took some doing just to get it all set up and the branches fluffed so there are no ornaments on it yet. It still looks very pretty with the white lights.

I do have a card to share today. I'm only a day late in getting it posted. This is for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. For the month of November, Pansy (c-mouse) is the hostess and her theme is leaves and leaving. We are to use only products from our stash. Nothing new is to be used to make the card. That is never a problem for me. I've got tons of stuff in my stash. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Whiff of Joy. The package is not marked with a name and I could not find it on the Internet and they are no longer in business.
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley - Sweet and Simple
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Kraft, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Lily Bee Designs - Autumn Spice
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Ribbon, Stampin Up Summer Starfruit; Spellbinders Fun Frame; Leaves?
• Copic Markers - E000, E00, E11, E13, E15, E17; E50, E51, E53; R46; Y11, Y13, Y18, Y19; YG61, YG63; YR01, YR02, YR04.

That's it for today. I need to work on a couple last minute Christmas gifts, but the shopping is all done. Have a great week.

Twas tbe Night Before Christmas - IAS #97

 Hello and here I am back again today with another card to share. This one is for the International Art & Soul challenge. The theme is Lots of Pink which was chosen by design team member Jennie. Unfortunately, I was late posting my card in the Design Team album, so you won't see it on the challenge thread. But that's okay. Go ahead and check out what the rest of the team has created and play along with your own Pink Project. 

This card was created using supplies from Heartfelt Creations. The poinsettias are hand made. I used Copic Markers to color the flowers and leaves - G21, G24, G28; R05, R12, R14, R17, and R37. The cardstock mat is Stampin Up Bashful Blue.

Have a wonderful week.

Nativity Scene - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello my friends and Happy Sunday.. Yes, it's a bit later in the day, but things are busy around here. I'm grateful that we have our church meetings by Zoom so I can attend and I attend a Sunday School meeting on YouTube. It's great. So much to be grateful for not only this time of the year, but all year around. If you are on Social Media, I encourage you to take the Give Thanks Challenge by posting one thing a day for seven days that you are thankful for and use #GiveThanks or #GiveThanksChallenge. 

Today I have two cards to share, but I'll share the other one in another post. This one is for our monthly Creative Card Chicks challenge. Unfortunately, the member who was supposed to send us a kit this month had to be out of state away from home taking care of her elderly parents, so in lieu of her kit, our leader Suzy sent us a sketch challenge to use and also had us use an animal in the design of the card and to use at least one embellishment. This wasn't too hard. I located a fun stamp that I have not used before. Here is the sketch.

Here is the card. I did enlarge the card in order to fit the sketch on it.

Materials Used:

• Image  - Whiff of Joy Nativity Scene
• Sentiment - Stampin Up Snowflake Sentiments
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Midnight Muse
• Designer Paper - Whiff Of Joy Winter Pretties
• Accessories - Sequins
• Copic Markers - B0000, B12, B14; E21, E30, E31, E33, E43, E44, E51; G21, R46; Y08, and Y17

That's all for this one. I sincerely wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving that you can share the holiday safely with your friends and family. I will be going to my daughter's house, but we always eat outside, so hoping we have good weather.

Grateful Heart - IAS #96

 Good morning, my friends. Happy Sunday. I hope all is well with you. We have a bit of a chilly morning today in H Town, and a bit of a mist maybe. I think the sun is trying to peek out so hopefully it will warm up later in the day as I head over to my daughter's house for dinner tonight. Because of COVID-19, we still eat outside social distancing from one another. At least we are able to get together. I know that is hard for some people right now.

This month is one of gratitude as we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. It will be very different for us this year too. Usually, our whole family gets together and we have fun things going on all that week, but not this year. Still, I am grateful for my family and that they are all well and keeping safe.

My card for this challenge is about gratitude which way my choice for the challenge. I think gratitude is a bit different than thank you although saying thank you does show gratitude. But gratitude should be an everyday occurrence. We should be grateful for every aspect of our lives - the breath we take, the fact that we can see, hear, smell, taste, have a roof over our heads, and so on. Every morning I am just thankful to be alive and that I know I have a Heavenly Father who watches over me and each one of us.

My card is pretty simple - no coloring. As I've been going through all my stuff in my craft room, I came across this Stampin Up Simply Scrappin Kit called Flower Fair. I have been making sets of cards that I want to give to each of my two daughters and three granddaughters for Christmas this year so I thought I would make some out of this set. 

 

 

 

I neglected to write down which of my stamp sets has this sentiment in it, but I'll look for it later and give recognition. I really like it. If we don't have gratitude in our hearts, we cannot be truly happy. The flower is from my stash - probably from Recollections. So that's it.

I hope that you'll stop on over at International Art & Soul and see what the rest of the design team has created to inspire you. Come join us with your "Grateful" project. You could be the Winner or one of the Top 3. It's all in fun.