CAS purple Christmas

I made this card based on one I had pinned a few weeks ago. The original was blue and white. I think this one would be easy to mass produce.  I used Versamark to make the purple snowflakes, so I let it dry overnight before adding the embossed elements, so that did add some time. However, I made a similar version in blue where I used a darker blue ink instead of Versamark, so there was barely any drying time required.
The fabulous snowflake stamps are from Impression-Obsession,  I'm not really sure the origin of the sentiment (possibly CTMH?).
I'm entering these challenges
52 Christmas Card Throwdown -- purple or blue and metallic
Creative Inspirations -- CAS
Word Art Wednesday #205 -- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Extra -- anything Christmas

Whimsical Wednesday

(should we make Whimsical Wednesday a thing?)
I had fun creating this little scene from a couple of set of stamps from The Alley Way Stamps.  The kitty has left a gift of cheese for the mouse...  The cat, cheese, mouse and mouse hole are from the Sitting Pretty set, and the sentiment and little dots I used to be the wallpaper are from a TAWS Christmas set. I hand drew in the floorboards, and the holly was fussy cut from a sticker.

 I'm playing in several challenges with this card:
The Alley Way Stamps linkup -- Use TAWS stamps
52 Christmas Card Throwdown -- Christmas cats
Merry Monday #155-- Cats or dogs
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge #225 -- something starting with F (feline, furry, funny, festive....)
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Extra -- Christmas theme
Crafty Hazelnuts Paper Challenge -- April
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- CAS
Pixie's Snippet Playground -- all the papers are snippets, but mainly I think Di will get a kick out of this.

House Mouse Christmas

This image makes me smile. I find it particularly funny because we have one of those "prelit" artificial trees, and currently about half the lights aren't working -- the tree looks like it's striped, with bands of working and non-working lights, kind of like a bunch of mice got in there and ate some wires.

The mice are black-embossed and colored in pencils. They are matted on a Spellbinders die, and I made a little embellishment out of a little designer paper and a ribbon. I was hoping to combat the unrelenting red and green-ness of this card, but I don't think I succeeded.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Papertake Weekly, Christmas Creatures
52 Christmas Card Throwdown, revisit a 2013 challenge = Christmas animals
Holly Jolly Christmas, Anything Christmasy
Created With Love #70, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #110, Anything Goes

Another day, another card

What with the late Thanksgiving and how busy I was in November, I am sorely behind in doing Christmas cards. With that in mind, I'm trying to do one or two a day, at least, and challenges are a big help in providing inspiration.

I used the color scheme from the Lollipop Ladies blog -- in inspiration photo of red and white cupcakes, to get going on this one.  The ornament is paper-pieced on a piece of sheet music (it's the Twelve Days of Christmas).  This old paper doily (found when cleaning out my parents' house) has a nice vintage feel to it,  so I stuck to more vintage-looking reds rather than bright ones.

The gold EP has gold glitter in it, and it really has a nice sparkle that's hard to photograph.

I'm entering the card in these challenges:

Lollipop Ladies #82 -- Christmas cupcakes and ribbon
Word Art Wednesday # 109 Anything Goes
52 Christmas Card Throwdown -- ornament theme
CRAFT  Challenge #236-- Christmas
Papertake Challenge -- Anything Goes
Clear it out challenge --  Anything Goes

Have a banner Christmas

I wanted to do CASual Friday's banner challenge (CFC104) and was looking around for inspiration when 52 Christmas Card Throwdown put up a challenge for a card using only green (and a neutral). That was the seed that grew this card.

The stamps are all from Impression-Obsession.  The wreath is embossed in a sparkly white EP and the "Merry" is in Forest Foliage ink.  Even the baker's twine the banner is hung on is a shade of green.

Three little stockings

I have to admit, I am a fan of symmetry.  And the sketch this week at 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown is a study in symmetry, so I pulled out my Christmas card supplies and went to work.

The stamp is by Stampabilities. I inked it in Colorbox Chalk Lipstick Red, and colored it with green pencils. The stamp actually is a line of four stockings, but three fit in the oval I wanted to use, so three it is.  I bought the scalloped border die back in February but have just started using it. I have a bad habit of letting craft supplies get old before I use them.

A friend of my always adds a pierced hole in each scallop and I decided to try it. I kind of like the look, how about you?

An early start on Christmas

Every year, I admire the cute gift cards I see people posting on their blogs, and I never seem to have time around Christmas to make any. I'm too busy shopping and wrapping, and I'm stuck with boring store-bought tags. Not this year. Thanks to the good ladies at 52 Christmas Card  Throwdown, I've got some in the bag.

The 52CCT challenge this week is to use felt on a card.  I made a set of little gift cards featuring a snowman wearing a luxurious felt scarf.  I hand cute these scarves to fit, and I must say when you are working on that small of a scale, it is the very definition of "fussy cutting."

The layout for these cuties is the Little Tangles sketch #7.  It gave me a great opportunity to use some tiny scraps of Christmas paper that I have been hanging onto for a while. I seem to get particularly attached to Christmas prints for some reason.

Welcome Snow

Spent a week at my in-laws, who live in a snowier part of the country. I cannot tell you how odd it seemed to me to look out the window every day and see snow. The best part about snow in the South is that it comes, it's pretty for a short while, and then it melts. There's nothing uglier than old, dirty snow.

Despite those reservations, I made a card celebrating snow.  The sketch is from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. This sketch just spoke to me. When I saw it, I knew I wanted to make a card with it.

The cute snowman is from Paper Cupcakes, a digital company that just closed up shop. I love the twill ribbon with the mittens printed on it -- it's so cute and pairs so well with the snowman.

Non-traditional Christmas colors

What’s Christmas without traditions? Well, it’s the premise behind a lot of card challenges, for one thing.  Black and white is certainly not a traditional Christmas color scheme, so I think this card is non-traditional in anyone’s book.

The ornaments (both from Stampabilities) were silver-embossed on black paper, then cut out. They are “hung” from tinsel cord and popped up. The sentiment is also silver-embossed.

I’m entering the card for three challenges:

52 Christmas Card challenge to use Black, White and Metallic as colors.

CAS-ual Fridays CFC81  to make a card incorporating Knots.

Victorine Originals #49 to make a Christmas card with non-traditional colors.