Reindeer tag

This is a quick little tag inspired by The Lollipop Ladies #81, reindeer.  The reindeer (from A Muse) is gold-glitter-embossed and colored with pencil on a white tag.  The stars (from a Stampin Up background set) were clear-embossed, then I sponged blue over the entire tag.

 I ran the kraft sticker (from the Target Dollar Spot -- found it last week; hurry they might still have some) through the printer to add some of my favorite lines from "A Visit from St. Nicholas." (Don't know why, but I love the roll call of the reindeer names).  I added a little bling to the reindeer's nose and antlers. I briefly thought of giving him a red nose but I didn't want to mix up mythologies.

The smaller tag is attached to a larger one cut from 1/4 inch grid card stock, which is sponged around the edges with creamy caramel for a vintage look.  Some sparkly yard and a bow completes the tag.

Merry Christmas to all.

The tag is for the following challenges:

The Lollipop Ladies #81, Reindeer
Simon Says Wednesday, bling it on.

Sweet chickadees

Love this sweet holiday image of chickadees. And I even googled photos of the birds to make sure I had the coloration right. (Normally they frequent my bird feeder in winter, but so far this year we've been very short on birds. Perhaps because I keep taking the feeder away to keep the squirrels off of it....)

The sketch for this card is Sketch Saturday #278, selected for Sketch Saturday challenge #289 to pick a previous sketch.

The birds are black embossed and colored with pencils. Kraft and red seemed a good mix of colors for this lovely nature scene. The gingham ribbon also just seemed "right" for this card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #289, previous sketch
Simon Says Monday, use a stamp
Loves Rubberstamps,  holiday blitz
Papertake Weekly Challenge, last Christmas card
Word Art Wednesday #111, Anything Goes.

Non-traditional Christmas colors

Almost all the Christmas cards I have made this year have featured traditional red and green, or at least red (sometimes with silver or kraft). So it was fun to make a card with non-traditional colors.

This card was inspired by the BE Inspired photo at The Alley Way Stamps, and features TAWS stamps as well.  The ornament is a free digi, which was cut out, colored with pencils, and   glitter was added to the top part. The strip along side it is meant to resemble snowflakes, and it includes stamps from Delicate Doilies set by TAWS.  Everything was stamped in Ranger Stream colored ink, but I used several generations of it to get some variation in color.

The card is for the following challenges:

The Alley Way Stamps Be Inspired #43, inspiration photo
Totally Papercraft challenge, Christmas with non-traditional colors
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, use a stamp
Sister Act Card Challenge #37, Anything Goes
Just 4 Fun Challenge, Merry Christmas

Snow globe card

I made this snow globe card following the instructions on one of the tutorials at Splitcoast Stampers.  The tutorial was very clear and easy to follow, but it was time-consuming. It might be tedious to try to use this design for all your Christmas cards. I do think it came out cute, however. The most important piece for this card is a sheet of acetate, because everything in the card is based off the circle you cut to be the globe.

The snowman inside is from Paper Cupcakes.  He's colored in pencils. I also stamped snowflakes on the acetate globe and put glitter on the "snowdrift" on top of the globe.  It's finished off with some ribbon and a snowflake brad.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Snow
Sister Act Challenge #37, Anything Goes
Loves Rubberstamps #82, Christmas
Word Art Wednesday #110, Anything Goes
Created with Love #70, Anything Goes

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

Joyful snowman

It's certainly feeling like December, which is good when you're making Christmas cards.  I made this one using Sketch Saturday Sketch #288, turning the sketch on its side.

The snowman is from Paper Cupcakes, a digi company that's no longer in business.  I did an out-of-the-box cut on him and put him a little off-center to leave room for the snowflake embellies. I think it looks reasonable balanced.  Snowman is colored with pencils, and there are silver Stickles on the snowflake and on the snow at the bottom of the snowman

I'm entering the card in these challenges:

Sketch Saturday Sketch #288, sketch
Creative Inspirations Paints: Merry Christmas
Loves Rubberstamps #82: Christmas
Craftyhands #4, Winter
Stamping for the Weekend: Use some Red

A little glitter

When I was a kid, Christmas cards were a big deal with my Mom. She hand-wrote letters to go with each card she sent out, and I loved to look at the cards she received. I'm not really the glittery type, but glitter seemed to make any Christmas card special, so I still still to put a little glitter on Christmas cards.

On this card, I used Stickles on the snowman's hat, and put a little glitter on the embossed piece.

Beyond that, I just used a little color on the snowman's scarf and let the paper do the rest of the work. The paper is from Echo Park.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

CRAFT Challenge #236, Christmas
Sister Act Challenge #36, Christmas
Papertake Weekly Challenge, Anything Goes
Love Rubberstamps #81, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #109, 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

With a Flourish

Here's a quickie card I made for a cake-themed exchange.  Love this cake image; it's from Impression-Obsession.  So is the sentiment, which says "you take the (cup)cake". (Sorry for the less-than-stellar photo; it's gray and rainy today.)  I added an flourish behind the cake panel to add a little interest to that side of the card.

The cake and flourish are both embossed in an EP called Winter Wonderland. It has some glitter mixed in with the white EP; again the gray weather limited what the photo shows. Actually this card has sparkle all over, what with the metallic silver and blue papers, the metallic ribbon and the glittery EP.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge -- With a flourish
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge -- Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #108 -- Anything Goes.