Christmas is coming!

So Christmas is only a few days away now. So I will show you THE LAST of my Christmas cards. I should probably just move on and show you something other than Christmas cards, but these were my final cards I made. I completely finished all my Christmas gifts for everyone a few days ago, and now that the cards are done, I am so excited to enjoy these few days of holiday fun! We had some MAJOR snow over the weekend (I had to drive in the nasty snow to work on Saturday-which was NOT fun at all!) It is pretty but yet a pain do drive in. Anyways, enough chit-chat, onto the cards!

 

I found these adorable little stocking popups in the $1 bin at JoAnn Fabrics! Too cute!

 

Ok. So a LOVE this little reindeer stamp. Another $1 Studio G stamp set, which actually comes with a little santa stamp, a little snowman stamp, and some snowflakes along with this adorable reindeer.

He is just too cute! I had to try my new Copics on him, and I popped some of the white up with a white gel pen. Too cute! I made a few other cards with that stamp, as you will see later in the blog.

I don't know what it is about things grouped in "3" but it just works for me. I know. MORE ornament cards, but  I LOVE making them. So fun!

 

This is my "girl" reindeer version. :) I just had to make a pretty girly card. I love the flower. And last but not least is the card below. I'm still on the fence over whether or not I like it or not. I'm not sure the "Merry" comes across as well, being how I put it, but sometimes a card just doesn't work out how you want it to, no matter what you do. Oh well, I'll deal. :)

So I hope everyone is having a great holiday week and that all your Christmas shopping has gone well. Have you all finished your Christmas/Holiday cards yet? I know some people haven't even started on them yet. lol. Have a wonderful Holiday everyone! Hugs!
-M

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A winter wonderland dream

So, I apologize to you my fellow bloggers, I have been neglecting you this week. It's been crazy with people being sick (myself included), working on getting all my Christmas gifts made and Christmas cards sent out and for a few, finished. Also, work has been SUPER hectic for the weeks leading up to the holidays, since we have a lot of special stuff happening that I have to work on. *sigh* Luckily, I only have a few homemade Christmas gifts left to make and only a few (like I think 5 only) Christmas cards left to make as well. Yay! All of which I hope to finish tomorrow (Friday) and hopefully this weekend. *phew* I want to spend my Christmas week relaxing and making cookies! :)
Anyways, here are those Christmas cards I made last week that I took FOREVER in posting up here. Sorry all! I apologize for the week-long delay.
Without further ado, here are some more Christmas cards. (man, you'll be so happy when Christmas is over, so you don't have to see any more Holiday cards on here. lol)
This first one is one of my favs. So much a favorite of mine, I made a few more extra (I know, *gasp* I made duplicates!?) But I loved how it turned out, I couldn't just give it to one person! Anyways, I love how simple it turned out, but yet so elegant with the embossing. :)

 

This next card I did as another ornament card. I just love ornament Christmas cards. So cute! This one was from a $1 wood-mounted stamp I got on sale at Micheal's a while back. I also used my brand new Copic markers I got for Christmas from my Mom to color them. Thanks Mom!

 

 And then there is my "snowflake collection" cards. I just love this snowflake punch by Fiscars. Just the right size to use as the centerpiece or embellishment to a card!

And here is some more cards I made with that lovely "Eskimo Kisses" Chipboard.

 

These last few are some others to show you. The first one was done mostly as a modern take on a sketch I found and using the main designer paper as the focus. The last two are all about the popup stickers I used to make the cards sparkle. :)

 

 

 Hope everyone is having a great holiday or weeks leading up to the holiday. I'm off to surf the web before I have to go to bed. I'm pooped!
I hear we're supposed to get some snow here on Saturday. I'm just hoping it holds off till Christmas. White Christmas' are so fun!
Hugs all and leave me some comment love on some of your favs or what you're doing for the holidays. Hugs all!
-M

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...And now for some Holiday Hoop-La!

Today I got to go to a holiday party at my hubby's work. He works for a senior care facility, so the dinner was for employees and the seniors also. It was fun to see everyone all decked out for the holidays, no matter what age. That is one thing I always love about the holidays- that you can get together with friends and family, no matter if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any of the other holidays of other faiths- you all celebrate with a togetherness that I find so comforting in December. It may be cold outside for most of us, but the warmth of friends and family is just wonderful. Ok, enough blah blah sentimental stuff, onto the cards!
So I have been in Christmas card making mode for the past week. On Tuesday I made these 6 cards (I know...taking me FOREVER to get them posted- just so darn busy this month). I also made a ton more yesterday, but I'll post them later, since I'm too pooped out to post all of them too- Also, what's the fun of showing it all to you at one time?! Anyways, I think some of these turned out so cute. So cute in fact, that I am not sure I want to give them away- is that bad? lol. But, I am determined to get them out to everyone by tomorrow or Saturday, so unless I can magically get the energy to make a lot more, I'm going to have to part with some of these cards. lol
My goal this year, was to make as many different variations of Christmas cards- basically, each card unique. I know- that is kinda a pain in the neck, but since I have only been making cards for a little over a year, I wanted to try all the different styles of cards and ideas out there. Some of the cards I made are based on cards by other awesome designers, like my favs- Kristina Werner, Becky Oehlers, and Debbie Olson. Hope ya'll enjoy them!
First I'm going to show you my two FAVs of the bunch. This one was based off a KWerner card she made during her 25 days of Christmas cards. I just LOVED how she cut out the ornaments that were on the paper and popped them up and used the string. It is so simple, but awesome in my book. I used this cute paper from Me and my Big Ideas that had the ornaments on the paper. So adorable, I just HAD to cut them out and use them in a card. This is def. one of my favs of the batch. :)

Next is my other fav. of that night's batch of Christmas cards. (hmm..."batch" makes it sounds like cookies, which makes me really have a hunger for Christmas cookies...I might just have to go get some butter from the store and whip up a batch. hehe!) Anyways, I found these cute mine Santa hats in the Christmas section at AC Moore. I had a coupon for 20% off your ENTIRE order, but only on one night and only from 7-10pm. Me being the dunce I am, got over there and got a ton of adhesive (because I was completely out) along with Christmas presents for my stepdad and my mother, and realized when I got in the gigantically long line, that I had lost the coupon..eek! Luckily, my hubby was home, so I begged him to re-print another coupon and bring it up to me. What a doll he was. :)
Gosh, I'm getting on long-winded blabber tonight (sorry about that), anyways- I knew the perfect way to use these mini Santa hats- on top of the head of this adorable penguin stamp I had. It actually is one of the first stamps I got ever in my stamping life, so I was soooooo happy to use it again in this card. I think it turned out so cute! I also have been using the "punch out mini circles and adhere to the back of your big circle to make your own fake scallop" on this card and a few other of my Christmas cards. I just LOVE how you can make a scallop on any sized shape using that method. LOVE it!

 

Moving on...This one is based on a card that Becky Oehlers made here. I used chipboard instead of a stamp, different colors, and added a stickle sparkle snow drift, but you get the general idea.

 

This next one I made my own patterned ornaments by punching out circles of different patterns and making my own toppers. This was a very simple card to make, that I might even make more in a similar fashion if I find that I need a lot more Christmas cards. :)

 

Now these last 2 are my least favs. Not saying I HATE them, but rather, I don't adore how they turned out. If I absolutely hate how something turns out, I probably won't even bother showing ya'll.

The only thing that bothers me about this next one is that I really wanted to use these mini bows I picked up, but my present I paper pieced just was too small. However I didn't realize this till after I put the bow on and it was stuck for good. *sigh*

And here we have my least fav. I had this great idea in my head, however it just didn't turn out as cute on paper. Ever have that happen to you? It looks awesome in your head, then you try to make it, and it just doesn't work how you want it to. So I had this cute paper that had houses on it. I also had cute chipboard that were houses, so I thought..."Hey, why don't I make a holiday home card. That would be cute!" However, they are two types styles of homes (the paper and chipboard),  and the chipboard ones are a little too big I think. I also think the tree I added and the ribbon matched the paper, but not the chipboard. hmmm...I guess I'll just give this card to someone who can't see very well or is color blind. lol

And there you have it all. I apologize for my long-winded-ness today. It is 1:30am and I'm all hyped on caffeine as my hubby is already asleep because he has to get up for work at 6:30am. Luckily, he is driving himself in the morning because the extra car's been fixed and is running, so I don't have to take him to work anymore...yay! Okeys all, time to force myself to go to bed.

Leave me some comment love people- so I don't feel so lonely in blogger land. Which is your fav?

Hugs all and have a great Friday! Friday FUNDAY! woo!

Laters.

-M

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It's circle time!

For some reason I was in a circle cutting type mood- My new Cricut cuts so many variations of circles I felt I needed to put them all to good use. :) So I made 2 circle cards and 2 circle-type holiday banners.
I'll start with showing you the circle cards. Since I was photographing the banners in my living room, I decided to photograph my circle cards in there too...and I might actually shoot them more often in there- good lighting! I found they didn't stand up good on their own, being circle and all, so I just leaned them against my cool end table lamp. (the actual end table/mini coffee table I made all by myself in a wood furniture class in college, but you probably can't see much of it in the picture. hehe)
Anyways, one card is all blinged-out, as my mom likes to say. The other card I tried to make look like an ornament. I wouldn't have used blue on it at all, but I was trying to use the blue cardstock I had already cut out on my Cricut in that shape for the card base, so I tried to tie it all together. I still think it probably would look better without any blue, but I think I'll just leave it be for now.

 (Bling! I am loving how this card sparkles!)

 (It's a card, it's an ornament...it multi-tasks!)

 (Like I said...I'm still torn on the blue...but I'll let it be for now. )

Today I also decided I would make a banner for our mantel in our living room for the Christmas season and one for above our stockings. I have been seeing a LOT of cool banners made by other crafty bloggers out there and decided to try my hand at making some. Ok, so it didn't turn out nearly how I wanted it to be because: 1) I don't have all the nifty supplies that some people have, 2) surprisingly enough I didn't have very many Large chipboard letters....I know,  Me, Mrs. Chipboard letter herself doesn't have large chipboard letters!? I had one large set, that was blue, and "Winter" was all I could spell with what I had left of the letters. 3) Halfways through making my other smaller banner, I ran out of adhesive...TOTALLY ran out!! I ended up trying to put it together with doublesided tape, since all the craft stores were closed by that time (a few hours ago)...sadly it already is falling apart (like right after I photographed it)....I think the only letters still up there  from what I can see right now that haven't fallen off of it is the "M," "R" in merry and the "H" "T" and "A" in Christmas. lol *sigh* tomorrow I hope to make a trip up to get me some adhesive. I guess we used a LOT of adhesive at the crop...Like more than I go through in making cards in a few months! Wow....
Anyways, These are the best pictures I could take of the banners. The "winter" banner luckily I had adhesive when I made that one, so it is still sticking together strong and I think it turned out cute. Since I was going for the "ornament" look, the strips holding the banner are not nearly as cool as some people out there. But I started getting WAY tired of making the darn banner by the end of it- mostly all cutouts from my new Cricut. That is the one thing I hate about the Cricut- I can only do one thing at a time. Is there a way to fit more than one shape on my cutting mat and have it cut it all out for me in one run? Just wondering...

 (our cluttered mantel...and lack of fireplace- the previous owners or our landlord...somebody, blocked it off. 

Sorry for the washed out picture...my camera hates me)

 (it's hard to photograph a banner that is very light colored...my camera wouldn't photograph it with a flash properly at all! So I tried to manually take it, but if I do that on my camera, it has no focus...ugh...this was the best I do to photograph it)

Anyways, The "Merry Christmas" mini banner is above our stockings...Mine, our cat- C.J., and my Hubby's stockings are shown below with the banner. The "winter' banner is hanging off of our mantel in the living room. Banners everywhere!

 (this is before it all started to fall apart. *tears*)

 (For all the letters with a white main color, I made a scallop border- 

by punching a bunch of mini circles and adhering them to the back of the main circle)

I already have who the cards are going to figured out, and all the Christmas decor is up...now I just need to make more Christmas cards- I believe I have 12 left needed def. and possible 4 more additionally if I have time to, not to mention the rest of the Christmas presents to get/make. *sigh* I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday!
Before I leave you all, here is a photo of our fake Christmas tree I put up a few days ago. I wish we could have a real one, but for the time being- us being tight on money and living in an apartment with not a whole lot of room, I'll settle for the uber-skinny tree. haha!

It doesn't have any presents under it yet...I'm working on it people...that's what the rest of this weekend is all about. lol. So have a good weekend everyone and happy holiday fun!
-M

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Results of a Black Friday crop

So my mom and I decided to spend Black Friday at a Scrapbook crop over at Scraptacular.
From 10am to 10pm we cropped till we dropped...literally. Haha. I created 3 single layouts, 3 double layouts, and 1 card. My mom did a LOT more than I did, but I'm a slow scrapper. lol.
I'm holding off from showing you one of the layouts and one of the cards, since I decided I would enter them for a call at Paper Crafts magazine and at Scrapbook Trends Magazine. I've never had anything published, but I decided to try it out. How have any of you gotten things published? Any tips? Just wondering...
Anyways, I had a blast. Before I went to the crop, I sketched out some layout ideas mixed with layout sketches from others, so I wouldn't get a brain block at the crop. The ladies were awesome to hang out with, and I would gladly do another crop some other time! I wish I could have more time to do more crops. I feel I always get so much more done at them, then at home, where all the distractions are. :)
So, here is the layouts! Enjoy!

(This is from this past year's Fourth of July fun. We all went out for margarita at the shore and it was awesome! That's me on the left bottom...my chunkier time of the year. ugh)

(I still need to do my journaling. I forgot my journaling pens at home...hehe)

 (This is a Christmas party layout, from my college years. My senior year, a few friends all got together for a Christmas martini party. Fun stuff!)

(I used these hocus pocus chipboard for this. Even though they are made for halloween, white sparkle is good for winter too!)

(This if from our 1st wedding anniversary at the beach. Fun in the Sun!)

(I am in love with these foamy thickers. So cute!)

(I did this layout for my kitty, C.J. He's my other love of my life. hehe)

(The large chipboard shape I got from Oriental Trading Co. 

The little one and the gels are from the set that came with the paper. )

(This layout is for a baseball game we went to with a few friends, I think last year sometime. 

I just didn't know which way I liked it better. The above or below. What do you think?)

(Which do you think? This one or the other one?)

(Chipboard fun!)

I had a blast at this crop. I can't wait to do another. Since I don't do scrapbook pages often- my attention span gets the best of me usually, I am so happy to have gotten so many done! yay!

Now I'm off to get ready for work (night shift tonight) then tomorrow we plan to start putting all the Christmas decor together and around the house.

Have a good Monday/Cyber Monday. :)

-M

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