Christmas Is Too Sparkly???

Happy New Year again, and with holidays behind us now I've taken down the decorations. The house looks plain and sad until we get used to the glitter and sparkle being gone. (Well, I won't miss the glitter everywhere that came off of the wrapping paper and decorations!) Our Christmas Craft Creations theme for January is Glitter and Sparkle, so we can extend the holiday feel a bit longer. I made a clean sparkly card that doesn't spread glitter all over, but keeps the sparkle contained to the card.

Products used:

Ellen Hutson: Sparkly Christmas stamp set

Sugar Pea Designs: Scallop rectangle die

Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Versamark watermark ink pad

Stampin' Up!: Gold embossing powder

Random shaker bits and  patterned paper

It is a simple shaker card with heat embossing on vellum. I like shaking the shaker and the sparkle from the outside sentiment. Won't you join us for some glittery, sparkly fun this month? You will get your supply of Christmas cards started for next year!!

Hope your 2024 is off to a great start!

-Carol

Six-month Vacation Twice a Year

I was asked to be a guest designer for Sisterhood Of Snarky Stampers #246 after my card in October was chosen...making me the Queen of Snark. In January the challenge is "N is for New" and I am using this snarky stamp for the first time. The "new" elements of my card are this new stamp set and the new year theme.

I am also playing along at Time Out Challenges with my new stamp/New Year card.

Products used:

AALL & Create: Travel Dee stamp set

Stampin' Up!: Number dies, Scalloped Oval die, Speech Bubble die, Dots embossing folder

Pink and Main: Blue glitter cardstock

Versafine: Onyx Black Ink pad

Prismacolor pencils

It was kind of an easy card once I figured out what I wanted to use and how I wanted everything placed. I popped up the speech bubble on foam tape like a TV cartoon when the speech bubble pops up as someone speaks. 

I got a few new stamping products for Christmas and can't wait to be using them soon! Did you? I'll be watching the gallery at SoSS to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge, too.

Happy New Year!

-Carol

2024 Cheers

Happy New Year!! For our first Just Us Girls Challenge (#708) of 2024, it is all about color: teal, green and navy. I wanted to toast to the new year and decided to CASE a darling card at My Favorite Things by Sara Zoppi. Here is my shaker card for a festive noise and all the sparkle of bubbly champagne as the cork is popped.

I am playing along with Time Out Challenges #254: New.

Just joined in the fun at Word Power #1, a new challenge blog.

Products used:

My Favorite Things: Pop the Champagne and Tall Cheers die sets

Acetate

Markers

Matte gold wrapping paper

Sharpie

Sequins

Not too many tricks to making this card. I created a shaker and backed it with strips of teal, navy and green and some teal, navy and clear sequins. I dotted the background of the front panel with markers for the spray of the champagne. I wrote the year/stripe on the bottle label with a fine tip Sharpie.

I hope your year is off to a good start and that you enjoyed the holidays! We hope you join us this week with these three colors...they are quite versatile! We have a fabulous new teammate, Stephanie Lanzalotto, and our special guest this month is Stef Perry! Along with the rest of the team, they have created some really nice cards for your inspiration. We've also made some fun new changes to our website and challenge that we think you will like, too. See you in the gallery.

-Carol

Valentine's Day Mini Album

Hello 2024!! I know it is New Year's Day but...we are back for Mini Album Mania #3 and I have made a Meandering Book/Album for the next big holiday, Valentine's Day. It took just one 12" x 12" sheet of medium weight patterned paper to make it! Here is the tutorial for the book/album by Helen Griffin. It has 7 pockets holding a pull-out insert with a cute image and message on each. The pockets alternate between top or side openings.

Ellen Hutson and Jane's Doodles stamp sets (plus a few older wooden sentiment stamps) were used for the images on the inserts. The mats on the front/back of the album are made from silver cardstock and Stampin' Up! patterned paper. There is one blank insert to be used for a personal hand-written message.

I die cut the heart from a piece of Pink and Main Inked Oasis paper using the smallest Simon Says Stamp Wonky Hearts die. I also used a Pink and Main Large Sentiment Strip die for the banner and stamped the sentiment on it using an older wood Stampin' Up! stamp. 

I grabbed a 1" circle punch for the thumb tabs in order to grab the inserts from the pockets. The album measures 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" and is a simple project that I can see myself making for different occasions such as birthdays and Christmas.

We hope you will join us for this challenge. We love sharing our projects but we also learn from yours as well!

See you in the gallery!

-Carol

Celebrate with Christmas Gift Tags

I know that when I get to the point of making Christmas tags, it is because I have finished all of my cards, mailed them, and am wrapping gifts days before Christmas. My family enjoys the handmade tags and I make new ones every year to add to our previous ones that we save from the past. Christmas crafts have always been a part of our holiday celebrations and activities. 

I had a little time today to make these tags and they were pretty quick and simple. The fun part was choosing fun colors for the characters, the actual tags, and the twine or ribbon. I want to make more but I have so many chores to get done in addition to holiday baking, cooking and wrapping gifts. 

I am playing along with The Inkspirational Challenges: Celebrate.

Products used:

Sizzix: Christmas Characters stamp and die set

Versafine: Onyx Black ink pad

Crab and tree: Reverse Confetti tag dies

Snowman: My Favorite things tag die

Various cardstock and ribbons/twine/stretchy cord

Googly eyes

Merry Christmas everyone!!

-Carol

Sparkly Joy

This is a very texture-y card which has been my favorite kind of card since I was a child. The background is a piece of soft, flocked, raised-patterned vellum and the mug and red elements are glittery cardstock. I made it for the Time Out Challenges #253 Sparkly theme and today happens to be Hot Cocoa Day!

Products I used:

Pretty Pink Posh: Winter Mug dies

Honey Bee Stamps: Country Christmas Wreath stamp and die sets

Joy die: Not sure of the brand (Papertrey Ink possibly?)

Versamark ink pad

Gina K: fine Detail White embossing powder

Joann Fabrics: flocked vellum

Lots of die cutting and piecing took place to make this card. Then arranging the greenery was tricky for me. I die cut two "joy" pieces and adhered them together for thickness. That's it!

I mailed my cards this morning but I want some extras around just in case. I need to make some fun tags, but so many other things are keeping me busy right now! Friday I plan to bake and I am looking forward to it!

Happy holiday season!

-Carol

Popcorn Garland

"Christmas decorations" means all sorts of things: ornaments on the tree, wreaths, figurines and villages, the tree skirt. I tried once to make a real popcorn garland for our tree, but the popcorn kept crumbling. I guess the secret is to let it get stale for a day or so before trying to string it. So, here is my first successful popcorn garland...a paper one for our Christmas Craft Creations December theme: Christmas Decorations.

Products I used:

The Greetery: Popcorn Garland die

The Stampa Barbara Collection: Wood Pine stamp

Versamagic Cloud White Archival ink pad

Ranger: Distress Oxide ink pad in Antique Linen

Buttons Galore: Clay mint candy shaker bits

Stickles: Red and Green

I could not wait to get this new popcorn garland die in the mail and it has such authentic details in it like the real thing! The clay candies add a realistic touch as well! I stamped the pine boughs first on a red card base, then die cut the popcorn garland. I lightly dabbed little bits of distress ink on some of the popcorn, then adhered the candies. I "hung" them on the "tree" then added red and green Stickles. All that was left was to stamp and die cut the sentiment for the center of the card!

We hope you will join us this month with a Christmas decoration themed card. Check out all the ideas the team has for you!!! And be sure to put our graphic for the challenge on your entry for our current post.

Happy Holidays!

-Carol