January Cards

Hi Everyone,

My first card is a copy of last week's card.  My brother-in-law has a birthday this month, and he's a huge bird fan.  I figured a penguin is a cold weather bird and I'm loving the speech bubbles as of late, so a birthday card was born.

I used the inside of the Birthday Flower Circle for the greeting along with Percy Penguin again, and I hope he likes it even though he's a guy and the card has glitter and gems ;)

Some new stamps have been released at DRS Designs and I couldn't resist pairing up the new Howdy Valentine greeting with the adorable Cowboy Snowman.  Valentine's day may be all sunshine and flowers in some places, but in my part of the world it's definitely cold and snowy!

 

I added some wraphia, simply because it seemed rustic, and added some heart embellishments to keep with the valentine theme. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Karin

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Thinking of You

Hi Everyone,

I have a card to share with you that could be used for Christmas, New Years, or as a valentine.  How's that for versatile?  

I stamped, colored and fussy cut Percy Penguin, adding a punched heart to his belly in anticipation of using the Warms My Heart Greeting, and stamping the sentiment separately let me use two die cuts for it.  I added a large die cut snowflake to balance out the little scene. 

Here is a close up of the snow mound I placed Percy on.  It was simply hand cut with some glitter added for snow.  

I have to say that I've been using these speech bubbles a lot ever since I got them out.  You'll probably see them again next week, so be prepared...lol!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

 

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Wishing You The Best Year

Hope your New Year has started off well.  Mine has been cold which made me think of hot chocolate and this darling Cocoa and Marshmallows image.  

After I stamped the image and the Best Years Cheers Greeting, I drew in a window and some trees and then water colored the scene with Daniel Smith Watercolors.  I added a little bit of steam and some snow to finish it off.  

Hope you are staying warm (or cool if it is warm weather where you live). 

Hugz,

Nancy

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Thank You

Hi Everyone,

I'm still working on my holiday thank you notes, and since the Blizzard of Thanks Greeting was still on my worktable from this card, I used it for this one as well. 

I used the Interlocking Snow Background stamp on my blue base and stamped, colored and fussy cut Stretch the Round Button Snowman 

Instead of just a using a regular die to cut the sentiment, I chose a speech bubble for my snowman image because it seemed to make the card a bit more fun.  A few random snowflakes were added to play off the word blizzard, and then I called it done.  

Hope your new year is off to a great start!

Karin

 

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Hello Winter! Shaker

 Hello friends! 

I love the little snow globe look so today I've used Snow Globe then cut out the globe part so that I could create a shaker. 

I used a die set from Sizzix showing a little village scene then added shaker elements.

Of course I used acetate in the opening.  The whole globe needed a frame to bring it all together with a brown that sort of matches the globe base and some of the houses. 

I also used the sentiment Hello Winter.

Thanks for visiting today!

Robin

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Snowy Winter Tree Scene

Hello Crafty Friends.

Finally, the cold weather has arrived in Alabama, and it has inspired me to do a frosty winter card using the new Hello Winter Greeting. 

I started with a watercolor wash in light blue, then I did the shadow trees in gray, then the green trees (two different greens.  After all that dried, I splattered on some Snowtex and then popped up the stamped greeting.  A super quick and easy card.  

We are covered up in pine trees where I live, but it rarely snows.  We are all hoping for a bit of the white stuff this year. 

Hope you are ready for the holidays!

Hugz,

Nancy

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Snowflakes

Hi Everyone,

Here are my super quick projects that I've made this month.  I'm always running late or whipping something up last minute, so these are both crazy simple. 

I needed a thank you card for my cousin who invited us over for dinner, and the Blizzard of Thanks is my go-to stamp this time of year.   I paired that up with the Snow Background, and added a punched snowflake and rounded corners and was able to write something personal inside in about 20 minutes...I think that included addressing the envelope too :)

My friend's son was performing in his 8th grade band concert, so I need a bag to hold his congratulatory gift card and sweets.  Now that my husband works from home and doesn't have to take a sack lunch, I have a bunch of brown bags in my pantry.  I used the same Snow Background stamp along with the Small Happy Holidays Greeting to transform the brown bag into something a bit more festive and I hope not too girly.  (Sorry for the ragged ribbon edges...I told you I was in a hurry!)

 

The countdown to the big day is definitely here and I'm feeling the squeeze...I hope you holiday prep is going smoothly!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

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Happy Holidays

 Hi Everyone,

I've used the new Leaping Reindeer stamp on my card share for today.  It's such a lovely image that evokes the traditional feelings of the Santa/Rudolph story of Christmas for me.  Of course, it just occurred to me now that I should have given him a red nose!  See?  Now I have an idea for the next card!

I ended up getting a smudge on my paper when coloring my deer, so I simply fussy cut him and attached him to a die cut and embossed square.  I also embossed the background with snowflakes and added a die cut tree, embellishing it with some gems.  Woo-boy do I have a lot of gems in my stash. I must have shopped a massive sale at some point in my life...lol.

After attaching the image panel, I added the Small Happy Holidays Greeting using my punches, along with a punched snowflake to finish it off. 

Thanks for visiting today!
Karin

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Cheers!

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year!

I have a modest card-share to celebrate this brand-new shiny year.  It was a fast make since I kept it monochromatic, and swirling snowflakes, instead of confetti, ended up being the theme :-)

I stamped my background panel using the Interlocking Snow Background and punched out a bunch of snowflakes, so that the cream-colored paper would peek on through.  The Best Year Cheers Greeting was stamped on a panel and attached, leaving room for a couple of stamped and fussy cut wine glasses, which came from the Pour Me Bottle and Glass stamp.

For embellishment, I attached a few of the punched snowflakes and added gems to their centers.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Karin

 

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Winter

 

Hi Everyone,

To those who celebrate, I hope your Christmas was a happy occasion and that you're looking forward to the new year!  These are two last minute cards I made for the holidays, and since they have a more general winter theme, I thought I'd save them for after Christmas sharing.  If I didn't use them for Christmas, I would stamp a Happy New Year inside and send them on their way :)

Did you know that DRS Designs will make a personalized stamp?  Well, they do!  

One of them is the Christmas Village Custom Name Sign and I used it here for a card for my neighbors. I simply added it to an embossed snowflake background along with some gems.

This snowflake card utilizes the Medium Filigree Snowflake on the base and the Large Filigree Snowflake on the white panel.  For the sentiment, I stamped the new One Line Happy Holidays and hand cut it, gluing it onto a piece of red paper and hand cut again. 

A few large and small gems were attached to finish it off!

Happy New Year stamping friends!

Karin

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Merry Christmas to All

Hi Everyone,

Here are a couple of last-minute Christmas cards that I whipped up.  I used the same embossing folder for both, so the backgrounds were a snap. 

I colored the World Globe, and knew I wanted to pair it up with the Merry Christmas to All sentiment, so I thought a Santa hat would be on brand and really bring on the holiday cheer.  I stamped and fussy cut two hats using one for the globe and another for an embellishment.  A few scattered gems finished it. 

The hats came from these stamps:

Santa Face

Santa Puppy

 

For this card I used a piece of the holly paper I made for this card here, and added the Santa Face and the Merriest Wishes Greeting, along with a few gems in the snowflake centers. 

Wishing you and yours the Merriest of Christmases!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Karin

 

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Merry Christmas to All

 Hi Everyone,

Using the new Merry Christmas to All sentiment on my card, I decided to pair it up with the Santa with Birds Christmas Scene because he's depicted with "all" the little birdies.

I stamped and colored up the scene but ended up with a big smudge along the top.  Don't you hate when that happens?  Lucky for me my dies saved the day by letting me crop out the goof up. The scene is simply smaller and, in the end, fit the card well.   I also added some glitter glue to the fur on his clothes for a bit of holiday sparkle.  

I layered it onto a background that was stamped using the Medium Filigree Snowflake and lined with a strip of embossed snowflake cardstock.  Finally, for embellishment I added the Small Cardinal that was stamped, colored and fussy cut. 

Happy Holidays!
Karin

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Red and White Christmas

 

Hi Everyone,

Since I love a red wine and I love a white wine, I feel like this stamp was made for me!   I just don't love a sweet wine, the more tannin the better say I.  That's probably why my palate prefers tea without sweetener too. Enough about my beverage preferences and on to the card!

I kept the card monochromatic in keeping with the sentiment and used snowflakes on the background for that reason too.  Who can sing White Christmas without imaging flakes in the air? 

Here are links to the stamps used on the card:

Interlocking Snow Background

Pour Me Bottle and Glass

Drink the Red Christmas Greeting

Happy Holidays!
Karin

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White Christmas

 Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. friends!

To everyone else in this world, happy day!  Hope you can be crafting wherever you are!

Today I have a card that was made using DRS stamp Tree Line Border in a Misti, stamping it twice, once on white and once on blue using clear embossing ink then embossing both with a glittery silvery color.  I then cut one panel and fit it to the second panel.

Since I was making a slimline card this worked perfectly.  It doesn't show as well in the photo (I think I should have used a different embossing powder for the camera).

I splattered the scene with white paint for a snowy weather condition, stamped part of the Drink The Red Christmas at the top of the blue "sky" then before mounting it on a white eyelet panel, I added a strip of white satin ribbon and glued a bow to it, and finally I glued it all onto a folded slimline card.

Traditionally in the states, the Christmas season starts with Black Friday the day after

Thanksgiving but as the years fly by, we've been seeing Christmas at the stores right after Halloween!!

Poor Thanksgiving kinda gets ripped off as a holiday to the retailers

But I'll tell you what, in the states we do LOVE to have that Thanksgiving feast

and would NOT want to miss it!

If you don't believe me, try being sick around the holiday and NOT be able to be with family eating turkey or ham or whatever your traditional food may be. 

Then you will realize just how special this holiday is.

In case you did not guess, my husband and I are both sick and will NOT be going anywhere this holiday nor will anyone come to visit us because we tested positive for Covid!

Not to worry though, we are both feeling better and are on the mend, still have to isolate though!

Ratz!

I bought a turkey breast before I got sick so that we could pretend we had turkey left-overs, now it will be our dinner and no pretending, we WILL have turkey left-overs!

I have a recipe for the best ever Turkey Tortilla Soup, I will use my left-overs to make it!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! 

Robin

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Peace on Earth

Hi Everyone,

I used some untraditional colors for today's holiday card.  I feel like the colors and patterned paper I made have a mid-century modern vibe :)

The background was embossed with large snowflakes, and the following stamps were used to make the strips:

Snow Background

Easy Dot Background

Splatter Background

The Small Peace On Earth and World Globe image are a couple of new stamps from DRS Designs.  

Happy Holidays!

Karin

 

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Berries and Snow

Today I have a fun ATC.  I features a sneak peak at one of the new Christmas sentiments - Drink the Red Christmas Greeting.  I only used part of the sentiment, but Lisa used the full sentiment on her Monday card.  

When I was in the mountains a few weeks ago, I cut off a branch of berries to use as a model for my watercolor practice.  Once done, I splattered it with white paint and thought that using part of the new greeting would be perfect.  I need to design a cool card and use this as the focal point - one of the great advantages of using ATCs is that they are quick to make and then you are ready for them when you want to make a card. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week.  Hugz,

Nancy

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Christmas in July

 Hi Everyone,

It's that time of year...Christmas in July!  Every year at this time I vow to start my holiday cardmaking, get all excited about the theme and promptly make a card.  And that's pretty much where it ends. Womp womp. :(  Maybe if my goal was two cards, instead of fifty, maybe then I could reach it by the end of the month.  In any case, here is my first offering.

I colored up the Snowy Birdhouse, die cut and matted it.  I layered it onto a background made using the Interlocking Snow Background stamp and added a few punched mini snowflakes. 

For the greeting, I used some punches for the stamped Christmas From Our House Greeting and attached it with some dimensional tape.  A bit of glitter glue finished off the snowy look of the birdhouse and branches. 

Have you made any holiday cards yet this year?  Check out the Christmas stamps from DRS Designs right here.

Thanks for visiting!
Karin

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Winter Birthday

 Hi Everyone,

These cards feature the new Ice Day Birthday Greeting , which is the perfect sentiment to celebrate a winter birthday!

For this card, I taped off the happy birthday portion of the greeting, so that I could stamp it inside the card. Otherwise, I stamped, die cut and added some pink ink to it, before attaching it to a big, die cut mitten.  It's a die meant to make ornaments, but I just added some faux stitching with a pen, along with some punched mini snowflakes for decoration.  I layered it onto a background that was stamped using the Snow Background and some white ink.  

This second card was so simple, that it needs no explanation.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, attaching it to an embossed panel. (Darice brand embossing folder) I then cut off the bits that were hanging off the edge and attached it to the card base. 

I added some glitter glue and called it done. Easy when you have a great sentiment that can do the heavy lifting! 

Thanks for stopping by!
Karin

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Best Year Ever!

 

I love looking for a way to stretch my stamps. One way to stretch sentiment stamps is to use just a portion of the sentiment. This BEST YEAR CHEERS GREETING - 1109F is a great sentiment that you can use "BEST YEAR EVER" portion of the stamp on the outside of a card and then any sentiment on the inside.

I stamped this adorable SKATING SNOWMAN - 332H then colored him with copics. I then cut out a circle from the white layer and placed him under the embossed snowflakes.

The card was finished off with some punched snowflakes and sequins.

Thank you for stopping by to check out my card this week. I hope you have the BEST YEAR EVER!

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Icy Birthday

Hello Crafty Friends!

It snowed in our community this weekend which is highly unusual.  The snow was the perfect inspiration for this card.  This Ice Day Birthday Greeting is a cute saying for anyone with a birthday during the snowy months.  I was also inspired by the sketch on  THIS card from Marilyn who was the Featured Stamper at Splitcoaststampers.com.  I added in some mittens from the Raised Mittens Skip Winter stamp as well. Technically, they aren't gloves, but I think they work.  I splattered on some watered down Snowtex for the snow. 

Hope you are staying warm (or cool, if it is hot where you live).  

Hugz,

Nancy

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