The real reason for Christmas

Sometimes I am so wrapped up in making cards that I forget about other household things that needs to be done, but today I am letting all of that go and working here in the craft room and getting my Christmas Cards completed.
The meaing of Christmas....is the Birth of Christ, or so that is my opinion and I think I am allowed to have it for myself.  I decided to use this stamp set (Stampin Up)  on a pretty card for my mother in law.  I hope she will like this.
I used Gina K cardstock along with K & Company patterened paper.  A paper shapers punch made the flower and the

little leaves are from Stampin Up. I used pearls from Stampin Up and of course the top note.
On the front of the card I used Martha Stewart punches for the border on the front.  I like using the ticket punch from Stampin Up to cut the corners of my cards.

Dizzy for Christmas

It has snowed here in Ohio, not sure how many inches but I know its enough.  At 4 am this morning my husband and son went out to plow and salt local businesses so therefore I was up....well what do you do at 4 am?  You go to your craft room and make cards.  Just as I did this morning. "oh and you need something hot to drink". 

When putting this card together it turned out totally different then I thought it was going to be, it has made me half nauseated, it looks very busy...but yes that is the way I like my cards.  This one will make the person who receives it look twice.  In keeping the the "dizzy" theme, I made the "Merry Christmas" look blurry also...just for charm...

The inside I used some spellbinders dies and the little leaves cuttlebug die from Stampin Up.

the outside I used the Mitten stamps from Gina K, along with the spellbinders dies that goes with them.  I used Stampin Up cardstock, along with Gina K.  I always use Gina K as the base for my cards, it is very heavy and works great for a card.  The photo is of the front is of our house, I wanted to send more of those for Christmas Cards.  The greeting and the sentiment stamps is a set from Stampin Up.  I edged the papers with Aspargus ink from Stampin Up.  Inking the edges of the papers seems to add a bit of depth and it makes them look more vintage.  On the outside I used the topnote for the middle embellishment of paper. I stamped the white with snowflake stamps from Stampin Up with aspargus ink.

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Tree Collage

My favorite part about this card is the collage stamp from Stampin Up.  I love it.  It is so useful for any card no matter how you use it as long as it's Christmas.  I love the tree stamp also.  It too is good for several uses.  It is a great stamp and probably is one of the stamps that most people buy.
For this card I used as usual, Gina K paper, spellbinders dies, Stampin Up Stamps for greeting on the front,as well as the punches for the front greeting.. I used a stamp from Stampabilities on the inside, all my ink is Stampin Up as well as the ribbon.  I also used the branch punch from Martha Stewart.  Some bling also.

I think today has been a great day for me.  I got a lot done and feel happy now that I have posted a few things on my blog. I need to work on my camera, I think I should ask Santa for a new one but they are pretty pricey, especially the one I would like...so maybe my pics will be better.
 I told myself   when I started  the blog that I was going to keep it up to date, but with the holidays, my kids being home from college, and just life in general, I didn't met my goals.  But I plan to get busy again.  I have so many ideas running in my head that I just have to get them done before I explode...:)

Christmas Tree Greeting

First I want to apologize for the photo of the inside, it is blurry.  I am having fits with my camera and lens so bare with me.  I will retake the photo and repost it later.
This card I am using Gina K cardstock, Basic Gray paper pad, Stampin Up Crumb Cake cardstock, Lovely as a Tree by Stampin Up, bling is Hero Arts, punches are Marvy and Stampin Up.  I did you stickles and they haven't dried in this photo yet but when dry you will only see sparkle and not the glue globs.  I was in a hurry to get this posted so no time to dry.  I am also going to put stickles on the inside tree.  Then sentiments and greeting are also Stampin Up. Ribbon and brad also Stampin Up.

Get out your mittens

Since it is such a snowy chilly day here in Ohio, I thought that making a card with mittens seemed proper.  I really feel like I didn't get this right, but I will take what I can since I am needing more cards for myself.  I used stamps and paper from Gina K.  The mittens are cut from spellbinders, the ribbon is from Wal-mart and the inside leaves are Stampin up, little leaves also I used pearls from Stampin Up.  I have no idea where the paper is from, it was scraps in my scrap box.  The inside I also used the Stampin Up Christmas buttons.

Santa Claus

I am going to have to admit that this card really isn't my style at all.  But I wanted to make my daughters boyfriend a card with Santa on it, and this is what I came up with.  I embossed the santa and the swirl in the background.  I used a Martha Stewart border punch and Marvy scalloped circle punchs along with Gina K card stock.   The ribbon is some I picked up at Wal-mart in the Christmas section. 

Christmas Snowman Soup

I will have to say my favorite pass time (besides cardmaking) would be viewing blogs, especially in the evening when the family is watching TV and enjoying their favorite pass time.  I bought myself some earphones so that I can view blogs with tutorials and music so not to bother the family.  One of my favorite blogs is  Angie Kennedy Juda this lady is so great at what she does, and I love to watch her tutorials and her voice is so wonderful to listen too, she has the best accent and makes listening to her tutorials enjoyable.  I subscribed to her Christmas newletter and this project was the feature.  I made this up for a card party we were having to give to those who came but do to a death in the family we didn't get to have the party so I am going to use them for gifts for my friends.  It is just the cutest project there is.  Also on the blog you can order Stampin Up products so check it out and see what all she has to offer.  I am not sure this project is on her blog, but she has lots of other things to choose from.... Also I want to apologize for the photos here.  I need to change the lens on my camera, but need to locate the right lens.  I will work on that.  :)

Christmas Cocoa

I thought today would be a perfect day to share with you a "cup of cocoa".  It is snowing here today and the temps are very chilly, but I guess it is winter and who wants a Christmas without snow....I know we have several days to go, but I am hoping the snows sticks around for a while.
This little cup comes from a pattern I found at Scor-Pal November E-Zine.  It is so very simple to make and it is so cute.  The cup here is not the same size as the pattern as I wanted a bigger cup "mug" for my cocoa.  I have added a peppermint sick, "candy cane", mini marshmallows, cocoa and a Hershey's peppermint kiss to the package.  This makes a perfect gift for you mailman, or school bus driver or anyone you need a nice little gift for.  I used stampin up stamps, along with Gina K. stamps (her blog is listed on my blog).  I hope to be able to share with you a few more things today, so drop by later.

Award

This award was surprisingly given to me by Donna of Donna's Designs
Thanks so much Donna I enjoy your blog and view it daily.

The rules for receiving this award:

1. Thank the person that passed it to you.

2. Copy the award to your blog.
3. Share three unknown (or little known) facts about yourself.
4. Pass the award to 5 others.

There really isn't that much about me that is unknown by family and friends but maybe to my fellow bloggers it might be interesting.

1. I am not a typical women, I hate shopping, unless it is for stamping items or things for my craft room ( and then I look online first)  I am a home body and enjoy it a lot.

2. I am a paper addict.  I collect, hoard and shop paper, however I am working on my addiction by limiting how much paper I can have.

3. I  love taking pictures.  Although I haven't been able to do that too much lately since my camera bit the dust, but it is probably as big as a hobby as cardmaking is.

The blogs I want to give this award would be all the blogs  look at on a regular bases but I can only choose five.  I don't necessarily follow these blogs everyday but usually once a week for sure. All the blogs I go to I am so impressed with the work these ladies do. I feel like these blogs are a source of inspiration for anyone wanting to learn the craft of cardmaking or paper crafting.

1. Kristie at Kristies Paper Creations
2. Kristine at Lost in creativity
3. Lesley at Always playing with Paper
4. Kath at All that Scrap
5. Diane at Creative Paper Treasures

Thank you Card

Mornings here in Ohio are very chilly, 8 degrees is what the reading is on my INDOOR therometer I wouldn't dare go outside to see if it was true, but judging by the temp in my craft room I am going to say it is probably pretty spot on.

I haven't been here in a while.  It just seems with all the Holiday buzz it is hard to get in the craft room and do something I think I can share.  Sometimes I have those cards that start out as a good idea but soon it finds it's way in the black can beside my chair looking up at me and saying "what a waste of time and materials I was" but anyway, I do try to revive the thought and make it look a little better, 90% of my throw aways become a card later on.

My sister-in-laws mother passed away this week and she asked me if I would have time to make her 25 thank you cards. A tall order with Christmas Cards still unfinished and all the things going on right now, but I invited my stamping buddy Pam over and my two daughters and we mass produced this card into 25 thank you cards.  This is primitive looking for me, if you follow my blog you know I like the "busy" look and this isn't busy enough for me but I realized the more I did to the card the more time it took and we needed to get this done quickly.
I just used Gina K paper, embossed with the cuttlebug and cuttlebug folder, I used flower punches, pearls, and stampin up ink, stamps and  punches for the sentiment on the front.  It did go together quickly and it really didn't turn out bad.  This card however we found on the floor after it had been ran over by our chair rollers a few times but at least you can see how the card turned out.