Reflecting on 2009

The last day of 2009...always, the closing of the year brings the desire to reflect upon all the things that those 365 days of life brought...some experiences were wonderful, others painful, but what an amazing year 2009 has been! I am amazed as I look back on the friendships that stamping has brought to me in this one year, and I'm so grateful.

I hope that as you look forward to 2010, that you will be filled with hope and enthusiasm. Each day brings its own unique opportunity. None of us know what the future may bring, but we can know that as we walk along the journey of life, God is with us, and His love is everlasting.

May you be blessed! In His Love,

Deb

Notes: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Trees of the Field, Basic Grey designer paper, Stampin' Up rick rack, border punch, SEI and Basic Grey buttons, PTI jute thread, Nestabilities rectangles, Sweet Stop Sketch (minus the pocket!)

Color Dare #49

As usual, when I first saw this week's Color Dare colors, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, and Soft Suede, my reaction was *eeuuu!* but by the time I finished my card, I was lovin' it! It really turned out to be a fun combo!

I have had so much fun with Changito Snowplay...I used it to make gift card holders for the neighbors (forgot to take pictures before we gave 'em away), and while I'm still in the spirit it is good to get a jump on another holiday card! I used my Copics to color the image, then cut it out with an oval nestie, matted with a scalloped oval. The edges were sponged with Bashful Blue ink. For the layer underneath I stamped some snowflakes with white craft ink onto some Cameo Coral card stock. The bow was made using the Bow Easy and some ribbon from my stash with Petaloo Dazzler snowflakes and self adhesive rhinestone accents.

I've had a blast serving on the Color Dare Design Team, and I know my stamping has grown as I've played along. There is still a tiny bit of time for you to make an entry before the deadline for submissions for the new Design Team arrives! Best of luck to those of you who make an application!

Love and Joy!

The week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is one of my favorite weeks of the entire year. The house is filled with the sights, sounds and smells of the season, the hustle of Christmas is over, and the anticipation of what the new year will bring fills my heart with hope. I love the hushed excitement and that we have extra time to share together. Patrick has a few extra days off from work, there's no school...we usually have a few quiet pj days and I get some extra crafting time. I have a few upcoming deadlines and cannot yet share what I'm working on, so I thought I'd share a project from my September Dirty Gallery.

I love the homespun feel of this card! For me, it captures the warm spirit of the heart that fills the Christmas season...makes me think of hand-made quilts, crocheted doilies, calico aprons and warm peanut butter fudge, old-fashioned things that remind me of my grandmothers and my mom and the love they poured into making our home special during the holidays and indeed every day of the year. Lots of little things that add up to big things!

My card features Lizzie Anne's Love and Joy Labels and Cosmo Cricket papers. The images were colored with Prismas and Gamsol, *aged* with Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink and highlighted with a white gel pen. I used a combination of Coluzzle circles and nestabilities circles and scalloped circles for the layout.

I hope you're enjoying this special week too!

The First Day of Christmas...

...and it is so nice to have a really relaxed pj day! We said this morning that we'd go to the movie this afternoon, but after staying up half the night Christmas Eve (I think I finally went to sleep at 3:15) we are truly not motivated to do much of anything!

I finally finished a little Christmas thank-you card. That was a feat within itself because my craft room is in total chaos. I had brought quite a bit of stuff down to the dining room so that I could stamp but still be sorta on the fringe of Christmas movies, and even stamp with a friend, during the last week or so. Of course, all that had to be hauled back upstairs to clear the table for Christmas dinner last night, and it was done in a hurry and not put back into its proper places (not that any of it really has a proper place...we're still working on furnishing this room!).

This little cutie is Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Birthday Party Emma. My friend Julie's Christmas Day birthday was the inspiration for the papers and colors...this week's Sweet Stop sketch provided a starting point for the layout, which is constructed of CutCardStock's textured card stocks and Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses designer paper in both 12 x 12 and 6 x 6 inch sized prints. I love the smaller scale of the 6 x 6 for card-making, especially when using it for paper-piecing as I did for her dress, here. The thank-you sentiment from another SNS set, I'd Pick You. The frayed giant rick-rack reminded me of the fringe of a scarf, so I added some snowflakes and buttons...Emma appears to be better at braving winter than I am because she must've been willing to part with her sweater when she arrived at the party! ;)

I hope you're enjoying all of your Christmas goodies and some yummy Christmas dinner left-overs! Wonder when we'll finally venture out to the movies! Doesn't look like today's the day!

Merry Christmas!

May you be joyful and blessed this Christmas Day and always!

Color Dare meets MOJO

I'm really glad that the colors for Riley's recent Color Dares have been ones that would work for last-minute Christmas cards! I found that I didn't have as many as I thought, so it is nice to still have time for a few more...here's one using Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, and Soft Suede.

Today's card is inspired by Impression Obsession's Snowflakes, which fit perfectly with this week's MOJO sketch. I stamped the ornament on some white cardstock, colored it with Copic markers, then cut it out and lightly inked the edges with Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. I stamped some of the various snowflakes using Pretty in Pink paper and ink, again tea dye distress-inking the edges and adding some sponging with pink ink to brighten the intensity of the colors. The embellishments were kept very simple. I'll confess though, if I had had more teeny tiny pink pearls I would have used them to bling up the snowflakes and the ornament too!

The "Believe" sentiment is from Our Craft Lounge's set, Reindeer Kisses. I believe in the spirit of Santa, and I believe in Christ, the real reason for the season!

As I was making my Color Dare card, I also worked on some little gift card wallets for our nieces and nephews using the same set but in Close to Cocoa and Naturals Ivory...for the inside of these I stamped the sentiment, "May all your wishes come true" from another OCL set, Fairy Dust is a Must, in white craft ink. The words and the fonts work very well together. These little cards are very CAS, and I'm happy that this neutral color combination works for all of 'em regardless of whether they're going to the girls or the boys! By the time you read this they're well on their way!

Visit the Color Dare blog to see some lovely inspiration using this week's colors...it isn't too late to get in on the Design Team call either!

eta: This week's MOJO sketch reminds me of this card I made for the ihp challenge not long ago...it would have fit this week's sketch perfectly!

Getting there!

Since Patrick got back from his business trip to Hawaii our family has been sharing a little *bug* :(

I thought I was gonna make it through the holidays without catching the thing but Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat. Needless to say, a lot of what was supposed to get done this weekend just didn't happen, so finally today I made a trip to the post office. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected, and our packages still have a remote chance of arriving on time.


It is always a challenge to make the packages we mail to our families look pretty...usually bows get squished and look a whole lot worse for wear by the time they arrive after traveling all the way from Florida to Michigan or Louisiana. This year I opted to wrap their gifts in some pretty paper and tie them with jute. I made some cute little gift tags that are a close match to the paper I used. They were made using the November Stamps of Life set Joy2Christmas, some colorful card stock, Copic markers, a bit of rick-rack and a whole lot of bling! I bet these will outlast their store-bought counterparts and bring lots of smiles to our parents when they receive them. Just a simple little thing, but they will appreciate the time and love that went into them.

We have choir practice tonight...I'm drinking lots of tea and trying to get plenty of rest, hoping to be able to sing Thursday night for our Christmas Eve program. I think tonight I'll just be listening! I'm looking forward to some extra family time and some relaxed stamping in the week between Christmas and New Year's!

A Christmas Thank-you

I am having a blast with my new Lizzie Anne monthly mix, From the Heart! This is a card using one of my favorite stamps in the set, inspired by last week's Color Dare colors. It was one that I submitted to Papercrafts Magazine that didn't make the cut so I thought I'd share it now. It will be perfect as a Christmas thank-you!

The flower petals, stem and leaves were colored with Copic markers. Its center was colored with Prismas and Gamsol.

Hope you're having a great week!

Go Out with Joy!

This morning was a foggy morning in Florida, and the trees were veiled in a lovely mist...the view from our window provided the inspiration for this card.

I love the muted colors of this Basic Gray Indian Summer paper and thought it would make a lovely feminine card to showcase this awesome scripture. I have to laugh...I don't believe in coincidence, and the week that I received this set, Trees of the Field, in the mail, Pastor Cory preached on this very verse. I think God must have a God-sized sense of humor and He uses all kinds of *little things* to get His BIG points across!

I used a pair of nestabilities ovals to cut windows into the patterned paper and some burgundy card stock (courtesy of CutCardStock.com), then stamped the tree in some stamped-off Memento Rich Cocoa ink on ivory card stock centered inside the window. I sponged lightly it with pink and with Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink. The sentiment was stamped directly onto the patterned paper. The layers were adhered with dimensionals to create depth within the window. I used some Kaiser Pearls, BoBunny flowers, and a scrap of burgundy ribbon to frame it and lead the eye from one element to another.

I hope your holidays are filled with joy, peace, and singing...Christmas blessings!

Viewfinder Card

When I very first saw this month's set, Love2Hug, from The Stamps of Life, I immediately got this idea in my head, but it took me a while to get it from concept to actual paper. FINALLY! ;) I'm kinda pleased with the way it turned out! I used some scraps of BoBunny paper left over from a project from my first Dirty gallery.

Here you can see what the four views are as you spin the scalloped circle...

Hopefully this has been a refreshing break from Christmas cards! I'm still working on mine!