25 Winter WISHES

Mission Accomplished!

At the beginning of this year, I secretly wanted to complete all 12 tags of 2014 this year and I made it!  Yes, I usually finished my tag on the last day of the month but this time I made it a few days before the end of the month!

I don't actually have 25 winter wishes.  It's just that I thought it could be read as "25 winter wishes" after completing the tag.  LOL.

The most exciting part for me is the use of frosted.  It is like a rather opaque transparency.  So cool!  I didn't have all the tools that Tim used on his tag but I immediately thought of the reverse stamp sets.  I stamped it on the back side of the frosted film then the words are no longer reverse.  I think it is one of the easiest ways to use these reverse stamps.  Love it!

I am on my way to my family reunion trip and will enjoy family time for the rest of the year (and early next year).  I look forward to seeing everyone but I'm not sure if I can handle the outdoor activities. 

May you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy 2015!

Dimensional Christmas card

Just a quick post to share a Christmas card for Lawnscaping Challenge:

I like this card because of the dimension.  Each layer of the Christmas tree is heightened by some foam tape.  In addition, the star was also three-dimensional.  I folded three of the identical stars in half and stuck them together.  Did I mention that the sentiment is quasi-dimensional too?  I heat embossed it with Liquid Platinum embossing powder.  Love that silver color.  The background is once again the awesome Lawn Fawn Snow Day paper.  I just casually layered a few of my scrap pieces to become the background and it looks just fine!

My card is entering the Lawnscaping Challenge - 96 Merry Christmas:

Will this card by the last Christmas card of the year? 

Even though I don't need any more Christmas cards, I love making them as I find them most fun and enjoyable.  I'll probably continue to make them, but not sharing them here.  We'll see a love card for a change very soon.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Using scraps!

I've made these two super simple Christmas cards here and that paper depicting a winter scene was about half sheet of the patterned paper.  Today I'm sharing a card that I'm using up the other half, and other scraps in the Lawn Fawn Snow Day paper pack:

It is essentially another easy peasy creation.  The background was just strips of patterned paper of various widths.  Then I added two die cut bunnies and a sentiment to finish it off.  I am not good at Copic coloring but gave it a try nevertheless.  I was hoping that the recipient would not pay too much attention to these two bunnies because they are just the bigger version of the same bunny in the patterned paper.  This is one big advantage to use supplies from the same brand.  LOL.

If you have great tips for your scraps of patterned paper, please share!

I'm linking up my card to the following:
Whimsy Stamps - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
Fresh Brewed Designs - Anything Christmas
Creative Moments - Anything Goes/Winter
The Crafter's Cafe - Christmas/Holiday

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Wow! Another 5-minute Christmas card!

If you are still making your last-minute Christmas cards, this will be a great idea for you.  It requires minimal supplies but it gives you a wow effect because of the sparkles:

I die cut the Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes die in three colors of glitter paper.   Before I stuck them onto the card, I put a thin thread behind each of them.  The last step was to silver emboss the sentiment onto the card.  The panel was lifted up by foam tape for some dimension.

If you'd like to simplify it, try one color of glitter paper, or even plain cardstock.  Instead of silver embossing the sentiment, try silver ink or just stamp it in black.  I bet it will still be looking great!

Who says a quick card can't be great at the same time?

I'm linking up my card to the following:
Sparkle and Sprinkle - glitter, embossing powder and/or flocking
Stamp and Create - Anything Christmas
My Creative Moments - Anything Christmas or winter
Through the Purple Haze - Use a Sentiment

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

15-minute Christmas card

Today I'm sharing a step-up card from yesterday's card:

It is really just a tiny step up from yesterday's card.  The extra step I did was to add some patterned paper to the card base.  Again I must express how adorable the Lawn Fawn Snow Day paper pack is.  The coordinating colors and patterns help making cards faster!  Other than that, I simply inked up the stamps in the same colors (two shades of green, brown and red), then die cut the Scripty Joy die with my die-cutting machine.

This time the wreath is smaller than that on yesterday's card.  I just started with a smaller circle (1 1/4", compared to 1 3/4" on yesterday's card) in the middle then stamped the sprigs, pine cones and berries around that circle.

Do you like this step-up version or the simpler version from yesterday better?

I'm linking up my card to the following:

Crafty Sentiments - Christmas

Cuttin and Stampin - Christmas

Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Christmas

Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

Through the Craft Room door - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Last-minute Christmas card

Need some more ideas for your last-minute Christmas cards?  I have a very simple card for you today.

Simple enough, right?

Let's start with the simple supplies:  It involved only one stamp set and one die - Deck the Halls from Lawn Fawn and Scripty joy die from Lawn Fawn as well.  I have used two green ink pads, one brown and one red.  Finally it's red cardstock, some really cool Craft-A-Board from Ellen Hutson (more on that later), and heavy duty white cardstock for card base.

I first started out with a 1 3/4" circle (size doesn't matter, but I'd suggest at least 1") which is used as a guide for me to stamp the wreath.  I know that some people like to trace a circle with pencil and stamp on it but I am trying to skip one step there.  I have had some terrible experience in erasing the circle / guide in my other cards so tho the extent possible I'll try to skip that step.

I started with the pine cones, then the pine sprigs in the lighter green.  Yup, then when I inked it in the darker shade I didn't have to clean my stamp (time-saving trick indeed!).  I finished off the wreath with some red berries then the stamping is complete.

I die cut the word joy with two layers of Craft-A Board and two layers of red cardstock.  Just wanted to give it some dimension, if you are trying to finish it in 5 minutes, skip that.  I added the Wink of Stella shimmer on top of the die cut and sealed the shimmer with glossy accent.  The part that took the longest time was definitely the drying time for the glossy accent.  Again, if you are in a hurry, skip that party.

It is my first time using the Craft-A-Board from Ellen Hutson.  I vaguely remember that it was on Jennifer McGuire's Favorite Crafty Things last year (or even the year before) but I just never got a chance to try that out.  It is really sturdy and is perfect for layering die cuts.  Even though I could stick more layers of cardstocks together to achieve the dimension, this is much faster and easier.

I have another card which is a step up version of today's card.  Will share that with you soon!

This card is entering the following:
Artistic Inspiration - Anything Goes/Snow
Crafty Boots - Merry Christmas
Crafty Cardmakers - Christmas
Get Creative - Christmas
The Crazy Challenge - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

5-minute Christmas Cards!

Have you finished all your Christmas cards?  If not, I'd suggest that you challenge yourself to finish cards within a very short time.

I've mentioned that I like 6x6 paper pads for Christmas cards and when I flipped through the Lawn Fawn Snow Day petite paper pack, I found two identical sheets that are perfect for making a card by just layering that sheet on cardstock:

The patterned paper has created a beautiful snow scene and all I did was to emboss the sentiment Merry Christmas in green then layered them on brown and green cardstock.  It is a 5" x 7" card.  Easy peasy, right?

I have made another one that is almost identical except this time I embossed the greeting in red:

I think the red sentiment pops a lot more and gives this card a more modern look while the first one is more traditional. 

What actually prompted me to make these two cards was that my nickname in my family was somehow related to bunnies.  That was years ago when I was 5 or even younger.  That explains why I'm a big sucker for bunny stamps, paper and embellishments.  My family doesn't call me that nickname anymore but I know that a card with a bunny on it will bring everyone a smile. 

Do you buy supplies for that reason too?

I'm entering my card to the following challenges:
Brown Sugar - Winter
A Crafty Mess - Anything Goes/Christmas
Crafts 4 Eternity - Winter
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy - Happy Holidays
Jingle Belles - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

A Window Card

Just a quick post today sharing a window card, which is also a Christmas card!  Even though I am done with making cards for friends and family, I continue to make them.  Not only do I feel that Christmas brings magic to the season, I feel that making Christmas cards brings magic to my home!

Sometimes I like to use my cards as Christmas decorations for my home too!  I put them on a string and separate them with cloth pins (painted in red or green) and hang the string across my windows.  It's kinda cheesy and old-fashioned but that reminds me of what my family used to do when I was very little.  That fond memory always brings me warmth.

Onto today's card, just a clean and simple window card.  I've totally enjoyed working with the 6x6 paper pad from Lawn Fawn.  It helps me make Christmas cards so quickly and easily!  I literally whipped up a few cards within an hour.

The most tricky part of this card was to line up the circle die on all three layers.  I first die cut the circle on two patterned papers because they are thinner and a pass can cut through both of them, then I lined them up onto the card base, and ran through three layers at the same time.  Because the cut was already made on the patterned papers, the circle die would not affect them but cut through the card based.

I added a strip of green paper across the banner so the snowflake has a place to hold onto.  Another option would be using fishing cord or beading wire for the snowflakes.  I haven't done beading for a while so my those supplies are nowhere to be found.  I'm happy with the green strip with white embossed greeting anyway.

My card is entering the following challenges:
A girl who crafts - Christmas
Always something creative - Christmas
Crafts Galore Encore challenge - Christmas and anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut Challenge - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!