Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope you enjoy peace, love and joy of this magical season.

I want to prepare a quick post to share my favorite Christmas card of the year.  At first I only wanted to create a card quickly as I was running out of time, but I ended up really like it and made a few more.  This card came together in no time at all!

Yes it's a photo card, my very first photo card ever!

I printed the picture at 4x6, then trimmed off 3/4 inch  off the very bottom of it to fit a regular note card.

I put a piece vellum on top of the picture,  where a sentiment was heat embossed in gold.  And that's it, it's done in seconds!

I really like that I could use a 1/8" strip of score tape to adhere to vellum to the top of the card front.  Isn't it always a challenge to adhere vellum?  In this case, the frame of the card base is the perfect place for the adhesive to sit on.  Yay!

Early this month, I took Meo (the cat) to Petsmart where we could take pictures with Santa.  It has been a long time since I last took a picture with Santa (perhaps since I was a kid??)  and this time Meo is also in the picture, making it very special for me.  I just really love it.  Sending a special picture to my loved ones is making me happy too! :)

Now that I know picture cards take no time to make, I suspect this will be what I send to friends and family in the future.  hahahahaha~

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays

Happy Friday!

Are you all ready for Christmas?  I am so not ready but I am so looking forward to the most magical season of the year.  Things will fall into place, I keep telling myself.

I'm sharing another Christmas card using Lawn Fawn goodies, of course!

I wasn't too confident with this card, but the more I look at it, the more I like it.  I've heightened the tree image by stamping the bottom portion of it.  Love this technique to add value to the stamps.  I've mixed and matched images from different sets, of course.  The cutest part is that the bunny is about to put a heart on the tree.  Oh so sweet.

I'm entering this card to the following  challenges:
Brown Sugar Challenge - Christmas
Jingle Belles - Christmas
Crafty Creations - Any Holidays
Holly Jolly Christmas - Christmas card

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Shhhhh......

When I am struggling creatively, I organize my stash and I also like to go through my old cards (through my blog, of course!)

I saw this slider card I made in a class and I thought I could translate the concept into a Christmas card........

So I literally just copied it using different supplies and it becomes

It is pretty fun and cool (pun intended) that the penguin spins from the top of the slider and lands on the piece of ice. It should be great for a kid. :)

My card is entering the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps - Snowflakes
Use Your Stuff - Merry Christmas
Christmas with the Cuties - Anything Cute or Christmasy
Coloring in Scrapland - Christmas
Crafty Boots - Winter Wonderland

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Howlidays

I have said it many times that masculine cards could be tricky.  That still holds true.  But I think that many Lawn Fawn critter images will bring a smile to everyone's face.

I've made this card for a guy friend who loves dogs. 

Remember I said the slide on over die is my new favorite?  I just have to use it on every card now.  Love interactive cards:

You may find this card look familiar.  It has the exact same layout as this one here.  The cards go to different household.  Hopefully they won't know about it.  Shhhh......

I'm entering my card to the following:

The Male Room - Christmas

Craftaholics - Guys + Christmas

Crafting with an Attitude - Anything Goes

Through the Purple Haze - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays

Are you done with your Christmas cards? Shopping? Tags?

I was pretty good in the last couple of years to start my Christmas cards early, so by this time, I would have sent out my cards already then I would just focus on the shopping (and shopping for myself, of course!).  This year, I blame the fact that I moved right before Thanksgiving, so everything was chaotic.  Needless to say my shopping spree was no longer focusing on craft stores, but hardware stores, furniture stores and such.

Faced with pressure, my creative juice does not flow as well.  But that's ok.  It's the most festive time of the year.  If my card wasn't the best, I'm sure people understand it because it's the thought that counts.  Right?  I'm trying to avoid making multiples of the same card.  But you'll see in my future posts that although they are not identical, they are extremely similar.

I am sharing one that I made for my nephew J today.

I have a nickname in my family.  It has something to do with bunny.  I'm trying to show my nephew things about bunny so he will remember me. :)

I'm mixing and matching new and old Lawn Fawn goodies again.  The patterned paper is from the Snow Day collection.  I used the little town border and stitched hillside border die to create the background.   The slide on over die is my new favorite!  Love to use it to make interactive cards!  The star of the show is of the winter bunny stamp & die.  Oh so fun!

I hope my 1.5 year old nephew like it.  I certainly had fun making it!

My card is entering the following challenges:
613 Create - Christmas
AAA cards - Christmas
Addicted to stamps - Christmas
Come and Get it Challenge - Christmas
Crafting when we can - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to cardmaking

I'm starting to settle in in my new place.  Boxes of craft supplies are still unpacked.  I barely got my table set up so I could make Christmas cards in time for the season!

I'll continue to share them as I make them.  Unfortunately some of them will be similar.  As long as the recipients do not know about the similarities, it should be fine, right?

This is probably the one that I like the most.  I'm mixing and matching Lawn Fawn products from different seasons!  How fun!  I use the Christmas plaid patterned paper and the 12x12 blue plaid paper for background.  Two snowbanks made the ground for the snowmen and I just added simple accessories for the snowmen.

I love the sentiment "friends warm the heart".  It's perfect for my good friend who has been supportive and understanding.

This card is entering the following challenges:
Cards und more - Oooh so cold
A Snowflakes Promise - Winter theme
Retarte - Anything Goes
Sunny Day Crafting - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

A shaker card

I'm continuing to share another assignment I made for the Wild Cards class at Online Card Classes.

It's a shaker card today.

And if you shake it up the glitter would go to the top of the snow globe:

Cute and super fun to make!

But let me share a story behind it - I was actually hoping to put water in it to make it look more realistic as a snow globe.  I went to several stores to buy the materials and made it successfully.  I set it aside while working on other "homework" from the class, then when I went back to this card to take pictures of it.  Some images are smearing.  Eek!  I can't explain if I've put in too much water, or the zip lock was not closed securely, or the zip lock was made of low quality materials that it would leak.  But at that time I couldn't care less!  I just want to salvage it to the extent possible!

I was able to save the top part of the card (everything above the acetate sheet) so I re-created the scene. I was disappointed but I didn't let it kill the joy of making a fun card.  I completed it without filling it with water.  It's still cute, isn't it?

My card is linking up to:
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge - patterned paper
Sparkles Christmas - Snowman
12 months of Christmas - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Wishes

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.

I just remember that there was a Christmas card I forgot to post:

It is a window card where I've put a piece of acetate on the back of the window then I've attached the snowmen on the acetate.  It adds a lot of fun to the card - the looks are different when it is open or close.

I didn't have the idea when I bought this Ready Set Snow stamp & die set from Lawn Fawn, but I've noticed that my Tank You card here has got a lot of likes and re-pins from pinterest so I thought, why not create a similar one?

I'm linking up the card to:
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
Simply Paper Crafts - Anything Goes
Brown Sugar - Christmas
Craft for the Craic - Christmas Cheer

I will be away for the next several days so there won't be any posts before the end of 2015.  I wish everyone a safe and happy celebration for the new year!

It's Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I'm sharing a very simple Christmas card today.

It appears that we are all busy for this holiday season and there was just too little time to craft.  Nonetheless I wish you a Merry Christmas!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Craft Rocket Challenges - Anything Goes
Crafting with an Attitude - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes
Creative Knockout - Christmas
Little Miss Muffet - Holiday Cheer

Happy Crafting!

Caring Hearts Card Drive!

I am so happy that I'm participating in the Caring Hearts Card Drive this year!  In previous year I meant to join but either procrastination or other things blocked the way.  This year, I was determined to do it and I've already got 58 cards.  This is part of them:

I am hoping to send 75 cards so I have 17 to go.  Nonetheless I'm happy I have at least 58 ready.

I'll admit that my signature on the bottom of the card got more and more illegible towards the end of the pile.  But whenever I think of the smile on the recipient's face it brings a smile to my face too!

Want to join?  Click here to see all the details!

Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Greetings!

I'm sharing a super quick and simple Christmas card today.  Even though I no longer mass produce cards, this will be a good one if you need some inspiration.

Some crafty friends try to avoid patterned paper because of the huge stash at home.  They'd like some ideas for making cards using cardstock only.  I didn't use any patterned paper on this one but I think it is just as nice.  :)

The images come from Miracle of Christmas Holiday, a very cute Christmas stamp set that I knew I "need" it when I first saw it.  It has some cute animal images but also some sentiments written in an elegant font.  It just has something for everyone.  You can see all the images here.  The ornament was cut from Artistry cartridge.  If I were mass producing this card, I'd load a full sheet of cardstock to my Cricut and ask it to fill the page.  I found some gold thread in my stash and use it to tie onto the ornament.  We could all use some gold on Christmas cards, right?

My card is entering the following challenges:
A Snowflake's promise - Christmas
City Crafter - Getting Ready for Christmas
Papertake - Anything Goes
Retarte - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas

A quick post today to share a Christmas card:

I absolutely love the Charming Cascades stamp set from Close to My Heart and have used it many times already.  This time, I kick it up a notch and used it to create an embossed background.  The results are lovely.

My favorite pattern from the White Pines paper packet is the one used here and this card, and I think I'm ready to buy another packet just for this paper!  LOL.  I have the ornament shape cut from Cricut Artistry, then I stamped the ornament shape from Holly Jollys stamp set in Fern, then put it on a tag.  The tag seemed a bit too bare,  so I added the twigs from the stamp set in White Pines Cardmaking Workshop on the Go kit.  Some twine was threaded through the tag, and it's done.

It's a simple card but I love it! :)

My card is entering the following challenges:
Heart 2 Heart challenges -  use cricut
Addicted to Stamps - Holidays
Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Fab 'n' Funky - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

A Circle Christmas card

I've mentioned in this post that I like it so much that there will be a sequel to it, and here it is:

This time there is only one Christmas tree, but this time the tree is decorated with sparkles and bitty sparkles.  And what makes it really fun is that it is a circle card!  I used one of the patterns from Wishes - one of the Close to My Heart How-to programs where it has a lot of classic yet fun card sketches.

The circle card based and the Christmas tree were cut from Cricut Explore; the former cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge and the latter with Artistry cartridge.  I used Cricut Design Space to remove all the patterns shown on a circle card so I had a plain card base to begin with.

I had a lot of fun making these Christmas cards but I really should start preparing Halloween cards for several kiddos.

My card is entering the following challenge:
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes
Crafting in my craftroom - favorite cutting tool
Stampleton - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Two Christmas Trees

I continued to play with the Christmas supplies on my desk and came up with this card quickly:

I didn't even reach out for the White Pines paper collection.  For this card, again I used the stamp set from White Pines Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking Kit and Cricut Artistry for the two trees.  One tree was inked in Fern and the one behind is inked in New England Ivy. To give it some dimension the front tree was lifted with some foam tape.  I then gold embossed the sentiment from Holly Jolly stamp set on a strip of Cranberry cardstock.

As for the background, I used Bamboo cardstock and stamped the falling stars from Charming Cascades in Bamboo to add some interest.  The trees were added a white enamel star on their top, and I've colored it in yellow using alcohol marker.  

I like how quick and easy this card came together.  Because I like it so much, I've created another one that's very similar.  Stay tuned for that!

My card is entering the following challenges:

The Christmas Challenge - Green and Gold

Retarte - Anything Goes

A Snowflake promise - Anything Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp surgery

I meant to make several Halloween cards this past weekend but that didn't happen.  I looked at the Halloween-themed supplies on my desk but they just didn't speak to me.  When that happens I normally walk away from my craft desk to clear my mind, then come back to see if the mojo also returns.  If that doesn't work out I'll start playing with my supplies without any pressure to complete any project.  Fun should be the main focus, right?

It turned out no Halloween cards were made.  But I cleaned up my craft desk, rearranged my finished layouts into a D-ring album, and did some organization in my craft area (decided to donate some items that have not been receiving enough attention from me).

I then started to play with my Christmas supplies.  Christmas cards remain the type of cards that I make the most and love to make the most.  For the very special person I tend to put in a lot of thoughts but more often, I just want to play with my supplies.  Sometimes it's testing out a color combo, sometimes it's trying out a new technique.  I can't explain why Christmas cards seem to be the best place for me to play.  If you find you've made far more Christmas cards than you need, look for places such as senior homes, hospitals or orphanage to send your cards to.  Your cards will definitely bring a big smile to people.

So while I was cleaning up, I wanted to see if I could use the stamp in the White Pines Workshop on the Go Scrapbooking kit differently.  The stamp says "In the air there is a feeling of Christmas."  It's nice and I wanted to use it differently only for fun, there's nothing wrong with that sentiment.  So I've cut the sentiment out from the stamp (Ouch!) and replaced it with a sentiment "Happy Holidays" from Holly Jolly Christmas.

No you don't need to do a stamp surgery if you don't want to.  You could first stamp it on a piece of post-it sticky note, then cut out the sentiment part and when you stamp it, you'll only have the frame left.  You'll then remove the mask and stamp whatever sentiment you like.

Stamp surgery does not involve that "Ouch!" and there was no pain involved.  It helps me get a lot more mileage out of my stamps.  I was hesitant when I first did it couple of years ago but I never look back.  For one, it helps me save quite a bit of post-it sticky notes, and it's less time-consuming than masking.  If you plan on mass-producing, the mask will wear out after a few uses and re-creating a mask can be quite annoying.  Stamp surgery will save you a lot of time!  If you haven't performed stamp surgery on acrylic stamps, try it out.  Still not sure?  Next time when you de-stash, pick one that you are about to donate and try that one.  Did I mention that because of the flexibility these acrylic stamps offer, you could mount the cut pieces back easily and no one will ever know of the stamp surgery (oh except you, and the stamp, because of the "wounds", LOL).

I'm entering my card to the following challenges:
Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes
Polkadoodles Craft - Use a die cut
Christmas Stampin' all year long - Lots of layers
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
Christmas Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

A Christmas card in April

Yup, I just made my first Christmas card this year.  Gotta start the preparation early to avoid the last minute hassle. 

There is a CASE-ing Christmas challenge and the inspiration is:

I am a sucker for window cards and I've simplified it to become:

First, instead of making scalloped edges , I've left the edges straight.  I still keep the scallop element but just in a different way.  I've switched up the red and kraft cardstock - the main panel is in red then I've added a scalloped edge in kraft cardstock.  Because my card does not have any pop-up element, I've included the sentiment below the window.  Oh, my greeting is the same as the inspiration card.  Not on purpose but a happy co-incident!

The card is entering the following challenges:
CHNC - something beginning with F (feathers of the bird??)
Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes
CASE-ing Christmas - see above
Dream valley - use Kraft
Craft your passion - Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Triplets

Happy Monday and Happy President's Day for those of you in the U.S.!

I hope I am not boring you but I love the sketch of this card and this card so much that I've decided to do a third one, this time a Christmas card:

These three cards share the same structure and elements but because of the different papers they all look so different.  Love this type of collage where I can use up a lot of scraps from my 6x6 paper pads.  Also love it because I think I'm finally more comfortable in using patterned paper on cards.

My card is entering the following:
Hiding in My Craft Room - Super Scraps Saturday
Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes
All Sorts - Any occasion other than birthday
Amusing Challenge - die cuts
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Lawn Fawn Collage

I have been making and loving clean and simple cards - those with few layers, minimal embellishments, no clutter, crisp edges.  They appeal to me and I like making them.  Best part?  It's easy to put them in the mail. Typically a forever stamp will do.  I'm better at making the card than sending it, so if it requires a trip to the post office, most birthday cards will need the extra word "belated."  LOL.

Having said that, I admire those cards and scrapbook layouts with layers and embellishments and have always wanted to be able to make one of those.

So I gave it a try, with the cutest Snow Day paper and many dies from Lawn Fawn:

Perhaps I like it because of the cute paper from Lawn Fawn.  Perhaps I like it because it is a Christmas card.  Perhaps I like it because it is my first attempt.  Who cares?  I like it!  Yay!  My first attempt appears to be a success!

I didn't start making this card without any research.  I have browsed through a lot of cards and layouts and studied them.  But you know, sometimes it is difficult to quantify those parameters.  My observations and conclusions for these cards are: a)  Variety of patterns and shapes; b) Contrast between each layers; c) it's ok to show only part of the image.

With those rules in mind, I started cutting my paper away and used a variety of Lawn Cuts to build my card.  I had a blast and am determined to try it again!

My card is linking up to the following:
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Weekly Christmas Card - Anything Goes
Christmas cards all year round - Christmas Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

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!