2021 Christmas Ornaments

Hello blog fans!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.

A few years ago I started a new tradition in our family.  

Whoever comes to Christmas dinner receives

a home made ornament from me.

My son and daughter in law have been hosting

Christmas dinner the last couple years, 

but I've continued the tradition.

This year, these are the ornaments I made.

They started out like this.

 Several years ago I was out shopping at one 

of the craft stores and found packages of

metal tags dirt cheap on clearance.  Of course I couldn't pass up

that deal, so I bought a couple packages.  Had no idea

what I might do with them, but knew I'd come up with something.

This year I came up with something.

I used alcohol inks to color the metal tags,

then used stamps and Alcohol Lift Ink to

lift the ink from the tag.

It's a very simple process that turns out looking great.

I did find that some colors lifted easier than others.

Surprisingly I found some of the lighter colors were

harder to lift than the darker ones.
It's all a matter of trial and error.

I also found that some stamps did not work as well as

others and it seems rubber stamps worked better than 

the clear acrylic/polymer stamps did.

The amount of ink used also made a difference.

If I did more than one coat to make the color 

appear darker, it was harder to get the ink to lift off.

But with persistence and repeated stamping, most of

them did work.

Although there were a few that just wouldn't lift.

I'm not sure why that was.

One of the great things about using the alcohol ink

on metal, is that if you don't like the color, the way it stamps

or if the ink won't lift, all you need to do is use some

 rubbing alcohol and remove the ink and start again.

I stamped the year on the back of each ornament.

This is one case where the polymer stamps worked

well.  It may be because it was such a solid 

image, but I can't say for sure.

I'm very happy with how this year's ornaments

turned out.

Thanks for stopping in for a visit, 

come again soon.

Until then,

have a happy and healthy 

new year.

Let's all make 2022 a 

wonderful and creative year!

    Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.

I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

         

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays one and all!

Just want to take a moment to wish you all the best,

 whatever holiday you celebrate.

For us, it's Christmas and here is a picture of my 

sweet little Snowbaby tree that my hubby

put up for me while I was out of town visiting 

a friend and having a crafty weekend

Over the last several years we have pared down

what we do with our Christmas decorating and gift

giving.  We enjoy our time with family and 

friends and try to let the craziness go away.
Of course, we now have a 2 yr old granddaughter,

so things will be a little hectic, but that will

be fun.  

And for Christmas we are going to have a 

gender reveal and find out what the new baby will be.

It's sure to be an exciting Christmas and 2022 for us.
Our son and daughter in law just moved into their new home,

they are expecting baby number 2 in June.

Our daughter is getting married in May and we

are thrilled about that and love her fiance. 

Bring it on 2022!

Thanks for stopping by today and every time you

come to visit.  I love doing my blog and hope you

enjoy your visits and that you are inspired in some

way with what you find here.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a

fabulous 2022

 

Bernadette Brings an Elf Hat and Mittens

Hello and Happy Holidays!

Christmas is close and our sweet granddaughter has

an elf friend visiting.
Bernadette came to visit when Marie was with us

the other day.  Marie took her nap and when she got

up, Bernadette was sitting in our Christmas tree with a 

gift for Marie.

These are the hat and mittens that I made for

Marie.  Bernadette had them in a cute little 

bag sitting under the tree for Marie.

I'm sure she's wondering how Bernadette got into the tree.

And she loves her hat and mittens,

especially since that elf on the top is probably

a friend of Bernadette's.

When it was time to go home, Marie ran

over to the little bag and pulled her hat and 

mittens out, so she could wear them home.

I was happy to see she loved them so much.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.

Do you have an elf visiting at your home?

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

make the holidays magical!

 

Eco print cards

Good day friends!

A few weeks ago, I suddenly had a desire to do some

eco-printing.  I saw the beautiful leaves that were falling

and wondered how they would work on some prints.

So I gathered up some leaves from the ground and some 

that hadn't fallen yet and set myself to work.

Here are a few that I did with some leaves from our
"burning bush" that gets bright red leaves in the fall.

I laid the leaves on a piece of card stock,

laid another piece of card stock over it and 

ran them through my Cuttlebug.
This is what I got and I just love how they turned

out.

I thought I may as well experiment a little more,

so I put another piece of card stock over the leaves 

and ran it through again.

This more muted piece is what I got from the second pass.

Here are the cards I made with those first 

prints.  Just trimmed them to size,

adhered to some colored card stock and

then onto a card base.

This was just the start of the prints I made with leaves and

some flowers that were still hanging around, but

I haven't had time to make anything with the other

prints.  I'll show those in another post.

But I did learn that even though the leaves have fallen

from the trees, as long as they aren't dried and brittle,

they are worth give a try running through

the cuttlebug.

I found some just didn't work as well, some gave

very strong colors and some were more muted.

You just have to give them a try, it's surprising the colors

you may get.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I appreciate that you spend time here.

Come again soon,

until then,

try some eco-printing.

Use leaves, flowers, grass whatever you can

find in nature that will go through your machine.

 

My Christmas Cards

Hello everyone!

Today I'd like to show you my Christmas cards.

I was having a difficult time figuring out what to 

do for my Christmas cards this year.

Nothing seemed to be clicking,

then, as often happens, an idea struck.

And what a messy idea it was!

I had seen the Altenew Burlap Texture Die on

several videos and finally picked it up.

I decided on a design and got to work.

What a mess I made, but it was so worth it!

I used an embossing folder from my stash

and embossed the backgrounds.

Then I found a tree in my library of my 

Silhouette Design Studio software and

cut them out with my Silhouette Cameo.

I used glitter card stock for the trees, but the glitter

doesn't show up well in the pictures.

Once I had all the pieces ready, I 

assembled the cards.
Gluing down that burlap piece was a little

tricky, then I got the idea to brush the back

with glue and a foam brush and it worked

like a charm.

I used the scraps of the gold vellum from the

burlap pieces to punch out the stars, glued them

on and the card fronts were done.

Inside I stamped this sentiment

from the
Faith Peace Love Stamp set from Stampendous

Now my cards were finished!
I love how they turned out, 

a little different than anything I've done 

before, yet they are still 
"really me"

Thanks for stopping in today.

I hope you have your cards all made and mailed out.

By the time this is posted hopefully mine will be too.

Please come to visit again,

until then

make your holiday season a happy one.

                                      Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Little Fox Card

Hello blog friends!

I hope you're having a warm and cozy day.
It's cold here in my neck of the woods, so I'm 

bundled up in a nice warm sweater.
Today I have a card to show you.

I made this for my granddaughter's 2nd 

birthday.  She loves animals and I thought this

guy was very cute.

The background was embossed with an

embossing folder from my stash and then

inked with brown ink and a make up brush

to bring out a bit of detail.

I colored the fox with colored pencils, cut him 

out with the matching die and added some 

googly eyes, which I think made him even cuter.

I stamped and fussy cut the sentiment and added the

little heart and was done.

As usual, on the inside I added my own

personal note.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you'll come again.

Until then

keep warm and snuggle with someone.

 

Art Swap Christmas Card

Greetings!

I belong to an Art Swap Group, it's a group 

of ladies who met years ago on a stamping 

message board.  We now have our group on Facebook.

Each year we do a swap at Christmas time.  This year

we are doing a card swap with one other person in

the group.

Some of us are from the US, some from Canada

and some from Australia.

I always look forward to seeing what everyone does

for their swap.

I decided to do a card with an inlaid technique.

I had this star design in my library of my

Silhouette Design Studio Software

and love it.

I cut it out of metallic textured card stock

and gold glitter card stock.

The holly leaves, berries and ribbon are cut from

plain colored card stock.

I adhered double sided tape to the back of the star

and then went about placing the pieces into the star

cut out.

I was really loving this card, but it needed a little something.

I think the white dash lines around the card 

give it a finishing touch.

I hope the gal that I'm sending this to likes it

as much as I do.

Have you made any different Christmas cards this year?

The one I make for this swap is always different

than the others I make.

I'm glad you came to spend a little time with me today,

I hope you enjoyed your time here and will come again

soon.

Until then,

have a happy holiday season!

 

Gratitude Set

Hello crafty peeps!

Today I'd like to show you a set that I made

as part of a prize at our 

"Girlfriends and Gratitude Crop"

We thought a gratitude journal would be 

appropriate and of course I couldn't stop there.

So I made a note pad and a post it note holder also.

This note pad would be lovely on anyone's

desk or counter. 

I received some glue from a friend that is 

specifically for making tear off pads.  It's wonderful,

and I can make any size note pad that I want.

Great way to use scraps.

Here is the inside of the notepad.  

The notepaper measures 4 1/4 x 5 1/5

for this particular pad.

Somehow I didn't get a photo of that

particular Post It note holder, but

here are a couple others.

They simply have a pad of 
Post It notes inside.

This is the journal and I love how it 

turned out.

I used different colors and weights of paper

for the pages.  I made a file and printed the lines onto 

the paper.  I also left some pages blank to leave

space to draw or add a picture.

This journal can be used for anything the recipient 

wants it to be.

Here is a picture of the signatures sewn together

before they were put into the cover.

I'm loving this process for sewing them,

if you are curious as to how it is done,

here is the video I learned from.

Nik the Booksmith

is fabulous and has many, many great

videos about book making.

Last, but not least, is the "basket" I made to put all

the prize items into.
The items above and some crafting supplies were 

all wrapped up in this Grateful basket.

Here's a picture of our lucky winner, our

friend Marie.  She was very happy with her

winnings.

Here is a tutorial showing how to make 

a similar basket.
The Posh Paper Lady

Thanks for popping in today to see what I've

been up to.  I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

watch a video and try something new.