Preparations are DONE!!

Okay, all the gifts are bought, wrapped, and packed ready to go out the door, load in the car, and take them over to Susie's for our Christmas Eve celebration. I stopped by Subway Sandwich Shop and got our traditional sandwich trays ordered for pick up on Tuesday after work. I ordered one platter of turkey and one platter of roast beef both on wheat and a side tray of veggies (specifying the onions on a completely different plate ... a practice that we all learned the hard way from the first time we ordered). We'll combine these with different things brought in my Sara, Nancy, and Susan (chips, dip, salads, deserts, and drinks) and enjoy them throughout the day. I can hardly wait. I'll be off work from Wednesday until back at the office on Monday which makes for a nice break and a wonderful Holiday!!
My next posting will be for little gifts I'm planning on making for friends, family, and Realtors in my office. I've started making some calendars that the Realtors can take home and use by their computers. Susan also gave me some book marker covers that I can also use.
Wishing you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a NEW YEAR filled with hope and happiness!
Hugs...............Linda

Two cards Same Stamp Set

Both of these cards use the same theme on both. I love the serenity of these cards and the similar layouts. The larger one uses bars of decorative paper from the SU Simply Sent Handmade Holiday set. Both of the bigger and smaller card have scalloped edge on the bottom. The larger card has a self adhesive die cut with the house scene on it. The smaller one was stamped with the house scene and then punched with the oval punch and adhered to the scallop oval die cut. The scallops on the large card is accented with 3-D paint while the smaller is accented with a white gel pen on the bottom scallops and the lighter scallop strip is a die cut from the simply sent sheets.

I hope you enjoy both of these cards. Hugs from me to you .................. Linda

Ingredients:

Paper: SU Ruby Red (large card), Purely Pomgranate (small card) /Mellow Moss /Very Vanilla; Papertrey Holiday Vintage Dotted DP

Ink: SU Cranberry Crisp, Always Artichoke

Stamps: SU To You and Yours

Accessories: Ribbon, Marvy Scallop Circle Punch, 3-D Paint, SU Markers (accents only), SU Scallop Edge Punch

Card from Lisa

I just must share with you all this Christmas card from my dear friend, Lisa, (wife to my bosses' son, Ray). She is an amazing cardmaker, mom, wife, and Realtor. She has embossed the snowflakes, used her scallop circle punch, and accented her perfectly colored snowman image with glitter for the snow beneath him, and topped it all off with a sparkly ribbon from Michaels. IT IS ABSOLUTELY perfect irl!!

Thank you, Lisa, for this terrific card. It made my day today.

Hugs ............ Linda

Ingredients:

Paper: SU Creamy Caramel / Vellum

Stamps: SU It's Snow Time / Inkadinkado Rustic Snowman

Ink: Pallette Black and Cognac

Accessories: Copics, Ribbon from Michaels, SU Horizontal Slot Punch, 3-D Paint, Pearls, Glue Dots

I love these colors together! I did the snowman on vellum and colored the image on the back with my Copics (love them). The trees I stamped in Pallette Cognac and colored them with the light green Copics; then stamped the image again in black and colored them in a darker green Copics. A white gel pen was used to "pile" the snow on the trees and on the snowman. I stamped the snowflakes in white pigment and then used the 3-D paint to put dots on some of the snowflakes emphasizing them. The "film" ribbon is from Michaels. The sentiment is also stamped in white pigment and accented the letters with an ultra think pen tomake them stand out.

Thank you visiting my page and come back to see me real soon.

Hugs to all ............... Linda

Christmas Train

Ingredients:

Paper: SU Purely Pomgranate & Old Olive, Papertrey White

Stamps: SU Circus Train / Loads of Love Accessories / Punch Pals; Whipper Snapper's Santa & Merry Christmas

Ink: Pallette Black, Colorbox Cats Eye Edge Shading

Accessories: SU Ribbon; SU Punches - Small Star, Slit, Horizontal Slot, Corner Ticket; Copics; Spica Glitter Pens; Scorpal

Well, it's final -- POLAR EXPRESS is my new favorite holiday movie (so far this year, I've seen it twice)! Last night while it was on, I was inspired to do a train card, but what to do about a train image? And then it came to me -- "I've got the Circus Train set from SU!!" I turned on the TV in the craft room to my favorite movie, got down the train stamp set and started in. First of all I had all those circus animals that were on board the train to deal with (they just did not go with the Christmas theme). I stamped the images and sprayed stamp cleaner on a Q-tip and wiped off the ink for the tiger, giraffs, and moneys. Then I stamped the images on the white card stock leaving spaces in between the cars for the mountain/valley folds (as described in http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ (Sharon Johnson's post about her accordian card) and my daughter Susan's blog (http://www.susiestampsalot.blogspot.com/) . Then I got down the various other images from SU and Whipper Snapper and put them aboard the train via masking and colored them, too. I decorated the panels with stars that were punched out with the SU punch. I mounted the last panel onto the front of the card with heavy duty double sided tape.

Thank you for visiting my site and hope you'll come back soon ..... I should be posting again soon as I have been neglecting it for a while.

Hugs to all .............. Linda

Home for the Holidays

Ingredients:

Paper: SU Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Kraft, Handmade Holiday Dec paper, Papertrey White

Ink: Pallette Cognac, SU Ruby Red and Creamy Caramel, Colorbox Cats Eye for Edging

Stamps: To You and Yours from SU and Linen Background

Accessories: SU Handmade Holiday Die Cuts, Old Olive Check, Fabric Applique', White Gel Pen, Copics, Dimensionals

This is Taylor V's Cupcake Friday layout that I adapted to this card using SU's Handmade Holiday die cuts and papers. I thought this was a really serene setting for these elements. I used by Copics again for coloring and accents. The dots along the right corner and bottom edge were created with fabric applique' paint. I stamped the "peace" on the die cut sticker on top. The linen background creates a "canvas" look to the image.

I hope you enjoy looking at my card and come visit me again real soon!

Hugs ............. Linda

Season of Joy Pocket Card

I have been working on this card off and on for a couple of days. I leave it alone and come up with another idea and incorporate it into the card .... does that ever happen to you? Sometimes it is best to leave a project alone until inspiration hits you and you add another element; and then, while adding that you come up with something else!! This is just what happened to this card. I had purchased some of these textured pocket pre-scored cards from SU and have finally gotten down to the last couple of card. The stamp set I had packed away from last year's Christmas sets and thought it would be perfect for this. I only used the one set (from 8 stamps within the set). I added the flower accent last and it just was the right element needed to dress up this card.

Thank you for stopping by and come back again soon.

Hugs .............. Linda

Ingredients:

Paper: SU textured pre-scored pocket card, SU Real Red, Papertrey Holiday Vintage Prints Collection, Papertrey White

Stamps: 2007 SU Season of Joy

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke

Accessories: SU Markers (to color the message on the insert), White Gel Pen (faux stitching), Brads, SU Scallop Edge Punch, Marvy Scallop Corner Punch, Dimensionals

Magical Santa

Ingredients:

Paper: SU Mellow Moss, Old Olive, Holiday Designer Paper, Papertrey White

Ink: Pallette Black, SU Always Artichoke, Colorbox Cats Eye for Shading

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Santa Angel, Papertrey Believe

Accessories: Dotted Organdy Green Ribbon, Copics, Marvy Scallop Corner Punch, Glitter Glue, Decorative Scallop Edge Die Cut, SU Scallop Edge Punch, Fabric Applique', Brads

I use this stamp image a lot for Christmas ... isn't he just the cutest ever!!! I colored him with my new Copics and highlighted him with a white gel pen and glitter glue on his magic wand. I outlined him in Copics Wheat to create the shadow. The sentiment was stamped with SU's Always Artichoke and I repeated the shadow on the letters also with the Wheat Copics. I love all the green tones (my favorite color) on the card. Who said that Christmas cards need to be green AND RED anyway!!!

Thanks for stopping by and come again real soon ... the week-end and card making time is coming up!!

Hugs to you ........... Linda

Rustic Snowman

Ingredients:

Paper; SU Old Olive/Close to Cocoa, Papertrey Holiday Vintage Prints, Papertrey White

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Snowman, SU Tags on Board (sentiment)

Ink: Pallette Black, Pallette Brown, Colorbox Cats Eye Shading

Accessories: SURibbon Originals Alpine, SU Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Copics

I'm loving this little snowman. He is just so much fun. This is a simple quick card to make, but I think makes a great impression!!

Thank you for coming over and come check me out again!

Hugs .............. Linda

Winter

Ingredients:

Paper; SU Bashful Blue/Night of Navy, Textured Silver from Stash, Papertrey White

Stamps: Country Pleasures (retired SU), Tiny Talk (SU)

Ink: Pallette Black, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue

Accessories; Pearls, Silver Organdy Ribbon, Copics, Dauber for sky, SU Horizontal Slot Punch, Dimensionals

This is another stamp from the Country Pleasures (retired SU) set I found the other day. These are fun to color and layer onto a card. I used some textured silver paper from my stash and put that on the Night of Navy with some silver organdy ribbon. The little pearls that my Susan gave me look great against the Navy paper.

Thank you for visiting.

Hugs .......... Linda

Christmas Choir

Ingredients:

Paper: Bashful Blue, White, Basic Black, Music Dec Paper from my Stash

Stamps: Sarah Kay's Choir Boys from Sweetnsassystamps.com

Ink: Stazon Black

Accessories: Grograin Black Ribbon, Gold Buttons, Markers, Colorbox Cats Eye Shading, Dimensionals, Gold Glitter Pen, White Gel Pel

Don't you just love these little choir boys?! I had a lot of fun coloring them. I remembered having this muscial paper in my stash from a long time ago and just had to use it on this card. Alas, this is the last of it and will have to go find more ... it certainly adds to a lot of cards ... especially this stamp set which I must use again!

Thank you for stopping by to see my blog and come again real soon.

Hugs ............. Linda

Snowmen Lineup

Ingredients:
Paper: SU’s Baja Breeze (base), Night of Lavy, White, Dec Paper from Michael (5 sheets $1)
Stamp Set: SU’s Holiday Lineup, Stapendous Happy Snow
Ink: Stazon Black, SU Bordering Blue
Accessories: SU Markers, Prisma Markers, Fabric Applique’, Snowflake Ribbon from Michaels, Little Felt Flurries from SU, Dimensionals

What a fun card to make!! I loved all the different colors I was able to use in this “colorful” lineup. The noses were accented with fabric applique’ along with the pom-pom on their hats. Thank you for viewing my card. Come back and visit me again real soon!!
Hugs to all Linda

Reindeer Lineup

Ingredients:
Paper: SU’s Creamy Caramel. Ruby Red, Dec Paper from Michaels (5 sheets $1 on sale), White, Paint chip from Lowe’s
Stamp: Holiday Lineup
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: SU Markers, Prisma Markers, SU Corner Photo Punch, Fabric Appliqué, Glitter Gel Pen, Ribbon is SU’s Ribbon Originals Alpine

I just love this new set from Stampin’ Up!! It was a challenge for me to come up with the different shades of brown … some of them I went over twice in order to keep the same color but just a bit darker … others were just a different color. I used fabric applique’ to make Rudolph’s nose stand out and a glitter gel pen for the pom-pom on the reindeer’s cap – I haven’t decided which reindeer it is i.e. Princer, Dander, Blitzen, etc. I did not need a sentiment stamped on this as the decorative paper “says it all”. Thank you for viewing my card.
Hugs to all. Linda

Winter in the Country

Ingredients:

Paper: SU's Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Vellum, White

Stamps: To You and Yours from SU, Holiday Hedgehogs from SU (for snow flurries)

Inks: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Markers, Ribbon, Holiday Felt Flurries from SU Fabric Applique White, Silver Glitter Pen, White Gel Pen, Silver Stickles

I stamped the image on Vellum and turned it over to color it with markers and gel pen for snow, then flipped it back over for the silver Stickles accents. I then stamped the snow flakes in white and popped them with white fabric applique and silver gel pen on the creamy caramel oval scallop "frame". The image fit perfectly into the open oval.

Thank you for stopping by to view my latest cards ... another one with this same set follows.

Hugs to all

Linda

Christmas Snowman

Ingredients:

Paper: Real Red Base, Papertrey's Holiday Vintage Prints Collection, Close to Cocoa, White

Stamps: Inkadinkado Snowman, SU Tagon Board 2007 (sentiment). Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Ink: Stazon Black

Accessories: Marvy Oval Scallop Punch (negative on Close to Cocoa paper), Prisma Green/Red markers, SU markers, White Gel Pen, Sakura Silver Sparkle Gel Pen, Narrow Olive Green dotted ribbon, Dimensionals,

I first stamped my snowman image and colored it with Prisma markers and SU markers. I then punch out the oval scallop and the stamped all the little snowflakes all over it and adhered it around the snowman. I then randomly colored a few of the flakes with the silver sparkle gel pen and darkened the other flakes with the plain white to make them stand out more. I set this on dimensionals to make it pop up from the dotted papers from the Holiday Vintage Prints. The dotted olive ribbon looked good to me just wrapping two corners on the close to cocoa paper.

Thanks for stopping my and I hope to see you again very soon!!

Hugs,

Linda