Almost the end of Christmas cards!

Where has the time gone?  It seems like just a couple weeks ago was Labor Day weekend. People who say that time goes by faster the older you get are very right.

At any rate, I have been furiously trying to finish my Christmas cards.  I think I have only one more that is a humorous one not needed until next Sunday.
Here are the pictures ---

This one is for Jeff, my son-in-law.  The front is the same as the one for my son.  The inside is very different though.
I added a mix of Shamrock Green and Christmas Green Flower Soft to the Christmas tree and added a gold star brad at the top.
The Sweet Christmas Welcome scene is colored with pastel Copics. Lightning Edwin is colored  in brighter colors.
The lights on the string are colored with glitter pens.

Here's the inside of Jeff's card.  The designer paper is from Webster's Pages Botanical Christmas. 
The red ribbon from the stash.
The charms are a spatula and crown - Jeff is King of the Grill at their house.  He does a lot of grilling even in winter.  It is not unusual to see steam from the grill when it's zero outside!
The jotting panels were cut using the Nesties Labels Three set.

This is for my daughter, Becky.  This is one of the four I made using the "no lines" Tilda images from the Inventory Reduction Challenge a couple weeks ago.

My granddaughter Megan received this blue card from the "no lines" group. 

My grandson Jake has always loved the snow, snowboarding, building snowmen - anything outside in the winter.  Shoveling the driveway - not so much.
I don't remember where the background paper came from, but it looked like a winter sky.  I added the snowflakes die cut from Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 set.
Edwin on Christmas Eve is from the new Sweet Christmas Dreams and is colored with Copics.

The inside of his card carries along the snowman-snowflake theme. The charm is a snowflake from Magnolia.

The ribbon is from the stash. (If any of you are wondering about how often I say "from the stash", believe me I have a HUGE stash of everything. While I was working, I was preparing supplies for years of card making after I retired!) 

The large snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch; the smaller one is a Cuttlebug die.
The label is a Stampin' Up punch.

This little cutie Halo Tilda was for my great granddaughter Dakota.  Tilda was colored with Copics, with Clear Star glitter on her wings and  yellow glitter pen on the halo.
The mitten was die cut with Nesties Mittens die.
 I cut one pink checked and one blue and offset them just a bit so the pink would show against the background.
The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Magnolia.  The papers are from the Magnolia Fairytale Paper pack.

The inside of Dakota's card was lined with another Magnolia paper and one from SU's Sweet Pea tablet.
The ribbons are from my stash.
The mittens are smaller dies in the same Nesties set.  I stamped Merry Christmas on the tiny mittens, threaded a 1/8" ribbon through the slots in the cuff and tied them together.  I added a tiny rose and leaf.
The medium size mitten is the jotting panel.

My granddaughter, Paula, who lives in Colorado and is going to college out there will get this card shortly. Her birthday is in a couple days, so both cards will go together.

I love Tilda with all those presents!  She too was colored with Copics.
The tag is a Magnolia Doohickey die.  The ribbon is from the stash.
The corners are from a Cuttlebug die set.
The designer papers are from the stash.

I think the stripe papers are from Webster's Pages; the holly paper is Magnolia.
The ribbon is from the stash.  The Christmas carnations are from Hooked on Crafts.
The charm is from Magnolia.

And last is the cutesy card I did for my stamping friends.  Not very intricate or fussy at all, but a quick fun card to do.

The stamp is House Mouse Wrapped and Ready.  I colored them using Prismacolor pencils.
I added Vintage Christmas Flower Soft to the shadow lines.
I found the very small bows while browsing the Christmas aisles in WalMart.  They are a little large for the mice, but do look very cute.

When I ran out of bows, I used glitter pens. 

Inside was stamped "Welcome Christmas into your heart" - from the Stampin' Up set Heard From the Heart.

This is a really long post. Thank you for sticking with me to the end!

Huggeroonies,

Christmas Cards for Dale's Family

WHEW!!  I've been really busy getting Christmas cards done that needed to be mailed.  
The cards and gifts for my son and his family are in the mail!

I was up until about midnight again (Is it any wonder I feel so tired?) getting their cards all finished.  Here are the pictures of them.

 The wreath is a Cuttlebug die and embossing folder called Holly Wreath.  What a clever name!?!  I covered it with Vintage Christmas Flower Soft and added red Stickles for the holly berries.  Gold Stickles are on the bow.  It looks a lot better IRL than this picture.

The window is Old Window stamp from Magnolia.  It was stamped twice, cut out and glued back to back on the card stock.

The red paper is from a Basic Grey paper pad - no idea which one.

The inside wall paper is from SU's Sweet Pea
paper stack.
I stamped Magnolia's Fireplace and Stockings
in Memento Rich Cocoa ink after stamping
off once on scrap paper.

The image is House Mouse Micely Opening
Presents, stamped with Rich Cocoa and colored
with Prismacolor colored pencils.

It's popped up with dimensionals.

Here is the full inside.  Snowflake wreath is stamped around the window. I added some silver pearl drops around the wreath.


Jeremy's card is very much the same.
The grayish white paper is from a Basic Grey paper pad.

The wreath and window are the same as on Stephen's card.  The blue paper is Basic Grey again.



I thought it would be fun to have the window cut out so the Christmas morning scene would show behind the window.

The inside uses a different wall paper design.  The stamp of the fireplace doesn't show as much, but once the stamp is removed don't try to re-stamp - just won't work.

This stamp is House Mouse For Me?
 The gifts are wrapped more like birthday than Christmas. Just depends on what colors you use.

This is also very much like Stephen's card.

This is the front of my son's card.  I can just picture him trying to untangle the string of lights and getting them on the tree - finally.

The tree is Magnolia.  After stamping, I put glue on it in small sections and covered it with Flower Soft Shamrock Green and Christmas Green mixed together.
The star is a brad from my stash.  I thought I had some very small tinsel garland, but can't find it in the mess I call the Stamp Mansion.

I put the Sweet Christmas Welcome in the background and colored it with light Copic inks so it wouldn't over power Edwin, who is colored with much brighter Copics.  The lights are done with glitter pens.

By the time I reached this point in making these cards, I was very tired and my creative brain was saying "Bedtime! Bedtime!"

This cute scene with Santa's overloaded sleigh is from Webster's Pages Botanical Christmas Winter Fairy Tales papers.
The stamp is from SU Loads of Love set.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing these cards and maybe getting in a bit more of a Christmas mood! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes to each of you and your families.

Huggeroonies,

Christmas cards made from "no black lines" samples

 Yesterday I spent the whole day making cards out of the practice "no black lines" images I colored.  I don't usually sew on my cards, but I did on these.  Each layer is 3 cardstock/designer papers thick.  One card will go to my daughter-in-law;  one to my daughter and don't know at this time who will get the last one.

The blue card was stitched with silver metallic thread.  The pink and green ones were done with gold metallic thread.  Sewing metallic threads on that many layers caused the thread to shred and break several times.

So without further delay, here are the finished cards.

The card stocks are from Stampin' Up!, and Magnolia-licious.  The flowers, leaves, and pearl sprays are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The gems and ribbon are from the stash. The doily behind Tilda is cut with a Marianne Designs Die and sponged with Pacific Point ink.

Here is the inside using the same papers as on the front.  I have added an angel charm to the ribbon.

The lower inside paper is from Webster's Pages Botanical Christmas and Winter Fairy Tales. The sentiment is from SU Snow Swirled set.

Here is a close up of the colored Tilda stamped using a very light ink.

Coloring with no black lines was a little hard, but by the fourth image, it was getting much easier.

On the mauve Tilda, the plaid paper is from my stash.  The designer papers are from Magnolia.
This card is stitched with gold metallic thread.  It just barely shows across the top of the panels.  The ribbon is SU Purely Pomegranate.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Magnolia.  The gems in the corners are from the stash.

The papers and ribbon are the same as the front.  I have added a holly leaf and berries charm.

The jotting panel is die cut with the new Magnolia Doohickey die Dream Tag.  The inner panel of the tag is Cryogen White card stock sponged with SU Old Olive ink.








And finally the last card -

The designer papers are from Magnolia.  The gold/ecru check is from my stash.
The poinsettias are from a Prima tin of flower pieces and leaves purchased at AC Moore several years ago.  The stamen are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The ribbon is from my stash.

The corner gems are from my stash.

I've added a snowflake charm to the upper inside.
The jotting panel is the Doohickeys Dream Tag.

  Attached to the bottom flower is an embossed ornament that was in the flower tin.

 Here is the close up of the green dress.



Thanks so much for stopping by to see the cards from the remaining "no lines" Tildas.

Huggeroonies,

Inventory Reduction Challenge # 62 - No Lines

Today has been a really yucky rainy day even though the temps were high 50's.  Very rare for western New York a week before Christmas.  We'll take it! We'll take it!!

Our Inventory Reduction Challenge this week is to stamp and color a "no lines" image.  This is done by stamping in a very light color ink or by "stamping off" until very little ink remains on the stamp.  I've not tried this before even though I have seen some very beautiful cards using this technique.  The image looks more like a painting than a stamped image.

I was very unsure of my abilities at this point, so I stamped off about a dozen images.  A few of them were light enough to use.  Then I colored them with my Copics.  Here are the results of my test images.

 I really had fun coloring these little gals and will turn each of them into Christmas cards tomorrow.

Here is the card I made using the teal one.

So here she is!  What do you think?
I so admire the cards that Jacque Bettingfield makes and so I tried the multiple layers, machine stitching and minimal flowers.
I really like the way this turned out.  Thank you Jacque for the inspiration!

I tried keeping track of the papers I used, but they are from several different paper pads from Basic Grey, Webster's Pages and Stampin' Up.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Hooked On Crafts.  The ribbon is from the stash.


Here is the inside of the card, again inspired by Jacque.

I didn't have enough of the ribbon to make the double bows like Jacque does, but this looks OK with the little flower in the center.






This is a Marianne Designs doily die.  I added tiny rose buds to dress it up a bit.


I hope you will be inspired to try the "no lines" technique on a card soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now scoot on over to my team mates' blogs and look at their fabulous creations.

Christina
Danielle
Rene
Cathy-Lynn
Nadine


Huggeroonies,

Inventory Reduction Challenge #61 - Monochromatic card

I'd like to welcome our newest member of the Inventory Reduction Challenge group - the wonderful and talented Nadine St-Pierre!  Be sure to check out her blog to see more of her fabulous work.

Our Inventory Reduction Challenge for this week was to make a monochromatic card - all one color. Sounds easy enough. BUT--if you don't want your card to just lay there looking all flat and lifeless, there needs to be some contrast somewhere.
I did mine using several shades of brown. How much more blah a color could I have chosen? I am really an earth tones person. I did struggle with this one.

Here she is - Holly Tilda!

The card base is SU Close to Cocoa.  The edge is punched with an embosser/punch.  On solid paper there is an embossed snowflake between the punched out snowflakes.   The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts. Sheer ribbon from my stash.  The oval behind Tilda is cut using Nesties.  Tilda is colored with Copics and of course, I didn't keep track of the numbers.  They are all from the E family:(

To add a bit of "color" I added the tiny roses to the sheer ribbon.  The glue dots on the flowers were just enough to go through the sheer and hold the ribbon ties in place.

The inside is very simple.  The cotton crocheted lace is from Magnolia; the sheer brown ribbon threaded through the lace is from my stash.  Both the designer papers are from SU.

The lower half dp is from one of my big stacks from DCWV from Jo-Ann Fabrics.
The scalloped oval for the jotting panel is cut using Nesties.
The sentiment stamp is from SU's Heard From the Heart set.

 Here are close ups of the inner panels.

Now that I've been looking at all those Close to Cocoa colors, I'm thirsty for some hot cocoa myself! Come on and join me!!

Be sure to check out all my team mates' projects.  They're sure to have some really gorgeous ones.

Christina
Danielle
Rene
Cathy-Lynn
Nadine

I'd love for you to leave a little comment while I'm preparing our hot cocoa drinks. 
Huggeroonies,

Stamp Camp Was A Huge Success!!

Now that Stamp Camp is over, it is a let down not to have to be working on Stamp Camp stuff every free minute.  It was a HUGE success!! Everyone was very pleased with everything.

So here is a picture of the three forces behind the whole endeavor -

Deby Scott is on the far left.  She's our pastor's wife and a great stamper!  Roxanne (Roxy) Stevens is in the middle.  She is a fabulous card maker.  That's me - Kathy Gerace - on the right.

I'm not supposed to call us the "instigators" or the "co-conspirators", but that's about what we are!!

As each attendee entered the church, they saw these bags sitting on a bench and the floor.  Each person received a decorated gift bag containing the card kits for each of the 15 cards they would be making and a packet of envelopes with a candy cane attached.

Here is a close up of a couple of the bags.

Each bag had a winter design wheeled across near the bottom.  Then the bag was Spritzed.
Name tags were stamped and cut out with a Deckled Rectangle Nestie.  There is a tiny candle in the lower right corner of the tag that was colored with a cream shimmer paint, red, yellow and green Copics.  Kim, another stamping lady, did all the names in her beautiful calligraphy.

As everyone entered the area where we were set up, they saw the tables all decorated with pine garlands, ornaments (one for each person), cups of M&M's and Hershey Kisses and small candy canes.

I think everyone had a fabulous time.  There were many there who had done a little bit of cardmaking and others who had done none.  Everyone helped everyone else. 
When special techniques were required, the three of us (D, R, & K) did one on one instructions.  There was a huge variety of techniques to be tried.
Here are random pictures from around the room.

And - yes we did have a gentleman attend with his wife.  They shared the load and worked together.

There were printed instruction sheets and a sample for each card. The tables were set up so people opposite each other were working on the same card.

As people needed to use the heating tool for the heat embossing, each of us went to the heat embossing station to assist them.

At the Cuttlebug stations the folks needed help deciding which embossing folder was the correct one for their card.  After the first trip to emboss with the Cuttlebug, most of them didn't need any  help.

Here is a very happy Justina showing off one of
her completed cards.










Of course we had to have a break for lunch!  Our church is blessed to have a group of ladies and gents who do baking and cooking for special functions like our Stamp Camp and for refreshments after church every Sunday.

They put on a lunch fit for a queen for us.  There were turkey salad sandwiches, macaroni salad, fruit kabobs, chips, punch and a dessert too pretty to eat - a chocolate boat filled with cream, topped with whipped cream and a candy cane.

The little desserts don't show up very well - only the tops of them.
All in all we had a very successful stamp camp and were very pleased how well everything came together.

Thank you for staying with me for such a long, long post.  I have lots more pictures, but these really show best what we were doing.  It was so much fun!  Most of the ladies asked if we would be doing this again next year.  Of course we are!!!!!

Huggeroonies,