random reflections

Time Out Challenge

This is the first time I've sat at my desk for the last four days. They've been busy, busy, busy, but not hectic. I did have a chance before all this holiday activity to make a few cards for my friends who do not celebrate Christmas. The inspiration piece at Time Out Challenges was perfect, and once again, I had a pile of silver snowflakes on my desk which made for some quick and easy, but I think, elegant cards.

I seem to have a navy, white, and silver thing going for the holidays this year. The card I sent out to most folks (I'll post it when I'm sure everyone has received their cards) also followed the same color scheme.

I made four cards, but there are two identical ones. All of them use Papertrey Ink's Dark Indigo cardstock and a sentiment from "Stylish Sentiments: Holiday." The snowflakes were cut with dies from Papertrey Ink's "Silver White Winters" and My Favorite Things ""Stylish Snowflakes." All the silver paper came from Michaels.

And my favorite:

I hope your holiday preparations are going well. The six-year-old and three-year-old granddaughters were here yesterday to make cut-out cookies. We had a great time, but it was good there were two of us present, as Ella lost interest long before Skylar who has had two years of previous experience in Grandma's kitchen. I should be able to finish the cookies today. Then there is just one last shopping run to get gifts for my son-in-law. I'm looking forward to lots of time with friends and family over the next week or two over lunch, breakfast, and visits. We'll be entertaining for lunch tomorrow, on Friday evening, and then again on Christmas night. That, truly, is the best part of the holiday! 

Take Three Thursday: Christmas Decorations

I'm joining in with Mary-Lou today with her Take Three Thursday meme at Patio Postcards. Every week I intend to join in, and so frequently it just doesn't happen. If she continues it next year, I'm hoping to be more consistent. 

I LOVE Christmas and Christmas decorations. Like many folks, I've pared down the decorations over the last few years, but that hasn't kept me from picking up a few new ones. This year I found a delightful tin house and church one day when I was "window shopping" with a friend; both are candle holders. Before I had time to decide where to put them, I found a tin lamp at Pottery Barn. It was on sale, and I had a coupon, so I got it for less than half price. I love the three of them together on the side table in the dining room.

I'm not counting the next photo as one of the three, but wanted you to see the darling deer ornament I picked up at Crate and Barrel in October. He was the perfect finishing touch.

Next up, an oldie but goodie. Ten or fifteen years ago, I picked up a centerpiece at Pottery Barn. We had it on the dining room table each year, and there was no need to splurge on fresh flowers for Christmas dinner. About three years ago it began to looked very "tired" and I took it to a local florist who transformed it. It's now way more beautiful than the original. I took this photo one morning because I loved the light shining on it. 

Lastly, a white poinsettia that sits on the end table in the living room. This, too, had beautiful light one sunny morning.

 

CASology: Gray

After the combo red, black, and white, gray might be one of my favorite colors. Strangely enough I don't often pull that color for cards very often. But this week's CASology Challenge encouraged me to change that. 

My favorite gray cardstocks are all made by Simon Says. There are three gradations of it, and this time I pulled the darkest of the three: Slate. The patterned paper came from the Pinkfresh Studio "Live More" collection, and both were part of the Simon Says Card Kit from August. (I have three boxes of papers and embellishments from old Simon Says kits, and need to pull them out more often.) The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Wet Paint II" die collections. I die cut three of them and layered them for some dimension. Couldn't be a simpler card.

It's a frigid day here in Western New York, in the teens with an even colder wind chill. A friend treated me to lunch at the Monroe Golf Club. It was decorated beautifully for Christmas, and the food was superb. Home now, snuggled in with a bit of crafting time.

Winter Scavenger Hunt: Part 1

There's been no snow to speak of yet. Luckily the storm moving up the East Coast isn't going to get as far west as Rochester. They're predicting several inches by early next week, though, so I think winter's on its way. We had blue skies with lots of sunshine today so I thought I'd look around the house while there was some decent light for photographs and see what I could find for Eileen's Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt.

First off #8: "Silver."

This silver bowl was a wedding gift. For the last several years I've filled it with bells and ornaments. This year I found this silver bell garland at Crate and Barrel. I just love it!

And three predominately silver ornaments from our tree.

Number 19 is "A pair of . . ."

One of my favorite pairs of gloves. I put them on the typewriter that sits on the dresser in our front hall at Christmas.

Number 13 is "A line of . . . "

This line of leather camels has resided on the window sill for many, many years. Tracy's mom and stepfather brought them back from Egypt when they visited there.

The first item I found for the scavenger hunt was last night on our way home from friends. We passed this amazing display of blow-up Christmas decorations. It's perfect, I think, for #17 "Many."

Another view:

Number 11, "A book shop" is probably the most interesting item I've found. I was at Barnes and Noble this morning to pick up a book. A volunteer from Wild Wings, a group dedicated to the care and housing of injured birds of prey was there as a fund raiser. 

I have ideas for several more items, and know that some of them will be easy to find in February when we're away. For now, I'm glad to have five crossed off the list. The scavenger hunt goes from now until the 21st of March, so if you'd like to join in, there's plenty of time. The list is right here.

 

 

Two Cards; Two Challenges

As soon as I saw the Color Throw Down Challenge this week, I knew I'd want to get a card made for it. Gold, Silver, and Black---what's not to like? 

There was still a pile of silver snowflakes laying on my desk from a previous project as well as a piece of True Black cardstock with a gold sentiment that didn't make the cut for another project. 

All it took then was to die cut the black piece with a Stitched Rectangle die (Simon Says), adhere it to a piece of gold cardstock (Michael's) and add the snowflakes. I also added two gold sequins and some PTI rainstones to the center of the snowflakes for a little bling.

The second challenge was inspired by left-over pieces on the desk, as well. As soon as I saw the Freshly Made Sketches design, I knew I had the start of a card.

There was a plaid oval left over from the card I posted here and I found the silver JOY in my drawer of previous die cut images. I added a second silver oval, and some Holly Jolly dies with red Amuse pearls to finish off the design.

I brushed the holly leaves with a Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen. This angle shows the glitter in the plaid paper by My Mind's Eye ("Comfort & Joy") as well.

Although I've finished the bulk of the Christmas cards that we send out each year, I'm glad to have a few extras to add to the mix.

Fusion: Red Christmas Challenge

A quick post for the Fusion: Red Christmas challenge. I've admired the challenges here for a long time. One of the things I particularly like is there are always three choices. You can use the photo, the sketch, or combine them. 

My card follows the sketch this time. I was also attracted to the photo, and although I have a sizeable collection of pitchers I don't own any good stamps so I took the plaid runner for my inspiration. I think it's the sketch, however, that is the real inspiration here.

I die cut an oval with one of my old Spellbinder sets from a piece of plaid paper from the My Mind's Eye "Comfort and Joy" paper pad. I silver embossed the sentiment from Papertrey's "Rustic Wreath" set, and added two snowflakes cut from a shimmery paper from my stash. The snowflakes are from My Favorite Things "Stylish Snowflakes." I admired them last year but they were out of stock until after the holiday, but I picked them up on sale later. I'd forgotten about them until I reorganized my dies last week.

Sadly, you can't see in any of the photos that the white line in the plaid is a glittery one. It makes the card much more festive than it appears here. To finish off the card, I added two rhinestones.

Hope your weekend is a lovely one. I'm looking forward to a little time with my oldest granddaughter tomorrow afternoon, and a day of crafting. Our tree is finally up, lit, and decorated and just in time as we have family coming for supper on Sunday, and the book group on Monday evening.