random reflections

Christmas Penguins

I've loved and enjoyed using several of The Greetery's Hey, Honeycomb products, and there was no way I could resist the Hey, Honeycomb Penguin released in November. Betsy had created stand-up versions of the cards (there were also a snowman and a bear), so I went that route as well. 

These are so much fun to put together. I silver embossed all the "directions" and greetings. The cute holly embellishment is from The Greetery's Ornamental Tag Die. Here's a closer look.

I forgot to take a photo of the penguin with the open honeycomb, so took one once Hannah and Caleb opened their cards.

I think they are just too cute! I worried in yesterday's post about whether Caleb would find this acceptable, but he seems to appreciate the effort at the very least. 

This is another entry to Simon Says Wednesday Challenge.

 

Happy Birthday!

It's not unusual for me to have difficulty posting during the holiday. Now that I'm at Sarah's for awhilem I'll have time to do a little catch-up. Today is both Hannah and Caleb's birthdays. We're waiting for friends to arrive for cake and ice cream, so there are no blowing out the candle photos. It's been a good day. Sarah makes these incredible scavenger hunts for both kids so finding the gifts takes some time and effort--but it's alway fun! 

I made Hannah's card (one of two) for a challenge in May, and knew I'd want to save it for Hannah. I posted it here. 

Caleb turned 13 today, so it's a bit harder to know what kind of card might be appropriate. I made all five grandchildren the same Christmas card (the post is coming tomorrow.) It was definitely a card appreciated by the three girls in Rochester. Even the 13 year old there thought it was great. Much to my surprise, Caleb's ended up on his dresser, so I guess it was OK from his point of view, as well. 

I went for a graphic card for his birthday with a positive message. He hasn't had the easiest of years. 

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With the exception of the stitched banner die (Simon Says), all the stamps and dies are from older Papertrey Ink: We Go Together, Hello Sunshine, and To the Point. 

I'm sending this off to AAA Birthday Challenge: Lovely Layers, and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Use Dies.

 

Merry Christmas!

Posting on Christmas Day is a bit of a novelty, but today is also Woodblock Wednesday for December.

Since I'll be on the road tomorrow, it's best to post and link to Amy's blog today. This month's woodblock stamp turned out to be a bit of repetition. It's another of the beautiful Magenta stamps, but with a very similar feel. Since I already had put it on my table for Woodblock Wednesday, I decided not to overthink it. I needed a thank you note so that's the route I took.

A sign of the season is the fact that I took a photo of the card without including the woodblock stamp that I used. And, of course, the card is already in the mail since it went to a stamping friend who gave me a beautiful flower arrangement the last time we were together. The card design and colors didn't vary much this month either, but this is the first of the Magenta stamps that I've colored with Copic markers. The stitched border is from Waffleflower's Lacy Layers. The lacy layer was a bit much so I kept it simple. 

The sentiment from Altenew's Sentiment Strips 2 is gold embossed and trimmed down to create a small banner. I used some black dimensional foam to it for a bit of interest.

We celebrated with Matt and his family yesterday afternoon. They'll be back for a visit with Tracy's family who will be here for dinner. There's just nine of us now. One Christmas, we had twenty-seven! Tomorrow we'll head to Wisconsin for another Christmas celebration as well as Caleb's and Hannah's birthdays on the 30th. 

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope it is a joyous one. Thanks for taking a look, and best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year!

Nordic Ornaments

I was out of appropriate thank you notes for the holiday, and found a group of Waltzing Mouse images I had stamped several years ago when I got together with friends to share stamps. All the images had small ornament hangers on them which I snipped off. All of them were attached to 4-bar note cards from Paper Source. The deer needed just a sentiment--this one from the Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Thank You. I made two each of these:

I had just one of the ornaments and I tied a silver bow on the top. It still needed more, and I found a red circle and a Papertrey Ink doily die in my stash. They were added to a dark blue card, and I decided it didn't need a sentiment. 

Perfectly CAS, quick and easy. Now to get the notes written and the cards in the mail! 

Hard to believe Christmas is just four days away. I'll be back on Christmas with the Woodblock Wednesday card as Christmas is the last Wednesday of the month. 

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was my son and daughter-in-law's anniversary. We were lucky enough to have our three granddaughters here last night while they went out to dinner. And then the girls returned today to make sugar cookies. It's been a lovely weekend. As sometimes happens, the card they received was not the card I started out to make. 

I used the largest heart from the Hero Arts Infinity Nested Hearts to cut the card so it's a bit smaller than an A2 card. The smaller white heart opens for the inside sentiment. I covered it with a heart die cut from Pinkfresh Studio's Hearts and Stars Cover Plate. I added some berry sprigs from the Pinkfresh Studio Winter Berries Frame. The die cuts out the individual sprigs from the frame.

The berry frame was foiled in gold before coloring it with the accompanying stencils. The sentiment is gold embossed from Altenew's Sentiment Strips. It's a CAS card which always makes me happy. 

Hope your weekend was a good one.

Time is Flying By

The days are flying by so quickly, I didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted. In the last four days, however, I've gone from almost no shopping done to being finished with the shopping. Tracy always helps with wrapping, and we've got plenty of time for that. All my Christmas cards are finally finished (as of yesterday!), but only the ones going to international addresses have been mailed. My goal is to have them all in the mail by Saturday. 

In 2023 I made 10 Christmas cards each month, so by the time November rolled around I was all set. There was so much traveling this year, it didn't happen. I have multiples of several designs, but lots of single designs which makes it much harder to get finished. This card was one I created before we left for Wisconsin in November, and assembled while we were there.

Gina K's Tapestry Embossing Folder is one of my favorites, and I thought it made a festive background for the beautiful sentiment from The Greetery, Scripted Holiday Greetings. The sentiments are so beautiful, I couldn't resist it! The red, green, and gold are such a traditional color combo, but work well here. The gold border doesn't look quite even, but it's as much the photography as than the card. I have to say, taking photos of cards this season has been a trial. 

Red, Green, and Gold are the colors for the Colorful Options Challenge which I haven't entered in a long time. The card also fits the Time Out Festive Challenge. As luck would have it, the challenge is sponsored by Gina K Designs.

We got our first significant snow last night, so it's beginning to look like Christmas outside. Inside it's looked like Christmas since the weekend. I was seriously behind there due to a nasty cold that found me on Thanksgiving. Fortunately, that has gone its way. I just love the lights from the Christmas tree and the mantle. There are lights around the window over our sink in the kitchen, and Tracy has a tree lit with colored lights on the patio table, as well as white lights all around the wrought iron railing that surrounds the patio. We can see it from the kitchen, dining room, and from one window in the living room. It's so festive, and I'm now definitely in the holiday spirit.

 

Masculine Birthday Cards

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday and a week from today is my brother's birthday. I almost always do duplicate (or almost) cards for them. When Simon Says hosted it's STAMPtember event where they offer exclusive designs from major stamp companies, I caved only once. As soon as I saw the Gina K Stay Cozy set, I knew it would be perfect for masculine cards. 

Since these are winter birthdays, I decided on an ink blended background splattered with white for snow. The Gina K Master Layout #5 was the perfect window for the scene.

I die cut the window frame with the larger die in Gina K's Master Layout #1 (one of the most used dies in my collection) and adding some foam tape for dimension. The sentiment came from Honey Bee's Stay Still set of sentiments. 

There are several NBUS items used on this card. The Gina K Stay Cozy, the Gina K Master Layout #5, as well the Pinkfresh Studio 1" blending brushes which I received as part of the August Create and Connect event. I've had the Master Layout #5 for a couple of years, and why I haven't used those brushes before is beyond me! They are fabulous, and I just ordered three more during Simon Says Black Friday sale. 

As luck would have it, this card fits three challenges: The Paper Players: Be A Deer, Shopping Our Stash: Masculine, and Seize the Birthday: Masculine. I'll also send these off to Darnell's NBUS challenge. 

 

Color Hues 100!!!

Our fabulous leader, Nancy, has chosen the wonderful colors for this amazing 100th Challenge for Color Hues.

Since this is our 100th challenge, Woohooo... there will be a fabulous prize offered to one of our winners. You can read all the details over on the Color Hues blog. 

Originally, I thought I'd create a holiday card for this challenge (and sadly, I'm still in need of a few). But I found a foiled panel on my desk of the beautiful Spellbinders Cosmos Backdrop, and thought it would be lovely stenciled in blue and purple. I'm happy with the result. 

It's hard to see how pretty it is unless your can see the gold foiling as well. You can see the purple card base better in this photo, too.

I used two shades of grays for the leaves. Then I die cut the panel with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Arches and layered the two pieces on a purple card base. 

The sentiment from a new Pinkfresh Studio Betterpress plate, Here for You was foiled in gold and die cut with the accompanying die which I love. Foiled cards are so hard to photograph well. I hope the second photo gives you a sense of how pretty the card is in your hand.

I hope you'll join us for this monumental challenge. Hop over to the Color Hues blog and see the wide variety of wonderful cards from the Design Team!