Be Merry holiday card

Welcome to the "Are you ready for the holidays?" blog hop...OK OK, it's not really called that, but seriously...

are you ready?

Well, have no fear, we have loads of inspiration waiting for you!

I love to send out personalized Christmas cards. 

I use to try and make everyone a one of a kind card but man, that's a lot of work! I've learned that I can make a unique card and then have it printed, this way they are still getting a custom card from me but with way less pressure...I mean I still have to decorate the tree, wrap presents and bake all those cookies...it's exhausting just thinking about it! So I hope this gives you the inspiration to make your cards but take some of the pressure off you!

Techniques that I used to make my card:

masking

layering different stencils

outlining

shading

accenting

reverse stenciling to get mirrored images

Check out my video so you can see how I incorporated them all!

We have a more than a dozen projects our Creative Team members made just to whet your appetite for the merriest season!

While you are busy oohing and aahing, take a moment to leave a comment on each blog and you'll be entered to win a $25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate!

Here are links to all the fantastic, magic, merry, holiday projects:

Karen Gaunt

Tina Walker

Torrie Gass

Cindy Gilstrap

Sherry Canino

🎄 Sandee Setliff 🎄

Kiala Givehand

Janet Joehlin

Belen Sotelo

Louise Nelson

Debi Adams

Carol Baxter

Comment by midnight CST in the USA on November 8^th and we’ll randomly choose a $25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate winner. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win. 
We’ll announce the winner on our Facebook Page on November 9^th.

Please feel free to share the hop with your friends!

Three Trees Stencil by Jessica Sporn

Holiday Sayings 6 stencil by Mary Beth Shaw

Holly Mistletoe Repeating Stencil by Jennifer Evans

Linking up to Paint Party Friday
Ho, ho, ho!

Let There Be Peace On Earth, And Let It Begin With Me

With all the trouble we are going through right now in our world, it was easy to pick my theme for my Christmas cards this year. This is also my first post up on the ColourArte blog today so I would really love you for going over and visiting me and leaving me a comment <3

Thank you!

Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me;

 Let there be peace on earth, The peace that was meant to be.

 With God as our Father Brothers all are we,

 Let me walk with my brother In perfect harmony. 

Let peace begin with me, Let this be the moment now; 

With every step I take, Let this be my solemn vow 

To take each moment and live each moment In peace eternally.

 Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with me.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Make your gift-wrapping its own work of art

The best part of the holidays is the spirit of gift giving and you put a lot into finding the perfect gift for someone, right?So don't wrap it up in some ho hum store bought paper, make your gift a work of art in itself!

Go to the Gel Press blog to check out the matching tissue paper too! And while you are there, give me a gift of a comment, they mean so much to me. To know that you took the time to leave me some love really does mean the world to me.

Sending love

Simon Says Christmas/Holidays

Sending this card to a friend who has some unexpected bad news recently. A gift of love is the best thing I could think to send to her.

I used some of her newly designed "The Garden Whatnot" tag stamps to create a Christmas tree card for her. I think she will appreciate my little twist on using the tags like this, at least I hope so.

I used a little bit of my Helmar Liquid Scrapdots to raise up the banner over the tree.

wildlife Christmas ornaments

Simon Monday Challenge - Ornaments

I started making my ornaments and this year I went with a wildlife theme.

I drew the animals shapes on with my Deco Art Paint marker.

It takes 2 coats to make it truly opaque like a silhouette should be.

Filled the bottom with some fake snow....

added a silver trimmed ribbon and some rhinestones with some silver beads on the hook and voila....Christmas in the mountains!

I haven't added the rhinestones to these, but put the picture up anyway so you can see the different animals I did.

Die Cut Crazy blog hop

Welcome to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Holiday Blog Hop. The designers have made some wonderful holiday projects to inspire your own holiday crafting with your die cuts. If you just joined our hop, be sure and go back to the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Blog to learn how you can enter to win a prize from Die Cut Crazy Magazine when following the hop from designer to designer.  

My holiday project I am sharing today is...

 When I was a little girl, I had this story I wrote about called Santa's Magic Key and how he used it to get into all the houses around the world where families didn't have a chimney for him to access. And, no, we had a chimney so I think I was very concerned about the other little boys and girls.

On the back of the keys, I have written the special instructions needed...

Cricut - French Manor, p.64 ( 11" )

Really Reasonable Ribbon

bell, chipboard, paper - misc.

Next up in the hop is Anna with Craft with Anna. Go see the amazing project she has prepared for you to enjoy, I can't wait to see it myself!

If you just joined the hop, here is a list of designers so you don't miss any

Debbie  http://www.scrapmequickdesigns.com/

Sandee  http://inthehillsofnorthcarolina.blogspot.com ( you are here ♥ )

Anna http://craftwithanna.blogspot.com

Allie http://mycardparty.com

Melissa http://cardtreasures.wordpress.com

Die Cut Crazy Magazine  http://diecutcrazymag.com/

Thanks for stopping by the Die Cut Crazy Magazine Holiday Blog Hop. I hope
my Santa's Key project inspires you to create your own.  Please leave a
comment to let me know you stopped by.
Stephanie will announce a winner of the overall blog hop on the Die Cut Crazy Blog and Facebook page.

entering Santa's Key in:
Die Cuttin' Diva's - #139 Anything Goes
Craftin Desert Divas - #18 Link it Up Party
Challenges 4 Everybody - #32 Anything Goes


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( And for everyone who is waiting on the winner of the Mixed Media kit to be announce...I promise I am working on it, I am so sorry for the delay!! )
winner has been announced!

Wellesian: adjective

From Orson Welles (1915-1985) American

Think: cinematic pyrotechnics done to technical and dramatic perfection.

( weird that they offer it as a word, but it's not IN their dictionary )

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Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #179 - Christmas In July

Cut it Up - Christmas in July - Challenge #23

Although the mittens might look like they are hanging

 freely, they are actually attached.

And when you remove the gift card from inside the buggy you have a small hidden sentiment. Inside the card you have plenty of room to write in.

Cricut - Stretch Your Imagination, p. 71

Ranger - stickles

S.E.I - stickers

Robins Creative Cottage - sentiment stamp

Really Reasonable Ribbon - lace, twine

Hero Arts - small sentiment stamp

flehmen: noun

a mammalian behavior (as of horses or cats) in which the animal inhales with the mouth open and upper lip curled to facilitate exposure of the vomeronasal organ to a scent or pheromone
pronunciation

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Stamping for Pleasure - Rudolph Day March
Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #6 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

 

  Cricut has been asking for Christmas stuff and one of their requests was for gift card holders. And I got to thinking, why not make Gift Card holders for sale at the Art MoB? 

  I used Cricut's Doodlecharms cartridge, p. 87 for the mail box. Stamped a Rudolph stamp by Walmart
( gasp, lol  I admit it, I shop at Walmart ) on the flag and added a brad by Karen Foster. 

 

 

Next I cut out the envelope which holds the GC, again from Doodlecharms, p. 86 but removed the heart cut on the envelope in the Cricut Craft Room and extended the flap cut by hand so that I could slide the gift card up and under the flap. Stamped the Ho, Ho, Ho by Karen Foster on the flap and added a Martha Stewart poinsettia sticker on the corner to add some balance to the red flag. Outlined everything with a Faber Castell PITT pen.

 

Although the picture doesn't show it very well, it's actually a card, so the whole 'mailbox with GC' is the front of the card, leaving the person that sends it, a traditional inside to write their greetings.

 

 

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I have been asked how well sales have been going over at the Art MoB, and I have to say that I have been very lucky. The sales are definitely tourist driven so we had a couple of slow months during winter and I am still in the learning phase of what sells and trying to keep an open mind to what I can make that interests people.

 

So here is a recap of just the card sales:

 

September - 19 cards

October - 26 cards

November - 2 cards

December - 24 cards

January - 28 cards

February - 15 cards

 

A total of 114 cards sold in the first 6 months.

 ( female birthday seems to sell the best )

 

I try and keep 20 cards out at all times in each category, restocking once a week.

 

'basic cards' which stay up all the time consists of:

 

Birthday Female

Birthday Male

Thank you

 

then there are the 'fluctuating cards' which consist of:

 

current seasonal

upcoming seasonal

speciality cards

 

So, I have 6 displays with 20 cards in each display, that's 120 cards out for the customer's perusal.

It takes a lot of work to make sure I have a variety of cards but I do think that is important so that the customers have many things to choose from.

 

 I will consider myself successful if I help someone along the way from what I learn. Any questions? Feel free to ask. :) Any suggestions, feel free to offer. ;)

 

 

Poinsettia: noun

Poinsettias, the iconic red-and-green Christmas plants, have the botanical name Euphorbia pulcherrima, meaning "very beautiful." The native Mexican plant grows as a perennial shrub in nature, but is best known in the U.S. as a holiday houseplant. What many people consider the plant's red flowers are really modified leaves, or bracts. The actual flowers are the small yellow cyathia in the center of the red bracts.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the last week of our Handmaking the Holidays and it's crunch time for everyone to get their gifts wrapped up, which means it's my turn to make sure that everyone is inspired to do some creative gift wrapping! Here are some Pinterest inspired ideas:

 

How about re-cycling some old sweaters for a cozy wrapping?

 

Or use up all your odds and ends of ribbons past and create an eclectic wrapping? I personally do this every couple of years, it cleans out the Christmas ribbon stash that way, and you don't need to add a bow either! ( no link provided )

For all the yarn enthusiasts, how about making some big fluffy pom poms?



 

And for the bakers out there, include a cookie to adorn the tops of your presents! And instead of pine needles, how about a sprig of rosemary or thyme? ( no link provided )

 

I hope some of these ideas will get you motivated to be a little creative this season! 

( I have discovered something I really hate, and that's Pinners who don't provide a link or who do not link a project directly but link the whole blog!! That's so frustrating and such a turn off for me, I don't even go looking for the posted project, which is what they think they will get you to do, but I leave their blog immediately..is it just me?
...am I Pinterst blog Grinch? )

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And Ranger is having their own gift wrapping contest!!

Ranger Gift Wrap Contest

 

Ranger products: 

Stickles - Holly, and Star Dust ( used Holly to outline the existing pattern on the box and used Star Dust to embellish the Poinsettia leaves and the thread of the button )
and
Really Reasonable Ribbon #62 Anything Goes & Ribbon Theme
also
Simon Says Stamp & Show - Gift-spiration

 

 

 

other:

 

Jolee's bling

Really Reasonable Ribbon
 Hot Glue Gun ( to secure the ribbon closure )
Velcro ( to make the decorated box easy to open and close )
Martha Stewart lace die cut tag ( doily ...to cover the mistake I made with the glue gun! )
Me and My Big Ideas - fabric paper ( covered the top and bottom of box )
poinsettia leaves ( recycled from old Christmas arrangement )
Fancy Pants - button
box - ( re-cycled )

 

This will be my final gift box made for the Art MoB, so far, including this one, I sold all but 3, you can see the others I created here. I am always learning new things since I began selling and I thought that my boxes would be bought mainly by men, as they are notorious for not gift wrapping, but no, they have all been bought by females...who would've thunk that...not me anyway :)



The best laid plans of mice and men: paraphrase

No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it.

 

From Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse, 1786.

 

 It tells of how he, while ploughing a field, upturned a mouse's nest.

 The resulting poem is an apology to the mouse:

...
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren't alone]
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.

 

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In retrospect, I needed to turn my stocking the other way to make a shaped card, lol Oh well, the best laid plan of mice and men! So I put it on a brick paper background instead, as if it was hanging on a chimney. The stocking is cut from Cricut's Doodlecharms cartridge, the layers are hand stitched for a homespun country feel.

 You can see a little better, a close up of the French knots, and the hand sewing for the cuff of the stocking. I also cut down a S.E.I. tag to make it size appropriate. Then stamped "Be Jolly", from an old Studio G stamp, finished it off with Ranger's stickles for glittered balls!

 

entering this in:

 

Perfect Sentiments Challenge - Bingo with a sentiment 

( I went straight across the middle, lace, glitter, die cut )

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Sending out thoughts and prayers to all those in the path of Hurricane Sandy. We are on the outside edge of it and have HOWLING winds right now as I am typing this post up. You can only imagine what it would be like to be in the direct path of one of these storms! I hope everyone stays safe!

This is a recording of the wind taken last night, it sounds almost like the ocean surf or a train rumbling by, but it's the wind. And mind you, this isn't directly in the wind, but the sound recording is on my protected balcony!

 

gearing: phrasal verb

 

To get ready for a coming action or event

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Wow, I am gearing up for Christmas at the Art Mob full time. I only had 20 Christmas cards in my 'stash' inventory so I am madly trying to add cards and wall hangings! I am hoping to have everything ready to go on Nov. 1st, it's fun to have a store to keep stocked and actually have some place for everything to go for a change...instead of storing them in boxes! lol
 

Cricut - Doodlecharms cartridge

Ranger - Glossy Accents, stickles

Creatology -  Googly eyes

Helmars - Zapdots
 

 

Entering this in:

 

Perfect Sentiments Challenge - Christmas Critters

downer: noun ( slang )

One that depresses, such as an experience or person.

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This candy card just had me singing the Dolly Parton song "Hard Candy Christmas", which is one of my favorite songs for getting over any ex-man in your life, especially during a bout of the holiday blues. I'm not sure if it will sell in the store, considering it's a "downer", but my mind kept going to the song, so I had to 'play' it so to speak. I love this video of Dolly singing with still shots of Marilyn Monroe. Enjoy :)


My card was created by cutting a 5.25" circle from the Paper Trimmings cartridge, then I used a peppermint clip art to help guide my red and white swirls. ( great way to get around the math of making this come out even ) I then colored the red in with a Sharpie first, so that I would have a nice deep red after applying the stickles over it. I used Ranger's Xmas Red and Diamond to cover the peppermint, making it a very blingy piece of candy!



Entering my card into:

 

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #43 - Candy

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #88- Shimmer, Glitter, Gloss
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And I got a nice surprise in my e-mail box yesterday.
This is from Jessica from Craft Corners:
 

"I just stumbled upon your blog and you have a really wonderful site. I love all of the great posts that you have talking about crafts and different projects that you're working on. I especially enjoyed your recent post that you had talking about different crafts that you made for Halloween.

I’m an editor at Craft Corners, which is part of Become.com’s blogging network, and thought your site was particularly exceptional. I wanted to give you a button for your site for being an “Editor’s Pick.” This award is presented to blogs that we find exceptional and outstanding. Blogs that have a high amount of followers, have quality content, and are fun and enjoyable for readers. You have far exceeded these guidelines which is exactly why we would like to present our Crafting Award to you.

Am I honored, or what? Blew my socks off, for sure! ( ok, so I was barefoot in the first place, but you get the idea, lol ) How nice was this? Darn tootin' I'm pleased as punch! Now, do me proud, and go visit their blog, it's filled with a TON of crafty things!

 

 

Craft Corners recognizes you!