That's one big, glittery snowflake.

It sure is.



For:

CPS: pick your sketch - #194
The Crazy Challenge: let it snow
Fussy and Fancy: snow

A couple for 365 Cards

When I was trying to get all the cards done earlier, I was really inspired by the challenges at 365 Cards.

First it was this for Thinking In Threes (3 ribbons, 3 buttons, 3 holly berries)



Then it was this for Monday's ad inspired challenge.



Hmmmm, is that the prancing and pawing of hooves on the roof I hear? Nope, too early yet. ;)

The floor didn't get swept

But the cards got made, the baking got baked, the laundry (mostly) got folded and the kids were happy (and suppose to be asleep but I hear some thumping going on).

This was the second last card I made for today.



For:

4 Crafty Chicks: sketch
City Crafter: vintage Christmas
Southern Girls: vintage
Aud Sentiments: anything goes
Charisma Cardz: pearls & lace

Darn Zots!

I was kinda in love with them, ya know? That was until they almost ripped this angel's head clean off.



For:

365 Cards: cute
Really Reasonable Ribbon: photo inspiration
Crafty Creations: angel
Papertake Weekly: anything goes
Design Dollies: only one cardstock, patterned paper, word, image and embellishment

Ack!

I've got, like, 6 Christmas cards left to make and a bunch of baking to do, and that's just the Christmas stuff! I've also got piles of laundry to fold, floors to sweep (before the dog hair completely takes it over) and I'm assuming my kids will want to be fed and cared for today. So, as I said, Ack!

I'll probably still be posting Christmas cards after Christmas. That's if I ever want to see the colours red and green together again!



For:

AiFactory: anything goes
Paper Sundaes: cut it out
The ABC Challenge: K for keep it simple
Belli Challenge: Christmas
Design Dollies: only one cardstock, patterned paper, word, image and embellishment With the embelli I wasn't sure if it was one type (as the one example has just buttons but lots of them) or just 1 embelli period. Hope mine is okay.

Squigglefly!

Just a little bit ago I was contacted by Holly from Squigglefly asking if I would like to be on their Design Team. Me! Can you believe it? Poached by digi sites! (Okay, poached might be too stong a word. Probably more like, "We need someone else? I guess she'll do. ;) )

Anyway, my dt term doesn't actually start until January but I couldn't resist celebrating the honour by making a card from a Squigglefly image (which you can get for yourself here). Isn't she awesome? It's a Christmas ostrich! And she's carrying gifts! Really, what could be better......What's that Oswalda? The gifts are for me? Oh, dearie, you shouldn't have!



For:

Cute Card Thursday: one for the kids
Allsorts: anything goes
Aly's Sunday Challenge: anything goes
Paper Playtime: Christmas
Top Tip Tuesday: get embellishing

Banner Christmas

I like how this turned out. Maybe someday, if I get really ambitious, I'll make an actual banner like the one on the card.




For:

Paper Playtime: Christmas
Corrosive: non-traditional Christmas
Top Tip: Christmas inspired
Crafty Ann's: anything goes
EtsyInspired: For this pendant from LingGlass. The shape resembles the flags in the banner and the colour is similar to the one piece of cardstock.

I am so punny

Well, at least I amuse myself.

Digi is from, you guessed it, Bugaboo Stamps.

For:

Cards for Men: Christmas cards
Cupcake Craft: non-traditional Christmas
Top Tip Tuesday: Christmas inspired
Freshly Brewed: Merry Christmas

Christmas is for kids

And so is this card. My middle kid to be exact.



For:

City Crafter: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Papertake: red & green must not be seen
Paper Playtime: snowmen
Ann's Creative Nook: non-traditional colours of Christmas
Paper Cutz: snowflake or snowman

Pointsettia and pearls

When all was said and done I found the sentiment to be a bit too large for the card. The sentiment is a very sticky sticker. It would have taken a Christmas miracle for me to be able to pull it off without completely wrecking the card. So, on it stays.




For:

Tuesday Throwdown: CAS
Aud Sentiments: "Happy Holidays"
Cute Card Thursday: flowers

Nothing says Christmas like a penguin

Well, not literally, of course. Afaik, penguins can't talk. (And really, not even figuratively. I was being a bit sarcastic with that blog title.) But, in all honesty, who could resist this cute digi from Bugaboo Stamps? I sure couldn't, I even paid for it!



For:

The Pixie Cottage: sketch + sparkle & shine
The Crazy Challenge: all I want for Christmas is you
Catch the Bug: sparkle & shine
Tuesday Taggers: deck the halls
Freshly Brewed: sparkle & shine

Oh little town of Bethlehem

Just ignore the fact that Bethlehem has my fingerprint over top of one of its houses. (I think Bethlehem is still trying to get over the word I said when I saw what I had unknowingly done.)



For:

ECP: Christmas
A Spoonful of Sugar: Christmas card
AiFactory: Holiday/Christmas
Allsorts: Christmas

That's not a card!

And it's not even a scrapbook page! But it is still made out of paper.

Every year at Christmas I always make something for my closest friends (some of whom I've been friends with since elementary school) and their families. When my kids were babies, my efforts were smaller, a jar of homemade jam or some Christmas baked goodies. In the past few years I've gotten a little more elaborate.

This year......quilled fridge magnets. I took a pic of my 3 favs.



I hadn't done any quilling for awhile. I'd actually forgotten that I do enjoy it.

For:

Crafty Creations: a beary project
The Paper Variety: for a child
Paper Sundaes: gift it
Fussy and Fancy: anything but a card
Charisma Cardz: a Christmas gift

Black snowflakes?

Darn that global warming!



For:

Papertake: red and green must not be seen
City Crafter Challenge: let it snow
Creative Card Crew: anything goes
Little Red Wagon: use a die cut
Lollipop Crafts: welcome winter
Paper Playtime: snowflakes

Who needs red and green?

While I have made some cards this year that follow the "mainstream" Christmas colours, I've made so many more that use non-traditional colours. Case in point...



Now, I realize that blue and white are hardly wacky colours to use for Christmas, and they are becoming a commonly used Christmas colour combo (but wait 'til you see what I've got coming up next ;-) ).

For:

Charisma Cardz: sketch + no image
Daring Cardmakers: December birthstone - turquoise They are sponsored by Flourish With a Bling this week.
Top Tip Tuesday: use ribbon
Penny's Challenges: Merry Christmas
ABC Challenge: J is for jewels

I'm a bit grouchy

First of all, I should say that I'm not a fan of change when it comes to something I use all the time. For example, my husband knows well by now not to adjust the seat in my vehicle (luckily we're basically the same height) because then he has to watch me adjust the seat in minuscule amounts for the next 3 days in an (unsuccessful) attempt to get the seat back to exactly the same spot it was before. (Same thing goes with the tilt steering but after the time I watched him valiantly try to squeeze out of my vehicle without lifting the steering wheel I graciously gave him a bye on that.)

My point being...my computer went klabluie on Sunday and to fix it basically all of its guts needed replaced. yay It's back now but it's brought with it a weird, icky font that's hard on my eyes. I do know how to change it, and have done so, to the tune of about 50 different fonts. Problem is, I have no idea what font I was using before. And that's the font I want. (Imagine that being said with a foot stamp and a pouty lip.)

Anyhoo, here's a card.



Oh yeah, and the new fan in the computer is noisier than the old one too.

For:

Crafty Ann's Challenge: Christmas
Speedy the Cat's Friends: red and green Christmas
Cards for Men: Christmas
Ann's Creative Nook: red or green or gold

Oh Christmas Tree

How lovely are your......um...designer paper that was carefully paper pieced over a freebie from Digi Stamp Boutique.

Hmmm.....just doesn't have the same ring as the carol, eh?

For:

Cupcake Inspriations: cupcake photo inspiration
Paper Playtime: Christmas carol inspired
Totally Gorjuss: Oh Christmas tree
Cute Card Thursday: the blues
Paper Cutz: Christmas + 2 designer papers

Hey! You're not done yet!

Now, in my cardmaking career, which has been going on for a year now, I've made cards that I've liked and cards that I haven't liked. I've made cards that I loved and cards that I thought I loved and decided later on that they really weren't all that. There were cards that were okay, cards that I hated, and cards that would do in a pinch. There were also some that went directly in the garbage, some that I pulled out of the garbage, pulled off the embellis and then tossed them back in, and there was even one card that was so, so, so incredibly bad that I kept it (hidden under stuff lest anyone see it) just to remind myself of what a horrible idea it was. (Believe me, you've never seen a card so fugly.)

But never in all this time, have I completed a card, taken a picture of it, got it ready for upload, and have it say, "Hey! You're not done with me yet!)

(Okay, well, maybe not literally.)

So this



insisted on this.



So, card, you happy now?

Once again I used a snowman digi freebie from Torico's Digital Gallery.

For:

Mojo Monday: sketch
Top Tip Tuesday: anything goes
AiFactory: winter
Colour Create: gray, green & white
The Paper Variety: tic tac toe - make a card, holiday theme, use a die cut machine
Tuesday Throwdown: embellish it
Design Dollies: layer upon layer upon layer


Now, just to make it interesting (and I have to admit, I'm curious to see how many people actually read my blog).....if I get over 30 different people commenting on this post by next Friday (the 10th), I will post a picture of the aforementioned derriere-ugly card. I guess I feel that as long as you know, that I know, it's actually brilliant in its awfulness then I won't feel too embarrassed about it. (Truth be told, it's so hideous, it's funny. If it was someone else's creative mistake, I'd laugh my face off at it.)