New Stuff

 Cardz 4 Guyz new challenge is Use Something New from your Stash. 

I have been making a real dent in my stash of patterned paper the past 2 weeks so I am ready for something new. I actually haven't bought anything new lately. The only thing new I could find new was a wreath stamp, a Christmas gift from my granddaughter. I thought I could try making it into a masculine looking wreath.

 I stamped the wreath and colored it with Stampin' Blends with Mossy Meadow and Cherry Cobbler. For the masculine element, I wrapped the wreath with twine and added a twine bow anchored with a gold brad. I hung the wreath on a "brick" embossed Cherry Cobbler paper, rubbed with white ink. The merry christmas is a die cut from Stampin' Up! The whole image is on an Evening Evergreen card base.

As this is a new stamp, I will also share the card with My NBUS

And this is a record for me--my first Christmas Card for the next season.

This week's featured previous sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

I have a fun card that I will be sending to Send a Smile 4 Kids

I don't remember where I saw this sentiment but I thought it so fun. I used a variety of circle stamps for the design.

I hope you will find time this week to play along with our sketch and share it to the blog.

Ferns

I have been making real progress on using up some retired SU papers. I have made ten cards this week with the fern patterned papers. Does that justify buying new paper?

The papers are all different sides of the fern papers. The retired Botanical Blooms stamp and die set are perfect for the accents. The sentiment is from my stash.

Inside is a Winnie the Pooh quote that I typed up on the computer.

Here are a couple more from this suite of paper.

I am entering this at Let's Craft and Create Challenge Anything Goes with twist of Penny for Your Thoughts--use a sentiment.

 

 Happy New Year! This is the time of the year Tuesday Morning Sketches features favorite sketches from last year.  This week's favorite sketch is Debbie's

I've been really making an effort to use up the bits and pieces of DSP packs. That is so I can justify buying more paper. LOL!

This is from Stampin" UP! retired Beautifully Penned DSP

The back side of the stripe papers has b/w flowers that I colored and fussy cut.  The sentiment is also SU!

Here is my original of the design:

Did you get some new craft supplies for Christmas gifts? Bring them out and create something to share with us at Tuesday Morning Sketches

stencils

 The new challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches is not a sketch this week. It is anything goes. You can do any crafty thing you want to do. It is a busy time of the year so we will be running this challenge for 2 weeks. That gives you plenty of time to steal away some time to create something.

A friend gave me a box of art supplies she cleaned out of her sister's garage. In it were a lot of stencils. I haven't used a lot of stencils so decided to try one. I liked the first one so much I ended up making 4 in different pastels. 

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a great New Year.  See you in January for our "favorites of the designers" challenges.

Valentine

I've used the sketch from Sketch Saturday for this valentine.

I used paper and ribbon from the scrap box. The background is a Cuttlebug folder. The punched hearts and sentiment are from SU.

Here is the sketch.

Visions of Sugar Plums

 Twas' the night before Christmas...visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap,,,

These adorable gnomes are wearing their colorful winter caps and surely dreaming of sugar plums.

The gnomes are Stampingbella. The sugar plums are Lawn Fawn. The sentiment is a retired SU! one. I added scrap candy cane stripe paper on the left.

Playing along with Cardz 4 Guyz: Christmas Elves or Gnomes.

Palm Leaves

I am still dreaming of the tropics.  

Using this week's sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches 

Papers are from Artfully Composed retired from SU!. The palm leaves are 2 step stamped and die cut. The sentiment is also SU!

I know this is a busy season but I hope you can take a little time for yourself and find some time to create a card and share it with us. I often rationalize that my creative time is for mental health, cheaper than psychiatrist. Although my husband questions that. LOL!

Gift Bag

Cards are finished and mailed. Moving on to gifts. Adults and teens in my family get gift cards or cash.  I wanted something a little special beyond a card to package those gifts. I made this cute little bag for one. It is large enough for a gift card or cash. Or it would be a fun treat holder.

I used a double sided paper because it is a little heavier and stands up better. I have had the large snowflake die forever and don't know who makes it. The snowflake is attached to the flap with a large glue dot. I punched a hole through all the layers and tied on the coordinating tag with a silver ribbon. It is enough to hold flap closed. You could use a glue dot to hold it closed if you are not adding a tag. The snowflake on the tag is a Martha Stewart punch. 

The direction's for the bag can be found at Paper Pixie blog here. 

Entering this at Double Trouble Paper Crafting. I have used a die and ribbon.

And since I used Thing 1 and Thing 3 I can also enter at Thing 2"s challenge site Use Your Stuff.

Sort of Vintage?

 The new challenge at Let's Craft and Create is Anything goes with a twist of vintage.

Vintage is certainly a challenge for me. I think the patterned paper has a vintage look to it which helps a lot.

Using a stamp from Stamin' UP!'s Joy of Noel, I over stamped the background paper with one of the branchs with Evening Evergreen ink. I die cut the NOEL from gold mettalic and 2 layers in the Evening Evergreen paper. I tied on a gold sheer ribbon. 

I used the other bit of the paper to make a second card.

The Joy of Noel set is new so I will also send this to My NBUS