Happy 99th Birthday!

I was asked to make a card for a mother-in-law for her 99th birthday. This is what I made. The stamps and dies are from Gina K. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the numbers were cut with a Cuttlebug die. I added lots of Wink of Stella to the flowers. If you are interested in seeing other stair-step cards I have posted, just click on the link at the bottom of this post.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Now - Really One Last Christmas Card!!

I know - I promised no more Christmas cards for a while. But, I got a couple new dies and had to try this one out. I cut the trees out of shimmery copper paper. I glued them to dark green cardstock. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I embossed it with glittery copper embossing powder and mounted it on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Merry, Merry Christmas to All!

And - my last Christmas card to share for the year. I now have 26 done for next year. To everyone who celebrates Christmas - I wish you all a wonderful one!!

This is another card using die-cuts from last summer at our Group Gathering. I was determined to use them up! I colored the part with holes in with a blue Copic marker and put it back in place. The holes look darker, but that's actually a shadow - the piece is mounted on white. I mounted it on foam squares. The sentiment is from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Holiday Greetings

On Thanksgiving Day, I went to Michael's to take advantage of some of their specials. I bought this set from Recollections, consisting of two embossing folders and four stamps. I think it was $2.50:) I made both of these cards using items from the set. I also added a few red gems.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Holly Sprig Christmas

Luckily, I had saved both the negative and positive pieces after using the holly sprig die. I colored the cut-out piece using Copics and then placed it back into the white cardstock it was cut out of. The sentiment is from a new-to-me Recollections set.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Blue Holly

Another card using the same holly die I used on a couple other cards. For this one, I matted with slightly patterned cardstock from Recollections. The sentiment is actually die cut with a Memory Box die using a sheet from the same matstack.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Striped Merry Christmas

More die cuts:) I still have three more before I'm finished posting them! I matted with patterned paper from a The Paper Studio matstack. I used the same cardstock to cut the sentiment with an unbranded die.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Moose

Another previously-cut piece. I had saved the moose pieces,  colored them with Copics and put them back into the holes they came out of. I matted the cut-out section with red. The sentiment is a rub-on.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Blue and Snowflakes

The white layer is cut from a die, as is the sentiment. The patterned paper is from a matstack I bought at Michael's a few years ago. I cut the sentiment out of the same patterned cardstock as the bottom layer.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

More Holly

I really did well using up my die cuts from our Group Gathering last summer. For this card, I used the holly die-cut from silver. I matted with dark blue. I added red gems for the berries. (I actually used up something! Now I have no red gems left. :( ) The sentiment was embossed with silver and is from Recollections. It is mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Holly Season's Greetings

I used another die-cut from last summer for this card. I matted it with dark green cardstock. I added red/gold Stickles for the berries. The sentiment is from Recollections. I first stamped it with dark green, but I didn't like how hard I had pressed. So, I stamped over it lightly with black.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparkly Ornament Christmas

This card started with the ornament die-cut - which I did in June. I added a couple layers of sparkly embossing powder on it, and then two layers of ultra-thick embossing powder. I matted the ornament with blue and mounted it on foam squares. The bottom layer of matting is from a matstack from Recollections. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. Hard to see in the picture, but the curlicue lines on the matting are silver.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Owen!

Our middle grandson just turned eight on Thursday. He was having a video game party for his birthday party, and they were using the original Nintendo Entertainment System as one of the gaming systems, so this is the card I made for him. I printed the image using an on-line photo, and I used photo paper for it. I cut out a few of the buttons and raised them up. For the control on the left, I made sure to not pop up the middle, since they are toggle switches.

You can see a bit more of the dimension in this photo on the left.

And this is what it said on the inside.

Hope you had a fun party, Owen!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Silver Ornament

Another die cut from June from our Group Gathering. I cut this one out of silver metallic cardstock. I mounted it on foam squares. The patterned cardstock is from a stack by The Paper Studio. The sentiment is from Recollections and is embossed with silver embossing powder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Blue Bird Christmas

I cut this bird with snowflakes out while at our Group Gathering in June. The outline of the bird and the snowflakes are separate from the background. I colored the thin lines with a Copic marker and placed it back into the outline of the bird. The patterned cardstock is from a matstack by Recollections. The sentiment is also from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Left-Over Foil - Part 2

This card was made from the left-over foil piece from this card. It's rose gold foil. I used double-sided sticky paper for it. I placed the foil right onto the sticky paper, which was stuck to white cardstock. However, it was really hard to remove the foil from the snowflakes areas. I used ultra-fine glitter over the entire piece - to add sparkle to the snowflakes and to also cover the sticky. The sentiment (from Papertrey Ink) was stamped with Versamark on vellum and embossed with "Winter Wonderland" embossing powder - a white powder with glitter in it.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Left-Over Foil - Part 1

After making this card and yesterday's card, I was left with the "negative" foil pieces. I tried a couple things that sounded like really good ideas in my "being awake at 4:00 a.m. but laying in bed" state. Neither of them worked very well, but I thought I would use them anyway.

For this first card, I placed Scor-Tape on white cardstock. The foil stuck nicely to the tape, but where the foil was missing from the foil sheet, the backing sheet was hard to remove from the tape. The snowflakes were sticky and I added ultra-fine glitter to them. (The foil is pewter.) The sentiment is stamped in black and is from a new-to-me set from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

More Foiled Snowflakes

Using the same snowflakes - with a few additions and changes - as my friend and I used a few days back, I made another foiled card. This time I used pewter foil. But, this time I printed the snowflakes on vellum. I placed the vellum on white cardstock and matted with black. I mounted the panel on foam squares. I added several pink gems among the snowflakes and also by the sentiment. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I embossed it with pewter embossing powder. Very shiny in real life, but not so much in the picture:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Reindeer

Even though my Christmas cards for this year went out a while ago, I'm still making them!! I have die-cuts and other pieces on my table, and I'm trying to get it cleaned off again. A never-ending stuggle! :)

In my pile was this reindeer, complete with green scarf. Before Thanksgiving, I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby. About the only thing there I ever have interest in is paper. And, I need NO more paper! However, sometimes I succumb. The patterned paper on this card is one of those purchases. It's from The Paper Studio. The sentiment is a rub-on that was also on my table. Sometimes I find things, leave them out to use soon, and let them sit. I put the sentiment on vellum, because this scrap was also on my table. Come to think of it, everything that I used for this card was already out and ready to use. I've got more foiled creations coming up, too. I think that I have fourteen cards done for next Christmas.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Deer

I broke down and ordered a few (six, I think) unbranded dies. Sometimes I just can't help myself. When I hear or see others using them, sometimes I check them out and then end up ordering. Oh well. This one arrived today, so I used it already to make these two cards.  For this first one, I used vellum to cut the die out of. I placed it on light blue cardstock. The sentiment is embossed in silver. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink. I added a couple scored lines using my Scor-Pal. For adhering vellum, this is what I use. It pretty much doesn't show through the vellum.

For this second card, I started with a 12 x 5.5 inch piece of blue textured cardstock. I folded it at 4 and 8 inches - into thirds. I die cut the center of it and glued the front to the middle. I also used foam squares under the trees and deer. The sentiment is again from Papertrey and I embossed it with detail gold embossing powder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Curses - Foiled Again! :-)

Here is my second foiled card - but no cursing! LOL. A friend came over on Sunday and we were playing in my stamping room. I showed her my foil and asked her what she would like to make. She wanted snowflakes, so we went online and found some clipart snowflakes. She arranged them the way she wanted and this is the result. We used Rose Gold foil. We matted with a matching metallic card stock. I haven't had much time to play in my stamping room, but I'll share again when I have something new. I hope holiday preparations are going well for everyone.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving??

Wow, a Thanksgiving card for today - in December! :) I finally broke down and bought a (cheap) laser printer, a laminator and some foil. I have seen this technique and I think it's really cool. This image was up on my computer because I had been looking for Thanksgiving images for a friend, and I decided to use it for my first foiling sample. And then, of course, I couldn't toss it. So, here is the card. The foil I used is gold. The patterned paper is from Recollections and the sentiment is from Stampendous. The matting is shimmery gold cardstock, and the image is mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Definitely NOT a Christmas Card!

As I often do - when I'm working on my calendar pages, I end up with some "card parts." This is one of them. I just made it into a card right away. The stamps are all from a mini Papertrey Ink set. I matted the image panel with black and mounted on foam squares. The background paper came from a large matstack from a few years ago from Michael's. A nice sunshine-y card for December:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Hanukkah

This isn't really a Hanukkah card, but it's the one I made for this year. I had these snowflakes on my table and put them all on one card. I used silver embossing powder for the sentiment, which is from Lawn Fawn. I matted with shimmery silver paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

December Calendar Page

And now we have arrived at December!! Here is my calendar page for this month.

I used just part of a Darice embossing folder for the image. I matted with red. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

There are links on the "Calendar" page of my blog, which you can reach by clicking the tab under my blog title. I have now uploaded the files for 2020. I would love to hear from you if you use the files!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

One Last Christmas Card

Gosh, the picture does not do this card justice. :( Oh well. Please use your imagination:) The background is shimmery dark green. The die cut was embossed with sparkly embossing powder and then two coats of thick embossing powder. The sentiment is embossed with white and is from Lawn Fawn.

A lot of our cards went out in the mail today. The rest will go out on Friday or Saturday. We ran out of printer ink for the Christmas letter, and we're not getting new until Friday. I'll get those last thirty letters printed, folded and stuffed and then the cards will be totally done. We're not decorating a lot this year, but what we're doing is done. The shopping is mostly done - just filling in with gift cards. I'll finish wrapping the gifts that we have and then wrap the others as they arrive. Whew! I don't do any holiday baking. So, we're just about ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday season.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparkly Holly and Snowflake

For this card, I used silver sparkly cardstock for the background. I also used a strip of it to mat the sentiment. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things. This MIGHT be my last sparkly, die-cut card for this year. We'll see:) They have been so fun to make.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Window Snowflakes

OK - back to die-cuts and glitter paper:) Two more pieces that I cut last summer - both simply finished. The sentiment on this card is from Recollections.

This one is slightly different, but not much. I used a patterned paper with a little sparkle for the background. The sentiment is from the same Recollections set. I stamped it with green and then Versamark and added sparkly embossing powder to it.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Retirement

Surprise - not a Christmas card today! :) I still have more to share, though.

A friend retired a few weeks ago, and there was a party for him on Friday. I realized I hadn't made him a card yet, so this is the card I made. It was easy because it's such a classic layout and I've used it before. The patterned paper is from a stack by 7 Gypsies. The sentiment is die-cut. The card base and plain cardstock is ivory.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Glitter Paper and Die-Cut Trees Christmas

Two more die-cut, glitter paper-backed Christmas cards. Same sentiment for each card, just made slightly differently. I added a gem for the dot in "joy" on this one. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

More Christmas Dies and Glitter Paper

Another glittery die-cut Christmas. Again the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die and Glitter Christmas

The next few days will be bringing similar cards - just cut with different dies and different sentiments, mostly. The die-cutting was all done at our Group Gathering in June. It's nice to be getting them made into cards, even though I don't think I need any more Christmas cards for this year. I guess I'm getting a head start on next year! :)

I matted the die-cut panel with shimmery cardstock. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Three-Panel Birthday

The images on this card are from an Inkadinkado set. The sentiment is from Papertrey. I colored with Copic markers. I used a sketch for this card and I'm entering it in the "Let's Craft and Create" challenge - anything goes, with the option of using a sketch.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Flower Birthday

The flowers on these cards are from the same Stampin' Up! set that I used on Sunday's card. I colored them with Copics. The sentiment on this first card is from Papertrey Ink. I matted the image panel with black.

The sentiment on this card is from the SU! set that has the flowers. I matted with matching cardstock, which I embossed with a Darice embossing folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Berry Birthday Wishes

I borrowed this Stampin' Up! set from a friend. I stamped the image twice and colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from the same set. I matted with black, and then a layer of green. I added Diamond Glaze to the berries.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Purple Flowers Birthday

I still had this image stamped from June, so I thought I would just color it up and put it on a card. I didn't feel like fancily coloring the flowers, so I just simply colored them. I also added some Wink of Stella to them. I matted the image layer and then die cut the sentiment out of matching cardstock and black. I offset the layers for a shadow effect.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Santa's Sleigh

The stamps I used for this card are from Inkadinkado. I stamped on the blue with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. I stamped the NOEL with blue to match the cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Holly

More die-cuts from our Group Gathering. I colored the pieces with Copics and added Diamond Glaze to the berries. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. That's it:) Edited to add: Oh, I forgot! I also drew the lines on the leaves. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Snowflakes

I die-cut these pieces when I was in Des Moines in June. I don't know who makes the die. The piece I cut and used on this first card is white. I matted it with shimmery silver paper. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn and is embossed with detail silver embossing powder.

This die-cut piece was cut out of shiny silver cardstock. The blue is textured cardstock. The sentiment is also from Lawn Fawn and is also embossed in silver.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!