Christmas Card 2012

2012 Christmas card is complete! You'd think I'd be excited but really it's bittersweet for me. 

I know, I know! I'm a weirdo. I know! I really think I enjoy making cards more than I do receiving them.

I just love Christmas so much. And card making too boot! I love layering bits & pieces and trying to figure out how to replicate something 30 times. That's how many I made this year. Doesn't hit 2009 levels, but still with everything going on, it definitely was time consuming.

This year I did something I've never done before. I scraplifted my card! I couldn't not after seeing this gorgeous design by Julie Ebersole. The design just spoke to me. You all know how much I love to travel and this design just felt so very appropo.

I played with it a bit. And my card is definitely not as simple as Julie's, but I wanted to add some of my layers in to make a bit more my own.

And layers there are! I die cut the skyline out of pearl finished cardstock then stamped on top. Adhered this to a vellum base and added jewels + glitter tape. I heat embossed the sentiment with Silver Metallic Zing! and stuck it to the card base with my ATG before finishing it off with some baker's twine.

Of course I couldn't forget the insides or the envelope! You simply can't over look the envelope. That's what gets people excited to open the card! My typical envelope includes some misting splatters, a snip of tape and a date stamp. I got fancy with this one and used a snowflake as a mask for my iridescent mist, subtle but festive!

Here are the 2010-1, 2010-2, 2010-3, 2010-4 and 2009 editions if you're looking for some extra inspiration. (The 2011 version is being published.)

Now on to the harder part...writing in them all!! I write big, it shouldn't be too bad ;)

What about yall? Have you finished your cards? Do you make them? I'd love to see them if you did!

cheers & besos,

Chevron Thank You

I'm back! And I'm sick :( But, as always I had an amazing time with my friends. So much so that I get a little depressed when I have to come home without them. If only we all lived in the same city again!

Enough about that, I wanted to share my birthday "Thank You" cards. I made a big batch of these to send to all the friends & family who made my birthday special.  

I used my Central High card kit and my new chevron die cuts from Papertrey Ink. Which, I'm still determined to keep using despite just having purchased a Silhouette!! I'm so excited to play with it and to take the Studio Calico Cut it Out class.

I purchased the Silhouette Cameo bundle from Amazon rather than, SC and got an extra cutting mat and cutting blade. Which in the long run, will turn out to be a much better deal. Even though I didn't get the second $10 gift card to the online store, I thought it was very well priced. Because lets face it, the cuts are the cheapest part!

Ok, that's my PSA for the day :) Happy to be back and blogging! And hopefully scrapping since my SC goodie box arrived while I was away.

cheers & besos,

Neon Heart Cards

Do you neon? In case you hadn't noticed, neon is very in right now. From shoes, shirts to backpacks, neon is everywhere this year.

It's even made it's way into the scrapbooking world. I picked a few rolls of neon tape from Paper Source the other day. I also scooped up some of the new Hero Arts neon stamp pads. Both were incorporated into these cards.

I made this card (plus a few extras) for someone who needs to be reminded how fabulous she is! She's been going through some tough times recently. I hope my little card cheers her up :)

These are fairly small, 3x4 in and would probably make a good valentine come to think of it! I used 3 strips of tape, punched out a heart but only used the negative and layered a stamped sentiment over top. Viola!

I hope you're reminded today, of how fabulous you are! Happy Hump day everyone =)

cheers & besos,

Sparkling Holiday Cards

Today I'm sharing my Christmas card. And also the "reject" designs from this year.

Meghan, you can stop hit refresh now :)

I made 50 cards this year. 50!! Am I crazy?! But since I've added Matt's family and friends to this year's distribution list, the number had to increase.

I started playing with designs in early November. These were my first three cards. I like them all but for some reason or another just didn't think they were "the" design for year. I felt like I was really close on the first one (the dark green with chevron paper) though.

After building some layers, collecting ephemera and playing with placement, I finally came up with this design. Tada!

There are several layers here:

• Sheet torn from a Christmas Carol paperback
• Doily
• Stamped/Misted Christmas tree
• Star diecut
• Stamped Tag
• Banner
• Bingo marker
• Washi tape
• Brad

It ended up being a bit bulky, so for those that I had to mail (which is 98% of them) I had to eliminate the bingo marker (insert sad face here).

And this is only a stack of 30 of them! I have 20 written in, sealed and about to be posted.

I also couldn't forget the inside! This is an old Hero Art stamp that I love. I'm pretty sure I used it on the inside of some of my cards from last year. It's just so classic!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, so it's no wonder that I go crazy with my cards! I can't afford to send everyone I love a gift, but I can at least let everyone know that I'm thinking of them.

Happy Holidays yall! I'll be back to share the cover of my new Christmas album in a bit. (Hint: it's going to look fairly familiar after your having seen these cards ;)

xxbesos

Mist-ery Solved

I got crafty today! For the first time in awhile. It wasn't easy actually. I just wasn't feeling it today and haven't been for awhile.

But I made a list of three scrappy things that I felt I needed to get done today.

And guess what? They got done!

1. Mist Swatchbook

2. Card for Nana & Popo (check back tomorrow)

3. Finish Dear Lizzy class minibook (check back later this week!)

I even got a 4th scrappy project done, I finished a double page spread that I started last week. It's just been sitting on my desk staring at me every time I walked past. But hey, now it's done and in my scrapbook! No more half finished guilt for me!

Like I said, I wasn't really feeling it today. But I needed something to jump start my creativity and this little swatchbook was just the thing to do it.

Just look at all of those colors! I hadn't realized I had so many shades and I'm actually happy to find out that really only 1 or 2 are similar.

And also, I got to see how each of these sprays. Some of them are clogged pretty bad and didn't even "mist" (see MR Red and SC Calico Cream) and others left a pretty even coat.

All of these are tags were cut with my Papertrey Ink die [Fillable Frames #9] which only measures 1 1/2 x 2 1/2. I think it makes for the perfect size swatch. To finish, I just hooked them together with a binder ring. Voila!

Getting my hands all inky and dirty was just the trick to get me in a crafty mood. Check back tomorrow for that card I made for my grandparents [hint it's Hawaii themed].

xxbesos

Pink Doily Cards

I'm telling you I'm addicted to this super simple technique! I used 3 different sized doilies and 3 different shades of mist (Piglet Mister Huey, Orange Maya Mist & Salmon Maya Mist).

This was the 12 x 12 sheet in all of its inky doily glory, before I cut into it.

I made three cards out of 12x6 in of this paper (the other half is being made into a cover for a mini album) using the same "formula" as the bee cards.

Kraft Card + Misted doily paper + Actual Doily (Misted) + Simple Sentiment + Focal point stamp/chipboard + Twine

This was for my Grandma on her birthday. She loves roses and so I stamped and heat embossed (with Rouge Zing!) that lovely flower from a Dear Lizzy stamp set.

This is a birthday card for one of my besties from London. We're going to Hawaii in a few weeks for her birthday and I thought I'd get a jump on her card. I used a Crate Paper chipboard sticker as an accent, it screamed Hawaii to me =) Which btw, I can.not.wait!!

And last but not least, a special card for one of my more "special" friends, hehe! She's living in Japan now, as her husband was just deployed. I just wanted to send her something funny, and this was funny...to us at least.

I made my sentiment, mimicking the Papertrey Ink ones, and printed it onto a transparency.

"Remember that time when we were in Kuala Lumpur and I wanted a lollipop?"

She'll get it =)

xxbesos