Peace

This card features a white embossed Stampendous dove image.  I heat embossed on watercolor paper and then added some watercolor wash with Twinkling H2o's.  Really does sparkle!  (Click on the image for a better view.)   Almost, but not quite, as much as the sparkly American Crafts ribbon at the bottom of the card.  I set my image against a backdrop of an embossed Sizzix snowflake die accented with Crystal Stickles.  I wish you a sparkly holiday season.  Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, we can truly celebrate the Christmas season.  I don't know about you, but the term "Black Friday" is hardly joy inspiring.  Glad it's gone.

Thoughtful moment

I start my day looking for deer!  I take walks in the wooded park near my home most mornings, and I love looking at the little woodland creatures.  The deer here are not surprised to see me at all!  I especially like looking at the ones peeking out at me from the tall grass.  Every once in a while a deer will get "lost".  One morning I found one walking down my street in my neighborhood!  I hope he found his way home.  I think he went over the wrong fence!  Having the deer this close reminds me that no matter how much we try to pave over the world, nature will out.  I think we should help nature along a bit!  I am thankful for the parkland.

My first magazine article is now published!

I just got my advance copies of the January issue of Scrap and Stamp Arts.  Look on page 38!  My first published article appears there:  "Shine On with Glitter".  Some of you may recognize some of the cards!  I think they did a fabulous job of photographing the cards.  I don't know if this issue is on the newstands yet or not, but I am sure it will be shortly.  I also have an upcoming article in the April issue of the same magazine, if all goes well.  Happy reading!

Glittered Candle Ornament Card

I cut this ornament shaped card from Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge.  You can't see it in the picture, but the card opens to reveal the same ornament shape on the inside.  I cut the basic card from white cardstock.  I then cut an ornament feature of the same size of bronze metallic and one of printed paper.  The inside circle pops out, so I inlaid the printed paper into the bronze outer circle.  I then cut a separate white ornament feature and cut out an outside rim from that cut to go on top of the bronze circle.  That white circle was then covered with Cyrstal Stickles.  You could also cut this rim directly from the Cricut using white glittered cardstock.  My card is6" in diameter, so all of the mentioned cuts are at 6".    I then  cut a candle feature from the same cartridge at 3 1/2" using a textured red cardstock and a gold metallic.  I pieced the candle together and added it to the inside of the ornament, adding orange Stickles for the flame.  A pretty white bow ties it all together.  The inside could say "Wishing you a bright holiday season".  I made my card flat for easy mailing but you could easily build up layers for a dimensional look.

Supplies:  Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge
                cardstock in bronze and gold metallic and white
                printed paper (Imaginisce)
                textured red cardstock (Coredinations)
                Crystal and Orange Stickles (Ranger)
                White sheer ribbon

               

Glittered Holiday House Cricut Card

The card above was designed to use a leftover piece of acetate transparency I had from my Saturday Cricut class.  I cut the base card (which features the giant window with the garland trim) from the Joys of the Season Cricut cartridge from white card.  I cut a piece of transparency to fit the window, adhered it to the inside, and stamped the acetate with white snowflakes with Stazon opaque white ink.  I cut the holiday house  from white, kraft, blue, pink, and green cardstock, cut out the pieces I needed from each color, and pieced my holiday house using the kraft as the background.  The holiday house, fully pieced, was then sent through the Xyron machine, right side down to get the adhesive on the front.  I then covered the adhesive with iridescent glitter and adhered it to the inside of the card behind the transparent window.  For the front of the card, I punched a blue piece of cardstock with a Martha Stewart doily punch, sized it and added it to the bottom.  Hey, if my house can have a pink roof it can have blue "snow"!  I then added a small glittered tree to the front.  I covered the garland with White Pearl pen.  Look!  A storybook scene that could come straight from a fairy tale!  I hope you have a magical holiday season this year.

Glittered Snowflake Cricut Card

I cut this card from one of the snowflake options from the Joys of the Season cartridge at 5 1/2" from both white and blue cardstock.  I ran the white card front only through a snowflake embossing folder (Tim Holtz for Sizzix).  I then cut out just the snowflake central image from the blue cardstock cut.  If you compare my snowflake to the original, you will see that I added diamond points to the ends of the "spokes" so that the cut out snowflake extends onto the card front a little.  This gives a little dimension to the image.  After I glued the blue snowflake onto the white central snowflake image of the card front I covered the top of the blue snowflake with Zig 2 Way glue and then covered it with iridescent glitter.  Because the  cut marks in the fold of this card were a little prominent (these are the cuts Cricut uses to tell you where to fold since the machine doesn't score) I added a ribbon to the edge.  Hope it snows sometime here!  It's not feeling very much like snow or even cold today!

Glittered Angel Cricut card

Here is another Cricut Christmas Card.  The angel image is from Joys of the Season cartridge.  I cut three card options, each at 5 1/2"--one from maroon cardstock, one from gold glitter cardstock, one from maroon and cream printed music paper.    I cut out just the angel from the gold glitter card and glued it onto the maroon card, matching it to the angel image.  I then cut out the angel completely from the printed paper, leaving just an oval space.  I cut the printed paper to fit the front of the card, glued it down, and then added some narrow strips of extra glitter cardstock on the edges.  Voila!  A simple, elegant Christmas card with only three cuts of your Cricut, some scissors, and a little glue!  A little hint:  Vary your pressure on your Cricut Expression to match your paper:  I used medium pressure to cut the printed paper--otherwise I have found the paper will tear.  I used maximum pressure to cut the glittered cardstock--it cut cleanly.  I did not have to multi-cut.