I hope you had a . . .

Merry Christmas!

I bought a few last minute Christmas gifts for family and needed some wrapping.  I did not want to go to the store on Christmas Eve!  So I rummaged through my leftover wrapping supplies and found some old Starbucks bags.  I covered the bag with printed paper, then I put my Cricut to work!  I cut the present from the Seasons of Joy cartridge using more printed paper and some maroon cardstock for the bow.  That was pasted on the bag, then I cut a tag with the present cut-out.  I added some glitter paper and more printed paper to the back of the tag, so it shows through the cut-out, then backed the entire tag with white card.  I added a stamped greeting and a fuschia ribbon and attached the tag to the package with foam tape.  I cut the recipient's name from kraft card and added a shadow of maroon with the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge.  I made 5 of these in about two hours!  Everything was from my stash and it was a great use for all those bags I had been stockpiling.  Plus, my family loved the bags!  My sister Linda was delighted that I didn't put her name on her bag (made some gluing errors) because she wants to re-gift it! My sister Melanie was delighted because I used some paper she had given me!  I wish I had got a picture of all five together with the variety of colors and papers I used.  Here's a helpful hint:  When you are cutting a number of names or words with your Cricut at one time, cut the longest name or word twice.  That way you have a "bone pile" of extra letters in case you might inadvertently make a "glueing error"!

And here's one of my latest deer pictures:

I took this one Christmas Eve.  They are hoping you had a Merry Christmas too!

Wishing you . . .

Peppermints and Candycanes!

I always liked this woodcut Santa stamp from Hero Arts.  I think he looks best in red and white, and I jazzed him up with Diamond Stickles and Pearl Pen.  A little bit of candy cane paper and some more red and white accents and he is a perfect "candy cane" Christmas greeting.  I can taste the peppermint!

And here's one of my latest deer pictures:

Look what's hiding in the forest!

One humid foggy morning last week on my morning walk I was enchanted to find all these small "ground webs" on the forest floor.  I assume they are spider webs, but they are different from so many I have seen.  They are just an inch or half inch off the ground, many have a "hole" in them, and they disappear during the day!  I think they are really there, but we just can't see them.  The sunlight playing off the fog really highlighted them--some were even on the path!  There were literally 50 or 60 of them along the path I traveled, each one only about three inches in diameter.  I had never seen these before, so it must have been a good year for these spiders, or the atmosphere conditions were just right to allow them to show up.  The amazing appearance of these small webs one foggy morning was indeed magical.  Finding these webs truly made more concrete for me the idea that the world we ordinarily inhabit  is truly a "world within worlds" and there is so much more that we cannot see much less understand.  A humbling experience!

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