Mini Gift Cards

Christmas crafting wouldn't be complete without some mini gift cards to stick into Christmas stockings or attach to presents.  I also think a little sparkle is called for when creating Christmas art, so I've added some here to these tiny cards I made using this Red Rubber Designs set called Christmas Fun.

Vintage Santa

 

A few creations made from the Vintage Santa stamp set at Red Rubber Designs.

 

The one above has some machine stitching around the edges and the hanging below has hand stitching.  I didn't think I'd ever enjoy sewing on my paper or fabric projects, but I recently do like the way it looks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Rubber Designs -- Just Because Challenge

The third Thursday of every month Red Rubber Designs invites you to join us in a "Just Because" Flicker challenge. I love the recipe challenge that is the theme for August.

To participate you need only create something using the following "ingredients."

• Use 1 stamped image as your focal point.
• Use 1 sentiment
• Use something sparkly
• Use ribbon
• Upload your creation to the RRD Flicker group using the tag JB0812. You'll be eligible to win a prize as well! You can find more details on the Red Rubber Designs blog.

I created a tag following this recipe using RRD stamps from the Joy and Peace and Vintage Santa sets.

Christmas Art Book

I have had no time to participate in Tim's Tags this year, but I did want to share a book I have been putting together the last few weeks.   It's along the same lines as my Halloween book where I put together some of my favorite holiday art that I have created and received (from some amazing artists I may add). 

 So I want to start off by thanking all the artists that have contributed to this book by sending me some of their beautiful Christmas creations over the past few years :

Robin Woodard (cover), Sarah Hemphill, Jacqueline de Groot, Lynn Stevens,

Nancy Maxwell James and Kris Dickinson.

This gorgeous Christmas card I received from Robin Woodard graces the cover.

I collaged the inside cover and then added a mini paper bag which I decorated with this lovely tag sent by Sarah Hemphill.   Since Sarah and I both share some German roots, I really adore this tag.

I covered the opposite side of the paper bag and inserted inside of it tags I made last year for Tim's 12 Tag of Christmas.

I then cut out two plastic sleeves from my ATC holders and added some of my

favorite Christmas ATC's I made. 

The Christmas arch I included here was one I received from Nancy Maxwell James.  I placed it in a plastic sleeve and backed it with a card from 7 Gypsies.

Another gorgeous arch, this one sent to me by Kris Dickinson.

Opposite that I collaged a bingo tag.

                   I'm thrilled to have one of Jacqueline's grid cards to add to my book.

Opposite that is a large pocket envelope which I decorated with yet another one of my tags for Tim's tags last year.

From the large envelope you can pull out a wonderful Christmas tag created by Lynn Stevens.

The next page I added was a smaller envelope which contains one of Jacqueline's lovely tags.

My final two papes are the back of the envelope to which I added one of my

house-shaped ATC's. 

The inside of the back cover was then collaged by me.

So happy to have this incredible collection of artwork to grace my coffee table this Christmas!

Christmas in July

Whew!  I just made it -- for a Christmas in July post, that is.   I really love these retro Christmas/ winter images in the new Frosty & Friends set from Artistic Outpost.  I paired them with gorgeous new Christmas paper from Authentique.  If you haven't seen any of these papers yet, you have to check them out. 

Tag Tuesday -- Colors of Christmas

Creating for Christmas, for me, often includes either silver or gold.  And I usually tend to go for the gold.   So I challenged myself this week to use silver.  I silver embossed my three images and then placed them on some background text I recently received which has the Christmas story on it.

So this week the challenge is to use either Silver or Gold on your tag.

This will be our last challenge before Christmas.  I will be back next week with other one.  But until then I want to wish all of our taggers a very blessed and special Christmas!

(Just a quick note:  I make it a point to come and see every single tag that's posted.....sometimes it just takes me a couple days.  I know this week will be especially busy:)

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Sunday Postcard Art

This is my postcard for the Christmas theme at Sunday Postcard Art.
This started by stamping a parentheses on some cream cardstock and then creating a frame with my inkpad all the way around.   I used a Stampers Anonymous stamp to create the splattered background.  First I stamped it in Brilliance gold ink, but when that didn't stand out enough I added some gold Radiant Pearls to it which increased the color.  Finally, I printed out one of my favorite Christmas card images on vellum and then cut it out to add to my postcard.

Christmas Ornaments and Happy Mail

I found these odd shaped chipboard pieces as part of a children's game in a thrift shop. Yesterday I thought I'd turn some of them into ornaments as I was putting up the Christmas decorations.
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Yesterday's mail brought this lovely Christmas hanging from Lynn. I was one of the lucky winners at her amazing Blogaversary give-away. This came just in time to add to my Christmas decorations.

Theme Thursday

I got the Winter edition of Take Ten in the mail yesterday and found a sheet of free artists quads contained in it. The pink patterns just jumped out at me, and I immediately set about making this Christmas card with the pink sheet music quad.. I love pink and brown ..... and it seems to work well for Christmas, too.

I've just put this up in my Etsy shop, but am submitting it for the patterned paper challenge this week at Theme Thursday.

You can see all the patterned paper submissions at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/.

All Things Coming Together

My submission to Sunday Postcard Art came together through my desire to use some of the images from the 700 vintage greeting cards I received this week from my sister-in-law. (Click here to see some pictures.)

I also found this grid stamp at a resale shop today while hitting the after-Christmas sales.

I think my SIL will be thrilled to see her card next year which is made from scanned images of the cards she gave me.

I think she'll also be glad to receive this Christmas ornament I made for her (already ahead on next year's gifts:). I had this little ornament book from last year which I found at Wal-Mart at the after-Christmas sales as well. I have not known what to do with it. It's pages are the size of an ATC.

I finally decided to print out scanned images of all of the Christmas cards my SIL gave me and insert them into this little book. I laid out nine on a page and then printed them on self-adhesive paper to make the job easier when adding them into the book.

The cover of the book had the wording on it already, but I added a Christmas tree rub-on.

I outlined each card (there's a total of 27 in this book) with gold pen. I then added distress ink around the cards and on the very white pages.

Merry Christmas!!

This is my submission to Wednesday Stamper's open theme. It's the last challenge of the year.

I used stamps by Oxford Impressions (image and music background) as well as Hampton Arts (alphabet collage).

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To all those that visit my blog -- those that I've come to know quite well and those that just pop in now and then -- have a very, very merry Christmas.!

TMTA

Although I am getting pretty near the end of my Christmas inspiration, I just found a book of vintage Christmas images I had not even used yet.

I love vintage postcards -- and this book was filled with miniature versions of them. So my ATC for Think Monday, Think ATC became a collage of these lovely little postcards.

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If you are looking for free vintage postcards to download, check out this fabulous site: http://vintageholidaycrafts.com.

I have been having lots of fun over there downloading their vintage images.

Thank God It's Friday

With Christmas less than two weeks away, thankfully I'm winding up my Christmas card making for this year. I've made about 70 so far -- each one different.

Today's challenge at Thanks God's It's Friday was "Santa," so I added two more cards to my pile.

This first one is my favorite. Don't know who makes this stamp as I received this image as anRAK from Nancy Maxwell James.

The second one I made just because I adore those vintage papers from DaisyD's. And the Santa image which I downloaded recently (forgive me, I forget where I got it from) seemed to fit perfectly with this retro Christmas card.

Happy St. Nicholas Day

I remember celebrating St. Nicholas day when I was young -- leaving our shoes by the front door before going to bed and finding them filled with goodies when we woke up. And, most importantly, not finding the dreaded lump of coal.

My tag today is not the result of great planning to commemorate this occasion -- but more a result of all things working together coincidentally for good. I started working on this tag yesterday when I saw Tim Holtz' tag offering. But the background didn't come out quite as well -- I think maybe I didn't have quite the same green paint as he did. So from there I just launched out on my own. I decided to add the Santa (taken from last year's Christmas cards), only to find out today is St. Nicholas Day. Very cool.
It still needed a little something, so when I saw the theme of Saturday Workout was to use a sprayed background, I thought that would be just the thing to finish this tag off. So I used my Twinkling H2O's and splattered the paint across the tag. Perfect finish to it, I think.

Two Challenges in One

I started out making a skinny (3x5) for the Thank God It's Friday Challenge. From there I decided to use the image being offered on Art Creation Fridays.

My background stamp is from Stampsmith.

From there I figured I would turn my skinny into a Christmas card.

Oh By Gosh, By Golly.....

...it's time for mistletoe -- and wine? Yes, that is the challenge this week at This Thursday It's All About. I had to read it twice, but it does appear that they are talking about the wine you drink. Although you are free to interpret it as the color wine, which I did in my card. No wine bottle or wine glass stamps here.
I did have a chance to use the sheet music background that Shelly Hickox offered up a week or so ago, the music to Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

O Tannenbaum

That's our theme for this month over at Vintage Veranda. We just got through with our Thanksgiving weekend craft-a-thon and now we are planning some more fun things for this month.
We have a new guest artist -- the very talented Queen of Moos herself, Nellie. She has loaded our gallery with some lovely pieces. You'll definitely want to see these.
I made the card above for our first challenge this month which is to create something with a vintage Christmas tree on it.

Vintage Veranda Challenge

I made these 12 Days of Christmas Tags for Sarah's challenge at Vintage Veranda which was to create some gift tags for our Christmas packages. I used an old stamp set from Rubber Stampede of the 12 Days of Christmas.
I created the background by applying distress inks to craft paper and then spraying it slightly with water. I then picked up the ink with my tag.

The images were colored with Copic markers which worked very well with thevintage look.

Artistic Outpost

I made both of these cards from stamps from Artistic Outpost which I bought last year. Love the vintage images here. They have a new Christmas plate out this year which is fabulous -- very vintage!

I had some fun with non-traditional Christmas colors with the tag card.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

I don't really send out that many Thanksgiving cards so I'm sharing some Christmas cards I made. As I am not cooking dinner today I had free time to craft last night.

I was inspired by the color challenge this week at This Thursday It's All About which was to use the colors lime, pink, and chocolate.

This color combo just grabbed me so I had to try it -- three times! I found myself using more subtle shades of these colors and was totally pleased with the outcome!

All stamps are by Oxford Impressions.
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Remember to check out the Vintage Veranda tomorrow as we begin our big Black Friday Craftathon. It promises to be lots of fun! And you know you are going to be too stuffed from Thanksgiving to do anything more than sit in your craft chair:)