2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 10 | Of Christmas Past

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today is the final day in this year's card series, and I chose to keep this card for last, because it was really this stamp that started it all.

Six years ago, when I started making cards and had no idea where to start, what was I to do? It was Pinterest. I scrolled and scrolled looking in wonder at the beauty people were creating and adding to the world, not just for Christmas, but for everything! Birthdays, Easter, Sympathy, Divorce, Babies, New Pets - I cannot remember wanting to be a part of anything more than I wanted to be a part of this.

And then there it was. The sweet little fox that started it all. His big bushy tail wrapped around him as he sat in the corner of the card. I fell in love with that little fox and that was the beginning for me. I haven't stopped since.

I have taken breaks, I have been frustrated, angry and sad. I've used card making to pull me out of dark moments of despair. When my Father passed away, I would sit for hours just surrounded by my colours, letting their beauty guide me back.

Each birthday, funeral, wedding and anniversary has been marked in some way with my cards, that little something more that I could do.

I discovered more brands, I soaked up YouTube videos like a dry sponge wanting to absorb it all; but I still come back to that little fox when I just need something to make me smile.

So for today's card, my ghost of Christmas past, I hope he brings a smile to your face as well.

I stamped the fox from "Into the Woods" with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink, I masked him off and stamped the log from "Critters in the Forest" and masked that as well.

I used Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks and my dollarstore blending brushes to create my sky. Once that was dry, I masked off the bottom and used Moonstone Glimmer Paste by Nuvo through the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil to finish off my background.

I removed all my masks and coloured the images with Copic markers. I mounted my panel to a coordinating piece of purple cardstock then adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 9 | Clean and Simple

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

In our world of rush rush rush, it is really hard to enjoy the little things. Especially this time of year. Is it me, or does the news seem more depressing than usual? I'm not going to get all political here, with everything that is going on, I'm sure we've all got other ways than a crafty-blog to get Presidential opinions.

I'm just talking about what people do to each other. There seems to be more fires right before Christmas, and there seems to be more home invasions right before Christmas, and there seems to be more killing right before Christmas. Are there actually more? Or are we just more sensitive to it, because we so desperately want to hear that there is good out there this time of year?

Perhaps if more people took a moment to appreciate something beautiful around them, they'd be less inclined to set their neighbor's house on fire? I can appreciate the beauty of falling snow, despite the crippling sense of sadness that winter brings me.

Today's card is super simple, clean and one of my favourite go-tos when I need a quick card in a hurry. Not for me, but to make someone else's day a little bit brighter.

I used a snowflake embossing folder to create the dry embossed design on my background panel. I then used Lawn Fawn's "Joy" die and the Mini Stitched Snowflake dies to cut my pieces of blue glitter cardstock.

The rest of the greeting is from the "Let's Bokeh" stamp set, it is stamped with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed with Lawn Fawn's white embossing powder.

This card would be ridiculously easy to mass produce and could be done in any colour palette.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 8 | Silent Night (of Reflection)

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We're down to the crunch. Are you ready? I mean, really ready? Not just ready with the shopping, is anyone ever really done shopping? The answer is no. If the answer were yes, we wouldn't have Boxing Day Sales; or Boxing Week Blowouts; or New Year's Door Crashers. We're never done.

Then there's the decorating, maybe we're done. I'm about a third of what I normally do, and I'm pretty done for this year. Every year, my husband and I argue about the placement of the tree and the arrangement of the furniture. Then every year he finally moves stuff around, and I find a time when there is no one in the house and I decorate the tree, and usually the entire upper floor common areas (living room, dining room and kitchen), then every year he comes after it is all done and tells me how "cold and soulless it looks" and I respond with "No, honey. It's perfect." and the rest of the family ooooos and ahhhhhs and that's that. That's our fun tradition. This year, I decorated the tree and the front entry way. That's it, because this year, I don't feel like doing the rest.

Then there's the cooking and the baking. If people know you're a baker, there's never an end in sight. There's always one more person who could use one more loaf of something, and if you do it for a couple close friends or coworkers you have to do if for everyone, because it's the season of giving, right? RIGHT?? So yeah, I don't bake - unless I'm sad.

Finally, the cards (I know there's more, but this is getting long). Are you done the cards? I am. Most of my Christmas supplies are packed right up and put away. I've found that the more cards I send out the fewer I receive in return. I can't be the only crafter to have experienced this. Perhaps this is just a side effect of the additional beauty we put out in world; who knows?

For today's card I created a Silent Night Shaker, featuring stamps from Lawn Fawn's Winter village, along with the Say Cheese Again die and some snowflakes from the Mini Stitched Snowflakes dies.

I stamped the images with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink and coloured them with Copic Markers. I used double-sided adhesive from Darice (this is that really thin stuff) to create my shaker window, which is filled with various snow-looking stuff from my stash (it's older, so there are no labels, but if I had to guess I would say I got it at Michael's crafts).

I adhered the shaker to piece of dark blue patterned paper, then mounted the lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

(Also, the point of my super long story above, was to take it easy. Christmas is only a day. One little day in the whole year and you are only human.)