MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

To my blog followers and readers, family and friends, wherever you may be, I am so fortunate and appreciative to have you all in my life!

 

A SEASON FOR LOVING, GIVING AND SHARING.

It's almost Christmas. It's the season for sharing, loving and giving.  It's a difficult time of year for some of us who have loved ones who are no longer here on this earth. The memories of our precious loved ones are sweet, but also bittersweet. We cherish those memories, by reminiscing with our photographs, or by recalling special moments that live only in our hearts. We are sometimes bitter, and yet the memories are so sweet. But if nothing else, we must try to continue to give to others, and share ourselves with others, as best as we can.

Looking back at my blog posts over the last year, I especially love this one: THE JOY OF GIVING, HERE that I posted last January.

I included some quotes that mean a lot to me, and that are especially important to "live" by this time of year.  One of my favorite quotes is:


We make a living by what we get, 
but we make a life by what we give.  
Winston Churchill  1974-1965.

I have the same feelings today as I did then.

This photo, that I took last year, reminds me of what Heaven must look like. 

I'd like to share this Christmas season with all of our loved ones, here on earth, and those who have departed, and I pray that they are looking at us with smiles, and joy that we try to live each day as a privilege and as something very special. And that we continue to give.

I hope your Christmas this year is blessed.

PRETTY CARDS FOR YOU.

Oh my! Is it only two weeks until Christmas? I know everyone else "out there" is probably thinking the same thing! I'm finally getting a chance to make my own Christmas cards to send out to (very select) friends and family. 

Just thought I'd post a few just in case you have run out of ideas and need some inspiration!

VERY QUICK AND EASY:  (I love glitz and glimmer - it adds so much).

I used Sparkle & Shine paper (reverse side of stripes), some red glitter paper for the little "stars" along the bottom, and our red shimmer trim.  VERY VERY EASY!

Another fairly easy card inspired by Allisa Chilton of  Rocky Mountain Paper Crafts. I LOVE working with circles! The paper is a scrap I had, same with the black and silver ribbon. I cut a 1-1/2" circle out of red, and a 1" circle out of the Sparkle & Shine polka dot, and then stamped the little candies from the Candyland  stamp set, colored them with a red Sharpie pen, placed them on pop dots, and added some glitter on top.

Inside of my "3 circle" card.

Here is my all time favorite, inspired by Card Monkey's Paper Jungle. I am so in love with our darling little village stamp sets! This little house and sentiment are also from the Candyland stamp set.

I used our watercolor pencils and blending pen to color the little house (although the red is a Sharpie pen), the Sparkle & Shine striped paper (LOVE IT!), and the gingerbread boy and candy from the Candyland stamp set, which I stamped, colored with Sharpie pens, and cut out and popped up on the card.  I didn't add any glitter to this card (hum.m.m.m.m.m. - I'd better fix that).

Last but not least, another all time favorite:

Can you tell I love this striped paper! I used it on almost every card I've made! I "lifted" this card almost exactly from Pamela O'Connor, another CTMH consultant. The deer stamp is the October Stamp of the Month and I used white pigment ink on the red sentiment tag.  Of course, there's a little gem in each corner!

I hope this has helped give you a little bit of inspiration! 

HAPPY CARDMAKING!

DECEMBER "SPECIAL CARE" STAMP OF THE MONTH SET.

Here it is December 12th already and I haven't posted the sweet December Stamp of the Month set!  So here it is, entitled: SPECIAL CARE.  This looks like a cute set for the special children in our lives.

This is a really versatile stamp set and I can see being able to use it on scrapbook page layouts, and especially the My Crush books or photo albums. 

Or, how cute to use these stamps on the little Hip Pics Album Kit mini kraft album which is available in our Holiday Gift Guide.  Here is a picture of the inside of the album.... you can stamp underneath the photos. (I'm sorry the picture is not clear - you can see a better picture on page 22 of the Holiday Gift Guide HERE.



This cute little stamp set is yours for only $5.00 with your order of $50 or more.  Or if you only want the stamp set, you can order it for the cost of $17.95 (S1312).

Here are a few ideas for using the stamps.  Isn't that little Kraft Ring Box just darling?? (with the purple lid). 

If you want to see some other great ideas for this stamp set, go to GOOGLE SEARCH HERE for more images. There are some great ideas there!

 

NEW VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR FUN GIFTS.

This NEW video has just been posted from Close to My Heart - just in time to show you how to make some fun and unique Christmas gifts!   I wanted to share this with you as it's really neat!  (You have to go to my blog HERE to watch it.)



This video shows how to make a grouping of "Subway Art tiles" using canvas boards.  There is also a cute board done with a photo.

 
The following CTMH products are used:

6x6 canvas display board (but you could use any canvas board from your hobby store)
6x6 piece of B&T (design) paper
Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint
Any color of stamp reinker
Mod Podge
Cricut cutout letters (or you could use stencils to draw your own letters and cut them out - or use pre-cut vinyl letters)

I want to try one of these because I really like the look of "Subway Art" and that kind of old vintage-grunge look.

I would LOVE to see what you make!  Send me an email with a picture of YOUR project.

 

FREE PRINTABLE CHRISTMAS TAGS!

This month's "Rediscover Close to My Heart" FREE download is a set of really darling gift tags, just in time for Christmas! 

Aren't they cute? And FREE is a good thing right?

Click HERE ON MY BLOG and then click on the link "download our free holiday gift tags" under Rediscover Joy. Your gift tags will pop up as a PDF file that you can immediately print out (and save to your computer if you want to). They are only available through December.

Let me know what you think of these sweet little Christmas tags.

NEW LOOK FOR MY BLOG.

Now that December is FINALLY here (I've been waiting and waiting!).... I was inspired to change the look of my blog. I hope you will go to my "real" blog HERE, and take a look and let me know what you think! 

I wanted to make it a little softer, and add some Christmas and snowy pictures and decorations. 

I'm just now beginning to make my Christmas cards. Here's my first one:

This design is compliments of Card Monkey's Paper Jungle.

I am in LOVE with the Sparkle & Shine candy striped paper! I think most of my cards will have these stripes on them in some shape or form. 

And my second favorite thing is the Candyland stamp set that includes the sweet little cottage that I colored with some Sharpie pen markers, the scrumptious ginger bread boy, a toy soldier, a candy cane, and the word "Joy" that can be stamped on the striped paper and cut out!  

I just wanted to get this card posted to decorate up my blog a little bit.  More ideas to come shortly!

Don't forget to go check out my new look here!  Thank you for stopping by.  I would appreciate any comments.