Christmas Dove Brings An Olive Branch!

This is another Christmas card for my 2021 stash!  I do love this Stampin' Up dove stamp and die set that I used, which I'm surprised wasn't carried over into the annual catalog.  

I wanted to use vellum for the dove, which I underlaid with Tempting Turquoise and added silvery wreath. I thought a night sky would be pretty, and I found a pretty piece of dsp with deep to mid-range blue tones.  To complete the look of my night sky, I embossed the dsp with the SU Winter Snow embossing folder and then sprinkle/ splattered it with white acrylic paint.  It was just the look I wanted.  

I used a silver heat-embossed sentiment on vellum with the Tempting Turquoise as an underlay mat as I did with the dove.  I modified this die-cut mat, cutting it down narrower to fit the width I wanted.  Take a look below at the finished card:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Night of Navy, Tempting Turquoise (ret.), Silver Foil, Translucent Vellum.  Stamps/ Dies--Dove of Hope/ Detailed Dove dies; Wreath Builder dies, Ornate Frames dies (sentiment underlay/ modified).  Ink:  Shaded Spruce (sponged Shimmer cardstock).  Embossing Powder--Silver.  Embossing Folder--Winter Snow (SU-2020 Holiday).  Other:   Paper--Recollections Bold Brushstrokes 12x12 paper pad; DCWV Shimmer cardstock--white.  Folk Art--White acrylic paint.  Size--4-3/4 x 6-inches. 

A Little Pink Ballerina for Sienna!

 I've now finished my second ballerina card, and this one is for my second granddaughter.  They get to be granddaughter #1, #2, and #3, by their age.  Callie, who was just 4, is granddaughter #1.  Sienna, who was just 2, is granddaughter #2, and Evie, who is 16 mos., is granddaughter #3.  I love them all dearly, and I'm sure you know, their number has nothing to do with how much I dearly love them!  All clever, cute, and darling girls for sure!

So, I missed making Sienna's first birthday card, as I was just returning from several trips to California, just in time to attend her birthday party, but not get a card done!  Within 5 days of her birthday party,  Covid arrived in Washington...the first state with a Covid case, then schools closed, gatherings closed, restaurants closed, and life became anything but normal!   It seems everything stopped, even my creative mojo and ability to get myself to my crafting table stopped!  I think we were all in shock, and my husband and I were certainly in the age range where every precaution was needed!  I am happy to say...a year later, both my husband and I have received the vaccine, and we are looking forward to an end of the pandemic!  At least we can now socialize with our family members who are vaccinated...we are almost to 75% of our immediate family at this point.

I am also happy to say that I have finally made little Sienna her card for Birthday #1 to save in her memory box...a homemade card from Grandma in honor of her first birthday!  Sienna dressed in a darling little frilly pink birthday dress, so it was only right that her card should be pink...and with her very blonde hair, her ballerina surely must have yellow hair.  I followed the construction instructions provided on Callie's purple ballerina card, and here is that link:  A Ballerina for Callie! if you are interested in the ballerina's construction.  Take a peak below at Sienna's sweet little pink ballerina:

Ingredients:   SU cardstock: Melon Mambo, Whisper White.  ColorBok Glitter Paper: Glacier Springs/ White.  Little Yellow Bicycle Patterned Paper: Baby Safari Girl--Pink Floral/ Girl Small Squares.  Bazzill: Hot Pink Foil.  Gemstone Shimmer Cardstock: Rose Quartz. Alina dies--Ballerina. Spellbinders dies: Floral Ovals, Petite Ovals Large.  Lawn Fawn die: Party Balloons.  MemoryBox die: Varsity Numbers.  Savvy die:  Happy Birthday cursive.  Rose Glitter tulle (stash).  Offray ribbon: Hot Pink Organdy.  SU: Pearl minis.  Wink of Stella: Clear (hair sheen).  Size: 4-3/4" x 6-1/4".

A Ballerina Birthday for Callie!

March is a time to celebrate two granddaughter's birthdays as their actual birth dates are only two days apart.  Callie is my oldest granddaughter, and it will be her fourth birthday.  I have been so out of mojo for over a year that she did not get a Grandma birthday card for year three! Since a bit of my creative mojo has returned, I wanted to make a very special card for her for birthday #4.  

A friend made me a "Thinking of You" step card during my hand surgery recoveries, and I loved the card so much, I borrowed the die, thinking Callie would love it.  What little girl wouldn't...its a ballerina!  I've since decided I need to make one for each of my other two granddaughter's in different colors and different patterned papers.

The die is from Alina Crafts, and I found some YouTube videos on construction using the die.  It turns out that it's meant to be used with a companion body-parts die, which can be used with a variety of other theme and wardrobe  "people" dies.  The die comes as one main die including the head, hair, neck, upper body, and flowery vine tutu skirt.  It also has dies that cut out the dress bodice, ballerina slippers, and the eyes and cheeks.  I didn't like the way the video put the face and hair parts together...let's just say, to me, it was weird.  So, of course, I had to do my own thing, which I've tried to explain below the card picture.  And,  voilà, here is my finished card!  I think Callie will love it! 

Note:  Inside & outside are identical shades...somehow camera lighting didn't take it that way!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posie; Punch--Detailed Trio; Pearls-mini; Rhinestones--Copic colored.  Other:  Papers--K&Co. mini floral (from Stash); Paper Adventures--Dazzle Purple-Pink Stripes; Colorbox--White Glitter paper.  Dies:  Alina Crafts--Ballerina; Spellbinders--Floral Ovals, Petite Ovals Large; Lawn Fawn--Party Balloons; MemoryBox--Varsity Numbers.  Balloon strings--Lyon Sparkly Mini Yarn.  Stash--Flower Gems.  Chatterbox Verse.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6-1/4"

Ballerina Construction:

Die-Cutting/ Punching/ Fussy-Cutting:
1) Die-cut the chest/ skirt die (and the ballerina slipper dies) from purple foil, leaving off the head and neck.  2) Using this same die, out of flesh-colored cardstock, die-cut two sets of heads with chest down to the waist...do NOT include the "skirt."  3) Die-cut a third flesh-colored cardstock head/ hair rounding the lower edge of the face without a neck.  This piece will be the "final" face for the ballerina.  4) Die-cut the head/hair only from black cardstock for the hair.  5) Using the eye/cheek die, out of black cardstock, die-cut the "eyes."  6) Using the bodice die, die-cut the dress top out of a sparkly lavender cardstock.  You could use glimmer paper, but I wanted a little less sparkle than that.  7) Again, using the eye/cheek die, you could die-cut the cheeks using pink cardstock, which is what Alina intended to be done.  I decided to use Copic marker coloring/ shading on all flesh colored areas that would show when the ballerina is complete: the face, neck, upper torso, and arms flesh.  I also Copic-coloring rosy cheeks and added a white gel pen dot rather than using pink half-circle die-cuts.  I also added Copic-colored blue eye shadow.

There were no dies for the lower body, legs, arms, or a leotard, so I fashioned my own.   1) Using a retired SU Small Oval punch (3/4" x 15/16") for the arms (with an arms behind the back look), punch one oval from flesh-colored cardstock.  2) Using the same oval punch, punch out the leotard from same sparkly cardstock used for dress bodice.  3) Using a retired SU Large Oval punch (1-3/4" x 7/8"), punch one large oval  from the flesh-colored cardstock for the lower body (hips) and legs.  4) Turn this large punched oval vertically.  Leave one end of the oval as is for the hips.  5) Fussy-cut and shape legs with pointed toes from the other end of the oval.  Now, it was time to put my body parts together!  

Head/ Hair/ Face/ Upper Body & Arms:

1) I adhered the two head/ upper body flesh pieces together to form a stronger upper body unit.  2) I trimmed 1/16" around the head/hair down just to the neck.  3) I trimmed 1/16" along the chest/ upper body along the sides from shoulders to waist.  The head/hair was done so when the third "head/ face" flesh piece was added this double thickness would not show...only the top third layer would show and its round without a neck would form the chin.  The sides of the chest/ upper body edges were trimmed to allow the flesh cardstock Small Oval to form the shoulders and arms, looking like she was putting her arms behind her back.  4) I  Copic-colored/ shaded the face at this step and I did the same to the neck and chest of the two-layer piece.   5) I adhered this third Copic-colored face (hair, which did not need to be Copic colored or shaded) to the double-thick body making sure the head fit nicely on top and formed a "chin".  Now, my head is 3-layers thick!  6) I trimmed off just a bit of the flesh cardstock around the edges of the hair area so that none of the flesh color would show around the edges of the black hair color.  7) I fussy-cut the black hair from the head black cardstock so it would fits nicely over the flesh-colored hair area and adhered it to the flesh-colored hair.  When it was dried, I applied Clear Wink of Stella for a bit of shine to her hair.  8) I applied a tiny bit of glue to the back of her black eye/ lashes and used tweezers for correct placement.  (Be sure you have them turned over for the correct sides of the face when applying the glue).  9) I Copic-colored her rosy cheeks and added a white gel pen dot to their centers.  10) When eye glue dried, I Copic-colored her blue eye shadow.  11) Now, I was ready to add her arms.  I Copic colored/ shaded the flesh-colored Small Oval, but didn't bother to color the center of the oval where the chest/ upper body would be glued.  I positioned the oval horizontally, fitting it behind the back so the shoulders flared out at the base of the neck and adhered it to the back of the torso with glue. 

Lower Body/ Leotard/ Legs/ Ballerina Slippers: 

My ballerine needed a lower body, leotard and legs!  1) Take the leotard...the Small Oval cut from the sparkly bodice cardstock; turn the oval vertically, and trim 1/16" off the end of the oval curve using a straight cut.  2) Fit this straight edge up to the flesh waist bottom and glued it to the lower edge of the arm oval (which you will see extending below the waist) and snug it up to the waist flesh.  3)  Turn over the ballerina and glue her "hip/legs fashioned larger oval" behind the sparkly leotard so her hips are behind the leotard and legs extend below.  4)  Adhere the ballerina slippers over her pointy toes with the wider part of the slipper down covering the "pointy toes."  Set aside your girl to thoroughly dry while you form her skirt/ dress.

  

Skirt/ Bodice Top/ Hair Bow: 
1) With the purple foil skirt/ chest die-cut, narrow the chest area, all around three sides, down to approximately 1/4" wide and 1/8" high just to waist where skirt flares out; set aside.  2) Cut 5 or 6 pieces of tulle (sparkly best) 2" long by 3" wide.  Overlay the pieces one layer over the other.  2) Using the metal die as a guide only, fussy-cut the tulle to the same shape as the die skirt and upper body.  3) Adhere the layers together with bitty glue does and larger if needed, keep the edge-shaping even along the skirt sides and upper body to form a unit.  4) Take the purple foil skirt/ chest and attached to the tulle unit to the backside of the chest (make sure no tulle shows along the "chest" part of the skirt).  5) Lift the skirt vines and streak with glue, pressing them on the tulle to attach and dry.  6)  When skirt/ tulle is dry, attach the lavender leotard and legs behind the tulle at the torso back with glue/ glue dots as needed.  7) Glue sparkly lavender bodice onto ballerina chest top and foil skirting.  8) Add 4 string pearls along waist.  9) Take a 4" to 5" piece of 1/4" sparkly ribbon and tie a bitty bow, cutting and angling its tails.  (Tip: my sheer ribbon was too wide, so I trimmed it to 1/4" width.)  10) If desired, you can add 2 bitty pearls to the bow knot area as well.

No Cake for David?

My oldest of four will be celebrating his birthday in the first week of March.  He is on the KETO diet, so he wants to say, "NO," to cake...can you imagine?!  I found it is now possible to purchase KETO ice cream, so we will be making an ice cream cake for his birthday.  He won't have to say NO to cake and he can have candles!  Now, I just had to get busy on a birthday card.

When I was last visiting my Mom, pre-COVID, I saw a card she made at her Stampin' Up demonstrator workshop.  I remember its sentiment from the stamp set, Amazing Life, and thought it would be perfect for my dieting son's card.  It also used the very masculine papers, In Good Taste, which I have, and thought one of the patterns might work nicely as well.  I decided to add a little black and a some recycle coppery foil (saved from an envelope insert...just too pretty to throw away!), plus a cupcake all work together.  Take a peek below at how my project evolved into David's finished card inside and out:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Papers--Basic Black cs, Very Vanilla cs, In Good Taste dsp.  Copper Foil (saved from an envelope insert).  Stamps--Amazing Life (sentiment); Dies--Call Me Cupcake (framelits), Stitched Rectangles; Inks (sponging)--Bermuda Bay, Call Me Clover, Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mango; Clear Embossing Powder; 3/8" Black Shimmer ribbon; Metallic Brads.  Other:  Copic Markers.  Inside--Chatterbox verse.  EK Victorian Corner punch.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6."

A Special Friend's Birthday!

In August this past summer, I made one trip during the COVID pandemic to meet my sister and mother for a cardmaking holiday!  We traveled to Sister, Oregon, which was about a 5-1/2 hour drive for each of us.  I traveled south from Washington and they traveled north from northern California.  Each of us were a bit leery to do this even though we were in a lull in COVID outbreaks in the areas from which we traveled, as well as where we traveled to.  We quarantined in preparation just to be sure, and  brought an arsenal of remedies to wipe everything down in our Airbnb rental just in case.  We were fortunate to have no mishaps as a result, and we were very, very careful.  We bought groceries and prepared our own meals, and only ventured out twice, sanitizing thoroughly during and after our return.  We were happy to see the businesses mandated masks; were only allowing a few in their shops at a time; and requiring alcohol washing before entering and after leaving.

To save having to pack a lot of cardmaking supplies and because my creative mojo was pretty well shot, I focused on bringing only card kits, extra cardstock, foil, glimmers, embellishments, plus a few stamp sets that I thought might work well with the different kits.   My focus for my trip was to try to make birthday cards and thinking of you cards that I would be needing for friends and family so that my lackluster performance in my craft room would not continue to prevent me from getting needed cards out in a timely manner!  

My oldest kit was a Stampin' Up one that I purchased in May 2019, "Made to Bloom."  I thought I'd start out with it and make a card for a special friend's birthday that was about six months or so into the future (I missed her 2020 birthday with no mojo juices flowing)!  Though I liked at least two of the four card designs suggested, I decided to see what alternative card I could self-design from the materials at hand.  I mixed and match the background papers and flowers, did some fussy-cutting and layering not called for, and arrived at a card that I was pretty happy with.  Today, I finished my inside design and verse, and it is now totally ready to send when her birthday gets a little closer.  Take a peek below at this card that was made with my dear friend's birthday in mind.  I hope she enjoys it when her birthday time comes around. 

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up Products:  Papers--Basic Black cs, Gold Foil, Very Vanilla, Whisper White.   Kit--Made to Bloom (retired Occ. 2019).  Artistry Blooms sequins (2020-21 Annual).  Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Other Products:  Reverse Confetti "Beautiful Banners" sentiment.  MemoryBox "Stitched Country Borders."  Cottage Cuts Stitched Ovals dies.  Spellbinders--Lacy Ovals dies.  Colorbox Chestnut Road ink (edge distressing).  Chatterbox verse.  Fussy-cutting.  3-D Paper Piecing.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6". 

Ladybug Birthday Greetings!

 I have several birthdays in February that I like to make cards for...one is for a dear friend and cardmaking buddy.  To lift her spirits and mine during this glum COVID pandemic, I thought we might both be in the mood for something lighthearted and whimsical.  This Little Ladybug stamp/ die set should be perfect for Carla, who loves to garden.  These little friends can be placed in her garden to multiple and flourish to eat to their heart's content while keeping her garden free of aphids come spring when it is full production!

If you've been reading my blog of late,  you know that I've had no creative mojo for months upon months.  In the last six months, I have resorted to kits, both homemade and purchased, and using them to try and spark my interest.  Another thing you may know from reading me in long ago posts, with a card kit, I just can't make the cards as they are designed.  They always spark ideas that I think I might make the card even better or will change something to make it a more me card!  Once an idea is sparked, I just can't resist, and I just have to try it out!

I have an old card kit from the Stampin' Up 2020 Sale-A-Bration freebie catalog, that I've only made one card with, using my own alternative design with the aqua kerchief paper.  I have not yet touched the red kerchief paper, and I thought it would be perfect with the cute little ladybug stamps.  Of course, this will be my own total alternative card design rather than one that came with the kit itself, which all feature popped flower designs with the die-cuts provided.

With this card, I got in some Copic coloring while creating my own card design...haven't done image coloring in many a month!  Take a peek below at my finished Red Kerchief paper alternative card design, both front and inside:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  2020 SAB Kerchief Card Kit (red kerchief paper / stitched sentiment die-cut); Cardstock--Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White, Garden Green, So Saffron (inside); Stamps--Little Ladybug;  Dies--Stitched Scalloped Rectangles;  Ink--Memento Tuxedo Black.  Other:  Copic Markers (ladybug coloring); MFT /die-namics--Fresh Cut Grass; EK Punch--Medium Scallop Corners.  Pretty Pink Posh--gold small sequins.  Size--4-3/4" x 6.

A Snowflake Merry Christmas!

This is another of my January New Year's resolution Christmas cards.  It was also another 2019 card kit from my Stampin' Up mentors, Dar Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum.  Its original design was presented by  Luci, and again I did quite a bit of modifications that came to mind and to make the card more me, plus fitting some Splitcoaststamper challenges along the way!

First, turned my cardbase from horizontal to portrait, and I added more cardbase layers, one in Balmy Blue to add more color to the card front's framing.  I kept the white snowflake embossed layer to host the geometric card front shapes.   For this geometric card front, I  re-arranged, re-located, re-sized, and added to the patterned geometric shapes.  I used the same dsp patterned paper supplied in the kit, and when I cut and added to the number of these shapes.  My geometric placements were a lot more uniform and balanced and not quite so random.  I also centered up the sentiment layer and positioned only one glitter snowflake at its upper left corner, eliminating the second snowflake all together.  In addition, I added a few more sequins to finish.  Take a peek below at my finished card:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Whisper White, Balmy Blue.  Pattern dsp--Snowflake Splendor.  Balmy Blue Glimmer (glitter paper).  Stamps--Itty Bitty Christmas (sentiment).  Dies--Stitched Nested dies (sentiment layers); So Many Snowflakes dies.  Ink--Balmy Blue.  Embossing Folder--Winter Snow EF.  Ribbon--1/4" Snowflake Splendor (2020 Holiday).  Gems--Blue Adhesive Gems (sentiment/ glitter snowflake).  Sequins--Artistry Blooms.  Size--4-3/4 x 6 inches. 

Paint Your World a Happy Rainbow!

Moving on with Splitcoaststampers' Virtual Stamp Night Mini Challenge.  Challenge #3 was posted at 7:00 p.m., ET and was entitled: Always Be A Rainbow.  Our hostess asked us to be inspired by the song Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves and create a card with a rainbow or using all the colors in a rainbow.

I chose to go with the idea of using all the colors in a rainbow rather than an actual rainbow.  The song is a bit sad, but also depicts another way to see your life, as there's always a rainbow in your life if you just look.  I decided my card would choose a happy rainbow with the sentiment Paint Your World Happy!  Note that it depicted crafting paint brushes...aren't we all happy when we are crafting, thus the sentiment works perfectly!  This little happy card will be for my friend, Sandy, whom I am missing during this long, never-ending social distancing. See the finished card below:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks:  Pacific Point, Balmy Blue, Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Concord Crush, Poppy Parade, Whisper White.  Stamps--Crafting Forever (2017-19/ retired).  Trim--3/16" Braided Linen.  Wink of Stella--Clear.  Other:  Embossing Folder--Darice--Cloudy Sky.  Copic Markers.  Chatterbox sentiment (computer).  Size: 4-1/2" x 6-1/4."

A Doily Gatefold Garden

I finally had the nudge to visit my craft room...yay!  I really wanted to put some cards together to send to some friends who have received no cards from me to celebrate their special times, even birthdays or Christmas while my mojo and cardmaking deserted me and ran amok for over a year!  My first thought was to motivate myself by trying to finish some cards already started that were gathering dust in the unfinished stash!

My first card is one I start back in the spring of 2019 when I traveled to visit my Mom in Redding, California before the COVID pandemic took over our lives.  While there, I attended a Stampin' Up card party given by Mom's Stampin' Up demonstrator, Darla Watson.   Darla is quite talented, and I always enjoy going to her parties when visiting Mom!  I am so glad my 95-year old "young" Mom still enjoys getting out and doing cardmaking with family and friends!

There were 5 card kits to make, all fun designs.  Some I completed at the party and others I took home half completed because ideas popped in my head while making them to add other layers or embellishments to the design.  This "popping into my head of ideas" is quite common when I'm making cards, my own or someone else's designs.  Most times, I feel pressured to pursue the ideas, or I will look at the finished card and say to myself, "what if" and drive myself crazy because I didn't at least see what I thought by using the "what if" ideas.  So, this card is one of those "what if" designs from Darla's long-ago designs that I found still unfinished and remembered my "pop in my head, what if" ideas.

As most of you know, who have read my blog for any length of time, I prefer cards larger than the standard A2 size.  The original card design had a white gatefold card base and a floral dsp layer added to the gatefold .  To me, it just needed more color, which meant layers, which automatically means...larger card.  I added a Blueberry Bushel (blue) bottom layer and a Call Me Clover (green) layer and then the white gatefold with flower dsp panels. 

 
It had a yellow belly-band as most gatefold cards do, but I decided to try a permanently attached horizontal band with Rose Red or Strawberry Slush scalloped edges.  The band starts on the center left side of the gatefold, under the doily, at the edge of the flower dsp and is adhered all the way around the back to the center right-edge of the gatefold.  The doily is only attached to the left side of the gatefold and becomes an overlay over to the right side.  Because of my modifications, I added a 1-3/4" white punched circle to the centerback of the doily underside to pretty it up now that its back shows when the card is opened.  

Thank you Darla for allowing me to modify your design many months later.  I always enjoy my visits and the fun times at your parties.  Here is my finished version of Darla's original card:

I'm send this card to a cardmaking buddy who did not receive cards from Chatterbox (me) while I hibernated in isolation.  Here is the added interior that she will received when she gets it in the mail!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Blueberry Bushel, Call Me Clover, So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Whisper White;  Patterned Paper--Garden Impressions dsp 6x6;  Stamps--Eastern Beauty (sentiment);  Ink--Blueberry Bushel;  Punches--Bitty Blooms, 1-3/4" and 1-1/2" Circles, Leaf;  2-7/8" White Pearlized Doily; Bitty Basic Pearl Jewels.  Other products:  EK Punch--Victorian Corners. 

Love & Prayers Bring Healing & Comfort

I needed two sympathy cards right after Christmas and the New Year, and my sympathy stash is ZERO!  I was in the middle of fulfilling my New Year's resolution to make at least 60 Christmas cards by the end of January before putting my Christmas materials away.  I had just finished a card design idea a  few days ago, based on a My Favorite Things sketch from April 2018...MFTWSC382.  I felt my new design would actually make an excellent sympathy card made exactly like I was planning to make the Christmas card.  

The cards are made from the Stampin' Up Feels Like Frost paper scraps, which was carried over from the 2019 Holiday mini catalog to the 2020 catalog. I got busy and changed my new card design yet again to use up all the leftover kit pieces, plus cutting a few more in order to make two cards the same.  One would be given locally and the other mailed to Denver, Colorado, so neither would ever know they received cards with the sames style.  

My design change involved using an envelope flap at the top of the card where I would place the sentiment.  It is actually adhered not a flap.  I used white cardstock and sponged it with Balmy Blue ink.  I added the sentiment with the computer/ printer and then measured and cut the triangle-shaped envelope flap to fit the card top.  On these two sympathy cards, unfortunately, I measured wrong, and the flap ended up too short to go all the way to the top of the card according to my design.  Not to worry, I placed it an inch lower from the top and added the planned ribbon band and bow onto the cardstock layer above instead on the flap.  Though I think I'll like it better almost all the way to the top as I will do on the Christmas cards, I decided it really didn't look too bad this way.  I used Stampin' Up's Snowflake Splendor Holiday ribbon, which is a sparkly iridescent white normally, but I colored blue it with the broad nib of a blue shade  of Copic Marker to coordinate with the blue shades in the card.  I randomly popped on some rhinestone sparkly gems, made a little sympathy verse for inside, and the card was done.

Take a peek below at both my modified Christmas card design made into a Sympathy card and the inside design and verse below:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Balmy Blue, Night of Navy, Silver Glimmer; Patterned paper--Feels Like Frost 6x6 dsp; Ink--Balmy Blue; Ribbon--1/4" Snowflake Splendor.  Basic Rhinestones.  Other:  Punch--EK Victorian Corners; Copic Markers (color ribbon); Chatterbox computer sentiment/ verse; Size--4-3/4" x 6".

Reindeer Prancing & Dancing!

After my abysmal failure with getting 2020 Christmas cards made and sent to friends and family, other than my four children, and I was probably only successful with those, because I always make a gift pocket inside their cards to hold their Christmas checks...basically the "packaging" to hold their present.  These four cards were all one design with four different colors that I made just two days before Christmas.   

As the New Year approached and I was still in my funk, I woke one morning and was just fed up with my down mood that had persisted during all of the holidays.  I was really upset with myself and "kicking myself in the hindquarters" for not forcing myself into my craft room to make Christmas cards.  I felt that I had pushed by depressed vibes onto everyone else and not cheered them up if they needed it by getting happy mail at Christmas!  I vowed never to let another Christmas go by without me making and sending my cards, because with all my surgeries for my knees and hands in the previous three years, I had missed other Christmases as well.

In early January, I pushed myself into my craft area and gave myself a good talking to.  I made a wonderful New Year resolution.  I would stay in my craft area and make enough cards to cover family and long-time friends for Christmas 2021 (that would be around 70 cards) by the end of January; I was not allowed to make other cards; and I was not allowed to put what Christmas materials I had out away until I finished.  To help me out, my first two designs were alternative designs off the October 2020 Paper Pumpkin, "Joy to the World."

YAY! I completed my resolution, though I fudged a little on "other cards."  After I got over 3/4 of the cards finished, I had a few sympathy cards I felt I really needed to address...so I cheated a wee bit.  I spent many, many hours and literally a minimum of three weeks of January continually at my craft table getting my 70 Christmas cards finished, except for their inside design and verse.  I developed about 15 designs and made four to six of each.  This blog post is for my fourth card design, which is a take-off of an unfinished 2019 card kit from my Stampin' Up mentors, Daralee Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum.  Its design was originated by Dar, and I modified and embellished upon it, changing it to make it my own. 

The original design only had two layers and both were the same color...Very Vanilla.  I exchanged the Very Vanilla cardbase for one in a lovely, soft navy, called Blueberry Bushel, plus added additional layers in copper foil and Pretty Peacock.  I colored the stamped berries, peeking from under the foliage framing, with Copic markers to match the blueberry cardbase.  I added clear embossing and glitter to the Pretty Peacock foliage framing, and added an embossing folder design to the dashing deer.  I enlarged single layer sentiment, changed its shape to a double fishtail flag, and added a double fishtail blueberry mat layer beneath.  I moved it from a right off-center position, centering it up below the framing.  To finish, I Copic-colored rhinestones to match the color of the Pretty Peacock cardstock and added them to the four corners of the vanilla layer.  I am really pleased with all the colorful paper and embellishment additions.  It is so pretty and sparkly!  Take a peek below at my finished card:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up Products:  Cardstocks--Blueberry Bushel, Pretty Peacock, Very Vanilla; Foil--Copper; Pattern dsp--Brightly Gleaming Specialty; Stamps--Frosted Foliage, Itty Bitty Christmas; Dies--Dashing Deer (2018 Hol.), Frosted Foliage (2018 Hol.), Stitched Rectangles, Lakeside Dies (sentiment banner) (2019-20 Annual) (coor. stamp: Lilypad Lake); Rhinestones (Copic-colored).  Other:  Spellbinders Mystique Embossing Folder.  Size: 4-3/4 x 6-1/4 inches.

Joy to the World Wreath (October 2020 - "Joy to the World" Paper Pumpkin Alternative)

 I was really please with my first alternative card for the Stampin' Up Paper Pumpkin October 2020 "Joy to the World" kit using the pretty Christmas rose flowers provided in the kit.  I had a little mojo going now, and I came up with some ideas for the wreath die-cut provided in the kit.  I thought I'd try my hand at another alternative card using it.

The pine needle wreath in the kit was so lightly colored that it was difficult to see what it even was...it really needed help.  I watched a few YouTube videos on completing this kit, and I saw that most were using the stamp set provided and stamping a new wreath with the leaf/ pine needle wreath stamp.  One particular video showed how to turn the stamp so that it fit best over the other wreath and did not cover up the red berries on the original...that was very helpful!  I used the wreath, the stamp set, and the red twine provided in the kit, but I added the other papers, loving the color combination from my first card, plus another "Joy" die that I had recently purchased from Stampin' Up.  I also loved the look of the first card's embossing folder so I thought I'd use that again as well.  Take a look at my finished card below:

  

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Paper Pumpkin October 2020 "Joy to the World" kit elements.  Paper/ Cardstock--Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Call Me Clover, Gold Glimmer.  Dies--Joy Dies (2020 Holiday).  Ink--Call Me Clover; Memento Tuxedo Black.  Other:  Paper--DCWV Kraft & Gold.  Hot Off the Press--Diamond Dots EF.  Pretty Pink Posh: red sequins.  Size:  4-3/4" x 6-1/4".

Christmas Flowers Bring Joy (Paper Pumpkin October 2020 - Joy to the World Alternative)

I think I mentioned several months ago that I finally signed up for Stampin' Up's Paper Pumpkin subscription hoping that would motivate my lost cardmaking mojo.  It helped a little, but not as much as I'd hoped.  I still didn't get started on Christmas cards until just a few days before Christmas...YIKES!  I did fall in love with the October 2020 "Joy to the World" Paper Pumpkin kit, and it did finally spark me to try some alternative designs of my own rather than just make the couple of designs provided in the kit. 
 
I received a cute little penguin card from Ann Otto, the hostess of the Splitcoaststampers' Christmas Card Challenge...one I have participated in many times in past years.  I loved Ann's simple layout design with its left side triangle so much that it immediately gave me the idea to use the bones of her layout and incorporate it into the Stampin' Up October 2020 "Joy to the World" Paper Pumpkin kit elements to create my own card.

My deviations to Ann's layout were to add several layers to the card background, enlarge the left-side triangle and add layers and embossing to it as well.  Instead of a cute little alcohol inked penguin, I positioned two layers of kit's Christmas rose flowers on the triangle to which I did a bit of fussy-cutting and coloring.  I also added gold sequins to the flower centers and added green to the leaves.  I wanted the leaves to show off more and wanted to add depth and texture with the layers, sequins and dry embossing.

The kit came with gold metallic "Joy" die-cuts, but I decided to use my own "Joy" die, cutting it in two colors and setting them in an off-set,  layered placement.  The kit provided two vertical Crumb Cake card bases with a gold-etched vertical patterned, but I wanted to make multiple numbers of my card design to build up my Christmas stash, so I found a background stamp that I thought would work really well.  I stamped and heat embossed the pattern in gold onto plain Crumb Cake cardstock to create eight more card fronts.  I also added ribbon and more sequins that were also not part of the kit.  (Unfortunately, the other seven pre-cut and prepared card pieces are still waiting for me to finish putting them together!)  

Take a peak below at my first alternative card design using the Paper Pumpkin kit supplies, plus some added items and supplies not provided by the kit.  I have included the card ingredients below for your information:

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Paper Pumpkin October 2020 "Joy to the World" kit elements.  Cardstock--Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Call Me Clover.  Gold Embossing Powder; Versamark Watermark Ink.  Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon.  Other:  My Favorite Things background stamp: Balloon Strings.  Alina Craft die: "joy."  Hot Off the Press:  Diamond Dots EF.  Pretty Pink Posh sequins.  Colorbox Ink: Chestnut Roan (edge distressing).  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

Christmas Stars Shining on High!

These next cards are for my four children for Christmas and they are all using the same design, but with a different color scheme using their favorite colors.  This design was presented at a monthly Stampin' Up card class hosted by Dar Peterson and Luci Kirschbaum in the fall of 2019.  I believe the original design was Luci's, and my thanks to Luci for her design, which I am casing with some modifications.  

I  added more layering, making the card larger, changed the sentiment tag shape, the colors, star positions, and ribbon placement.  I also used a ribbon knot rather than a bow.  The large center star uses beautiful silver Mercury Glass Acetate backed by the darkest color shade.  I have made an inside verse and design which focuses on the bright star seen on Christmas night...the Star of Bethlehem.

The first card is navy and periwinkle (Seaside Spray) and was made for my oldest son David:

The second was made for my oldest daughter, Michele, using Bermuda Bay and Pool Party, since aquas and turquoises are her favorite colors:

The third card is for my youngest daughter, Jackie, and her husband, Josh.  Jackie has always loved red and black and you will find her wearing those colors often.  They were even the color theme for her wedding:

The final card is for my youngest son, Mark, and his wife, Ginger.  Ginger's favorite color falls in the purple hues, and though she likes the lighter shades, I believe she really loves the darker ones more.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Silver Glimmer, Silver Mercury Glass, Night of Navy,  Seaside Spray, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Gorgeous Grape, Purple Posie, Whisper White.  Stamps--So Many Stars.  Dies--Stitched Stars Dies; Chalk Talk Framelits (sentiment dies/ modified).  Ink:  Delicata Metallic Silver, Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay, Memento Tuxedo Black, Gorgeous Grape.  1/4" Seaside Spray Metallic ribbon.  Basic Rhinestones.  Other:  3/8" Offray ribbons--turquoise, black & silver, lavender.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6-1/4".  

Christmas Trees Black & White

 I really got the COVID lost mojo syndrome!  I have just been so unmotivated to do most anything, including one of my favorite pastimes...making cards!  I made only a few Christmas cards, and only those that I didn't have to mail got delivered, because they were VERY local!

Here's an example of how unmotivated I was...I revisited a card I designed back in 2018 and really loved.  I decided to try motivating myself by re-making just a few for two family members that I really needed to give a card to and who didn't receive this design in its first go round in 2018.  This wee bit of motivation only started about six days before Christmas...YIKES!  See this card's design and this year's first completed card below:

Ingredients:  Paper:  Stampin' Up--Whisper White (cardbase); Recollections Signature Glitter Paper/ white; Core'dinations--Black Tie.  Dies:  Spellbinders--Tear Drop Circles; My Favorite Things--Stitched Circle STAX, Stitched Snow Drifts; Sizzix TH-Alternations--Woodlands; Cottage Cutz Expressions--Merry Christmas.  Stampin' Up: Metallic Stars (retired).  Inside:  DCWV--Silver Stag Star dsp.  SU--Basic rhinestones.  SU--Silver Glimmer paper.  EK Victorian Photo Corner punch.  Chatterbox verse.  Size: 4-3/4 x 6 inches.