Christmas 2011. . .Snowflake Cheer

This is another card whose original design was by Angela Kelley.  Once again, I have enlarged this card by adding two more layers to the base:  the light blue cardbase and the soft moss green snowflake pattern.  Again, I think the two new color layers enhances the card, but certainly does not take away from the original design.  This is such a restful card, soothing in its quiet presentation.  I hope that my good friend and her husband enjoy it and know that it was made and sent with thoughts of our long-time friendship in mind.

Christmas 2011: Love those Mittens!

I love this next design made by Angela Kelley.  I have enlarged the card by adding to more layers and with the added bonus of more color:  a new soft lime green cardbase with a red mat layer next, and then the front of the card.  I really like these new layers, I think it adds a lot more color to the card and brings out the green and reds in the mittens better.  The mittens were cut from a patterned piece of paper with mittens all over using a Spellbinder circle die.  Such a great card, and I thank Angela for her original design.

Christmas 2011: Snow Flakes Falling

This next card was also a design by my sister Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner).  Again, I needed to make the card larger, and it came a 5-/4 inch square.  I added the BoBunny Double Dot layer and enlarged the snowflake paper by cutting it in half and spreading it open under the center belly band.  I also added the Scalloped die cut under the snowflake circular sentiment, offsetting it just a bit.  I think my changes added to the card's design, but yet it retains the flavor of the original design.

Christmas 2011: A Card for Son & Wife

Mark & Ginger's card evolved and original design kit by my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner.  Once again, I enlarged my card and made it square. I added a new card rose red base, added the teal snowflake layer and added the doily lace border.  The rest of their card is composed of the pieces in the card kit.  Isn't that just the cutest idea of clipping the winter clothing to a knotted clothesline.  The winter clothing was fussy-cut from a pieces of scrapbook paper.  

A Son's Birthday in October, 2011

My youngest son, Mark, birthday is in October.  I like to make cards that focus on who the person is. . . .by depicting their job, their hobbies, their travels, etc.  Mark is a builder of homes, and takes after his Dad in being able to repair anything.  One difference from his Dad is that he builds homes from scratch, and that is something that his father has never done, though he can do some pretty major home repairs as needed.  

This was my second birthday card ever for Mark, and I had found these cute little metal tool embellishments during my travels in California and I had to buy them for future use.  They, of course, were perfect for Mark.  I loved the colors on Mark's card and the way it turned out.  One thing that may not be clear by the picture is that the aqua patterned paper just below the tool rectangle mats actually has raised and embossed tools, which is pretty cool-looking on the real card.

Anniversary #7 in September 2011

September brought Don & Michele's anniversary...this was #7!  I think since I could not spend a lot of time on Mark & Ginger's card in July, my psyche told me to go overboard for Don & Michele. . .LOL!

I was definitely thinking vintage as well.  I made the crossword puzzle in Microsoft Word, using a table with many tiny squares colored and not.  The word sheet behind the crossword is actually all the questions by number that relate to the actual crossword, which I made up and printed in Word as well.  I also placed the crossword, questions, and answer key (upside down) on a sheet of cream paper and enclosed in an envelope attached inside the card for them to complete on their anniversary...a tad easier than trying to figure anything out on the card front's crossword!  I found the vintage circus tickets online; they happened to be for a Sunday, their actual anniversary day ~ I was stoked!  But, they were the wrong color for my card color scheme...so I put them in PaintShop Pro and changed the color to peach!  Lots of computer challenges...but lots of fun to do!  I love combining computer skills with cardmaking though I don't like make digital cards!  Somehow they don't have enough 3-dimensional layers to them.  I use the computer for the sentiments most of the time instead of stamps, for typing my poems and verses for the inside the cards, and for making my own script paper, things like the crossword, papers with words, etc.

(original inspiration from a card in a cardmaking magazine.  I should have written the information down at the time I thought I might make something like it to give the original author credit. . .I apologize for that lapse.)

September 2011: A Birthday Follows Mine

It was time to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law whose birthday follows mine by just one day.  And yes, again, she would get a Copic-colored card.  I found this little Magnolia stamp that looked like Tilda was lounging back, low-key on a summer afternoon.  June lives in California territory where the sun still shines warmly and brightly in early September, so I thought she was perfect.  I colored Tilda's clothes to match the My Mind's Eye belly band that my little image looked like she was sitting on.  Love those corals, browns, tans, and greens.  I was pretty sure June would like her card very much.

(Heidi Gonzales: My Lil' Scrap Corner design: enlarged, modified and add-on to make it more me.)

2011 Daughter-in-Law Copic Birthday Card

By July and August, I was really getting into this now Copic coloring.  Ginger, my daughter-in-law, was going to get a little Magnolia stamped card colored in Copics just as everyone seemed to be getting.  This little girl was sitting on a humongous cupcake with fluffy white frosting made with Flower Soft.  You are going to love her little yellow boots with cherries printed all over.  I also thought I would try something a little more difficult and use black for her hair.  It was not perfect, but for my first attempt at this difficult blending job. . .not too bad.  (I was getting braver after attempting my sister's little pinafore girls in purples. . .another difficult color to blend.)  My little cupcake girl was all done and was ready to be delivered to Ginger's door with her birthday gift.

A Mom Birthday in August 2011

It was soon to be my Mom's birthday in 2011.  I had been working on my Copic Marker coloring skills during the spring and early summer and I wanted to color an image for her birthday card.  Wouldn't you know it. . .once again I was thinking of vintage.  I found a British online site that was nothing but vintage images to color ~ Whoopsi Daisy.  Oh my gosh, I loved so many of them!  There are three things I do like about digital images rather than stamps:  1) they are a lot cheaper; 2) when you buy them you don't have to wait for them to be shipped, you can use download and use them almost immediately; and 3) you can size them smaller and bigger. . .whatever suits the particular project you are doing.  I really love this little girl delivering a birthday present, and here she is on her finished card:

Mom is Not Feeling Well (July, 2011)

My Mom has not been feeling well for at least a week, but she thinks she might be on the mend.  She pretty sure its just a touch of the flu, but we worry about her catching anything, especially colds,  with her asthma.  I thought I would send her a little get well card and show her that I'm still working on my Copic coloring, which I learned while visiting her just this past Spring.  I had just finished this little C.C.Design digital image, which is appropriately named Heidi, my sister's name.  I had a little problem with one of the boots, but was able to make it look like they had laces.  Here is my little Heidi boots and all sitting in the flowers of her garden.  I know Mom will appreciate the card as she started to learn how to color as well.

(Heidi Gonazales: My Lil' Scrap Corner) design: enlarged and modified to add a little me).

An Anniversary in July 2011...

My son and his wife celebrated their fourth anniversary in 2011.  It was hard to believe that amount of time had already gone by.  I wanted to make them a card, but had a very limited time as my husband and I planned to do some motorhome traveling to the coasts of Oregon and Washington.  I barely got this little card off by the skin of my teeth, as that old saying goes, before we left.  It was one of the simplest cards I ever made up to that point in my cardmaking journey. . . and definitely meets the clean and simple card style.  Even so, I'm sure Mark and Ginger appreciated my efforts on their behalf.

July brought Mark & Ginger's anniversary...love you both!

A Belated July 2011 Birthday

My sister's birthday is in July, and my husband and I were busy traveling in our motorhome to the coasts of Oregon and Washington; therefore, my crafting table was clean. . .LOL!  But, I also missed time to make a birthday card for my sister, who has been my mentor in my cardmaking journey.

When I got home, I thought I would make and send her belated birthday wishes.  I had a cute little vintage digi of a girl holding a scrapbooking book in her arms and I thought this would be perfect.  I started looking through my papers and found a pretty lavender floral piece, that I decided was what I wanted to use.  And then I realized, purple is the most difficult color to work with in blending and application per my sister.  I decided, oh well, I might as well try it and see what happens.  She was right, but after much tweaking and re-tweaking I final got my image to where I was at least satisfied.  I loved her little white lace on her pinafore and her dress edge.  I decided to make them white with a violet edging and then stickle them to give them sparkle.  I was pretty please with her when finished.  I was hoping Heidi would think so too.

2011 Birthday for a Son-in-Law!

A vintage John Deere for my son-in-law Don's birthday in July.  Don used to drive a tractor as a teenager when he worked on a farm, and he has had a bucket list to own his own John Deere when he retired to acreage.  I thought I would fulfill his bucket list by given him a card with a vintage John Deere of his very own.

I found the very image.  I colored the Farm Power words in gold with my Copic markers to suit the color scheme I had chosen.  I also colored the screws gold and made my own script paper with facts about tractors as its subject...such fun!!  He loved it!

Recipe:  Paper:  Bazzil cardstock-chocolate; AdornIt/ Vintage Groove Collection-Vintage Polka Dot Green-side 2 (green paisley); MME-Brown Stripe/ Tractor Drawings; Script paper: homemade computer-generated; Core'dinations Glitter paper (frame).   Image: from John Deere website.  Spellbinders Pinked rectangles. Martha Stewart Edge punch. Pinking shears. Machine stitching. Recollections screws (Copic colored).

July 2011. . .A Sister-in-Law Birthday!

I have a sister-in-law who married into my husband's family about a year after I did, and she and I are very close in age.  We started a friendship many years ago as our husband's (the brothers) were employed by the same company and we both moved to the California Bay Area.  In those early years of our marriage before moving around the country separated us by many states, we had lots of fun and laughs.  

I wanted to send her a little birthday card showing off my new Copic marker coloring talent.  As she is a shipmate by marriage as well as our husband's sharing the same company employment, I thought this little Magnolia stamp of a sailor girl was appropriate.

Birthday 2011 for Daughter Dear!

I'm was REALLY enjoy making those vintage cards about the time my daughter's birthday rolled around in June of 2011.  As I'd said previously, I think I love the nostalgia of it all...a reminder of a simple time and place.

As I was searching for vintage images for John's aunts card earlier in the month of June, I came across one with a purse full of Forget-Me-Nots that I absolute loved.  My daughter has always liked this weed as her Dad calls them.  We have them growing and increasing on the bank in the front yard, and he is not happy about that.  He is threatening to go out and use RoundUp on them.  I actually like them during the several months they are in bloom, but they are rather stringy when finished. . .so I understand his point of view as well.  But, thinking of them when in beautiful, blue blooming abundance, which they were at the time I made my daughter this card, it gave me inspiration, I think.  I know she will truly enjoy her card and may even see a little humor in it.

And, I made this little poem for her inside verse letting her know how much she is thought of and loved each and every day of the year.

Sister-in-Law's June 2011 Birthday

My sister-in-law, Thelma, has a birthday in June, but I just missed it.  She is my husband's youngest brother's wife.  Since I am really getting into this hobby of cardmaking, I thought I would like to send Thelma one of my homemade cards.  I had quite a stash of cards built up by now and in looking through them, I found just the one that I wanted to send to Thelma, because it suited her and the fact that the card was a belated birthday wish.  I also knew I could not start from scratch and make one right then that I thought would suit her any better.

So, Thelma got one of my woodless-colored pencil little girls who seems to be standing there with a flower for peace-offering because she is late getting her birthday wishes off.  I love this little girl image with her wispy little red hair and her jaunty little flowered hat.  We called Thelma on her birthday to wish her good wishes, so I know Thelma knows we were thinking of her.  But, this little card will remind her that it is true!

 (Heidi Gonzales - My Lil' Scrap Corner  design: enlarged and modified)

2011 Aunt's Birthday #90!

When my 96-year-old mother-in-law heard what was planned for Aunt Joanie's 90th birthday. . .a birthday card shower, she asked me if I would make a second card and mail it from her.  I was only too delighted to do this for her.  As I had already accumulated lots of ideas from her son about her hobbies and favorite things throughout her lifetime, I was intrigued by the fact the Aunt Joanie loved root beer floats, and was tickled to be treated with one even to this very day.  I thought this would be a fun idea for her second card from Alice.

Again, I went online search for a vintage photo involving root beer floats.  I saw numerous ones, but really like this old ad for a soda fountain shop encouraging you to come in for a delicious, creamy, and cool float!  From the image, I chose the colors of my paper.  I had the black and gold ribbon in my stash and thought it would be great to use, and I was off and running from there.  Here is the card that came together as my vintage creation.

This is the little verse that I composed all about root beer floats and the temptation to have one.  By the time I finished I think my mouth was watering. . .LOL!

Birthday 2011: An Aunt is 90!

My husband's Aunt Joanie was 90 in June 2011!  I must say, my husband's family has long-living genes on both his mother and his fathers side of the family. . .at least for the women!  Aunt Joanie is his father's sister and she lives in the Midwest.  Her son and daughter wanted to shower her with cards by having as many friends and family send her cards as possible.  I am sure she will receive over 50 or more for sure as my husband's family is quite large!

I decided vintage was definitely the way to go for this lovely vintage lady.  I had a favor I wanted from her son before I got started.  I asked him to send me an email listing as many of Aunt Joanie's favorite things or hobbies and that she enjoyed throughout her lifetime.  When he told me she loved to dance and that she and her husband often went dancing in the 1940s and 1950s especially, I knew I had my theme.  I searched on line for vintage colored images of couples dancing and found just the right one.  Here is the card I created from the information and the image on hand.

  

Father's Day 2011 . .

I absolutely loved this card...saw it in a 4-year old Cards magazine.  I think it really struck a cord with me because my husband LOVES watermelon.  A Kansas boy at heart. . .what better thing to have than ice-cold watermelon on a hot summer day!  

I was pushed for time, what else is new, and needed an idea NOW...and there it was on the cover!  I just had to lift the idea and figure out how to make it since I didn't have any way to make watermelon seeds and I wanted our children's names on the rind (which the original card did not have).  I was at a crop and a friend, Sheila, graciously found a Cricut cartridge that had a shape similar to seeds in her stash, and she cut out the seeds for me...and I ready to go!

(I apologize for not been able to get the name of  the original cardmaker to give her credit.)

2011 Birthday: Mom-in-Law is #96!

My mother-in-law, Alice, was 96 on her birthday in June 2011.  I made this little card with her in mind when I was practicing coloring with woodless-colored pencils (Progresso Koh-I-Noor purchased from Michaels).  I thought of her at the time, because I think you very well might have found ladies wearing just such hats in the year of her birth 1915!

This card slants toward the vintage "simple and clean" that I'm not even sure really exists as a style of card.  I used the paper-piecing technique on her hat and the hat band. . .that was a lot of fun!  I think making vintagey cards brings on a bit of nostalgia for a simpler place and time.  Her is Alices birthday card, and I hope she enjoys the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

(Heidi Gonzales design that I modified and tweaked a bit to say "me.")

Butterflies on Mother's Day 2011

I just hate it when there is no time!  But, salvation is at hand.  I remembered the card I made for John's sister and that I tuck away the knowledge the it would make a great Mother's Day or birthday card.  Aha. . .now is the time to use it.

I brought up the digital image I had scanned of the previous card before I sent it off in the mail so I would know exactly what to pull out of my scrapbooking stuff.  I was delighted to find that I had already put the glitter sparkles on the butterfly wings, which meant it was dry and ready to use.  I got busy with the papers and embellishments, and voilà, here is my mother-in-law's card.  I know she will enjoy it.  She is always tickled to get any mail, but especially my cards she says.

A Vintage Mother's Day 2011...

John and I are both fortunate that our mothers are still with us.  His mother will soon be 96, but she is still alert and very much with us!  My mother never likes to tell her age and looks at least 15 years younger than she really is.  We have been thought to be sisters...good for her, but not sure it is for me???  

Here I go again with vintage thoughts for my Mom.  I bought and downloaded some images from Iralamija on Etsy, and I loved the vintage cake and cupcakes images, so I decided to use one for Mom's card.  I'm found some lovely My Mind's Eye papers that I thought were just right in both color and look for a vintage card and the image.  I hope Mom loves her card!

Easter 2011...Behind the Eight-Ball!

I was visiting in California, and we had so many things planned, as well as busy helping my sister in her store that I did not get my Easter cards done.  Shame on me.  I'm feeling very guilty...here I am enjoying my vacation and the wonderful spring in California with lots of sunshine, and my family has no one to cook for them on Easter and its raining (surprise...sarcastically) in the Seattle area!

But salvation came along...my sister, Heidi, was teaching a card technique so I took her class, and I, at least, got one card done for my 95-year old mother-in-law.  The new technique is called image crackling, and I applied it to the colored digital image and placed it on this Easter Card!

For John's Mother at Easter

Confirmation Congratulation: Spring 2011

A person very dear to me was confirmed in her faith in Spring 2011 and asked me to be her sponsor.  I was delighted to do that for her.  Of course, since she is an adult, I will not have as many duties to perform as I would if it were a teenager, but I am there if she needs to talk about religion, etc.  I did attend the classes with her for six months almost every Monday night.  That was actually uplifting for me, and I enjoyed learning things I had either forgotten I learned as a youth or maybe never learned 40 or more years ago!

I wanted to make her a special card and give her a special gift to celebrate the occasion.  I found a lovely cross with petite diamonds embedded and that gave me inspiration of how I wanted her card to look.  It's almost like a card that could be used for a wedding because it is pale tan and white with a bit of cream as well.  

Following is the little verse that I composed that I thought was perfect for the occasion.  I hope this lovely person enjoys both her card and meaning behind the verse.  I'm sure she will!

Birthday 2011: The Boy is Four!

On my spring visit to California, my little nephew always has his birthday.  It gives me a really good excuse to make a little boy card!  Parker loves to go out with his Dad or Grandpa on the huge lake on far from their home.  All the men in that family are huge fishermen.  Dad and Grandpa even travel to entry fishing competitions. . .and since Parker has already started fishing with his junior pole, I have a feeling that he will soon be entering contests as well.  Most of their fishing is "catch and release," but occasion when they'd like a little trout for dinner and it's not a contest, they keep a few.

I didn't have a fishing-type boat, but I thought Parker would enjoy the little sailboat that I could make with my Sizzilit die.  I remembered the paper with the schools of fish and my "Catch a Wave" border die.  I only had a few hours to make this card, because his birthday party was shortly after I arrived.  For such a short time, when my scrapbooking stuff was barely unpacked, it had to be simple, but I think it turned out just fine!  I hope Parker will enjoy his little card with his movies gift certificate.

A 2011 Birthday for the Cupcake Maker

Jackie loves to make cupcakes and decorate them to fit just any hold occasion from birthdays, to Christmas, to Halloween, to Easter, to Valentine's Day, and the list goes on!  While I was on my spring visit to my Mom's in 2011, I found that my sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner.blogspot.com) had taught a Copic-coloring class in her store before I came using a Magnolia stamp image that was perfect for Jackie.  So of course, I had to talk my sister into teaching me how to color with Copics so I could make this card for Jackie.  Surely, I was ready to move onto Copic coloring?  She let me use her pens to try it out and see if I like it, and unfortunately, I met that slippery slope head on.  I think I've accumulated over 200 pens by now.  Here is the finished birthday card, that I mailed to arrive on Jackie's birthday!  I knew she would like it.

Moving on to Copic Coloring. . .the Slippery Slope. . .

Using woodless-colored pencils was a great way to learn coloring (shading, sun angle, etc.) and not very expensive.  But now, I wanted to learn to use Copics because I wanted to make a birthday card for my daughter Jackie using these markers, so I asked Heidi to teach me how.  So, I took classes with the help of my talented sister, Heidi Gonzales (My Lil' Scrap Corner).

Oh my...sigh...my pocketbook (or my husband's) will never be the same!  I have since moved on to use Copics exclusively, and it was good-bye to pencils...probably forever!  LOL  (You've, no doubt, heard of the slippery slope as an issue if you start using Copic markers. . .well, I met that slope head on!)  Here are some coloring card kits designed by my sister, Heidi, that I that we used to begin my learning curve with Copics!  Now, I was ready to do Jackie's card!

CC Designs digital image crafted/ colored by me (a Heidi Gonzales design)

Mo Manning digital image crafted/ colored by me  (Heidi Gonzales design)

Magnolia stamp crafted/ colored by me (Heidi Gonzales design)

Magnolia stamp crafted/ colored by me (Heidi Gonzales design)

Coloring on My Own - Spring 2011

While on my trip to California, my goal was to get in more coloring practice.  I went down to my sister's store and I purchased a few of Heidi's card kits and decided to see what I could do with them.  I did enlarge some of the cards to fit my preference of larger cards, which I still seem to favor.  Here are a couple more of my woodless-colored pencil favorites:

Tilda the sailor - a Magnolia stamp

Swirling Leaves Tilda - a Magnolia stamp

A March 2011 Birthday for David

David's Birthday...as a young boy, he love his Space Invaders. . . and his Atari game console, a precursor to personal computers.  I found this funny paper pad by DCWV that was all computer and game oriented papers with the perfect piece that had all sorts of space invaders, and my creative juices took over.  I went in search of the perfect font to use on my sentiment and verse that would make you think of the computer font found in the old DOS operating system used on the original IBM computers and like the font also seen on the first computer we had. . .the Commodore 64.  When I was finished, I was sure David would like his card.

Trying Out My Coloring on Mom!

I wanted to practice a little more on the woodless-colored pencil coloring that I learn this past fall while in California.  So, I decided I'd make a card for Mom letting her know special to me not only as a mother but as a friend.  I composed the little sentiment and the card verse inside as I thought about all the special things my mother has done for me over the years.  She is there to be help when needed, often traveling for miles, and she is always there to lend an ear if you need one with thoughtful suggestions to help you in your decision making.  I was successful with my coloring and it found a home on Mom's card.

A 2011 Valentine for the Female Gender in the Family!

I started with a card for my mother and after making it, I decided I like it so well I would make another and give one to my mother-in-law too.  I loved this paper that was flocked and had glitter as well.  This card's design is what would be called a "clean and simple" card currently.  I found the foam-glittered hearts at my local craft store and loved their puffy look.  My "Moms" appreciated being remember on Valentine's Day.

With my next card, I tried using the sandable cardstock and a peek-a-boo heart that showed the little verse on the inside of the card.  This card is for my daughter, Michele, and her husband.  I hoped it wasn't too feminine for Don, but Michele said she needs to receive a card once in a while that doesn't focus on Don.  I thought that was a good idea. . .if it is a joint card, one time it will be more feminine and the next one will be toward the masculine slant.  Seems fair, and here is their card.

My final card is for my youngest daughter, Jackie.  I was able to cut loose on the feminine side and decided to try the vintage look on her card.  I had been admiring vintage cards with doilies.  I found this lovely vintage lady on some paper that I had in my stash and fell in love with her.  Using two red heart doilies, I created this card:

A 2011 Valentine for Each of My Two Sons

On a roll with masculine Valentine cards, I thought I should attempt those I needed to make for my sons, David and Mark.  

Because I had this idea of threading a ribbon through the sentiment, David did get a ribbon and bow.  After finishing the card, I came to the conclusion that I could have used a fishtail knotted ribbon instead of a bow, but that just didn't come to mind until I was all done. . .so a bow he got!  I liked his card even with the "prissy" bow, but at least it was black!

My next card was for my son, Mark, and his wife, Ginger.  Because he has a wife, I figured I could fudge on the totally masculine card, after all it is for her too!  Though you can't see it well, the hearts on the balloons have the letters that spell out LOVE U. 

Valentine's Day 2011 has struck...

It was time to make cards for the family for Valentine's Day.  I decided to start with my husband's because I often find make cards the suit a man are more difficult than those for a woman.  Some guys don't like ribbons and bows, etc., so that cuts down lots of your embellishment options.  Hearts a generally thought of as girlie, but isn't it nice that Valentine's sweeps that thought out the door.  So, my husband got lots of hearts for his card, but they became more masculine by being in shades of brown.  Here is the card I made for John in 2011:

First Card of 2011 - Birthday for My Hubby!

A new year of cardmaking began.  I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable with designing my own cards.  So, I thought I try something of my own completely from scratch.  My husband is quite the television watcher from political news, business news to sports.  His favorite series is House, M.D.  He pretty much monopolizes the television and the remote during his relaxation time, which, as he is retired, can be most any time of the day or night!  

I made his the perfect card for my channel surfing husband, who hates to watch commercials so he switches the channel until he finds a station without commercials. . .the inside verse grants him a free day of channel surfing. . .no questions asked!  LOL

The Last of Christmas 2010!

My final two cards that I made and will post are not using pre-made chipboard embellishments but are more "from scratch" as I find I enjoy making my own embellishments more.  It gives the cards a much more homemade look, which I prefer.

I found a wonderful card in PaperCrafts magazine that I loved, and I had to try to make one very similar to see if I could make a card from a picture and change it a bit here or there where I saw fit.  I do not remember who the original author was, so I am sorry I am not able to give her credit.  I specifically went out and purchased the Sizzix Candy Cane die that I used for my card.  This card is for my daughter, who always loved to have as many different flavored candy canes as she could find.  She would take a box to school and trade with friends until they all ended up with a variety of different colors and flavors.

This last card was made by fussy cutting patterned paper and piecing and layering them together to create my own scene of the birth of Christ.  I cut out my own snow-covered ground to place by images upon.  I thought my daughter Michele's in-laws would really appreciate this card, so it was sent their way.

More 2010 Christmas. . .

I was finding if I had a certain paper that I loved or was a match for the person I was making the card for it seemed to help with my mojo.  So, I thought if I chose chipboard embellishments to fit each person, that might also help with the card development.  I went to work choosing chipboard embellishments with each of my children in mind, and then it was time to see what I could do with them.  

For our firstborn, a son, who always loved the story about Frosty the snowman, this little snowman card seemed just right:

For Jackie, who has built several gingerbread houses and tried her hand at gingerbread cookies, I thought this card was perfect for her:

And for Mark who was sure he could hear Santa and his reindeer on the roof, this was the perfect embellishment for him and his wife, Ginger!