My Christmas presents

Here are a couple of crafty Christmas presents I got!
My mom gave me these two stamps. I was ESPECIALLY excited about getting the gingerbread girl, since I have the SU! gingerbread wheel, but until now, I had no gingerbread type stamps to go with it. I'm very picky sometimes about the style of stamps that I buy, and I couldn't find a gingerbread stamp that I liked. I LOVE this gingerbread girl, however, so I was very thankful that my mom found it and bought it for me! I like the morning glory stamp as well, and it will be nice to have another large flower for some variety in my collection.
I also was VERY excited to get this wooden wall hanging cut-out. I am planning to put a family photo collection on the wall behind it (like a photo gallery), and LOVED this cut-out from the moment I saw it! My hubby bought this for me! I am also getting money from 2 of my sisters-in-law in order to buy frames for the photo wall. I have come to the conclusion that I will have to use collage frames, since buying over 20 frames at once (even if they are $5 each) is out of the question financially! Besides, I'm not sure that I want that many holes in the wall - though it would look cool! So - now the dilemma is just how exactly I'm going to get them all done and hanging up.... I promise to post pics when I get it done! :-)

Oh, yes, I also received the new SU! catalogue for Christmas! I LOVE our SU! demonstrator... she's a good and very generous friend! :-)

More Christmas Cards

Yes, it's after Christmas and I'm STILL making Christmas cards! Soon you will know the REASON why I'm so far behind, but for now, you'll just have to put up with Christmas cards for a litte while longer. I LOVE Christmas, so it doesn't bother me ONE bit! :-)

I got the shimmery red and green paper from Staples... the green is pearlescent Gamma Green, and the red is pearlescent Re-entry Red. :-) Love those names! White cardstock is Walmart, and black is Basic Black from SU. I got the little green tree punch-out from a friend, so no idea what that is made from! Sentiment is Papertrey Ink Holiday Wishes, (I LOVE this company, and look forward to MAYBE just getting my hands on more of their sets in the future) stamped in Color Box fluid chalk ink in Warm Red. The little tiny gingerbread man is another stamp I have no idea where it came from, the gingerbread background on the red is SU! wheel with ink from Michael's, and the tiny tree bkgrnd is TAC, stamped in Garden Green from SU!

The paper on this card is the same as above. Green vine bkgrnd is from SU! retired set Holiday Hedgehogs, as is the Hedgehog stocking, both stamped in Garden Green. Red bkgrnd ornament stamp is also SU! retired Little Layers II. Sentiment is again Papertrey Ink Holiday Wishes. Ribbon is from Walmart. I colored the hedgehog with colored pencils, gel pens, and a blender pen dipped in the Color Box Fluid Chalk Warm Red ink that I also used for the sentiment and red background. The silver faux stitches on the black were done freehand with a silver paint pen, and the tiny black doodling on the top and bottom of the white was also done freehand with a black pen. I also used glitter to make the ornament sparkle!

I made a few varieties of this Hedgehog card... here are some pics of the subtle variations:

Instead of ribbon, I used the silver paint pen to attemp to make faux brads, then outlined them in black pen. It looked OK, but I STILL wasn't happy!
FINALLY, I remembered my little star punch (I think it's Fiskars) and thought it tied in well with the stars on the stocking. No more faux stitching on the rest of the 20 that I made... too time consuming, and I liked the star punch so much, I left well enough alone! :-)

Here is yet ANOTHER card... same paper, same ink (SU! Garden Green, Color Box Fluid Chalk in Warm Red), black ribbon from Walmart, TAC tree on green bkgrnd, SU! Riveting on red bkgrnd, and the tree is from SU!'s Holiday mini collection catalogue, Season of Joy. I just cut out the tree, and in doing so cut off the star on the top.

I still have about 40 more cards to make, so I'll be busy still! More Christmas cards to come...

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

Thanks be unto God for His
UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!

(II Corinthians 9:15)

Don't forget the GREATEST GIFT we've ever received this Christmas... that Jesus Christ left Heaven to be born in a manger, to die on a cross, to rise from the dead, to live in Heaven forever giving us the gift of ETERNAL LIFE if we choose to accept His gift! I pray that you have accepted God's gift.
John 3:16 For GOD so LOVED the world, that he GAVE his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Merry CHRISTmas from Chris and Heather Mitchell! :-)

Football Birthday

I made this card for my little brother (who is turning 22 tomorrow!) He loves football. I used Garden Green (SU!) and Moonlight White ink. I love the look of the little play diagram stamped in white on black. It reminded me of a lockerroom chalkboard. Cardstock is Basic Black (SU!), Walmart White, and Gamma Ray Green (Staples). Brads are Spare Parts.

Thanks for stopping by... Have a great weekend!

Raindrops

Monday I went outside to get the mail, and it had been raining. I saw all these water droplets hanging on the branches of the trees, so I snapped a few pictures. They reminded me of the ice storms that we have up in MN, but here they weren't frozen. My camera has auto focus, so sometimes doesn't like to focus on the thing I want it to focus on! Anyhow, I thought these pics turned out nice, so I thought I'd share! :-)

Red Lighthouse Birthday

This is my dad's birthday card... He loves lighthouses. I wanted to use this shimmery red paper, so I made the lighthouse red, too.

Stamps TAC, Stampendous, PSX. Brads - Making Memories, Paper - ReEntry Red (I got it at Staples on clearance last year), Ink - Fluid Chalk Warm Red, SU! Sahara Sand.

Have a wonderful day! :-)

Gerbera Daisy Birthday

Sorry, the quality of my pics is a little off lately, since I don't have a editing program on my desktop anymore. This is a card I made for another SIL's birthday (I have 3 SIL on my side, and 6 on Chris' side!) She married my brother this summer, and their bouquets were made with Gerbera Daisies (as well as the centerpieces, cake decor, etc.!) I thought she would enjoy this card.

Stamp - Gerbera Daisy from TAC, SU! Riveting. Paper - the dollar store, eyelets-Making Memories, Colors - Green Galore and Regal Rose (I colored the stamp with the markers.) Enjoy your day (Here's a few pics from the wedding)

Bridesmaid's bouquet

Centerpiece at Reception

The Cake... even the napkins had Gerbera daisies on them! :-)

Sending Warm Thoughts Birthday

This card I made for my SIL. All of the stamps are from SU!'s set Like it a Latte. The oval and tag punch are both Marvy, and the little strip of ribbon is white satin ribbon that I just colored with my creamy caramel marker. Cardstock&ink colors are Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, and Purely Pomegranate.

Finally... my Christmas cards!

Well, finally, here are my Christmas cards for this year... well, about half of them anyway. I made 5 of the one above at a stamping party.

This year, I was trying to do Christian/spiritual/religious cards, rather than just winter cards. I know that I very often forget that there's a reason we call it CHRISTmas! So - I borrowed my SU! demonstraters "religious" stamp sets, and created these two cards:
Merry Christmas - Journey to Bethlehem
Journey to Bethlehem card open
I love this set... I think it is so cute that Mary is pregnant! I actually cut out paper to make the hills in the forefront of the city of Bethlehem. I used Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, and Mellow Moss for the colors of ink, markers and cardstock. The silver is a Silver Paint Pen... it made a better finish than my gel pen. The snowflake background is Snowflake Sky by Brother Sister Design Studio. The little Merry Christmas is from Fancy Flexible Phrases (SU!), and the other stamps are from a retired SU! set that I don't know the name of. I used a Marvy Jumbo Scalloped square punch, and the rest of the pieces I cut with my cutter from Staples (it includes a deckle edge blade.)

Nativity Christmas Blessings
These stamps are from various SU! sets, but I couldn't tell you the name of any of them! The Nativity scene and inside sentiments are retired. The other stamps are bits and pieces of various sets I liked and pulled together. The colors are the same as listed above. The ribbon is SU!'s satin Purely Pomegranate. The color is so rich it almost makes my mouth water! The corner punch is SU! as well, and the brads are Memory Makers.

Chris gave out these cards to his co-workers (most of whom are unsaved!) today... and called me this afternoon to let me know that they LOVED them. Even one of the grouchy old men taped his to the front of his desk! Chris said that one of the office ladies was walking around to see which of the 3 cards everyone else got! That makes me feel good... and maybe, just maybe, they'll look past the beauty and see the CHRIST of CHRISTmas! :-)