Christmas Card Photo Shoot 2018

Scrappy Monday!  Last week was super BUSY and this one might be too...I work every day this week but shorter days, so in the afternoons I'll probably be trying to get some Christmas stuff prepped.  The hubs and the spawn put up the Christmas tree yesterday and I decorated the entryway a bit, so we're in the process of getting in the holiday spirit :)

How about a Christmas layout for today...

For our Christmas cards in 2018, we plopped Ryan down in front of the tree and did a quick 10-minute photo shoot; we used that 5x7 photo for that year's cards.  I used to hand-make about 65 Christmas cards every year, but I figured most people were probably just going to throw those in the trash anyway so I switched to photo cards.  Now only a few select people get handmade cards.

Today's color palette:  Real Red (Ryan's favorite color), Old Olive, Blueberry Bushel, Shaded Spruce, and Whisper White.

Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Make a Difference, Signs of Santa
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Blueberry Bushel, Stampin' Blends in Real Red, Shaded Spruce, So Saffron, Petal Pink, Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate, & Ivory
Paper:  Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Thick Whisper White, Under the Mistletoe DSP
Accessories:  Santa's Signpost dies

Sparkling Snowflakes

Hey y'all!  I have to write this post really really fast because I need to be out the door in about 10 minutes.  This is the current view from my craft room window:

SNOW!  The temperature is too high for it to stick on the ground, especially the roads, but it always seems so special to me when it snows.  I grew up in Texas where snow is a Really Big Deal if you're a kid--if the ground is even just kinda white, they cancel school, so yep, snow = magic to me!

Here is my super sparkly snowflake card for today!  I'm submitting this for the Paper Players challenge:

I couldn't think of anything to fit the words "Winter Wonderland" better than a super sparkly snowflake.  I used the sketch from Inspired By Challenges:

I'm hoping I can grab enough time in my craft room to make a card based on one of their inspo pics, too.  And finally, here's the brand new Festive Friday challenge:

I used sparkle, emboss (white embossing powder for the sentiment), rhinestones, silver, and die cuts.  The rhinestones were a last-minute addition; I thought it was too much to put one in the middle of the snowflake, but I needed something in the bottom corner of the blue strip, so rhinestones to the rescue!  That's going to be my new band name, Rhinestones To The Rescue.  I like it.

Gotta run.  Stay toasty warm, friends!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Snowflake Wishes
Ink:  Pacific Point, VersaMark
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Shimmery White, Pacific Point, Snowflake Splendor DSP, silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories:  So Many Snowflakes dies, white EP, rhinestones, mini Dimensionals

CAS Christmas, Part 2

Hey y'all!  I had intended to write this post in the morning before I went to work, but I ran out of time :) I'm back with the other three card designs I made for my husband's work.

I got Lots of Cheer right before it retired and then didn't have a chance to ink it up, so I'm glad this cute boxy snowman finally gets his chance to appear!  The outside sentiment is from First Frost, and inside says Happy Holidays from Warmest Regards.

Kinda wish I'd done the mittens in blue and the sentiment in green, but I didn't have that thought until I'd already made most of the cards so oh well.  The mittens are from Merry (long, long retired!) and the sentiment is from Warmth & Wonder.  You may notice that all of the sentiments on the card fronts have something to do with warmth, guess that's my theme this year!

Last up is a cup of cocoa from Scentsational Season.  And that's all my cards!  I think making 65 cards in a single day is a personal best for me ;)  I was very productive at work for the past few days too, and I'd like to relax tomorrow for my day off but nope, looks like I'll be making desserts for a potluck thing in the afternoon.  I do like to bake though...

Cheers, y'all!  Stay toasty.

Supplies, snowman card:
Stamps:  Lots of Cheer, First Frost, Warmest Regards
Ink:  Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel
Paper:  Balmy Blue
Accessories:  None

Supplies, mittens card:
Stamps:  Merry, Warmth & Wonder, Warmest Regards
Ink:  Garden Green, Pacific Point
Paper:  Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:  None

Supplies, cocoa card:
Stamps:  Scentsational Season, Warmth & Wonder, Warmest Regards
Ink:  Real Red, Soft Suede
Paper:  Blushing Bride
Accessories:  None

CAS Christmas, Part 1

So I mentioned yesterday that the hubs asked me to make 65 Christmas cards for his work...well, more like winter holiday cards, not Christmas specific.  I managed to make ALLLLLLL of them yesterday.  I did five cards which are all basically the same one-layer CAS design, I just used different stamps so I only made 13 of each card.  That made me feel like I was making progress when I switched to a different design, and it kept me from completely running out of any single color of cardstock since I hadn't specifically planned for this project.  I have a very large stamp collection, so it took me quite some time to go through all my winter stamps and settle on images and sentiments for the five designs.  Almost all the stamps I ended up choosing are retired.

Here's card #1!  I used the cute cabin image from Cozy Christmas and a sentiment from the still current set Poinsettia Petals on Crumb Cake cardstock.

This was actually design #5 but I wanted to pair these two together and share the other three designs later this week.  For this one I used Serene Snowflakes and Hugs & Wishes for the greeting.  Inside of both of these designs I stamped "Season's Greetings" from Bright & Beautiful.

Very simple design, but it had to be for me to make 65 cards in a single day, and I think they're still reasonably cute.  Now I just need to sign the insides of them and see what the hubs wants as far as envelopes...

Have a great day, y'all!

Supplies for first card, all SU!
Stamps:  Cozy Christmas, Poinsettia Petals, Bright & Beautiful
Ink:  Shaded Spruce, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crumb Cake
Accessories:  None

Supplies for second card, all SU!
Stamps:  Serene Snowflakes, Hugs & Wishes, Bright & Beautiful
Ink:  Fresh Freesia, Balmy Blue
Paper:  Thick Basic White
Accessories:  None

Christmas Treats

Scrappy Monday, y'all!  Wow, I haven't worked on scrapbook pages in a really long time.  I won't get the chance this week either since the hubs asked me to make 65 Christmas/holiday cards for his work.  No rest for the crafty!

These photos are from all the way back in 2008; we always gave Sadie and Vader some kind of treat or toy when we first started opening Christmas presents so they would be distracted by the treats and not try to "help" with opening the other stuff.  Man, I miss those two.  Anyway, I've got some nontraditional colors happening here thanks to the Candy Cane Christmas DSP and I like it.

Island Indigo, Blushing Bride, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, my favorite Baja Breeze, and Whisper White.  Well, there is a red and a green on there.

Christmas cheer, kids!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Taffy Alphabet, Endless Wishes, Tags Til Christmas
Ink:  Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray marker
Paper:  Island Indigo, Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas DSP
Accessories:  None

Blackberry Beauty Best Wishes

Mornin' y'all!  I had so much fun making yesterday's card for the Global Design Project CASE the Designer challenge that I made another one:

Here's the challenge graphic:

This time I kept my layout a bit more similar to the inspiration card, and layered several floral elements together.  But I went in a different direction with the patterned paper rather than leaving a lot of white space, so my card doesn't feel nearly as CAS.  I love that owl pattern!

Hope you have a great day, y'all.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beauty of Tomorrow, Art Gallery
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry
Paper:  Rich Razzleberry, Thick Basic White, Blackberry Beauty Specialty DSP
Accessories:  Intricate Leaves dies, Blackberry Beauty Ephemera Pack, Dimensionals

I Got Sunshine

It seems so DARK now with the time change from a few weeks ago, so I made a sunny card in my craft room on Monday!

I made this for the Global Design Project challenge:

At first I thought of using the Nature's Harvest suite from the mini catalog because I haven't inked it up yet, but then I saw Celebrate With Flowers and had to use that instead.  I got it during the one-day stamp sale in October and this is my first card with it.  I kept a tall floral element on the left side of my card, I used yellow as my main color, and I used some twine on my card as well.  Also you can't tell from the picture but the dragonfly is covered in Wink of Stella :)

Hope your day is filled with sunshine!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Celebrate With Flowers
Ink:  Just Jade, Flirty Flamingo, Bumblebee, Night of Navy
Paper:  Bumblebee, Thick Basic White, Sweet Symmetry DSP
Accessories:  Rectangles Stitched Dies, Potted Succulents Dies, Dimensionals, twine from a Paper Pumpkin kit, Wink of Stella