Fa La La Duo

Here are my last two cards for this year!

My oldest son and his girlfriend recently got a cat.  The cat is a "teenager" and came from the streets. He seems to be a loving little guy but also feisty. With the new addition, I wanted a card specifically for him so I got the Stocking Cat die from Simon Says Stamp. Then there was a nice Concord & 9th sale and one of the things I picked up was the Fa La La Inlay die. I thought I was going to be able to walk by this die, but then I saw this card by Amy Tsuruta that only filled in the Fa La La in the upper right corner and I knew I needed it.  It's such a fun and quirky look! With both the cat and the Fa La La on my desk, it was meant to be. (FYI: The bow did not come with the cat set; I just wanted to add a bit more green.)  

It was such a fun look that I decided to use the same idea for a card for my youngest son. (We will all be multiple states apart this Christmas, so he'll never know his idea was copied - although totally different!)  His card centered around the inside sentiment that was just too perfect for us given this December has been all about "when are we getting to Total Wine again (known as Liquor World in my house!) for more bourbon cream....or Wrexham lager...or their #1 wine of the year Harvester Paso Robles"!  He's the beer; I'm the wine, but we're both thrilled by a good bourbon or whiskey!

A lot of thought went into these drinks.  First, there should be a mug of beer on them but I didn't have anything in my collection that was big enough...not that I'm against shopping for more. I did have an old fashioned glass in the Halloween set - Trinity Stamps Creepy Cocktail - and just used it without the creepy parts!  (Hey Trinity Stamps, what about add-ons for this set for other holidays? It's a fantastic set!) I added a big round ice cube which apparently is the way to do it, but I hate them. My son gives me no end of grief that I just use ice from the ice maker.  And, of course, the most important part is the Luxardo cherry! If those small containers of cherries weren't $25, I'd eat the whole thing! (The biggest thrill this season was finding a two-pack at Costco!)  Then the yellow holly berries did start as artistic license but I looked it up as I was writing this and they exist!

I am done and can relax! Merry Christmas to all!!!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Concord & 9th Fa La La Inlay

Dies for Cat: Simon Says Stamp Stocking Cat

Dies for Beverages: Trinity Stamps Creepy Cocktails, miscellaneous holly and berries

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Crushed Curry, Gray Granite

Freshly Made Sketches: Noel Ornaments

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Brum and here’s what I did with it!

I was inspired by the sketch but used ornaments instead of circles. I was also inspired by my teammate Jacquie and her card from last week's sketch. She added the five letters from "HAPPY" on top of the five stripes and I loved it! So four ornaments and happily there is a Christmas word with four letters!

This is an older set of ornaments from My Favorite Things but they are exactly what I needed. Fairly small and not decorative so the letters fit perfectly. I picked bright and cheerful colors. Then to add to the fun, I added one of my favorite embossing folders directly behind them - Spellbinders Scattered Christmas. (It was a club embossing folder at Spellbinders and I joined a club just so I could have access to it!)  I tried a number of patterned dsp for the bottom green layer - but so typical for me, I ended up just embossing it with diagonal stripes.

This is our last sketch of the year but we'll be back with more starting on January 1st!  Enjoy the sketch and, if you celebrate, enjoy the holidays!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: My Favorite Things Christmas Ornaments (old!), Lawn Fawn Cole's ABCs 

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Granny Apple Green, Poppy Parade, Balmy Blue, Flirty Flamingo

Other: Spellbinders Diagonal Stripes Slimline embossing folder and Scattered Christmas embossing folder, Studio Katia Silver Foil pearls

Freshly Made Sketches: The Jolly Season

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by me and here’s what I did with it!

 

I'm always fairly selfish when I'm creating the FMS sketch for the week.  In this case, I had multiple big and fun sentiments in my not-yet-used stash and I thought a quirky background would work for any of them. Doing this sketch forced me into the background and the sentiment!

I pulled out some of the brightest and quirkiest Christmas paper that I had and made the stripes. Then I settled on the "jolly" sentiment from Photo Play. The biggest struggle I had was colors for the sentiment and mini strip on top of it. I can hardly tell you how many backgrounds and jolly's that I cut.  (Sadly, I have to see something in real life to know whether it does or doesn't work.) I really wanted to pull the dark blue from the paper into some element of it, but it just didn't look Christmasy enough. So the paper and strips took about 5 minutes, then that battle of the colors took another hour.  Thank goodness I like the process, because my process is ridiculously long!

I hope to see you play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Photo Play Jolly

Dies: Photo Play Jolly Word/Shadow, Sentiment Strips

Paper: Bella Blvd Holly Jolly Christmas

Other: Buttons Galore Caribbean Sea Doo Dadz

Nordic Noel: Elegant

I posted a Nordic Noel card on Saturday and mentioned that I wanted to do a couple more things with this die set before I moved it out of my not-yet-used stash. Today's card came together quickly and easily so I already have one more done. I think with the stitching and the beautiful cut-outs, the die can stand alone.

While I said it could stand alone, it felt like just the 'noel' on the paper seemed a little flat. I browsed other cards with this set and saw that many have added a smaller sentiment strip. So I browsed my Concord & 9th set and found this small "merry christmas" that seemed to fit perfectly.  The backer is a metallic silver but not super sparkly or bright because I wanted to be sure the white "noel" stood out.  To give it a bit of sparkle, I sprinkled on a few glittery stars.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Concord & 9th Big on Christmas stamp set

Dies: Concord & 9th Nordic Noel

Paper: Stampin' Up Whimsy & Wonder, Misty Moonlight CS, the silver is a scrap so unknown

Other: The Stamp Market Silver Glitter STars

Nordic Noel: Bright and Cheerful

This die set along with the coordinating enamel stickers has been in my not-yet-used stash for a couple years.  I don't know why it sat so long because I love anything Nordic! My first card leans into the enamel shapes.

There are four flower colors in the enamel shapes (plus white) so I found coordinating dsp and blocked the front of the card. I didn't want to add any other colors so I simply cut the "noel" in white and mounted on vellum. 

There are two more things I want to do with this die set before I can move it out of my not-yet-used stash. (I think I need a new name for that stash now that I've decided to leave things there until I've done all that I want to do with them - maybe my not-yet-done-with stash?!)  I think the die could stand alone, so I want to use it without filling in the details. Then the die set also comes with little dies that cut multiples of the leaves, flowers and dots so I want to do it on the paper and in the colors that I want (vs. the pre-defined enamel shapes.)  I like that there are options with a die set!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Concoard & 9th Nordic Noel

Paper: Dsp by Stampin' Up in Poppy Parade, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry and Flirty Flamingo

Other: Concord & 9th Nordic Noel enamel shapes

Reindeer Fun

Earlier this week, I used my Reindeer Fun dies by Stampin' Up on this card but it was an all red/green card and I indicated that this Christmas lover actually doesn't like the classic Christmas red and green together! So I had to give my little reindeer another try with lighter and fresher colors and this is what I came up with.

I got this entire die set just for his eyes!  I love how they created him so the eyes just happen with the layers. I surrounded him with other dies from the set in bright and cheerful colors. Then I found a simple sentiment from an older retired set and put it all on fresh white.

I took this entire week off work and I'm not entirely certain where the week went because there's a just few more days. Sadly, I don't have many cards to show for it. I did get one knitting project off the needles and another started. I have finished a book...or two...or three! There's been a few Hallmark movies and some football. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal yesterday and the day before we had an amazing charcuterie tray for dinner and all of that took time. There's been some shopping along the way...SO many craft sales! Today, we'll haul out Christmas decorations if my guys aren't still in a food stupor. It's been a very relaxing week!  Funny story - I have a jury summons for Monday so we'll see if I have even more time off of work! 

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Brightest Glow

Dies: Stampin' Up Reindeer Fun, Spotlight on Nature, Tasteful Labels (retired)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Pool Party, Lemon Lime Twist, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo, Poppy Parade, Early Espresso, Basic Beige, Crumb Cake

Other: Stampin' Up Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder (retired)

Freshly Made Sketches: Shimmer Lights

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Linda and here’s what I did with it!

I just got the Shimmer Lights Cover Plate by Mama Elephant and I feel like I want to use it on every single festive Christmas card!!  Then I remembered that I had these Spruced Up Outline dies which is a retired set from Stampin' Up so I figured for this first use of the Shimmer Lights, I'd keep the trees open and show off even more of it.

I'm writing this early this Wednesday morning before the challenge posts. I have taken the entire week off of work just because.  We aren't going anywhere or doing anything and it's wonderful. I love making cards and reading books and knitting and today will be making desserts for Thanksgiving. BUT my husband and son are also home so the one "flaw" is that any Hallmark Christmas movies have to happen before they are up. It's not that they wouldn't let me watch later in the day, but if I did, I'd spend the entire movie feeling like I had to apologize to them. Let's face it - some/many/most of those movies are truly bad! In fact, this is the first year that I've watched in quite a few years after one of them made me angry. (Man and woman start toy company. Man doesn't feel like dealing with the overwhelming workload of the business side of the company - so woman does. Man then accuses her of losing her love of toys so he leaves.  Then to compound my anger, when they meet up years later - he teaches her to love toys again and all is well.  But the opposite isn't true. He doesn't learn to adult, accept all of those responsibilities that aren't fun, and take some of the load off of her.  Wow - I'm still angry.)  Having said that all of that - since I have an entire lazy week - I've been looking forward to my morning coffee with a Hallmark movie. (But I turn them off early if I get any vibes like the one I just described!)

And now I've taken too much time writing this - I'm off to watch my movie - and I hope you play along with this week's sketch!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Brightest Glow

Dies: Stampin' Up Spruced Up Outline dies, Mama Elephant Shimmer Lights Cover Plate

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Granny Apple Green, Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana, My Favorite Things Pineapple, shimmer white behind the cover plate is from Michaels