Merry Christmas Upcycling

Hello and happy Monday! Today's card was created for the latest Jingle Belles card challenge. The challenge this month is to upcycle, recycle, etc. I have been doing this with Christmas cards for years. Each year before I recycle my holiday things I go through each of my cards and select the ones that can be re-used in one form or another. This beautiful card was just too easy. All I had to do was die cut a panel out of the main image using a stitched rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs. Stamp a sentiment from the Papertrey Ink Winter Snow Globe stamp set using Versafine onyx black ink onto the panel and add a few red sequins from Craft Medley the front. I mounted the entire panel onto some inexpensive fun foam from Hobby Lobby and popped it up onto an A2 white card base covered in some real red cardstock from Stampin' UP and this card was done. I love when I can re-use an item that would have ended up in the trash and it helps me get a leg up on my Christmas cards for the upcoming holiday season. Thank you for visiting my blog today!

Merry & Bright-Coffee And Cards With Celeste And Deb

Hello and welcome to our final Coffee and Cards with Celeste and Deb for the year! This month we have Shanna of Caffeinated Craftiness joining us as a guest designer. She makes the loveliest coffee cards! Debra chose our inspiration photo this month and I think it's absolutely perfect for a December/holiday card! To create my card I started by layering some red cardstock from Stampin' UP onto my white A2 card base. I then layered on some fun coffee, Christmasy patterned papers from the American Crafts Hot Cocoa 6x6 paper pad. I then stamped the coffee cup image from the Unity Stamp Company's KOTM We Can Rise stamp set onto some Copic-friendly white cardstock using Memento tuxedo black ink and colored it to match the inspiration photo. I masked the image and then stamped some small snowflakes around it using a stamp from the Inkadinkado Christmas Characters stamp set. I die cut the image into a circular focal panel using a pierced edge circle die from My Favorite Things and then matted it onto more red cardstock using a Spellbinders die. I stamped the sentiment and the hearts from the Simon Says Stamp Christmas mini stamp set using both Versafine onyx black ink and Memento lady bug red ink. I cut it down into a think sentiment strip, matted it onto some more red cardstock and adhered it directly to the card. To finish this card off I added some clear shimmer to the colored image using my Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen and scattered a few red sequins from Craft Medley for some additional pops of color and interest. 

For my coffee choice this month I opted for a Starbucks white mocha latte to help warm me up on this rainy, cold day. Now pop on over to Deb and Shanna's blogs and see what fun they created! 

Freezin' My Snowballs Off-W2CB Dec/Jan

Hello and welcome to the December/January Words 2 Craft By word challenge. This month's quote is "I'm an angel at Christmas time, but the rest of the year I'm the real me. Benjamin, age 11" My card kind of flips that a bit and I decided to create something fun and mischievous! To create my card I started by stamping the bunny from The Cat's Pajamas Snow Days stamp set onto some Copic-friendly white cardstock and colored him in using my alcohol markers. I die cut the image using a pierced edge circle die from My Favorite Things and then framed it out using some dark olive cardstock from Hobby Lobby and a Spellbinders circle die. I layered more of the olive cardstock onto my white A2 cardbase and then layered some pretty patterned papers from the American Crafts Very Merry paper pad onto the card. I stamped the sentiment from Unity Stamp Company onto more white cardstock, cut it down into strip and layered it onto more olive cardstock and mounted it onto the card below the focal panel. To finish this fun card off I added some red 6mm sequins from Craft Medley around the card. I hope can't wait to see how our quote inspires everyone else!

Hello Love

Today's card was created for the latest Card Concept Challenge. I just adore this beautiful inspiration image was inspired by the gorgeous red and blue combo and that huge heart in the cocoa. As soon as I saw this image I knew exactly which stamp set I had to use to create my card. I had picked up the Unity Stamp Company Hello Love stamp set, along with a few other of their great stamps, on sale right after Thanksgiving and I just them. If you've not tried their stamps before you have got to check them out. They stamp so beautifully! One of my favorite things to do with this image is to paper piece her. I am only okay at coloring with Copic markers, so paper piecing gives me a bit more depth and dimension and I love the final look. I stamped my focal image out onto some 110 lb white cardstock from Staples and colored her hair and skin using Copic markers. I then stamped her sweater, scarf, and the mittens and mug out onto some patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye The Merry Days of Christmas 6x6 paper pack. I added some shadowing to the images using Copic markers in warm grays. I then fussy cut all of the images out, edged them with a black dual tip Memento marker, and glued them all together. I then stamped the image again onto my focal panel and glued my final fussy cut image down on top. I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set to make it look like a speech bubble...like she is saying to her coffee "hello love" which is how I feel every morning that I get up and grab for my first cup of the day. LOL. Anyway, I added a few matte sequins in dark red from Craft Medley and some black dashed lines around the outer edge of my focal panel and called this card done. I hope you like it!