Christmas in Review

Well, Santa has come and gone.  Our Elf on the Shelf is back at the North Pole.  The gifts are opened and strewn across the living room.  And I finally have a moment to blog again now that there is no more shopping, wrapping, or baking to be done.  I love the holidays but they can be so busy and hectic that there is little "me" time.  I did squeeze in some crafting, though, and was able to make a few cards for some special people.  Now that things have calmed down a bit, I thought I'd share them.  First up is a trio featuring La-La-Land Crafts' Luka images: Christmas Present Luka, Christmas Elf Luka, and Letter To Santa Luka.

Christmas Present Luka is colored with Copics and fussy cut.  I added some Snow Writer to the trim on his hat and boots.  Papers are My Minds Eye Christmas.  The layout is a sketch from Addicted to Stamps (#71).  For dies I used several from Spellbinders: Fancy Tags, Labels Fourteen, and Lacy Squares.  The snowflake punches are Martha Stewart.  A single rhinestone adorns the center.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Christmas Elf Luka is also colored with Copics and trimmed with Snow Writer.  I cut him out using Labels Fifteen from Spellbinders.  The Waltzingmouse Stamps sentiment is stamped on a Fishtail Flags Stax Die-namics by My Favorite Things.  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Vintage Christmas.  Snowflakes are again Martha Stewart with a K&Company snowflake brad added.  The sketch is Try Stampin' On Tuesday (#147).

    
Letter To Santa Luka is colored with Copics.  The sketch is the current Sketch N Stash Challenge (#128).  Papers are Basic Grey - Wassail (Mantle and Falling Snow).  I added buttons that have been in my stash forever.  The Fishtail Flags Stax appears here too and the ornament border punch inside is Martha Stewart.

  
Ugly Christmas Sweater is a cutie from Saturated Canary.  She is colored with Copics and cut using the Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles.  The gorgeous snowflake border is from Memory Box and the snowflake punches are once again Martha Stewart.  I also really love my Fishtail Flags Stax Die-namics and used it for the sentiment here too.  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Merry Little Christmas.  Layout is from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #199.  The only embellishments I added were some pearls and a metal corner.

Noel from Saturated Canary is colored with Copics, cut with the Long Rectangles die and matted on a Long Scalloped Rectangles die, both from Spellbinders.  The sentiment is Stampin' Up and is stamped on a Ribbon Banners die, also by Spellbinders.  Papers are Authentique - Festive.  The design is from Tuesday Morning Sketches (#229).  Here I added some flowers, punched Martha Stewart branches, and a couple of pearls.

 

And lastly, a big announcement and my final card!  I am proud to share with you that beginning in January 2014 I will be part of the design team for KennyK's Krafty Krew!  My final holiday card was made using Christmas Shopping from KennyKdownloads.  Sketch is Sweet Sketch Wednesday (#237). The image is set in the Spellbinders Snowflake frame. Papers are My Mind's Eye - Merry Little Christmas. I added pearls and Stickles as my only embellishments.

We had a magical Christmas, and I am looking forward to new adventures in 2014! It is exciting to be joining such a fabulously talented design team, and I can't wait to get started!

Markers used: Copics

Christmas Present Luka (E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E31, R32, R37, R39, R89, YG93, YG95, YG97)

Christmas Elf Luka (E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E31, BG10, BG72, N4, N6, N8, YG93, YG95, YG97, R32, R37, R39, R89)

Letter To Santa Luka (E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E27, E31, E33, E34, R32, R37, R39, R89, B32, B34, B37, YG93, YG95, YG97)

Ugly Christmas Sweater (E00, E11, E21, E23, E31, E34, E79, R32, R37, R39, R81, R85, R89, N0, N2, BG10, BG72, YG93, YG95, YG97)

Noel (E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E31, E33, E34, E79, N8, R32, R37, R39, R89, YG93, YG95, YG97, Y28, Y32)

Christmas Shopping (E00, E11, E21, E25, E31, E34, Y28, Y35, B06, B32, B34, B37, BG10, BG72, R32, R37, R39, R81, R89, V20, YG95, N2, N4, N6, N8)

{hugs}

Regan

The Corrosive Challenge #189 - Anything Goes

Did you miss me?  I know I've been quiet so far this month, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!  There has been holiday shopping and decorating taking place!  And I've been spending some quality time with my small man, enjoying the twinkling lights and the cozy feeling in the air.  Also, our Elf on the Shelf, Boris, has returned from the North Pole and we have been delighting in his antics!

Sadly, this means there is one thing that hasn't been checked off the holiday To Do list yet: Christmas Cards!  I haven't been doing any crafting and being the procrastinator that I am handmade cards for all are out of the question.  So it looks like photo cards will be the way to go.  But I do give special cards to a select few and have printed a bunch of images with hopes of getting some coloring and creating in soon.  The Corrosive Challenge has a brand new challenge today- the last of the year for us.  Our theme is an easy and fun one to close out 2013: "Anything Goes"!  It's sponsored by the whimsical Lacy Sunshine!

Artist Heather Valentin tells us about the company in her own words:

Lacy Sunshine Stamps offers beautiful original and imaginative digital stamps for all your paper crafting needs.

All images from Lacy Sunshine are hand drawn and designed by myself, Heather Valentin, a professional artist, muralist and illustrator and my dad, professional artist, G.P.

From the art desk of Lacy Sunshine's creator....

"I am one who loves creating timeless pieces from my heart and soul, creating an extraordinary world filled with magic and whimsical friends.... one drawing at a time. Come journey with me now into my Lacy Sunshine World".

Heather is offering a prize of 3 digis from the shop and she generously supplied each team member with an image to use.  I selected Eleanor Holiday Shopping.  She is colored with Copics and cut using the Romantic Rectangles Nestabilities (Spellbinders).  The sketch is from Digi Sketch Challenge.  Their current challenge is Christmas with an optional sketch.  Papers are My Mind's Eye - Merry.  I've added a few punched snowflakes, pleated ribbon, and some bling.  The sentiment is from a Teresa Collins set I picked up at AC Moore on Black Friday. 

 

If you want more magical inspiration head over to The Corrosive Challenge blog to see what the rest of the team has to made!  You will not be disappointed!

We are off to brunch and a visit with Santa today.  I'm hoping for some good pictures for those photo cards!  There may also be a little holiday baking thrown in and then who knows...

 Enjoy your holiday season!  May it be Merry & Bright!!!

Markers used: Copics (E00, E11, E21, E70, E74, E79, R39, R81, R85, Y28, YG93, YG95, BG72, ).

 {hugs}                                                                                                                             Regan  

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day!  Today, and every day, I have so much to be thankful for!  My handsome small man, a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, good health, loving family, wonderful friends...  I am grateful for all that I have and feel so fortunate that I am able to indulge in this fabulous hobby of mine on top of it all!  I've made some cards for the holiday and wanted to share them.  The first is for the current Simply B Stamps Facebook group challenge (November Challenge).  This is Little Indian Betty and she was free for those who wanted to play along with the challenge.  She is now available in the SBS shop (as is her counterpart Pilgrim Corinne).  The theme for Betty was to use feathers.  That was easy enough.  I am cutting it really close to the deadline, but what else is new?  lol

Papers are The Pumpkin Patch by DCWV.  I actually used this stack on all cards I'm showing off today.  It was just the perfect go to paper for all my Fall creations!  I matted the image on a Floral Ovals Nestabilities die cut (Spellbinders) and added my feather, flowers, and pearls.  Sketch is the current Sweet Sketch Wednesday (#234).

The next three cards all feature images from Saturated Canary: Scratch, Princess Harvest, and Cornelia.

This is Scratch.  Isn't he adorable?  The sketch is last week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday (#233).  I kept this one pretty simple.  I used a border die from My Favorite Things and a maple leaf punch.  The sentiment is from a Clear Dollar Stamps set.

Next up is Princess Harvest.  

The sketch for this one is the very last one from Crafting Life's Pieces (#64).  I LOVE these sketches and I was very sad to hear they were closing the challenge blog!  It looks like I heaped on the embellishments on this one but it's really just flowers, pearl clusters, and flower trim from Tim Holtz.  I used Labels Eight Nestabiliies (Spellbinders) to cut out the image.

 
And lastly, here is Cornelia.

She's sweet and simple with a couple of pearls, some flowers, and a Tim Holtz muse token.  The sketch is Papertake Weekly (#85).

I am looking forward to spending quality snuggle time on the couch with Kayne while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV in the morning.  Then we will head to my parents' for a delicious turkey family dinner!  And of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little Black Friday shopping!  I won't venture out until after noon (no crazy doorbusting for me!) but it's a yearly tradition with my best friend that we love!  The rest of the weekend will be spent in a decorating frenzy!

To all my US readers: a happy and safe Thanksgiving!  Thanks for stopping by to see me today!  I am grateful for all my followers and for the lovely comments you leave!

Markers used: Copics

{hugs}
Regan

Thumbs Up

I have another card to share with you today as a guest designer for KennyK's Krafty Krew.  This fortnight their challenge is "Anything Goes" (#160) and they released some awesome new KIDS images last week!  I decided to play with Thumbs Up Kid.  He is colored with Copics and fussy cut.  The sketch is last week's Mojo Monday (#319).  I seldom feature sentiments prominently on the front of my cards, but this one was just begging to be used!  It's a cling stamp from 7Gypsies (Hampton Art).  Papers are Comic Heroes from Recollections.  To keep the focus on the image, sentiment, and papers I opted to not add a lot of embellishments.  A few black pearls and a Martha Stewart punched star border were just the thing it needed.

There's still one week to play along for the terrific prizes that are up for grabs:

KennyK, offering 5 digis of choice

and

Flonz, offering a $20 gift certificate

I hope you'll check out the gorgeous design team creations and join in the Anything Goes fun!  KennyK is also currently having a design team call so if you are interested check out all the details for that on the blog as well!

Almost time to start that Thanksgiving baking and crafting.  I can't believe the holidays are here!  At least I have a head start on my shopping this year...  Have I turned over a new proactive leaf?  Nah.

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for stopping by!

Markers used: Copics (E00, E11, E21, E37, E39, B37, R20, R32, YG91, YG93, N0, N2, N4, N6, N8).

Challenges:
- Inkspirational: #44-Anything Goes 
- Brown Sugar Challenge: #69-Anything Goes
- Sister Act Card Challenge: #34-Anything Goes 
- 4 Crafty Chicks: Anything Goes
- 4 Crafty Girlz: #6-Anything Goes
- Auds Sentiments Challenge Blog: #94-Any Sentiment
- Southern Girls Challenge: Round Round Baby Right Round 
- Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: Anything Goes
- Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge: #154-Anything Goes

{hugs}
Regan