Christmas Card with Sami Stamps Image Today

We've reached the midway point of the Gifts Galore challenge at the 12 Months of Christmas Link-Up blog. Gift giving is a fun part of Christmas and something we all look forward. Weather we are giving or receiving, it is always fun to watch the surprised faces on Christmas morning when opening up our packages. While it may be a bit early for gift giving, let's add some presents to our cards this month.

This month the blog is sponsored by Sami Stamps. 

I got to play with one of their digi stamps called "Curious Gifts." I  colored it with Copics and then printed out some festive digital patterned paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles (ribbons paper from Merry Mix Paper Pack, Chevrons paper from Gifts Galore Paper Pack, Bauble 3 from Bauble Bonanza Paper Pack and Red from the Glitterati Se 1 Glitter paper. I love using digital papers-I can print and cut them out for my cards, or create a card in Photoshop-either way, the storage is SO much easier! LOL
I finished my paper off with a sticker, a tiny bow and my sentiment. Want to get ahead with your handmade Christmas cards? Join the 12 Months of Christmas Link-Up and create and link up two cards each month. Every one who does so will receive free patterned paper each month. If you choose to create with the optional theme (Gifts Galore this month), you will have twice the chance to win prizes from the sponsor.

• Prize being offered:   $12.00 gift certificate from Sami Stamps  for one random winner chosen from those who participate in the optional theme.
• Additional Sponsor: Décosse's Dynamite Doodles
• Prize being offered: One free digital paper to everyone who links up a minimum of two cards to the challenge.  Cards can be anything goes for this prize, they only have to follow the theme if they want a chance at the sponsor's prize.  The mini set of six digital papers called Gifts Galore, will also be offered up as a prize to one random winner.

Challenges I am Entering:
Southern Girls challenges - Patterned Paper Free-for-all
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
A Snowflake's Promise - Anything Goes

The Beauty of Unconditional Love

My daughter-in-law has asked me for another memory box in which to place keepsakes of my newest grandson. Since I had already created a memory box for her, I decided that the next one would be for Jonathan's daddy. I think there is nothing as beautiful as the unconditional love that a parent can give their children. No matter what toll the terrible two's, thrilling three's or heart-wrenching teens take on parents, their love is everlasting.
So my memory box was created with the Path of Positivity's challenge theme of Beauty this month. I colored up a digital image from Sami Stamps called Daddy's Kisses and placed it in a photo flip pocket, so that when the pocket is flipped, you can place another photo on the other side, like below.

I took an over-sized photo box and Mod Podged it with lovely royal blue tissue papers for the bottom, and black & white herringbone for the cover. Coordinating ribbon embellish my photo and my sentiment, while stars adorn the top of the box. I plan to add more to the sides of the memory box before giving it to my son and his wife.

Meanwhile, we have reached the midway point of this month's theme of Beauty at the Path of Positivity challenge blog. Show us what you think Beauty is in a card, layout, canvas, photography or essay. We have two sponsors this month:

Sami Stamps

and Luna Girl

SPONSOR & PRIZE INFORMATION:

• A $12 gift certificate from Sami Stamps, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

There will also be:

• A small selection of digital designer papers from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky person who leaves a comment on posts published during the challenge time-frame.

• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

Sami Stamps Sponsors New Challenge

This week, Sami Stamps is sponsoring Craft Your Passion challenge blog's newest challenge. Of course, the challenge is always Anything Goes, and crafting is easy with images from Sami Stamps.Check out their awesome, winsome images HERE.
My DT card today features the image Winter Cocoa, and believe me, here in Chicago, it's going to take a LOT of cocoa to warm up a body. We have had a roller coaster ride of warm and cold temps this winter,  and are (not) enjoying the cold descent into sub-zero nights and near zero days. Brrr! So I guess you would say I'm lying when you read my card's greeting, huh?! LOL
Whatever the weather, I always make time to craft. It is the only way I keep sane nowadays. I hope you are keeping warm (in the northern hemisphere) or cool (in the southern hemisphere), and always have time to craft!! Don't forget to link up your card or project with Craft Your Passion this week.

Challenges I am Entering:

Sami Stamps challenges - Add a little sparkle (glitter & Stickles)

Allsorts challenges - Girly & sparkly

Hiding in My Craft Room - Embossing (sentiments and snow

My Time to Craft - Tag it! (card shape)

Card & Scrap - Blue & white
Craft for the Craic - January Blues

Just Us Girls - Color challenge

Beach-Inspired Sunday Project

Happy Sunday, crafters! Today I was cleaning and organizing my craft room and happened upon some pictures I had taken at the beach in Wisconsin (the beach being Lake Michigan). I remembered the trip with my mom and sisters, and how utterly relaxing our "girls' day(s) out" had been. We had connecting rooms with full views of the lake, and often we would catch each other just sitting there, staring out of the window and being hypnotized by the dance of the clouds in the sky and the waves in the water.
So, I just had to look at what I had at hand, as I promised myself I would use up my stash before all else. I limited my project to what was still on my desk (which isn't much of a limit-I hadn't cleaned it off in a while).
I found this simple yet elegant digital image from Sami Stamps to color up. I had just returned all my Copics back to their corrals, and they were organized so the coloring went quickly. Then I fussy cut her out along with her steaming mug.
Since my head was wrapped up in the relaxation of the trip, and what better way than to relax with a book, I made a bookmark. Yes, for a real, paper book (after all, how can you make a bookmark for your Kindle?) Some leftover trim and a button and my bookmark was almost complete.
I love to play in Photoshop, and am fairly new to digital crafting, so I opened my bookmark base there and placed it on some beautiful textured paper from the Christmas Grunge collection by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. All I had left to do was choose the right sentiment, and I think that's exactly what I did. Now my bookmark is ready to print, and I think I'll make a few of them so that, while marking their pages in their books, each of my sisters and my mom will remember our weekend awa, and the peaceful time we had together.
Image:  Comfy Cocoa from Sami Stamps
Papers: Christmas Grunge from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles, and a page from DCWV A Colorful Life paper pad
Embellishments: stray green button (actually I found it under my craft desk); purple adhesive-backed trim from Recollections, Inc
Ink: Copics Y38,17,11; E00; V04,12; and G21,94

Challenges I am Entering:

Sami Stamps challenge blog - Add 2 Different patterned papers (although you can't see much of the grunge paper, it makes a thin border around my bookmark)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenges - Utterly Feminine

Sketchy Colors challenges - Lilac, grey & blue (see below)

A Gem of a Challenge - One for the Girls 

Jo's Scrap Shack - Lazy Days of Summer

Simply Papercraft challenges - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes w/optional twist-Girls' Night Out (I was inspired to create from a Girls' Weekend Out recently-it was very chill)

Sammi Stamps Sponsoring Craft your Passion Challenge This Week

Today I paired Green and Purple together for my card. Using Sammi Stamps' Comfy Cocoa image, I colored her with Copics and color blocked her onto my card using leftover pieces of patterned paper from my stash box.
The sentiment is from Kahlil Gibran, whom I discovered while still in high school. I embellished simply with jewels and a strip of leftover black lace.
This is my DT project for Craft Your Passion, and I hope I've inspired you to create for this week's Anything Goes challenge that starts today.
Happy crafting!!

You're My Serendipity

You never know who you're going to meet on the path of life. Sometimes that chance meeting changes your whole direction. And when it results in good fortune, then you recognize your experience as a brush with Serendipity.
This month the Path of Positivity challenges us to create a project with a serendipitous theme. My mixed media canvas represents my meeting with serendipity when my husband came home and told me in no uncertain terms that he needed to get away from work. With only a moment's notice, I was able to book us on a cruise that got him relaxed and me pregnant--ten years after my one and only pregnancy that gifted us with a son (ten years!).
That serendipitous experience led to my now 19 year old daughter, a crafter, a write, a college student and my best friend.
...and I am just so lucky.  
The Path of Positivity is sponsored this month by Sami Stamps:

and Luna Girl:

I got to play with an image from Sami Stamps called Two Smiles. As soon as I saw it, I knew just the serendipitous experience I would write about (I have been blessed with so many). 

I colored my image with Copics, cut it out, and adhered it to my canvas (already covered with streamers of tissue paper, paint and ModPodge). The hearts represent my love for my daughter. The butterfly is a symbol of her finding her own wings. The many jewels decorating the canvas is for the light she brings to my life.
I gave her this canvas tonight, and she loves it...and I am just so lucky.
Please come join us on our path. You'll see plenty of inspiration and a bit of positivity, and by participating in the challenge, have a chance to win some awesome prizes:

• A $12 gift certificate from Sami Stamps, one of our guest sponsors this month, for the post or project that the DT deems most inspiring of the bunch.
• A $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl, one of our guest sponsors this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

• One digital designer paper (made to order in a couple different ways) from Décosse's Dynamite Doodles for one lucky voter who leaves a comment, and
• One digital sentiment for every single person who enters the challenge.

The Path if Positivity challenge log is featuring Stephanie of Steph's Scrap Happenings, as their guest DT member this month. Be sure to stop by her blog and leave a little positivity!

Other Challenges I am Entering:

As You Like It challenges - Favorite Anything but a Card

Southern Girls challenges - Get Your Girly On
 2 Creative Chicks - Anything Goes

Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes not a card/ATC
Die Traumfabrik - Inspired by Love Films (Steel Magnolias)
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes Mixed Media/Altered Art only