Another Medallion Card

I don't know about where you live, but here in Chicago, medallions are big -- very popular this year.  People are buying them in stained glass, as ornaments for Christmas trees...So I thought I would hop on the trend wagon and make a few medallion cards and give them to my Chicago friends while they're hot!

I made today's card for a friend whose birthday is on New Year's Eve.  I used a Queen Kat Designs stamp from the Chakra Collection by artist Crystal Moore.  It's called "Root".

I used a monochromatic color scheme, with bits of lace and a bow to embellish.  The sentiment is from another stamp company.  I like how, even though it will be given out after Christmas, my medallion almost looks like an ornament hanging in its frame.

Check out all of Crystal's medallions, as well as all the gorgeous stamps that QKD has to offer at the Shoppe.

Thinking About Birthdays

I am done, finished terminado, with making Christmas cards!  Enough is enough, and I've made enough.  So for a lovely change of pace, I created a birthday card.  Not that I can't escape Christmas creations just yet.  This one is the last one to complete my Gram's Christmas present of a year's worth of birthday cards for each family member.  This one is for her son, my uncle, who's four years older than I.

I colored a Queen Kat Designs stamped image called Cranium Man from Studio 77. onto patterned paper, and then framed it in coordinating colors of cardstock.  The patterned paper on the card base is a wonderful collection of gears, arrows and circles.  The sentiment is stamped with an acrylic stamp from my stash.

Not that my uncle is brainy or anything, but I do like to remind him he IS older than I am!! LOL  Hope you like the change of pace (and holiday) with my card.  Find all your Steampunk stamps at the SHOPPE.

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm writing this post two days before Christmas.  I will be very busy for the next two days cleaning house, preparing dinner, putting final touches on presents, pretty much checking my list at least twice, then spending time with family and friends (and eating too much)!
I wanted to showcase this gorgeous, gooey gingerbread house, a team effort between my teen daughter and my new granddaughter.  I have so much to be thankful for this year--
a new family that my son married into, complete with young kids,  in-laws, and a beautiful wife, both outwardly and inside;
 a job, complete with co-workers I call my friends (not to mention a salary);
 a home in which to keep warm this winter, whose walls stretch to welcome guests;
food to eat and share with family and friends, and with those less fortunate;
 good health and insurance to cover us when our health takes a slight dip;
 friends, neighbors and family to love and be loved by, to lean on, to help, to share successes and failures, and with whom to celebrate life's events;
 a strong faith on which to lean in times of hurt, anger, stress and despair, with which to share with those who need more than this earth can provide, who have lost (especially this year).
As I sit at my computer (another thing for which to be thankful), watching another Christmas movie, the nearby twinkling lights of the tree catching my eye, I can't help but feel blessed in this life.  So no matter what presents I unwrap, the best gift I received this year is life and love and my faith.  I have everything I need, and much more than I want!!  I am so lucky, and wish all of you who read this a very Merry Christmas!!

Anything Goes at Forever Night Creepy Challenges

What a great way to end the year--a great challenge and the news that I will be a 2012 DT member for Forever Night Creepy Challenge Blog!!  So please hop on over to the blog and check them out--you can celebrate your dark side of crafting, where it's Halloween all year round!!  Tell them Pat sent you!!

The Anything Goes Challenge runs through January 3, and her's my entry.  I used two of my fave images from Queen Kat Designs, Holly Fairy from artist Catherine Swinford, and Vampire Bat Eye by artist Nora Blansett.  First, I used patterned papers from DCWV stacks.  The I colored my images with a mix of Copics and Spectrum Noir.  I fussy-cut both images, using only a part of each.  The sentiment was printed in Word and punched with an scallop oval punch, and distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I drew the "cracks" in the sentiment freehand.
I had the most fun with the embellishments.  I used some gross grain black ribbon along the side, and part of a feather and jingle bell wreath embellishment that was 70% discounted at Joann's!  A black flower covers the end of the feather embellie.
Do you like my card?  I love the sentiment: "Be careful what you wish for..."  I think this fairy asked for a pet, but didn't specify what kind.  I think Santa's evil twin (look for the book by Dean Koontz-I have it out for overnight guests to read before going to bed-guaranteed nightmares) has a morbid sense of humor, don't you?
I hope you were very specific when you made your wish list this year!!  Happy crafting, y'all!!

Christmas Wishes

Well, the presents are wrapped and under the tree. The food is in the fridge (or thawing out) and I'm starting on the pies.  The lights are on, the tree is up, the house smells like peppermint and holly and pumpkin pie.  Are you ready for Christmas?

I made this card earlier in the month so I could mail it off to a friend.  I used a Queen Kat Designs stamp from artist Catherine Swinford called Holly Fairy.  It's another simple card--white embossed image onto red cardstock, faux stitching, adhered to patterned paper base and embellished with a funky "Noel" and a glittery butterfly.

I look at this fairy as she bends over her gifts.  I like to think that, as a fairy, there are wishes in those boxes, not toys or clothes.  Wishes for people who need miracles, like my little Girl Scout who has a brain tumor and wants more time here on earth...like my friend's son who is deployed in Afghanistan and wants to return safely to his family...like my friend's family who have lost their jobs and their home and wish for cheap housing and job opportunities...like those East Coast families whose homes were lost to the Hurricane and are still without shelter as winter arrives...like the families of those young children lost to the insanity of a young man with a gun.

If Holly Fairy were to give me one of her boxes, I would wish for someone else's miracle this Christmas.  I have enough shoes and sweaters and tech toys and crafting supplies.  I have a home and food and a job and a car.  I have a healthy husband and kids and grandkids and sisters and Mom (and even a Grandma who's 102 years old!).  I have the luxury to give away my wish to someone who really needs it.  And for that, I drop down to my knees and thank God every day.

So this Christmas, enjoy the love, the lights, the food and family.  Make a wish for someone who has that missing in their lives.  Make it a Merry Wish!!

Christmas FAVOR-ites

Five days left until Christmas Day and I am (almost) finished making all the favors for my dinner guests!  It's really helped me to have a wonderful collection of stamps from Queen Kat Designs.  This one is from artist Terra Bidlespacher and it's called "Brain Storming".

I colored my stamped image with Copics and cut her out.  I framed her with a white diecut snowflakes and then adhered her onto the front of a small notepad I picked up on clearance for,,,wait for it...49 cents!!  I also inked the edges with white and added a single white rose.

This notepad will be added to my growing pile of dinner favors for my guests.  I'm thinking of giving them out to my guests, all wrapped up, then playing the Lefty-Righty Game.  I wrote special lines to the holiday favorite "'twas the Night Before Christmas".  The idea of the game is for all guests to pass their favors to the left when the word LEFT is read, and to pass to the right when the word RIGHT is read.  At the end of the poem, the guests open their favors to keep.  I have several ornaments, notepads, and small gifties.  I need to count them up--I'll need 18 this year!!
Lucky I have so many pretty stamps from QKD from which to choose to decorate my items!  You can too, and will want to, once you check out all the lovely images from the QKD artists HERE.

Letters FROM Santa

Trying to pump out a few more handmade presents this Christmas, and came up with one for my granddaughter Bella.  She's back in our lives after paperwork for immediate temporary visitation was served to her mommy.  We may not have her for Christmas (this year) but we have her for this coming weekend, and there's a Christmas brunch tomorrow, so she may get a couple presents early this year.

So I colored up a Queen Kat Designs stamp from artist Sandra Caldwell called Silly Santa.  I decorated (minimally) a Quaker Oats canister and popped the image on the top and made my Bella a game I call "Santa's Letters".  Inside are tons of letters, from A to Z and back (several times) again.  She is in Kindergarten and loves to spell words and read.  We will have so much fun with this game, sorting letters, piling capital letters separate from small letters, and spelling words!

I love using QKD stamps for more than cards--altered art, gift boxes, ornaments!!  You can see the wide range of stamps QKD offers HERE. 

 From now until 12/24 12, QKD is having a special sale called Reindeer Games.