More Holiday Cards

Hi friends! While I was working on my tags for yesterday's Keeping Christmas blog hop, I ran across a bag filled with cut and colored digitals that didn't make it onto cards last season.  I had a bit of time, and decided to make a few more cards before I stuffed all the Christmas goodies back in the closet for another month.

I loved these two papers from the Sugar Plum collection, so cut them to 4 x 5.25" for the back panels, then used the remainder for the horizontal strip on each card.  I added some riding hood red mats and a border from the Lacey Trim Duo Die Set to give a little contrast, then got to work layering everything together.

The sentiment for the first card is from the My Cup to Yours DIGITAL Set and had already been foiled with my Minc machine in silver.  I accented with the three holly mugs... one from the Good Cheer DIGITAL Set and the others from Holiday Sweets DIGITAL Set.  A little stickles on the berries and whip cream and that card was done. I wasn't able to capture the shiny silver Minc foiling in this photo, but did capture it on the top photo.

The second card uses the cupcake images from theHoliday Sweets DIGITAL Set. and a sentiment from the  Good Cheer DIGITAL Set.  I matted the sentiment and added the cupcakes to finish off this super easy card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday. The boys have their Kindergarten graduation this morning so there's sure to be tears as we say goodbye to the fantastic teachers who have poured their souls into our little boys for the past 3 years. Isn't their graduation portrait adorable? 💓 💓 💓  So proud of these boys!

Enabler's List
Stamps:  Holiday Sweets DIGITAL Set., Good Cheer DIGITAL Set, My Cup to Yours DIGITAL Set  (Verve)
Paper: Sugar Plum (My Mind's Eye), Riding hood red (SU!), white
Ink: laser printer, Copic markers, wink of stella clear glitter pen (Zig)
Accessories: Lacey Trim Duo Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), circle dies (Cottage Cutz), stickles

Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop

My sweet friend, Lesley, invited me to join in with her and The Challenge Design Team for her first ever Simply Sweet Christmas Inspiration Hop. The hop is an inspiration blog hop focusing on LAST MINUTE SIMPLE YET SWEET Christmas cards or tags. There's sure to be a lot of fabulous inspiration along the way so let's get started.  

If you came from Claire's lovely post, then you're in the perfect spot for a little more inspiration.  If you're just happening by, head on over to Lesley's blog post to start from the beginning and enter in her little hop giveaway.  I have a little giveaway too, so be sure to read to the end of this post. :)

If you know me, you know that simple isn't really my forte. Sweet I can do, but simple is tricky.  I do try to tone things down for the holidays and I hope that today's cards can qualify as simple.  I just couldn't stop with the ribbon and the snowflakes, but these cards could easily be adapted with a small die cut snowflake and no ribbon. :)

I don't care for mass production, but I do often make a group of similar cards in one go. With little ones around I get lots of little "pockets of time", but not a lot of time all at once to create. I've found one of the best ways to be productive is to either print out a digital set or stamp a bunch of images on one page. Then I color them while the boys are putting on their jammies. Then maybe the next time I'll come in and die cut and/or fussy cut the images.  Another time I might pop in and add some glitter or Nuvo drops and cut some scraps of patterned paper. Here's what my Good Cheer DIGITAL looked like after my prep process. 

Don't you just love that sign? I keep it on my desk because it makes this textbook procrastinator smile every time.

When I do get to settle in for a longer crafting session with the pieces already prepped, it's just a matter of layout and embellishments and it seems like everything falls into place a little faster. 

Here I went with a similar layout for all three cards, using some scraps I had from some Doodlebug and Echo Park Christmas paper pads. My patterned paper strip is 1.5" x 5.25" and my circle die cuts are 2.5" and 1.75".  The coffee cups are cut with the coordinating Happiness in a Cup Die Set.

I used a dry embossing folder on a 4 x 5.25" white panel to add some texture and then finished with some snowflake embellishments and ribbon, all on an A2 card base.

Thanks for hopping along! Next stop is the super sweet and talented Kelly Lunceford!

Come hop along and be sure to visit each blog. 

There is a lot of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing!

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman  (You are here!)

Kelly Lunceford

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

Enabler's List

Stamps: Good Cheer DIGITAL Set (Verve)

Paper: 'Tis the Season (Echo Park), North Pole and Home for the Holidays (Doodlebug), white

Ink: laser printer, Copic markers

Accessories: Happiness in a Cup Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), stitched circles STAX (MFT), Season's Greetings embossing folder (Cuttlebug), wood snowflake (Recollections), flatback pearl, ribbon

I am also offering a randomly drawn prize of the Good Cheer DIGITAL Set and the Happiness in a Cup Die Set I used for today's cards, as well as a little variety pack of handmade cards from my stash. I will send them to one random winner. 

In order to qualify to win please...

Leave a comment on my blog telling me about your favorite Christmas or holiday tradition.

The Giveaway Contest closes at 8pm Mountain on Saturday, December 2nd.

Here to Stay is the New Bird

Hi friends! It's Monday again and the start of a holiday week. It seems it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without our whole family fighting a respiratory illness. All my boys are home sick today and get Wednesday through Friday off anyway, so it's a super short week for me. I'm hoping we'll all recuperate enough by Thursday to do the turkey dinner trot to both families' events. :)

I wandered into my studio yesterday afternoon and played a bit with the new Good Cheer DIGITAL Set. I had visions of making a slew of cards, but only had enough energy to finish up this one. This little new bird totally makes me smile, so I had to start with him.

I had already printed the Good Cheer DIGITAL set out on cardstock with my laser printer and colored with Copics, so it was just a matter of cutting out the images.  I used circle dies for the sentiment and holly and decided to fussy cut the birdie.  A couple pieces of a patterned paper layered over a white dry embossed panel completes the layout and I tucked in a partial glitter snowflake and topped it off with a sweet little bow.

Here's what the printable PDF of the Good Cheer digi looks like printed (coloring for display purposes only - I colored these on the couch while the boys were watching football). The sentiments in this set were so fun to design - I just love the whimsical look to them. And bonus... all digis are on sale through the end of the month and we now have 8 sets to choose from!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Good Cheer DIGITAL Set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white (Neenah), North Pole and Home for the Holidays (Doodlebug)
Ink: laser printer, Copic markers
Accessories: stitched circles STAX (MFT), Season's Greetings embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Christmas Ribbon (American Crafts), snowflake (Recollections)