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.

Eat More Cupcakes

Hi friends! I've got a fun little card to share today. This past weekend, I was inspired by the inspiration photo at The Challenge and had to pull out the Cupcakes set. The bright colors seemed like a bit of a challenge and I was up for a little something out of my comfort zone. {grin} I've since pulled off these colors with a bit more pizzazz, but you'll have to wait a while to see that! Anyhow, back to the card... I stamped the bottom in turquoise and the tops in pink repeatedly, then fussy cut them and applied some Nuvo crystal drops to the icing and dusted with glitter.

Next I stamped the sentiment in coordinating inks and then cut and matted with square dies. I fussed with the layout of the cupcakes for quite some time before gluing them down. This seemed more balanced, but I had envisioned a big giant pyramid of cupcakes. Maybe just wishful thinking! LOL

The side strip is grosgrain ribbon with an extra loop and I finished off the embellishments with some enamel dots and a puffy heart sticker, giving it that tweenage flair I was going for.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! The boys are keeping me super busy. After a weekend in red air quality and lots of coughing for our ashtmatic family, the air quality is finally only in yellow today so I think we might just brave leaving the house!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Cupcakes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: designer paper, black, watercolor paper
Ink: lost lagoon and coral rose (Altenew)
Accessories: ribbon (SU!), square dies, enamel dots, Nuvo crystal drops, glitter, puffy heart sticker

Always Coffee

Hi friends! I'm popping in with a quick little card I made with the sketch at The Challenge this week. I loved the sweet clean lines of it and thought it would pair perfectly with the new Always Time set.

This sentiment is one of my favorites. No matter what's going on in my life, one of the only things I always make time for is coffee. It might be coffee that's warmed up in the microwave three times over and then finished cold because I got distracted yet again, but there's always time for coffee!{grin}

I started by stamping the there is always time for sentiment and the cup and steam in Versafine onyx black, then coloring with copic markers. I embossed the little cup liner in white for a foamy look to the coffee, then added a yellow mat to this panel.  I lined the bottom of the yellow with a Flourished Trim die cut, then cut out the Coffee Word Die in aqua (I just colored white card stock with copics to get an exact match) and black. My idea was to use the two descenders in the coffee word in place of the little tags in the sketch. Hope that's not too much of a stretch! {grin}

I layered the two die cuts for a bit of shadow, then coated with Nuvo crystal drops for some shimmer. The paper is from a Valentine's paper pack I recently picked up on the cheap at Tuesday Morning. Don't you just love that little chalkboard accent background?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend. I'm looking forward to it. The boys are going over to Nana and Papa's for a sleepover and Mark and I get to go to a real honest to goodness no kids allowed birthday party!  Hooray!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Always Time (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Valentine (American Crafts), barely banana, basic black (SU!), white (Neenah)
Ink: onyx black (Versafine), versamark (Tsukineko), markers (Copic)
Accessories: Coffee Word Die, Flourished Trim Die (A Cut Above by VERVE), Nuvo Crystal Drops (Tonic)

Guesting at The Challenge

Hi friends! I was super excited when Lesley asked me to guest design at The Challenge this week. They do a different type of challenge each week and today's inspiration is a fabulous little sketch. I love a big focal panel with so many possibilities.

I started with a piece of designer paper with chevrons and a bit of a watercolor look to it.  I haven't done much sponging for a while, so inked up the edges with worn lipstick, festive berries and ground espresso distress inks.  I used the same patterned paper to stamp the two smaller flowers from Kindness Matters in early espresso ink.  I cut with the coordinating Great Kindness Die Set, inked up the edges and layered together on dimensionals, adding a few leaves cut from early espresso card stock.

Next I cut a piece of watercolor paper for the focal panel and sponged the edges with the worn lipstick and ground espresso.  Next I loaded up some watercolor ink along the top edge, spritzed with water and let drip down.  I like how it tied the panel in with the look of the patterned paper below.  I also did this for the thin little banner strip.  Next I stamped the quote in early espresso, then chose a blush colored woodgrain paper for the back panel and inked it up as well.  Finished off with some early espresso mats and some hot pink adhesive pearls.

Well, that's all for now.  Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to hop on over to The Challenge blog for all the designer samples.  I can't wait to see what The Challenge design team created.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Kindness Matters (Verve Stamps)
Paper: C'est la Vie (Pink Paislee), early espresso (SU!), cream (Neenah), watercolor paper
Ink: worn lipstick, festive berries, ground espresso (Ranger Distress), early espresso (SU!), Quinacridone Rose watercolor (Daniel Smith)
Accessories: Great Kindness Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), adhesiver pearls