Where's My Marshmallow World?

The weather outside is ridiculously warm. The high today was 64 or 65 degrees (that's 18 degrees for all you Celsius fans). Two weeks to the big day and baby, it's not cold outside. I pity any poor horse trying to drag a sleigh over the rough most definitely snow-less hills and dales. Maybe I'll channel my inner child and turn on my bedroom air conditioner on high power and snuggle up under my down comforter with a cup of hot cocoa. Think I can make it snow inside?  LOL

Despite the lack of chill in the weather, I spent a lovely Christmas-y day with my friend Sue, the baker. Sue, the baker, is married to John, the chef, so life at their house usually revolves around the kitchen and is always yummy. Every Christmas season possible in the last nearly 20 years we've been friends, I've spent at least one day at Sue's house while she bakes cookies or makes candies for her friends, family and coworkers. Sometimes they're super fancy; sometimes they're the basics that everyone loves. This year it's a return to the basics... snickerdoodles, chocolate chip and cream cheese, those peanut butter ones with the Hershey kisses that have always looked like weird little hats to me...

Some years I get into the fun and make some treats for my own crowd. This year I decided to do one of my favorites. White chocolate peppermint Oreos.  I'm not a huge mint fan, and I'm not big on white chocolate either. (I can never tell why they call it chocolate when there's nothing very chocolate about it. LOL) But crush up some Spangler peppermint candy canes, toss some mini Oreos in white chocolate and put them together and yum! Instant Christmas flavor. =)

They're not particularly pretty this year,.. they look like they've been attacked by a peppermint virus. LOL  They taste good though, so they should go pretty well at the party on Friday.

So, crafty plans for this week are to fight the clock as I'm running out of time for a few Christmas events Friday and Saturday.  Unfortunately this is definitely a year for sending store bought cards along with a few key handmade ones. I think for 2016 I might start playing along with a couple of the Christmas card challenges and get a head start on next Christmas. Squirrel will just have to close her eyes on those posts. ;)   My house is in a bit of a shambles with the needed structural renovations. I'm not decorating at home, so my office is going to get Christmas-ed up. Aaaand I'm a couple of birthday cards behind. So lots to do...  hopefully I will be back to share with you.=)

Til then, happy holidays and happy crafting!
Christy

PCJ DT Card: Anything Goes - Shawna

[Edited to add:  Lesson for today: Make sure you use the right date when pre-scheduling a blog post!]

Greetings, my bloggy friends...

Sorry to have been quiet this week, but I've been a bit of a mess the past few days. I've had to put my cat Spencer to sleep. It was unexpected and a bit of a shock and, well, I don't apologize for being in love with that little bundle of fur. He was 9 and an indoor-outdoor cat, so I know he enjoyed his 9 lives to the fullest, but it doesn't make the selfish I-wanted-more-time feelings go away. Sigh.

I am glad the weekend is coming... I will probably spend lots of quality time with the puppies and lots of quality time with some Copics, papers, scissors and glue this weekend. Thank goodness for crafting!

So... on to my card today... Paper-Crafting Journey is running a SIX-week challenge this time 'round. I think it was supposed to be a bit of vacation for the DT, but we'll be running a special additional challenge in a couple weeks, so stay tuned. LOL  In the meantime, you have six lovely weeks to join us for an easy-peasy ANYTHING GOES! Paper crafts of all types, colors, and purposes... and we will have two winners! We are sponsored by the quirky and fun Mayzy Art Digital Stamp Designs who is generously offering three digis of the winner's choice to TWO of our participants for this challenge.

Mayzy also provided the DT with some images and I fell in love with Shawna with Latte... and before you say it, yes, I know... another Christmas/winter holiday card with snowflakes. What can I say - I love winter and Christmas cards! LOL

I love that blowing in the wind hair and scarf and I knew exactly what layout I wanted as soon as I saw her. These delicious papers are from a paper pad I won from Delphine last year and have been hoarding for just the right images and the colors in real life are a bit darker than this photo. I enlarged the digi (this card is 5x7) and cut the image just below that great belt before coloring her up with some newly acquired Copics colors that go so well with the muted blue-greens and warm grey-browns of this paper. I added a little gold metallic pen over the belt's hardware and the scarf tips and used liquid pearls on the flower adorning her beret. I had a few difficulties with her hair (still hair-challenged! LOL) and had to darken it up to fix a coloring boo-boo. I didn't bin her, but I came awfully close. I definitely will color her up again sometime, and she'll make a terrific practice image. (ooooh, the P word!)

I distressed the edges of the dp with scissors and paired it with kraft cardstock that I inked with Walnut DI and spritzed with the tiniest bit of water mixed with Perfect Pearls for a hint of glimmer. The top kraft panel is distressed... I kept the edges of my card base sharp but inked both. I popped the panel up on foam dots over a ribbon colored with Copics to match her beret and then popped Shawna up as well to get lots of the dimension I am addicted to (perhaps I should buy stock in a foam dot company! haha). I added some kraft cardstock snowflakes using a couple of Martha Stewart punches and inked those as well. They were inspired recently by this card from Katarina, whose cardmaking style I adore, and so many of Pop's cards as she uses kraft often for her base and punched/die cut embellishments. The pearl centers were a little bright, so I sponged over them with the Walnut Ink and wiped it off so they have just a bit of an aged color that ties in better.

A few little pearls in a couple of corners and done! I debated adding more embellishments,  but although I love some of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, layer-upon-layer cards that are a smorgasbord for the eyes, I seem to stick more successfully to a relatively CAS style.

My teamies have done some crafty masterpieces of their own, so be sure to check them out over at Paper-Crafting Journey and join in the fun! This one is too easy NOT to join in!

So that's it from me until Saturday, when I will be back with two cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids! Til then...

Happy Crafting!
Christy

Oops, almost forgot.... just a few Challenges and Link-ups...

Bearly Mine - #46 Anything Goes
The Stamping Boutique - #44 Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - #35 Christmas in July
Lexi's Creations - #70 Christmas in July
Paper Playtime - #80 Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Week 100
Wishcraft's Waste Not Wednesdays - Week #28
4 Crafty Chicks - Distressing
Cute Card Thursday - #228 Clean and Simple

Bugaboo Christmas in July

This week Bugaboo ran a Christmas in July celebration, with challenges every day. I wasn't able to participate in all of the daily challenges, but I did get two cards finished so I'm going to post them quick before bed.

I had so much fun coloring these up... I love Christmas cards and I love these simple graphic images that are cheerful and easy to color. My inner child was having a blast. LOL

The first card is for the Sparkle and Shine challenge from Thursday. I used that adorable penguin Poppi.

I colored Poppi and shadowed the ornament with Copics and glittered the heck out of that ornament. A nice coat of Stardust Stickles. I used Stardust's larger cousin, Crystal Ice, to coat the Martha Stewart snowflakes. The dark red paper is pearlized and there's a thin line of metallic blue gel pen around the background paper. Lots of glitz! =) I popped up Poppi and all the snowflakes on foam dots. Simple but colorful, sparkly and fun!

My second card is for the Monday challenge... create a Christmas card using a non-Christmas image. I chose this Brat image, World Boy...

Again, I used Copics to color. A Star Circle Nestabilities die was used to cut out my computer-generated sentiment. I popped the die cut up on thin foam and the image on thicker foam for dimension and layered both over the same dark red pearlized paper that I used on the first card. I wanted to keep it simple and use earth tones (har har) so that that colorful globe stood out so I inked the edges and adhered everything to a kraft cardstock card base and added some star buttons with a little foam to the corners. 

Easy peasy! There are a few other challenges I'm entering, but it's late and only the Bugaboo has a deadline tonight, so I'll be back with my edit. In the meantime, check out Bugaboo Stamps for yourself - great digis and you can find Jodie's images in rubber too over at Totally Stampalicious!

Happy Crafting!
Christy

SAS4K DT Cards: Christmas in July!

**For my Paper-Crafting Journey Challenge Design Team Post, click here.**

Ho Ho Ho!  While in reality my outer adult has been sweating and melting my way through this past week in the sweltering heat, my inner child has been playing in the snow, singing Christmas carols and glittering everything in sight. Time for the men in white coats? Nope... it's Christmas in July here at I Never Went to Kindergarten-land, the Send A Smile 4 Kids Challenge blog and at Bugaboo Stamps!  (Although I confess the men in white coats have been after me for years LOL)

Our current challenge at SAS4K is Christmas in July and we hope it will help you get a head start on your Christmas holiday card crafting! Donations of your cards isn't required for the challenge, but it's always welcome... just follow the guidelines here. 

We have two fabulous sponsors for this challenge: Bugaboo Stamps, donating 7 digis for a random winner, and Crafty Sentiment Designs, donating 3 digis for a second random winner. Plus you may be chosen as a Top Three!  Both sponsors also generously provided the DT with some really great images to play with and I had a ball doing my favorite kind of cards - Christmas Holiday! Bring on the snow and glitter! LOL 

I couldn't decide which image to use for my first card so I chose to use all THREE images we were given from Crafty Sentiment Designs (you can find them in their Christmas Digi shop):

 

Here is an image of it somewhat flat and folded up. It doesn't stay completely flat, but I'm sure some time in an envelope will change that. =)

I spent a lot of time coloring and glittering on this one, but I love it! I did some 1" folds at the bottom to be able to get the depth and dimension between the images that I wanted. Then a print of a digital Snowflakes paper from Summertime Designs' Winter Gifts kit by Summer Driggs (cool free kits!) gave me my color cues for the snowmen's outfits and accessories. I colored all the images with Copics and ProMarkers and added a well-restrained dose of Stardust and Waterfall Stickles on my snowmen and the little star swag on the tree and a bit of Christmas Red and Lime Green Stickles here and here. I used a metallic silver gel pen on the silver bell.

I fussy cut my images and adhered them to the various folds and then added a couple layers of cardstock on each fold to cover the bottom of my images. Here's a side view:

On the front I added a little red and white bakers twine and layered a computer-generated sentiment and a snowflake made from two Martha Stewart punches. The snowflake was colored with Copics to match the colors on my snowmen and glittered up. I even added Stardust Stickles to the clear gem in the center... it doesn't photograph well, but IRL it gives it a frosted look with lots of sparkle.

So cute and Christmas-y! =)

I'm entering this card in several challenges and link-ups...
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - #99 Christmas in July
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #80 Snowmen
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - #16 Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy - #66 Fancy Folds (hoping my folds are fancy enough LOL
Whimsy Stamps - #46 Anything Goes
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - CHRISTMAS Acrostics:  I used Coal buttons/nose, Carrot nose, winter Hat, Happy Snowmen, Red Ribbon, Red Twine, Red Christmas balls, winter Scarves, Sparkling Snow and Snowflakes, Twinkling Stars, Christmas Trees, Sparkling ear Muffs and Silver bell.  Whew!
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes 
Hooked on Crafts - #22 Christmas in July
Lollipop Crafts - #84 Christmas in July

I made a second card for our challenge post using this sweet gingerbread girl from Bugaboo Stamps:

I really focused on coloring on this one (using Copics) and am quite pleased with most of my blending, especially on my candy cane. The photo loses some of the detail, but there is a real 'roundness' to the cane in person. I used red liquid pearls to fill in the heart on her sweet ginger butt.

 Then I carefully applied white enamel in the icing sections and held my breath as I dumped Glamour Dust over it while it was wet. I waited until it had dried to dust it off and see what stuck. Turns out, quite a bit! Lovely sparkle.

(Oh, how I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE Christmas holiday cards! hee hee ho ho hee!) 

I kept the layout very simple and made a smaller card than usual (4.5x5.5") so that the image was large and in charge. The papers are from a DCWV Christmas and Winter 180-page pack and I used some kraft cardstock. All my edges are well inked with either Burlap or Walnut Distress Inks (or both!). Very country, I think. I know my followers will be oh-so-shocked to hear I popped my image up on foam dots. Ha! I tied on a bit of Christmas red and white twine and a button and added three itsy bitsy pearls to finish it off. Yummy!

I'm entering this card in the Just Some Lines challenge - Clean and Simple.

Now... this month is going to be full of fun...

SAS4K is joining Bugaboo for their Christmas in July celebration over at Catch the Bug from July 14-21. Plenty of fun and prizes to be had and lots and lots of SPARKLE! =) LOL And they will be doing a card drive for SAS4K as part of their celebration. Click on the image below to get all the details!

And if you've hung in all the way to the end of this monster post... here's a bit of a reward:
On Monday I'll be having my first ever BLOG CANDY here at I Never Went to Kindergarten, with a special bonus for my current followers. It will be a super sweet Christmas in July!

So see you Monday and until then...

Happy Crafting!
Christy
Christmas Elf

Glass Slide Christmas Ornaments

Hello again!

This year for my 13 team members at work I decided to make ornaments. I used a different image for each of them.  These are my favorites:

 

3 Snowmen from Dustin Pike's DoodleDragonStudios.com



  

 (These are Pure Innocence, Meijen, and Pink Cat Studios digital images)

I printed out my images on 24 lb. paper and colored with Copics. It took a few tries to get the hang of not overinking as the thin paper bled much more than the smooth cardstocks I’ve been using for Copics coloring. Then I chose some DCWV papers for backers and glued the fussy-cut images down. I glittered with Stardust Stickles in most cases and some have twine or ribbon and snowflake positives from the Martha Stewart Aspen punch-around-the-page punches.  I created sentiments for the backs on the computer:

I created a sandwich of these between two 2x3 plain microscope slides. (I saw ornaments made with Memory Glass, but microscope slides are much cheaper!) I used Scor-Tape around all the edges and dipped it in embossing powder. I chose some ultrasparkly powders - Blue Blaze by Recollections and Red Dragon by Stamp-N Stuff. On some not pictured I also used an opaque white with silver sparkle called Winter Wonderland by Stamp-N Stuff. Then I heated the powder to melt and set aside on a craft sheet to cool. I had originally intended to put the hanging wire in the sandwich and to seal it in, but the wire made too much of a gap, so I fudged it a bit by using some Glossy Accents to glue it to the outer edge.

When that dried, I added some more glue and dipped in embossing powder, heat and set aside to cool. It’s a little bumpy, but not too noticeable, especially when it’s hanging on a tree. =)

I did add the ornaments to a card as “gift wrap”:

These cards were simply a Penny Black stamp, Pine Silhouettes, stamped in Evergreen Bough distress inks on a parchment cardstock.  I handwrote a Merry Christmas in red pen on each one as you see and tied the ornament on with red and white twine.

I fell in love with a couple of them, so I am going to have to take what I learned and make more… for ME! LOL

Challenges…

The Dustin Pike images only for Pike’s Playground challenge - Anything But a Card

Digital Tuesday – #141 Winter Wonderland

Crafting For All Seasons – #16 Christmas Projects

Glitter Geeks – #28 Anything Goes

Craft Your Days Away – #35 Snowmen

Hiding in My Craft Room – #25 Embossing

One Stop Crafting – #162 Christmas Sparkle

Paper Crafting Journey – Christmas Challenge

Well, I’m off to get ready for work. Fun times. Will be back with a couple last-minute cards and some other Christmas gifts! =)

Happy Crafting and Happiest of Holidays!
Christy

Deacon Elf Shows Up for Christmas

Greetings!

First, for a note for those worried about the possible adverse health effects of my poor Winter Fairy from yesterday's post... let me reassure you. She's a winter fairy, and thus magically impervious to cold, despite the ethereal, glittery, featherlight dress she's wearing. She thanks you for your concern but assures you she is comfortably zipping about, spreading sparkling snowflakey goodness across the northern hemisphere even as we speak. =)

Now, on to the second of my niece's Christmas cards I finished last night...

This one is a merge of two Bugaboo images featuring Deacon Elf. 

I used two sizes of the wonky rectangle Nestabilities, colored up my image with Copics, and then added three or four colors of Stickles, a bit of glitz with a Berwick gold ribbon, some green sparkly epoxy sticker dots from EK Success and a Studio G brad on my computer-created sentiment. I popped up the flag to give it some more dimension as well as foam dots here and there (will I ever run out of foam dots?), seen in these lovely angle shots (You will have to imagine the game-show hostess presentation hand wave haha):

 

Just a few challenges for this one...

Catch the Bug Challenge: December Anything Goes

PaperCrafting Journey: Christmas Challenge

Stamp, Scrap and Doodle: Holiday Card

Moving Along with the Times: Last Minute Christmas

So, off to the craft room for a few more hours before bed. Back soon with more! =)

Happy Crafting,

Christy