Holly Jolly Christmas

It's almost time for Christmas songs.  Several of my friends have already started, but my husband is VERY resistant to any Christmas before Thanksgiving.  I agree with that, but since I have been wrapping Christmas presents getting them ready for sending, and a few Christmas decorations staged, I'm ready for the music!

This is one of the cards I created yesterday, I was going with a snowing feeling. I used natural paper with flowers and leaves embedded in it.  Letter Envy, Lyrical Letters, Joys of the Season and white pen.  It made me very happy when I was done! 

  

So. I've been busy

My father has been very ill and I've been pre-occupied with that and the research on his condition. And, we had our first grand-daughter, Ruby Claire Light, delightful event!!  But to shake myself out of the traveling bug, I joined a card exchange.  20 cards to exchange, all occasions.

This is what I sent. Lately, I've been into recycling.  I cut images from other cards, or papers, bits of a pattern I liked, etc.  and creating new cards from them.  I also used some Jolee stickers, cricut cuts from Joys of the Season, Paper Pups, Coloring pages, Create a Critter, stamps from Close to my Heart, Brads from Just Brads and various scrap supplies.  Now, doing this many cards at once, was fun, however, I couldn't get myself to create the more difficult cards like, Easel, Flip, Pop up, Step, etc.  They are just traditional cards.  It's harder getting back in the swing of things than a thought.

Give a gift - altered frappuccino bottles

The little girls upstairs are from Japan.  They are learning English in school here.  Their mother is learning Italian and speaks little to no English.  The husband who works with my husband speaks Japanese and English but travels.  You see the dilemma.  I started giving the girls little gifts on holidays they would celebrate but are not celebrated in Italy.  Like Halloween.  We have a sweet friendship where the girls get to practice their English and their mom gets a little break.  Here is a picture of them at Halloween:

So these are my gifts to them at Christmas.  And my entry into the Cricut Circle Blog challenge Black Friday.  Use black and at least two cricut cuts.  I have snowflakes, circles, squares and rectangles from Joys of the Season and George.  I love George, you can do anything with George!  Cricut Papers and some stickles.

Put a little ribbon on it!

Our challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut this week is to use ribbon on our project.  My project is nowhere near original.  But, just because it is a scraplift doesn't mean it can't have my original touches.  I used a lot of stickles on this project.  Ribbon, of course.

Joys of the Season Christmas cartridge.  It is the only Christmas cartridge I own and it has been all I have ever needed.  I got Winter Woodlands this year because I liked some of the snowmen.  Martha Stewart Branch Punch and Snowflake punch.  Scrap papers.

Tis the season!  Join us at Fantabulous Cricut with a ribbon project of your own.  We have some GREAT prizes we are giving away!

Cricut Card Fairy Flight

Welcome to the THANKFUL Cricut Card Fairy Flight. This month we are practicing being thankful for all the blessings in our lives. What are you thankful for?

I am thankful for the parents of my daughters-in-love.  Without the upbringing

that they each had, with their unique experiences, they would not be the 

perfect wives, that they are for my sons,! 

I've done over 300 missions with the Cricut Card Fairies and we are currently near 700 missions.  That's 300 volunteer missions created and sent.  600 prayers offered.  Many, many fairy friends and the chance to be part of something bigger than myself.

I am giving away a Christmas Seasonal Cartridge, if you are my winner you will have a choice of - Trim The Tree, Gingerbread Men or Winter Lace.  Since I am in Italy, I will have it sent directly to you from Custom Crops so hopefully your choice is in stock! :0)

or or

Flit along with the Fairies on our Thankful Tour!  If you came from  ScrappyJess  then you are in the right place.  If you were just visiting me and want to join, then you can start at our Cricut Card Commander's site here :Creating for Caitlyn The next stop on this Fairy Flight is: KarelJ's 

All the links are here in case you get lost in the middle which is where I am. 

Caitlynsmommy: http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
ScrappingDeb; http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com
AJoy713 http://adreatravis2008.blogspot.com
RachelMutchler http://trickut-rachelscrafts.blogspot.com/
Kisatrtle http://www.kisatrtleskreativekorner.blogspot.com/
ScrappyJess http://scrappyjess.blogspot.com
PennyLight http://lightwhimsy.blogspot.com
KarelJcreations http://karelj.blogspot.com
Shellie http://shelliescreations.blogspot.com/
GRKIDDO http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com
JamieFitzgerald http://www.jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com 
Iluvsnowmen http://wandaswhimsicalwonders.blogspot.com/
blondemommy26 http://blondemommy26.blogspot.com/
SherylGreene http://sherylscraftingcorner.blogspot.com/

My card inspiration is a simple Hot Chocolate pouch for which there are tutorials of all kinds on Youtube or SplitCoastStampers.  Mine is just one style of the many many out there.  This also completes my 2010 New Year's Resolution to try 12 different kind of folds for cards.

Joys of the Season and George and Basic Shapes Cartridges

My question for the hop is:  What part of the Thanksgiving meal is your favorite?

Mine would be the plate! Ha!  Gotta try a bite of everything and can't without a decent plate to put it on! 

Just answer the question as a comment in this post, that's all you have to do.  I'd love it if you became a follower, but it is not required.

If you'd like to join the fairies on our missions, please email our card commander or visit us on the Cricut Message boards here.  To win the Hello Kitty Cartridge Grand Prize, you must comment at every blog along the way.  Winners will be announced on Monday, Nov 22nd.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

More Fun with Puns

Today, I have two puns I'm working with.  I like them both for different reasons.  I also like that the cards are good for anything from Get Well to Birthday (Just not sympathy).   Got any puns to suggest? 

 

 

A Lion won't eat a clown because he tastes funny.

This card made with Animal Kingdon, New Arrival, Storybook and Lyrical Letters.

I don't have Paper Dolls and I wanted a clown, so I used the baby from New Arrival and welded together the baby clothes and booties to make the clown outfit, then added the ruffles from Storybook. The step the clown is on is a squished fishbowl with 3 X's from Storybook. The hat is also a flourish from Storybook.

 

   

   

What would a morning be without a morning mug shot? 

This mug is from Joys of the Season.  I welded two of them together.

I cut the rectangles from George and the letters from Lyrical Letters.

The mug is mounted on white card stock. 

Happy day! 

My First Easel Card - Whimsical Trees

Sticking to my new year's resolution to try new things, I have done my first easel card.  I loved the look of them, just didn't have an interest I guess.  But, I've done one and it's really fun and I can see the appeal for doing them and receiving them.  This card I dreamed about, whimsical trees.  I used four cartridges for this one.  George, Home Decor, Lyrical Letters and Joys of the Season.  The tree trunks are the letter I from Lyrical letters. I made about a dozen trees before I settled on these three.  I liked them all, but they wouldn't fit. :0)

Putting away the Cricut

I'm having company so I have to put away my cricut and craft stuff.  Do you know that the thought of that is putting me into withdrawals!  It's only going to be a few days!

 I should give myself and that wonderful little machine a break but making cards is so darn fun!  These are the two I did today.

This second card is inspired by Carole Beath on the Cricut Message Boards.  Her bouncing frog on her profile made me think of this. 

This card looks a whole lot better in person.  And, I've been thinking a lot about the backs of cards.  I do the front and I always do the inside, why shouldn't the back get a little treatment too.  I mean, not all that, but a little something other than my stamp?

Weird Wednesday-Red Green and a bit of Bling

THIS CARD WON AN AWARD AT CRICUT CARDZ CHALLENGE #5!  WAAAHOOO! 




(Frosted Designs)This card is made from Joys of the Season, Stretch Your Imagination, New Arrival, and George.   It's shaped like a stocking, if you can see that.  It's kind of a funky woodland santa. I had a blast making it in DS.  

In school today I learned a lot about Italian traditions for the holidays.  And boy there were some funny ones.  Mostly Christmas is the same as the U.S. holidays, but this one really made me laugh and fear:


Santa doesn't fill the stockings for the kids in Italy.  Befana the witch fills the stockings. She does this at Epiphany, January 6th. The tradition is that the ugly but kind witch slips down the chimney on the night of January 5th and fills the stockings that are hung by the fireplace or by the bed with sweet things for good kids or coal for the bad kids. Now, it used to be that they used real coal for the kids, but now, Italy has this sweet coal that kids get if they've been bad kids and you can eat it. The kids who eat this coal end up with BLACK faces from chin to cheek. And they are MARKED as bad kids the whole day.

The tradition with Befana too is that she ends the holiday season. No holiday decorations should remain after Befana. She is the signal to put away all of the holiday things and to get rid of all the old things from the past year. To throw out things that are rotten or broken and put away the past year's pain and sins.

My teacher said, watch the news on the day after Befana comes because it is very macabre all the people who die. "Die? Why would people die?" Because, on Befana, people literally throw out their old things. They throw them right out the window and onto the street, irons, dishes, washing machines. You could be on the first floor having a Befana party and boom, a washing machine lands on your head.  Or people have dishes flying down and cutting off hands. Needless to say, I will not be outside on the day of Befana!

On New Year's day, they light wooden puppets on fire. (to symbolize the burning of the old year and crossing into the new - burning of the fields etc.) But apparently, they will build a giant wooden puppet in the piazza and a man with a fiery arrow will shoot it at the puppet and people will rejoice and eat pancakes as they watch it burn. I can think of the little kids running and screaming now as they watch a giant Pinocchio shot with an arrow and burned up.

I'm looking forward to the celebrations that we will learn about while here. I'll be carrying a fire extinguisher and wearing a hard hat from New Year's until Befana comes. 

Silent Night, Monday Night

This card tied in a challenge at the Cricut Cardz Challenge! 

It's Monday.  What's good about Monday?  Lots!  It's a fresh start of the week, it's a clean slate, it's a new adventure.  I really like Mondays.  I had a lot of homework to do today for Italian class and I worked hard on it.  The thing is, I feel like this time around in school is better.  I am understanding more this time. I want to learn it.

That's the thing about the routine I was talking about yesterday.  Getting into a routine of excellence in whatever you do.  Tom and I have a routine for our goodbyes.  I created this card today because I wanted to try this type of fold on a card.  I worked slow and didn't rush.  I'm happy with it.  I like the design I did of the snow hill and the welded words.  The routine of one card a day, and only one card done well.

So, tomorrow is an Italian holiday.  The day that Gabriel told Mary that she was pregnant with the Messiah.  I'm not Catholic, so I don't get it.  How if Jesus was born, December 25th, and Mary found out she was having Jesus on December 7th,.... besides the miracle of the Virgin birth, it was the miracle of a very fast pregnancy or an extremely long one.  Of course, I know that some of these dates are "subjective" but it makes me giggle.  All the stores and shops will be closed tomorrow and a lot of the people took today off too so they could have the long weekend.  It's so quiet today.  I listened to Christmas music all day, cleaned, played and created.  It's a good Monday.

Onward and Upward,

Snowman & Friends

I have been just designing my own cards and then entering them if they fit somewhere.  This is the first time I have designed something specifically to enter it.  Made with Joys of the Season, George, Animal Kingdom and papers I made myself.  Inking, popping, and stickles.  Inside says, "We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."  I loved the raccoon, he was so much fun to do.

Snowman & Friends reminds me of my singing family.

Lots of music in my family.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving

I am pretty proud of this card today.  I'm going to enter it in two different contests.  One at Practical Scrappers for the Stitching contest and one at Cricut Cardz Challenge for the Pink/Green and White challenge.  It took a long time to put all those branches together.  I started yesterday and finally finished today.  It has a lot of popping to make the depth, but a lot of branches to cover up the popping.  The branches are cut with a MS punch and the ornament cut at 3 inches from Joys of the Season.  Added the pink ribbon and the charm, some stickles and bling.  Paper is some I found at Tuesday Morning. The word Joy is cut from Joys of the Season Shrinky Dink plastic, colored and shrunk. Stitched on my pixie craft sewing machine.

Just another Monday

It's foggy outside today.  Can't even see the mountains. The temperature is staying steady at around 50 so it's not too cold, but not too warm. Even steven.

I worked on some cards today and I also skipped school.  The mailman left me a note in Italian and after I translated it, I realized I needed to be here to get a package, so I skipped.  I want to go back to Italian school, but I also don't want to go. It's a catch 22 thing.  I will go to school on Wednesday though.  Back to school and homework and studying.

Here's what I worked on:

 I scraplifted this last one from Jeannie Phillips over at A Place For My Cards.  I can never ever make a card that looks as beautiful as hers.  I should stop trying to copy her and just get my own style, but I just really love her style.  Anyway, I've been using my cricut to cut shrinky dinks and I love it.  The bird on this card is a shrinky dink.  I'm almost finished with my Christmas cards now.  Just a few more to go.

We are thankful every day, but it is Thanksgiving week and my favorite holiday of the year. It is the time we are just grateful.  No gifts, no pressures, just being grateful and sharing food with each other.  Since we won't have one this year, I am really missing my favorite holiday.

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; to declare Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night... For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at the work of Thy hands. How great are Thy works, O Lord! " -Psalm 92:1, 4-5
Onward and Upward

Christmas Crazy

While I was in Sweden, I worked on my Christmas cards.  Here are some of the varieties that I made.  I got about 15 cards done while I was there.  No distractions, just working on cards and walking around Sweden. What a joyous week it was.  I really had such a great time that I didn't want to come home.  It was so beautiful there!

I'm particularly proud of this snowflake wreath.  I did this one at home today (Not in Sweden)  Again something I don't normally do; work with Vellum. On this one I cut the vellum in a scallop shape, cut the same scallop shape in the card front and made the snowflakes in different sizes around the opening.  The snowflake on the inside can be seen through the vellum.  I fixed the jewel of the snowflake inside (in the middle) after I took the picture and realized it was crooked.  I might do another one of these, it was easier than it looks.

.  

 







These are some of the pictures I took while walking around in Malmo, Sweden.  It was so beautiful.