In The Meadow We Can Build...

A Snowman!

     Now don't get down on me because I'm feeling the warm fuzzies about Christmas.  I really do love the season, and although I complain every year about how the season is earlier and earlier it always comes too fast for me and I'm scrambling to make cards and buy or make gifts.  This year there is a gingerbread contest we have to enter because they are using the theme I suggested.  Which reminds me, I need to shop for animal candy molds...

     I'm getting sidetracked!  It was a busy day with a lot of spray painting - more on that later - and cleaning the craft studio - halfway, so I would have room to work - and hitting up a moving sale.  Tired is not the word, accomplished is!

     Because I promised myself I would, I grabbed some paper, dies, embossing folder and my Big Shot and set out to make the card I have been thinking about all week.  

Here is the prototype I found on Pinterest:

     Here is my finished product.  It was really pretty easy and I think it will be one of the major cards we put out this year to friends and family.  The only change I would make is the size.  This is pretty square and I'm afraid it will cost more to send out than a standard sized card.  I think I might also add some bling.  A little sparkle here and there to give it a polished look.

Hope you enjoy!

Back In The Saddle Again

     This is the weekend.  No kids, no pressing urgency to clean, no real gardening where I HAVE to get something out and put away for the winter.  I will begin my Christmas cards!  I will finish the journaling for 2014!  I will start it all right here:

     I am refreshed!  I opened a drawer in my filing cabinet last night and saw paper that needed to be used.  I saw doodads and geegaws that begged to be used, at least once, so I could decide whether I liked them or not.  I saw the photo of my beloved cat AJ and her eyes were saying “Girl, you need to do something for you!  Grab some tea and scrap with me!”  Her photo often talks to me.  In my head, not out loud.  She’s been gone two years now, don’t judge me!  When she was alive we would hold conversations.  They sounded like this:

“What are you doing AJ?”

“Meow”

“Meow?”

“Mew”

“I love you baby girl”

“Puuurrrrrrrr”

     I still miss her so much.

     I did a page for her.  I should do another one.

     I’m looking forward to using the new products I ordered from HSN several months ago at the insistence of my boyfriend.  You heard that correctly.  Months.  I’m getting back in the saddle again. Here, take a listen!

https://youtu.be/E5F-O_19lSI

     He has such a nice face!

     Maybe I'll even have time to catch up on a few episodes of Mad Men!  Love that show!  I just started watching it on Netflix and I can't get enough of it!

I LOVE Don Draper!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

Christmas!  

Yes, it IS just around the corner and will be here before we know it.  Which means, in card making terms - you're late!  You better get moving now in case you haven't started already - and by you, I mean me.

I'm really excited this year because I've been hitting up sales and I've picked up some new (to me) embossing folders that scream "Use me!" and I've been scouring Pinterest for ideas.  Just the other day I laid out all 30 or so choices and told my boyfriend to choose the ones he would like us to send.  He gets this choice because he actually helps me make them.  He's so good about that!  I, however, get final say.  

He chose several that I thought he would.  I was very surprised by some he didn't choose and when I asked him why he said he thought they might be too hard.  Sweet boy, don't challenge me so!  Anyhoo, I reminded him that my choices trumped his and that maybe the hard one wouldn't be as hard as we thought.

As I was searching the internet the other day I found another card that I just fell in love with and I think it is going to be THE ONE that I'm going to love.  I'm going to change out the background, add some texture and possibly some bling but I think this will be our go to card this year!  So excited!

Have you started your cards? Where did you come up with your ideas?

Christmas Cards - Part 2

Whew!  All that’s left is the writing personal messages on all 60 cards!  Last night the boyfriend and I tried our hands (literally) at stamping.  He is much better than I am.  And that was after I gave him lecture after lecture of what NOT to do.  He was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.  I should have been the same way. 

This past weekend we took the hour drive to Michael’s and purchased stamps and ink pads because I was still waiting on my internet order to come in (arrived in Monday’s mail – figures).  On Monday night we finished putting cards together.  Then on Tuesday night we brought out the ink.  We practiced with different colors and techniques and finally got down to business.  His card interiors came out really well,

 mine not so much as you can see here:

            However, the cards and yearly pic are complete and ready for signing.  Speaking of the yearly photo – we took two – a test and a final.  Usually we do one in the house by the tree with the dogs.  This year D wanted to shake things up a bit and take it on the porch that he extended this past summer.  Plus, the wagon wheel would be in it and he definitely wanted to include that!  We put down a blanket on the step, gathered the dogs, dismissed the cat, set up the tri-pod and then D got a great idea!  A tremendously, wonderful, all-encompassing idea!  He thought let’s get the bunny in the picture my dear!  He’s new in the family, his image we must share! (Channeling the grinchy-claus right there!)  So he went and got Snugs (also known as Checkers) and pressed the shutter and ran to the porch for the photo and the dogs went bonkers!  Wouldn’t sit, wouldn’t stay, wanted the bunny – yes, it was chaos!  But it really signified our year! 

He put the bunny back in the cage and we took a perfectly respectable photo with the dogs being good.  You can see it here – it came out pretty good.  Later that evening as I was getting ready to order the prints I looked at them on the screen and just started laughing.  That first photo – all chaotic and un-posed was perfect.  I called D to look and he laughed too.  That’s the photo that should go in the card he said.  I totally agreed and ordered them.  I don’t know if friends and family will think we lost our minds, but this is our life and I wouldn’t trade it for a different one.  Crazy dogs, crazy boyfriend, new porch and in debt to our shoulders.  It’s still a good life and I am so very blessed.

I hope you like the cards, they were definitely a labor of love and I will try to mark my calendar in July to start then in getting them ready for the next Christmas season!

Christmas Cards - Part 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (besides summertime!) and it’s the time when I feel I can get most creative in some areas of my life.  If you haven’t checked out my post about the gingerbread, please do!  In the meantime, I will enchant you with my Christmas card journey.

            My cards should have been started in July so I wouldn’t be waiting until last minute to get it done, but my name should be “Last Minute Jenny”.  Therefore, I’m right on time!  I actually started thinking about cards before Thanksgiving.  I scoured Pinterest for card ideas as I am not a good card idea person at all, and I found some pretty good, albeit easy, examples. 

I started scouting my local crafting store for Christmas scrapbook paper and finding none, thought there would be some there for Black Friday, which of course it wasn’t.  I went on-line and found some 6x6 paper packs at scrapbook.com – all brands I had never used before, so this would be a learning experience as well.  I picked up some red 8.5x11 cardstock and Kraft paper for my cards and envelopes and got to work getting those cut out while I waited for my patterned paper.  I used my Cricut to cut the envelopes – all 60 of them.  Last year I did them by hand.  With a pattern.  Not again.

My patterned paper came in magically fast – I thought I would have a longer wait than I did so I started my card prototypes.  This is important.  If the card is too difficult my boyfriend will say so and then getting him to help will be no fun!  It took several days to get started and then I had one day all to myself and voila!  I was able to get all prototypes done and made into kits of 15 each and they are now ready to assemble!  Only one last problem – I thought it would be easy to go to my local Joann’s and get a set of Christmas stamps.  Well, it isn’t.  There was nothing Christmassy in that store except the decorations.  Once again, the internet should have saved me but as of this writing the stamps I ordered have not even shipped yet. 

We are headed to Michael’s over the weekend, even though it is an hour away, so we can get the cards stamped and ready to go out by the 17^th.  That is my deadline.  I will have to do the family picture this weekend, have it reproduced in-house and ready to go in the cards by then. That should not be a problem.  Getting the dogs to pose properly will be!  LOL!  I love them.  Last year we let the cat sit in the photo for the first time.  We’ll see if he returns…

Results and finished photos to come…

Christmas Paper Dilemma

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with my local scrapbooking store.  I was out this past weekend looking for Christmas paper stacks so I could start on my Christmas cards.  I didn’t think it was too early to look seeing as how I see new stacks on the internet and am getting emails from www.blitzy.com and www.scrapbook.com with Christmas stacks advertised.  My problem is I wanted to see them in person.  I wanted to see the colors up-close.  I wanted to feel the paper.  You know what I mean.  I also wanted to be able to start my cards right away.  No such luck.

I looked at the old Christmas stack I used last year and I just didn’t want to face it again.  After 50 or more cards the paper gets old fast.  I just couldn’t stomach it again this year.

Last night I scoured blitzy and a couple other sites.  I ended up on scrapbook.com where I did end up ordering four Christmas stacks of 6x6 that I think will work well with the cards I want to make.  They are also paper brands that I have never used before.  I’m not worried.  I am curious to see what this paper will be like.  Will it feel ok?  Will it work for what I need it for?  Will the colors be vibrant?  I took a chance and there’s no turning back. 

Hopefully I will have the paper by the end of the week.  Once it gets here, let the carding begin!