11 & 12th Day of Christmas Love Letters & a Gift Card Holder

The first picture is letter #11 & #12 for the 12 days of Christmas letters at http://www.moreloveletters.com/.  I'm so thankful I was able to complete them all on time, and it really was a blessing to spread Christmas cheer to people in need of encouragement and love.
The second photo is a gift card holder I made for my daughter.  I used 3D stickers and stamped the sentiment and punched it out with a Stampin' Up! punch.  I added a little ribbon and put in some cash for her to spend on after Christmas sales.  I'm working on setting up a Wordpress account at https://creativeseconds.com/ and hoping to blog more in the New Year!  ~ Merry Christmas!! ~

Shopping our Stash: #410 Happy Holidays
Try it on Tuesday: Christmas is coming

Peace

The 10th day of letter writing at http://www.moreloveletters.com/ is for Katelyn who is in need of love and encouragement. I found the snowflake image with the sentiment of Peace and thought that would make a pretty seasonal note for her.  I embossed the image in silver and added a gem to the middle and kept it clean and simple.  The stamp is from Stampin' Up! from 2005, and the card and envelope from 2018 I believe. 

The Alphabet Challenge: "S" is for Snow
CAS on Friday: Christmas

Merry 25th

On the 9th day of letter writing at http://www.moreloveletters.com/ the request is to write to Analiza who is in need of encouragement and support.
I used a combination of the sketch and the photo for inspiration to create this greeting.  I like the typography and  the snowflake with bling breaks up the squareness.
Freshly Made Sketches: #415
The Card Concept: Photo inspiration #125
The Sisterhood of crafters: Anything goes Christmas

Christmas Spirit

Day 6 and 7 of the 12 days of Christmas Love Letters at http://www.moreloveletters.com/ requested you to write cards for a community cause at https://lovefortheelderly.org/
I'm now on Day #8 which is to send a "global hug" to a women named Anneke.
I used the Star of Light stamp and die set by Stampin' Up! as well as one of their embossing folders for the background texture.  I embossed the sentiment, and added a simple gold sequin to the center of the star for extra sparkle.
Shopping Our Stash: #410 Christmas
The Holly and The Ivy Christmas Challenge: #62 Anything Goes
Hand Stamped Sentiment Sketch: #329

Winter Thinking of you

Here is my 5th card for the 12 days of Christmas love letters challenge on http://www.moreloveletters.com/. This card was created for Angela who recently lost her brother in a tragic car accident.  I wanted to create something gentle looking and feeling to convey my sympathy.  I chose this snow embossing folder and added holographic embossing powder with Versamark  along with a simple silver "thinking of you" sentiment for this winter note.

Through the Purple Haze: #162 Let it snow
Cute Card Thursday: #611 Anything Goes
CAS(E) This Sketch: #350

Christmas Winter Woods

On the 4th Day of letter writing for More Love Letters.com I created a Christmas tree card for Brent who has Batten's disease.  I made this card using the Stampin Up Winter Woods set and embossed the tree in hunter green powder.  Both patterned papers are by Anna Griffin and I added music washi tape to the edge for more contrast.  The gold star brad along with the sentiment "Thinking of you this Season" added just the right amount of sparkle for a male greeting card.  The sentiment didn't photograph well but is readable in person. 

The Sisterhood of Crafters: Trees
Freshly Made Sketch #414: See Sketch inspiration
Sweet Stampin Christmas: Trees

Merry Wishes -Unconventional Christmas Card

Recently I watched a TED talk by Hannah Brencher on "Love Letters to Strangers".  Feeling inspired, I went to the website:  http://www.moreloveletters.com/ and couldn't stop reading!  I wrote my first letter to a stranger and signed up for the 12 days of Christmas letter challenge.  Today is letter # 3 to Rosemary who is battling lung cancer and in need of encouragement.  Her daughter mentioned that she likes pigs, so I took the challenge to make a Christmas card with a pig on it!.  The great thing about card making challenges is it gives you lot's of ideas from sketches to themes to embellishments.  I Used the letter N from the bingo challenge and die cut my stamped images of pigs as well as snowflakes.  I used the color blue and silver, along with a silver ribbon and washi tape.
  My hope is that more card makers will take the challenge to write love letters to strangers globally.

The Artistic Stamper: Count down to Christmas
Love to Scrap: Christmas Bingo = Letter N
Stick it down: Sketch design
Sparkles: #22 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Stitched Snowman

Pulled out a vintage set for this one! 1995 Stampin Up Foam set, 24 years old called "Stitched Snowman".  I used colored pencils, a snow embossing folder, and a silver ribbon to create this sweet thinking of you winter card.



Always fun Challenges: Snowman
Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge # 345
Use your Stuff: Snow

Christmas Cardinal

 

I made this thank you card for a friend who gave me this swirling snow lantern with a cardinal inside,
I watercoloured the image and used the dryer sheet technique  to create the sparkle over the image.
Christmas Card Throwdown: Watercolour
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas: Things with wings

Christmas Blessings

Thanks to three different challenges, I came up with a sweet snowman card to send Christmas Blessings to someone.  I watercoloured the image and added just a few embellishments to make him sparkle.

Christmas Card Throwdown
Addicted to CAS
The Paper Players
 

You are Love

I'm so glad I found this sketch on Sketch Saturday! The challenge at Paper players is to use plants, and I just bought these stickers of cactus at Target.  I decided on the paper first to match the stickers, then cut out squares to mount them on.  The saying reads "There is loveliness in the world and you are part of it" isn't that sweet! But wait, it gets even better...see the flower embellishment...that came off my daughters shirt when she was little and I knew I would use it for her someday...So here it is!! I added the "love" metal embellishment at the top for balance and shine.  I'm going to give this to her for her end of the school year -your an awesome kid- reminder.

Carlton cards cactus stickers. Flavia paperpack by colorbok

Sketch Saturday
The Paper Players

Mr. & Mrs.

Unstampabelles May Challenge is for an art deco style wedding card.   I used part of a doily and found the oval embellishment in my "Wedding/Valentine" tub of goodies.  I stamped "Mr. & Mrs." inside the oval and added a silver heart charm that I clipped the hoop off of for bling.  I decided to tie the bow low to bring your eye down to the corner design as well. 

Friend

I found the color challenge first and then the sketch.  I knew I had the tulip stamp from The Angel Company and the nesting dies and pattern paper from Stampin' Up.  I didn't line up my strips very well, so I trimmed off the bottom and the top to make them even again.  I tried buttons in every color before going with the artificial flower embellishment and friend sentiment. I colored in the flower with watercolor pencils.


Stamping Sensations: Garden inspiration
Stella's Sketch Challenge
Just Us Girls #488

Happy Bird-Day

I love these little birds from Stampin Up's "Color me Happy" set.  I found these three challenges and combined them to make one Bird-day card.  The bow on the present took way longer then intended, but between that and the hat I think I added some whimsy to the card.


Links:
Freshly Made Sketch
Color Throwdown
Little Red Wagon: Happy Bird-day

Spread Sunshine

The Card Concept #115 Challenge Picture:

When I saw this picture I thought of my background die from Papertrey Ink.  I used part of the flower dies from Stampin Up's Botanical Builder framelits to make some of the designs and got into my sequin stash for the seahorse, fish, and sun.  "Spread Sunshine" seemed to be the right sentiment for this happy greeting. 

Thank you!, CAS,

CASology week#343: the theme is "Color" so I'm liking hot pink and turquoise these days.  I used Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge for the splatter's and Color me happy's "Thank You" stamp to create this bright and simple card.  I didn't mask and I think it looks fun with the splatters.  This Card is also fitting for JUGS Challenge #487 which is for BOLD lettering.

Swirly Birthday Wishes

Here is Sketch #321 from CC&S, and I was inspired also by Die cuttin' Diva's to add flowers to my creation.   My first thought was to use the Swirly Bird stamp set from Stampin Up, because I haven't played with it in awhile.   I found the patterned paper by Colorbok at the thrift store recently, so I wanted to give that some use as well.  I had a hard time getting balanced and cut lot's leaves, and also bows in pink, magenta, and green before deciding on a real bow out of silver.  I took a close up so you can see I added clear iridescent embossing powder to the flowers to add more sparkle, and to submit the card to Ike's world embossing challenge as well.

Special Delivery

The Cupcake Inspiration Challenge 470, is to use the colors Pink, Lime, and White.  I went into my birthday tub and found this 3D sticker of a present in those colors.  Next I found the pink and white striped pattern paper, so I went for my lime green washi tape for contrast.  I knew I could find more pink in my "Girls" embellishment tub, and that's where I found the adorable chipboard sticker turtle.  He needed a hat or balloon or something, so I went back to the birthday tub and found the cupcake.  I added a flower and bling to the top for added cuteness.

Birthday Bear

I combined three blog challenges because it helps me know what to create next!  I found this sketch at Atlantic Hearts and combined that with a Birthday theme from AAA Birthday Challenge.  I was inspired by Crafty Cardmakers to add 3-2-1 of something to the card as well.  I started with the bear because he's sooo cute and he had three candles in his cake.  I found the two patterned papers that I thought worked well together and stamped "Make a wish"on one banner die from Papertrey Ink.