Blinging in the New Year!

I hope everyone is having some nice holiday time with their loved ones this week! We had a lovely Christmas weekend with family. The kids have been very busy playing with their new games, LEGOs, crafty things, and reading their new books. It's a huge blessing that, even though I have to work this week, working from home means I still get to watch them play and eat lunch with them and hubby too.

My family is so sweet to spoil me with tons of crafting goodies every holiday. (Yes, I received Copic markers for my fifteenth wedding anniversary!) This Christmas was no exception, so I will have lots of new things to share with you here, including the patterned paper I used on today's card.

This week I'm hosting the last Crafty Secrets challenge for 2010. We are "blinging" in the New Year with all kinds of shiny, sparkly, glittery things on our projects. Here's my sample card:


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Images booklet
Patterned Paper - DCWV - Natural Mat Stack
Glitter Glue - Stickles - Copper
Organza Ribbon - Paper Wishes
Vintage Button - courtesy of my antique dealer dad (Thanks, Dad!)

BTW, have you seen Crafty Secrets new Web site yet? It's not quite done yet, but you can already see that it's beautiful and much easier to navigate. Be sure to go over and take a look!

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!
Hugs,
Marcy

Christmas Critters

One of the things I love about card making is finding just the right images to use for the card recipients. Here are some Christmas cards I made recently using images I think the recipients will love.

This card is for my daughter's second-grade teacher. This soft-spoken, wonderful lady is so sweet and so dedicated to her job. She has two pet bunnies at home, so I made her this soft, sweet bunny card.

Details:
Stamps - Stampin' Up! - Forest Friends (bunny)
Cricut cartridge - Winter Woodland (tree)
Patterned paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Gina K. Designs - Pure Luxury Cardstock (white); Bazzill (blue-green); Core'dinations (brown)
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (Stardust); adhesive half pearl - unknown

Here's a card for my best friend who loves her black lab. The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil. Maureen Manning is an amazing illustrator, and her whimsical images are pure joy to color!



Details:
Digistamp - Mo's Digital Pencil - Christmas Lab
Stamp - Papertrey Ink - Mixed Messages
Ink - Versafine black
Cardstock - Gina K Designs - Pure Luxury Cardstock (white); K&Company - Fresh Paint (red)
Patterned Paper - Provocraft
Markers - Copic Sketch

This next card is for my boss and her family. I'm always on the lookout for images that play on the name of our company, and this squirrel image from Mo's Digital Pencil is too sweet to resist.


Details:
Digistamp - Winter Delivery - Mo's Digital Pencil
Stamp - Stampin' Up! - Favorite Teddy Bear
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - Darice (white); K&Company - Fresh Paint (red)
Ink - Stampin' Up! - Early Espresso
Ribbon - Paper Wishes
Markers - Copic Sketch

Thanks for taking time out of your Christmas preparations to stop by today!

Hugs,
Marcy

Vintage Santas

Growing up the daughter of an antique dealer/collector, it's no surprise that I have an affinity for most things vintage. I especially like using vintage images in my paper crafting, and these vintage Santa images from Crafty Secrets (check out their wonderful new Web site!) are particularly fun to use.

Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Art Studio set
Sticker - Cosmo Cricket - Just Your Holiday Type
Patterned Paper - DCWV - Recycled Stack
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Ink - Versafine; Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (Platinum); 3-d Crystal Lacquer - Sakura; edge distresser - Tonic


Appropriately, this one was hand delivered to my Dad today!

Details:
Main Image & Calendar - Crafty Secrets - Seasonal Calendar Creative Scraps
Sticker - Cosmo Cricket - Just Your Holiday Type
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - K&Company - Fresh Paint (red); Core'dinations
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; SU! Cherry Cobbler
Accessories - glitter glue - Stickles (platinum & stardust); seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; vintage button (from my antique dealer Dad & his friends - thanks!); edge distresser - Tonic



Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas Images & Journal Notes
Patterned Paper - unknown
Cardstock - Core'dinations; K&Company
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; ink daubers - Memories Direct (green & gold)
Accessories - holly punch - Martha Stewart; markers - Copic Sketch; white gel pen - Sakura; seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday!
Marcy

Medallion for Music Teacher

In between nursing sick kiddos (they are both on the mend now), work, and all of the special events that happen this time of year, I've still managed to get some Christmas crafting done.

I made this paper medallion for my daughter's music teacher this morning, while Shannon was getting ready for school. I think these will be my go-to gift this year for all those special people I want to give a little something to along with their Christmas cards. Some will be Christmas-themed, and some (like this one) will be geared to the recipients' interests. For instructions on how to make these medallions, check out Lisa Zappa's fabulous blog, here.



Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Birds & Botanicals Images & Journal Notes booklet
Patterned paper - K&Company - Life's Journey
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Altered Art set
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Accessories - Scor-Pal; seam tape ribbon - Rebecca Sower Designs; scalloped circle punch - Martha Stewart; eyelet - Making Memories; sponge - Darice

Hope you're able to slow down a little today and appreciate the season!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Little Birthday Goose

Well, you've heard of Christmas goose - how about a little birthday goose?

On the Crafty Secrets member forum this week, Lori Lynn is challenging us to use musical elements on our projects. I love this quirky goose image from Crafty Secrets' Wacky Animals Creative Scraps. I think she's perfect for singing "Happy Birthday" to my mum, who has a pond full of ducks & geese at her house.


Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Wacky Animals Creative Scraps
Stamps - Crafty Secrets - Sweet Kids (sentiment)
Patterned Paper - K&Company
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen & Tea Dye
Accessories - trim - Wrights; musical ribbon - unknown; vintage button; Pop Dots; glitter glue - Stickles (burgundy)

Wishing you a lovely, inspired weekend ahead!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Purrr-fect Birthday

The Pink Stamper has a challenge this week to make Cricut birthday cards, which happens to coincide perfectly with my dear sister-in-law's birthday today! Hi, Megan! *waves* Hope you have a wonderful day! :)

Meg loves pink & cats, so that drove my inspiration for this card. The images are from the new Wal-Mart-exclusive Cricut Lite cartridge, Four-Legged Friends, which has so many great animal images on it and is perfect for pet lovers.

Sorry about the photo quality. We've been dumped on with lake-effect snow here in Western Pennsylvania, and the available light in the house is pretty dreary. IRL that ribbon is not red at all but the same burgundy as the cardstock.

I do love how the patterned paper looks like a linoleum tile floor!



Details:
Cricut Cartridge - Four-Legged Friends
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Patterned Paper - Chatterbox
Stamps - Word Stamp Kit - Magnetic Poetry
Ink - SU! Bravo Burgundy
Pearlescent Chalk - Pebbles Inc.
Ribbon - Offray

Thanks for coming by today! Stay warm!

Hugs,
Marcy

Northern Hearts Redwork Card

I am so pleased to share this card with you this morning! Every year my husband asks me to create a simple Christmas card that he can hand out to all of his associates on various boards, committees, etc. on which he serves. This is the card I've designed for this year.


It is a CAS (clean and simple) design, using the Stampin' Up! Northern Hearts hostess set and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages set. I'll tell you what CAS card designs are not for the faint of heart. You have to be very confident in your stamping abilities because mistakes are easily noticeable and hard to cover up. The only thing I typically measure is the card front and some mat layers; otherwise, I eyeball everything. Measuring kind of takes some of the fun out of card making for me. For this design, I just ink up the stamps, take a deep breath, and start stamping!

Hope you're having a great day today, and thanks for spending part of it with me!

Hugs,
Marcy

A Santa Medallion & Christmas Mice

It's been quite busy at our house during the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to squeeze in some crafty time this weekend.

I was so excited to try making these paper medallions that Lisa Zappa showed on her blog: http://shabbychickjunk.blogspot.com/2010/12/crafty-secrets-december-guest-designer.html
They looked much more complicated than they are and are so fun to make!

Details:
Main Image - Crafty Secrets - Christmas & Journal Notes booklet
Patterned Paper - Stampin' Up!
Cardstock - Core'dinations & Bazzill
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen; SU! - Early Espresso
Glitter glue - Stickles

Here are a couple of Christmas cards I made for Shannon's violin & music teachers, using Crafty Secrets' Mouse Party set. Looks like these sweet mice are getting ready for their Christmas concert!

I hope in the busyness of the holidays that you are able to take some time and enjoy some quiet moments too!

Hugs,
Marcy