It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We finally purchased our Christmas tree, and it is in the stand and decorated! Now I've got to finish getting those gifts wrapped and get them under the tree. The grandkids love to see the gifts under the tree whenever they stop by. I've only got one gift yet to buy and I. AM. DONE! It always feels like such an accomplishment to be done with my shopping.

I will also finish up my cards today and then finish the decorating and bake some cookies. The cookie baking is not as onerous as it used to be, since we don't have as many people around to eat them. I will only bake enough to have plates to share with a few neighbors and family members with some left to eat over Christmas.

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share with you today.

I have this Marianne Creatables snowman die that I really love. He is such a happy, friendly-looking fellow! My little lace edge under my strip of red cardstock was made with another Marianne die called "Border Stitch Lace," and my two little snowflakes were made with a small punch (I think it's by Recollections).

I cut my snowman out of white cardstock and then used a combination of chalk and ProMarkers to color a few areas. Once that was done, I covered the entire die-cut with spray adhesive and sprinkled on some clear glitter. He looks sparkly and snowy!

To create my snowy background, I put some white craft paint onto an old toothbrush and flicked it onto my DSP. Note, that I masked off the bottom 2 inches or so before I did that. I love how this turned out. It looks so...so...well, snowy!

I added a couple of layers and a few snowflakes to showcase my sentiment on the inside of my card. My sentiment label was die-cut with a Spellbinders Label 8 die.

Here's my second snowman card. For this one, I did a little light inking on my white CS before dry-embossing it with a "Falling Snow" embossing folder.by Sizzix. The "flakes" that were a little too blue were touched up with a tiny bit of white craft paint. My snowman on this card received the same treatment as the one on my first card.

The inside of this card is very simple. But one thing I did that I LOVE was to run a glue stick along all the edges of my sentiment panel and then dip those edges in clear glitter before adhering it to the inside of my card. If you look closely, you'll see the glittery edges. It adds such a finishing touch and a nice sparkle to the inside. Give it a try. I think you'll love the effect, and it is so quick and easy.

How are your holiday preparations coming along? Nearly there? Or a long ways to go yet?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl