Let's Craft and Create Challenge #179: Anything Goes with an option of Something New (new home, new baby, New Year, etc.)...

 

Oh, my gosh, it's 2022! Can you believe it? The older I get, the quicker time flies. 

It is time once again for a new challenge at Let's Craft and Create. We hope you'll join us with your creation. Remember, you can choose "Anything Goes" or "Something New" for inspiration.

I decided to to make a card to send congratulations on a new house. Because I enjoy making slimline cards, that is the format I chose.

I started with a pale blue panel and matted it with a pale yellow panel.

I heat embossed my sentiment, "Congratulations on your new house," onto the blue panel.

My streetscape was cut twice from white cardstock and adhered together for more dimension before it was glued to the blue panel. The special house, which was backed with some of the yellow cardstock, was popped up on dimensionals.

Since I like to make more than one card when I settle on a design, I made the same card again using gold metallic cardstock instead of the yellow.

I really like the way the metallic cardstock is so reflective in the windows of the house.

I kept the inside of each card very simple with just a stamped sentiment.

Here's a peek at both cards together.

Now it's your turn. Be sure to hop over to Let's Craft and Create to see what the Design Team has made to inspire you. There is a prize for this month's winner, too!

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

Cheryl

Happy Beerthday...

Quite a while ago I purchased a package of random small dies, and this beer mug die was one of them. It came with three pieces--the mug shape, the inside piece (for the beer) and the foam.

The mugs were cut from white, translucent vellum. I know it looks blue in the photo, but that's just my blue circle of cardstock showing through.

The beer pieces were cut from gold cardstock, covered with double-sided tape and adhered to the backsides of the mugs.

The foam was cut from poster board, giving it lots of dimension.

The sentiment on the front of the card was computer-generated, and the inside sentiment is an old wood stamp that I got from the thrift store.

This slimline card was very quick (and fun) to make. I think it works great as a masculine card (if the guy likes beer, that is).  I have a few males in my family who enjoy having a beer, so I think this card design will get some more use.

I hope your new year has started well. We've had a brief spate of cold weather, but it is supposed to warm to 30 degrees today, so that will feel almost balmy! 

 I have begun putting away the Christmas decorations. It usually takes me a couple of days to get it all done. When do you put yours away? Soon after the holiday, or weeks later?

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

Cheryl

Flowers for a wintry day...

 

I have a set of stencils and a coordinating die that make this pretty floral wreath. I recently made a couple of cards with them that I donated to the thrift store. And since it's looking pretty cold outside--we'll have temps well below zero tonight--I thought they'd be perfect to feature on my blog today. 

The first card has a dry-embossed background, made from a scrap of blue CS I found in my stash.

I have popped my wreath up on dimensionals, as well as my sentiment.

My only other embellishment was three iridescent sequins that reflect whatever color surrounds them.

This card was made the same as the first one, but with a piece of DSP in the background--another scrap from my stash. Once again, I added the iridescent sequins. See how pink they look on this card? 

Each card had a simple, stamped sentiment on the inside. The photo on the right shows the one inside the first (blue) card.

We are having a very low-key New Year's Eve celebration today. My brother is coming to help my DH fix a bathroom faucet and staying for dinner. My brother-in-law will also be here, as he has been staying with us since before Christmas. We'll probably have a glass of wine to toast the New Year, and that will be it!

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

Cheryl

Simple sympathy card...

 

I needed some sympathy cards and came up with this very simple design.

I had a pretty border die of a row of flowers--they look like water lilies to me. I decided to use it as the focal point of my card, keeping the layout really simple.

I found some silver cardstock with a "brushed" design on it. I cut a strip to back the die-cut and also used it to cut out my sentiment.

The silver cardstock was pretty heavy, so even though I didn't layer my sentiment, it still had some dimension.

On the inside of my card, I stamped a sentiment with no other embellishment.

I'm going to make a few more of these cards so that I have some on hand and also have some to donate to the thrift store. 

I think the rich purple and elegant silver are what make this card special. I have a 12" X 12" stack of cardstock in jewel tones, and I think those papers will be perfect to make more of these.

We had a lovely Christmas with some of our family members able to celebrate with us. So much food. So many gifts. So much fun. 

Here we are with three of the grands and one of their dogs. This was taken Christmas morning after they had finished opening their gifts.

I hope your celebrations were as merry as ours. I am looking forward to a New Year filled with blessings. After all, there's no sense in looking forward to doom and gloom!

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

Cheryl

Glitter perfect...

 Sometimes you find a piece of glittery cardstock that is just too beautiful not to use. That's what happened when I came across a gold, holly-patterned piece in my stash. Here's what I made with it:

This picture absolutely does not do justice to this gorgeous paper. I wanted as much of it as possible to show, so I added only a small sentiment panel. My focal panel was matted with black and my sentiment panel had an inside reverse scallop frame. Does that make sense?

As a bit of embellishment, I added a couple of holly leaves cut from gold glitter cardstock and three gold, flat-backed dots for the berries.

My sentiment had been heat-embossed using gold embossing powder.

I stamped my inside sentiment with Versafine black ink and also matted it with black CS.

I have a little of this paper left and will be making a couple more of these cards for next year. I'm actually excited to get started on next year's cards, as I really, really want to get most of them made far ahead of time--perhaps by the end of October 2022.

After making the last batch yesterday (Dec. 23), I am finally DONE making Christmas  cookies and other treats. All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree (or mailed to their recipients), so I am now focusing on meals. We will have our traditional "Soup Supper" on Christmas Eve. My family LOVES homemade soup, so we always have at least three of them on that special night. This year I am making Turkey Wild Rice (done yesterday) and Cheesy Corn Chowder (will probably be done by the time you read this post).  My daughter is bringing Vegetarian Chili. We will have some nice hot baguettes and a crudite platter, as well. There will be wine, water and sparkling juice to drink. The dessert, of course, is an assortment of Christmas cookies. As soon as we are done eating, the grands will want to open gifts, which is always the highlight of the evening.

On Christmas morning I bake caramel rolls (which I prepare on Christmas Eve and allow to raise in the frig overnight) and bring them to my daughter's house as soon as they are done baking. She only lives nine blocks away, so we can get them there while they are still warm. We then have coffee, juice and rolls and watch the grands open their gifts at home. So. Much. Fun!

I hope your Christmas is joyous and filled with visits (by phone, computer or in person) from family and friends. 

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

Cheryl

Cards for the kids...

 ...and by "kids" I mean those six grown-up kids who have given us 10 beautiful grandchildren!

I've had this sweet "cup of cocoa" die set since before Christmas 2020 and had never used it. I decided it was time and thought these cards would be perfect to send to our grown children and their families to wish them Merry Christmas.

I started by cutting all the pieces for my focal image from white cardstock. Then I sat in front of the TV one night and colored them with my Promarkers before gluing them all together.

I added some shadows around the little snowman (or is it a snowgirl?), whipped cream and marshmallows. I also added some rosy cheeks and some white dots to the eyes.

When it was all glued together, I popped the whole image up on foam squares. In fact, you can see one of them peeking out from under the cup's handle.

I cut an oval from my DSP to allow my kraft card base to show through. I felt this helped to draw the eye to the image.

The sentiment was computer-generated, cut out with a sentiment die and inked around its edges. I also popped it up on foam tape.

I really liked the red DSP for the background. The whitish triangles were actually a beige color which worked well with my kraft card base.

The green background added some nice contrast. All of the DSP came from a distressed Christmas 6" X 6" paper pad that I've had for years. I think I must have been saving it just for these cards!

On the inside of each card I printed another sentiment with my computer. I also added a strip of the same DSP that had been used on the front of the card.

These cards were a bit fiddly, but still so much fun to make. The coloring was simple enough that it didn't take much time at all. In fact, I made all six of them (two of each shown here) in an evening.

We are back from a quick trip to see our daughter and her family in North Dakota. While it was cold, the roads were in good shape, and there wasn't too much traffic. We are now ready to settle down and celebrate Christmas at home with family members who are able to join us.

I wish all of you a fabulous holiday celebration, and I hope to read all about it in your blogs after Christmas.

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

Cheryl

A penguin Christmas...

 

I found this free image of a penguin online. It was so cute that I printed out several to be the focal image on some Christmas cards. You can find it here (#21). It is actually printable as a complete card, but I used only the card front. 

The sentiment was cut from a sheet of DSP that was filled with lines of Christmas greetings like this one. Some of the others were"Merry Christmas," "Ho Ho Ho," and "Season's Greetings," with holly and berries in between each of them. This DSP was WAY more useful to me as cut-apart sentiments than as a background paper. I popped the sentiment up on foam tape.

To add some extra touches to my card, I first matted the image. Then I added Glossy Accents to all the berries, a snowflake to his belly and went over the candle flame with a glitter pen to give it some sparkle.

I also added a squiggly line of glue across the snow and sprinkled it with clear glitter.

For the inside, I used my computer to print an additional sentiment.

Talk about quick and easy! This card helped me reach the finish line for the 95 cards I needed to send to family and friends.

I am now in baking mode, trying to get the cookies, pies and other treats ready for the big day. I need to keep my nose to the grindstone as we are taking a couple of days this weekend to make a quick 200-mile trip to see my daughter and her family. We will spend just one night with them and then return home to get ready for our Christmas celebration here.

Are you all done with your Christmas preparations? I tend to keep "preparing" until December 24th. Then I stop and just enjoy the holiday, ready or not!

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

Cheryl