Merry Christmas To All!

Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and that your holiday plans are not too stressful yet! Today I'm sharing a Christmas card I made using the Giant Poinsettia (093M), which I haven't used in forever it seems. It is definitely one of my favorite flowers DRS Designs offers! 

 

I colored this image with Copic markers and loved every minute of it! The way the leaves are drawn really shows off dimension when shaded. I matted the image in green and then added some yellow rhinestones to embellish the flower center.  I stamped the Christmas Especially To You Greeting (618E) at the bottom of heavy, red cardstock for the card front.  It was partially embossed with a polka dotted embossing folder above and below the greeting and then I scored a couple lines as shown to isolate the greeting from the embossed decor. The card base was made from light blue cardstock to form a 4.25" x 5.5" card and I assembled it with the stamped image centered in the upper portion and then adhered the card front to the card base. It was pretty simple overall and so very festive!

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy your day!!!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Joy To You!

It's almost release time over at DRS Designs! The next batch of Christmas stamps will be available for purchase very soon. This release has inspired me to get a head start on my Christmas cards this year. Only 5 more weeks and the big day will be here! Are you ready? At this point I'm definitely not, but it's a relief to know that I do have things underway! 

 

Here's one of the cards I recently made to show off the new Joy To You Christmas Circle (640G), which I'm really beginning to love! There's something I love about circular stamps like this and with it being stamped in red, I love how it really stands out! It's nice that this stamp has a Christmas feel without saying the word "Christmas" too.  I think the line "in big ways and small ways" would make this a nice holiday thank you card as well. 

 

 

I stamped the Triple Holly (1004F) repeatedly on the card front to create my own background paper.  Once colored, it seemed to have come to life and it is really festive!  I'm considering making more as I get into full swing, card-making mode to mass produce a bunch of backgrounds for the cards I send to all my stamping friends. The background is definitely what brings this card all together.  A few brads, some embossed cardstock and some gorgeous red glitter ribbon made this card complete! 

 

 I hope you like it and I appreciate you stopping by!

Have a wonderful day!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Holiday Gift Tag

I usually don't hand make my "to/from" tags for my Christmas packages, but the challenge over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long has inspired me to get creative! It's time to show off your Christmas tags and here's mine!

This finished tag measures 2.25" x 3.75" and I used several stamps from DRS Designs to create this cute snow scene:

North Pole Sign (518E)

Tiny Snowman (256B)

Christmas Village Slope Roof Cottage (215D)

Gift Tag Greetings (To, From, Love, Santa) (498C)

All of the images were colored with Copic Markers and I used a white gel pen to make the snow.  A bit of glitter was even added to the roof top and the ground to enhance the snow. 

 


DRS Designs is the sponsor of this challenge and the winner will win a $10 store voucher to put toward the stamps of their choice!! Shopping for FREE! How awesome is that?!?!?

 

  Smiles,

Jennifer

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Season's Greetings

Hi Friends!

Yay for Wednesday! Half the work week is just about over! How are you enjoying the last days of summer? Here in Michigan, there's already a bit of crispness in the air and there's no doubt that Fall is right around the corner. This year I am really trying to stay on top of things and that's why I'm still using DRS designs new Christmas stamps to work on more of my Christmas cards. I still feel horrible that time got away from me last year and I didn't send out any!

The card I created for today features the new Season's Greeting Holly Spray stamp (487L). I colored it with Copic markers and added red Stickles to the holly berries. While it was drying I used red cardstock to form and an A2 cardstock base. The card front was created using three different layers. I cut a portion of olive green cardstock and stamped it with the Pine Bough (467K) in dark green ink. Then I ripped it on a diagonal and adhered it to a small portion of red card stock and ripped that on a matching diagonal. Finally, majority of the card front was created using khaki cardstock that was embossed with the Divine Swirls embossing folder. The edges of both the card base and the card front were rounded and the card front was adhered in place. Next, the colored image was matted with red cardstock and adhered to the center of the card front as shown. A simple sheer, red bow embellished the bottom of the image nicely and my card was complete. 

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to check out my work! Have a great day!

Smiles, 

Jennifer

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Hanging Ornaments

 Here's the inspiration photo to this weeks DRS Designs Blog Challenge, and these chili peppers scream one thing to me: hot, hot, hot!

However, I am still creating Christmas cards and there's nothing hot about Christmas! I'm dreading the cold winter temperatures and it's not even Fall yet! LOL!

 

  

  For this card, I stamped the Triple Hanging Christmas Ornaments (500L), and the Deco Christmas New Years Greeting (488G) on white card stock. Both were colored with Copic markers. The white card stock panel was cut short around the bottom of the yellow ornament and then matted with colored card stock at the top and bottom. The green cardstock was extended at the bottom and was stamped with the Pine Bough (467K). The card front was then adhered onto a red card stock base and gold stickles decorated the starburst ornament to make this card complete. 

For this challenge one lucky winner will be selected to win a $10 store voucher to DRS Designs. Link your card HERE.  Are you looking for another opportunity to win free stamp goodies from DRS Designs this week? DRS Designs is the sponsor over at Tuesday Morning Sketches. 

Create a project using this sketch to enter the TMS challenge. 

 

Well, that's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

 

Smiles,

Jennifer 

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You Left Me Hanging!

I'm really enjoying the new Christmas ornament stamps from DRS Designs. It's a good feeling getting a jump start on my Christmas cards. I know with a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old, Christmas from here on out will be even busier than past years but it will also be so much more exciting too! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this weeks DRS Designs blog challenge as an excuse to create another one. The challenge this week is "You Left Me Hanging," and it's perfect for showing off their new Christmas ornament stamps.

 

 

The Triple Hanging Ornaments (500L) was colored with Copic Markers. I matted the colored image with red card stock and put it aside while I worked on my card front. I used ivory card stock for the front and stamped it with the Retro Starburst (1059G) in Versamark Ink. Then I used a decorative border punch at the top. I did the same thing to a piece of green card stock and layered them as shown to decorate the top of the card. I embellished the scallop edge with yellow rhinestones to match the color scheme, and then adhered the matted image in the center.  The Deco Christmas New Year Greeting (488G) was stamped at the bottom and also colored with Copic markers. Finally, yellow Stickles were added to the starburst ornament to make the card complete. 

 

For this challenge, DRS Designs is giving away a set of three stamps for FREE to one lucky winner. Won't you play along? 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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On the Tree

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm so excited to have new Christmas stamps to play with.  DRS Designs just released a bunch of new ones just in time to get a jump start on those holidays cards! The holiday season always seems to creep up, doesn't it? That's why I'm using this time to get started NOW!

 

 

I created this one to show off the new Simple Ornament (491K).  I colored it Copic Markers and then applied Diamond Glaze all over it, before fussy cutting it out.  I love how the shiny look of the glaze makes it look real!

 

 

Of course, I had to make a Christmas tree background using the Pine Bough (467K) to make it look like it was hanging in the tree! I decorated the empty space at the top of the card front using the new Deco Christmas New Years Greeting (488G). I split it up so that I could add the small text of "& Happy New Year" to decorate the yellow banner placed at the lower portion of the card front. "Merry Christmas" was enhanced a bit by coloring portions of it with red Copic Markers. I hope you like it!

 

Don't delay, get started today! The hectic holiday season is right around the corner!

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Christmas Feelings

Today I am using DRS Designs new blog challenge to show off some sneak peaks of their new stamps scheduled to be released this weekend! The challenge theme this week is "I Can Feel It!" You need to use some sort of dry embossing on your entry to qualify for the challenge. 

 

 

I created this non-traditional Christmas card with the Cuttlebug Heart Embossing folder to match the heart theme in the stamps. Yes, you heard that right--Christmas!! Now is the time to get started on those Christmas cards and DRS designs has some new stamps coming out to help you do just that!

 

The new stamps I used on this card are the Jesus is the Heart of Christmas Greeting (496F) and the Baby Jesus Heart (494G) which I colored here with Copic Markers. I also used the Interlocking Heart Background (808H) on the yellow panel. I love that this turned out so nice despite the non-traditional Christmas colors. I added some Stickles to the star and embellished the top with a metallic gold ribbon.  A few brads at the bottom finished it up nicely and the card front was adhere on to a dark brown A2 cardstock base.

 

Hope you like it!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Warm Wishes

Well, the count down to the big day is on, are you ready? My shopping is done, but I still have all the wrapping to do.  I took a break from the holiday prep this weekend and I found myself stamping a winter scene that's inspired by the upcoming winter storm were expecting this Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately the timing is bad due to all the traveling everyone will be doing for the holiday, but I'm really excited, as we haven't had a true white Christmas in a very long time. The colors are used on this card were inspired by the color challenge that can be found on this weeks DRS Designs blog. 

  

This scene was created by using the masking technique and several of the stamps from DRS Designs Christmas Village series. These stamps included:

The Christmas Village Slope Roof Cottage (215D), The stick trees came from the Christmas Village Four in One Accessories #2 (210G), and the snowman and pine tree were from the Christmas Village Four in One (119D). The sentiment tag was stamped with the Warm Wishes Greeting (611D).  The image came to life by coloring it with Copic markers, and then I added Stickles to the snowy areas for a realistic effect. I hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles, 

Jennifer

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French Horn

 

I'm still working on my Christmas cards, are you? 

Here's one I made for this weeks "Sing It To Me" challenge over on the DRS Designs Blog. 

 

 

The 3 stamps I used on this card are the Christmas Music Background (372P), Christmas French Horn (237K), and the Christmas Multi Greeting (341H).  The layout I used is inspired from this weeks Deconstructed Sketch challenge DS180.

 

The image was colored with Copic Markers, cut out, and then opposite corners were rounded before distressing the edges with brown ink. The background was made by stamping the Christmas Music Background and then distressing the edges of that as well.  Just one of the "Merry Christmas" versions was stamped from the Christmas Multi Greeting at the bottom.  I added a red scallop border to the top and then and a thin red ribbon embellished the bottom portion rather nicely. Red and green fishtail banners were added underneath the image for a little balance. I really like how this one turned out.  I hope you do too!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Smiles,

Jennifer



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O Christmas Trees

Tis the season for hecticness and it's in full swing for me right now! It's taken me about 5 days to get this post typed up. But, as they say, better late than never...here's my creation for the glitter challenge that was posted on the DRS Designs Blog this past Thursday. Both the image and sentiment are by DRS Designs. 

I used the sketch challenge from SC428 to inspire my layout. After stamping the Christmas Village Tree Store (214E), I created a Post-it Note mask for it and stamped the bare trees from the Christmas Village 4 in 1 Accessories #2 (210G) over top of it to create my scene. I colored the image with Copic Markers and applied glitter to all of the snowy areas.  I arranged some fishtail banners as shown according to the layout and stamped "Merry Christmas" from the Christmas Multi Greeting (341H) on the largest one. I layered a few snowflake dies and pinned them together with a red brad for the embellishment. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays,

Jennifer

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Christmas Cabin

I'm a little behind this year, but I'm happy to report that I have another quick and fairly easy Christmas card under my belt!  The creation of this card was fueled by a nice, flavored cup of coffee, which seems to be one of my staples nowadays! The Arctic blast that we had blow through recently has caused nothing but warm and cozy thoughts in my stamping room--I refuse to let this kind of weather bring me down, or tolerate it so early in the season. I see it as the perfect excuse to stay in and stamp. What could be better?

The focal point of this card is the Christmas Village Cabin (212G). I masked it and then stamped the bare trees from the Christmas Village 4 in 1 Accessories #2 (210G) over top of it. I love the way the image turned out, especially once I colored it with Copic markers.  It really came to life and reminds me of the cabin friends of ours have, Up North, deep in the woods.  It gives me that warm and cozy feeling and because of this, I thought the Simple Joys of Christmas Greeting (957F) was the perfect pair for it.  For a little bling, I used Stickles to make the snow and roof tops glisten. This card was simply embellished--2 red brads, a tiny red bow, and a textured card front made this card complete! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stay warm!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Embossed Christmas

Hi Everyone! 

I'd like to start today's post by wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Today is all about celebrating and being thankful for all we have.  I am especially thankful for being a part of a very loving family, for having great friends and for being blessed with wonderful children, my health, and a job that helps to support our home.  I'm also thankful for being a part of the DRS Designs Design Team and for all of the stress-relief stamping has helped with, LOL!

Well, another week has gone by and a new challenge is posted on the DRS Designs Blog.  For their "I Pine For You" Challenge, you are to use any pine image, punch or die cut.  I used the Christmas Pine Oval (279L).

I heat embossed it with silver embossing powder, and then matted it with a scallop rectangle cut from metallic silver card stock. The card front was simply embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder and the bottom was embellished with white satin ribbon and a snowflake die cut attached with a small silver brad. After adhering the matted image to the upper portion of the card front, I added three fish tail banners to the upper right corner and embellished it with a red and white twine bow. I tried to keep things simple since I really thought the embossed image and metallic card stock really made this card elegant. The card base was created from metallic silver card stock and the finished size is 4.25" x 5.5".

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Christmas O.C.D.

Hi Friends! Hope your weekend is going well! 
I'm taking a break from the craziness of getting my house ready to host Thanksgiving for our family this year. We are expecting about 40 people and I'm sure we will have enough food to feed an army, but that's what the holidays are all about, right?  Good company and good food--We have so much to look forward to and to be thankful for!

A color challenge was recently posted over at the DRS Designs blog. It utilizes a poinsettia image with different hues of red and greens for the challenge. Here's my challenge entry depicting Christmas Leonard Pig (709K) in the hustle and bustle of Christmas. I've paired him with one of the new Christmas sayings from DRS Designs most recent release, the O.C.D. Christmas Greeting (183E).

The image was colored with Copic Markers, cut out, and masked. Blue ink was sponged around the edges and the upper portion was masked as well so that when sponge with brown ink it resembles him standing on a floor.  I created my own pattern paper by using a portion of the Cut-apart Woven Plaid Stamp (613P). I split up the sentiment into two parts and cut them out with Nestability dies. Blue ink was sponged over top while still in the die and then each one was matted with green card stock cut with a scallop die. My card front was assembled as shown and was simply embellished with only pink grosgrain ribbon tied in a knot.

Well, I'm sure with all that is going on this week I probably won't be on the computer much until after the holiday.  I hope you all have a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving full of all your favorite things!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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His Presence

Hi Friends! 
Today I have a CAS card to share with you to show off the new Lovely Gifts Christmas Greeting (235G) just release from DRS Designs.  

I created the card front to resemble a wrapped Christmas gift, to play on the words "present" in this saying.  Sorry about the quality of this picture--I used shimmer cardstock for the card front and greeting and it didn't photograph as well as I thought. I no longer have this card in my possession so, unfortunately, this is as good as it gets!

Run over to DRS Designs to see all of their new Christmas stamps HERE, or check out the new challenge on their blog, "Hang It Up" and enter your project for a chance to win stamps from DRS Designs just for free!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Upon The Tree

I feel like everyone often forgets about Thanksgiving and all that we should be thankful for by rushing around making Christmas a 2 month holiday. I understand it's probably hard to do when the stores have Christmas decorations out before Halloween even gets here, but I'm nowhere near decorating my tree or doing anything else Christmas right now. My house is still decorated with sunflowers, pumpkins, orange leaves and other things that celebrate the Fall harvest and Thanksgiving. At the same time though, I understand that since Christmas is such a large holiday, you have to prepare early. As we all know, this is particularly important when hand making your own Christmas cards! The card I'm sharing today was created for this weeks DRS Designs blog challenge "Hang it up."  Of course, this doesn't particularly relate to Christmas, since you can hang Fall leaf garland as well, but Christmas decorations were the first thing that came to mind when I read this challenge theme!

My card front began with a white piece of card stock that I sponged with blue ink. Next, I stamped the Cardinal On A Branch (856M) so that only the leaves at the bottom of the stamp were inked to create the Christmas tree border. I colored it with Copic markers and stamped the lower portion of DRS Designs new Lovely Gifts Christmas stamp (235G) at the bottom between the pine needles. The Nativity Ornament (526K) was stamped on another piece of white card stock and colored with Prismacolor pencils. Then it was fussy cut out and adhered in the center of the card front with red ribbon to resemble it hanging on a Christmas tree.  A big satin red bow was attached at the top of the ornament and then the card front was matted with pink card stock to match the color scheme. Finally, the card front was attached to an A2 dark green card stock base and my challenge card was complete. 

So, how is your house decorated right now? Are you eager to decorate for Christmas or is your house still decorated for the Fall harvest like mine?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Christmas Reindeer

Hi Everyone! Welcome back!

The tricks and treats have passed and now November is here! Can you believe it?!?! This is the time to start thinking about what you will be doing for your holiday cards this year. With that in mind, DRS Designs is getting ready to release new holiday stamps perfect for this occasion. Today I am showing off the new Feeding Reindeer (188F) stamp that will be released very soon. I chose to use him alone on my Christmas card, but he coordinates with the pieces to the Christmas Village.  

I colored the Feeding Reindeer with Copic markers, and I cut the card stock around him in the shape of a tag to show it off. I added Stickles for the snow, and sponged light blue ink around the top of the tag for the sky around him.  I added different colored cardstock cut on a diagonal to form my card front and in the empty space formed between the 2 red panels I stamped "Merry Christmas" from the Christmas Multi Greeting (341H).  The Reindeer tag was embellished with a big red bow and adhered to the card front with foam tape.  I hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! 

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Dashing Through The Dough

Just the other day, one of my friends posted on Facebook that there are only about 17 Fridays left until Christmas!! Can you believe that? I know it's right around the corner, but in that perspective it makes it seem like it will be here so much quicker!

To make light of the situation I created this comical Christmas card--one that all of us stampers can most likely relate to. Isn't it true that buying stamping and crafting supplies can really make you feel like you're dashing through the dough?? I really like this card because it's perfect to send to a fellow stamper who you know could appreciate the humor!  

Here are some of the details on how I created it:
All of the stamps I used are by DRS Designs.  The Christmas Village Craft Store (101D) was stamped, colored with Copics, die cut and then sponged with blue ink for the sky. Glitter was added to the snow caps on the building and the ground. The Flying Cash (547F) was stamped repeatedly and colored with Copics as well to create the background. The card front was stamped with the Dashing Through The Dough (545D) sentiment before embossing it for some added texture. Once all of the pieces were assembled as shown, I added a green bow and several small pearls to embellish it perfectly. 

Well, regardless of how many days are left until Christmas, I hope you've been inspired by all of the Christmas cards you've seen here lately and that you've enjoyed today's post.  Are you making your Christmas cards already?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Happy Thoughts This Christmas

Oh Man, it seems like forever since I've had a chance to stamp, and because of that my blog has been very slow lately.  So sorry about that, but life with 2 little boys under 3 has become hectic! But, just look at them! It's hard to resist these adorable, loving faces when they need me! Anthony is 3 and Alex is a shocking 6 months old in this picture. (He actually just turned 7 months earlier this week.)  We also went on a mini-vacation to visit family up North for a wedding a few weeks ago and I finally unpacked the last bag just the other day.  Things are slowly getting back to normal now and I was able to stamp for this week's DRS Designs Blog challenge!

                                   

The challenge this week features the hot trend using chevrons and arrows.  I used one of DRS Designs newest Christmas stamps, the Christmas Village Post Office (114D) and 3 other stamps from their catalog to create my challenge card: 

Double Chevron Card Edger (904P)

Peace Heart and Home Christmas Greeting (986F)

One Line Happy Thoughts (951D)

I used the Chevron card edger to decorate my red card base before adding any other elements to it.  Then the white layer was stamped with the last 2 lines of the Peace Heart and Home Greeting and then it was embossed with the Swiss Dots folder for some texture.  Next I stamped the Happy Thoughts greeting on beige card stock, trimmed it with blue card stock, and then added red ribbon before adhering it in place.  The final step was to stamp the Post Office image, color it with Copics, and then mat it on a blue oval.  A bit of fine glitter was added to the snowy areas of the roof top and the ground.  That little bit of glimmer really pops on this card! 

Well, that's it for me today.  I hope to be able to stamp and blog more often in the coming days and weeks--and I have every good intention of doing so, but if things are quiet here for a while, you know why.  No worries though, I'll be back soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Christmas Church

Hi Everyone! 
I hope you're all enjoying the new Christmas in July release from DRS Designs.  I'm really enjoying these new stamps and the adorable Christmas scenes that can be created with them.  However, for today's post I've taken a different approach by using the new Christmas Village Church (107D) image alone for the focal point on my card, rather than pairing it with the other village stamps that are available. 

 I used kraft cardstock to create the base for an A2 size card.  I added some texture to the card front by matting the dark brown panel with white and red cardstock and then embossing it with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  This was placed vertically on the left hand side of the card front as shown.  For the scene I created here, I used the Christmas Village Four in One Accessories stamp (119D) to add the pine trees to either side of the church.  The image was then colored with Copic markers and fine glitter was added to the snowy areas for a realistic look. It was matted with dark brown cardstock and then again with a red scallop. Then it was adhered it to the center of the card. I split up the Richly Blessed Christmas Greeting (865G) to accommodate my layout and highlighted the word "Christmas" by stamping it on a banner and matting it. The look was completed by adding a red brad to either side of "Christmas" and then adhering it in place just below the image as shown.

Like what you see? Make sure to run over to the DRS Designs site and check out all of the new Christmas Village stamps that are now available for purchase! I promise you won't be disappointed and while you're there, enjoy all of the great scene cards create by the DRS Designs DT.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy day!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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