May Flaum's Christmas Camp Day One

Day One - Make the most of 30 minutes:  I love May's style and challenges and today is day one.  I cheated a bit because I already had these cards made just a few days ago.  But each card definitely took less than 30 minutes to make.  Partly because in both cases I had the focal points already made and waiting to be used. The first card uses the Simon Says Stamp! December Card Kit and the second is from the class I took from May IRL just a few weeks ago using the Tim Holtz Blue Print Nut Cracker stamp and May's fun techniques with inks and sprays.

Graphic 45 Birthday Card and Gift Box

It's that time of year again when I get together with a neighbor friend of mine, Jana, and we exchange birthday gifts.  We are a bit late.  She is a hard working high school teacher and I, well, I'm busy doing "stuff".  But we take the time to make the most of our gift exchange and draw it out for hours.  We are hoping to see each other this week sometime.  But with Thanksgiving looming it could be tricky.

Jana is responsible for me being an addicted crafter.  After that famous embossing demo she did I was hooked on stamping.  She laughed at my little tote box with a few ink pads and stamps.  She knew that wouldn't contain my enthusiasm for long.  Now my craft room is overflowing along with my brain for card ideas.

My card for Jana merely started as a challenge among my dear friends Jen, Nancy and Chrissie.  Jen alerted us to this engineered style card and I threw down the gauntlet challenging us all to make one.  I made the entire card from Graphic 45 "Birdsong" which I have previously posted.  But while I was making it I realized I had Jana's birthday card in the making.  It is now embellished with copper metal corners and embossed sheet metal, beads, die cuts, chip board and ribbon.

I also made Jana a pair of earrings.  But they needed to go into a special box as well.  Again Graphic 45 "Birdsong" using the CTMH cartridge "Artiste" to make this gift box.  I am happy how it all came together.

A few more holiday cards

Since that Online Holiday Card Class I can't stop making cards.  These are ones that I just sat down and made after all that inspiration for two weeks.  I have such a variety of stamps for the holidays and typically never use them.  So happy I got the jump on this season and I'll be ready to send these out after Thanksgiving.

Thanks for looking.

Ms Nancy's Squirrel Girls Challenge

This time we are doing the TJ "Distress Dip" technique.  I'm calling it the distress mess.  I haven't gotten that messy in ages and I loved it.  I need to do more of this kind of play.  I ended up with an assortment of great backgrounds to stamp on.

This is my submission to Nancy's challenge this time around.  The stamp used is a street of line drawn houses from Club Scrap's "Neighborhood" collection.  The houses are stamped in CS India Ink Black.  The heart is a hand punch.  Doorways and trees were colored in with Distress Markers.

Day 9 Card

Today's card (yes, I am caught up!) is about stamping sentiments and I chose the faux metal stamping.  Rather than use embossing powder to create a metallic canvas to stamp on, I opted to use a teal metallic paper from Club Scrap's Raku collection.  Embossed background dots with an embossing folder, added washi tape and twines to finish off the card.  Sentiment is from Michael Strong's "Joyful" collection for Club Scrap.

Day 8 Card

Day 8's goal is to use a die cut of some sort.   A very, very simple card but I am rather pleased with myself for it's ease and quickness in making it.  Top panel is cut with a large triangle punch, stamped sentiment from Hero Arts, red gold dotted paper underneath from Club Scrap, topped with an epoxy star sticker.

Day 7 card: Reverse stamp

I think Negative Stamp might be a better name.  There isn't as much detail on this stamp to show off the inking technique but as my friend Nancy say's "everything is better with a bird on it".  I do love the simplicity and iciness of this Hero Arts stamp.  Snowflakes are Tim Holtz.