Ringing in the New Year with a card

This week at Card Positioning Sytems blog each of the team members could pick out any sketch from all of the previous sketches to create their last card of the year. I always have so many favorites, it ends up being hard to choose! I knew I wanted a Happy New Year theme for me card so here goes....

I used sketch #69 and these wonderful black and white papers. The Thicker numbers made this really fast and easy.

I thought a really fun accent to the black and white print and all of the white of the card base would be a stamping of this great flourish design by Hero Arts. The little dots in the flourish stamp design are accented with a Copper Stickles. I figured out my positioning of the words and printed them on the card from the computer. I love having all of my fonts to choose from.

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And I just had to share my new "picture wall". We have done some major rearranging in our living room. This wall used to have a large, entertainment kind of piece on it and while we loved it, it meant we couldn't use this wall for anything else. We got rid of that piece and that gave me all of this space to do something different with. The green on the walls is new too. The large photo in the middle is a picture of all of our grandkids. Our daughter, Amanda, took it for us while we were all together for Thanksgiving. (If you take a peek at her blog, you can get a glimpse of our family Christmas) The rest of the photos are some of my favorites that I have taken on some of our trips here and there. The line of photos on the table are all of our kids and their spouses. Notice the little nativity set on the table!?

Well, here is a close up of it. It is a kids set that I got from Avon years ago. It is great because really little kids can't hurt the pieces as they play with them.

And, here is our youngest grandson playing with the nativity set. His first move was to have Joseph try to ride the donkey!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 69 for December 27 – HAPPY NEW YEAR card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned paper – g.c.d Studio
Chipboard letters – Thickers/American Crafts
Flourish stamp – Marvy
Font from computer
Copper Stickles – Ranger
Corner rounder punch – Papershapers/EK Success

Winter or Spring?

My post might look like a little of both!

I created a card last night with the 2 Sketches 4 you sketch #42. I need a creative boost since my cardmaking had been put aside for a few days with holiday celebrations and preparations. A new sketch just does it. All of the supplies are Jenni Bowlin including the Core'dinations cardstock.

I used a butterfly and that just might look like spring! I had wanted this Hero Arts butterfly stamp for some time so I finally took the plunge and purchased it. I love that it is just an outline so it can end up lots of different colors. I stamped it with black, embossed it with clear and then added color with a spritz of Memories Mist and then rubbed it with a couple Fluid Chalk stamp pads.

The cardstock base is Jenni Bowlin embossed cardstock for Core'dinations. This one is Black Magic with a red core so when I sanded the text design and the outside edges, the red is exposed.

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And a couple photos to share:

I live in Ventura, CA and the nickname for our city is the Poinsettia City. These amazing plants grow all year round here so they get huge! Taller then a person. I went out to find some to show you. These were growing in an old, historical park in our downtown area.

A single bloom looking through a chain link fence.

Here is a shot down the row of huge plants.
I thought this contrast was fun, a tall palm tree in the background.
And, guess what I picked from my yard TODAY!

We planted a couple Cherry Tomatoe plants this summer and they are still growing and producing tomatoes! It is usually a freeze that will eventually kill them.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

ABC-BUTTERFLY card
Materials

Cardstock – Jenni Bowlin Embossed/Core'dinations

Patterned paper – Jenni Bowlin

Martha Stewart Border punch

Butterfly stamp – Hero Arts

Memories Mist spray

Fluid chalk stamp pads – Clearsnap

Self Adhesive Pearls – Queen & Co.

Sandpaper

Happiness reigns!

And that happiness came in the form of a new 50mm 1.4 lens for my Canon 50D camera! If you don't already know this, this lens is one of the answers for taking indoor photos so it helped make my Christmas photos for this year pretty nice. I'll show you a couple but first of all I need to share an ornament I created and somehow I forgot to share it earlier.

The foundation for my ornament is a wooden snowflake. I painted it a creamy brown color to match the cardstock that I used. That way the back and sides matched. The Core'dinations cardstock was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then cut to shape.

The Santa image is from The Vintage Workshop. You purchase a set of prints from them and then you can print them as many times as you want. I just love their selection.

I pulled out my chunky glitter again. I love this stuff! It is from Impress Rubber Stamps store. I put a line of Aleene's Paper Glaze around the edge of my prepared snowflake and then sprinkled the glitter over that while it was still wet. I just love how much of the glitter the paper glaze holds. Notice the white dot accents too. That is Tulip's 3-D Fashion Paint. Such an easy way to add a little additional interest.

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On to those photos. I love the look that I got by using my new lens. It is great for up close photos like this and great for indoors photos.

Can you see that anticipation!? All of those filled stockings just waiting to be explored.

And here our youngest grandson is with that overfilled stocking. He is looking for his mom to help him find out what is inside.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

VINTAGE SNOWFLAKE ORNAMENT
Materials: Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations

Vintage image – The Vintage WorkshopCuttlebug embossing folder

White 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip

Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®

Chunky glitter – Impress Rubber Stamps

Ribbon

Scallop scissors – Fiskars

Goodies to share and one last Christmas card

I have some serious goodies to share today but first of all, you have to see the cutest, tiny gingerbread houses ever! Off to NOT MARTHA for a peek.

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Now for my Card Postioning Systems card for this week.

I love to work with circle designs so this weeks sketch is a fav for me. I paired it with these yummy BoBunny Christmas papers.

The holly and berries are cut from one of the patterned papers. I added Aleene's Paper Glaze to the berries and added some of the Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip to the spines of the leaves.

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And, I just have to share the last of my Disneyland photos.

This is Small World decorated for Christmas. This is what it looks like in the daytime. Way too much fun to see!
This is what it looked like a night. Million of little lights everywhere.

And, I think my favorite part of the parade, the dwarfs. Every one of them was just plain adorable! I didn't capture all 7 individually but here are 5 of them.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 147 – MERRY CHRISTMAS card
Materials:
Patterned paper –‘Tis the Season/BoBunny Press
Ribbon – BoBunny Press
Rub-on greeting – BoBunny Press
Glitter 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip
Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®
Sandpaper
3M Foam tape

Tiny sneak peek.....

Check out Moxie Fab for the Tuesday Trigger. I am all over challenges and so if you are like me, you need to see what Cath used for this week!!!
http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2009/12/tuesday-trigger-black-white-with.html


Now for a super quick holiday card idea, a Santa Boot.

I found this totally cute pattern at Whimsie Doodles. It is called a Whimsie Cut. It is a pattern you purchase, print out and decorate as you would like to. All of the parts print out on one piece of paper and then you cut out the parts. This was seriously so fast to put together.

http://www.whimsiedoodles.com/whimsie-cuts.html

I printed this out on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White, available at CutCardStock.com. This paper has a great, smooth feel to it, it has a slight sparkle making it fun to use for cards and it just LOVES Copic markers. (this is on sale right now too)

I used the printed out boot card for a pattern to cut the boot portion our of a piece of Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations embossed cardstock. This cardstock come with an embossed pattern in it. All I needed to do then was to sand it to expose the embossed design.

I colored the holly and berries with my Copic markers and then gave the berries a coating of the Aleene's paper glaze which gave them a great epoxy finish. They were finished off with a dot of white 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip.

When this is printed out, there is a separate piece to cut out that is the band with the bells on it and a pattern for the sole of the boot. The band and bells were colored with Copic markers and the sole of the boot was cut from another color of Core'dinations cardstock.

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I just had to share some more photos. I thought you Disney lovers might like some glimpses of the Christmas parade.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

MERRY SANTA BOOT card
Materials

Cardstock – Jenni Bowlin/Core'dinations and Curious Iridescent Cryogen White/CutCardStock.com

Copic markers

Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®

White 3-D Fashion paint - Tulip

Sandpaper

Merry Christmas to All....

Can you believe that magical night is getting so close!? The main focus to the Holidays for our family is the birth of the Christ child and the Wonder of that event but it is fun to throw in a little Santa now and then.

The front of my card is just your normal looking greeting with these great patterned papers, the border punch and the sentiment stamps and then.....

You open it to a pop-up surprise! With Santa, his sleigh and reindeer flying over the moon! The stamps are by Pink Persimmon and this is the cutest Santa and sleigh set. I stamped the image with white ink on a kraft colored cardstock and then embossed that with white embossing powder. I added a tiny bit of coloring with a red Copic marker.

Here is a peek at the pop-up piece that makes the moon, Santa and sleigh stand out.

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And, you guessed it! Some photos!

Our family took our annual mini Christmas trip to the San Diego area this last weekend. We stayed on Coronado Island and so I just had to share a couple pics! This view is the Hotel Del Corondo. It is an amazing landmark on the island and wow is it BIG! It is not where we stayed but we just had to try to get a good view.

While we were at the beach, we all had to do some playing in the sand. The weather was just amazing making it a bit hard to believe that it is one week until Christmas! I was taking photos of all of our family and captured this neat photo kind of by accident. At this point I was following our youngest grandson as he was playing in the sand and you would so think that I arranged some of our other family members for this photo! Our youngest grandson is in the front, our son-in-law is next, two of our daughters are next and way in the distance is one of our granddaughters with the ocean off in the distance.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL… card
Materials

Cardstock - Core'dinations

Patterned paper - BasicGrey

Stamps - Pink Persimmon

Versamark black stamp pad

White stamp pad

White embossing powder

Cuttlebug embossing plate

Border punch - Martha Stewart

Queen & Co Jewels

Copic markers

Vintage Santa and the Sunset

I happened upon the coolest find this week right here in my own house!!! We have a copy of a 1959 Family Circle magazine. It is just adorable. I knew we had some older magazines my husband had gotten from his mom but I had never looked close to see that one of them was Christmas related.

I just had to use this adorable image from the cover. I scanned it, fixed it a little bit and then printed it out on photo paper. All I needed to do then was to cut it out.

I paired it with a piece of Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations cardstock. I cut around the embossed design so that my card is shaped. I sanded the edges and then added a line of Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip for a bit of bling.

I just had to show you the entire cover.

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And, I just have to share a couple photos.

I went down to our beach last night right at sunset. For the last couple days we have been having some rather amazing sunsets and I finally found a day to time my visit just right for a ton of great photos. One of the most fun things about my visit was all of the seagulls that were having so much fun flying at the waters edge along with the surfers that were trying to catch the end of a day on the waves.

See the surfer in this wave?

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Materials:
Cardstock - Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations
Vintage clip art
Cuttlebug embossing plate
Border punch
Ribbon
Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint - Tulip

It is SKETCH time - CPS and 2 Sketches 4 You

I am having a ball creating cards that are winter/holiday themed and sketches just make this so much easier. Not to mention the amazing paper collections that have come out for this year, WOWIE! This is my CPS card for this week using these great BoBunny collection.

The ornament is actually cut out of one side of one of the patterned papers and that is accented with the Tulip 3-D Fashion paint. This 3-D paint is the easiest way to add some wonderful, white dots to a creation.

And, I just had to use the 2 Sketches 4 You Laura's sketch #41 for this week. I feel in love with the long, skinny shape and it gave me a reason to continue to pull out my BasicGrey holiday papers.

The snowflake is a Cuttlebug die and that amazing brad is from a set by K&Co.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 146 – CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – ‘Tis the Season/BoBunny Press (ornament cut from one of the print)
Ribbon – BoBunny Press
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
White 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip

Sandpaper

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JOY-Snowflake card

Materials: Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations

Patterned paper – BasicGrey

Snowflake die - Cuttlebug

Brad - K&Co.

Fiskars border punch

Machine sewing

Bind It All corner rounder punch

Making Memories rub-on word

Candy Wrapper Gift and Moxie Fab

I love a challenge and I LOVE this platter that the Moxie Fab blog used for an inspiration trigger so of course I had to play. I think it's all of that wonderful red that got to me.

I chose to use the tree design and the thought that this had something to do with food to carry out the challenge with my creation.

I was surfing blogs the other day and I came across a blog where the designer used some digital stamps from Whimsie Doodle's store and I knew this Christmas cupcake image was what I wanted to use. (Unfortunetly I don't remember what blog so that I can give credit) If you have never used a digital stamp before, the idea is that you buy the image and then you can print it out on the paper you want, as often as you want and many times you have the choice of sizes too. This particular set is a couple tops of cupcakes and a couple choices for the cupcake papers and decorations for the cupcakes. I printed tree image twice. I used one of those for my pattern to cut the tree in layers from the green cardstock. One of the images was printed on golden yellow cardstock to use as the foundation of my project. I then printed the cupcake paper and decoration three times on three different colors of cardstock and cut those apart so that I could paper piece the finish project.

When my paper pieced cupcake tree was all put together, I glued that to a piece of cardstock that wraps around my candy gift and I tied it at the top with twine. The star was coated with the Aleene's Paper Glaze and then sprinkled with the chunky glitter. One thing I love about using the Paper Glaze for an application like this is that it goes on thick, it stays in place and it just grabs all of the glitter. I hardly have any glitter that falls off once it is dry. Wouldn't you want to receive some yummy candy wrapped this way?

This view shows my layers of the tree itself. After I cut out the three layers, I ran those pieces through the Cuttlebug to emboss the swirls. I gently rolled up the layers to give my tree dimension.

This view shows my cupcake paper. It is printed on brown cardstock, red cardstock and golden yellow cardstock with the different parts of the design cut out separately and then glued together.

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On to a couple more pics.

You have to understand the story behind this photo. We went to Disneyland in July and since then, Dathan has been learning the characters from the photos we took on that trip. When we went last week, he was sooooo excited to see Goofy and we stood in line so he could see him. As I was taking photos though, he caught sight of Mickey walking by and so that is what he is pointing at and what he is saying. He was over Goofy for Mickey! You can see how cute Goofy was, though, in his holiday outfit.

We had to buy Dathan his own Mickey hat, so this is a photo I was able to capture as he ran around the house.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CHRISTMAS TREE CANDY HOLDER
Materials: Cardstock – Vintage and Core Essentials/Core’dinations

Digital stamp image – Whimsie Doodle

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Chunky glitter – Impress rubber stamps

Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s

Twine