Christmas Thank You Cards

I have lots of thank yous to send to friends, family, and my students, so in between all our fun family activities, I've been trying to find time to make Thank You cards.  I know it would be faster to make all of them the same, but I get bored doing that :)  I found some fun Christmas papers on clearance at Michaels that I bought just for this purpose.  

The first ones use the Recollections Naughty or Nice papers.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but these papers are embedded with glitter, so they are all sparkly.   I also used a variety of CTMH Thank You stamps, ribbon and embellishments.

These last two use Recollections Classic Christmas papers.  These papers are dry embossed and have a colored core, so when you sand them, the design shows through.  

I made two of each card, so I'm about a third of the way there on cards.  

Let It Snow Banner

This is the third and final banner I made as a Christmas gift.  While I love the first two, I am in love with the Wonderland paper, so I'm partial to this one.  The Twilight/Crystal Blue/Chocolate combo is one of my favorites!  Not to mention the sentiment is very fitting!  No White Christmas here, not even in the mountains.  How can it be CHristmas with no skiing and no snow in the mountains?  Luckily, the tubing hill was able to make snow, so we'll be able to participate in our post-Christmas tradition.  

Anyway, I used Wonderland papers, several stamp sets, and the Art Philosophy (shapes) and Plantin Schoolbook (letters) Cricut cartridges.  I love that the Art Philosophy cartridge coordinates with our stamps, so I can cut the snowflakes and then stamp them--so fun! 

Joy Banner

Here's banner #2.  This one also uses Believe papers and Art Philosophy and Plantin Schoolbook cartridges.  It was my first try making the paper medallions, and I love the way they turned out.  

Believe Banner

This is banner #1 of 3.  I made these for certain family members for Christmas (don't want to completely spoil the surprise by saying which ones).  This one used Believe papers and my Art Philosophy and Plantin Schoolbook  Cricut cartridges.  I also used several stamp sets.  The photos aren't stellar, but you get the idea :) 

Up close shots.

Here's a coordinating gift card holder I made using the same supplies.

Holiday Light Tour

This year, we did something unique and different.  Back in October, at our school auction, we bought a holiday lights limo tour.  This week we ventured out on the tour.  The kids were excited and we had a hard time settling in, but after a while, we were able to sit back and enjoy the lights.  My parents and Taylor and Kaitlin joined us.  Here are a few of the highlights.

In the limo--pretty packed in :)

 Doesn't Papa look thrilled?

We stopped and got out at this house because their lights were amazing!

If we ever do it again, I think we'll plan more stops to get out.  Two and a half hours is a long time for the boys to be in the car.

Today, I'm trying to get the last of the gifts ready to mail, and then we can relax.  I've been tired of how much time the boys are spending in front of a screen, so yesterday at Michael's, I bought a picture frame kit and the boys are busy working on some Christmas gifts of their own.

Over the next few days, I've scheduled posts of the banners I made for Christmas gifts, so be sure to check back.

December Sharing From the Heart Blog Hop

THank you for visiting.  If you are on the hop, you arrived from Kristine's blog 

I didn't have a chance for a new card, but I'll post one of my cards from my workshop.  It uses Believe papers and Remarkable Wreath stamps.

From here, you are headed to Heather's blog.   Happy hopping and Merry Christmas!!

December Scrap Club--Elemental

This month we are using Elemental papers and chipboard Complements.  I love Elemental because it's so versatile.  I love the matching chipboard, too.  Fun and easy to put together.  I was searching the CTMH boards, and I was inspired by Jean Johnson's 10 page workshop with the papers and Complements.  The first layout I created is a total scrap lift of one of her layouts.  The only additions I made were to add the swirls from the Love Life stamp set and the stamping on the Complements (together, forever and always).  

  

The next layout I used only the papers and complements.  I just added the Cricut title.  The Sorbet was a little girlie, but I thought it worked well for the puppy photos.

The third layout is traditional Christmas colors.  I told you this was a versatile pack!  I love the vintage look.  I used the AP Cricut cartridge to cut the ornament at the bottom.  The sayings were cut from the top of the papers.

I'll be back Thursday with a card for a CTMH blog hop!

Christmas Card Workshop part 2

This the second set of cards we did at my workshop.  These used the Believe papers, the Believe Stickease, and various stamp sets.  

This was inspired by Bobie's cards at www.scrappyandcrafty.blogspot.com.

A Few Cards for My Christmas Card Workshop

I've been really slow to take photos and get them up.  Since my workshop is Saturday, I figured I'd better get to it.  These are some of the Wonderland cards we'll be making.  The colors aren't great because I took them tonight without natural light.

All cards use the Wonderland kit, and various snowflake and Christmas sets.

The first card was inspired by a card I saw on the CTMH board or a blog, and I can't for the life of me remember whose it is.  If you know, please give a shout out!  

For this card and the one above, I embossed the edges in silver.  I love that this stamp set comes with an inner and outer snowflake stamp AND you can cut the snowflake using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  By far my favorite thing in the Idea Book.  So many shapes!

I don't know why this one is blurry.  Still haven't perfected my iPhone photo taking skills.  I tend to move too  much, I think.

This one is a retired set that I've always loved.  I think it works beautifully with the browns in this pack.

This one is fairly simple, but I blinged it out with glitter, so it's quite lovely in person. 

This last card was inspired by Vicki's card here.  It's one of my favorites!  I love the wreath with the snow.

I will try and get the rest of the cards posted soon!  I'm also hoping to get some cute surprises made for my workshop and Scrap Club attendees this month.  The AP cartridge has lots of cute boxes//bags too :)