Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - February

Thank you to everyone who commented on our first Crafty Elf posts !! Lisa and I are keeping ech other motivated and can't wait to show you February's cards. After some sort of glitch with comments  ( I think it's a problem with Google + ), I've chosen a winner at random for  a Crafty Elf stamp. Vannessa Osbourn was new to my blog and I'm so excited to have her and thrilled that she won . Can't wait to see what she does with the stamp - send me your snail mil address and I will get it in the mail !!

For my first card, I inked up a holiday set that I never got around to using for my 2018 cards. It was a quick card to color and I cut  several extra images for more cards. I loved the vintage look of the background paper and couldn't wait to use it on a card !! I hope you like it ..

• On a Cranberry cardstock base, I adhered a piece of Vintage Xmas Tree paper from  American Crafts  All I Want For Christmas Is You paper pad .
• Using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink,  I stamped the girl image and the sentiment  from  the  Oh What Fun stamp set by Unity Stamp Company on  Strathmore Mixed Media Paper .    
• I fussy-cut the girl and colored her with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Brea Reese and   Staedtler. 
• I cut the sentiment, mounted it on a piece of dark green cardstock  and adhered it to the top of the card base in the center.
• I had cut the tree paper so the image was to the left and mounted the girl on the right, using Foam Tabs.   
• I adhered 3 green rhinestones on her coat as buttons.
• The pom-pom on the hat and the whipped cream on the cup were highlighted with some extra fine white glitter.      
• Tombow Adhesives were used to adhere all elements ( MONO Adhesive+, MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and Foam Tabs ).       

Now, for my next 12 cards - YES, I did say 12 - I gathered these supplies :

1. My favorite holiday washi
2. My favorite Sizzix On The Edge Scallops Die
3. A variety of sequins, rhinestones and other doo-dads !!
4. My MONO Adhesive+ Permanent Runner
5. 12 cardstock bases - I used A2 sized.
6. Scraps of holiday paper
7. A 12x12 piece of American Crafts Christmas paper with 12 journal card designs on it. I cut the images apart and had 12 holiday designs to work with. 

I added a cute Rubber Moon Tree Cup stamp to the snowman.

Washi and/or border scallops were added to all cards.

Green-striped Candy Dots were added to the Merry Christmas card.

All others had scallop borders or washi.

Sequins were placed on the tree and a washi frame was added.

I used a fun corner rounder on Season's Greetings.

Happy Holidays has washi, a scalloped border and dots added.

I've had friends tell me that they would love to make their Christmas cards throughout the year but just don't see how they can manage.  These 12 cards I made take minimal time and you can add as little or as much stamping as you'd like or as time allows. I only added stamping to 1 card but they all will be stamped on the inside.  I actually cut the paper into 12 cards and made 4 each week, along with other cards and Design Team projects. If I had just sat down to make all 12 cards at once, I probably could have finished them in 2 hours or less. 

Lisa and I have really been enjoying our Countdown and hope that you are inspired to make some Christmas cards throughout the year too. I hope you will comment on my February cards and then head on over to Lisa's blog at  Life of a BZscrapper to see what she has created. 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Please join Lisa and I next month as we continue our Countdown.

Debra Davison

               

February Cookies 2019 - Take 2

For our second challenge this month over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie, it's all things BABY !! Now, it's been awhile since I had a baby and there are no grandchildren (yet), so I don't have many baly stamps . But I knew there was a cute set in my stash somewhere and luckily, I found them !! Our Inspiration photo this time is soooooo cute !!!

I couldn't decide which stamp to use from the Little Cupcake set  by Inkadinkado, so I used them all. The set is from 2007, which just goes to show you that I am definitely a stamp hoarder !! But then , you never know when you will be needing a baby stamp. I am more likely to use it for a grandchild card these days !!  LOL

• I chose Journal Cards from the Project Life Maggie Holmes "Gather" edition that went well with a Baby Girl theme.
• Using Versafine Clair 'Nocturne" ink, I stamped most of the images onto the journal cards. The Baby Girl image was stamped with a dark pink Stampin' Up ink and the Sweet Peas were stamped with a green Stampin' Up ink.
• I colored some of the images with Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens .
• Two of the diapers and the chickadee were paper-pieced with scraps of yellow and pink paper.
• I placed strips of washi tape onto some of the journal cards.
• Holes were punched in the upper right corner of the journal cards and then they were all fastened together with a silver binder ring.

I loved the idea of this baby "card" using all of these journal cards fastened together.  There is room on several cards for personalizing a baby's name , birth date etc... I was really pleased with how this turned out and hope that you like it too !! Take a look at the other projects by my teammates over at the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge Blog - I know they will be fabulous !! We'd love for you to link up a project between now and March 6 . How could you not be inspired by that cute Inspiration photo ?!?!?!

Thank you again for visiting Meticulosity. 

I hope that you will leave a comment and also sign up to follow my blog if you haven't already. 

Debra Davison

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - 2/17

February is the month of LOVE and as you can tell by the name of our blog collaboration, Celeste and I are crazy about our coffee !!  Soooooooooo,  Celeste chose our theme this month and it is COFFEE LOVE !! I had no objections and was thrilled with the inspiration pic that she chose...

I combined a few of my latest favorite stamps -  a few from a digi set and another from a new company I absolutely love !! Do you ever combine your "real" stamps with digi stamps ?? I thought these went together perfectly.

Caffeine

True Love . Fuel . Willpower

• Once again, I started with a Kraft card base and adhered a scrap piece of striped paper to it, leaving a small border of Kraft showing.
• I printed the sentiment on Neenah Stardust White cardstock,  the spoon on a piece of dark gray paper and the cup on a piece of pink and a piece of Kraft . I did print multiple images so I would have supplies ready for a few more cards !! These are all from the Coffee or Cocoa Digital Stamp Set by Gracielle Design.
• The cup and spoon were fussy-cut as well as the coffee from the Kraft paper.
• I trimmed the sentiment to fit and then stamped  the background using my "Dirt" stamp and Close To Cocoa ink from Stampin' Up.
• I adhered the Kraft coffee onto the cup, then the spoon onto the coffee. I envisioned myself stirring some sugar into my cup of coffee.
• The cup was then adhered to the bottom right side of the striped background. Tombow Adhesives  - MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and MONO Adhesive + Permanent Runner - were used for the entire card assembly.
• A happy accident resulted in the chemical composition for Caffeine being stamped below the sentiment. When I was deciding where to place the sentiment , I realized that I had a nice space above the cup that would be perfect to use my cute new Caffeine stamp in the Caffeinated Cat stamp set from The Rabbit Hole Designs . This set has the cutest cat which I am sure will be showing up on my blog very soon !! It was stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink
• I placed some glitter on the spoon to add a fun shimmer !!

This card was fun to make and I'm even thinking about making some Christmas cards with these stamps!! I cannot wait to see Celeste's card and as always, I'm sure it is amazing !!  Take a look at it here at  Crafting Junky We would love for you to leave comments and follow our blogs if you don't already. 

I had my eye on a coffee cup at Starbucks but really do NOT need any more cups !!! So, I was pleasantly surprised when they had this re-usable cup for sale with the same design as the one I wanted. Plus this one was only $2 .. How could I resist !?!?  Today I am drinking French Roast coffee with Marshmallow Peeps Creamer !! I am not a fan of Peeps but this creamer is delicious !!!

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity..

Debra Davison

February Cookies -- We're Back !!

After a short break, we are back with our Cookie Challenge at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie .  We will not be having any sponsors, but we will be choosing our favorites among the entries. I hope that you are excited  we are back and will use our fun cookie photo as inspiration to play along with us. It's no surprise that our first photo is Valentine cookies. 

I loved this picture and especially the colors - using the blue with traditional red was a nice touch . And it seemed perfect to use a new digital set that I love from Polka Dot Orchard . 

• I started off with a Kraft card base and adhered a piece of striped paper from the Pebbles "Be Mine' paper pad , leaving a small edge of Kraft showing. 
• Before adhering the top area of the striped paper, I tied a piece of Maya Road "Sweet Candy" twine around the top area of the paper.
• A sentiment, also from the Be Mine paper pad, was popped up in the upper left corner of the card  ( positioned in between the twine ).
• From the Penguin Love digi set by Polka Dot Orchard, I printed the LOVE cup on a piece of Stardust White Neenah cardstock and then fussy-cut it.
• The cup was colored with some favorite markers - Brea Reese & Faber-Castell .
• I adhered a red heart doily on the striped paper and then placed the LOVE cup on top of that towards the bottom right side of the card.
• All items were adhered with Tombow Adhesives - Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue & MONO Adhesive + Permanent Runner.

This was such a fun card to make and I've made several more to send to friends this year . Has the cute cookie photo inspired you ?? Do you send Valentines or maybe just make one for that special someone ?!?! We would love for you to link up a project of your own over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie . Challenges run for 2 weeks so there will be a new inspiration photo on Feb. 21. I hope you will check out all of the projects from our Design Team members and let us know what you think . I would love you to follow my blog if you don't already do so.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity. It's good to be back with these fun Cookie Challenges. Now please excuse me while I go get a cookie !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Christmas Giveaway

All of the wonderful comments left on my 1st Crafty Elf blog post have disappeared. Not sure if it has something to do with Google + going away or the blog fairies have just been messing with me .. Have tried to reach out and see if I can get them back but no luck .. Soooooooo  -- if you left a comment, please try again and also let me know on the post I will be writing on Facebook.  I will check daily and choose someone at the end of the week .. I apologize for this and hope you will stick with me here and continue to visit Meticulosity !!

Deb Davison / Meticulosity