Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - August

Lisa - aka BZ Scrapper - and I have been making a Christmas card each week since January. Sometimes we have even made more !! We post each month on the 25th and it's time for our August  cards. After a brutal month of crazy hot weather, today it is in the 70's, so I was a little bit more in the holiday spirit !! Hard to believe that there are only 4 months until Christmas . Have you started on your holiday cards ?? We hope you will follow along with us as the Crafty Elves count down to Christmas !!

• For my first card, I used a beautiful stamp from Stampendous - Snowy Postcard .  I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink . I used my MISTI so I could stamp a few times and get a nice, crisp image.
• I cut the image to fit on a wood grain card base, leaving a small border around the edge. 
• The image was colored in a few areas with glitter markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist  Pens.
• I adhered the image to the card base with my Pink Scotch ATG Gun.
• The rooftops were dusted with Sugar Shimmer Fairy-Dust Glitter .

• Next I have a card using the Spellbinders Merry & Bright Stamp and Die Set . I again stamped the image on watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink. 
• The image was cut out with the matching die. 
• I colored the image with Sharpies and glitter markers.
• I cut a piece of snowman patterned paper from the CraftSmith Say Freeze collection. 
• A piece of holiday twine was wrapped around the patterned paper and tied on the front.
• After adhering the patterned paper to a bright green card base, I popped up the Merry & Bright  die cut with foam dimensionals.

• I bought the Pink Fresh Simple Joy stamps and dies because the cat reminded me of our Pixie !! I stamped the images on watercolor paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink then die cut them. 
• The images were colored with Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens. It's hard to see but Santa is wearing a cool pair of red framed glasses !!
• I adhered a piece of green gingham paper to a bright red card base. 
• A red scalloped border was added to the top of the green gingham and a piece of black wood-grain washi was placed across the bottom.
• The Santa and cat images were adhered to the card base with my ATG Gun  and the sentiment was popped up with foam dimensionals.

• My last card was also shared on the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge blog this week. The cookie  theme included llamas so I created a holiday card with a Fa La La La Llama !! 
• I cut a piece of Recollections Holiday Bash paper to fit my green card base.
• The Inkadinkado FaLaLa Llama was stamped in Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink on Neenah Stardust White cardstock, then trimmed to fit on the lower right side of the card.
• A gold doily was folded over the top left edge of the card to create a corner element.
• Several pastel candy dots were placed around the llama.
• I used a border paper punch to make the JOY design, then cut it to place it at the top of the card across the doily.
• 2 large Teal candy dots were placed on the left side of the JOY design.

Lisa's cards can be found at her blog - Life of a BZ Scrapper . I'm sure her cards are fabulous as always !! We are thrilled that you are joining us as we continue to create our cards and get ahead of the holiday rush !! Have you started yours yet ??  It's never to late to start . We will be back again next month with more Crafty Elf creativity.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards With Deb & Celeste / August

I'm excited that Celeste is back for our our latest post of Coffee & Cards !! This time I chose a Sketch Challenge because I am not very good with them and wanted to think outside the box and out of my comfort zone.  I chose a fairly simple one  but still struggled with ideas. Then I spotted a piece of hoarded paper and my idea took off from there !! 

• A piece of double-sided Basic Grey Oxford Study Hall paper was trimmed to fit a pink card base. I cut 2 pieces the exact same size and then cut each of the papers on a diagonal . I cut them so I could have the two patterns of the double-sided paper on the front of the card - the books at the top and the floral at the bottom of this card and the reverse on the next one I make.
• I printed the image with the books and the sentiment from the Teacher no.2 stamp set by Vera Lane Studio  on Neenah Stardust White cardstock.
• I fussy-cut the woman and trimmed the sentiment .
• The images were colored with glitter markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• I adhered the woman to the right side of the card and the sentiment on the upper left. 
• Glossy Accents were added to the lenses of the glasses.

Celeste is much better at Sketch Challenges than I am, so I'm excited to see what she came u with !! You can find her post at  Crafting Junky . Brian made my coffee today in our French Press - standard Folger's coffee with a bit of sugar and some Half & Half. It was actually very good !!

Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing what Celeste and I are up to this for our August post We hope that you come back next month to see what we create for September !! It will be Pumpkin Spice Season by then !! Are you a fan ?!?!?! 

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

August Cookies - Take 2

The Inspiration picture for today's Challenge at  If You Give a Crafter a Cookie is just the cutest !! The llamas, those sunglasses, the cute flowers, those colors !!! I thought I would use the llama, BUT change it up a bit and do a Christmas card . I found the Christmas Llama stamp after the holidays last year for $1.50 and couldn't resist !! This Challenge runs through September 4 and I hope that you will link up a project of your own !!!

I also found a very cute Recollections Holiday Bash  paper pad post-holidays last season and just had to use that sweet pink candy patterned paper for my card ! Do you make holiday cards with non-traditional colors ?? If so, what are your favorite color combos ??

• I started by cutting a piece of the Holiday Bash paper to fit my green card base.
• A gold doily was folded over the top left edge of the card to create a corner element.
• The Inkadinkado FaLaLa Llama was stamped in Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink on Neenah Stardust White cardstock, then trimmed to fit on the lower right side of the card.
• Several pastel candy dots were placed around the llama.
• I used a border paper punch to make the JOY design, then cut it to place it at the top of the card across the doily.
• 2 large Teal candy dots were placed on the left side of the JOY design.

I'm excited to see what my teammates come up with for this Challenge ! You can see their creations over at the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Blog . Next month's Challenge will celebrate the 5th anniversary of these amazing cookie challenges.  We are very excited and hope you will join us .

Debra Davison/Meticulosity

August Cookies - Take 1

You might think this latest challenge from If You Give a Crafter a Cookie is all about Camping... But you would be wrong !! It's also about why you should never get rid of any stamp sets, craft supplies etc. , even if you haven't used them  ( or seen them ) in years !! Okay, okay, I might be exaggerating just a bit, since I have been giving bags and bags of supplies to good homes.  But if something just isn't that easy to part with, well - maybe you should keep it  ( at least for a little longer ) !!

So, when I first saw this challenge inspiration photo, my first thought was - " I don't have any camping stamps !! " I also didn't want to have to buy any - digi or otherwise. I was trying to come up with an idea - maybe use the colors or a camper stamp ( I do have a few of those ) - when I remembered a stamp set I knew I had purchased many, many years ago,  I could picture it - I remembered S'mores and little animals.  But I also thought I had given it away a long time ago.. But, had I really ??  I began searching and after a few hours of frantic digging through box after box, I found it !! S'more Love by Cosmo Cricket - from 2012 and no longer available but still well-loved !! You would have thought I had found the Hope Diamond, or Amelia Earhart's plane or the lost city of Atlantis !!  I know there was a bit of jumping up and down for joy !!!

Sometimes you just need s'more love .....

• I stamped the marshmallow and the chocolate bar  several times, using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. Each was stamped first on a piece of scrap burlap-patterned paper to create a scene. I also stamped the marshmallow on  white cardstock and the chocolate bar on a piece of  light brown cardstock.
• The background scene was adhered to a Kraft cardstock base - a starry night paper at the top and the burlap at the bottom.
• I fussy-cut the marshmallow and the chocolate bar and adhered them on top of their images that were already stamped on the card base paper.
• I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of yellow wood-grain paper, also in Hot Cocoa ink and placed it at the top of the card base image.
• Several clear rhinestones were placed on the stars in the night sky.

My fellow Design Team members have also put their creative spin on this theme for Challenge  # 123. Please take a look at them over at the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie blog . Thank you for checking out my latest post. I'm sure that some of you can relate to my "destash" story and why it can be so hard to part with certain items !!

This Challenge runs through August 21 - we would love for you to link up a project with our current theme .. I look forward to seeing what you create !! Thank you for once again visiting me at Meticulosity !!

Debra Davison