Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / December 2025

Who can believe that Christmas is here  !?!?!? I'm looking forward to all the holidays off now that I'm retired. It feels surreal that after 38 years at the same hospital, I'm now sleeping most nights without a 0430 alarm, don't have to worry about driving into work in bad weather AND best of all, I can enjoy my morning coffee quietly without any telemetry alarms or phone calls !!

I made a few cards and will just be posting which stamp I used .. There are holiday movies to be watched and a few more gifts to wrap so this post will be short and sweet .. I hope you are all ready for the holidays- no matter how you celebrate. I also know from experience that the holidays are not happy for everyone . Reach out to someone who needs a little support. It will mean the world to them.

Jubilee Crew Reindeer stamp & sentiment by Close To My Heart

Sleigh sticker from Papyrus

Dasher stamp/die set by Catherine Pooler

Decorate My Life stamp by Unity Stamp Company

I didn't send or receive as many holiday cards this year as last year . Not sure exactly why people weren't sending them. I just honestly ran out of steam and made a few last-minute cards and called it quits. But luckily, I make holiday cards all year long !!

To see what Michael and Lisa have created, check out their links -

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Lisa Reynolds- Bzibziak - Life of a BZscrapper

Thank you for stopping by. I hope that you enjoyed our latest creations and we look forward to making many more for you every month in 2026.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / December 2025

The last month of 2025 is here !! Celeste and I are back with our cards for December and appropriately enough, our theme is Christmas. Are you ready for the holidays or are you a bit of a procrastinator??  I recently retired and look forward to every holiday off - no shifts to work at the hospital for the first time in 40 years !! My holiday shopping is done, the cards are being sent soon and I can relax and enjoy .. Well, once we get the tree up . That will happen tomorrow .

I have been destashing all year and recently found a stash of Christmas Sparkle by Frank Garcia for Prima. I have a fabulous paper pad and ephemera and made 2 sweet cards with those supplies. It's not often that I do a card without any stamping (I call them "cheater" cards), but these came together so quickly, and I think they're just perfect !!

• I adhered patterned paper from the Christmas Sparkle" collection to pink card bases.
• Martha Stewart felt borders were placed at the top of each card . I have had these for many years !!
• Ephemera from the Christmas Sparkle collection was adhered to each card base on the patterned paper. Some elements were popped up with foam tabs.
• I placed rhinestones on the peppermints, bell, coat and star .

I think these are such pretty cards and know exactly who I will be sending them to !! I know that I will be making many more with the paper and ephemera I still have from this collection . I'm excited to see what Celeste has come up with for her last post of ours for 2025 . As always, I'm sure it will be gorgeous .. You can take a look at what she has created over at her blog - Crafting Junky .

I got out a fun mug for my coffee this month - ELF is one of my favorite movies and it's actually on the tv as I write this post !! So I guess that makes me a Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins !! Another favorite quote from the movie was something I said at work many times when it was inappropriate to curse - Son of a Nutcracker !! I hope you have a lovely holiday, however you celebrate. Grab some coffee or tea or cocoa and watch a holiday movie . Celeste and I will be back in 2026 for another year of Coffee & Cards . We hope you continue to follow us .

Oops, I almost forgot !! My coffee this month is Pecan Praline and I used some Little Debbie's Christmas Tree Coffee Creamer . It is a delicious combination. You should try it .

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / December 2022

Celeste and I are back with our December edition of Coffee & Cards .. And what better theme for this month than Coffee & Christmas . Two of my favorite themes for my card-making !! And Celeste found a gorgeous photo for us for inspiration ..

I chose to go with a snowman theme for my card and used a sweet stamp set from Unity Stamp Company - Snowman To Go .

• I stamped the cup image on a piece of blue snowflake paper from the NOEL paper pad by Craft Consortium , a piece of blue-grey paper and also on a piece of white Mixed-Media paper. 
• The sentiment was stamped on a Graph paper Ledger card .
• The cup was fussy-cut from the Mixed-Media paper and the cup lid from the blue-grey paper.
• I colored the Snowman cup  image with my COPICS.
• The cup lid was glued to the cup image and then the cup was glued to the snow paper.
• The completed snowman panel was adhered to a navy card base.
• I adhered the sentiment above the Snowman To Go .

Celeste jus might love coffee as much as I do, so I'm so excited to see what she has made.. You can see her card over at her blog -  Crafting Junky .  My coffee this month is Pecan Praline by Community Coffee - this flavor is really one of my Top 5 flavors !! And it was on sale at a local grocery store - Harris Teeter . I usually stock up on a few boxes of K-cups when the price is lowered !! As for my cup, I guess I wanted to get on the Winnie-the-Pooh bandwagon with everyone else, so I got this when I found it on sale.  I have a few cute Pooh stamps from Unity Stamp Company & Impression Obsession.  Might just have to use that as a theme sometime in 2023 !!

Thank you for joining us this month . We look forward to our posts in 2023 and hope that you will come back for more inspiration from me & Celeste .. Happy Holidays !! Wishing you all a safe and healthy New Year .

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / January 2021

Lisa Reynolds- Bzibziak, Michael Trent and I are back again  - it is the 3rd year for the Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas !! We are each making 1 card ( or more ) each week and then blogging about it on the 25th of each month. Our goal is to decrease our stress when the holidays roll around by having a stash of holiday cards. We also hope to inspire you to do the same. I had also wanted to address my cards throughout the year but that did not actually get done. So I will try my best to do that this year .. Who would have ever thought that we would still be in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic at the start of 2021 ?!?! It really is hard to believe... So each month, I hope that you will join us to see what we have created.. 

For 3 of my cards, I used an older set from Stampin' Up - Christmas in the Making . The images have a fun vintage look and were so much fun to color.  Plus the cat on the gift-wrapping stamp reminded me of Pixie, so how could I resist using this set ?!?!?!

• I used Gina K Jet Black Amalgam ink to stamp all of the images onto Strathmore Watercolor paper.  Sentiments were stamped with Memento Ladybug ink .
• I colored all of the images with my COPIC markers. 
• For the ornament card, I stamped the sentiment on a separate piece of watercolor paper.and adhered it to a piece of floral Christmas paper. The retro image was adhered above the sentiment and then the entire panel to a green card base . 
• The other 2 stamped images were adhered to red and blue card bases.

Santa gave me these merry bells

While Christmas bells are ringing

• The Christmas bells were stamped on a cream-colored designer paper and fussy-cut. They are from the Unity Stamp Company stamp set - Happiest Season of All .
• I mounted the bells onto pieces of black patterned paper ( printed with the word "merry" ) .
• The stamped panels were adhered towards the top of white and blue card bases  .
• Tim Holtz sentiments were adhered underneath the stamped panels.

I cannot wait to see what Michael and Lisa have created for our first post of 2021. You can see their projects at their blog posts listed below. We hope that you will sign up to follow us all as we get ready for Christmas 2021 !! It seems so far away now but I know that soon we will be rushing around because it is right around the corner . 

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Lisa Reynolds-Bzibziak - Life of a BZScrapper

I was so excited to get started that I made 5 cards for my first Crafty Elf post !! Are you inspired to begin your cards now or will you wait until later this year ??  Leave a comment here and I will choose 1 commenter at random to receive a few holiday goodies to get you started.. Thanks so much for stopping by to see January's  projects .. Until next time, stay creative !! 

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