Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / May 2024

It's hard to believe we are almost halfway through the year !! This month Lisa and I are being joined by our former Crafty Elf teammate, Michael Trent !! We are happy to have him back for May and can't wait to see what he's come up with ..

For my cards this month, I used 2 stamp sets by Julie Nutting for Prima Marketing Inc. - Merry Nice and Warm Wishes . These are older stamp sets from 2014 but can still be found on Etsy and eBay. 

• I stamped the Warm Wishes Prima girl on  2  pieces of white cardstock and then stamped the holly leaf next to each girl , using Memento Tuxedo Black ink .
• The girls and holly were colored with my COPICS.
• Using Memento Lady Bug and Cottage Ivy inks ,I stamped the sentiments.
• Naughty or Nice was stamped on a piece of white cardstock and then die-cut with a Pierced Chain Round Die.
• Happy Winter was stamped on a piece of tan patterned paper and then die-cut with a Stitched Rectangle Die.
• The scallop borders were die-cut from a Basic  Grey 25th and Pine paper pad that I have been hoarding since 2013. I used a Tim Holtz Alterations  Scallops  die from Sizzix .
• I adhered a scalloped border to the top of each stamped panel . The die  makes 2 borders - 1 with holes punched across the border and 1 without .
•  I adhered the sentiments to each panel with foam tabs.
• Naughty or Nice was adhered to a Kraft card base and Happy Winter to a white card base.

I have many of these Prima girls and will be inking more of them up soon !! I hope they inspire you to get started on a few holiday cards .. For more creativity, take a look at Michael's and Lisa's cards at these links -

World of Michael Trent

Life of a BZscrapper

Thanks so much for stopping by . And a BIG thank-you to Michael for joining us, We will see you next month as we reach the halfway mark to Christmas 2024 !! 

Until then, stay creative ..

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

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - May

It's months like the past 2 that make me glad I'm making a Christmas card each week !! Lots going on and hardly a spare minute to get creative. Oh, I get very creative in my mind, but actually sitting down to make something is another story altogether .. This month's cards are courtesy of a large manila envelope of Christmas supplies that I found while cleaning/destashing . I told myself that if they didn't "spark joy"  or at least inspire 4 cards this month, I would give all of them away .. As you will see, I accomplished my task.My cards aren't all that complicated since my attention spam has been about slim to none. But I am happy with them and look forward to sending them when the holidays roll around. Thank you for joining Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak and myself as the Crafty Elves continue our Countdown to Christmas.. 

Of my 4 cards for May, only 1 has stamping on it. I wanted to show that even with a busy  ( crazy at times ) life, you can make some really nice cards with just a few of your favorite supplies !! And among my favorites are washi, twine, chipboard stickers and patterned paper. I hope you are inspired to make a few of your own..

#1  Holly Jolly Christmas

• On a textured Kraft card base, I adhered some Chipboard stickers from the discontinued Basic Grey "25TH & Pine" collection.  The 6 stickers can either be used separately as frames and the central image or altogether, which is how I chose to adhere them to my card. I added some Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue to the stickers backs for added adhesive.
• A piece of green twine from the October Afternoon "Holiday Style" collection was wrapped around the top of the card base. and tied in a knot. Quick and easy card, but I love it !!

#2  Family & Friends

• I love mixing and matching different elements and this card was no exception.
• On a red textured card base, I adhered a song page die cut.
• Miscellaneous ephemera were adhered at the bottom of the song page. A holiday tag, ticket, and word stickers ( and the song page ) all were from the discontinued October Afternoon  "Make It Merry Collection". 
• I also adhered a piece of ribbon under the tag.

#3  A Merry Christmas To All

• On a navy textured card base, I adhered a holiday frame and chipboard sticker  from the discontinued Basic Grey "Evergreen" collection. 
• The holly leaf adhered in the upper right corner of the frame is from the Basic Grey "25th & Pine'" collection.
• A strip of pale blue glitter washi was applied across the top of the card and  a strip of thin starry washi was placed across the bottom.

#4  Happy Christmas

• I have to admit - this is my favorite card !! I started by adhering a piece of plaid paper to a white textured card base.
• I appled 2 strips of Tim Holtz washi tape along the bottom of the plaid paper . I actually applied it before adhering the paper to the base and wrapped the edges around the paper.
• The sleigh and reindeer from the "25th & Pine" chipboard collection were adhered to the plaid background paper.
• A flag from the October Afternoon "Make It Merry"collection  was placed behind the sleigh.
• Checkered Moon and Shine  stamps from Rubber Moon were stamped on scraps of yellow paper. I cut the moon face from the stamped image and adhered it to the upper right corner of the plaid paper and the star was cut out and placed on the left side of the card. The star was popped up with foam tabs.
• I colored the moon and star with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens. 

I'm hoping that I've inspired you to join us on our Countdown to Christmas by making some cards of your own. Take a look at Lisa's cards on her blog - Life of a BZ Scrapper - for more ideas.  I've  heard from several friends that they have started making Christmas cards along with us. Last month I said I would choose 1 commenter to win a bit of blog candy. Chosen at random was Crystal Minkler . Please send me your snail mail address so I can send out your goodies !! She commented -  

Crystal O. MinklerApril 25, 2019 at 11:34 AM

" Ooohhh... Debra you had me at Kraft and washi!!! These cards are all fabulous!! Thanks for the monthly inspiration and reminder!! I can’t wait to get my studio done so I can play along and start building my Christmas card stash! "

I'm looking forward to next month already as we continue our Countdown to Christmas. 

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

April Cookies - Take 2

The second challenge for April over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie is all about bees and daisies and black,white and yellow !! Challenge # 92 will be live from April 19 - May 2 and we hope you will take a look at all of our projects and also think about linking one of your own. Our sponsor this time is one of my very favorite companies - Bugaboo Stamps. I was inspired to use one of their digis for my project. 

For those of you that don't know me well, I am a bit of  planner person. I'm not dedicated to 1 type of planner or planner supplies. This year I have been using 2 planners - a KikkiK and a Daphne's Diary. For this challenge project, I decided to create a planner layout with the digi Girlz-Flowers . My 2018 Daphne's Diary Planner is absolutely beautiful to start with. It has pockets, stickers. bullet pages and amazing designs. I made my layout for the week of this blog post and hope you are inspired to get out your planner and be creative !!

• I printed the digi and cut the image to fit my page. I also printed it out on some scrap patterned paper and fussy-cut that to make her skirt. 
• Using my favorite Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens , I colored the digi stamp. 
• I had printed the digi several times and cut out a few daisies to use on the opposite planner page .
• I will admit that I am a sticker addict from way back to my childhood. For these planner pages, I used a fun Mini Sticker Table from Carpe Diem - Bloom. I'll even admit that I love this sticker book so much that I bought 2 !!
• My favorite grass washi was placed across the bottom of the Bugaboo Digi and I made a scalloped border from my Sizzix "On the Edge" Scallops Die by Tim Holtz and placed it at the top of the digi. 
• Black and white Candy Buttons from Basic Grey were used for the center of the daisies and completed my layout. 

For a chance at a prize from Bugaboo Stamps, link up a project from April 19 - May 2.  Bugaboo Stamps has some of the best coffee-themed digis too and you all probably know by now how much I  love anything coffee-related !! Take a look at the Challenge Blog for inspiration from my teammates. Leave me a comment here and let me  know what planner you use and where you find inspiration for your layouts. I'll choose someone at random to receive some fun planner supplies !!

Thank you for visiting my creative side at Meticulosity .

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards With Deb & Celeste 3/25

Hello again and thanks for checking out our monthly blog collaboration . Celeste and I are happy to welcome Marilyn DeGroot as our guest blogger this month. You can find Marilyn at Mississippi-McGyver. I have known her since 2014 when we were on the Design Team of Mountain Plains Crafters. She is an amazing papercrafter and makes the most beautiful projects. I am in awe of her talent !! Earlier this month, Celeste was blessed with her second grandchild and that is our theme for this month -  babies !! 

I don't have many baby-themed stamps but I remembered that I had a few from Unity Stamp Company and decided to combine them in this card to celebrate the birth of Madelyn Celeste.

• I started with a scrap piece of pink paper that also had some yellow highlights. Using Memories India Black Ink, I stamped the Unity Stamp Company image Tickled Pink in the lower right hand corner. The stars are an older Unity stamp "Twinkle Twinkle". I stamped that in the upper right hand corner. 
• The baby carriage was also stamped on a piece of my hoarded Basic Grey paper from the "Out of Print" collection and I fussy-cut the image. I had  also stamped the stars on a piece of scrap pale yellow paper and also fussy-cut those. 
• I paper-punched the clouds, also using the "Out of Print" paper and stapled them to the pink background paper with silver staples. 
• A piece of gold star washi was placed along the top edge of the background paper.
• The stars were popped up on top of the stamped image using Tombow Foam Tabs . The carriage was adhered over the stamped image with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue.
• I wrote the baby's name and date of birth using Google Docs,cut them out and adhered them on the lower  right side of the card with Tombow MONO Adhesive+ .
• To finish the card, I adhered the background to a kraft base. 

I'm so excited to see what Marilyn made and hope you will visit her at Mississippi-McGyver to see her project. Celeste can be found at Crafting Junky . I'm happy to be celebrating the birth of Celeste's son's baby girl. Best wishes to Brian and his wife, Erika. 

Today, my coffee is Pecan Pie and I'm using a fun mug by Suzy Toronto that I found at Tuesday Morning.  It's bright, big and I absolutely LOVE it !!

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

Wondrous

I've spent some time lately doing 2 things that I love : having coffee time @ Starbucks & coloring . There has been much buzz lately about the benefits of coloring..  The New York Times recently had a great article on the subject. I am sure that many of my creative friends, like me, knew this all along... Not new to us !! I spend many hours with my stamped images and something to color with.

Unity Stamp Company's Wondrous image was my latest project during coffee time... I used my Tim Holtz Distress Markers , Stampin' Up markers & my fun glittery  atyou Spica pens to color the image.. The image was popped up on the card with dimensionals. I made banners from Basic Grey Herbs & Honey paper and wrapped some Maya Road Saffron Yellow twine cording to finish it.. I stamped the image in my very favorite Strathmore Visual Journal. The 3.5 x 5 size fits in my purse and it always has stamped images in it ready to be colored !!  

Wondrous  by Unity Stamp Company

My favorite little sketch journal

I will be entering these cards on the Unity Stamp Company's Friends With Flair post. I hope you take a look at all of the creations posted on that page by everyone. Check out a few new blogs. I learn alot by doing that !! If you would like a cute little sketch journal of your own to use for some coloring, just comment on this post and I will randomly choose 1 luck winner... Tell me about what is your favorite tool for coloring -- watercolors, markers, pastels etc....

Coffee, Tea or ......... COCOA

This card is for all you cocoa lovers.. I am sure there are many of you out there sipping your hot cocoa and hoping for Spring or at least a little bit of a thaw !!  The stamp is Marshmallow Friends by Inky Antics. I paper-pieced the mug using the Basic Grey "Out of Print" collection..Bright spring colors completed the card using some Stampin' Up ribbon, a Making Memories glittered flower and a Queen & Company turquoise Goosebump. The marshmallows were highlighted using my Wink of Stella Clear Glitter brush..

Thanks to everyone who visited the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop !! And especially to all of you  who came here to see my cards. I'm excited that I made coffee, tea AND cocoa cards this time around !! And the Spring theme got me out of my winter/snow/ice frame of mind.. Leave a comment here for a chance at some Spring goodies.. And thanks again for supporting me and my creativity !!

Coffee, Tea or ...........COCOA

What an amazing Blog Hop so far !! We are nearing 350 entries and they are all fantastic !! If you haven't already been to their page, check it out here .