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