Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / May 2021

May is finally here and in Virginia we are seeing some relief from COVID-19.  Brian and I just went to a restaurant to actually sit down and eat lunch for the first time in over a year. I was a bit nervous at first but we had a great time !! I hope that you have all been staying healthy and can start to get back to a bit of normality soon wherever you live. Michael, Lisa and I are excited to show you our cards and we have a guest again this month to show you some more holiday inspiration !!

My first 2 cards are again made with Close To My Heart stamps. I am still working my way through all of the great sets I bought during a recent fabulous sale !! You can always find great supplies here at my friend, Chris Franco's site - https://chrisfranco.closetomyheart.com/default.aspx ..

• I adhered a piece of  Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas Worn Wallpaper onto a cream card base. I love this vintage ornament design ..
• A piece of plaid washi was  placed down the left side of the card.
• The Merry & Bright image was stamped on a piece of patterned ledger paper with Gina K Jet Black Amalgam ink . This specific stamp is no longer available but this Merry Christmas stamp would work just as well.
• I trimmed the stamped image, matted it with red cardstock and then applied it to the wallpaper .
• I used a metallic green pen to highlight some of the leaves on the stamped image .
• Red, blue and green rhinestones were then placed for added shimmer .

• I stamped several of the images from the Jolly Characters stamp set by Close To My Heart onto a bookmark-sized piece of Mixed Media paper with Gina K Jet Black Amalgam Ink.
• Holiday washi was placed between the jolly characters and also at the top and bottom .
• I colored the images with my COPICS.
• The completed stamped panel was adhered to a piece of green-dotted designer paper. My idea was to adhere that bookmark to the card base with removable tape but I got carried away and used my Scotch ATG so it is now permanent !! 
• I used a fun glittery candy-cane paper from Recollections for my card base  .

Santa Baby from Unity Stamp Company is the image on this next card. I have had it for years and never used it until this month. I was so careful stamping it and then realized that I used my Grape Jelly Memento Dew Drop instead of Jet Black .I almost stamped over it ( because I was using my MISTI, of course ) but then just decided to throw it away. So I stamped it again in Jet Black, finished the card and then saw the other image still on the desk. I really hate wasting paper so I decided to try and make a card with that image too . I was pleasantly surprised how it turned out. I do love non-traditional holiday colors but purple was never even on my list ... LOL

December Twinkle Merry / Festive Wish Merriment

• I stamped the 2 images and colored them with my COPICS.
• Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers were adhered on the bottom right of the completed stamped images. Kraft on the red image and white on the pink/purple. 
• I matted the purple panel with a piece of dark pink cardstock and then adhered that to a pink candy cane card base.
• The red image was adhered to a red-dotted card base and rhinestones were placed at the upper left and bottom right corners. 
• These 2 cards are mini-slimlines . I cut the paper 6x6 and folded it in half to create my card bases.

My last card was made with ephemera from the Simple Stories "Simple Vintage Christmas" collection ..  It is an older collection that I have been hoarding .. I placed a piece of the patterned paper on a black card base then layered multiple ephemera pieces onto the paper. I completed the card with a few large holiday-colored sequins. I adhered several images with foam tabs or tiny staples. These cards without any stamping are fun to make when you want to sit down and create a quick project. Do you make many cards without any stamping on them ??

Please check out the other Crafty Elves' projects as well as our very special guest elf , Crystal O. Minkler .

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Lisa Reynolds-Bzibziak -  Life of a BZScrapper

Crystal O. Minkler - Tawny Owl Paperie

Thanks so much for joining us again as we create our holiday cards each month to beat the December rush !! Have you been inspired to start your holiday cards along with us ?? We'd love to hear from you if you have !! Please take care, stay safe and we will see you back here in June ..

Debra Davison / Meticulosity