Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / September 2025

Lisa, Michael and I are bringing you our holiday cards as we continue to count down to Christmas !! I had every intention of making my card early in the month and somehow it was time to write up my post and the card wasn't even stated. I really didn't even have  a card idea in my head except maybe for a stamp set to use. But after working a 12 hour shift today, I decided to make it easy on myself and use some fabulous Pink Fresh Studio supplies  I had in my stash !!! I actually got them at one of their clearance sales a few years ago .

All of my supplies are from the Pink Fresh "Holiday Dreams" collection . The paper, stickers, ephemera etc.. are absolutely beautiful 

•  I adhered a piece of green plaid paper to a white card base.
• The red scalloped border at the top of the card was a strip from another piece of paper in the Holiday Dreams collection .
• I adhered 4 of the Wood Accent Stickers below the border .
• A Puffy Sticker sentiment was placed near the bottom of the card .

Easy Peasy !! How quick this card came together and I could have made many more with all of the elements . In fact, I probably will next week . Tuesday, Sept. 30 is my last shift at the hospital . I am retiring after 38 years there .My creative time will be on my own schedule !!

Take a look at what Michael abd Lisa created over at their blogs -

Michael - World of Michael Trent

Lisa - Life of a BZscrapper

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 3 short months away . Have you started on your holiday cards ?? I love having a stash all ready to go when the season rolls around.  Thank you for stopping by . We hope we inspired you with our creations this month and we will see you again in October !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

He Made It / She Made It - Sept. 2025

Michael Trent and I are back with another long overdue "He Made It / She Made It" post .This time we are not using the same stamp ; we are using products from the same company. He introduced me to the amazing digital papers from KCS Designs by Kim . She has the most gorgeous digital papers, ephemera, clip art etc. !! I am not a pro by any means when working with digital products but I can print papers to be used on my cards . And that is exactly what I did today ..  

I chose Autumn Flair Buttons and Vintage Gingham Floral Journal Paper from KCS Designs by Kim for the 2 cards I made . There are 24 flair buttons in different designs and colors . The journal paper has 12 different patterns/colors . I absolutely fell in love with all of those . They would be perfect for journal pages and I also printed some to use in my planner . I used a discontinued Photoplay Paper stamp  set- I Love Fall  - that was perfect for these papers !!

• I printed the Autumn Flair Buttons and resized them on my printer to fit a 1 3/8" round punch .
• I printed the Gingham papers in a 4x6 size to make my card fronts.
• The papers were adhered to a cream and a dark brown card base.
• I fussy-cut the girls and Fall elements and then colored them with my COPICS.
• The girls were each adhered to their card bases.
• I popped up the buttons and pumpkins with foam tabs.
• The leaves and acorns were adhered to the pumpkins.

I am in love with these 2 cards !! Michael is a brilliant creator with digi products so I cannot wait to see what he came up with . KCS Designs By Kim is having a 35% off sale through the end of September. Her designs are fabulous and there are a variety of themes for you to use  - Vintage, Holiday, Fall, Botanicals and Mixed Media to name a few. I already have my eye on a few more designs for some upcoming cards !!

Be sure to check out what Michael made over at World of Michael Trent . And don't miss the sale at KCS Designs By Kim .If you're not a digi product user, go there anyway and try out a few of her papers. Its as easy as downloading and then printing them !! If I can do it, you can too .. And one of these days, Michael is going to give me a personal tutorial on digi stamps etc. ... I'll recruit him when I break down and buy a new laptop .. 

A big shout-out to Kim Sheen for her amazing Etsy shop !! I was excited when Michael told me he was creating with her products and rushed right over to KCS Designs . The Vintage Gingham and Flair Buttons were my first purchases but definitely not my last ..  Thanks for stopping by to see  the latest He Made It/She Made It  ..  Stay tuned for more of these posts in the future .  

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / September 2025

This month, Celeste had the great idea to use up some of our scraps . I used to keep two whole  drawers full of paper scraps - 1 for solid colors and another for patterned paper. But I decided to consolidate and just keep one drawer, which narrowed down my selection for today. I did find some great pieces of scrap paper though and made a great background for my card .

Celeste's Scrap Stash

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the scraps I chose so I just placed them on a card base and hoped I would come up with an idea !! I decided to look through some Close To My Heart stamp sets and found one that I thought would work with my background. Here are the scraps that I used , All I did was trim them down to get several lengths and attached them to a navy card base.

And here is my finished card ..

• The stamp set is I'd Rather Be Reading from Close To My Heart  (which unfortunately has closed ).
• I stamped the shelf and sentiment on cream cardstock . I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink for the shelf and the matching die to cut the shelf .
• The sentiment was stamped with Impression Obsession Ruby  ink .
• The shelf was colored with Copics and Sharpies.
• I adhered the shelf to the scrap paper strips with foam tabs to add some dimension .
• The sentiment was die-cut with a Big Little Chain Rectangle die from Gina Marie Designs .
• I adhered the sentiment to the bottom right corner of the card base .

I am really happy with how this card turned out, especially since I had no idea what I was doing when I sat down to make it !! Do you ever grab some scarps from your stash and create with them ?? This was a fun theme !!  I can't wait to see what Celeste came up with . Take a look at her blog Crafting Junky to see her card ..

For my coffee this month, I chose McCafe'  Affogato .. It tastes like Vanilla soft serve ice cream and is absolutely delicious !!  My cup is a Starbucks Amsterdam mug brought back for me by a friend. It must have been International Day here because I'm reading a book set in Scotland from a Netherlands cup while drinking American coffee !! 

Thank you for joining me today as I use up some scraps . I hope Celeste and I have inspired you to take a look in your stash and create something !! Until next time, I hope you will enjoy some creative time, drink some good coffee and read a good book .

Debra Davison / Meticulosity