Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / October 2025

The Countdown to Christmas is on !!! Michael, Lisa and I are creating holiday cards each month to inspire you . Having a stash of cards to send out helps you beat some of the holiday rush . Every little bit helps - whether you make 1 card or many cards . I try to address the envelopes as I make the cards which saves additional time. 

Today -  October 25 - is also World Fussy-Cutting Day . It honors Sharon Klima, a beloved papercrafter who died of a heart attack . It's a day to focus on the joy of papercrafting and mindfulness and raising awareness for women's heart health  - reminding us to pause, connect and take care of our hearts (both literally and figuratively). I love to fussy-cut and used the beautiful Hero Arts - Christmas Robins stamp set for my cards today . The digital background paper is from KCS Designs by Kim - Christmas Gingham Journal Papers. You can find so many amazing digi designs in her ETSY shop and they are all 35% off .

• The birdhouses, bells and birds were stamped on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink .
• I colored the images with my OLO markers.
• All images were then fussy-cut .
• I printed & then adhered the Christmas Gingham paper to 2 card bases .
• The birdhouses were adhered to the patterned paper .
• I placed the bells  and birds on each birdhouse with foam tabs for added dimension .
• I used Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers for my sentiments. They are always perfect for a finishing touch .

Please be sure to take aa look at what Michael and Lisa have made . They always inspire me to create more cards !! 

Michael - World of Michael Trent

Lisa - Life of a BZscrapper

Thanks so much for joining us as we get ready for the holiday season .. We hope you are enjoying some beautiful Fall weather wherever you are . I look forward to seeing you next month as we get even closer to Christmas . I recently retired October 1 and this year I will have every holiday off !! As an RN, I worked weekends and holidays for the past 40 years so I will thoroughly enjoy this year's as a free woman !!

Until next time, Stay Creative 

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / April 2025

Spring is in the air as we are nearly at the end of April . We've had some crazy weather  - a freeze one morning last week and 85 degrees today !! The pollen is crazy and I'm looking forward to that going away .. For our theme this month, we chose embossing folders. If you're like me, you have a stash of embossing folders that you have never used !! So we decided to create a card with one.

My card took a completely different turn than the one I was planning to make .  I was going to use a coffee cup folder but decided at the last minute to switch to tea !! I have had this Darice Tea Pot folder for many years - it was still in the package. I also used a Hero Arts Tea Kettle Die that I recently got on clearance.  

• I used a 12x12 Pastel Cardstock Recollections paper pad  for this card.
• The embossing folder design was made with pastel blue cardstock.
• The tea kettle, lid and cup were die cut with yellow and pink cardstock.
• I used a scrap of gray cardstock for the handle .
• I adhered the teapot panel to a green card base .
• The teapot pieces were adhered to the embossed panel .
• I popped up the cup with a foam tab.
• Stickers by  Paige Evans - applied to kettle, cup and also banners .
• I stapled a Tim Holtz Ticket on the upper right side of the embossed panel. 

This card was so much fun to work on . And since I loved the finished product so much, I made another one. They will be sent to people in my Coffee Card Swap group.Have I inspired you to get out an embossing folder and create a card ?? I sure hope so ..

Say Hello To a New Day 

Take a look at Celeste's card over at her blog - Crafting Junky .I'm excited to see what she makes ! While I was making my cards, I was drinking a nice cup of Kona Coffee with some Sweet Cream creamer. My cup is one I've had for many years and it reminds me of all the beautiful flowers that are coming up in Brian's garden ..

Thanks so much for hanging out with me and Celeste for another month of Coffee & Cards.  We look forward to seeing you again next month. Until the, Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison 

Meticulosity

 

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / September 2023

It's time for the Crafty Elves to show you our creations for September.   There are only 3 months until Christmas and every month on the  25th, Michael, Lisa and I  show you our holiday cards to inspire you to start on your own .. This month we have a Guest Elf - Pam Stang  of Mustang Creations .

 I used the Happy Gnomes Bundle from Hero Arts to make my card, I recently won a prize of  a gift card from Hero Arts and this stamp/die set was one of my purchases.  I am really not on the gnome bandwagon like many are lately, but I did love this set .

 

• I stamped the 2 gnomes on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and used the matching dies to cut them .
• The sentiment was also stamped on white cardstock with Tuxedo Black ink.
• The images were colored with my COPICS.
• On a pink card base, I adhered a piece of patterned paper from the Miss Mary Christmas paper pad.
• I used the Dashes and Frills Heart Die Set from Unity Stamp Company to die cut a heart from pale pink polka-dot paper.
• The heart was adhered to the center of the patterned paper near the top.
• The gnomes were positioned on either side of the heart .
• I trimmed around the sentiment and adhered it to a piece of the same pin polka-dot paper.
• The sentiment was popped up on the card front with foam tabss.

You can check out the other creations at the links below :

Michael - World of Michael Trent

Lisa - Life of a BZscrapper

Pam - Mustang Creations

Thank you to Pam for joining us this month !! We hope that you are now ready to make a few holiday cards. I look forward to having you check us out again next month.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Woodblock Wednesday / December 2022

Today is Woodblock Wednesday !! My crafty friend Amy Tsuruta will be posting a card each month using one of her many fabulous woodblock stamps and will also host a challenge in the corresponding blog post. I also have many woodblock stamps and decided to join her today.

I used a 2019 Christmas Banner stamp from Hero Arts for my card. The paper is a fabulous 6x6 pad from Craft Consortium -Made By Elves . I also used several faceted crystals . After I colored the image, I realized that I had that paper that was the perfect color match !! 

If you have a stash of woodblock stamps,  join the challenge and link up one of your own projects. You can get al the info and lots of inspiration HERE at Amy's blog - Tsuruta Designs .

Thank you for visiting me on Woodblock Wednesday .

#woodblockwednesday   #woodblockstamps

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - July

It's Christmas in July for the Crafty Elves !! Lisa - aka BZScrapper - and I have been making  a Christmas card each week / 4 or more each month and blogging about it on the 25th of each month . It's been a challenge for me to make holiday cards this month. Here in Virginia Beach, we have had temperatures in the high 90's for a few weeks and to tell you the truth, I was not in a Christmas mood. But I actually did play some holiday music and use a Christmas coffee mug while making a few of these cards to help me get in the holiday spirit. This post will combine a few different  Design Team projects for me as you will see in my descriptions. After you see my cards, be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see her always  amazing creations !!

For my first card, I used a Hero Arts set - Origami Happy Holidays . I stamped the paper airplane image onto green and red patterned paper and also Neenah Stardust White cardstock. They were then fussy-cut and adhered to an embossed white card. I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set onto a piece of snowflake patterned paper, cut it out with a tag punch, stapled it and then adhered it to the bottom right side of the card. This was made for my Italian penpal and friend, Letizia !! She recently bought a fun custom stamp with her address and a paper airplane on it, so this set immediately made me think of her !!

My next card is made with a fun digi stamp set from Polka Dot Orchard - Magic of Christmas . It was designed by my very talented friend and teammate on the Polka Dot Orchard Design Team, Crystal Minkler. We are having a Christmas in July Instagram Blog Hop with the Polk Dot Orchard Team starting today and we hope that you will join us. You can find my post at @djdavison814 on  IG and follow through from there. For this card, I printed the belt, sentiment and Santa hat. The belt was printed on both white and a gray-brown cardstock. I cut out the belt from the gray paper and the buckle and belt loop from white cardstock.The buckle and loop were then colored and adhered on the belt. The Santa hat was also colored.I adhered the sentiment and belt to a red card base.  I then popped the Santa hat up on the corner  of the sentiment with foam tabs. This was a fun card to make !!

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My next card was made with a few favorite stamps from Rubber Moon  -  Merriment by Kae Pea and a house stamp by Joanna Taylor. The house stamp I used is no longer available but the Snowman's House stamp is almost identical. I stamped the Merriment moons on  the top left side of a piece of snowflake patterned paper. The house was stamped on a piece of watercolor paper, colored, cut out into a square and adhered to the lower right of the snowflake paper.  I then stamped the word "merriment" under the house image. I had also stamped the moons on a piece of patterned paper, cut them out and adhered them to the snowflake paper ( I colored one of the moons yellow ). The snowflake paper was adhered to a Kraft cardstock base and a piece of Watercolor Words washi by Rubber Moon was placed down the left side of the card. I love making holiday cards in non-traditional colors !! Do you have a favorite color combo for holiday cards besides red and green ??

   

Last but not least is a card/tag for my Christmas in July post at Anthony's Paper Craft. The team is also celebrating Christmas in July by using  some fabulous holiday/Christmas stamps . I used the Winter Scene stamp set that has an amazing variety of smaller stamps suitable for  tags and cards !! I stamped a tree and a deer onto a piece of dotted paper , then used a fun paper punch to make a plaid border that I adhered above the tree. A piece of gold glitter washi was then placed on the plaid border. This entire image was adhered to the bottom half of a black tag. On the upper half of the tag, I adhered a few pieces of washi - snowflake and plaid. The word JOY was adhered at an angle next to the deer.  I then stamped "Seasons Greetings" onto a piece of white cardstock, made a banner out of it and hung it from the hole in the tag.I adhered a  piece of ledger paper to the back of the card to write a holiday greeting on. 

Thank you for joining me for this celebration of Christmas in July.  I really am thrilled to be on several fabulous Design Teams and it was fun to combine these 4 projects in this post !! Make sure you go to Lisa's blog  - Life of a BZscrapper to see what she came up with this month !!

Thanks so much for visiting Meticulosity as we try to inspire you into some holiday spirit as we create a Christmas card each week. We hope to see you back here again on August 25 !!

Until then, Stay Creative !!!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

February Cookies - Take 1

Challenge #87 over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie is all about hearts and love and red and white and Valentines. Our sponsor this time is My Besties . This challenge is open for 2 weeks starting Feb. 8 and I hope you will take a peek at all of the Design Team creations AND maybe even link up something of your own. 

I have had this wonderful AMOR stamp by Hero Arts for quite some time but had never inked it up !! So, the time was right to get creative with it. Along with a red and white Valentine theme, I used a non-traditional color card base.

• I stamped the AMOR image from Hero Arts on a piece of pale pink scrap paper, using  StazOn ink in the perfect color - St. Valentine.  
• The Frida image is from the Coyoacan Collection by Vera Lane Studio. I printed her on my favorite cardstock - Neenah Stardust White. 
• I fussy-cut Frida and colored her with my favorite Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens and Stampin Up markers. 
• The AMOR image was adhered to the card base with Tombow Mono Adhesive+ and Frida was popped up with Tombow Foam Tabs.

I hope you like my Frida Amor card !! I am a big fan of Frida and her work  - you can find out more about her here. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of my card. Do you like  more "traditional" Valentines?? I love combining patterned papers & backgrounds with stamped images and this card was no exception. Be sure to check out the Challenge page for all of the team's designs. And if you'd like, you can link up a project -- we would love that !! 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity.

And thank you again to our sponsor -  My Besties .

Debra Davison

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 11/13

Welcome back to the blog collaboration of  Deb and Celeste. We had so much fun every week in the month of October that we decided to continue this once a month. Also my friend, Lynne had asked if she could play along with us and that gave us the idea to have a monthly guest. So for the month of November, our guest is the wonderful artist, Lynne Mizera.. We hope that you will visit all three of our blogs and leave us some comments. Lynne got to choose the theme for this month and she picked SNOW.. I hope that you like my card -- the weather is finally getting chilly here, so I put on some holiday music and created this for you.

•  On a Kraft card base, I first stamped the Hello Flags banner from Hero Arts on the left upper side of the card.  The Sassy Snow stamp set from Skipping Stones Design had the perfect snowperson and sentiment for my card. Both images were stamped using Memories Black India Ink. 
• I then cut a piece of white glitter paper to make a hill for my snowperson and the trees and adhered it with my Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue. 
• The  banner was stamped on Merry Little Christmas paper from My Mind's Eye. I adhered several different patterns to the banner and also used some of the banners at the bottom of the card as trees !! 
• Two red candy dots were used as tree-toppers and several snowflakes from my stash were also placed around the snowman. I used glitter markers to highlight the scarf, mittens and nose.
• I also used the Sassy Snow stamp set for the Skipping Stones Blog Hop this weekend.

Today's card -- in the spirit of SNOW -- was brought to you by a cup of Santa's White Christmas Coffee  ( by Barnie's Coffee Kitchen ) and my 2011 Starbucks Holiday Fa-La-La-La ceramic tumbler. I rarely use this tumbler but this was a great opportunity to get it down off the shelf and enjoy my coffee in it !! Head on over to  Crafting Junky to see what Celeste did with our SNOWY theme. And be sure to see what Lynne Mizera did with the theme she chose -- you can find her post here at Lynne's Art World. Lynne is an amazing mixed-media artist and her blog is full of fun from her studio, garden and kitchen, We are thrilled that she asked to join us as our guest this month !!! Take a moment to sign up to follow our blogs when you are checking out our cards. Celeste and I will be back next month with another guest .. And who knows, it could be YOU !!

Thank you once again for visiting Meticulosity !!

Vive la France

I wanted to do something to show my support for Paris, France and the French people as well as all of the victims of the 11/13/15 terrorist attacks.  This Hero Arts International Skyline stamp was the perfect one to use. I used Riding Hood Red ink by Stampin' Up, my Salty Ocean Distress marker and my favorite Neenah Stardust White paper. A hint of a gold mat completes the image. I have seen several other cards made in support of France.... The colors of France are showing up on many landmarks, buildings and bridges..

Vive la France...

Paper Sack Love

Thank you for joining me and the entire Design Team of Mountain Plains Crafters in celebrating National Scrapbooking Day !!  Our theme is "Creating with Paper Bags".. How fun is that !! Our amazing sponsor is Lawn Fawn and the prize is a stamp set chosen by you.. Be sure to go to our MPC Facebook page and "like" us if you haven't already, then check out Lawn Fawn on Facebook , "like" them and let them know that the MPC Team sent you.. This is not required to win but everybody needs a little lovin',,,,,

We will have trivia questions on our MPC Facebook page all weekend. Answer one or all of these questions ( please only one time per question ). Each answer earns you an entry. A winner will be announced on Monday. The contest ends Sunday, May 3 at midnight EST. And this contest is open to INTERNATIONAL entries !!

I wanted to start journaling so I used my small paper lunch sacks as backgrounds on my pages , I embossed them , used Distress paints, added stamped images, and adhered them with washi. The paper sacks are fairly thin so they did not add too much thickness to my pages. These are my base pages. I will be adding favorite quotes, thoughts on my life and creative observations..I hope you like them..

Tim Holtz  embossing folder, tissue tape and lettering; Hero Arts Art stamp; 

Stampotique Tools Cube

Tim Holt embossing folder; Hampton Arts Stamp quote; Basic Grey fabric tape

Tim Holtz embossing folder; Taylored Expressions  Joe-To-Go stamp set;

Starbucks Coffee info card

 

Tim Holtz embossing folder; Hero Arts Enchante stamp set

Nellie Snellen embossing folder; Lawn Fawn  Good Fortune stamp set; 

Tim Holtz Distress paint

I hope that you have checked all of the Design Team's projects for National Scrapbooking Day.. Be creative, Preserve a memory. Spend some time nourishing your creative side. Comment on this post for a chance at a paper sack full of crafty items..