Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / August 2022

Here we are - 1 month closer to the holidays !! And the Crafty Elves are back with their holiday inspiration for August .. Michael, Lisa and I are creating holiday cards each month and posting them on the 25th ..  We will all have a nice little stash to help with the holiday rush !!

My first card was made with a really beautiful collection from Pink Fresh Studios - Oh What Fun . And there was no stamping involved !! Sometimes a collection has all the right elements and a beautiful card can be created in no time at all !!

• I placed a piece of word background paper on a Kraft card base .
• A journal card from the collection was matted with plain red paper .
• I popped up the matted image with foam tabs onto the word background.

My next 4 cards ( yes, I even have an extra one this month )  are all from the same stamp set .. I got it on clearance several years ago and have never even inked it up until now ..  It is from  Stampers Anonymous - The Tim Holtz Collection - Doodle Greetings #1 . I used a variety of Echo Park Christmas paper for my backgrounds . And added some bling to each card - rhinestones or candy dots or glitter pens.

Confession about the last blue card ..  I colored the images then added the bling to each panel. Then I decided I wanted to die-cut a few of them. I thought it would probably crush the bling but tried anyway . And it did, but I think it created some cool crystals for the snowflakes !!  And for the Merry & Bright card, I just traced around the outer edge of the die, then cut it out with scissors to create the shape !! 

Please take a look at what Michael and Lisa have created, over at their blogs .

Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak- Life of a BZscrapper

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity once again.. Please leave a comment here on this post and I will choose someone to receive some blog candy..  We hope we are inspiring you to start on your holiday cards . I've even started addressing mine to stay even more ahead of the holiday stress !!

Until next time - Stay Creative ..

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - April 2020

Well, we have been staying at home since my March post due to COVID-19. I will admit that I'm not feeling too creative these days but if I set my mind to it and get started, I find that it really does relax me and takes my mind off of the craziness we are all dealing with. This post will be short since I am finishing it up after 2 long shifts at the hospital - nothing like waiting until the last minute !! I hope that you are all doing well and dealing with this pandemic as best you can. Are you finding that you are as creative ?? What are you doing to de-stress ?? I'm sure that my Crafty Elf teammates have been very creative and I can't wait for you to see what they have made.

The stamp I used on this first card was purchased at Michaels after Christmas for $1.00 . I don't even have a dog but have many friends who do. And I just couldn't resist this stamp !!

be good for goodness sake

• Stamp - Recollections Christmas Noel
• Brutus Monroe washi
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk sticker
• Kraft card base
• Red rhinestones

• Stampers Anonymous Winter Wonder "Noel" stamp
• Recollections washi
• Multi-colored rhinestones

My last 2 cards turned into 6 cards. I wanted to make a bookmark card to send to friends along with a book as a Christmas gift . I copied the design from a set of bookmarks I found at the Dollar Spot in Target !! It fits over the corner of a page of your book to hold your place.  I also backed it with paper that you can write a book list on.  Either books that you have read or a list of books you'd like to read.  After I made the first one, I liked them so much that I wanted to make more. And then when I was sitting down to make my last card for this post, I decided to use others stamps in the set to make more. I think they look different enough that it's not considered "cheating" .. What do you think ??

• Stampers Anonymous Seasonal Scribbles stamp set was used on all remaining cards
• Recollections washi
• Removable Double-sided tape to adhere bookmark to card base

Bookmark placed over edge of card showing book list

Please be sure to check out the other Crafty Elf creations.. Links below -

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Lisa Reynolds- Bzibziak - Life of a BZScrapper

Jessica Pickeral - Polka Dot Orchard Blog

Thanks so much for following along with us as we continue to make a Christmas card each week throughout 2020. Have you started your holiday cards yet ?? Take care, wear a mask in public and stay safe .. Do something each day just for you .. Create a Christmas card along with us. And we will see you next month on May 25 with more Crafty Elf shenanigans !!

Debra Davison - Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - 1/27

Well, 2019 is here and Celeste and I are continuing our collaboration into the New Year. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that 2019 is a happy, healthy one for you and those you love. Our inspiration for this month's card is a mood board chosen by Celeste. I really loved everything about this photo - the colors, the images and the "mood". 

For my card, I used the color scheme, the snowy scenes and the silver & black tones. I was lucky enough to get some Stampers Anonymous stamp sets that I have had my eye on for awhile. They had a 50% off promotion in November during their Days of Thanks Sale. I took advantage of the Stamp promotion one day and the Mixed Media promotion on another. I knew I wanted to use some of my new stamps for today's card.

 The background piece of paper is from a fabulous American Crafts 12 x 12 paper pad. I copied an area of the page at 50% in order to get the trees for the base of my card.

• I used a Kraft card base and cut it just slightly larger than the tree background.
• The snowman image from the Stampers Anonymous Tattered Christmas stamp set was stamped onto the tree background in the lower right corner and also onto a piece of Neenah Stardust White cardstock using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink .
• I fussy-cut the snowman from the Solar White cardstock and adhered it over top of the snowman stamped on the tree background image. 
• The snowman's nose waa colored in with a Brea Reese marker. 
• I stamped the Let It Snow image from Stampers Anonymous Handwritten Holidays 2  onto a piece of vellum  cut to fit in the upper left corner of the tree background. 
• We R Memory Keepers Silver Sequin stickers were placed around the sentiment on the vellum. 
• I didn't have any vellum glue so I placed Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue on the back of the vellum underneath the sequins so the adhesive did not show.  Clever, huh ?
• I will admit that I smudged the first Let It Snow sentiment. Note to self : do not carry a still wet sentiment around with you while you go searching in your studio for washi tape to place on your card!!
• I also have to give thanks to my guy, Brian. When I stamped the snowman on the background, it was not at the bottom of the paper and appeared to be floating in the trees. I really hadn't noticed that yet, but he pointed it out and when he did,  I realized that it did look a bit odd. So I placed a piece of word washi from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas set. along the bottom of the card . It fit perfectly !!  It helps to have a guy with a Graphic Arts degree and an eye for design/layouts. 

I was quite pleased with my card since it has been a busy week of crafty projects and deadlines for me and I had absolutely NO idea what I was going to make when I sat down to create a card,  Then I thought of my new Stampers Anonymous stamp sets and took it from there. I know that Celeste will have a fantastic card made so please take a look at her blog - Crafting Junky. We would love for  you to comment on our posts and follow our blogs if you haven't signed up already.

My coffee for today's post is Winter Warmer, a blend of butter rum and coconut flavors with a little Half and Half. The mug is one I got on clearance after Christmas in 2017 along with a tin of Hot Cocoa. I thought the mug perfectly matched our Mood Board theme.

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity again and sharing coffee and cards with me & Celeste as we start 2019. We look forward to seeing you each month as we challenge each other to create fun projects that we hope will inspire you. If there is any crafty challenge you would like to see us undertake, please comment and we will see what we can do.  Until next time, stay creative.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity