Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas / October 2021

In a few short months, the holidays will be here .. And I will be so glad that I have been making holiday cards all year long !! Have you started yours ?? Michael, Lisa and I have been posting every month on the 25th as we've created a holiday card each week throughout the year .. This month we have a Guest Elf and I'm sure she has some fabulous cards to share with us .. Terri Albro Burson is a talented papercrafter, mixed-media artist and designer . We met through our love of paper back in 2014 when I was chosen to be on the Design Team ( my first ) of Mountain Plains Crafters. Terri and a few friends had created an online community and I was lucky enough to become a part of it . She has worked with many amazing companies, most recently as a 2021 Guest Artist for Ranger Ink . I'm sure that she is just as thrilled to be joining us as a Crafty Elf this month !!

My first card features the cutest Christmas Bird stamp from Impression Obsession  . It was on clearance a few months ago, but they have tons of other fabulous stamps for you to choose from .  This stamp was designed by my friend Lindsay Ostrom.

• I stamped Christmas Bird on Strathmore Mixed Media Paper with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink .
• A square scalloped-edge die was used to die-cut the bird image for the card front.
• I colored the bird image with my COPICS, Sharpies & Flair pens.
• A piece of Tim Holtz Christmas washi tape was placed across the center of a piece of green musical notes patterned paper from a Craft Smart "Classic Vintage" paper pad.
• The musical notes panel was adhered to a Kraft card base.
• I popped up the completed bird die-cut with foam tabs for some added dimension .

My next 3 cards were made with the Elfmas Volumes 1 & 2 stamp sets from Ink Road Stamps .It's no secret that Elf is one of my favorite movies and I couldn't wait to ink up these stamps !! I think I know each and every line from the movie word for word. My guy, Brian even got an ELF costume one year during the holidays and came to the hospital where I work to surprise me when I was the ICU Manager . We walked around the different floors and sang Christmas carols with some of the staff and patients !!  A great Christmas memory ..  

• I stamped ELF  on the left side of a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper  with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the sentiment on the right side with Memento Lady Bug & Bamboo Leaves. I masked the sentiment on the diagonal to get the color blend exactly right . And I love how it turned out .
• I found a scrap of paper that reminded me of Gingerbread houses & their icing and cut a strip to fit down the left side of a Kraft card base.
• The completed stamped panel was adhered next to the patterned strip.

• I stamped ELF in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the sentiment below that with Memento Lady Bug ink  on Strathmore Mixed Media paper.
• I placed a strip of red snowflake washi in between ELF and the sentiment.
• The stamped panel was adhered to a red cardstock mat .
• A beautiful floral card base was a pretty touch for this card .

• I stamped the 4 Main Food Groups sentiment onto a piece of Mixed Media paper with Tuxedo Black ink.
• I colored the image with my COPICS.
• The stamped image was matted on a piece of red cardstock.
• I adhered a piece of scrap glittery gumdrop paper to a bright blue card base.
• The completed stamped panel was then popped up onto the gumdrops with Foam tabs. I love how bright and colorful this card is !!

Please take a look at the other Crafty Elf cards over at their blog posts for much more holiday inspiration. And don't miss what our Guest Elf has created for us, because I'm sure it is fantastic !! A big Thank-You to Terri for joining us this month ..

Terri Albro Burson - Waving My Wand

Michael Trent - World of Michael Trent

Lisa Reynolds-Bzibziak - Life of a BZ Scrapper

We are quickly winding down to the holidays .. Have you started your cards yet ?? Leave me a message about the status of your holiday card-making and you could be the lucky person chosen at random to get some Happy Mail from me . I will send you some supplies to use on your holiday cards.. 

For some extra added fun with holiday cards, you can check out the Blog Hop sponsored by the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers group  . Get inspiration, link up a card of your own and you just might win a prize from some great sponsors !!

Falling for the Holidays 2021 {BYSHC} Hop!

Until next time -

Stay safe and always stay creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - February

Thank you to everyone who commented on our first Crafty Elf posts !! Lisa and I are keeping ech other motivated and can't wait to show you February's cards. After some sort of glitch with comments  ( I think it's a problem with Google + ), I've chosen a winner at random for  a Crafty Elf stamp. Vannessa Osbourn was new to my blog and I'm so excited to have her and thrilled that she won . Can't wait to see what she does with the stamp - send me your snail mil address and I will get it in the mail !!

For my first card, I inked up a holiday set that I never got around to using for my 2018 cards. It was a quick card to color and I cut  several extra images for more cards. I loved the vintage look of the background paper and couldn't wait to use it on a card !! I hope you like it ..

• On a Cranberry cardstock base, I adhered a piece of Vintage Xmas Tree paper from  American Crafts  All I Want For Christmas Is You paper pad .
• Using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink,  I stamped the girl image and the sentiment  from  the  Oh What Fun stamp set by Unity Stamp Company on  Strathmore Mixed Media Paper .    
• I fussy-cut the girl and colored her with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Brea Reese and   Staedtler. 
• I cut the sentiment, mounted it on a piece of dark green cardstock  and adhered it to the top of the card base in the center.
• I had cut the tree paper so the image was to the left and mounted the girl on the right, using Foam Tabs.   
• I adhered 3 green rhinestones on her coat as buttons.
• The pom-pom on the hat and the whipped cream on the cup were highlighted with some extra fine white glitter.      
• Tombow Adhesives were used to adhere all elements ( MONO Adhesive+, MONO Aqua Liquid Glue and Foam Tabs ).       

Now, for my next 12 cards - YES, I did say 12 - I gathered these supplies :

1. My favorite holiday washi
2. My favorite Sizzix On The Edge Scallops Die
3. A variety of sequins, rhinestones and other doo-dads !!
4. My MONO Adhesive+ Permanent Runner
5. 12 cardstock bases - I used A2 sized.
6. Scraps of holiday paper
7. A 12x12 piece of American Crafts Christmas paper with 12 journal card designs on it. I cut the images apart and had 12 holiday designs to work with. 

I added a cute Rubber Moon Tree Cup stamp to the snowman.

Washi and/or border scallops were added to all cards.

Green-striped Candy Dots were added to the Merry Christmas card.

All others had scallop borders or washi.

Sequins were placed on the tree and a washi frame was added.

I used a fun corner rounder on Season's Greetings.

Happy Holidays has washi, a scalloped border and dots added.

I've had friends tell me that they would love to make their Christmas cards throughout the year but just don't see how they can manage.  These 12 cards I made take minimal time and you can add as little or as much stamping as you'd like or as time allows. I only added stamping to 1 card but they all will be stamped on the inside.  I actually cut the paper into 12 cards and made 4 each week, along with other cards and Design Team projects. If I had just sat down to make all 12 cards at once, I probably could have finished them in 2 hours or less. 

Lisa and I have really been enjoying our Countdown and hope that you are inspired to make some Christmas cards throughout the year too. I hope you will comment on my February cards and then head on over to Lisa's blog at  Life of a BZscrapper to see what she has created. 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Please join Lisa and I next month as we continue our Countdown.

Debra Davison

               

Coffee Talk

Day 4 of the Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is here and today I'm using a fun stamp from one of my favorite companies -Rubber Moon. They have a great selection of stamps and art supplies and the most amazing customer service ever !! I love their variety of stamps - from celestial to quirky to cute birds and everything in between. You have to check them out !! They are also having a Memorial Day sale that runs through today, May 28. I love that they give you the option of cling or wood-mounted stamps. I am a stamper from way back and although wood-mounted take up more space, there are just some stamps that I want to have displayed for inspiration 24/7 !!

There's nothing I love better than hanging out at the bookstore or coffee shop, either alone or with a friend. Sometimes you just need to catch up with friends and chit-chat over coffee. And that's why I love this  Rubber Moon stamp - Let's Talk designed by Jane Cather. I'm meeting a friend for coffee today and will be taking her one of these cards. I hope you are inspired to spend some time with a friend soon and enjoy a bit of coffee talk !!

Let's Talk

• On a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper, I stamped the Let's Talk image using Memories India Black ink . 
• I colored in the image with some favorite markers - Sharpies, Faber-Castell & Brea Reese.
• A few clouds  were paper-punched from scrap paper and stapled to the stamped image.
• I adhered the stamped image to a scrap piece of pale green checked paper, then attached that to the front of a bright pink card base. All adhesive used is by Tombow. 
• I'm very proud that I used some of my hoarded coffee washi tape below the stamped image. These are from a collection I got on clearance at AC Moore,
• The image on this card was perfect for bright shades and it's so much fun to color . I'm sad I don't have a few hats like  these to take with me today when I meet my friend for coffee !!

I hope you're enjoying my posts for the Blog Hop. I'm giving away some blog candy so be sure to leave a comment. There are already 600 cards linked up in the Hop , so head on over to take a look and be inspired !! Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

est. 2014

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 8/13

I'm so excited for our blog collaboration this month because we do have a guest joining us and it is Hetty Sanders. We met through our love of coffee AND papercrafting in the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Facebook group. How appropriate is that !?!? This month we were challenged by Celeste to use this mood board for inspiration to make a coffee card. I love these colors and had fun with this theme.

• I started with a colorful Molly & Rex card base from Michaels. The mood board is "pastels and colors" and this was a perfect base even though much of it was covered.
•  Using Gansai Tambi #34 Dark Pink watercolor and a wide brush, I created my background on Strathmore Mixed-media paper .
• The Penny Black "Espresso Break" image was stamped using Memories India Black ink . I highlighted several areas using my Distress markers and Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• The coffee sentiment is from the Recollections "C'est La Vie" paper pad . I adhered it to the top of the card using a Tombow MONO Adhesive Runner .
• The stamped image was placed at an angle and popped up with foam dimensionals.
• For some shimmer, I used 10mm faceted rhinestones by Love Nicole from AC Moore and placed  2 ( a pink and a blue ) next to the upper left side and the bottom right side of the stamped image.

Coffee is the Best Idea

Celeste's card can be seen at Crafting Junky . You will love what she created !! I know that I do .. Hetty's card comes to us all the way from The Netherlands. She lives in Amsterdam and you can find her card at Craft Chaos . We all hope that you will comment and let us know what you think and also sign up to follow our blogs. 

Today's coffee was brought to you by this coffee cup given to me by my BFF Sue.  It sits on my desk holding an assortment of go-to markers . I'm not even sure I have ever put a drop of coffee in it !! But it seemed perfect for today's post. ( And P.S. I am drinking a bottle of Starbucks Vanilla Iced Coffee. )

Thank you so much for visiting Meticulosity.

I look forward to seeing you next month.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

A Hop and a Skip {ping}

Welcome to my first official Blog Hop as a member of the Skipping Stones Design Team.. I am thrilled to be included in such fabulous company. We will be having a Blog Hop each month on the second Saturday of the month. You might have gotten here from Cornelia's blog. If not, the line-up is listed at the bottom of this page. For my first project, I chose to make a card with one of my favorite themes - Coffee !!

I  used Faber Castell Whipped Spackle and a Dylusions stencil to create a background on a piece of Pebbles "Lakeside" paper. I then sprinkled the background with Mixed Berries glitter. The border at the top of the card was created using the Sizzix "On the Edge" Scallops die. The sentiment was also stamped on Pebbles paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink..

The 2 stamp sets I used are Funny Coffee Vol. #1 for the sentiment and that gorgeous coffee cup  from Coffee Vol. #2. The cup was stamped on Strathmore Mixed-Media paper  with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the cup with a combination of Ranger Distress Markers and Faber Castell PITT Artist pens. I mounted the finished piece on a Kraft card base . Kraft cardstock is my all-time favorite !!  The sentiment and cup were adhered to the background using Tombow Foam tabs, A bit of Clear Wink of Stella adds a fantastic highlight to the petals..

Skipping Stones Design will be offering blog candy to one lucky person during this September Hop - a stamp set of your choice. In order to win, you must subscribe to the Skipping Stones blog, like their Facebook page and comment on each of the blogs in this Hop. For extra entries, follow my blog too.I will also be offering some blog candy for those who follow me and leave a comment on my blog.

Here is the order of our hop --
* SSD
* Martha
* Jessie
* Cornelia
* Debra -- YOU ARE HERE
* Ilina
* Tanya

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity..

And supporting my first Blog Hop as a Stamp Tramp with Skipping Stones Design..

Debra Davison

for Skipping Stones Designs

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