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

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste 1/22

Welcome back to our first blog collaboration of 2017. Celeste and I look forward to bringing you cards to inspire you and selections of coffee to tempt you. We will have a guest blogger with us each month and to kick off our year, we have Terri Albro Burson. Terri is an amazing papercrafter and coffee lover so she fits right in with us !! Celeste chose the theme for this month and she selected a Mood Board for us with the colors Black, White, Pink and Gold :

I was inspired by a calendar I bought on clearance this week. It is all things Paris and had several pictures with our chosen colors. I cut out  the images that included our Mood Board colors and used several on my card.

Tombow

•  I adhered a piece of white patterned paper with gold accents from the MAMBI paper pad "Joyful" to a Kraft card base.
• The Metro and window images were cut from the calendar and adhered with Tombow MONO Aqua Liquid Glue, 
• The Paris and Eiffel Tower images were stamped with Memories Black India Ink on Neenah Stardust White paper and then die cut.  They are from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Alterations Collection - French Flight.
• The word "PARIS" and the Eiffel Tower were  popped up on the card using dimensionals. I colored the word PARIS using a Faber Castell Pink Madder Pitt Artist Pen.
• Several white and black sequins were adhered to the Right side of the card as a finishing touch.

Today's card was brought to you by a fabulous cup of Caramel Coffee in my other Cat Lady mug.  I suppose the fact that 2 friends gave me "crazy" Cat Lady cups just about makes it a done deal that that is a true description of me ! But in my defense, I only have one cat.  The picture was altered using my Rhonna Farrar app on the iPhone and that cute banner is from one of  its Susan K Weckesser packs.  It is really a fabulous app for working with your pictures. That yummy muffin in the picture was made by my awesome guy, Brian. They are made with Fiber One cereal and he made them from scratch without a recipe !! He added chocolate chunks and they were absolutely delicious !! He was trying to re-create a recipe that his dad used to make for their family when Brian was growing up. He said that his came pretty close !!

Please take a look at Celeste's  card using the Mood Board colors at her blog -  Crafting Junky . And give Terri a warm welcome as our guest this month by visiting her at  Waving My Wand and leaving her a comment. Terri is an Adornit IT Girl, a member of the Coffee Loving Papercrafter's Team, and designs for So Suzy Stamps and Two Paper Divas. And that is just a short list of her creative accomplishments !! We are thrilled to have her with us this month. Be sure to sign up to follow our blogs if you haven't already done so.

Thank you for starting off your year with us. We will see you next month.

February is one of my favorite months -- full of hearts and love ...

Debra Davison / Meticulosity