Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - January 2020

A New Year has begun and the Crafty Elves are back for more .. Last year. my amazingly talented friend Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak and I created a Christmas card each week and blogged about it on the 25th of each month.  We kept each other inspired and when the holidays rolled around, we had a nice stash of cards ready !! I had many friends comment that they were going to try to do the same this year along with us . And for 2020, Lisa and I have each added a Crafty Elf to our Christmas Countdown. Michael Trent is joining me from Brasil with his blog- World of Michael Trent and Lisa has asked Jessica Pickeral from Polka Dot Orchard. We are thrilled to have them for our 2020 posts !!

I learned a few things over the course of 2019. This year I will be addressing my envelopes as I make my cards.Even though I had many cards made, it still took quite a bit of time to address envelopes, stamp the insides of the cards and put my "Made By" stamp on the backs of the cards. I send many cards to the same people every year so I will be ahead on that for 2020.  Another tip I have for our Countdown is to choose your stamps, supplies at Week 1 for the entire month. I have MANY Christmas/holiday sets and I had a hard time choosing each week, especially when I was trying to work quickly on my deadline to finish a card each week. So this month, I chose 4 stamps/sets and put them in my dedicated Countdown to Christmas box, along with other supplies I thought I would use. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has plans to make a card and then when you sit down to finally get started, you can't find that 1 supply you had your heart set on !!

For  January, I gathered some holiday washi, twine, my Versafine Clair Nocturne ink pad and my favorite 3.5  x 5 watercolor Visual Journal by Strathmore. I also placed 4 stamp sets in the box and these were my main supplies for the month. Another tip is to stamp extra images and keep those in your stash so you have some ready to color or embellish for more cards . I'm starting 2020 off with one of my favorite new images from Unity Stamp Company.

• Unity Stamp Company's Pure and Simple is a favorite of mine. She was stamped on watercolor paper with Nocturne ink.
• I colored portions of the image with Red & Green and trimmed the image to fit my card base.
• A strip of red plaid washi was placed along the left side of the watercolor image, next to the torn edge.
• I popped the image up on a black A2 card base with foam tabs.

For my next 3 cards, I chose stamp sets by Flora & Fauna .I used Mini Holiday Van, Mini Reindeer Love and Mini Aviary. I love these little stamp sets and used several others last year for the Countdown. All images were stamped on Strathmore watercolor paper.

• The van was stamped with Nocturne Ink on the watercolor paper and I colored each of them with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• I stamped the tree on top of the vans with Memento Dew Drop ink in Bamboo Leaves and the sentiment below the vans in Lady Bug.
• A strip of red glitter washi was placed below the red van and a thin strip of gold marbled washi below the blue van.
• I matted the blue van with a piece of metallic green paper.
• A piece of tree washi was placed down the side of the torn edge of the blue van . It matched the card base perfectly even though from 2 different companies !!
• I tied a piece of holiday twine along the torn edge of the red van and a piece of natural twine along the edge of the blue van.
• I used a red card base for the red van and a tree-patterned card base for the blue van.
• These stamps were so cute that I couldn't resist making 2 cards !!

• The reindeer was stamped in Nocturne ink  towards the bottom of a page of my watercolor paper.
• The sentiment was stamped with a Memento Dew Drop in Lady Bug  and the holly with Bamboo Leaves. 
• I colored the reindeer with a Tombow Dual Brush marker.
• At the top of the watercolor paper, I adhered a border made with a scrap of red snowflake patterned paper,
• Across the top of the border, I adhered a piece of red glitter washi and a piece of holly washi.
• Red rhinestones were placed on the holly leaves for berries.
• A gold glitter heart was adhered  next to the sentiment.

• The bird/branch image was stamped with Nocturne ink.
• I stamped the sentiment with a Bamboo Leaves Dew Drop by Memento.
• I colored the bird with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• A strip of gold glitter washi was placed under the branch and a strip of pinecone washi beneat that.
• Red rhinestones were added to the branches.
• I adhered the completed watercolor panel to a piece of metallic pink paper.
• The entire completed panel was adhered to a patterned card base . 

I hope that you are inspired by my January cards !! Are you working on your stash already ?? Please take a moment to look at the other Crafty Elves' creations -

Lisa Reynolds Bzibziak @   Life of a BZScrapper

Michael Trent @ World of Michael Trent

Jessica Pickeral @ Polka Dot Orchard

Lisa and I are so glad that Michael and Jessica have joined us as Crafty Elves !! We are a veritable Santa's workshop of holiday card-making. Looking forward to seeing you next month with our February projects !!

Debra Davison/ Meticulosity

January Cookies/ 2020 - 2

The latest Challenge - # 134 - at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie takes us back to the 80's !!  It's all about MTV, retro, Pac Man, boom boxes, mixed tapes etc.. I wasn't sure at first what direction I wanted to go in with this card but finally mixed up the theme of the 80's with the colors of the inspiration pic and came up with something a little bit Sassy !!

• I chose the Vera Lane Studio digi stamp set Sassy for my card.The girl and the definition were printed onto Neenah Stardust White cardstock . I fussy-cut the girl and trimmed the definition to fit onto an A2 card base.
• The washi tape was found in an Etsy shop and I just bought samples of each that were perfect for the theme !! I put strips of the boom box and headphones across the top panel of the definition and the sneakers across the bottom.
• The girl was colored with a variety of my favorite markers.
• The definition was adhered to a green A2 card base with my Pink ATG gun and then I popped the  girl up on the right side of the definition using foam tabs.
• The patterned paper that my card was photographed on was sent to me from Brasil by my crafty friend, Michael Trent. It was exactly the paper for this card !! Michael is also on the If You Give a Crafter a Cookie Design Team and you can find his amazing creativeness at  World of Michael Trent .

This Challenge will run through Feb. 5 and we'd love it if you would post a project of your own . Take a look at the other team member's cards over at the Challenge Blog for more inspiration. 

Thank you for visiting Meticulosity !!

Until next time, Stay Creative ..

And a little bit Sassy !!!

Debra Davison

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste / January 2020

Celeste and I are back for another year of our blog collaboration . We met through our love of coffee and have fun each month with a card theme, inspiration photo or sketch . We also post what coffee we are currently drinking and sometimes have a fun new cup to show you . I hope that you are as excited as we are to welcome 2020 with our first theme - Winter !!

When I close my eyes and think of winter, I see cold weather, warm scarves AND of course, hot coffee !! This Pure and Simple stamp set from Unity Stamp Company has been on my mind to get inky with and this blog post was the perfect opportunity. 

• On a scrap piece of Winter floral paper, I stamped the woman from Pure and Simple with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink . The floral paper had been cut to fit an A2 card base. 
• I also stamped the woman on a piece of watercolor paper, colored in some red highlights with a Tombow Dual Brush marker and then fussy-cut the image.
• HAPPINESS was stamped with Memento Dew Drop ink in Lady Bug, then cut.
• The floral base was adhered to a red A2 card and Happiness was then adhered on the upper right corner, using my Pink ATG Gun.
• I popped up the fussy-cut watercolor paper image on top of the matching card base image using foam tabs for a bit of dimension.

RED is my favorite color and I must admit that I do love this card !! Celeste, over at Crafting Junky has also created a Winter card that I'm sure is as fabulous as ever !! We hope that you will comment on both our creations and also follow our blogs if you don't already .  While making this card, I was drinking Columbian coffee with Caramel Vanilla creamer in my new Rae Dunn coffee mug. I had never even heard of these mugs until I started seeing them on the  Coffee Loving Papercrafters page on Facebook !! I was telling my coffee bestie about them and she surprised me with one for Christmas !! I think she chose the best one of all !! Thanks, Michelle - I truly love it !!

Thank you for stopping by for our first post of the New Year !!

Until next time, stay Creative ...

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

January Cookies / 2020 - 1

Hard to believe that another year has begun !! 2020 -Time to get re-organized, clean up the clutter and have a wonderfully creative year.. And what better way to start than with our first Cookie Challenge of the new decade  with If You Give a Crafter a Cookie ?!?! Our inspiration photo is all about snowflakes and as beautiful as they are, I do not want to see anything but a flurry here in Virginia Beach..

I knew immediately that I wanted to use the Catching the Snow stamp set by Lisa Glanz  for Unity Stamp Company. I had the set out for Christmas cards but never used it so this Challenge was my perfect opportunity!!

• I stamped multiple elements from the stamp set onto watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink  , Tumbled Glass Distress Ink  and Memento Lady Bug.
• I created the scene with my stamps then cut the watercolor panel to fit a turquoise card base.
• The girl was colored with my Faber-Castell PITT Artist pens.
• I left space at the top of the watercolor panel for a strip of snowflake washi.
• At the bottom of the panel, I added a strip of silver washi to look like a snowy ground.
• To be perfectly honest here, I had ink from the edge of one of the snowflake stamps transfer to the panel when I stamped 2 of the flakes !! I was finished with everything else and did not want to start over, so I stamped the flakes more carefully onto a scrap of watercolor paper and punched them out. I popped them up over the boo-boos with foam tabs for a bit of added dimension.
• A rhinestone was added to the center of each snowflake.

I know that you will want to see what the other Design Team members have created for this  Challenge, so head over to If You Give a Crafter a Cookie for some snowflake inspiration !! We'd love for you to link up a project too - this Challenge is open through January 22 .

Until next time- Stay Creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - December

It's so hard to believe that it is December !! Lisa and I have been on this creative journey since last year - we have made 1 ( or more ) Christmas cards each week all year long !! And we've posted about it every month on the 25th. We thought that while you are relaxing today, we would show you the last of our cards for 2019.  There are always some stragglers on my Christmas card list that get sent out last minute or a bit late, so these will be perfect ..

My first card is a favorite of mine !! Cats & Christmas !! The stamp is from Technique Junkies - Christmas Mug Shot. Don't you just love this ?? I had to add that Santa hat ...

Next is another cat card with a great stamp from Paula Best .  These stamps are no longer available but I was lucky enough to find several at the 757 Creative Reuse Center . I donated some of my craft supplies as I was destashing and found some amazing stamps there at a crazy price..

Everyone knows how much I LOVE coffee  -- to drink, in stamping, on washi tape etc..... I found these tags at Michaels and immediately got an idea for a card... I just added a coffee stirrer and some stamped images from the Dylusions set - Stocking Filler.

Next is a card with images from one of my very favorite companies - Rubber Moon . The Pairs of Mittens stamp by Marylinn Kelly is paired with a fun sentiment from Kae Pea.

I actually have another card too,  made with a beautiful stamp from Unity Stamp Company - Noel . I just did a bit of coloring and added some wide washi across the card .. Love the look of this one !!

I hope that you are inspired by these cards. Take a look at Lisa's over at her blog - Life of a BZScrapper . Her cards are always amazing !! We have had so much fun that the Crafty Elves will be continuing to make cards throughout 2020. And we each have asked a friend to join us . You will want to check back on January 25 to see who it is !! I'd love for you to start on your cards for 2020 too and to help with that, I will choose 2 commenters on this blog post to send some Christmas supplies to !! Thanks again to all who have commented and cheered us on.. We have had a blast !!

To those who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas !!

Wishing you all a Happy & healthy 2020.

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

Coffee & Cards with Deb & Celeste - December

It's hard to believe another year is coming to an end !! Celeste and I have been busy getting ready for the holidays and this latest inspiration photo was perfect to keep our creative juices flowing .. We hope that all of you are almost ready to celebrate this season with your family and friends.  

I recently learned about the 757 Creative Reuse Center in Norfolk, VA and donated some of my craft supplies that I was destashing. Paper, stickers, stamps, punches - it felt good to know that someone would give them a good home . And of course, while I was there, I had to look around. They have an amazing variety of stamps and I had so much fun looking through drawers and drawers of wood-mounted stamps. I was thrilled to find several Paula Best stamps and was inspired to use one for my card this month.

• I stamped the Paula Best Cat Angel onto watercolor paper, using my favorite Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and trimmed it to fit my card base.
• On a pink glitter card base, I adhered a piece of cat-themed Christmas paper by Recollections.
• A strip of red snowflake washi tape was placed across the bottom of the stamped image.
• The image was colored with some Tombow Dual Brush markers and glitter pens. It's hard to see but the wings have areas of silver and gold glitter.
• This stamp reminded me of our cat Pixie, even though she is not as round !!

Celeste and I showed each other our cards this evening and we were pleasantly surprised that we chose similar colors. You can see her project over at her blog - Crafting Junky. We would love for you to follow our blogs if you are not already doing so. And please leave a comment to let us know what you think of our cards this month.

My coffee this month is Gingerbread and I am drinking it from my new HONDA stainless steel bottle by Fifty/Fifty. We recently bought a Honda HRV and got to choose a fun item from their shop .. Brian got a ball cap and of course, I got a coffee cup !! Isn't it just the cutest !!!! The perfect size for my coffee at my desk at work.

Thank you again for visiting Meticulosity. Celeste and I have decided to continue with our Coffee & Cards in 2020 so you will see us again throughout the New Year. We might even have a guest or two. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.  I appreciate each and every one of you !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity

December Cookies - Take 1

For Challenge #132 at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie, we have a sweet inspiration photo - another take on the holiday favorite - gingerbread !! We would love for you to join us and link up a project of your own  - you have through January 8 . I am a BIG fan of all things Gingerbread -- lattes, tea,  etc..  We hope you are inspired by the projects of our Design Team..

     

• I chose a fun digi stamp by Angela Y Designs on Etsy -  Gingerbread Angela - and printed it on watercolor paper.
• The image was trimmed and then colored with a variety of my favorite markers - Faber-Castell, Tombow and Staedtler. 
• I kept a margin on the left side of the image and added three strips of washi tape lengthwise next to Gingerbread Angela.
• The stamped image waa mounted onto a Kraft card base.
• A Crate Paper ephemera HO HO HO postage stamp was popped up next to Angela.

I really like how this card turned out.... I had colored another one and made a few boo-boos, so I colored it again !! I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that .. Take a look at the other projects by my teammates over at If You Give a Crafter a Cookie. I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday full of lots of love , surrounded by friends and family. I look forward to seeing you back here for more challenges in 2020.

Until next time, Say Creative !!

Debra Davison / Meticulosity