Dearly Beloved

Greetings all. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Our family was truly blessed with family and good cheer. I am double rewarded because it is also the time I get to celebrate the anniversary of marrying my best friend. My card today was created for my loving and devoted husband and my number one support partner. I continue to thrive and survive because is his dedication...thank you deerly :)

This card used masking techniques to create the hills with a little glitter to make it look like snow. I used copic markers to color the deer and add depth by cutting them out and using deminsional tape to attach them to the card front. By using brown tones it added a masculine touch.

Try these fun approaches on your next creations. Have a happy and safe New Year.  Blessings to all. Jeannette

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Guiding Star

Hi all,  Hard to believe that the week of Christmas is upon us. For many, the rush to finish shopping and complete last minute preparations will be on. Be sure to take an extra moment to focus on the purpose of the holiday...

I had one final task to complete today and it required me to pick up a large item at my local Walmart. There were not many shoppers at the time I went, but the staff were quite busy stocking shelves and carting things back and forth in preparation for final Christmas sales. Since I was in no hurry and the store was not crowded, I spent some time walking around the various departments. What I experienced was quite a reality check. The employees, while helpful if needed, were far from jolly and a sense of dreaded anticipation was noticeable in each department.

As I waited for my item to be located and loaded, I struck up conversations with several employees. It was quite depressing to hear how much they wished the week was already over. A few long timers even began to share Christmas customer "war" stories (rudeness, impatience, entitlement, threatening) that gave me an idea of exactly why they were not looking forward to the week. I left the store thinking how very sad and the exact opposite of what Christmas is suppose to represent.

So, in all the hustle, bustle, anticipation, anxiety, and stress of the week, please remember the love, joy, and ultimate reason for the season.  May the Christmas "Star" be our guiding light so that we reflect the true meaning of the holiday!  Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus.  Jeannette

Christmas Surprise Card

Greetings Bloggers, Hope this post finds you enjoying the preparations of the Season. As promised last week, I wanted to share this Christmas Card that has a surprise...the inside.  While I always try to create on the outside, I do not usually add more than the greeting to the inside.  However, as I pondered the Advent of the Christ, I was compelled to reflect on my internal preparation and Thanksgiving. Somehow, that reflection took on a whole new meaning in this creation....the message and guiding light inside :). See the surprise ....

 Enjoy and have a great week.

Jeannette

A Folded Christmas

Happy December Everyone!

It is now officially Christmas card making season and always a fun time for holiday crafting. So to inspire myself, I spent last week searching for some new techniques.  I had hoped seeing what others were doing would help me decide what type of family card to make this year.  However, the idea took a most unusual turn....instead of helping me come up with one card, it encouraged me to make a variety.  The first technique I tried was a folded tree.

The tree requires paper that has a pattern on both sides. Cut or punch a circle that is 5 1/4 and cut it in half. Then basically accordion fold so that the patterns alternate.  I used a gold brad for the tree topper but a sticker or a button would also look nice. The trunk of the tree is a piece of scrap brown card stock.  I stamped the sentiment in green ink and mounted it on a red piece of cardstock so it would match the card base which is also red. I added a white piece of card stock, embossed with dots for a little texture.  Next time I may try to emboss with snow flakes to see how it looks. For a little horizontal color and to bring everything together, a thin strip of coordinating paper was used.

The great thing about this card is the amount of depth without the bulk so mailing is easy.  Stay tuned next week for a "surprise inside" technique.  Happy stamping.... Jeannette