Happy New Year! We're getting close to 2015 and so many blogs are having a recap of their past years. Nichole's blog is having a Make-it Monday A-La Carte where she's linked all the MIM in one post so you can catch up on any that you might have missed in 2014. I've missed a lot of them! Too many to try to make up so I chose one of Heather's on making glitter embellishments. Here's the original post.
I've had this laser cut heart forever in my stash and never felt inspired to use it until now. I ran it through my Xyron and sprinkled it with Martha Stewart red glitter and that's all it needed! Inspiration hit! I also glittered up the small chipboard heart. I have so many chipboard pieces and never think to use them.
Rosie Posie continues to be my favorite "go to" flower set, stamped in Sweet Blush and Raspberry Fizz. The leaves are stamped in SU! Basic Grey and PTI's Smokey Shadow. The Postcard stamps are from Just Rite.
I'm also adding this to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge and the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings to you and your family for a safe and happy new year! ~ Birgit
Good morning paper~crafting friends! Today's card is perfect for the Color Throwdown Challenge.
It's a card I made quite a while ago, but never posted it to my blog.
I started by stamping the script stamp from MFT "Pretty Poppies" that was randomly inked and stamped off once to give it just a light printed background. I then went to town stamping and masking flowers from PTI's "Happiness In Bloom", "Rosie Posie" and MFT's "Inspired By" set, which is sadly no longer available. The sentiment is from Happiness In Bloom.
I then ran the panel through my machine, embossing only, using PTI"s Hexagon Cover Plate. The panel is attached to a white cardstock base. This makes a nice flat card, easy for mailing!
I'm also entering this card into the Word Art Wednesday Challenge, Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.
Thanks so much for looking! Have a very Merry Christmas! Blessings~ Birgit
Good morning paper crafting friends! Christmas day is just around the corner and I know I've been much too busy to find time to play in my craft room. I'm thankful for the gentle reminder that I got the other day that helped me put my life back into focus.
Christmas is not about the presents and twinkling lights, nor the decorations or (dare I say it...) even Santa Claus. It is about the greatest gift ever given to the world by God Himself. The gift of a tiny baby, God in human form, came to earth to love and serve mankind and to show us the way to salvation (having peace with God). He came, knowing the end He would face. Rejection, humiliation, persecution and great suffering. He did it because He loves you (and me) and all of mankind.
In Him we find the gift of forgiveness, love and eternity in Heaven.
THE GIFT
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16
The final sacrifice, the perfect Lamb of God
THE PROPHESY
The angel went to her (Mary) and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
~ Luke 1:28-38
THE BIRTH OF JESUS
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
~ Luke 2:7-14
I hope you'll take time out during this busy time of year to reflect on the importance of the real reason we celebrate this holiday and give thanks to God for His unspeakable Gift!
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Blessings~ Birgit
Ok, ok... this is my last post of the day for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. I just couldn't help myself! I was looking at all the cute cards that everyone is creating and this idea popped into my head and I just had to make it while the ideas were fresh.
Sorry for the poor image quality. I scanned it instead of taking a picture because it's so dark outside and no good natural lighting. I though scanning it would be better, but I can see I was wrong. Oh well, it still counts for the blog hop! I used a menagerie of stamp sets to create this, including some companies that are now sadly out of business.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
I made this card for the last Coffee Lovers Blog Hop but never got it linked up so I thought I'd post it here, even though it is really a "Holiday" blog hop.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
I do love me a nice hot cup of peppermint mocha coffee. Actually a couple, or maybe three... but who's counting? The Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is going on right now and you should see the list of sponsors! Here's a card I made that would be perfect for the hop.
I used all PTI products to create this, except the pine sprig punch is from Martha Stewart. I added a little extra sugar on my peppermint sticks for sparkle!
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
Today's card was made using the color palette from MFT's Color Palette Challenge and also the Sweet Sunday Sketch.
Sorry for the bad lighting in the photo. It's a dark and stormy day here in Maine. A good day to be inside in the craft room, but a bad day for taking pictures.
Have a great day! Blessings~ Birgit
It's the BIG Day for the Make It Monday Challenge! Betsy had a great tutorial for creating a tri-fold tab closure card and you can check out her video on Nicole's Blog.
I spent way too much time working on this card but in the end, I'm okay with the results. Not thrilled, but okay.
I should have watched the video again today (Wednesday) before tackling this project. I watched it once on Monday and thought, "I can do that!" Have you ever thought that and then realized there were a lot of little details that you missed and wished you hadn't been so self confident? Yeah, that was me this morning when I was working on this card. My first mistake was that I cut my paper 4 1/4" x 11 and realized after I had scored it, my flaps didn't even come together in the middle so I had to add an extra panel on the bottom flap to make up the difference.
Then I didn't adhere my printed paper to the bottom flap first before cutting my slot for the flap to fit in. As you can see in the photo, I sort of butchered it. It just wasn't my day for crafting.
Those two, among other issues that I won't go into, are things that I could have avoided had I watched Betsy's video again before attempting this. I'm certainly not a paper master, like Betsy!
Supplies Used:
Doodlie-Do
Exploring the 1940's
Birthday Basics
Time for you to join in on the fun! Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
Happy morning to you all! I'm thrilled to post today as a guest designer for The Color Throwdown Challenge Blog. This project from a couple of weeks ago was randomly chosen, so I have the pleasure of joining this talented group of ladies in this weeks challenge using these fabo-fun colors!
So retro and vintage-y!
I couldn't stop playing with the colors so you don't get just one card today, you get three!
My first card uses my favorite bold Poinsettia die set from MFT as well as the Spellbinders Poinsettia die. I stamped the Typewriter Text Background from MFT onto my back panel and then covered it with a Hexagon Cover Plate from PTI. The Postage Stamp Stax was lightly inked while still in the die to give that cool white frame around the edge. The sentiment is from MFT, as is the small snowflake from the Cozy Mittens set, stamped in my lightest color in the background. The poinsettia stands out beautifully and is finished off with some light pink Candy Shoppe Jellies from Queen & Co.
This next card uses MFT's Cozy Mittens set and Nordic Knits to create an interactive shaker card. My first shaker card ever!! I struggled with how much shaker material to add and added just a pinch more than necessary. Oh well, lesson learned, "Less is More" when it comes to shaker cards. I also used Blueprints #20, Spellbinders Scalloped Squares and Spellbinders Poinsettia. The sentiment is pieced together using Phrase Play #9 and Two Feet Deep from PTI.
My last card uses a printable post card image found on etsy. I thought the colors went perfectly with the challenge colors and it has a vintage look as well, so I couldn't resist making just one more card!
I sprayed the white panel with some white shimmer spray but it's hard to see in the picture. It glimmers and shines in real life.
I added a small poinsettia from Spellbinders, which I inked with Tattered Rose Distress Ink and sprayed with more shimmer mist. It sits on top if a mini Delicate Doily from MFT. The sentiment is from Painted Poinsettias from PTI. The card was made using last weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch, which I never got posted to the linky.
So that's it for my cards today as guest designer for Color Throwdown. I hope you'll join in on the fun and make a card using their sweet colors.
I'm entering one or more cards into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday
It's been a real pleasure to join Barbara and the wonderfully talented Color Throwdown team.
Thanks so much for visiting! Blessings~ Birgit
I created these three vintage Christmas tags using images I found in my box of vintage and antique ephemera. I used the same design for all three tags but they're all different because of the shape the images were already cut into. I'm not even sure where the images came from (some auction) but it didn't take long for inspiration to hit since I am in need of lots of Christmas tags this year.
Here's a closer image of each of the individual tags.
If you're a regular visitor of my blog, the design of the tag will look familiar as I made THIS TAG FOUND HERE using a Crafty Secrets image.
I'm entering these tags into the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge,
Word Art Wednesday Challenge,
Simon Says Monday Challenge,
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge.
Thanks so much for looking! Enjoy the blessings of this Christmas season! ~ Birgit
The Paper Players is having a fun
Tic-Tac-Toe challenge
As you can see from my card, I went with the three across the top, tree, transport and white to make my card. Hope you like it!
I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Monday Challenge,
Whimsy Stamps Challenge,
and the Word Art Wednesday Challenge. Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
Good Wednesday morning to you! Today's card is going into the challenges over at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, Word Art Wednesday and Simon Says Monday challenge. So birds and words are my theme!
The sweet Chickadee image is from Sweet N' Sassy Stamps. They have so many lovely bird images. If you like birds like I do, you must check them out! I added a little white detail to the chickadee using a white gel pen and added the little holly leaves from Boutique Borders Christmas Stamp Set from PTI, to the image as well. The sentiment is from the same Boutique Borders set.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings to you for a joyful Christmas season! ~ Birgit
Good morning paper loving friends! There's a new challenge up at the Curtain Call challenge blog using this lovely image for inspiration:
So pretty! Right?
The CLASSroom is also having a 12 Tags of Christmas "with a feminine touch" that I'm really enjoying!
So in light of both challenges, I made a card / tag using the colors from the Curtain Call challenge. Here's my project:
When I first saw the inspiration photo from Curtain Call, I immediately thought of trying to fill a mason jar image with Christmas baubles. I used various circle shapes with patterns on them and embossed them using silver and sparkly blue embossing powders. I then covered it with a clear acetate die cut image of the mason jar to give make it look like the balls were inside the jar.
I was totally inspired by Jennifer McGuire's tag that had a flip open card to add a message in. I also really enjoyed the design of her tag so that part is completely CASED.
I used various sets from PaperTrey Ink, Simon Says Stamp and Just Rite Stamps.
I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Monday Challenge.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit
Hello and Happy December! Christmas is almost upon us and I've been busy, busy working up some fun Crafty Secrets projects for the December Linky Party.
I'll start off with my tutorial on creating a little desk calendar that I made using Crafty Secrets FREE 2015 printable calendar found HERE. There are two styles to choose from. I used the white version and printed it onto my own parchment paper to save on ink.
Let's begin! I used Smokey Shadow cardstock, which I referred to in my tutorial as "Black" for the sake of easy typing. I also printed off some design paper from Crafty Secrets Digital Kitchen Memories.
When folded flat, it will fit right into a regular A-2 envelope. This is a perfect little gift idea for a teacher, hair dresser or for someone's computer desk.
My next projects are just projects, no tutorial.
This is a little frame that I switch out seasonally. For winter, I used one of the images from Christmas Creative Scraps and made this sweet home decor piece.
Is this little winter sweetie cute, or what?
Next up is a sweet little gift tag that I can tie onto a gift bag.
The next is a little treat bag, just waiting to be filled with holiday sweets!
And finally, my last card uses the new Vintage Santa images that Sandy just released.
The sentiment is also from CS.
Now it's your turn to join in on the Crafty Secrets December Linky Party Visit each of the design team blogs listed below. Then create a NEW project of your choice featuring Crafty Secrets product and link it up to the Crafty Secrets Blog no later than 11:59PT Sunday, December 7th. You do not need to follow this month's theme to play along. If you do not have any Crafty Secrets goodies, check the FREE PRINTABLES located in the sidebar of the Crafty Secrets blog. One lucky player will be randomly selected to win a $40 Gift Certificate to Crafty Secrets. Each player who participates will receive a FREE gift. Thanks for playing along and good luck!
CRAFTY SECRETS DESIGN TEAM
Kathy Clement, DT Leader
Darlene Pavlick
Diane Hover
Elizabeth Lincoln
Gloria Stengel
Melody Clement
Michele Kovack
Shantaie Fowler
Sheila Rumney
I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Monday Challenge.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Blessings~ Birgit
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