I was out of appropriate thank you notes for the holiday, and found a group of Waltzing Mouse images I had stamped several years ago when I got together with friends to share stamps. All the images had small ornament hangers on them which I snipped off. All of them were attached to 4-bar note cards from Paper Source. The deer needed just a sentiment–this one from the Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Thank You. I made two each of these:

I had just one of the ornaments and I tied a silver bow on the top. It still needed more, and I found a red circle and a Papertrey Ink doily die in my stash. They were added to a dark blue card, and I decided it didn't need a sentiment. 

Perfectly CAS, quick and easy. Now to get the notes written and the cards in the mail! 

Hard to believe Christmas is just four days away. I'll be back on Christmas with the Woodblock Wednesday card as Christmas is the last Wednesday of the month. 

The days are flying by so quickly, I didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted. In the last four days, however, I've gone from almost no shopping done to being finished with the shopping. Tracy always helps with wrapping, and we've got plenty of time for that. All my Christmas cards are finally finished (as of yesterday!), but only the ones going to international addresses have been mailed. My goal is to have them all in the mail by Saturday. 

In 2023 I made 10 Christmas cards each month, so by the time November rolled around I was all set. There was so much traveling this year, it didn't happen. I have multiples of several designs, but lots of single designs which makes it much harder to get finished. This card was one I created before we left for Wisconsin in November, and assembled while we were there.

Gina K's Tapestry Embossing Folder is one of my favorites, and I thought it made a festive background for the beautiful sentiment from The Greetery, Scripted Holiday Greetings. The sentiments are so beautiful, I couldn't resist it! The red, green, and gold are such a traditional color combo, but work well here. The gold border doesn't look quite even, but it's as much the photography as than the card. I have to say, taking photos of cards this season has been a trial. 

Red, Green, and Gold are the colors for the Colorful Options Challenge which I haven't entered in a long time. The card also fits the Time Out Festive Challenge. As luck would have it, the challenge is sponsored by Gina K Designs.

We got our first significant snow last night, so it's beginning to look like Christmas outside. Inside it's looked like Christmas since the weekend. I was seriously behind there due to a nasty cold that found me on Thanksgiving. Fortunately, that has gone its way. I just love the lights from the Christmas tree and the mantle. There are lights around the window over our sink in the kitchen, and Tracy has a tree lit with colored lights on the patio table, as well as white lights all around the wrought iron railing that surrounds the patio. We can see it from the kitchen, dining room, and from one window in the living room. It's so festive, and I'm now definitely in the holiday spirit.

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday and a week from today is my brother's birthday. I almost always do duplicate (or almost) cards for them. When Simon Says hosted it's STAMPtember event where they offer exclusive designs from major stamp companies, I caved only once. As soon as I saw the Gina K Stay Cozy set, I knew it would be perfect for masculine cards. 

Since these are winter birthdays, I decided on an ink blended background splattered with white for snow. The Gina K Master Layout #5 was the perfect window for the scene.

I die cut the window frame with the larger die in Gina K's Master Layout #1 (one of the most used dies in my collection) and adding some foam tape for dimension. The sentiment came from Honey Bee's Stay Still set of sentiments. 

There are several NBUS items used on this card. The Gina K Stay Cozy, the Gina K Master Layout #5, as well the Pinkfresh Studio 1" blending brushes which I received as part of the August Create and Connect event. I've had the Master Layout #5 for a couple of years, and why I haven't used those brushes before is beyond me! They are fabulous, and I just ordered three more during Simon Says Black Friday sale. 

As luck would have it, this card fits three challenges: The Paper Players: Be A Deer, Shopping Our Stash: Masculine, and Seize the Birthday: Masculine. I'll also send these off to Darnell's NBUS challenge. 

This post was made possible by the kindness and generosity of a fellow blogger–Darnell. When I commented on the beautiful papers she had used to create some lovely Christmas cards featuring an ornament, she sent me an envelope full of patterned paper pieces. What a surprise it was to come home from Wisconsin, and the very next day find this gift in my mailbox! Then I wondered if I had an ornament die that would work. Yes, thanks to the NBUS box, there was a Nordic Ornament die from Spellbinders. Thankfully, it included a solid ornament shape without all the intricate die cuts for the Nordic pattern.

I've created eight cards–all the same design, with a variety of the patterned papers, and card bases to match. All the cards have a premade sentiment from Memory Box's Open Studio line–Greeting Tabs. Last year I found "Merry Christmas" tabs, but was unable to find those this year. These have a variety of sentiments–Happy Holidays, Merry & Bright, and Warm Wishes. Each come in three different fonts. I added a strip of dimensional tape to each, but wish I hadn't as they would have been much easier to mail without it. Hindsight is almost always better!

Addicted to CAS has the perfect challenge that opened up just I started to create these cards: Ornaments. I'm also sending them off to AAA Cards: Anything CAS, Optional Christmas/Winter, and to Darnell's NUBUS.