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Warm Wishes

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The stamped images for this card have been lying on my desk since before Christmas. I realized sometime in December that I owned no snowmen stamps and ordered a couple sets from My Favorite Things during a sale. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these cute snowmen and MFT provided not one, but two, challenges that fit this card. First, the MFT Birthday Challenge which is Winter Wonderland, and the MFT Outside the Box Challenge: Winter Scenes. Everything I used for this card also goes to the NBUS Challenge.

I've been immersed in a Sketchbook Design course with Liz Steel. Her courses are always loaded with content, and this has been no exception. But I've started a new sketchbook, and have a few pages started. I've found all my fountain pens, and although I thought I had them all working again, I've discovered that most of them are going to require a thorough cleaning before I can count on them. All that to say, stamping and card making has taken a backseat in my schedule.

It's not often that a card comes out just the way I imagined it, but this one comes pretty close.

WarmWishes

I constructed the box with Spring Rain cardstock. I don't own the Outside the Box snow drift dies, but created my own with the Ellen Hutson "Landscapes" die. When I purchased those, I thought they might work for a variety of cards and so far, they've been great. I used some Distress Oxide ink to create a bit of blue sky on the back side of the box.

WarmWishesTilted

All the stamped images were colored with Copic markers and then die cut. Before adding them to the snow drifts, I added the stitched panel with the sentiment (also from the "Toasty Greetings" set). 

WarmWishesClosed

Here you can see that the card folds so that it fits into an A2 envelope. You can also see the stitched side panels. I'm off to link up with these challenges:

Birthdayproject

OutsidetheBoxChallenge_BlogHeader

NBUS

 

Just Us Girls: Trend Week

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I had every intention of joining Just Us Girls last week where the challenge was "Hello," but the weekly challenges frequently get away from me. This week's challenge is to Use a Stencil.

JUGS

It definitely is a trending technique, and I'm glad to be joining in this week with a card that also uses a large HELLO sentiment.

HelloStencil

I love Altenew's "Flowing Drops" stencil and used Distress Oxides inks to create the blue/green background. I trimmed the sides enough so the Hawaiian Shores card base would create a narrow border. 

HelloStencilFlat

The sentiment is from The Stamp Market's "Paper Hugs" set. I die cut it with white and layered it on the shadow die cut with Hawaiian Shores, and popped it up with some dimensional tape.

I'm also entering this in the Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge. I just recently happened up the Happy Little Stampers who seem to have monthly challenges for a variety of techniques/products. I'm much more likely to be on time with monthly challenges! 

HLS Stencils

 

Time Out Challenge

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Time Out has more than one meaning this afternoon after the assault on the Capitol yesterday. The horrific event will be haunting us for months (and years), and there are many, many questions that need to be answered. Although I do try to stay away from discussing political events on this blog, but this can't be ignored. I'm not one that watches television during the day, so I actually discovered what was happening in Washington when an international blogging friend emailed me to be sure we were safe—knowing that we were miles away. As it turns out there were demonstrations in other cities, but fortunately, not here.

But the Time Out I'm referring to is a card challenge:

Time Out Challenge 178

Last night after the Congress was able to resume and as I was listening to their discussions of the objections to the Electoral College votes, I decided I needed to find something to do at the same time. This My Favorite Things "City Block Background" had already been stamped, and I decided to do some spotlight coloring. Needing a masculine birthday card, I thought this might be a fun, albeit a bit unusual, one.

HBCityscape

I picked just a few of the buildings in the center of the panel to color with Copic markers.  After finishing the coloring, I used one of Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles" to die cut the panel, and added it to a very thin border of Honey Nut cardstock. The brown card base is one I've had in my stash for years.

HBCityScapeClose

Trying to decide on a sentiment was the next problem. I have a box of pre-stamped and die cut sentiments, and found that this one, "Penned Elegance" by Papertrey Ink, worked quite well.

HBCityscapeFlat

I backed the sentiment with thin strips of dimensional tape to lift it up and give it some space from the black and white background. I ended up making a second version (nearly identical) this morning. I think the card's charming, and I hope my buddies do too. 

Just a note: some photos haven't been showing recently. According to Typepad, it's an error on their end and should repair itself with time. If not, I'll be sending them a message and they will retrieve it. So annoying.

The Flower Challenge: Embossing

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TFChallenge#52

I'll bet I'm not alone when I say that watching my friend heat emboss a sentiment on a card over 25 years ago was the impetus to hop in the car and go to the local stamp store to buy some supplies. I still have a couple of the wooden stamps I bought that day, and just replaced my heat gun in May when a friend gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. It's been a favorite technique ever since so The Flower Challenge had me looking through the cards I hadn't posted. This card which has already been received by my friend (so can now be shared) has both heat embossing in gold, and dry embossing along the bottom portion of the card.

PinkMagnolias

The beautiful magnolias are from Altenew's "Magnolias for You" set. I embossed them in gold on Bristol and watercolored them with the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set. 

PinkMagnoliasClose

I had to fussy cut the flowers and leaves since I don't own the dies, and then arranged them at the top of the white panel. The sentiment, also gold embossed, is from The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite: Birthday" set which gets a lot of use. I decided the card was just too CAS (is that possible?), so added three lines of dry embossing with my stylus on the bottom portion. That was added that to a top folded card in Lovely Lady (PTI.)

I'm in the midst of trying to keep up with two online classes, so crafting time has been at a premium. Today's personal challenge is to get two masculine birthday cards created.

One Little Word for 2021

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This is the 11th year I've chosen a word to guide my intentions for the year. Most of them have served me well–some better than others. This year nothing came quickly to mind, but before I went hunting for a word (which I've needed to do occasionally in the past), EXPLORE popped out at me, and I knew immediately it was the word for me this year.

Explore

Exploration is curiosity put into action. Don Walsh

This quote pretty well defines what I'm hoping for by choosing this word. Let's hope by the end of 2021, the first definition in the dictionary also holds true:

1. travel in or through (an unfamiliar country or area) to learn about or familiarize oneself with it.

There are so many things (and places) I want to explore. Some of the things I want to explore from home are prayer practices, new card making techniques, journal writing, sketching and sketchbook design, photography (more intentional, using my Canon and Sony cameras as well as my iPhone), and writing a Rule of Life. The books I chose for the photograph above cover some of those topics. Missing from the pile is The Adventures of Seeing which I loaned to a church friend over a year ago. I've have sent an email to see if I can retrieve it to use for a potential photography project. Heart Talk and Life's Companion are for exploring more intentional and meaningful journaling, and Note to Self is about writing a Rule of Life. I've also found information about that on Tsh Oxenreider's site. An Illustrated Life has been on my shelf (and perused) for several years. That and Liz Steel's new class "Sketchbook Design" will help me explore sketching again. The book on the bottom is a new journal I've invested in that provides a two-page spread for organizing your day, writing your morning and evening gratitudes and summarizing the day. At the end of each week, there's a reflection page that includes a habit tracker. I've been looking for several years for the "perfect" journal. This may not be it, but it's the closest I've found. The drawback is that it's a three month journal and costs more than most year-long ones. If it works, it will be worth it to me. By the end of March I should have a good idea. 

My biggest take-away from last year's OLW, COMMIT, was that setting monthly intentions from a broader list worked much better for me. Eventually I got to more of the items on my lists than I had in the past, Each month will include a reading goal, an organizational/purging goal, and a group of habits to track. For January, it's 1) establish a morning routine of reading (firmly in place,) journaling, and meditation/prayer; 2) complete four books including one from The Unread Shelf Project–a project from 2020 that I'm continuing; 3) begin a weekly sketchbook page reflecting joys and gratitude, and 4) begin to work my way through my stamp/die collection, actually using them before deciding which ones to keep and which ones to give away or donate. I'm guessing that February's goals will look much the same with different books, perhaps a change in habits to track, and once the sketchbook class has ended, a new creative goal. I'm feeling pretty flexible and willing to change things up until they feel right. 

So here's to 2021. I'm guessing the next few months will be difficult ones. Observing safety routines will be more important than ever as others get frustrated and give up on the isolation requirements. A vaccine for folks my age may be available by March, and I hope that's not an overly optimistic prediction. And I'm hoping my OLW project will help keep me entertained and busy here at home!

Color Hues #9

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Happy New Year and Welcome 2021! I imagine most of us are more than happy to put 2020 behind us, and hoping for a much better year ahead despite knowing that we still have some dark days ahead. For me, crafting has been the one way I can put aside all the fears and anxieties of the times for a few hours. I hope it does the same for you.  And the Color Hues Challenge is here to help. I love this round's color choices:

Color Hues #9

I'm a fan of Laura Bassen's graphic cards, and when she designed and released some graphic dies for Simon Says this winter, I picked up the "Geometric Builders: Squares." Putting the squares together is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. It's not something I do quickly, but I enjoyed the challenge. And I have a lot of pieces left to play with to make one or more additional cards.

Red:Gray

I used three shade of gray from Simon Says: Fog, Smoke, and Slate, and my favorite red from Papertrey Ink: Pure Poppy. I love the clean and simple design of the card, and think it will make a great masculine birthday greeting.

Red:GrayClose

The sentiment from The Stamp Market, "Tons of Type," was embossed in white on black cardstock, and bumped up with some dimensional tape.

Red:GrayFlat

You may well see a similar design in a future Color Hues Challenge as this set is perfect for a two color challenge. Now check what our Design Team and Guest Designer have for you at the Color Hues Challenge.

Marcia, Guest Designer

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Pull out some reds and grays, and join in the fun! I'll be back tomorrow to share my One Little Word for 2021.

 

Happy Birthday, Caleb and Hannah!

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Caleb turns nine today, and Hannah is four! We've only missed one birthday party prior to this year. But that was in 2019 when we went to Disney World with them in January and the spent another week or so in Wisconsin with them afterward. Nonetheless, here we are in New York, and there they are in Wisconsin. The blessing is that we'll have a FaceTime or Zoom visit and get to watch them open their presents and blow out the candles on their cake. 

I sent two gifts ahead of time, but one "big" gift is actually enclosed in their birthday cards. Because the cards needed extra postage and couldn't go through the machines, it took a long time for them to get there. Fortunately, they finally arrived on Monday.

Here are the birthday cards I sent. I wondered if the design was too "young" for Caleb until earlier this week when I saw that Laura Bassen had created one for her 17 year old daughter!

CalebHannahBD

As you can see, both cards have the same ingredients: My Favorite Things, "Better Together" stamps and dies; My Favorite Things, "Carpool" die; Ellen Hutson "Landscape;" Simon Says "Sentiment Labels" and "Tiny Words;" and My Favorite Things "Bitty Birthday Wishes" and cloud stencil.

Caleb

It took awhile to die cut all the pieces, stencil the skies, and color the cute critters with Copic markers, but it was an easy card to assemble once all the pieces were ready.

Hannah'sBD

I love the pink car, and I chose a couple different critters for this car pool.

Inside each card is a slider tag. I just recently added this die to my collection of interactive dies, and it worked perfectly. It's quite a bit smaller than the dies for the slider cards I made for the three little girls for Christmas. 

BDGiftTags

I covered the tag with two different patterned papers. Caleb's came from My Favorite Things "Birthday Brights" paper pad; Hannah's was a loose sheet stuck among the 6X6 paper pads so I'm not sure where it came from. I used 3-D stickers I found in my stash to decorate them. 

CalebGiftTag

Caleb's slides up to reveal a second year of "Grandma's Book Club." Last year Sarah and I tried to find an online book club that would meet his needs. The clubs were all quite expensive, none had enough choice, and the shipping costs were high. I finally decided to create my own, and it worked great. At the end of each month, I talk to Caleb and he tells me what book(s) he's interested in, and I have them sent to him. "For the Love of Books" was an Ali Edward digital product I had in my files.

HannahGiftTag

Hannah's also reveals a monthly birthday gift–a subscription to a Kiwi kit. When I'm in Wisconsin we almost always work on the kit together. They're very imaginative, and Hannah really enjoys the activities. There are always three or four projects and a booklet to extend the theme. I downloaded the image from the Kiwi site.

I'm going to pop these into the Simon Says Monday Challenge which is, appropriately, "Celebrate!"

 

 

The Last Christmas Card Share

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I always run out of time around the holiday to get cards photographed, uploaded, and blogged. This year was no exception in spite of the fact that I had a lot less to do! Christmas Day was lovely, and we've now had a couple of pretty low key days at home. I haven't had my usual energy or motivation to work in the craft room. I'm hoping to get my mojo back this week! I did, however, get a few more of the Christmas cards I made ready to post, and thought I'd share them now that most (hopefully, all) have received their cards. 

I'll start with one of my favorites. I only made one of these. It's a bit more time intensive, but this year I'm hoping to get Christmas cards made throughout the year, so if I come up with a card like this, I'll have the leisure to make several of them.

PineBough

I embossed Pinkfresh Studio's "Winterberry Background" in white, and then ink blended over it.  All the die cuts are from The Greetery: "Botani Cuts: Pine Bough" and "Fit to Be Tied."

PineBoughClose

I added a bit of glitter to the tops of the pinecones and the evergreen boughs and some details to the pinecones with colored pencils.

PineBoughFlat

The sentiment from Simon Says "Holiday Greeting Mix 1" was embossed in silver on the same Enchanted Evening (PTI) paper as the card base.

The next card comes from a Papertrey Ink set I've had for awhile called "Santa's Sleigh." It has two main images, and I posted a card-here- with one of those images earlier as part of a daily coloring challenge. The second image is so different, and I love both cards. Again, I made only one of these, but I'm likely to replicate this one again for next year.

ChristmasDeer

I colored the image with Copic markers, die cut it with a circle die and used two slightly larger circles to die cut a red and then a gold circle to frame it. The circles are from Ellen Hutson's "Essential Circles" dies. 

ChristmasDeerFlat

The gold embossed  sentiment is from an even older Papertrey Ink set, "Signature Christmas." One of my favorite sentiments from that set disappeared somewhere during this year's crafting marathon, and I'm sad that the set is no longer available. There are still a few Christmas challenges out there, so I'll be entering this in the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge: Christmassy.

This card was one of the last ones I made. On the first few I used Nuvo drops for the berries but on the last set I changed to small red pearls from AMuse. Had the other cards not already gone in the mail, I might have tried to change to the pearls which I like much better.

Joy

One of the very satisfying parts of crafting this season was having time to pull out stamps I hadn't used in awhile, or had never used. This is one I've used in the past, but a very different design. The "Winter Wreath" is by Avery Elle.

JoyClose

You can almost see the beautiful sheen to the red metallic paper used to die cut the "JOY" by Savvy. This is a die I've had for years, and I think I pull it out every holiday.

JoyFlat

The small sentiment is from WPlus9's "Hand Lettered Holiday."

The next card is one of the most unusual ones I've made. I came across a piece of patterned paper in a Pinkfresh Studio pack as I was looking for something else. I immediately thought of the Papertrey Ink "Warmest Wishes" set and the adorable polar bear with the wonderful sweater. I was pretty sure I could use the patterned paper as a background.

WarmestWishes

The colors were determined by the patterned paper, and this turned out to be a very quick card to make. I would have made several had I had more paper! I'm throwing this in the AAA Cards: Made in Minutes/Optional Christmas Challenge.

WarmestWishesFlat

It's almost impossible to see in either photograph, but I added some Glitter Glue to the tops of the mountains. I die cut the panel with a "Stitched Rectangle" from Simon Says, and attached the bear with some dimensional tape. The sentiment is from the "Warm Wishes" set.

Finally a card I made this year with a set I purchased last year for this very image! I used Simon Says' "Holiday Greeting Mix 1" set frequently last year, but I never stamped and colored this image which I loved from the moment I saw it. It's another quick image to color.

Merry

I embossed the image in gold on Bristol paper and watercolored it. The gold embossing makes the watercoloring go much more quickly. Here it's easier to see:

MerryClose

All the card needed then was to cut down the image and layer it with red and green papers. I used Concord and 9th's Evergreen and Cranberry papers–the perfect Christmas colors.

Now it's on to January birthdays, replenishing my "Thinking of You" cards, and getting out my thank you notes. 

 

 

 

 

 

An Interactive Christmas

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Merry Christmas!

I know for many of us, this holiday has brought disappointments, and for many, sorrows due to the COVID pandemic. I hope that you've been able to find some joy or hope in the Christmas message today. We're celebrating in a much quieter fashion this year. Inside of a crowd of family members for Christmas dinner, it will be just us and Matt's family. For that, we are truly blessed. We'll FaceTime with Sarah and her family, but we had hoped to be there for Christmas this year.

Grandchildren certainly bring excitement and joy to the holiday. I've long admired the interactive cards I've seen on blogs over the years, and now that my grandchildren are old enough (ages 4-9) to appreciate them, I've started to have a lot of fun creating them. I waited until all the other Christmas cards were in the mail, but in the last week, I've made a slider card for both sets of grandchildren, and interactive cards for three gift card gifts. 

SantaSliderFlat1

This set was released by Simon Says this year, and I held off buying it for awhile, but finally caved when I saw some variations I knew I could use in the future for more adult cards. I pretty much followed the designer's tips in making this card—an ink blended snowy sky, textured snow, and a colorful village scene. I used a Simon Says stencil and Gina K Glitter paste to create the glittery snow–which I think could also be seen as stars. Santa and his sleigh ride across the sky thanks to some "spin and slide" discs by My Favorite Things, and two pennies.

SantaSlider2

I colored the little town with Copic markers and added some Glitter Glue along the eaves and the snow drifts. I'm never quite sure how these cards will be received, but yesterday I gave the three little girls their card, and they all were quite taken with it. Ella, the six year-old, was particularly entranced, not the least of which was due to the fact that she could read the inside greeting ("Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!) by herself. The sentiment came from an older Papertrey Ink set. 

The little girls will be getting Apple gift cards this evening. Because of remote learning this year, they all have iPads. They frequently request additions for some of the apps, which are typically refused. Betsy thought they'd be thrilled to be able to purchase some extensions for the apps. I've used this slider card die a couple of times already, and thought it would be perfect for "hiding" the cards. All the images are from My Favorite Things Jingle All the Way set, and the patterned papers are also from My Favorite Things.

SantaSliders

Santa1

Santa2

Santa3

Off to enjoy the fireplace for a bit before the girls and their parents arrive for early dinner. I'll be back in a day or so with a few more Christmas cards to share before I move on to cards for winter birthday, and thinking of you cards for my single friends who will find it more difficult to get out during the winter.

 

 

 

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

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Regardless of our religious affiliations or political leanings, I think we can all agree that more "peace on earth," and "good will" among men would be a blessing in the coming year. One of my favorite new Christmas dies this year was the Little Town of Bethlehem. I used it to make four different Christmas cards, all for friends of our in our congregation, and one devout Catholic friend. I thought today would be a good day to share them.

BethlehemIB

For this version, I ink blended a sky and used black cardstock for the die. The sentiment is from an old favorite, Papertrey Ink's Signature Christmas.

BethlehemBlue

BethlehemClose

This one used a navy blue shimmer paper from Papertrey Ink which is easier to see in the close-up. For all of the cards, I ink splattered with white ink for the skies. I finally found a process that produces pretty consistent results.

BethlehemBlack

When I ran out of the navy blue shimmer cardstock, I switched to black. I'm on the wait list for both papers to come back in stock.

BethlehemBox1

BethlehemBox2

The last version uses My Favorite Things Outside the Box die and a stencil from Taylored Expressions. I had a scrap of the navy shimmer cardstock just large enough for the sky and banner. I changed the sentiment because the previous one would have been "lost" on the stenciled background and embossed it on a banner from Neat and Tangled. I was pretty sure I'd taken a photo of the card when it was closed, but I think it may still be on a memory card! These were taken with my iPhone. The box does fold flat and fit into an A2 envelope. This card is a CASE of a card posted by one of the Design Team members for My Favorite Things. 

 

In Praise of Snail Mail

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For us, one of the most pleasant surprises of Caleb's homeschool curriculum is a weekly letter writing assignment. He alternates between his four grandparents, and his letters are utterly charming! They require, of course, a card and a note in return. One of the charms of his letters is the way in which he responds to what I write to him. For my most recent note I used a new stamp set (NBUS!) by Concord and 9th called Snail Mail which I purchased with grandchildren in mind. (Must admit, the bulk of my acquisitions in the last few months have been with grandchildren in mind.)

The first card I made was this one.

GreenSnailMail

The colors just didn't seem right for an almost nine year-old boy, so here is #2. I'm much happier with it. But I do have a couple of friends who live alone who will find the green card charming–the young in heart!

RedSnailMail

RedSnailMailFlat

Caleb and I already had a "conversation" about "Happy Mail" so I told him that Snail Mail = Happy Mail! One of the joys of the holiday season is receiving so much Happy Mail in the form of holiday greetings, and letters from friends we haven't seen sometimes in years! 

Of course, whenever a card goes out to Caleb, one needs to go to Hannah as well. The dies in the Snail Mail set include this die which creates an adorable card in just a few minutes!

LoveYouLots

After cutting out the die, all that the card needed with a few score lines for interest behind the die cut, and a sparkly silver inlaid heart with a pink rhinestone. Perfect for a nearly four year-old girl!

LoveULotsFlat

The AAA Card Challenge is still open for their theme "Made in Minutes," so I'll pop this one in the gallery. I'm skipping the optional challenge this time. Also getting this into the NBUS Gallery for December as well. 

 

#180 NBUS

 

 

 

Color Hues #8

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The new Color Hues Challenge is up and running, and it's colors are:

Color Hues Badge #8

Christmas is just nine days away, but I still have a card (or two) to share even though nearly all of them are in the mail now.

BlueGreenWreath

This isn't the card I first imagined nor is it the first card I made for this challenge. From the moment I finished the first card, I knew I was going to do another one. The first one was just too "busy" for my tastes. This one is almost a one layer card and definitely in the CAS camp! The idea for this card came as I was looking through my Christmas stamps for something entirely different. When I came across W+9's "Woodland Wreath," I knew just what I wanted to do. 

BlueGreenWreathClose

The stamp set comes with four different wreaths that can be layered (or not) to create a variety of wreaths. This one used two of the stamps in two different green inks which gives is a depth you wouldn't get with just one stamp or just one ink. Once it was stamped on the blue card base, I wanted to add some ornaments or berries, and was excited to find these beautiful blue pearls in my stash. The next challenge was to decide on how to stamp the sentiment from Altenew's "Holiday Tag Sentiments." Another lucky find in the stash was this glittery blue embossing powder from Simon Says–"Ultra-fine Mermaid Embossing Powder." 

BlueGreenWreathFlat

The final touch was the ribbon bow–a third stash find! I can't remember the last time I used real ribbon on a card, but I love this blue and green ribbon and think it's just perfect.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Guest Designer, Steph, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . .

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

and join in the fun!

Celebrate (With a Bit of Twinkle)

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My brother celebrated a big birthday this week. His card features seven candles, and although I forgot to photograph the inside, it reads "Times 10!"

Celebrate_Dane

I used another of my NBUS dies, and I can't understand why it's taken me so long. There are actually eight candles in the My Favorite Things "Happy Birthday Candles," and you can die cut them on the front of the card and back them with color. Since I only needed seven, I die cut them and colored them with Distress Inks. Then I arranged them on the front of the card, using the negative die cut as a guide to keep them straight and well-spaced. 

Celebrate_DaneClose

The sentiment from Papertrey Ink was die cut with gold mirror cardstock, and the flames from a gold glitter paper. (Not a stamp to be seen on this card!)

Celebrate_DaneFlat

I used my Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangles" to die cut the main panel, and rounded the bottom corners of the card for a bit of interest.

The current challenge at AAA Birthday is "Twinkle" and I think the candles definitely qualify. I'm also linking up with Darnell's NBUS challenge for December. 

#20 NBUS

 

 

Five in Five: Twinkling Lights

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As is often the case, I'm a few days late with my Five in Five post—five photos in five minutes (to be taken on the 5th.) Early Monday morning I was trying to think about what I might do for this meme, hosted by Sandi each month, when I looked up and saw the twinkling lights in our living room. Then I realized we'd added some new twinkling lights this year, and it took less than five minutes to hop up and take these photos with my iPhone. We've had little white lights on our tree for many years now, and purchased the lights for the mantle in Indiana several years ago.

IMG_5618ed

IMG_5621ed

The lights around our kitchen window were added just last year. We never took them down, but rarely turned them on after the holiday. Now we turn them on every morning and again at dinner time.

IMG_5615ed

We've had a little artificial tree on our patio table for several years as well, and for the last two years some lights on the lower fence. This year Tracy added white lights to our new wrought iron railing around the patio. Once we had them all lit, he decided that the white lights on the tree needed to be changed to colored ones. Even though they can't be seen by more than a couple neighbors, we can see them from the kitchen, the dining room, and from one window in the living room.

IMG_5617ed

The outside lights have been around for a few years, and we've had the wreath (one of three) for probably twenty years. The bows have been changed a few times, though. The small trees on the porch have been replaces at least once. One year, one of them disappeared overnight. So strange. 

IMG_5622ed

The twinkling lights add a festive feel to the house which is more needed this year than any before. COVID is taking its toll here, and we're more house-bound than we've been since early spring. That's not likely to change. If predictions hold true we're in for several more months of serious infection before the vaccine will be available widely enough to make a difference. If only the necessary precautions had not become so politicized in the United States, we might find ourselves in a better situation. Here most people seems to wear masks, but I think they're a little less conscientious about social distancing. The big difference seems to be the increase in family gatherings (even before the Thanksgiving holiday) and indoor dining. I do miss going out with friends, but I'm happy to cook at home.

Thanks to Sandi for hosting this most months this year. I always enjoy the challenge.

Modern Christmas Tree

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I have another red, black, and white Christmas card to share for three challenges. First, AAA Cards: Made in Minutes/Optional Christmas. This might be one of the fastest cards I've made this season. Second, The Paper Players where it's a theme challenge: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and finally, the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Fun with Dies.

#180 Pp520 Wednesdayblog-logo

My card is simple, but striking. It was quick enough to make that I made several of them.

SpiralTree

Creating it involved two dies–my favorite Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says and the modern Christmas tree ("Winterland Tree") by Memory Box, and one stamp: "Sentiment Suite: Christmas" by The Greetery.

SpiralTreeFlat

After adhering the die cut to the black panel, I added some favorite red pearls from A Muse and bumped the panel out for a bit of dimension with some black fun foam. The sentiment was embossed in white and die cut with Simon Says "Sentiment Labels." I resisted that purchase until a recent sale, and it was a great purchase. No more cutting these strips with a paper cutter or by hand – perfectly straight the first time!