My Christmas Cards

I have had these done for a few weeks. I will be making a lot of Christmas presents that are card sets so I wanted to get these out of the way. I love this Anna Griffin paper. Mid century modern. I want a pink Christmas tree! I lined all the envelopes using different prints from the card. It is so easy and it really make the card look finished. I used a Close to My Heart rubber stamp for the tree. I antiqued the oval and the background paper. I used the Marvy Giga Punch for the scalloped oval and I cut the oval with the Creative Memories oval cutting set. The star is a red metallic brad. I also used red organdy ribbon. I am decorating this year with my usual red and lime green but I am adding some bright pink ornaments, too! I put my Dickens Village up today and I have collected so many house and things that I cannot fit two of the houses on the display :-) I guess I will stop collecting until I get a bigger display. For now I am collecting stamps(He-he). I will try to post the gifts I am making soon. I am using PSX monogram stamps which are really hard to find now that they are OOB. I am also using a cute tin to put them in that I will decorate to match.

Thanksgiving Cards

These are made with stamps from Close to my Heart Rubber Stamps and Clear Stamps Bible Verses I bought at Hobby Lobby. The paper is from a Fall Stack Pad of paper. The greeting inside is Thanksgiving Blessings.

My Attempt at a Tri-fold Card

I will try to explain the process as best I can. First you need a sheet of double-sided card stock. This paper is by Fiskars. It was in my overflow stash of paper. It is not really the kind of paper I use in scrapbooking so I thought I would never use it but it is perfect for this card. First I cut the paper to 11 x 5 1/2". I think it would be better if you try cutting it just a little longer, maybe 11 1/4". I think I will try that next time so the right edge will have a little more room for the punch. Score and fold the paper at 3 1/2" and 7".



Center the circle cutting tool about a 1/2" down from the top edge of the center section of the card and cut. I use Creative Memories cutting system. You can make the circles almost any size. Then cut the same size or slightly larger size circle from white cardstock.



Stamp the image on this piece. Also cut a scalloped circle from the Marvy Giga punch. Cut the same size circle as your window in the very center of the scalloped circle. This is hard to get it right in the center. Am I the only cardmaker that has to stamp or punch extra pieces to get it right???



Use a slit punch to cut the flap that holds the card closed. You will have to eyeball it. Practice on a plain sheet of folded paper. I used the Basic Grey tool but it is hard to use. The Stampin' Up slit punch is much easier. I have one on order. Cannot wait to get it. The rounded edge of the slit has to overlap the left side of the folded card to keep it closed. Now punch a hole in the middle of the slit. Not too close to the edge.



Next time I am going to try a large eyelet (1/4" from Memory Makers) instead of punching the hole so it will be stronger. Glue the stamped image behind the window and the scalloped circle so it frames the window.



Add you greeting as desired. Close the card and tie a ribbon around the card. You may want to tie a bow so it can be more easily opened.



I like this card but it is time-consuming.

Our Trip to Ecuador!

My dear husband and I went on a mission trip to Ecuador in July. We went to our international missionaries annual conference and did a VBS for the kids. We went down there a day early so we could get acclimated. Quito is about 9500 feet above sea level so the air is thinner! Our friend Julie told us that it took months for her to be able to sing and get deep breathes so I don't know if one day made much of a difference. Really the main difference for me was that I could only sleep for a few hours at a time and then I would need to breathe deeply for a while. When we got home I slept for a week it seemed like. This is the view from our hotel. It was beautiful. This was taken in the morning from the top floor of Hotel Quito.



The first day our missionary friends took us to lunch in Mariscal at Red Hot Chili Peppers. I think it was the best restaurant that we went to the entire trip. It was definitely the best guacamole I ever had. Next we went to the Indian Market. Great for good buys. I bought a beautiful piece of handmade copper and gemstone jewelry. They had t-shirts, jewelry, pottery, purses, and many other handcrafted items. They sell fresh fruit and flowers on the streets for $1.00. The flowers were amazing. These lilies were everywhere in our hotel as well as roses.



The next day after we set up our rooms we went to Mitad del Mundo. This is a monument on the Equator. Lat/Long 0 degrees. The monument is actually a museum that showcases the many different people of Ecuador. Here is my dear hubby in front of the monument.



There are a lot of shops at the Equator and we bought several things for souvenirs there at good prices.



There is a shop that sells silver that I did not go to but my friend bought a necklace and a sterling silver Ecuador charm there for a really good deal. So check these shops out if you go. It is not like in the US where the shops near historical places are really high! There are some high prices but if you are careful you can get a good deal here.



The traffic is wild here. Taxis are reasonable and everywhere it seems. Don't try to find one at rush hour though. The drivers are very nice, in fact, the people are very nice and have wonderful manners.



This is a view near the Pool at our hotel. We only swan a couple of times because at night it is much cooler there. We loved eating outside at the hotel. They had really great fruit and juices. The guava and pineapple juice were great. You are not as hungry there it seems. I think it has to do with the altitude. We had pizza from Dominoes one night. It was good but not the same as we are used to.



These are the wonderful kids we got to teach at our VBS. We had eight teachers on our team. Our VBS was a sports theme and it was amazing how much more important soccer is in South America.



The kids were all really sweet and had a really great bond between them all like a close family. We were nervous the first day of how things would go and by the last day we were disappointed we had to leave them. If you have a chance to go on a mission trip that you feel like God has called you to go on - DO IT! It is hard to leave your family for even a week but it will be worth it to be part of reaching the world.

More Cards Today!

I have been working on cards this week. Here are a few of the sets I made. The first set is using Bold Butterfly. This is one of my favorite Stampin Up! sets. I used Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Certainly Celery. The words are from different stamp sets. I orgainze my stamps by keeping all the words/expressions together so I can make cards for every occasion in each set. I did use a small flower from my Papertreyink.com Little Lady set. I added larger eyelets and sheer lavender dotted ribbon from Hobby Lobby (on sale, of course). I lined the back of the inside of the card with white because the cardstock was either dark or textured.



The next card is using Polka-dot Posies set by Stampin' Up. I love dots. This green paper is by Creative Memories and comes in orange and purple, too. The solid paper is also Creative Memories. Ink is by Colorbox. I added some orange dotted ribbon and also lined the inside in white. I love this stamp set so I would love to see your ideas for more cards posted below.



This next card is made with the Defintiely Decorative Daisy set by SU! By this time you may have figured out that I like to make larger cards as well as use larger stamps. Paper is Creative Memories. I added some pink and white ribbon to the pink card and orange to the other two color variations. I also used small brads or eyelets.



My last card is one of my first attempts at using Watercolor Pencils. My son Daniel bought me a set for Mother's Day. I used a Butterfly stamp by Stampendous. It reminds me of frilly nylon nightgowns I had when I was young :-) I added some swirls by Autumn Leaves and the word stamps are SU! Paper is Creative Memories. I have wasted a lot of white paper learning to line up the stamps but I am getting better at it. Don't give up if you are new to stamping, it will finally come together!

Don't You Love Pearls!

This is my latest jewelry creation. I love pearls. These are freshwater white and gray pearls accented with sterling silver and gray czech glass beads. The three large focal beads are jasper. The jasper is a white/peach/gray with rust colored veins. The matching earrings were made with coin pearls as the focal point.

My New Obsession - Card Making

Here is one of my first cards. I have been scrapbooking for a while but just recently started adding stamped images to some of my layouts. Now I have to start doing cards so I can stamp more!



This card is made with Papertreyink.com and Autumn Leaves Stamps. The print paper is Basic Grey. The solid paper is Bazzill. I also added some bargain ribbon from Michaels.



This next card is made with solid Creative Memories paper and some paper from those paper stacks. I used light blue ink make some coordinating paper with blueberries on navy. That is one thing I love about stamping. You can make your own print papers. The stamps are Stampin Up! I also added a little white ribbon trim. I like making the larger cards but you have to remember to put extra postage on them.