Gretel Christmas Thankyou!

Another card in the box for a Christmas/thankyou card!  Our neighbors have been so good about caring for our dog, Gretel and wanted to make them a special card!  Christmas tree for the background with presents behind the punch art big dog!!  The punch art dog was a combination of punch art dogs I saw on pinterest.  I used the heart punch for the snout, oval punch for the tongue, paws and ears. The head is the ornament punch and of course, small heart punch for the nose.  It is a simple little dog but so very cute!

Closer view

This is a better picture to show the presents under the tree but behind the pup!  The paper I used was from Authenique and, I think, Bo Bunny.  I have a holly punch from MS and used that on the flaps with "very merry" sentiment.

I have not gotten tired of making these box cards!  Just love making them!  Peppermint and candy cane stickers are from Michael's.  Thanks for looking and Happy 2015 to everyone!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with your friends and family!  and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!  It has been a wonderful season for me with my son home for Christmas this year.  He hasn't been home for Christmas in 4 years so this is special for me and my husband!!  Both my daughter and son will be together this Christmas with us....my Christmas gift!!

Love this angel!

Final Christmas Projects

Gingerbread Houses have all been finished and filled with candy for some co-workers.  I made one earlier and posted the tutorial for the milk carton which is the base of the gingerbread house and then decorated using punches, and more punches.  I found some candy cane and peppermint candy stickers at Michael's. On the roof, I used glitter on the snow.  The side of the house are the windows with wreaths and peppermints on the fence!  So much fun to make and decorate!!

Front & side views!

Years ago I decorated a bunch of paint cans for neighbors and friends for Christmas!  We also did them for a craft night at the office where I worked at the time.    I saw something similar to this in a picture on pinterest and thought I would try decorating one for my boss.  I filled it with homemade Christmas goodies!!  Check out the pictures below on the top of the can and a card for a friend, both are punch art!!  Santa and a singing reindeer!!  Have seen many on different ones on SC and pinterest and all are so adorable!!  Love creating them!

Wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Singing reindeer punch art too!

O Christmas Tree

Love these card in a box cards!  I made one for my hair dresser who loves getting cards from me! His exact words were "holy moly" when he opened it!   Presents under the tree theme for this card!  I used Elizabeth Craft die for the Christmas tree with crystals to decorate. The presents are sizzix dies. On the side flaps are jingle bells in gold paper from Memory box. The paper is graphic 45 and Authenique.  Just love making these cards soooo much fun to make!!  Already thinking of another one for a neighbor who has been so helpful and kind this year!!

Closer look!

Sentiment so appropriate!

Graphic 45!!

2014 Christmas Cards

I had every intention of starting my Christmas cards this fall but the time just flies by and before I knew it, it was the "last minute".  My husband and I went to Florida last week to visit his 96 year old aunt, my sister and some friends.  It was a busy vacation but so much fun!!  The weather was pretty good.  80 degrees the first day at a craft fair and then was high 60's, low 70's which is still fine with me.  We live in Maine and it was 18 degrees here one day that we were away!  In the picture above was the first type of Christmas cards I made with the trees from SU and below is the second type that I made with the ornament dies and stamp set from SU.

Each card I made was different.  I either used different background paper or different dies in the background of the cards.  Sometimes I embossed the background and sometimes I didn't.  Most of the items I used were from SU but I also used Spellbinders dies, and cuttlebug embossing folders.  I made 40 cards this year which is about the amount I make every year.  Love the little pearl in the middle of the ornament!! Check out the 3D ornament below!  Thanks for stopping by!

Love these SU dies and stamp set!

3D ornament is fun to make!

December Football

Here are two birthday cards for two guys that love football and also share the same birth date which is December 18th.  I didn't want to make the same one so I decided to make them a little different. Both of them are punch art which is so much fun to do!! To the left, Russ' card (my brother-in-law) is the football with the goal posts which was embossed with cuttlebug EF and used Die-namics grass.  I need to add something else to the card by the sentiment. I am just not sure what yet.  The inside sentiment which is not shown says, "May your birthday bring you all the things that make you smile like football!"

Close up look!  Have a ball!

The other card is for my boss who is turning 50! He really likes the New England Patriots but his favorite team is the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Their colors are black and gold so I saw on pinterest a lot of different football players using punch art so I gave it a whirl.  He is a cutie with a black uniform and gold sneakers and gold on his helmet and jersey.  A lot of punches were used to include the circle, tag, oval, butterfly and heart punches.  All of them were SU punches.   I used the same die from Die-namics for the grass that I did for the first card.  The sentiment inside that is not shown says, "Congratulations and best wishes on your 50th birthday, an event worthy of celebration and reflection on five decades of life, love and laughter with plenty more yet to come.  

50 Years!

I haven't made an easel card in a while and had forgotten how much I like making them.  For now I am finished making birthday cards and I can now starting focusing on my Christmas cards.  Can't wait to start on them now!  Thanks for stopping by!

December Birthdays

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my sister's house in Kennebunk, Maine!  Thank you Andrea and Renn for hosting a wonderful dinner!!  We also celebrated our twin sisters' birthday which is December 2nd but we were altogether so it was a  good time to celebrate.   Chris, Connie and I share the same hobby which is papercrafting so I made the card  and got a gift for Chris.  My younger sister, Adrianne, got Connie's gift and card.  The front of the card is from SU's Mixed Bouquet stamp set and the leaves are little leaves from sizzix.  Below is the inside of the card.

I made a trifold card with Graphic 45 botanicals paper collection.   This is such a beautiful collection and I just love it with the blue cardstock.  The dies are from Memory box.

I added a picture of Chris and Connie probably taken around 1968.  I have 6 sisters in all and pictured in front of Chris and Connie are just two other younger sisters Phillis and Andrea.  This, I think, was an Easter Sunday because Phillis and Andrea are wearing hats and that was the only time we wore hats was on Easter when we were growing up.   It was a lot of fun making this card especially when you have such great paper like Graphic 45!!  Happy Birthday Chris and Connie!!!  I hope they noticed that I never mentioned their age!!!

My Uncle Myron turns 80 on December 1st and I also made him a card for his milestone birthday! He lives on the coast in Phippsburg, Maine and has lived there all his life so I did a coast themed birthday card.  The lighthouse stamp is colored with copic markers.  I used Graphic 45, By the Sea paper collection and the embellishments are punches from MS and numbers from Dynamic's.  The compass was punched out with 1-inch round punch and put into a bottle cap.

 Below is a picture of the inside of the card with the sentiment.   I just added a sticker with the anchor and seagull from sizzix.  Happy Birthday Uncle Myron!!

Thankful & Grateful

Thanksgiving is this Thursday and I was in my craftroom today finishing up some cards I made for friends and relatives.  Lovely as a Tree stamp set is one of my favorite sets from SU!  This is the first time I used the Wandering Words stamp set from SU.  I love how this card came together!  Check out this card on pinterest which is where I found my inspiration!!  I embossed the trees with gold and sponged distress black soot for the ground and spicey marmalade for the sky.  Below are some more pictures of other cards I made with different colored cardstock framing the card.   They will be in the mail tomorrow.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 Sorry that this inside sentiment is sideways but I loved the poem for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day poem

Camera for a birthday!

This has been a card I have wanted to make for a while with my Envelope Punch Board.  My sister-in-law's birthday is this coming week and she loves taking pictures especially when her kids were young.  I saw this card here and just used punches and circle nestabilities to copy it.  I put a strap on the camera with 3/16 inch eyelets so that the card would open and close.  Also had to add some bling to the card with a red pearl and a little crystal.  Would be a great card for a photographer!!

I had to add a picture, of course, to the card.  This is my sister-in-law, Charlotte, back in December of 1985 at my Mom & Dad's house for Christmas.  She is sitting on Santa's lap with her daughter, Jill.  Santa is my brother and her husband, Hal.  On the right hand side of the card is the sentiment but at the top it says, It's your day!  So Happy Birthday Charlotte!!

I wanted to make another one with some color instead of just black, white and silver.  A lot of cameras have the lens right in the middle so here is my take on this type of camera.  Check out this card I saw on pinterest here. 

Christmas Gingerbread House

Here is my take on a gingerbread house using the milk carton box tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers. On pinterest, I saw a bunch of cute gingerbread houses and  I got a lot of good ideas from them.  This is a great size to fill with Christmas candies.  It measures 4 1/2 x 2 1/2.  I used the 2 tag punches from SU and MS border punch for the fence.  Nestabilities were used for the windows.  The candy cane is from an old Stampin Up set and the peppermint lollipop I handmade with a little glossy accents to make to make it shiny!!  The wreaths were made with circle punch and SU's blossoms punch.  To open the house, just untie the bow and dig in!! I am going to make a few more for Christmas gifts. They are fun to decorate!!

Peppermint lollipops

Memory box tree die

Graphic 45 Folios

After a saw Ginger's (My sister's scrapper) tutorial on this folio, I wanted to make a couple of them for gifts. This one is Graphic 45 By the Sea paper which I made for myself with pictures of my husband's family going on a schooner trip around Casco Bay back in the fall of 2007.  Check out the inside of the folio below.  I just love all these colors in the collection.

The tutorial for this folio is very easy to follow.  Ginger Ropp does a great job explaining this and her video is here.  This folio doesn't take very long to make.  I can make this folio in about 4-5 hours.

 The folio below is made with Graphic 45 Mother Goose paper for my coworker because her daughter turned a year old in August and she had some birthday party pictures to put in it.  I wanted to make it as girly as I could using a lot of the girl pictures from the Mother Goose collection and added some lace on the front cover.  You have to give it a try!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Mother Goose Folio for Lacey

Pocket side of the folio

Waterfall side of the folio

Job Well Done!

This has been on my husband's "to do list" all summer and finally have gotten around to doing it with the help of my brother-in-law, Russ and our neighbor Marty!!  I didn't take a "before" picture but it was really in bad shape with mushrooms growing out of it!  (As Jimmy Fallon says, "Ew"!)  This is the wall underneath our deck which encloses our pool and gardening stuff.  I love that Russ and Mark trimmed around the windows! Marty had a lot of the lumber that we used and the jack to hold up the deck because the headers had to be replaced.  Mark and Russ did the contruction/replacement job which came out terrific.  It was 2 1/2 days work!!    I have an idea for Marty to thank him but Russ and Connie are giving us a hard time but we will not stop until this is taken care of!!  Thank you so much Russ and Marty!!

Of course, I had to make a cute little tag for Marty's bottle of Jack Daniels!!  Love the Halloween paper!  I had it leftover from last Halloween and I can't remember the name of the line.

Ninja Turtle Birthday

Happy Birthday to my son, Eric!  His birthday is next week and I hope it will get a kick out of this card when he gets it!!  He loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles growing up and when I saw a card on pinterest with them on it,  I had to make one for Eric.  Instead, I made a "card in a box" card because I don't think I have made one for him yet.  The punches are all from SU.  The head is circle and the large oval punch.  The wrap on their eyes is the tab punch and the small banner punch.   On one side is pizza punch art and the other side is crossed swords.  This type of card worked out perfectly because it looks like the turtles are coming out of the sewer hole.  Behind the turtles is the manhole cover with the initials TMNT!!  Check out some pictures below!  This was a fun card to make!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Closer look at the Turtles and manhole cover!

They loved pizza!

Can't fight without your swords!

Ghostly Halloween

A couple of weeks ago my sisters and I had a SU party.  Our consultant, Cathy, showed us some new products and we did a fun card!  I wanted to show some of the girls the card in the box.  This is what we made.  Love the owl punch from SU!  It makes such cute ghosts!!   We had a great time!   The ghost on the front flap and the spider on the side flap are from sizzix as well as the tree.  Fun,  fun,  fun SU party!

Closer scary look!

MS border punch

Love this Sizzix black cat!

September seemed to fly by this year!  Connie and Russ, me and my husband, Mark went to the Fryeburg Fair last week.  Mark and I have never been and I was impressed!  It was huge!  We had beautiful weather and walking in the stalls and seeing the draft horses and oxen reminded me of my grandfather's farm.  When I was growing up, I remember going to visit my grandparents and jumping in the haystacks in my grandfather's barn.  The barn is gone now but the smell still lingers.  The animals are amazing.  Check out the pictures below!! We had a great time!  Can't wait for next year!  A bonus was that we played the ponies and I won $6.20!  I think it was beginner's luck! Great day in Maine!!

Gorgeous !

Travels in pairs

Just enormous!

Hams!

Amazing work!  Done with a chainsaw!

Friendship won!