It is THAT time of year...

It is THURSDAY again! WAHOO!! I'm actually posting. I'm afraid that if it wasn't for Lindsay's amazing creations I wouldn't be posting at all. I feel like such a slacker.

However, I've had a little birdie whispering that I'm going to get a laptop for Christmas (thanks Mom and Angie) and I think that will help me to post more often. I won't be stuck at the desk to do posts. I can sit on the couch having "quality" tv time with my hubby and still be working on crafty bloggy goodness. WAHOOO!!!

Now, on to more important things! The above cards... I really tried to get a photograph to show how lovely and sparkly the first one is. I used glimmer mist on the three trimmed circles and they are totallllllly glimmery. Plus, after I copic(ed) the ornaments, I put some lovely stickles on top and the sparkle is not showing there either. I have GOT GOT GOT to figure out how to photograph sparkly things better. I need to rearrange (or get brighter bulbs for) the lights on my homemade light box. If you have any photography tips, please please email me at diana.stout@gmail.com immediately for my undying gratitude! The second card also has sparkles, but I think they showed up a little better.

Details on each card individually!

Number 1 - I saw a card with these cute windows with ornaments showing through. I cheated and made little faux windows. I shrunk and printed the awesome circular christmas sentiment that Lindsay created at my request (that I mentioned last week). I am not sure if it is in her shop yet, but go check the store HERE. After I cut them out, I coated them with three different shades of glimmer mist to match the ornaments. Then I resized and printed a bunch of the SNAZZY NEW ornaments you can find right HERE and punched them out with 1 1/4 inch punch. I colored them with copics, then coated them with stickles. I cut a little tree and trunk and poof! Lovely Christmas card!

Number 2 - I saw this card a long time ago on someone's blog and I LOVED LOVED it. I was dying to copy and tweak it for my own Christmas cards this year. First, the tree. I took strips of green paper, tore them, then glued them together. I left the rough edges unglued, then I roughed it all up a little more with an emery board. I ran a white (fluid chalk) ink pad over the top to get the "snowy" effect going. Then I tore a little piece of brown for the trunk. For the snow, I tore two pieces of white cardstock, crumpled them up, then inked them with cream brown (fluid chalk) ink, then put some random smears of stickles over the top of that. I wanted the awesome circly sentiment to go around the tree - sort of like a little halo - and I wanted it to shine. I coated it with a red shade of glimmer mist. In person, it sparkles. (Sigh, poor photography skills.) Then I used my stickles to make a shining Christmas star up in the corner. I'm not 100% pleased with this star. Maybe next time I will try using actual glue and a fine glitter. Or if I can find/borrow a good star stamp, I might try a little embossing.

Anyhow, that's the info on the cards. I hope you like them. But if you don't, please tell me what to do to improve on them, as I send about 50 cards a year so I'm going to make a lot of these. Any advice would TOTALLY be appreciated.

Now, onto the important Lindsay info!

SHOP IS HERE

LINDSAY'S SUPER DUPER KILLER AWESOME BLOG IS HERE

Design team links:

Janet Rossi
Shannon Neparko
Margie Visnick
Lisa Jurecek
Erin Bailey
Tracey Allen

Melissa Craig
Leanne Garner
Tamara Bennett
Cindi Hooks
Here is the new Junior Design Team, look for their projects on Mondays!
Kristen Hamlin
Joy Stagg
Karin Martin
Jennifer Bliss
Cheryl Gorka
Anette “Nettie” Robins
Cassandra Cushman

finally, have a GREAT holiday if I don't post again before we all stuff ourselves with Turkey!

A Simple Roasty Card

First - go buy this (Coffee Talk set) HERE for the low price of $5. Then click on THIS to find *the* cutest set of recipe/foodie goodies. You also need to check out her AWESOME NEW SET - it's embossed backgrounds -- DIGI-NESTIES for only $3!!!!!! She also has her first CHRISTMAS SET in the store for $1.50!! You could also just go buy out her whole STORE and be about as happy as can be... (oh, I forgot to mention Lindsay is now featured on a new website - MY GRAFICO - check it out!) And last shopping note - stay tuned on my Thursday Lindsay posts... I'm getting started on my Christmas cards (finally) with a special request design by none other than the talented and amazing Lindsay. You might be able to find this

as a *FREEBIE* if you find the right link in this post to click...

Details on this card... as I have been sorting out my cards into all my totes to get ready for the craft show - I realized I have so few get well and sympathy cards that I wanted to use this set that I've been holding onto forever (sometimes it is hard to remember that they just need printed - and in any size I want!) I blended copics for the coffee cup to try to get as close as I could for the orange and blue on the mug image. Then I used this gorgeous ribbon that I've been itching to get on paper. I wrapped around and tucked it in, then tied the knots and attached them on top on the edges of the sentiment (also handily included in the set). I think sometimes it makes the card less bulky and the ribbon flatter and uh.. stuck better .. if you don't actually tie the knot around the ribbon (that totally makes sense to me, if you need me to clarify - email me). Pretty simple card... oh, I almost forgot. I trimmed the rectangle around the mug and saucer and wanted to silhouette the steam. I colored in the steam with a grey and a little brown blended in. I also lightly went over the steam with a spica pen... I wish I could figure out the right lighting or camera setting or angle or something so that the glitter would show up in my photos. (If you have some insight on that, please share!!)

Thanks for looking, now head on over to the other designers' blogs for lots more eye candy, and Lindsay's blog, because she is totally creative in the NEATEST ways!!
Tamara
Leanne
Shannon
Cindi
Lisa
Melissa
Janet
Margie
Tracey
Erin

Finally, enjoy every minute.

Dream Journal

I hope you're not sick of seeing all the journals. I am having so much fun with them! I love making up a bunch of them and then leaving them blank to decorate for challenges. Then I don't have to think or hunt for sketches to use to decorate them. I am hoping to have 15 or so ready for the craft show on December 5. I'm only halfway there so far!

This one is decorated with a Bella stamp - one from the newish Ketto line. I colored her with copics and spicas. I added the primas and the dewdrops. I only played with the MOJO sketch a little... I made the piece of cardstock along the bottom bigger and stamped the letters for DREAM across there. The papers I used were from the paper studio's pink armadillo pack.

The sketch is for the current MOJO challenge, and I'm also entering this for the PALSPAPERARTS challenge - use pink!

Enjoy the weekend ~ make sure you find time to craft!!!

Bookmarks!

First - go buy this stamp (stack of books) HERE. You also need to check out her AWESOME NEW SET - it's embossed backgrounds -- DIGI-NESTIES for only $3!!!!!! She also has her first new CHRISTMAS SET in the store for $1.50!! You could also just go buy out her whole STORE and be about as happy as can be... (oh, I forgot to mention Lindsay is now featured on a new website - MY GRAFICO - check it out!)

Details on how I made these! First, I hope you can tell, each of the stamps (and therefore the bookmarks) are different sizes. I printed the stack of books in different sizes and then had fun coloring with different colors within a color family (it helps me to figure out which markers will blend to see them all in a row like this). It is fun to do the monochrome thing. I then used my janome sew mini to sew the stamp onto a sheet of bazzzzzillll. Then I used some supertacky red tape stuff to attach another piece of bazzil (in a coordinating shade of brown) to make the bookmark sturdy and protect my stitching. I set the giant eyelets with my cropadilebigbite. Then tied in a bit of fiber... oh, I also used my spica pens for the apples, and used a teeny bit of glossy accents (diamond glaze stuff) on the glasses. These bookmarks make great stocking stuffers, presents to hand out at work or church, and sell for $1 at craft shows like HOT CAKES!

Thanks for looking, now head on over to the other designers' blogs for lots more eye candy, and Lindsay's blog, because she is totally creative in the NEATEST ways!!

Tamara

Leanne

Shannon

Cindi

Lisa

Melissa

Janet

Margie

Tracey

Erin