A Christmas Celebration 2015

Well, this is the last day of 2015 everyone. Can you believe it? I can't. Another year has gone and sometimes I just can't remember where the time went.

I thought I would share some of our Christmas pics from 2015 ...

First up is a picture of the Christmas lights hung in the streets of Brooklyn, NY in South Slope. I visited our daughter and her husband, and on the way home, I just couldn't leave without taking a picture. It looked so festive, and I wanted to remember how pretty it was.

How crazy, but I lightened up the background and when I posted it here, it looks dark. O well ...

Next is a picture of Aileen and Josh's Christmas tree. You will see the presents I brought under the tree, and maybe you'll recognize them ... take a peek.

The boxes under the tree were all made by me. I had to much fun making them and they look so cute, I must say. Aileen had to work on Christmas day, so needless to say, the two of them could not join us for Christmas. They were certainly near and dear to our hearts and thought of all day long.

Now on to our son Tj and his girlfriend, Ashley's Christmas tree. How cute is this?

This this their first Christmas and their first Christmas tree together. I love how cute it is. They went to California this year to celebrate Christmas with Ashley's family, so we missed them this year, but they were ever close in our hearts and thoughts.

This is our Christmas tree. There were a few more presents, but I forgot to take the picture with all the presents under the tree.

This next picture is one of a mesh wreath I made at a class at Michael's. I coaxed my sister into going with me and she did, and we had a wonderful time. Sadly, when I brought the wreath home and showed it to my husband, he wasn't a fan of it and through it was "too poofy". Well, it took the wind out of my sails. The next day, I showed it to my son, and he had the same reaction ... he didn't like the white. So I decided to put it on the wall, took a picture, and then took it down and put it away. I must say, it was a bit larger than I expected ... I started with a 16" wire wreath, and by the time we "poofed" it all out, it was big! Check it out when I'm holding it next to my sister's and you'll see how big it is.  hahahahaha.

It doesn't look bad here, or large for that matter. Now, here's how large it really is ...

Yep, it's big alright...

This next picture is of My Christmas Centerpiece. My friend, Diane, asked me if I would be interested in taking a fresh centerpiece class with her, and of course, I said yes. This is what I made and it turned out really nice - beyond my expectation.

The centerpiece is made with all fresh greens and flowers. I must say, I outdid myself on this one ... LOL

Tomorrow, I'll share some of my creations I made for a Christmas Cookie Bazaar I participated in. That will start the New Year off just right, then ... it's new catty time.

Until tomorrow, have a wonderful, safe, and blessed New Year's Eve.

Love and Hugs.

More Christmas Cards

Hi again! As promised, I told you I would share some of my other Christmas cards I made this year. I wanted to make many more, but time just got away from me and I didn't have much time. I made a lot of crafts for people this year, which then I didn't leave much time for me. I'll learn by my mistake for next year.

So, here are the other cards I made this year:

I just love wreaths, and especially Christmas wreaths. So I embossed this one in gold and colored in the berries with real red marker. The bow on the top is mossy meadow ribbon and gold foil surrounds the wreath as a mat.

For this card, I stamped the larger present in gold ink, the striped present is on dazzling diamonds glimmer paper, stamped with mossy meadow stripes, and the last present is cut out using red glimmer paper. Each of the bows are stamped using mossy meadow, real red, and gold inks.

Unfortunately, I got a bit of shadow on this card when I took the picture and couldn't remove it. GRR!! This is the card I made for my co-workers. I used the winter wonderland embossing folder (snow gently falling), gold glimmer paper and gold ink, then topped the card off with a Christmas tree, which has red dazzling diamonds glitter for Christmas balls - wish you could see it better. The two is gold cord, and the tree is topped off with a gold foil star. It's really a pretty card in person. Some day I'll get the hang of how to take better pictures - I've got to create a small photo studio and that should do it.

Well, that's it for the Christmas cards this year. Hope you enjoyed them, and may they inspire you to create till your heart's content.

Love and hugs!

Christmas Cards 2015

Hi Everyone:

Yes, it's been a while again. I miss blogging and am so glad I have some time to post for you.

Let me start by telling you that I've had several bouts of vertigo, and needless to say, I've been through MRI's and MRAs of my head and neck, ear manipulation twice, and bed rest. Today, I had to go for another ear manipulation, and somehow, it wipes me out. But I took a small nap today and wanted to at least post some of my Christmas cards to share. Yes, Christmas is technically over, but not quite yet.

Here are two Christmas cards that I made and sent out. I love pointsettias, and of course, I'd have to use the stamp and punch and see what I could do. Somehow, they came out really nice. I think I might like the white one better, but I'll let you decide.

I made quite a few of them, and when I needed just a few more cards, I decided to make something else. I made this next card for one of my library classes that ended up being cancelled. Boo hoo!  See what the students missed?

I hope you liked these ... tomorrow I will share some more I made. I'll be gearing up for the new catty and sharing some of my creations using the new stamp sets. I might save those for the start of the New Year ... we'll just have to wait and see.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas with family and friends, and that your heart was blessed with much joy for the upcoming year.

Love and Hugs!

Coloring Down the Lines - A Winter's Day

Hi Everyone! I've missed you. I have been very busy with craft fairs and making things for others, that I just have to start focusing on me now. So what a way to get started ... our weekly blog hop.

You should have arrived here from Amanda's blog. Amanda always tries new things and techniques - you can certainly learn a lot from her. Next up after me is Joni. She too, always comes up with nice cards ... I just love them all.

This week, our color pallet and photograph reminded me of Winter. Here they are ...

This is my interpretation of the colors:

The stamps I used were happy scenes, and white christmas (retired). The evergreen trees were colored using mint macaron, the sky is pool party and smoky slate, while the bear trees are basic gray, and the outline of the snow banks are done with lost lagoon.

I love the winter scenes, and stay tuned. You might see more ...

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Helen

Coloring Down the Lines - White Pointsettia

Well, I wasn't sure if I would make it this week because I'm scrambling to get stuff made for a Christmas Bazaar I'm participating in this weekend, as well as making 14 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange this weekend, and then hopping on a plane to Houston, then Kentucky on Monday and Tuesday. WOW, it's making me dizzy thinking of all the stuff I'm doing.

Anyway, I managed to make a card for the blog hop this week, and I really like it. Yes, I truly do. So because I like it so much, I wanted to share it with you.

Here are the colors we had to work with, along with the photograph.

I also want to apologize if I messed up the line up too because I didn't get to tell everyone in enough time, so I hope it works. I'm just going with the flow I usually go with.

Now, here's my card I made for you this week:

I hope you like my card this week. Now please don't forget to check out everyone's blog this week. Robbie's blog is usually before me, and Joni is always after me. So I'm linking them just in case.

Have a wonderful rest of your week, and I hope to see you soon.

Hugs,

Helen

Coloring Down the Lines - Best Wishes

Happy Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I can't believe the holidays are here and so quickly to boot. I am making the turkey stuffing, as I do every year. I don't mind because I like my stuffing, and thankfully, so does everyone else. I wanted to make it today, but our son came down to help clean out one of our attics, and that took a lot of time. Also, I'm making crafts for a craft show I'm participating in next weekend. Yes, next weekend. Holy smokes - I don't have too many things made yet, so I've been making stuff every day. That's why I haven't posted lately. After the craft fair, I'll have more time to get my Christmas cards made.

I managed to get my card made for the blog hop though. Yippie! At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but then it all came together.

Here are the colors we had to use in our challenge, along with the color photograph.  It's not much to go on, so we had to use our imaginations ...

The colors are:

Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Delightful Dijon

Now, here's my creation:

The shadow of my phone shows up on the picture ... bummer. I couldn't take the picture w/out a shadow anywhere on the card. ;(. 

Well, hope you liked the card I made this week. Did you check out Amanda's creation, and then don't forget to check out Joni's card too. It's amazing what everyone came up with using the colors above. Did you try? If not, take the challenge. You might be surprised.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone. I'll see you next week.

Coloring Down the Lines - Flower Fest

Hi again. It's blog hop time again. This time, I took my time designing my card and waited until the last minute. I've been so busy that I just plum forgot. Oh no ... right? Well, I made it in time.

Here are the colors and photograph we used for our inspiration. The colors remind me of Spring, and although we're far from Spring, I thought I might just tap into that one more time before the first snow falls.

The colors are very pretty together, and I love the photograph. I love flowers, so of course this challenge appeals to me.

Now don't forget to hop on over to Joni's blog after you visit me. And if you've forgotten to start at Robbie's blog, please continue on or hop back one and you'll see her wonderful picture.

Well, thanks for stopping by. See you soon!

Josh's Birthday Card

It's our son-in-law's birthday today, and how fitting to post the card I made him for his big day. I must admit, I was stumped on what to make for him, so I found a really nice card on Pinterest and cased it, with just a slight twist. The card was created by "justspongeit". It was perfect for what I wanted to make.

I hope he gets my card in time for his birthday. Apparently, the mail is never consistent, and since my daughter and son-in-law live in Brooklyn, NY, you never know how long it will take for the mail to arrive from Pennsylvania.

Never-the-less, we wish him a very happy birthday and many more to come.

So what do you think? It's a nice, masculine card. I like it a lot ... who wouldn't want to be a star?

Cheers!

Coloring Down the Lines - Autumn Leaves

Welcome back to our Coloring Down the Lines blog hop this week. I found the colors kind of nice and wondered how I'd put them all together, but after thinking about it over night, I got up out of bed at 3:10 a.m. and started working on the card. It came together in no time. I worked on a couple more things before jumping in the shower and getting ready for work. I took a snapshot of my card and off to work I went. The more I looked at the card I made, the more I actually liked it. I'm still happy with it, and can't wait to share it with you.

So let's start with the photograph we used for our inspiration, shall we? The colors follow and see what you would come up with using all of the colors below.

Now ... here's the card I made using the colors above.

I love the card in person - it's pleasant to look at and the colors are soft. I used crumb cake for the top leaf, cherry cobbler for the center leaf, and blackberry bliss for the third leaf. The sentiment is stamped in soft suede, and I used gorgeous grunge for the background with smoky slate. The base of the card is basic gray, and the two strips are both basic gray and smoky slate. And there you have it.

If you've arrived here via Amanda's blog, your next step is to hop on over to Joni's blog. I love to hop through and see what everyone created. Such fun.

I wish for you a wonderful week. Thanksgiving will be here before you know it.

Hugs!

Coloring Down the Lines - Believe in Winter

This week, I didn't have too much imagination for our blog hop. The colors didn't speak to me, although I thought something good could come out of it. Well, I struggled and struggled, but managed to pull it off.

Let's take a look at the color photograph and color pallet we had to work with.

Here's what I created for the challenge.

If you want more inspiration, take a hop back to Robbie's blog and you'll find something you'll certainly enjoy. Then, from here, hop on forward to Joni's blog and see what she's created using the colors we had to work with. I admire my fellow designers. They never disappoint.

Have a wonderful day .... see you again shortly.

Endless Circles - Joy That Never Ends!

I bought this endless circle die a while back and never used it, so I thought I would take it out and see what I could create with it. I knew I wanted to make a Christmas card, but couldn't figure out what to do with it. I wanted to put some Christmas trees on the card, but somehow, it just didn't seem like it would work.

So I made the circles out of gold foil and put it on the mossy meadow card stock, and thought it would be best just to have something simple. So I found a sentiment, and then played around with a touch of color. Low and behold, I took the gold foil, as well as the red foil paper and created this:

I'm not real thrilled with the outcome, but at least I used it. I suppose I'll find something else to do with it later, but I thought it was really a cool die and wanted it.

That's it for now. Stay turned for more creations!

Let It Snow!

Oh no, you say. No Snow! Well, just not yet anyway. I love snow, but not when it brings life to a halt. Predictions are that we are in for a milder Winter, but with a fair amount of precipitation. So maybe that means we won't get a lot of snow, but a lot of days where it flurries or snows a bit.

Snow is so pretty, and although I love a beautiful, sunny day after a big snowfall, I also like a blustery, gray day - not often, but when you know snow is coming and you can feel it in the air. I created this card with that type of day in mind. I saw a card on Pinterest that I got the idea from, but I made it slightly different. I am happy with how it turned out.

I think the card speaks for itself and doesn't need much more description. Let It Snow!

Christmas Bough

I love Christmas greens, and the Christmas Wreath stamp set came with a bough, so I had to make something using it. This card is quite simple, but somehow, elegant too. It's quite an easy card to make, so I just might make some of these for my Christmas cards this year. I typically make several designs and make quite a few of each design to send out to our family and friends.

I'm now starting to work on some crafts for a craft show I am doing on Saturday, December 5. I have to get moving quickly so that I have enough to sell at the show. This will be the first time I'm a vendor at this church near me, so I want to make it good. I'll be sharing my creations with you as I make them, so stay tuned.

Thanks again for stopping by to visit my blog. Sorry the entries are short, but I wanted to make sure I got the pictures posted to share with you.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 38th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 38 years already. Where did the time go? We have two grown children, one who is married, and one in a relationship. When I think of 38 years, I think that's a long time and it seems like I should be old. But I don't feel old, well, most of the time.

I'm always trying to think of what type of card should I make, and for some reason, the ideas don't come easy. I don't like making something too frilly, yet, I don't want to make something masculine either.

I came up with this design, and I rather like it. When I look back at all the cards I've made for our anniversary, they turned out pretty nice. Here's what I created:

I used the "natural" card stock, and it worked well with the designer series paper and design. I don't often use the natural card stock, but every now and again, it works just perfectly with what I'm doing.

Happy Anniversary to us! And many more to come ...

Coloring Down the Lines - Autumn Wishes

It's Coloring Down the Lines day today. I wasn't sure what I was going to make with the colors we had to use this week, but all of a sudden, it came together. I was looking at the photo and trying to think of what I could use for a pomegranate, but didn't have anything in mind. Then I was looking at some stamp sets and knew that I wanted to make something "Fall" like, and bingo, I made this card in no time. I was quite impressed that it came together so quickly. I actually was happy with the result too.

Our blog hop is short this week. If you haven't arrived here from Robbie's blog, do click back to see what she made for you this week. Then after you've looked at her entry, hop on over to see what Joni created. I hope you'll get a lot of inspiration!

Let's take a look first at the photograph and color pallet we had to use this week. Then you'll see what I did with the colors.

Thanks for stopping by. Let's see what you can do with these colors. Go ahead, try it.

Christmas Presents

Tis the reason to give and receive presents. I enjoy giving more than receiving. Every Christmas, I enjoy watching everyone open their presents and beam with happiness. That's what it's all about. A season of Joy, praising God for His gift to us, His Son, spending time with family, and feeling so much love all around.

When I was in Utah at the Stampin' Up Convention this past July, we were given this stamp set and we made make and takes, and then I never really used it after that. I thought I would use it now and see what I end up with. Well, here it is:

I used metallic gold ink for the first present, then I took the dazzling diamonds glimmer paper and stamped stripes on it, and then cut out a small piece of red glimmer paper for the last present. I think it turned out cute.

Happy gift giving!

Playful Snowmen

I saw this card on Pinterest and loved it. I changed the trees out from the original, and the colors are different, but the card is adorable. I had fun making this card, and I thought the snowmen looked like they were being playful, hence, why I named this post, Playful Snowmen.

Can you see the little guy peeking out from behind the tree? He looks like he's saying "Surprise", it's Christmas! I love this stamp set too ... having fun creating!

Stay tuned for more.

Christmas Window Winter Scene

I can't seem to get enough of the cute stamp set, Happy Scenes. I can find so many uses for it, and how cute is it for Christmas scenes?

I made quite a few different cards today for posting on my team's page, as well as my blog. So this is the card I posted today.

Of course, the lighting isn't great in my house, so the right side looks like it has a shadow cast on it. Bummer! It's cute.

Hope you like it. It's really cute in person.

Stay tuned for more this week ...

Coloring Down the Lines - Happy Scenes, Blustery Fall Day

Hello! Happy Wednesday. It's Coloring Down the Lines blog hop day and are you anxious to see what's in store for you this week? I know I am ...

Let's start with the photograph and color pallet we used for this week's card. Fall colors, at best, so it wasn't hard to come up with something.

Doesn't the picture look like a misty, possible blustery day? That's what I thought about when I created my card. Here's my version of the challenge:

You can't see it because of the table my card is on, but the card stock background is soft suede. I guess I should have placed the card on a lighter background. O well ... you get the idea.

If you've arrived here from Robbie's blog, and I'm sure you enjoyed her card, don't forget to hop on over to Joni's blog to see what she's done with the challenge.

I hope you will come back again ... I'll be posting some of my library cards for you to see.

Happy Hump Day, and have a better tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by.

Dashing Through the Snow

I had to make a Christmas card, and especially this one. I CASED it from Melinescrap, and her's is much nicer than mine. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the glitter on the snow to show in the photograph, but it's there. Maybe if you look close, you'll see it.

I used night of navy for the sky in the background, and daubed over the trees with smoky slate. The snowflakes are stamped with silver metallic ink, and the sleigh and horse are basic gray. The SNOW sentiment is done is silver glimmer paper, although it looks gold in the photograph. I must do something with the lighting in my house. It always appears softer and yellow than bright and white.

Hope you like it....it really does look better in person.

Ciao for now.

Coloring Down the Lines - Colorful, Fanciful Leaves

The leaves are just starting to turn here in Pennsylvania, but there's a lot more to go. As the sun shines and the leaves blow in the wind, the beautiful blue sky places a pretty backdrop for the colorful leaves that are yet to show their vibrant beauty. I realize Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, but I'm just not ready to give up on Fall and get into the frenzy of the holidays.

In keeping with that thought, my entry today focuses on Fall. The color pallet and photograph were a bit challenging for me this week, since I'm in Fall mode, but I managed to make it work.

Let's take a look at the photograph we used for inspiration, and the colors we had to work with. What would you create using these colors?

The picture above reminds me of snow, ice crystals, and winter, with a touch of color. I certainly don't winter to come upon us just yet, so here's what I came up with as a celebration of Fall, that is waiting to come right through the door.

It's a little bit hard to see that the card base is rich razzleberry, and the leaf is embossed in silver and colored in with stampin' up markers. I topped it off with some thick silver baker's twine. The background is embossed using the Boho Chic embossing folder, for an added touch.

Have you checked out Amanda's card this week? If not, hop on back over to OurCraftyPlaydate to see what she did with the color challenge. Then, hop forward to Joniinthespotlightstamping, as she always comes up with interesting creations for the color combinations.

Hope you like the card. I just want to hang on to Fall just a bit longer before the winds of change take us into Winter.

Thanks for stopping by.

If the Broom Fits ....

I thought this stamp set was so cute when I first saw it. I wondered what I might do with it, but for starters, I decided just to create a card with it and see what happens. From there, I figured a lot of inspiration would pop up, and I do have some ideas, so we'll have to wait and see.

Here's what I created over the weekend ..

The card is simple, but it was fun making. I played around with the colors on the broom to make them look more realistic. I stamped them in tip top taupe, then added delightful dijon and tip top taupe over top. The card base is smoky slate, but it appears more like wisteria wonder in the photograph. LOL.

Hope you like it. Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry. I think I'm on a roll.

Happy Stamping!