Did you have a blessed Christmas??????

We sure did...
What a huge blessing to be surrounded by family during the Christmas Holiday!!!
We actually have two Christmases in our family.
Our kids (three grown children with families of their own) all live out of state. So in order to make sure we get together, we have Christmas at Thanksgiving.
Usually, the snow doesn't come until after Thanksgiving, so everyone can get to our daughter's home in Chicago.
Our son and family come from St. Louis, MO.
Our daughter lives in Chicago and hosts the whole crew (what a huge blessing you are to the clan).
Then our youngest daughter just moved to Virginia and they were able to come too.
The only one missing was a grandson who is studying at MIT and was traveling with a crew for a project. At age 21 he has already earned his Engineering degree and is at MIT working toward his PhD.
We are BLESSED!!!

Then my hubby and I traveled to my sister's home in Flint, MI for a joyous time with her family.
Their grandkids are growing up too, but two of their daughters still have kids who are pre-teens.
It's a fun time with a traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve dinner and gift opening.
Esther (sister) and I fix a couple of foods that we had when we were growing up and there's lots of talk about our days when we were children in a Lithuanian household.

Before I go on with a Birthday card I made for one of my volunteers at church, I want to share with you a new company that is just starting up. They are the creators of the most beautiful chipboard cutouts you have ever seen. They are doing a give-away right now and you can get on their site to enter your name.
http://design-honey.blogspot.com/2012/12/guess-who-graphic-designer-behind-blue.html Click on this link and follow directions. You won't regret taking a look. Their chippy pieces are gorgeous!!!

So here's the card:

I had wanted to do this dark sky and wind for a long time and just never got around to it. So I took this opportunity because I wanted to do a winter card and it just fit.
Here's the deets:
...I stamped a pretty flourish with Versamark and embossed in white translucent. Thought it would give it a bit more visibility...and it did, kind of! I wasn't too happy with the results.
...Then I did the Tim Holtz version of applying Distress Ink to the sky part. I used several different colors of blue, including a navy blue from SU! They have a beautiful night sky blue that I just love.
...I stamped the trees in black Tuxedo Memento.
...the deer was then stamped in Versamark and embossed with gold. The deer is a small stamp from SU!...and it's my favorite.  My Versamark pad is getting dry and it didn't cover the deer very well, so after I embossed the first time, I used my Versamark pen and filled in. Unfortunately, that didn't make for a very smooth deer, it's ok but not as great as it could be.
...Then I used Artist Spackle from HOTP to make the snow. I added Diamond Stickles to make the glitter and I really like the drift look all over. A little different than the normal smooth cardstock.
...I chose to make a frame with gold and white cardstock. It really gave it a good finished look.
...That gold liner was given to me a long time ago and I just hated cutting into it because it was so pretty. But it is getting kind of ratty just sitting around being moved here and there as I search for papers....it is definitely time to USE IT!!! I tend to hoard papers and have to force myself to just use it and enjoy it!!!

Here's the challenges I am entering with this card:
http://zeusandzoe.blogspot.com/ Sparkle & Shine
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/ anything goes
http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/ winter
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.com/ anything goes

That's it for me for today...
Have a wonderful and safe New Year.
Make it a concerted effort to lavish love on all those God has given you!!!

elena

Hello from a lost blogger....

 Wow, you can't imagine what a hard time I am having getting started blogging again...
I start and stop and start over...
I really don't understand what this "block" is, but it's really difficult to get past it.
I hope that this time I can finish it and just get back into this part of my scrapbooking.
I have so many projects that I have done since the last time I wrote here, 
I hope I can get going and start sharing.
It is an incentive to share here and enter some challenges so that we have a chance of winning some free stuff, right??? That is always FUN!!!

This first thing I want to share today is a bookmark I made for my Bible Study group. This was my first time really trying to make a "batch" of the same thing. Usually, I just can't make the same thing over and over...somehow it gets tedious and I only get two or three done. I see others make batches of the same card or tag and I think that's a great thing. You get some stash going so that you have cards when you need them. I use the cards I make and I am always running short and have to buy boxes for back-up.

Anyway, these little tags came out really well and it was fun. I got tired of the process near the end, but I kept on. I still have a few unfinished that I need to get to.

Here's my tag:

The tag itself is a free download from http://astridsartisticefforts.blogspot.com/
Astrid has beautiful vintage designs on her site and on Pinterest that you can download for free.
I have been a happy scrapper since I found her beautiful stuff. 

I used the set of four Christmas tags and used the designs on the front and the back, so that both sides are pretty.

Next I stamped the tree from a Christmas stamp set by Stampabilities. This is an older set but has beautiful large designs on it. I stamped with Versamark and embossed in white. 
Next, I used Distress inks "Tea Dye" and "Burlap" on the front and back to shade the sides and give them depth. 

Next, I stamped the back with the "Christmas" stamp...carefully putting red ink on the "Christmas" and black ink on the text. I had to re-write the red with a good pen because it wasn't as vibrant as I wanted it.

Then Versamark and white embossing on the white swirl underneath the tree. This could have been done when I stamped the tree but I design as I go and what to put under the tree eluded me until the very end. I am really happy with how that swirl came out.

Now the fun part...I bought "Artist Spackle" from Hot Off The Press and used it to highlight the tree branches. I put "Rock Candy" Stickles on top of the spackle to give it some shimmer. I also used the spackle on the back to look like snow. It really worked well. When I gave the girls their tags, all of them wanted to know how I got that tree so "real" looking, and what was that stuff that looked like snow.  It's those extra touches that I love to use. I used Tim Holtz' "snow" stamp (little dots all over) on the back. I remember him sharing that he uses that stamp all the time for extra depth. He's right, I never put that stamp away. It is perfect for applying to anything for extra dimension. 

Oh yes, almost forgot...I used white liquid pearls for the snow on the front. I loved what that did for the tag...it just made it look so pretty.

I added cranberry  "Liquid Pearls" for berries, gathered up some ribbons, and I was done. 
It's quite a process to do the same thing to 15 tags, though.
I don't know if I like to do it or not...but if you want to make gifts for a group, there's no way of getting around it.

Here's the challenges I found to enter this tag:

http://berry71bleu.blogspot.com/ winter
http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/ let's get inky
http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.com/ a tag

So that's my share for today, I am making a commitment here and now not to allow myself to get intimidated by this blogging thing...gotta stay with it.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment, I love to hear from people who stop in.

May God bless you this Christmas season and all year through.

e