Cult Challenge and Birthday Celebrations

Jan chose the sketch this month: SCCSC134 and I thought it was only fitting that I use the sketch to make her birthday card - with flamingos of course. The image is from Custer's Last Stamp: Flamingo Standing Tall CR1058-L. The dp is MME: Nolstalgia. The cs is copic x-press-it with black Memento. SU cs is also used: blush and pool. Pearls are used for embellishments as are retired SU shell stamps. MFT dies were used: fish tail flags and mini doilies. I think the flamingo die is from

Copics are used to color the images: Y21 and Y26. R20, R22 and R14. E30, E33 and 0 for the ground. The background dots are BG11, G00, Y21, E50 and R00. The "dot" background technique is one that I learned at my copic certification class. I am not sure if I like it better than the one that I normally use.

We celebrated both Jan and Joyce's birthdays tonight with cake and more raspberry slushes. I hope they like their presents - I made them each a "December Daily Smash Book." I really enjoyed writing in mine last year and have been planning these presents for a while; my first plan was to make these over the summer-needless to say- I operated on plan B: get them done by their birthdays. I used 31 printed, one-sided pieces of cardstock. On the white side, I spritzed with perfect pearl mists; stamped and embossed the date, and decorated with a strip of dp. Jan's is in blue and silver and Joyce received the earth tones. I included a variety (sizes, colors, papers, designs) of embossed envelopes and decorated a number of tags. I also included a folder of embellishments - many are die cuts along with some stamped and colored images - for them to use to personalize their pages. I had so much fun making their "card candy." I have included a slide show of some pages from their books.

Christmas is a Smash

This week was busy - both at school and creatively. The girls came over on Monday and we shared paper for our smash book project. Joyce had this wonderful Christmas paper that she shared and I had an idea which resulted in this project:

I have worked on it all week and really have enjoyed the process. Anita brought us new Christmas treats and I adapted the idea to make treats for my students as a reward for successful work on the test taken today. They are made from 4 14" squares that are embossed and scored 1 1/4" and 2 1/2" from one end and 1/2" from the other end. Inside are 3 or 4 hersey kisses.


This week I also managed to work on some of my tags from Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas. You can see one in the slide show above and here is another; there are a couple more still in progress. I spend a few minutes each morning checking out his site (all blogs are blocked from the school's website-darn) When I come home I make dinner and get jobs done and then sit and play with my toys. I have managed to make a real mess; all that work last weekend to clean my table and it looks the same as it did before.

I like the look of the gold painted grunge border at the bottom which was highlighted in vintage ink. The brads were from my stash. The tag was from craft paper, I embossed the words with a soft gold, but it would have been better using clear ep. The image was stamped and colored by swiping over the stamped flower image with the new winter distress inks. Picket fence stain was swiped over the top; I really love the soft look that results.   The canvas ornament was made from onasburg fabric bonded to cardboard (I only had white sticky back canvas). The flower was cardstock cut from the pinecone die. The red rhinestones were colored with alcohol inks. I love the new greenery die cut. The ribbon and trims were dyed with distress ink and stains.

Smash Book

This week I completed a "smash" book for my niece's Christmas present; she is in 7th grade. I really enjoyed making the book and love how it turned out. I even like the scallop trim - which was the creative result of a slight miscalculation on my part. I have the pages cut for my own book and am anxious to get started.



I have also been following Tim Holt's 12 Tags of Christmas and have had fun being inspired by his creativity. I will post my tags as soon as they are done. I decided that I just couldn't live without the greenery die and so I am waiting for it to arrive. Be sure to check out Tim's blog; besides his tags, he has set up galleries for everyone to share their work each day.

We exchanged our second round of spirit dolls today. I will have them posted as soon as I get the pictures from Joyce; of course I forgot my camera. Here is the packaging for my baby.

We decided on a "goddess" shape for our next doll and picked a tan print fabric. It is a little out of my normal color choice and looks to be a challenge. I am making a doll for Elaine next time.