Naughty Kitty

There is a reason why we didn't have a Christmas tree last year.  I thought it would be safe to hang a few ornaments from the dining room light fixture; however, between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's somebody grew.  If anyone knows how to share this with the motion on, please let me know.  She is jumping and the ornaments are swinging.  Needless to say, I had to take down the ornaments.

You know that when I saw that The Alphabet Challenge was "N is for Naughty" this incident and stamp came to mind.

This adorable stamp by Inkadinkado is perfect for a CAS card which aligns beautifully (purrfectly?) with the Addicted to CAS Challenge code word of creature and The Sweet Stampin' Challenge to feature an animal in honor of World Animal Day which was October 4th.  As you can see, if I placed the kitty where I wanted her to be in terms of composition, the branch would be at loose ends, so I used a journaling pen to extend the branch to the edge.  The sentiment is part of Hero Arts' Fluffy Stockings Stamp and Cut set.

Now to color the image.  I have never mastered alcohol pens, so I used my Prismacolor  pencils.  I recently discovered that they make a colorless blending pencil.  All I had to do was draw a heavy line of silver (I don't have a gray pencil) along the edge and then "color" with the colorless pencil in small circles to draw the color out into a fade.  I also used it to smooth away most of the pencil strokes after coloring the ornament.  I layered the panel on colored cardstock before attaching it to a card base because it needed the extra pop of a colored frame.  I hope it still qualifies as CAS.  In case you have noticed the sentiment in the completed card and the sample above are in different colors, I come from a family of crazy cat lovers, so I made several cards for Calli(sto) and her sister to send to their aunts and uncles.  Of course she had to supervise.

By the way, Calli is now 14 months old and is still naughty, although she prefers to say inquisitive or playful.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

So Many Stars for Freshly Made Sketches

I really like this Freshly Made Sketch, but it presented a problem.  I had just gotten Stampin' Up's So Many Stars bundle and, like a spoiled child, I wanted to play with my new toys.  Unfortunately the sentiment didn't fit the sketch.

I finally decided to force it by using the sentiment with a star to create the medium square element and replace the "sentiment" with a trail of stars.  Where did I get that little star stamp?  I (gasp!) cut it from one of the star cluster stamps.  I when I edit stamps I avoid making straight cuts.  I usually cut stamps in a curve to make it easier to fit the pieces back together in proper alignment when I want to use the whole stamp.  The sentiment and white stars are heat embossed with white detail powder and the star trail and edges are embossed with silver detail powder.  To do the edges I stood the cardstock straight up and pushed the edge into Versamark and then my plastic tub of powder.  After I cut the silver foil pieces I put them through my die cut machine between two pieces of cardstock.  That eliminated the raise dots left by the holes in the small dies and gave the foil a softer shine like you get with silver embossing powder.  I spritzed the card panel with Hero Arts shimmer spray.  For the center of the large star, I cut two white and one silver small stars and stacked them to keep it from getting lost in the white filigree stamping.  Of course I had to finish my card with some sparkles.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Peace and Snowflakes Ornament

I love this two piece die from Hero Arts.  The circle of snowflakes and the ornament outline are separate dies, so you can cut out an ornament as I have done here or cut an opening ringed by snowflakes into a card front which I will show y'all another time.

I started by dropping green, blue, silver and white Hero Arts glimmer inks onto a craft mat, misted them with water and dragged paper through it all.  I cut a solid ornament shape twice from aqua paper and once from the inked paper and stacked them before layering on the snowflake layer.   I used a Birch Press Designs die to cut the sentiment three times, stacked them and attached them to the shadow piece cut from Silver paper.  All this stacking gives the card dimension.  To help separate the ornament from the background I embossed the background with Stampin' Up's Subtle folder.  I finished the card off with some bitty sparkles in the centers of the snowflakes.

I used the Freshly Made Sketch below and drew on the Jingle Belles Challenge theme of peace on Earth and the ABC Christmas Challenge theme of sparkle and texture.  Here is a shot using a direct flash, so you can see how sparkly it is.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Wrapped Watercolor Snowflakes

It seems odd to be making Christmas cards while thankful for air conditioning, but making a few throughout the year is the only way I can manage to have enough ready at Christmas.  Having the time to sign, address and mail them in December is another matter, but I digress.  One of my inspirations to make Christmas cards in the off season is to play Christmas challenges such as the Christmas at Sweet Stampin's  challenge which this month is to use snowflakes.  I am combining this theme with Stamping Sensations' challenge to "show your true colors" with bright, bold, beautiful colors and Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge.  Now bright and bold is not what I usually think of when using watercolors, but I tried a technique Jennifer McGuire calls wrapped watercolor where you use watercolors to paint a wet, heavy layer of color onto watercolor paper, cover it with wadded up plastic wrap, weigh it down (I used a cutting board with my skillet on top), and wait patiently for it to dry naturally.  It took mine overnight.  Let's just say this is not a technique to use if you need a card in a hurry.  You can see the technique in action by clicking on the link above.

Once my card was completely dry, I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink around the edges and used Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflakes and Mini Swirly Snowflakes stamps to heat emboss snowflakes in white.  The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from an old Close to My Heart set.  I used Navy Blue Nuvo Crystal Drops in the centers of the snowflakes and attached the panel to a white card base with craft foam for dimension.

Another card ready for Christmas!  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Fab Friday Ornaments

This card was inspired by this Fab Friday sketch:

The ornaments were made using the thinlet set that co-ordinates with Stampin' Up's Embellished Ornaments stamp set.  In addition to having outlines to cut out stamped images, there are some dies designed for layering.  To make the ornaments, I covered each die cut with Versamark ink, heat embossed them with Gold Superfine Detail powder from Ranger or Black Detail powder from Stampendous, and then layered them.   I looped black metallic embroidery thread  around the hangers and, once the ornaments were glued in place, wrapped the ends round to the back and used tape to secure them.  A small bow and pearls brightened up the ornaments.   Here is a close up:

The sentiment was stamped in Black Versafine ink, an intensely black pigment ink, and embossed with clear detail powder.  To gild the edges, I pressed them lightly into Versamark  and then gold embossing powder and heat embossed.  The sentiment is attached with thin foam tape.  Lastly I attached the completed panel to a card base with craft foam in between for dimension.  This card is a 6.5 x 5 inches to accommodate the ornaments and keep with the sketch.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Colonial White cardstock
Stamps:  Embellished Ornaments and Star of Light from Stampin' Up
Ink:  Versamark, Black Versafine
Embellishments:  Superfine Gold Detail embossing powder from Ranger, Clear Detail and Black Detail powder from Stampendous, Ribbon by Offray, Pearl Opaques from Close to My Heart, Sew easy Fancy Floss from We R Memory Keepers

Frozen Heart 2 Heart Challenge

The theme of one of Heart 2 Heart's January challenges is Frozen which pretty much describes what has been on the ground around here since Friday.  The good news is that the temperature has been above freezing since Monday.  The bad news is that it takes a while to melt 15 inches of snow.  To put it in perspective, four inches brings Richmond, Virginia to a stand still, but it could be worse.  Northern Virginia got 30 inches!  In honor of all the snow I made this Christmas card featuring this adorable ice skating penguin.  Am I the only one who thinks he looks like he is pooping snowflakes?  I stamped him with black pigment ink and embossed him with clear detail powder before coloring him with a ShinHan alcohol marker.  To give him some sparkle, I added a few drops of red Stickles.  I cut strips of paper from Close to My Heart's retired Snowhaven paper to create the bottom half of the card and popped up the panel with thin foam tape so the baker's twine could pass under it without leaving a bump.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you check out some more creations over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges?  You have until the 31st to enter any of the January challenges.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Snowhaven (retired), White Daisy and Black cardstock

Ink:  Black pigment ink, Carmine ShinHan marker

Stamps:  Warm Wishes (retired), A Very Merry Christmas (retired)

Embellishments:  Red Stickles, red baker's twine, Clear detail embossing powder

Merry Monday Penguin

Here is the card using this sketch from Try Stamping on Tuesday posted on a Sunday for the Merry Monday challenge to use a bird on a Christmas card.  No wonder I am not always sure what day it is...

The twist on the Try Stamping on Tuesday is to include an ornament or use non-traditional Christmas colors.  Because I am posting this just under the wire, I will have to tell you more about this card later.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time.

Freshly Made Sketch 214

After a hectic weekend I finally got a chance to play with this Freshly Made Sketch:

I used a Spellbinders Shapeabilities to cut and emboss the snowflake and another to cut the hexagon.  The background and sentiment come from a long retired Close to My Heart Stamp set, Snow Flurries.  Of course I had to embellish with some sparkles...

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Glacier and White Daisy cardstock, Kraft paper

Ink:  Saddle, White Daisy

Stamp:  Snow Flurries (retired)

Embellishments:  Blue sparkles

Other:  Create-a-Flake Five and Hexagon Shapabilities by Spellbinders

Merry Reindeer

I need some cards that have interest but are easily mailed; in other words, no sparkles and the like.  Because I need to make a lot of them I do not want to deal with embossing.    I started with this reindeer stamp from from the long retired Heartfelt Christmas stamp set.  It just so happens that he Merry Monday Challenge this week is to use a reindeer. 

 The paper is Pear and Partridge, Close to My Heart's Christmas paper from three (I think) years ago.  I added interest with a narrow strip of Gold glitter paper and a dab of Red Glitter Glitz to embellish the nose.  I also attached the reindeer panel with foam tape.  The sentiment is from an old Stamp of the Month, Scandinavian Wishes.  Here is a horizontal version featuring a sentiment from an old Hostess Reward set, Sing Glory.

Both cards were based on this sketch by Sunday Stamps:

There you are, two flat, easy to mail cards.  Now to make a whole bunch of them...  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Champagne, New England Ivy, and Colonial White cardstock
Ink:  Saddle, Cranberry
Stamps:  Heartfelt Christmas, Scandinavian Wishes, Sing Glory (all retired)
Embellishments:  Red Glitter Glitz (retired) 

A Watercolor Christmas

Don't you just hate it when life interferes with your crafting?  It took me over a week to finish this card for Heart 2 Heart's Wonderful Watercolor challenge!  Now I do have to tell you that watercolors intimidate me, but there is a reason why they are called challenge blogs, so I pulled out my watercolors, a brush, and a cup of water and gave it my best shot.  I have always loved this tree from the Always Grateful stamp set.  To get the snow covered effect, I stamped it first with black ink and then after lightly tapping the stamp on Versamark, stamped it just slightly higher than the first image and embossed with Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder.  To balance all the white on the right side of the card, I used some White Enamel Gems.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head on over the Heart 2 Heart Challenges blog for some inspiration and maybe enter the challenge yourself?  We would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  White Daisy, Outdoor Denim (retired), and Indian Corn Blue (retired) cardstock

Ink:  Indian Corn Blue (retired), Black

Stamps:  Always Grateful, Holly Jolly Christmas

Embellishments:  White Enamel Gems, Ranger White Super Fine embossing powder

Other:  Snowflake folder by Darice

Through the Window with Heart 2 Heart

Happy Monday, y'all!  Do you see that badge on the right?  The one that says Guest Designer for Heart 2 Heart Challenges?  That's right!  I was awarded the honor of being named Top Chick for the month of September for these cards which means I am the guest designer for the month of November.  We have some fun challenges lined up, and the first one is...(sound the trumpets)...Through the Window.  This can be interpreted a number of ways, so I chose the cut out window interpretation.

For this challenge I went all the way back to Close to My Heart's first Cricut cartridge, Art Philosophy.  It is still one of my favorites.  Is has interesting shapes that you can layer and every page has at least one and usually two cards.  This one can be found on page 47.  I started by cutting two cards, the first at 6.5 inches out of Colonial White and the second at 6.3 out of a sheet from the retired Yuletide Carol.  No, that is not a typo.  Did you know that if you go into "settings" on your Cricut you can change the size to cut in increments of tenths of an inch, centimeters, or millimeters?  I cut the front and back of the second card apart and then trimmed a quarter of an inch off of each side of the front piece.  I wanted an additional layer, but because the center would not be seen, I simply cut a 6.25 x 4.75 piece and cut out the middle with my trimmer.

I have always loved the vintage feel of this stamp set, Holiday Cheer.  No it is not in the current catalog, but it is still available.  With the exception of Workshop on the Go stamp sets and Stamps of the Month, CTMH does not retire Cricut compatible stamp sets.  I stamped the ornaments on a piece of scrap paper, cut them out, and sponged the edges with Saddle ink to "age" them to go along with the vintage feel.  I also sponged the green layer with saddle and the light layer with Saddle and a bit of Cocoa.

Here is the inside of the card:

You can see what I did with the back part of the second card.  Now when you are making the inside of a window card, you have to be mindful of what you want to show when the card is closed and what you want to hide.  I find it helpful to close the card and lightly trace the window shape in pencil, so you can see where your edges are.  I cut the holly leaves out of Fern cardstock using the same cartridge (page 46), sponged their edges with Saddle, used a scoring tool to create veins, and finally lightly sponged over them with some New England Ivy.  I used a hole punch to punch 1/4 and 1/8 inch circles of glitter paper to make holly berries and embellishments.  Yes, I have a 1/8 inch punch that I think I bought at Michael's.  I used liquid glass to glue on the "berries."  When I was done I had a very flat, easily mailed card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you head over to the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog for some inspiration and maybe enter yourself?  You have all month to complete any of the November challenges.  We would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Yuletide Carol (retired), Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Saddle, Cocoa

Stamp:  Holiday Cheer (B1381)

Embellishments:  Red and Green glitter paper

Other:  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, 1/4 and 1/8 inch punches

Not Christmas Cards for Christmas

What do you do when you are making your Christmas card list, and you want to remember someone who does not celebrate Christmas?  Or maybe you know someone who has recently suffered a devastating loss whose Christmas will not be "merry."  Here are two "not necessarily Merry Christmas" cards that I made for the Jingle Belles Challenge using this Freshly Made Sketch:

As y'all may have noticed, I have a fondness for snowflakes as a design element.  The real stuff not so much...   This sketch cries out for snowflakes and seemed like a good opportunity to play with the Bokeh technique and some of Close to My Hearts's new colors.  If you are not familiar with this technique, here is a video tutorial.  For the first card I used Whisper, Glacier (appropriate name for a snow theme, don't you think?), Crystal Blue, Sapphire, and Peacock with White Daisy over top.  The snowflakes were cut using a Spellbinders Shapeability set, Create-a-Flake Five.  I trimmed the smallest flake to make it fit and also removed the portion of the largest flake that is behind the medium sized flake.

For my second card I used Whisper, Crystal Blue, Sapphire, and White Daisy for the background and dug out an old stamp set from the retired Frosted cardmaking workshop to stamp snowflakes and emboss them in silver.  While I had my embossing supplies out I push the edges of the sentiment panel into the Versamark and then embossing powder to guild the edges.

I embellished the centers of my snowflakes with Blue Sparkles which have been retired.  If you don't have any colored sparkles you can always use ShinHan or any other alcohol based markers to color clear ones.  Now I have two cards to send when "Merry Christmas" cards are not appropriate.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock and Silver paper by Recollections
Ink:  Whisper, Glacier, Sapphire, Crystal Blue, Peacock, and White Daisy
Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking Workshop (retired), Scandinavian Wishes (retired)
Embellishments:  Blue Sparkles (retired), Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder, Glacier extra thick twine
Other:  Create-a-Flake Five Shapeabilities by Spellbinders

Christmas Doodles

The ladies over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges want to see some doodles, so with this card as inspiration, I cut some ornaments using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy and Artistry Cricut cartridges and began playing.  This first card is more like what most people think of when they think of doodling:  lines and repetitive patterns that grow into something.

I used a sponge dauber and black ink along the edges of the ornaments and sentiment border to ground them against the white background.  The sentiment border may look like doodling, but it is actually a piece of paper from the new La Vie En Rose paper pack.

For the second card I revisited my favorite way to doodle when I was in high school.  I always liked creating designs that mess with your eyes. 

The graphic below the stamped sentiment is a sliver of the retired version of Black Paper Fundamentals.  Both cards are embellished with a few black sparkles because y'all know I like sparkles...  Although the black sparkles have been retired, you can always make your own by coloring a clear sparkle with a black ShinHan marker.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to my heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Black Paper Fundamentals (retired), La Vie En Rose, White Daisy and Black cardstock

Ink:  Black

Stamps:  Merriest Christmas (retired), A Very Merry Christmas (retired)

Embellishments:  Black Sparkles (retired)

Other:  Art Philosophy and Artistry Cricut Cartridges

Sparkling Trees

Continuing with my Christmas and gold embossing theme, I have two cards inspired by the 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown challenge to use any sketch in their archives.  I chose this one from July 2014:

As you can see I stayed pretty close to the sketch which is not my usual style, but I had a brand new stamp from Hero Arts that I just had to play with.

For my first take I paired the embossed tree with Pear and Partridge (retired) gilded with Metallic Gold ink and embellished it with Red Stickles.   

For my second take I went for a more elegant feel with Colonial White cardstock and Metallic Gold paper and kept the embellishing subtle by using Clear Bitty Sparkles.  I like this one best and will enter it in the challenge.  Which one to you prefer?

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Olive and Colonial White cardstock, Metallic Gold paper of unknown brand that I bought on Amazon

Stamps:  Christmas tree by Hero Arts, Sentiment from Holiday Wishes (retired)

Ink:  Versamark, Metallic Gold by Color Box

Embellishments: Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder, Clear Bitty Sparkles, Red Stickles 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 122

One of the things about challenge blogs is that you get exposed to products from many companies.  I don't know about you, but occasionally I see one that I just have to have.  Such was the case with this stamp and punch set.  When I saw this sketch from Atlantic Hearts, I knew it was time to break it out.

I stamped the ornaments with Versamark and embossed them using Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder which is available through Close to My Heart.  I love this product line because the powders are so finely ground that they melt smoothly and keep the details in your image.  While I was at it, I embossed the sentiment from Close to My Heart's Holiday Cheer set.  I then added some color to my shiny, gold ornaments using a Cherry Pink ShinHan marker and embellished them with Pearl Opaques (retired).    

Thank you for stopping by!  Now go see the beautiful cards others have made for this Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Pear and Partridge (retired), Cashmere and Colonial White cardstock.

Ink:  Versamark, Cherry Pink ShinHan marker

Stamps:  Holiday Cheer, Mosaic Madness by Stampin Up

Embellishments:  Pearl Opaques (retired), Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder

Time for Christmas Cards

For some people late August means the start of a new school year.  For me it is time to get serious about making Christmas cards.  In January I resolved to play a Christmas themed challenge each week to get a head start, but as with many resolutions, let's just say I got side tracked.  Now to recommit...  The ladies over at Jingle Belles Rock (got to love a blog with a name like that) are playing Tree Skirt Tic-Tac-Toe, a Christmas version of Beach Blanket Bingo:

Now if you have followed my blog through a Christmas season, you will know that I love sparkles and snowflakes, so it was a no brainer to play the center vertical column of Bling, Die Cuts, and Snow which I combined with this Freshly Made Sketch:

It worked out to being a double play with the diagonal of Glitter, Die Cuts and Stamping.  I started by cutting a snowflake using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and then stamping and clear embossing it with a stamp from the retired Frosted Cardmaking Workshop.  Next I used a sponge to rub on some Crystal Blue and Whisper inks to expose the stamped image and then some metallic Silver by Color Box to guild the edges.  While I had my stamps out I stamped a sentiment from Holiday Tags and embossed it with Ranger Silver Super Fine embossing powder which is available from Close to My Heart.  I love how smoothly it melts.  I ran the background panel through my Cuddlebug with using an embossing folder from Darice and put the card together, popping up the snowflake up with foam tape.  Finally it was time to bling up my card with some Tan Sparkles on the snowflake and Silver Stickles in the background.

I made two other versions of this but like the one above best.  Which one do you like best?

Thank you for stopping by!  Now head on over to see some other beautiful cards at Jingle Belles Rock and Freshly Made Sketches and maybe be inspired to enter yourself.  You have until tomorrow, Monday, at 12:00 PST to enter the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and September 9 for the Jingle Belles Rock challenge.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Frosted (retired), Frosted Gray (retired), Whisper, Champagne, and Colonial White cardstock

Ink:  Crystal Blue, Whisper and Versamark

Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking Workshop (retired), Holiday Tags

Embellishments:  Silver Stickles, Tan and Blue Sparkles (retired), Ranger Clear and Silver Super Fine embossing powders

Other:  embossing folder by Darice

Freshly Made Snow

Tomorrow night we are supposed to get our first snow of the season.  (That third of an inch that melted by 10:00 in the morning we got a few weeks ago doesn't count.)  They are calling for six to eight inches which in these parts is considered serious snow, so you know where I will be tomorrow morning.

My Yankee readers can stop laughing now.  In honor of the pending snow and because I am trying to get a head start on Christmas, I used a snowflake theme for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I started by using Close to My Heart's Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut the snowflake (page 27), used Versamark to stamp it with the snowflake from the Frosted cardmaking workshop, and heat embossed it with clear detail powder.  Normally when I do resist embossing I use a sponge to dab on ink.  This time I used a sponge dauber to rub on Whisper and Crystal Blue inks to get a softer effect.  To complete the snowflake element I sponged the edges with Silver metallic ink by Color Box and embellished with a small circle cut from glitter paper using a hole punch and a blue sparkle.  The sentiment is from the "To You and Yours" stamp set.  Both the snowflake and the sentiment are popped up with foam tape.

I used a snowflake folder by Darice to emboss the center panel and embellished a few of the flakes with grey bitty sparkles.  My stitch guide made it easy to pierce the border evenly and in a straight line.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now I am going to finish my grocery list.  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted: 

Paper:  Frosted (retired), Frosted Blue (retired) and White Daisy cardstock, Silver glitter paper

Ink:  Whisper, Crystal Blue, and Slate along with Silver metallic ink by Color Box

Stamps:  Frosted cardmaking workshop (retired), To You and Yours 

Embellishments:  Blue Sparkle (retired, but you can use a ShinHan marker to color a clear one), Grey bitty sparkles

Other:  Snowflake embossing folder by Darice, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Merry Penguins

This week's Merry Monday challenge is to create a Christmas card featuring critters with this inspiration photo:

Cute little critter plus snow meant only one thing:  the ice skating penguin from a retired Close to My Heart set, Winter Wishes.  I embossed him with clear detail powder to help him pop, colored him with a ShinHan marker, and while I was coloring, colored a bitty sparkle to give him a sparkle butt.  Amy Kiger would be so proud!  I wanted to use this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and pop up the center panel like several of the designers did.  They call them inspiration projects for a reason...

There was one problem.  I wanted to make a border using use a strip cut from Snowhaven which had black on each side.  I was concerned that with the center popped up, you would be able to see the edge of the border if I used a white card base.  The solution was to use a black card base.  To keep the white core from showing I ran the edges of the borders across a black ink pad.  This is what the card looked like without the center panel:

To make the center panel I used the Cricut Design Space to cut the opening and then embossed it using a folder by Darice.  Anytime I am going to emboss a shape or something with an opening I always do all the cutting first so that I can position the paper in the embossing folder so that the embossed design compliments the shape. That is how I got the snowflakes to dance around the opening. I cut a red and white strip for the horizontal element but decided it was too much red and and that a strip with black and white and a touch of red would work better.  Rather than waste the first piece, I used it on the inside:

I used ShinHan markers to put black dots at the center of the flowers and color the ornament and a chalk marker in the ornament's center.  This helped integrate the colors.

This card was also an opportunity to relive my childhood and play Tic-Tac-Toe with the ladies over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges:

Sketch plus Cricut plus embossing gives me three in a row horizontally.  This might even be a two way if you consider that this card could be suitable for a guy.

Now I have two Christmas cards ready for next year.  Thank you for stopping by!  Now why don't you visit Merry Monday, Freshly Made Sketches and Heart 2 Heart for some inspiration and maybe enter them yourself?  I would love to see your work!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used, all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted:  

Paper:  Snowhaven, Black, White Daisy, and Cranberry cardstock

Ink:  Black pigment and dye inks, Black and Carmine ShinHan markers

Stamp:  Winter Wishes (retired)

Embellishments:  Bitty Sparkle, red baker's twine from Michael's, black button (retired)

Other:  Snowflake embossing folder by Darice, Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge