Greetings in the New Year!

Hello paper crafters! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! One of my resolutions for 2012 is to stay up to date on my blog. I want to get my work out there more by participating in challenges and continue to hone and improve my skills. Over the busy holidays I didn't get a chance to update so I'm going to bombard you today with Christmas cards!

I went home for Christmas and one of my favorite memories while I was there was working on Christmas cards with my Mom until 1:00am in the morning. We bounced ideas off each other and would get excited with each card we produced. If only I lived closer so that we could do that every week. I guess we will have to set up a Skype card making session! So without further ado here's what those late night sessions produced.

Up first, a cute little snowman card:


To create this card I used the snowman from Doodlecharms, just the overlay cut and I used the flip function so he was at the correct angle. I embellished him with a ribbon, buttons, stick-on pearls and a little outline of Stickles. The scalloped background was cut from this cute holiday paper stack from the Paper Studio using the Storybook cartridge. I finished the card with a stamped sentiment ($1 stamp from Walmart) and sparkly snowflake brad.

Next up, another Doodlecharms snowman:


I was inspired by the many cards I saw online that featured snow-globes. All of the cuts are from Doodlecharms expect for the hat which is from Winter Frolic. I embellished the snowman with little black pearls and the fancy tree received some rhinestones. The white of the globe was embossed with Polka Dots from Cuttlebug for the snow effect and accented with Stickles. The final touch was the snowflake ribbon from Martha Stewart.

Another Doodlecharms inspiration:


I love these three little cuts from Doodlecharms. They are so cute and simple. I used a scallop border punch on the red polka dot paper. The three squares were cut from a DCWV glitter mat book. All of the icons are embellished with Stickles and I added a little white satin bow to finish off the look.

Here comes Santa:


The Winter Frolic cartridge has such a variety of themes and I really liked this vintage looking Santa. I embellished him with some Stickles black enamel to make his belt and books look like patent leather and I ran his bag through the Divine Swirls embossing folder. The circle & scallop were cut from the Storybook cartridge. The sentiment was another $1 stamp this one from Michaels that I heat embossed in black.

And here's Santa's Little Helper:


This little guy is from one of my favorite cartridges, 3 Birds on Parade. It was also my first attempt at using flocking powder by adding some to the white portions of his hat. It turned out okay, I think I'm going to have to keep experimenting. The polka dot paper is from this cute 6x6 stack from My Minds Eye called 12 Days of Christmas. I added four sparkly brads and lifted the piece with dimensional dots. Lastly, I stamped a sentiment (another $1 stamp from Walmart) and heat embossed it in red.

How about a little Christmas love:


My favorite bird is an owl, but a very close second is a penguin so of course I had to use these cuties from the Simply Charmed cartridge. I cut the card from the Wild Card cartridge and ran a ribbon all the way around. The inside of the card has a red lining so it concealed my ribbon ends perfectly. I cut a circle from Storybook and inked the edges with red. My little penguins got googly eyes and rhinestone embellishments on their bows. I ended up giving this one to my grandparents.

Now for some winter inspiration:


My inspiration for this card came from a beautiful paper pack from Little Yellow Bicycle called Winter Twig. I cut the skate from Winter Woodland and embellished it with Stickles and little button brads (which I love!). I ran brown ink around all of the edges and added some sparkly snowflake brads for the finishing touch.

Last but not least, my favorite card:


I ended up loving this card! Everything seemed to come together and work. The cuts including the sentiment are from the Winter Frolic cartridge. The text was cut out of the DCWV glitter stack...not the easiest to use with intricate cuts. I added a little brown ink on the figgy pudding to make it look rich and added Stickles, because I love my sparkle! The peppermint paper is from My Minds Eye 12 Days of Christmas stack. I rounded the corners with a punch and ran brown ink around the shape. I have been dying to use this ribbon and I couldn't believe how great it all matched. It was a steal for 50 cents at Micheal's last January.

So for my first foray into card making I was quite surprised with how easy some of the designs came together. The one thing I learned is that next year I will need to start in October to ensure I get all my cards made on time!

Until next time paper crafters! Thanks for reading!