Christmas Berry Card & Blogger Up Date

Hello again blog-land. For those two hermits out there that were not aware, Google Blogger has been down for the last two days.  It "ate" comments and scheduled future posts, in addition to locking out the blog owners.  For those of us who are far too involved in our on-line lives (can you say, Get a life, Susan?), this was very stressful!  And worst of all - It interrupted my Berry Week!  I guess you will get yesterday's berry project at some point in the future.

Today's berry card is "Christmas Berries".  And no, this is not a real plant.  I took one of the Christmas berry cuts from the Christmas Noel cartridge (which can be referred to as Christmas or Christmas Solutions) and crossed it with a pine stamp, creating a hybrid Christmas berry branch!  I then topped the branch with this sweet little red bird (wonder if he ate too many red berries?).

I went back to the Preserves cartridge and found this great shaped matting.  I cut the shape in dark brown cardstock and white with green print cardstock.  On top of that I added two oval mat cut with George .  I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment with a Stampin' Up stamp and SU ink.  I tied a red Christmas tree ribbon around the card topper before attaching it to the cream colored base card.

Inside the card I used another Stampin' Up Christmas stamp to add a message.  There is still plenty of space to sign the card and add a personal message.

The base card was cut in speckled cream cardstock and red, green and cream stripes.  I used mono adhesive and attached the stripes to the cardstock BEFORE cutting the base card.  I then positioned the cardstock on the mat so that 3/4 of an inch of the stripes would cut with the card.  The base card was cut using Christmas Cheer.

I am hopeful that blogger continues to function properly and that this post does not get lost.  If there are no service interruptions I should be back tomorrow with another new project!!

It's a Gypsy New Year Project

The Gypsy Spot is back from the holiday break!! The challenge this week at the Gypsy Spot was to create a round card and include welded numbers 2010. I tweaked the requirements a bit and created an oval card where the zero (0) is the card shape.

I used Gypsy Font for my basic card. I welded 2010 at two inches, but increased the size of the first zero to four inches, making the cut in black cardstock. I then used the blackout shadow of the zero to create the welded card base, cut in white cardstock. Next I welded the blackout shadow of 2010 and cut it in gold metallic paper.

I found the word Happy on the Christmas solutions cartridge and added the word to the front of the card, in black and gold. And finally, I took the party horn from the Celebrations cartridge and again using metallic papers, I used pop dots and attached the horn to the front of the card.

I hope that you all had a happy new year... and that 2010 is a wonderful year for each of us.

Pumpkin Patch Farms

I really like the challenge cut for this weeks Bitten by the Bug projects.  It is the sign on the Christmas Noel cartridge.  I have long admired the adorable sign, but had yet to design a project which included this particular element.  I was excited when Regina chose this cut and asked us to use brown and "go fall." 

I decided to go whimpsical in my approach, pretty much abonding reality! I cut my center tree in a polkadots and I used a smaller polkadot for the pumpkin on the farm sign and the left page matting.  I cut extra leaves to scatter about using three different papers, two solds and more polkadots! 

I used two different Bazzill cardstocks for the pumpkins, the highlighting a few of the pumpkins with a bling cardstock.

I finished th project off with ribbons and white ink.....  My daughter and her college roommates usually to pumpkin picking; I can't wait to see this year's photos on this cute layout!!

Anyone Up for a Sleigh Ride?

Does anyone else hear those sleigh bells ringing??? I love this fabulous sleigh on the Christmas Noel cartridge ! It reminds me of that old movie, “Christmas in Connecticut”, which has a great snow covered sleigh ride scene.

I created this card for Custom Crops this week. I love the layers and the silver sleigh runners. Complete instructions and the cut file are available at CC, just click on my blinkie to the left and open the article, "Season's Greetings Sleigh Ride."

I topped the Season's Greetings phrase and the snow with Glossy Accents clear gloss. I thought it added an extra special effect to the letters and top layer of snow. Kind of like they have been iced over in the cold!

And of course I finished the card off with doodles using my favorite white and black pens. This is an easy card to create - it just requires some hand trimming and layering. I hope you like the end result as well as I do... I plan to add six copies of this card to my 2009 Christmas card selection.

Happy Christmas Train and Tree Layout

Have you been by Custom Crops this week? Several of the designer have new files posted. All of the new files now post on Monday mornings so I will admit that CC is one of my Monday stops. I love to see what everyone has created.

One of my latest CC designs is a double page layout using Christmas Noel and Plantin Schoolbook and features this amazing tree and train. I am very pleased with how this layout came out.

In addition to the train, which is just stinkin' cute, I am really impressed with the tree ornaments on Christmas Noel. I especially like the long ornament which is detailed. I was afraid that my cricut would not do well with the small details but I put in a new blade and it went smoothly. There is a lot to be said for a shape blade and a new mat in the world of cricutting!

Click on the Custom Crops blinkie to the left and you will find the article which includes directions and the cut file for this project listed under my name. Enjoy!!