Snowman Challenge

Thanks to a new challenge I found, I have my first Christmas card for December 2022!  

This is a monthly themed challenge at the blog of   The Joyful Quilter. The link to the challenge rules: https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/p/2022-table-scraps-challenge.html.

January’s challenge is snowmen/red.  

I loved the Christmas tag I made in December, shown here, with the snowman and wondered how well he’d make into a Christmas card.  I’m combining my fabric scraps with my paper crafts to make cards this year.  At least that is the plan.  It will depend on how well the monthly challenge fits with that plan.  Fabric postcards are always an option too.

I began with fabric scraps backed with Wonder Under and cut using cutting dies.

    

I then chose a background fabric (red) cutting it and a piece of cardstock to a 4X6 inch size.  I fused the pieces to the background and stitched them down.  Adding a section of selvedge for a scarf.

    


I then began embellishing with foil paper punched circles on the holly and paper punched circles for buttons, a snowflake punched from glitter paper and a heat embossed message. I stitched the finished panel to the front of a folded card.

I sprayed ink through a stencil for the envelope.

    

Inside the card is a heat embossed message stitched to a background paper then taped to the inside of the folded card.

I love mixing sewing with paper crafts.  I can’t wait to find out what the February challenge will be.

December 2021 calendar journal

I don’t normally show progress photos, but this is what has been keeping me quite busy for the past month.  A massive cross stitch.  350 stitches X 349 stitches.  I have completed the first 39 rows...13,650 stitches.  Only 108,500 stitches to go!

Happy stitching of one type or another!

Christmas Decor Tags and Cards

I love when there is time during the Christmas season to create with a Christmas theme.  I managed a couple of decor tags to add to my collection to hang around the house.

Front and back

      

Both tags began on craft paper embossed with an embossing folder that I inked with red inks before running it through the embossing machine.  Then embellished with die cuts and stamping.

Front and back
    

Following are Christmas cards I managed to get made this year.

    

    


    

I wish a very merry little Christmas to one and all!

Be safe and be happy.

May the world have the happiest New Year ever!

Paper Pieced Trees Quilt

Oh but I CAN see the forest for the trees!

I’ve wanted to make a little forest of trees for some time now.  Checking that off my list.  And it is a ‘little’ forest.  

When all sewn together, each tree block measures just about 3.25” X 2.25”.

I wanted a selvedge border so I dug around in my selvedges tote for neutral selvedges.

Then the little wallhanging stalled while I figured out how to stitch the selvedges for an inner border.  Of course I eventually figured it out.

Simple in the ditch quilting.



It was finally finished.  I’m SO pleased.



I tried out a couple of tree sizes before deciding.  The tiniest one turned into a cutie pie of a pincushion.

The block was SO TINY it didn’t look fun to sew so I added a bit of a border.  It was still so little.  But so cute.

I now have a very small collection of four little pinnies in my pinnie jar.

   

I actually use the skeleton one so it doesn’t really live in the jar.

I like that the little trees quilt can be hung for me to enjoy at any time of the year.  Right now it might be a Christmas tree farm.  Later a forest.

Money and Gift Card Wrapping

It gets a little harder every year to come up with a different money gift holder from the previous years.  But once again, I made it happen.

I used the 1-2-3 Punch Board to create these envelope style holders for money gifts.  I folded in three sides of the envelope and left one end open.

I then embossed the holders and used a variety of dies to cut the designs for the ornament embellishment.  I used Graphmaster Metallic Brush pens to color the holly leaves green and made the berries silver.  Letter dies to add names.

I embossed in red words from Tim Holtz Tidings Mini stamps then framed them using a cutting die.  I left them long enough to write personal messages on each.  Then I clipped the tag to the money.  A little wired and curled ribbon added to the top with a string to hang and DONE.

For a gift card, I used the Tim Holtz Pocket Envelope Bigz die.

Embellishing the envelope with snowflake dies, and a stamped and embossed Do Not Open tag.  The ties are attached with snowflake brads and tied with a soft blue and white cord.  I spattered white paint for a snowy appearance.  I needed to keep it rather flat to mail inside a card.

     

My November 2021 Calendar Journal

There are usually lots of things to do in December.

Be sure to take time to enjoy the Christmas season.

Christmas Gift Bag

For December I have the honor of being the guest designer on the

Creative Artiste Challenge Blog

The monthly challenges are always ‘anything goes’.  You only need to use at least three different mediums for your project.

I’ve altered a craft bag into a Christmas gift bag.  It’s December, it’s Christmas time, my house is filled with Christmas music and I’m full of the Christmas spirit!

First I slopped white acrylic paint onto the front of the craft bag.  Let it dry then sprayed and dribbled some Distress Mica Stain, Snow Flurries (blue) and Peppermint Stick (red).

After that all the embellishing began.  Snow flakes cut from glitter paper with cutting dies.  Stars cut from silver metallic paper, including some dots from the cutting die.

‘Merry’ is cut from red metallic paper using a cutting die and the words were stamped with Archival Ink.

I glued rhinestones in the centers of the snow flakes and tied a bow around the handle with colored twine pieces.

I was finished with the bag until I saw the pinecone and berries wired pick that has been in my stash forever almost.  The bag looked okay but not satisfyingly so.  When I tied the wired pick to the bow, THEN it was finished!

And you know me, even the back has to exhibit a little interest.

Check out the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for lots of great creative inspiration.

Cards and Calendars

The Fall colors are pure joy to craft and create with.

These leaves are die cuts using Sizzix Thinlit Die set, Leaf Fragments, by Tim Holtz.

I started with a scrapbook paper that was mostly yellow for the orange leaves and a green for the green leaves.  I used the dipping method to add more color to the paper using stamp pads and spritzing with water.

After cutting the leaves, I embossed them to give them veins.  I then used Distress Crayons to give them more color and depth.

I then used the leaves to make cards.

With two different sets of leaf dies I made the following card.

For this last card I used Distress Mica Stains on black cardstock.  The Mica Stains create a shiny or glittery appearance.  What fun they are to create with!  They are a limited supply item.  It is my hope that someday they will be reproduced as a regularly available item.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone!

And to catch up with my calendar journal....