Trimming the Tree and more~

December chaos continues.....so there's been a lack of posts. We were "forced" to go artificial tree hunting over the weekend when our other tree decided to go into permanent retirement while being stored in our garage. Our search took us many places looking for the right size tree for our low ceiling home, one at the right price for our December budget, and for me wishing for white lights on the tree. I had to compromise on my white lights as the kids wanted colored lights. Overall, I am happy with our new tree. We decorated it and the rest of the house over the weekend. I've been searching for years for the perfect topper, until then, the red bow is what tops our tree. I'll "know" the topper when I find it, you know? Now I hope I can get in to Christmas mood - it's been seriously lacking this year - by now I am usually done shopping and wrapping, not the case this year. We probably have just 25% of our shopping done and nothing wrapped as you can tell!

On another note, I've been asked and accepted a new design team member position with Gina K's newly created Card Kit Design Team and am very excited and thrilled to be working with Gina and her crew!

Gina's K's announcement here

And today, on SCS, you can find the Tag Box tutorial as a featured project. Complete with a video that Morgan, in her very small amount of free time, filmed and edited down for me. Boy, chopping almost 5 minutes off makes for tough editing. Please be kind, this is my first video tutorial with sound - not something that I find comes easy for me. In person, you bet, I can do this easily, but on video, not so much! LOL

Tag Box Tutorial


Thanks for dropping by today!

V.~

Purr-fect tag~

Yesterday's challenge over at SCS was to make a tag. I love to make tags and haven't made one in a while, so I sat (stood actually) today and quickly made this holiday tag using a fun holiday set from OCL called Purr-fect Wishes.

The image is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored with Copics, and the snowflakes are dusted with Breezy Blue Crafty Sparkles. I trimmed a tag shape out of slate cardstock, added a sentiment banner and a bit of College Press patterned paper, a bit of cranberry hemp through the punched hole and this easy peasy tag is finished!

This is just about the only kind of kitty I can be around, otherwise those Crafty Sparkles would be everywhere if I sneezed!

V.~

Supplies
Stamps: Purr-fect Wishes by OCL, snowflakes from Merry Wishes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Smokey Slate, Green Apple, Cranberry Tart and White by Gina K Designs
Other: Copic markers, Crafty Sparkles, Cranberry button, linen thread, 1/4" circle punch, Tag corner punch, Cranberry hemp, Dimensional foam

Attn: Renae~

eta: I've "relinked" the hyper link - not sure why it stopped working.

OCL is short for Our Craft Lounge, and the set is called Merry Wishes, click on the link below to see the entire set:

Merry Wishes

HTH,
Val

Elegant Winter Greetings~

Every year I make Jay cards to give his clients and today was as good a day as any to git 'er done. I kept the cards simple, both in layout and embellishments, and love how they turned out. I know he will, too, when he sees them after he gets home from work.

Now you'll rarely see this from me, as it just doesn't fall under quick and easy, but I did gold emboss the snowflake - turns out my Encore Gold pad is a wee bit dry and the snowflake looked so sad. A bit of gold embossing powder while the ink was still damp and that snowflake is brought to life again.

• The snowflake and branch are from A Muse's Elegant Winter set
• Inks are SU! Kiwi Kiss, Encore Gold, and Versafine Vintage Sepia
• Cardstock is Fresh Asparagus and Cranberry Tart by Gina K. Designs, Natural White by Neenah
• The St. Nick Collection by Bo Bunny patterned paper strip has been scallop border punched before adhering to the base.
• Assorted cranberry buttons and linen thread embellish the sentiment banner.
• Banner and image panel are raised up with dimensional foam.
  
• Corner rounded edges and these cards are finished!

Check another task off the holiday to do list, YAY!

V.~

Dasher 2009~

Dashing around is pretty much how I've felt the last week or so! Yesterday a weird weather turn from our upper 80's on Thursday created the perfect time to make our Christmas cards for this year. Yesterday we had rain, hail, blustery wind, and snow in the local mountains. Morgan had to play a game at 11 in the rain and blustery weather, Jay was her cheering squad while Brett and I stayed home where it was warm and dry.

Back to the cards, I hadn't started on anything other than to know I bought Dasher way back when and I still love him and wanted to use him on our cards. Because it's been rather chaotic, my layout brain is not functioning at its most creative, so I fell back on this pine layout again. I promise, this is the last you'll see of it for a while!

Scaling down this year, I only made 36 cards, 12 each in 3 different patterned paper and color combinations. Patterned paper are from extra sheets I had in my bin from various projects I've been working on for classes or projects that I've been doing for Scor-Pal.

All that's needed to finish them is an inside sentiment and addressing the envelopes.

Have you already finished your cards?

V.~

Stamps: Dasher by SU! Sentiment by OCL
Ink: Soft Suede by SU!
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury Ivory, Fresh Asparagus, Rocket Red, Vibrant Violet, Bazzill Navajo, SU! Soft Suede, Sage Shadow
Patterned Paper: Collage Press Joyride and Cosmo Cricket Be Jolly
Other: Nestabilities Circle Dies, Aqua, Olive and Red grosgrain, Square punch (banner ends), Corner rounder, Dimensional foam

Happy Thanksgiving~

from my family to yours. We began our day bright and early for Father Joe's Thanksgiving Day walk (3 miles) that benefits the largest homeless shelter here in San Diego. My mom and dad, sister and her family, my brother and his girls, his girlfriend and her daughter, Jay's sister, and our family, plus our dogs (Riley is hidden in the middle of everyone) enjoyed each other and our walk in gorgeous San Diego weather down in Balboa Park.

We have so much to be grateful for~

V.~

A Couple Tins~

"Band-aid" Tin with a Matchbook style holder for a pair of earrings.

Monogrammed luggage tag, matching tin and card.

V.~