Simple Christmas cards

I pride myself on making average cards, lol! Seriously, I am not a fast cardmaker by any means, so when I can come up with something very simple, it's a good thing! These cards could not be easier ... though I still managed to take awhile to decide what I wanted to do! With Christmas just days away, this seemed an appropriate design to show.

Last foreign language cards made for sale

I have been selling cards at Houghton College for about two and half years, but with new management and, understandably, with their different ideas, it seems time to move on. I had almost stopped anyway, as I don't really have a lot of time for cardmaking, and when time is limited, making "have to" cards - making sure I have new designs for each category - leaves no time to make just what I want to make. Anyway, while I still have reasons to make the occasional Spanish card, I will no longer have any cause to make foreign language cards. Those that I have left over I will just re-make into English cards, unless I can find some place to sell them online. With the fairly simple designs I have, that may not be possible. So, these two cards, made this summer to sell at the college this winter, are the last in their language I will make.

Christmas Cardinal

I have had this image for years, but never used it before. The spellbinders' circle die was the perfect frame for it!

Winter Snow Scene

>Winter Snow Scene, is one of a series from Eureka, and each image is offered in two sizes. I have a smaller image from this set of the three wise men. I love embossing, and the small circle is just too detailed to handle embossing well. When I received this stamp, I tried embossing with silver just to see if it would work, not necessarily to make a card with, but I liked it enough I decided to go ahead and finish it. I decided it needed a little "warmth," so I embossed the moon in gold.

It's all about grace

I love the sentiment on this text stamp! So original and thought provoking, especially with all the provocations that can come along with the Christmas season! May God give us grace to be gracious!

I had the ornament already finished from last year, but never made it into a card until this year, and then it was in a flying hurry, and there would be some changes I'd have made if I'd taken my time. Ah well, it's out of the house and will hopefully bless someone!

Joy to the World alternate

I wanted this card to have a softer, muted look. Again, simple design.

JOY to the world!

I so not remember where this stamp came from, but I think it is such a creative stamp! If anyone knows the company that made it, I'd like to give credit.

This is an extremely simple card, but I wanted the design to be the focus. I also just really like a lot of empty space on a card.

Dovely Joy

I love this stamp from LimeLight. I've made a number of cards from it, especially enjoying using gold leaf! In fact, I went a little crazy with it a couple of years ago, making a number of panels that slowly turned into cards. This is the last, which I did this summer.

Rejoice some more!

Now this is a switch ... instead of not showing the sparkle, a problem I sometimes have with glitz, this one shows sparkle where there really isn't any! The embossing powder is from a line called "Antiquities," which I believe may now be itself antique! It's very similar to Tim Holtz distress powder, I believe, more of a sandy look than glittery.

I stamped the image too close to the edge of the cardstock, hence the "interesting" cut of the cardstock!

Rejoice!

Hurrah! Time to post the Christmas cards I made this summer! It's so strange to do them then, but I knew with college I didn't dare wait until November!

I love this stamp from Biblical impressions, and it works perfectly with gold leaf. I had a difficult time photographing this card; the light just was not right. The gold leaf mix I used had a bit more of the color of the card in it, for some reason it doesn't come through in the photo. :-(

25th Anniversary

Wow, married for a quarter of a century! God blessed me with a fabulous husband, and I'm grateful!

Unfortunately, I just was not inspired for the card. I couldn't seem to get past the fact that I didn't have a 25th anniversary stamp! Silly, but I just kept putting off the card until it nearly was too late. I didn't want a feminine card, and definitely wanted silver, so this wallpaper print seemed a good choice, with the flecks of silver in it. I was in a hurry when photographing the picture, so it's a bit blurred.

In-a-hurry re-make

Wow, Thanksgiving is nearly here, time to post the other fall season card I made this year. I am really terrible about dates, and although we had already given our October birthday daughter her gift (she live a couple hours away, so when we connected with her for a wedding a few weeks before it, we gave her our gift then), I wanted to have a card in the mail for the actual birth date. Of course, I remembered it two days before the day, no time to create a new card. So, I resurrected this old card from 2006 and covered up the text with cuttlebugged leaves and a happy birthday stamp. It's not a fabulous card, but it looks a little better than what the camera indicates. :-)

Pumpkin Vine

Our annual women's retreat this year featured a really special speaker. Her text was John 15:5, and she used a story of a pumpkin vine that mysteriously appeared on her lawn for the illustration. College classes had started, meaning little time for cardmaking, but I had this pumpkin image I made last year but never used. Knowing I had the scripture in a stamp, I just couldn't resist making Nancy a card!

Encouragement Card

It's hard to make cards while I'm doing college classes, but I had a real burden for a woman in our church; she and her husband are having unforeseen complications in the adoption of their son, which had seemed to be a "done deal." I had hoped the card, and the words I shared inside would be an true encouragement, but when she thanked me for the card saying it was "sweet," I realized genuine ministry had not occurred. Sometimes I make a card just to be amusing, and sometimes, quite frankly, just because a card is required for an occasion and I want to save money by making one. In those cases, especially the latter, I'm not really concerned about reaction. But my reaction to this person's "sweet" comment, and the thought going through my mind of "why bother taking time I can ill afford to make a card that probably won't be appreciated?" makes me wonder if I'm looking to bless .... or impress? I did what was in my heart to do for this person, and I know it caused me to pray for her situation more faithfully. Can I learn to let this be enough for me?

Butterflies!

Wow, October already? How did that happen? I had hoped to have a summer of cardmaking, but life is just too busy! However,I did manage a few; this one was made early August for my oldest daughter's birthday.

I love the butterfly stamp used in this card! Actually, it's three stamps, two for the wings, one for the body, making for a lovely 3D effect, which is lacking a bit in this picture. After I photographed it, I found a pencil-width metal mystery tool, and I laid it across the body, then put dimensional dots beneath the winges to raise them. With the metal rod holding down the body, the wings could curve up without weakening the bond holding the body to the card. It worked perfectly!

Joy in the Journey

Wow, the summer has flown by, and now school is in session again. I thought I would get to do so much more cardmaking than I did, but with my son home for the first time in nearly two years, a family reunion to help plan activities for, getting my youngest ready for college, and catching up on everything I didn't do during my 39 credit school year ... it just didn't leave a lot of time! But, I did get a few cards made, including a bunch for Christmas that I'll post later (actually, they still need actual assembly, lol, gluing is the boring part of cardmaking I tend to avoid!).

I liked the idea of doing a monochromatic card with these stamps, and the ribbon I had was the inspiration. :-)

Peacock dreams

Wow, my first card this YEAR!!!

I tried pigment powders first on this image, but was not satisfied. But the gold leaf worked beautifully! I didn't have a specific goal for a card, but when I finished this, I knew it was meant for a young friend of mine. Hope I was right!

Eureka Blog Hop

Just in case anyone still pops in to see if I'm still alive, yes, I am, just have had no stamping time! I went back to college this fall, online full time, and have not made a single card since before Christmas! I also spend no time looking at blogs, but I've had an online connection with Eureka stamps for close to a decade, I think, and they've just launched their first blog hop! So, if you'd like to check it out, head over here!

This is a card I made years ago; background and scripture both from Eureka.