First 2016 Christmas Cards

I don't give my husband many kudos here.  He's pretty awesome, I will say.  I mentioned that I missed this stamp set when it came out and wanted it to use for cards...  within the week, there it was!!!  Thanks, Honey Bunny!

Another card I saw on Pinterest -I surf during my lunch time for ideas - The cards had sequins.  I'm NOT a sequin lover, though I have come to grudgingly use them on cards lately... 

On this card, I used a small circle punch to cut glimmer paper, and glitter paper for the ornaments.  I used the star punch, and the bow "block" my Dad made to tie that very cute bow.

I made 10 or 12 of these - they were SO cute and stamped quickly... I just kept going!  First Christmas cards for 2016.

First Birthday!

We have a family member celebrating his FIRST birthday today!

 Though we live quite far away, we send messages and packages his way often.

I made this birthday card for him.  Elmo is perfect for celebrating birthdays!

2016 Calendar - January to March

Here it is!  Our 2016 CD case calendars!
Our annual Mom and Me project.  It takes us about a week and a half to put the calendars together - after I've spent about a month cutting and gluing pieces to prepare.  This year I also used my unmounted wheels to stamp all the backgrounds.  Each month has its own background stamp based on season, holiday, or 'feeling' I get from that month.

The large snowflake cut for January is from the When It's Cold Outside cartridge.  Can you see the snowmen?  Each snowflake on this cartridge has a different theme.  SO fun!

 I decided to use a purple (lilac) background for February - everything is red, pink, and white - it needed a contrast color, or I'm more limited with color choices.  Yes, I use the vertical hears EVERY year.  They're my favorite - what can I say!??

ROY G. BIV - have you ever met him?  He's beautiful, and only shows up after rain storms or appears in waterfalls!  The rainbow is a 'new' die I bought from MFTstamps.com  I cut 10 or 12 of them out of the colors, and found a way to put them all back together for the calendars!  The pot 'o gold comes from a Stampin' Up cloud punch with the gold glimmer paper!

2016 Calendar - April to June

Yes, I actually made 20 of these little paintings!  In August of 2015 I went to our local scrapbook show sponsored by CKC.  I've gone every year for the past 5 or 6 years.  The first few years I took classes - participated in swaps, etc.  Now because it takes place during the first 2 days of our school year, I just go to the vendor fair.

As I turned a corner around the vendor booths, I was met with a HUGE impressionist type painting of a basket with flowers.  (I LOVE LOVE LOVE the impressionist paintings!)  Of course, I had to watch a demonstration!  Since I already watercolor, the demonstrator gave me a bit of an advanced look at the technique.  I was HOOKED!  I love it so much - it ended up on the April calendar!
They are Art Impressions stamps, and though the company does all kinds of different stamp styles, this watercolor is by far my favorite!

The May wreath comes from something I saw on Pinterest.  I used the Martha Stewart branch punch so much, I recognized it right away!  Here's a flower wreath with some pretty pink flowers and bow for Mother's Day.

June was another difficult month for an idea this year - what to do?  School's out - Father's Day....  Dad's won!  I saw this cut on one of my new Cricut Cartridges.  Pen work, and some inking and details make this pretty cute!

2016 Calendar July - September

Of course we have some red, white, and blue for July!  I used the stamp set "Work of Art" to make the flag representation.  Mom punched little stars for the blue field, and the 'let freedom ring' is glittered.

As kids we used to catch lightning bugs, put them in one of Mom's quart jars and give them to Verna, the lady down the road.  We know she let them loose, but she never told!  Here you have some lightning bugs and I used some glow-in-the-dark paint on their little tails.

I enjoy this arrangement of leaves on the September calendar.  Growing up, September is when the trees were turning and losing their leaves.  Where I live now, I just have to wait a little longer for that to happen.

2016 Calendar October to December

 Here are the 2016 calendars.  My posting order probably doesn't make any sense right now, but once they're all posted, it will make perfect sense!

 October always turns out so GREAT!  No, it's not my favorite holiday - but the October calendar always turns out so cool looking!

 November - I didn't have an idea for this page until the night before we put it together.  257 pieces!  It wasn't fun, but they do look awesome.

We deviated from the tree last Christmas, and I wasn't happy with the calendar - so we put the tree back with its lights.  From gold glimmer paper I used my Stampin' Up die to cut the falala.  It's nice and sparkly!

Thank You Cards

Again this year I received some wonderful Christmas gifts from students.  I spent an afternoon making these Thank-You cards.


I really enjoy using the Thanks die - you can put almost any design on the card, and the die-cut adds that perfect detail to the card!

Sending thanks to the parents and students for wonderful, thoughtful Christmas gifts!