The Three Wisemen Card

     As you can see I am on a roll with my Christmas cards this year. The more I do the more intricate I am getting. This is my new favorite for the week, lol. Fortunately I had cut these out in anticipation of our possibly losing power. It is truly a miracle that THIS time we didn't. However you can still see the snow that is left over and this is 5 days later.
     This time I went with a 5x7" card base. The card stock is a cream with a nice sheen to it. The image was cut using the Inspired Heart image @ 3" and the background is from a pale blue glossy card stock.I really love using embossing of all kinds on my cards and this has both dry and heat embossing.The background is Swiss dots whereas I used heat embossing for the stars in the upper right hand corner as well as the sentiment "Unto us a child is born".  The embossing powder is a detail silver and really makes a statement! Both stamps are from Inkadinkado.

     The flower was cut from Flower Shoppe cart by ProvoCraft.  I cut them @ various sizes: 1 3/4" and 1- 1/2". I used a DCWV stack and Donna Salazar's technique with the tulle and added some of her Pixie Dust Glitter. I assembled the card by using silver thread to sew the image and background together before adhering it to the card base.

     I thought the flower would balance the stars off and the colors just seemed to fit.It gives it a quiet elegance don't ya think?

     I also added a sentiment on the inside and used a rich blue ink. It says: "Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas everyday." I just love this sentiment. It would be wonderful if we could have that warm feeling year round, don't you agree?

Creativity Begins Here!

    This months challenge for the Circle members was to make something expressing your love of creating, this is what I came up with.
    I had wanted to make something for my craft room and like many of you, I have an abundance of supplies. Sometimes I forget all the neat products I own so I decided to make a wall plaque to use as a creative jumping off point.
    First I used some wall vinyl and made the word "Creativity" using gypsy font cut at 4". This is such a beautiful font with intricate detail in the fonts (so creative, lol). Then I used my gypsy to weld the words "begins here" using "Opposites Attract" @ height of 2.25.
   Now for my Creative Board. Where do I begin? First I used a 12"x12" piece of printed paper and adhered that to same size chipboard that was painted on the back side. I then made a glimmer mist using Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls. Once it was dry I distressed the edges with my Distrezz It All and inked the edges then punched the top edge with my Bind It All.
The creative ideas was cut also with Gypsy Font using both shadow and upright feature. I used both solid card stock and print and reversed them for top and bottom of board.
The dress form was cut @ 3.50" with the French Manor cartridge. For this cut I used Grunge Paper by Tim Holtz and used his black dabber paint . I finished the "dress" with a small prima flower and small rhinestone. It is adhered to a spellbinders oval that is embossed with one of the folders from the Asian bundle using my Cuttle bug, of course the edges were inked!
The small velum envelope with tag was a perfect way to showcase my brads. It was cut using Fabulous Findings@ 2.48x 2.32 for the insert. I know the lattice was cut using French Manor but I can"t remember the details of my butterfly. (I cut and stickled it a while ago and found it in my stash while doing this project, lol.
I have been taking classes at My Creative Classroom so I had to incorporate a few techniques. One was the memory frame that is stamped "Laugh" and uses alcohol inks for the background. I used Plantin School book in for my "vintage" flowers that were cut @ various sizes and has a rhinestone center.
The Just A Note was cut using Imagine More and then inked. I finished the whole project off with some Jolee embellishments (paint tubes, apron, palette etc.) and of course some beautiful ribbon.
Although this project was a lot of work, every time I look at it I smile so I guess it was worth the time and effort. I hope this has somewhat inspired you!
                                                               
                                                                     
                                                              

My Creative Classroom!

    I've been lost in classes! I am absolutely in love with this site. I started taking classes here last spring and always find there are more I want to take!
   Right now I am taking 2 online classes with Donna Salazar. The first class is distrezz it 101. This class teaches you how to use the distrezz it all tool , its like a sander for paper, chipboard, cardboard etc.
   I'll post the final project after I finish the last class which ends with the tutorial and final techniques tomorrow.
   The other class I'm taking is also taught by Donna Salazar. Its called Artsy Fartsy. This class is way too much fun. I did purchase Donna's kit for this class. The papers are all designed by her and features wonderful watercolor paper.
   You'll notice on both of these pages there is a beautiful shimmer to the paper. This is a spritz technique that is just wonderful. I made my own spritz with reinkers, water and Ranger's perfect pearls

   One of the many things about Donna's classes is learning how to make these wonderful flowers She has made her own paper called Crafty Chronicles. I didn't want to cut the paper up because of the hilarious features she wrote including the ads.
   This page had a light lavender wash before I added the white braid and my rose bud flowers. Of course I added my own touches by using pearls, ribbon and a double heart charm.
   Even though I finish Distrezz It All 101 tomorrow, I have 3 more weeks of the fabulous Artsy Fartsy classes to go. I am also working on some projects with the Imagine and hope to complete some soon so I can share. (I had a lot of "homework" to do for my classes!)