Merry Christmas to You!

Merry Christmas to all!  

Wishing you all the joy, peace and hope of the season!

Gold & Burgundy Nativity Panel Card

I mentioned the other two designs in this post and here's the selection the couple made. 

As mentioned earlier, this is a 5x7 panel card with a 4x6 photo adhered in the center of the frame printed on the front of the panel  The image is a nativity I photographed several years ago to which I applied a filter to soften the image a bit.  I also applied a photo edge in white which provided an uneven edge to the image which I think works well. It had lovely velvet curtains in the background so I chose to repeat that color for the frame on the front. 

The back of the panel was customized with a scripture verse, a sentiment and the name of the couple. 

Community Christmas Concert

I attended the Community Christmas Concert last night.  The weather cooperated so driving was good.  I met my friend at the church early and we managed to find good seats. 

There were several songs from different cultures and in different languages.  Unity with diversity is what is all about. 

It was very good.  There was a drime which was young people doing a bit of drama to a song about Ebenezer Scrooge which I think was a great addition.

We were discouraged from taking pictures which is too bad because these a most school choirs and all the parents are really proud of their kids.

Advent Begins - "Christ"mas is coming

I was not home on Sunday to hang my Advent Calendar so I dug it out today.  My sister made this for several years ago and every day I move a character or element into the scene until baby Jesus is placed in the centre.

I so enjoyed my Being Present for Christmas class this fall. I now have the book The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp to read every day.



I have Cinnamon Vanilla in my wax warmer which fills my place with a festive scent.

I also have several versions of other versions of advent calendars.

Miniatures Show - Nov 28 to Dec 16 2015

The CAVA Gallery is holding a special event which is a 2 day kick off to the Miniatures Show.  There will be a fun atmosphere at the gallery on the weekend and with the snow's arrival it's hoped that people will be in a Christmas shopping mood.  This show was designed to provide supporters and the public access to art in a small format.  The pieces must be 10x10 inches or smaller which generally makes them more affordable. 
I have my 8x8" mixed media collages in this show.  Of course, my 2016 Photo Calendars are still for sale as well as my greeting cards.  Drop by during the next few weeks, browse the art and cross off a few names off your Christmas list. 

Nativity - Aphothecary Framelit

I made a few Christmas cards this weekend.  I started with a photo of my office Nativity.  I cut it with a framelit from the Stampin Up Apothecary set.  I chose a deep mauve color for the card which matched well.  With the colors in the image I could have gone with green, navy or ivory as well. I then laid out my greeting to match the curve of the die cut and color printed it on the card stock.  Then adhered the nativity die cut and it was done!!

Ready2Fill Calendars - 2015

These are calendar kits which allow you to put together a gift in a hurry.  All you have to do is print thirteen 4x6 photos and adhere them in.  The adhesive and photo corners are included.  Great do it yourself project.


The chalkboard comes with pink photo corners. the provence comes with pearl white corners and the black and white one comes with metallic gold/silver corners.

Mosaic Monday - House Canvas

Here's my last canvas.  I wanted to make a house one which could be given to someone who just purchased a house or just place in the front hall.
I started by creating a gradient background from blue at the top to earthy colors at the bottom using artist pigments Carribean Blue, Laguna and Yellow Citron. I painted yellow onto watercolor for the bright windows. I cut my house from white textured card stock. The main body, the roof and chimney.  I cut out windows and framed them with paint.  I painted the door and cut it out.  I painted a path way to the door and the tree trunk in darker colors.  I cut out the foliage for the tree and added birds and flowers.  I crunched and stained tissue paper in green and adhered it to the bottom of the canvas to create grass.  Added some clouds in the sky, smoke from the chimney and a red heart in the peak of the roof.

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday hosted my Judith at Lavender Cottage.

Be Present for Christmas - Lesson 2 - A Love Story

Today, we are making Christmas cards as the activity for our lesson to show love to those we care about.  

I needed a design for ladies who are not card makers and could be made in 30 minutes or so.  I have stamped the Stampin Up Holy Family from the Gentle Peace polymer set onto vellum and embossed it.  Half with silver powder and other half in gold powder.  We will be making 4 cards - 2 of each design.  I selected water color designer paper by Creative Imaginations - Sea Wash and Blue Wash.  I paired them with coordinating card stock in green and blue.  I have included an insert with the coordinating sentiment from the stamp set.  The vellum is trimmed close and held in place with 3 brads, a star one for the top and to tiny ones for each bottom corner. 

This week the lesson focus is Life Begins with a Love Story. We were created by a huddle of holy hearts.  Go to the window, the front door, the backyard, the park, the highest hill be awed by God's creation, you were made by love, for love and watch it come down. 

I'm selecting my lessons from The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp.  The book provides 24 lessons for each day of Advent of which I have chosen 7 for this class.  We will have readings, questions, discussion, and an activity each week.

It's time to start thinking of our Christmas Card List.  As you can imagine I would highly recommend paper cards but I recognize that it may not be right for everyone.  We want to show our love to others so it is better that they receive the love than it be handmade.  Maybe it’s a family photo, a postcard, a digital card sent by email, or a newsletter. Other ideas?

Be Present for Christmas - Lesson 1 - The Small Shoot

I have provided a journal for the participants. It provides a central place organize their experience.

Each week, they can include their prayer lists, the lesson plan, their Random Acts of Kindness, their family activities, and other relevant information.

I have cut a Stampin Up Top Note to be adhered to the front or the inside cover to identify the owner of the journal and the class.  Some journals have stripes, some dots and some chevrons.  Red, pink and grey.

I'm selecting my lessons from The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp.  The book provides 24 lessons for each day of Advent of which I have chosen 7 for this class.  We will have readings, questions, discussion, and an activity each week.

The stump brings forth a small new shoot.  From what appeared dead life emerged.  It's not about the dead past but what we can create going forward. We must come as we are, ready to look at the smallest, find the shoot in the stump, find the broken in the cracks of the world and offer a word of love which will bring about miracles.

This pink one is my book for the class.

Be Present for Christmas - Gratitude

I'm teaching a class I've called "Be Present for Christmas" and the first class is tonight.  It is a class to help people slow down, focus on the reason for the season, and prepare their hearts for Christmas.

I am starting with Gratitude.  I've read Ann Voskamp's 1000 Gifts from which I have taken a small excerpt about this very subject.  Living with an attitude of gratitude changes us. 

Exchange Cards

I made these cards for my card exchange. 

I chose the greeting then found designer paper which coordinated, then card stock that worked with it. I trimmed the designer paper to leave a small border of card color and adhered it in place. I added an embossed strip of vellum across the bottom third of the card. I punched the greeting with the Stampin Up Decorative Label.  I punched a coordinating aqua label and cut it in half crosswise. I adhered them to the back of the greeting offset to the left and right.  I mounted the greeting layer with 3D foam tape.

For the 2nd card, I chose a deep pink card which matched the designer paper. I offset the paper down from the top and up from the bottom.  It was trimmed leaving a small space between the 2 designer paper pieces.  I put a piece of white of seam binding in this bright space.  It was knotted and the ends were trimmed.  I added a color printed greeting.  I added a blue SU decorative label offset like the first one.  Mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape.  They are off to 2 partners in the exchange.

Happy Easter

May you have a great Easter and long weekend if you have the time off work.  Enjoy time with family, friends, and/or co-workers.  May the sun shine!!

Quick Thank You Notes

I needed some quick thank you cards to include with my blog give away calendars. I whipped these up using some of my original watercolor backgrounds with a frame from Clker. I found the frame in a few colors and a couple worked with the watercolors I had selected. I added the sentiment with a nice script font in a color to coordinate with the watercolor.  Another great one to add to my collection of note cards. Bonus.

Photo Challenge - Day 11 to 15

This is the final week of Sally Russick's 15 day Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge.   I always enjoy being challenged and thank Sally for hosting this challenge.  Here are my pics.

Day 11 - Macro

This is a close up of the view finder on my now defunct Canon Powershot A430 from the front. I loved this camera.  It was my first digital camera and I used it for 6 years and my Mom for another 4, so it was long lived.

Day 12 - Temptation

Ice cream bars with chocolate, the only thing missing is nuts is one of my temptations.  This is a small one so it's less calories when I do indulge.  It was delicious.

Day 13 - Sweetness

This orange is my sweetness with my breakfast.  A bit of tea, an egg and an orange.  I really need the Vitamin C as I'm fighting a cold.

Day 14 - Love

This is a heart shaped bowl which is a set of 2 that I received from my Mom and Dad when I graduated from college.  It is special to me.  I love the way the glass creates this blue frame around the dried flowers inside.

Day 15 - Togetherness

I found these exquisite Cameo buttons during my clean up this week.  I find it amazing that they were designed to face each other and they are 2 different ladies.  I can imagine them as 2 sisters, a mother and daughter or special cousins.

Mosaic Monday - Beauty and the Beast

I got a call from my sister asking if I would like to attend a performance of the Beauty and the Beast as they had an extra ticket.  I decided to go.

It was wonderful.  The set design was exquisite in my opinion.  The performers were great. The music and the singing was excellent.  We were on the main level about 15 rows from the front on the left hand side, very good seats.

Of course, we could not take photos during the performance which  was disappointing.

There were little girls everywhere.  Some in yellow dresses, some all dressed up with tiaras like a princess, some not in costume but all of them excited!!!

Thanks for the great experience.

I'm submitting my post to Judith's Mosaic Monday.

Photo - Challenge - Day 6 to 10

I'm participating in Sally Russick's 15 day photo challenge.  The focus is our every day lives.

Day 6 - Minimal

This is a white egg in a black dish.  I wanted it to be a black and white photo.  I love the reflections of the egg on the sides of the dish.

Day 7 - Daily Chaos

This was my chaos today. I've been sorting through stuff and deciding what is hitting the garbage can and what is going to the second store. My place is feeling less cluttered.

Day 8 - Words

Here's a poem I wrote years ago.

Day 9 - Night Time Calm

This is a tool I use in the evening to calm down before I head for bed.  Of course, the suggestion of cup works for my favorite chamomile tea in the evening wind down.

Day 10 - Outside

This a puffed up black billed magpie sitting on a tree branch on a very cold day.  

Exchange Cards - Reused Photo

I made these 2 cards for my card exchange.  I cut down photos from my photo calendar from last year to 3.75" square.  I found card stock that worked with the pink in the flowers.  Adhered that to the card front.  I glued a flourish which came from the edges I had cut for the gift calendar I made as a Christmas gift.

I then added a stitched border by hand with a find black felt tip marker.

This makes a smart looking single layer card and allows me to re use the photos from the calendar which I really wanted to do.

I'm happy with these and I hope the girls like them too!

Art Calendar - Handmade Gift

I created this art calendar with some of my photos. As I indicated in this earlier post, I processed each photo in hopes of creating an image that looked more like a painting.  Some I'm really happy with others not as much.  Pretty good for my first time. I printed them at home on matte photo paper so they would be more like paintings.

The calendar pages are 8.5" square with a half inch added to the binding edge. The calendar was printed on the 8.5 x 9 inch sheet of white card stock.  The binding is Zutter.

Then I wanted to create a frame.  I could not find a die in my collection large enough and to the right proportions so I turned to my Cricut. After spending a long time with several cartridges and doing some test cuttings I selected the Elegant Edges cartridge.  I cut the borders to 6.75" wide which filled the 8.5" square pages nicely.  I added a piece of vellum under the photo which helped define the space for the photo as well as align all the pieces. I centered the vellum on the page then added the pieces over top. I cut all the borders from black card stock.  I did have to trim the vellum where it showed through the holes in the borders. That was tedious.  I added one of the die cuts from inside the borders next to the photo to balance the rectangular space.

The cover has the numbers 2015 cut with the Sizzix Go Go Boots Sizzlet Alphabet dies.

Coaster Calendars 2015

I'm here with Coaster Calendars for the November 8 2014 sale. These are a nice gift.

Coasters covered with designer paper then pressed while drying to make sure they stay perfectly flat.  I added vellum sentiments cut with the Stampin Up Apothecary Framelit.  I added a small calendar with double sided tape.