Cards - SC Christmas - Colored Pencil

I worked on more Christmas cards this morning.

I chose to use images I have drawn digitally.  This is my Bethlehem which I had to resize to accommodate this card size but that was easy. It was printed on ivory 65lb card stock.

I used colored pencils and colored the sky, the sand dunes and the windows. 

I cut the large star with the Sizzix Star & Starbursts die in silver card stock. I then punched the others with a CM Star Border punch. Large star adhered with 3D foam and the littles with QuickDry Adhesive.

The image was then adhered to the card with double sided tape, the white insert adhered with glue stick and a strip of d/s tape with carrier on the flap.  This is a self closing card made with 1/2 sheet of 12x12 navy card stock.

I really love how this one came out.

This is an angel a drew digitally based on a wicker angel I saw in a garden center at Christmas many years ago.

Subtle blue background, metallic halo, green metallic on the wings, a red dress with a green and gold border at the bottom.

A bit of flesh color on the face.

A self closing card from a 6x12 inch piece of card stock.  I adhered the drawing onto the card with a white insert opposite.  A length of double sided tape with carrier on the the flap.

A nativity I drew a few years ago. 

A subtle night sky, a yellow star with a wooden stable. 

The figures were colored with traditional blue for Mary and brown for Joseph. Just a wee head for Jesus.

Subtle blue sky, green and tan for the ground background.

Drawing adhered to the card, a blank white insert (not sure if I will regret this later when I have to handwrite the sentiment), carrier tape on the flap. 

Card is 6x12 navy blue linen card stock.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The front door decor received an update from last year.  

I wrapped green garland around the metal star shape and secured it at the top.

I added a green ribbon to the hanger because it was too narrow to fit on my wreath hanger.

I added some red and green Christmas ornaments secured to the hanger. I see that the extra bit makes it almost too low for the peep hole.  It will do!  Maybe a shorter hanger for next year.

I added a metallic red ribbon bow above the ornaments.

Really liking it.

I really enjoyed this book - Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.  John is the main character who was raised by a single father.  He had his rebellious years then joined the army.  With a bit of maturing he returns to visit his Dad while on leave and meets a girl who is building a house for Habitat for Humanity.  They connect in the week he is there and he is headed back overseas.  Letters and phone calls keep them connected.  He learns a bit more about his father on his second leave and they get to know each better.  When his father passes away he discovers his Dad's legacy.

I loved the story because it's not too sugary sweet. The characters are real and honest.  In the end, doing the right thing wins over what's in it for me.

I would recommend this book and I will search for more of his books.

A lot fewer recipes of Caramel Popcorn have been made this year as our large family Christmas has been cancelled.  I have a few siblings who live close so I will drop off bags with the right social distancing.

I generally make bags to sell which of course did not happen this year.

 

I was lent this book by a friend.  It was a quite read with a lot of wisdom inside and some beautiful art.  Some I recognized and others that I will look up on line.

 

I put up my quick and easy Nativity this year.  It is a large metal nativity which has be powder coated in shiny black.  I have set it on my antique trunk and used my photography backdrop stand to hold the starry fabric behind it. I was hoping the stars would show but I had to get far enough back to see it all.

I placed my LED Noma Heritage Teardrop lights in the front mixed with green garland. Since they are LED I don't have to worry about them getting hot.

 

Recently, I have chosen to watch only positive shows.  To fill my head and heart with good stuff. The news and some of the my regular shows are crime shows so violence, conflict and dissension were the order of the day. These are the ones I watch every week day.  I just love the Baking Shows. 

The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday this week was high key.  I thought it would be easy but it was not.  I learned a lot but took a lot of rejected shots.  You can check my Flickr Photostream SMDPics to see the image I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #109 and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #270. Keep safe and well!

Christmas Card Order - My Photos

I had an order for manger cards again this year.

I made a few Christmas cards in this set with photos.  This one is the Nativity which used to sit in my office when I worked.

I love the stars in the deep purple sky.  The big star above the baby.  I used gold mesh as straw on the floor.

The blue green below is a batik wall hanging.

This one is burgundy velvet curtains in the background with gold holy family in the foreground. These had color printed frames.

 I photographed this holy family at a nativity display.  I replaced the background on this one with a purple handmade paper digital from my collection. 

I then added that to the solid 3.5x5 inch photo. 

I added the words from "O Holy Night" on the right hand side.  It was adhered to a deep purple card base.

This is my small nativity which I photographed a while back.  It comes out every year.

I cut the photo to almost square.  I mounted it to  a brown Tim Holtz Cameo Frame with 3D foam tape. 

This was adhered to a tan card. 

Holy Family Photo Christmas Cards

I take photos of nativity sets whenever I can. This was taken during the 2016 Christmas season.

This time I was working on supplies for a stack card kit for my class on Monday.  I printed a few extra to make some cards for the craft sale.

Here I have adjusted the orientation of the photo to accommodate my needs for the card kit.  I added a color fill background and added a greeting.

For this card with a 4x6 photo I had to reduce the space between the photo and the greeting so I trimmed the photo down to a narrow color border.  I then trimmed the greeting to the same width as the photo.  These were adhered to the card front of a heavy white card. 




Left: This little nativity I have used before.


Right: I designed this card with a Mother and Child photo from Pixabay.  I`ve used this image several times.

The stack kit should be ready soon.

Countdown Calendar - Christmas & Birthday

I made more Countdown Calendars as I sold out at my last sale.

I chose a Bethlehem image from a designer paper for thei Christmas side. I placed a strip of yellow card stock for the days remaining.

Again, these have birthday/celebrate on the other side.  I chose Bohemia DSP featuring a large dragonfly.  I added a light blue day remaining strip.  Blue marker.

Gift designer paper with green, red and silver.  I chose a red patchwork designer paper for the birthday side.  Ivory strips with Brilliant Blue balloons with hand drawn strings.
A red marker with this one.










I put my Nativity on the Christmas side and printed on photo paper.

The birthday side features my balloons in blues.

With a black dry erase marker.










This one has glitter paper from My Minds Eye with MS snowflake punchies.


The birthday side features a designer with circles and swirls.

Blue dry erase marker.

Designer paper with ornaments, gifts and silver accents.

I chose red and white polka dots paper with MS silver sticker paper with hand drawn strings.

With black dry erase marker.

Christmas Card Order - Manger #2

For this card I started with the Stampin Up "Come to Bethlehem" stamp set.  I added the sentiment and printed it onto Very Vanilla card stock.  I managed 6 onto a full sheet of card stock.   I trimmed them.  I chose a coordinating piece of designer paper by Creative Imaginations - Sonnets by Sharon Soneff - French Poetry Print.  It has diamonds and script which creates a soft background.  I cut it then ripped the bottom edge of it. I adhered the Bethlehem layer to the designer paper and trimmed the card stock as needed. It was then adhered to the front of a dark brown card. I added hand drawn lines along the top and bottom with a gold alcohol marker.

This card features my new Nativity drawing. I created 3 separate pieces.  The stable, the Holy Family and the star based on my star from the Bethlehem drawing.  I can them mix and match them as I choose.  I placed centered the star over the babe in the manger.
I colored the stable in brown, the Holy Family in blue and the star in yellow.
I used the starry night I created for the earlier card as well.  I printed it onto a quarter sheet of white card stock and trimmed it to leave a small border.
This one is adhered to a navy card to coordinate with the dark border on the figures.  I added a sticky gold star in the center of the printed star.

Here's another card made with the same digital set of drawings.

This time I chose to keep it monochromatic.  I chose Dusty Plum.

In the star and the figures I added a gradient fill come from the bottom and the top to lighter in the middle.

I printed it onto a half sheet of white card stock.  I folded it and added a silver star in the center of the printed star.

This is a simpler design in layers and color.

Decorative Paper - Christmas Cards

I delivered 10 Christmas cards to the gallery today.

I made this card with some of my Christmas colored ink spot decorative paper.  I trimmed it to leave a small border.  I printed the greeting in green onto a 2.5" strip of vellum and gold embossed.  I ripped both edges then folded the edges over and taped them to the back.
This layer was adhered to the front of a red card.

I created a nativity drawing yesterday.  I checked out a few images on line then incorporated several aspects into my drawing.

I created this card with the image.  I printed the nativity, the star and the greeting in black on vellum and gold embossed it.  I chose a subtle watercolor background with blue, green, and purple.  I adhered it to the front of a purple card. The vellum was placed onto the decorative paper.  I used a small amount of vellum adhesive at the base of the stable.  I made a hole with a push pin and then placed a tiny gold star brad in the center of the star.

Some of these cards and these from last year were returned.