Masculine Duo

With Christmas now behind us, I've finally moved out of the mindset of creating Christmas Cards. Although, I'll still have a few of them to share, especially since I'm on the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round Blog. I'm hoping with the small amount of discipline throughout the year, I'll have a whole variety of homemade Christmas Cards next year!

So, as I tried to scratch my creative itch, I decided to take a look at my calendar. My father and one of my father in-laws each have birthdays in January. It's the perfect time to make some masculine Birthday Cards.



Yeah, I definitely do 'cute' better than 'masculine'. I had started this design as a horizontal card, but I decided last minute to try the verticle layout. They're pretty simple cards that don't need much explanation.



The little cake is cut from a Cuttlebug Die. I cut out four total to double up so they would be sturdier to handle being propped up on thick adhesive. They're colored with my Prima's and Baby Oil, naturally. :)

Can't all be winners

Yay! Time to post a card on here finally. The kids and I have been crafting presents for their school mates, I've been doing cards to turn in to different places, it's weird that none of these items have made my blog yet. Finally, I have something. I stayed up till midnight making it, when I probably should have sat it down, got a little bit of sleep and returned to it later. Oh well... so is life.



Anyhow, the center item took me for what seemed ever! I cut it out with my Cricut Christmas Cheer Cartridge, sponged over the leaves, then traced their lines with marker, and used a white gel pen to add highlights to them. Then I repeated the process with the red berries. I colored in the ribbon with my new Prisma Pencils (thank you grandma!) and took the baby oil to it. I embossed some golden flourishes on the "calling" card along with it's sentiment.

Once I was done with it, I thought it was beautiful. Now I think I should have stopped there, but I was determined to finish it! So I scored some grid lines to frame it on the background paper at about 1/8" apart. It still missed something so I added three Christmas Red brads in the lower corner. I do like it but it feels like it's missing something. I don't know what it is though. It's still a nice card, and heaven knows I spent long enough on it! :)

So it just goes to show, that not every card is a "winner". Though my precious daughter ensures me that it's pretty. :)

Almost Embarrassed

I have been working on cards, but I can't post any of them yet because they are for submission to other sites. Soon though, soon! My daughter on the other hand decided to make a card tonight. All of her blog stuff has to go through me, I'm not ready to let her loose on the world wide web quite yet, and I am almost embarrassed by her last post. You can tell she's an eight year old girl that isn't too savvy with her words, but I want her to be herself, and not correct every little thing.

However, that's not what bothers me, in her last post she said that I am "really good". It sounds like I put her up to it! I swear that I didn't! I want her to talk about herself, and her crafting, but she keeps pointing at me. Anyway, if there's anyone visiting, and has a heart for children, please visit her and leave a little hello. You should see the big smiles that comments on her first card brought to her face. Kirsten's Kreations

Take 2

Okay, so taking pictures of my creations has been something I've struggled with for a while. Whenever I took snapshots inside my pictures always failed to bring out the details in my projects. The light wasn't right despite every lamp in my house assembling together. I did a little searching online, and found some 'hints' for e-bay sellers that expounded on picture taking technique, and this quickly led me to "light box"es. I bugged my hubby and he came up with his own version, and I love it so much!



Yes, that's it. I know it's not pretty, but it sure is functional! I know there are photographers out there that would laugh at me and my excitement, because it's not up to their standards, but I love it. It's a simple plastic bin with a side cut out, lights clamped to the top and ta-da. Insert a backdrop of your choice and snap away.

Unfortunately I don't have any new creations to test in it, so I decided to retake pictures of my Design Team tryout card. I had braved the 17* temperature to take that picture outside, as outside is the only place I've managed to get a good picture. But when it's raining/snowing/blowing it's not practical to get an outside shot.



Not to shabby eh? I like it more than the original, one because you can make out the random embossed trees I did on the white background that didn't show so well in the first picture, but also the contrasting background makes the card 'pop' as I like to call it.

So yeah, I'm tickled pink, and can't wait to put it to good use! Christmas came early to me. :)

Design Team Try Outs

Okay, so I've shared things I've made thanks to the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round blog before. Though I have not been terribly active on it lately thanks to craft show busy-ness and homecoming to tend to, I had the pleasure of seeing that blog when it first appeared, and I really do love the idea of it!

Anyhow, they put out a call for Design Team members. At first I dismissed it, thinking I was crazy for even wanting to try. Then it was more of a "Will I have the time with hubby home?" But finally on the 10th I decided to give it a try.

I didn't want to post this before their announcement on the 15th, but now that the day has come I thought I'd share the card I made.



Though it's not my typical "cute" style, I really do love how this card turned out. We were to use the blog's header as our inspiration, and I managed to bring elements of the header to the card with the card not really looking like the header at all. I'm pleased and so thrilled that I actually made the Design Team. I'm looking forward to the experience!

Friday Sketch 41

Yes, it's been a whole week since my last post, even longer since my last card. What can I say? It's that time of year. I did make a couple cards, but one was for a friend that reads this blog so I didn't dare post it since I want her to be surprised when she gets it. The other has special circumstances surrounding it and I'll have a post up about that tomorrow. Other than that I've been mailing cards this week! It's so rewarding when people call you just to let you know they got a card you made!

Today I managed to sneak in a little bit of crafting time. The weather is horribly cold here in Kansas. We're not going to get out of the 20s for at least three days straight. It's the perfect reason to stay inside huddled around my craft table! A table which has a new tool in it's arsenal thanks to my (hubby's) Grandma! I finally got some Prisma Colored Pencils and baby oil to try a new coloring technique. It's going to take me a while to learn how to blend better, but I absolutely LOVE how the color looks with this technique! So I was so excited to give it a try for Prairie Paper & Ink's Friday Sketch #41.



I was a bit rushed, and I'm sure I could have done a better job if I took more time with it, but it does look better in person. That seems to be the norm for me. I really need to talk my husband into making a light box! Anyway, the main image is a Bella Stamp that I got in a swap. I ran the pink paper through my Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder. I couldn't tell you where the paper or ribbon came from as I'm not dedicated to any one manufacturer, I like to grab whatever suits my fancy. :)

Fabulous

What a fabulous week it has been for me! I know I've been lacking on creations, but with my husband's recent return from a 15 month deployment to Iraq, my attentions have been else where. I was enjoying a lazy Sunday Afternoon when I checked my visiting list just to find I won the last High Hopes Challenge! I'm so thrilled I love the baby Jesus stamp and I'm tickled pink. I might not get it in time to mail out Christmas cards this year, but I'm still thrilled!

All in the family

For the past several months, my daughter has been my shadow, following me around checking out how I do things. She helped me make snowflakes for my craft show items, and it's been so much fun. She's getting older now, she's growing up, and I think it's fabulous that she shares the love for crafting with me.

Just recently I came across the Crafty Monkeys blog. It's a fabulous crafting blog ran by kids for kids. My daughter (and admittedly myself) jumped up and down for joy. She immediately knew she wanted to participate. So over the last week, we've been working on making a blog all her own. It HAD to be pink after all.

Now that she's made her first card for her first challenge, I'd like to present it here. Kirsten's Kreations. It'll be neat to look back at it in the future!