Merry Christmas to me!!!

My new corner work desk....

   My husband has been working in his workshop for most of the first part of December. He was making me a new corner desk for my craftroom. He claims it isn't a Christmas present, but it sure feels like a gift. He put it together last week , but because of my knee surgery I haven't had the chance to put the pics on my blog. He is such a great husband. He worked hard on this project and the results are great.

Die cutting area

You know when you get a new piece of furniture it makes you clean up the rest of the area and that is just what I did. I moved and rearranged my stations. I have a die

Scoring and Cutting

Great paper storage for me.

cutting station and a scoring and cutting station. I do need a new wastebasket, though. I think I'll get  that at the  after Christmas sales at Staples.



    So this is Christmas Eve Day. I have all the gifts wrapped. What a great feeling. My son, Nathaniel, is coming today. We will have a Christmas Eve dinner tonight with gifts in the morning. I am so blessed to have family close by us. I have been praying for those who have lost family members or have family far away from home.

Yeah.. Mickey!!!

  My brother-in-law, Tom, just loves all those inflatable Christmas figures you see out and about. He can't have one at his condo, so he bought on for us to use until they have a home. It's Mickey Mouse. So cute.. I think we may have to buy one, too. Here is a pic of it from last night.

Our house to yours....

  May you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

The Rush is On!

   Wow.. I can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner. I am behind because I had knee surgery for a torn miniscus last Monday. I am doing well, but standing for long periods is not good for my knee, and for some reason I have to stamp standing up.. So I am behind in my card making. I got one batch  out already and am finishing up the last batch.
   The hardest part of card making is coming up with a design. I use Pinterest alot for inspiration or for casing cards. There are some beauties on this site. I chose two cards to case from my board. You can check out my Card Board here: Connie's Card Board

One design for Christmas

  The card to the right is a design I just finished. I changed this card slightly because I thought the dry embossed border gave it texture and the white mounted paper made the card shine more. I love the little blue jewel in the middle.

Add caption

 














Here is a picture of the card without the white border.   I definitely like the white border better. I haven't embossed for quite awhile now so it was good to be working with that technique again.
The stamps are from Stampin Up: Delightful Decorations, and Baroque Motifs. I don't know which set the sentiment comes from since I took it out and didn't put it back.. bad Connie....

Second Design

   The second Christmas card design I also cased from Pinterest. Again I changed elements to suit my taste and materials at hand.
   The wreath is a stamp from Penny Black. I added white enamel accents dots along with green, red, or clear Stickles as ornaments around the wreath. I added the ribbon to go with the color of the stickles I used in the wreath. The sentiment is from Stampin Up , too.

So true....

  I bought  a stamp from Inkadinkadoo that I really love. It says "Jesus is the reason for the season". I stamped this inside of every card I sent. 

Wicked pretty, huh?

   My last project has been to make Christmas ornaments. My sister, Chris, made the blue one and so I had to try my hand at making this beautiful ornaments. They really aren't that difficult once you know how to do it. It's just time consuming stamping and cutting out each piece. It takes 20 of the fat ornaments and 15 of the small red ones.  Hot glue is handy for putting the pieces together. I really had fun making these ornaments. Check out this link for a video on how to put these beauties together. Christmas Ornaments
  I am finishing up my last few Christmas cards and my Christmas shopping. We are going to the Magic of Christmas performance this afternoon. That should really put me in the Spirit of Christmas. Hope all is going well with your preparation.

Church Fair Today!!

   I am so proud that I got the cards done for my donation to our church's Christmas Fair on time. Yeah for me!! I worked like a dog, though. I am pretty happy with how they all came out. The boxes to hold the cards were really simple. I used one 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper to do one box. I liked that  I didn't waste paper. I've linked the directions to Rachel Clifton's Christmas card boxes in my last post, but here it is again. Rachel Clifton's Christmas card boxes

Six boxes done....

  I found six different cards to case on Pinterest. I tried to find simple cards with just a little embellishments 'cause I didn't want people who buy them to have to pay more to send them. Here is a link to my Card Board so that you can peruse through and find these cards and their websites easily. Connie's Pinterest Card Board
   I also had to keep in mind that I didn't have all the same materials as these original designs had on the cards. But I think they came out alright.

Simple to make...

  The easiest card was the one using Stampin Up's "Lovely as a Tree" set. I love the colors and how you could decorate the tree the way you wanted.


   I used two different shades of ink: River Rock and Soft Suede. The tree in the foreground could be decorated any way you choose. I used glitter, but I wished that I had had some red stickles to make red balls.

Another simple to make card

   My next simplest card was the card that had Christmas packages on it. I was able to use scraps for paper cut into squares and then add the Memory Box die cut bows to each one.
   The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. I used different colors for the bow for each card. I think my favorite though was the gold ribbon. It just seemed to really stand out on the paper. This card is great for using up those scraps you  have hanging around.

Love the colors..

   My next card was the ornament card. Here I chose the ornament stamp from Stampin Up called "Delightful Decorations". It has four different ornaments, but this one worked well. You just stamp the ornament and add the bow. I have a great Merry Christmas stamp that I used to stamp around it. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me get the words straight.

Love the wreath.

   The card with the wreath on took a little bit of time 'cause I had to use a circle template and glue the greenery around it. I always get glue all over me.. I did one card without a circle template and it was way harder. Then I came up with the idea of a circle template and it went much better.

Easy card

Memory Box card

  I used a punch from Punch Bunch and added the ribbon. I embossed the background with an embossing folder from Stampin Up. I love the red and green color combo for Christmas.
  The last two cards didn't take too long to make. The pine cones  and tassel is from a stamp made by Inkadinkado. I used mounted it one read paper and added the embossed white paper to it. The ribbon is from A.C. Moore.
   The last card took me the longest for some reason. I used a Memory Box die. I glued down the leaves and berries which was messy. I love the script sentiment from Stampin Up.

Our tree

Decorations

Stockings hung

Boxwood tree and snowman

  I am so glad they are done so that now I can work on my Christmas cards and finish getting the house ready for Christmas. Here as some pictures of what I've done around the house so far.