A New Beginning

This flower bud was photographed in my daughter's yard in OR and it seemed appropriate to post on New Year's Eve.  It represents a new beginning that will turn into something beautiful and that seems to be a good way to look at the coming of 2014.  I hope you find a lot of beauty in your new year.

Driverless

Once in a while as you travel about you see something interesting or strange.  I'd put this in the "strange" department.  We followed this car through several intersections and it really appeared that there was no driver.  I think in reality it was a very short female at the wheel, but the car really appeared to move on its own.

Nuts

I tried a new recipe for glazed nuts to give as Christmas gifts.  Found the recipe online and you'll have to take my word for it--they were quite delicious.  I decided to put them back in the original can for presentation but wanted to spruce it up a bit.  I chose a die cut for the Merry Christmas text and added it to a red cardstock circle with some punched snowflakes.  The label is printed on my computer and I added some die cut pine and dimensional paint berries.  

Moving Water

Water is very important in agricultural areas and there are a lot of different ways to divert water or carry it where it needs to go.  This structure is in Idaho and I've marveled at it all the years we've driven by it on trips from Colorado to Oregon.  I have no idea how long ago it was built nor by whom but it is made primarily from wood, holding up well and still in use.  I'm impressed.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  May you be well and enjoy a relaxing, special day.

The Epitome of Fashion

This fashionista was outside one of the stores at Bridgeport Shopping Mall in OR.  She's so thin she should be worried and she wasn't dressed properly for the chilly temperature but the young and fashionable have their own set of standards so I didn't really feel too badly for her.  I'm all about practical and comfortable so I don't suppose we would ever relate very well.  I did away with some of the background with some blending.

And now it's Christmas Eve!  Are you ready?!  It certainly came quickly and before we turn around it will be a new year.  Yikes.

Christmas In The City

This time of year it's nice to see all the tiny bright lights, soft red ribbon and pine garlands.  That all came together rather nicely in this courtyard where once can sit and eat what they buy at the grocery store.  There are heaters strategically placed to make it quite comfortable.

In The City

This was the scene at one of the stores at Bridgeport Village in Oregon.  I thought it captured the sense of big sales, colorful holiday fashions and traditional decorations in pine, tinsel and red velvet.  The gray draped fabric in the window provides a neutral frame for all the color and the overall scene is inspiration for a card design.

Christmas Color

Seems like every year brings a different color of poinsettia.  This was a collection at the grocery store.  Nice, bright spot.

Central Oregon

Three Sisters peaks near Redmond OR.  Snow on the ground but it felt warm in this area after being in the teens (and chillier) in CO.

Snowy Blend

I decided to try some blending with wintery photos.  The leaves and seed pods on the Russian Olive tree still had snow which added interest to the photo and made a good starting point.  I blended with two textures.  Yes, winter photos have definite possibilities.

Christmas Wreath

This card turned out to be a slow and tedious design because the tiny interior pieces didn't easily remove from the cut wreath.  It didn't help that my metal sheet was packed and I didn't have access to it. Sometimes ya just gotta do what you gotta do.   I cut a circle from the cream-colored cardstock before adhering the wreath and also punched the corners.  My goodness, that's quite an old punch!  The letters were die cut as was the pine.  I added the festive bow and the design was complete.  Not traditional Christas colors but that's one of the reasons I liked the design.

The Positive And The Negative

Yes, it's another die cut and I'm showing you cards I made using both the positive and negative.  I cut the tree from gold cardstock and for the first card I removed the cut and added some sparkly circle stickers and a sparley topper.

The green card shows the positive--the pieces I removed from the gold cardstock.  I carefully adhered them to green cardstock, being careful to save the little center pieces that float free.  Both cards were embellished the same.

I actually like both cards and was happy to have a design that used both the positive and the negative from the die cut.

The Die Cuts Continue

The cranberry strips was folder embossed and cut into narrow strips.  I cut the labels, the smaller one from patterned paper.  I added die cut pine boughs and tied narrow satin ribbon into a bow.  Now that was easy!

Ornaments For The Tree

The photo doesn't show well how this card was made.  I die cut the label design from red patterned paper and a smaller size of the same label from dark green cardstock.  I added texture to the small label with a folder.  The ornament is a stamp I found in the $1 bin (now a $1.25 bin) which I gold embossed and cut out. I stamped the bow portion twice and added it with foam tape for dimension.  The pine is die cut.  Is your tree up and decorated?

Let The Snowflakes Fall

I saw this design in an online class and used both die cuts and punches for he snowflakes, some in white and some in silver cardstock.  The text is silver embossed and I added some sparkly flat sticker dots.  Will there be enough snow to build a snowman? or for a white Christmas?

Merry Christmas Die Cut

I admit that I depended quite a lot on die cuts for my cards this year.  That's because 1) I enjoy using them and the results they give; and 2) my Big Shot was still available for my use.  I cut the "Merry Christmas" from both red and green cardstock, removed the cut from one color and inserted it into the other.  I dislike it when the center of the letters aren't included so I was careful to save those little pieces and get them in place.  The snowflakes were punched and the border was die cut.  I added a strip of narrow ribbon for some variety in texture.  Merry Christmas to all!

Joy

This is a design I found on Pinterest.  There's that snowflake embossing folder again and this time I cut it at a slant and added some color with patterned paper.  The holly and letters are die cut and I added dimensional paint for the berries, some string and a narrow strip of dark green cardstock that matched the holly.  I like this one a lot and used made them until I ran out of the red paper.  Joy to the world!

Leftovers

There were some short strips of paper left from the card design I showed yesterday so I used them for this design.  Just reversed one of the strips (the paper was double sided) and flagged the end.  The snowflakes were punched.  Got two cards out of the scraps; they were quick and I didn't waste much at all.

Snowflake With Flag

This card design is one I got from Becky's class but, of course, I had to modify it to use the paper, stamps and snowflake die cut that I had.  The background was folder embossed and I put a pearl in the center of the snowflake.  Let it snow!

Santa

I've been seeing Santa all over town.  Here he is on a Saturday walking down Main Street and I saw him the day before having a late breakfast or early lunch at The Egg & I.  Now I realize he has extra duties this time of year in the form of guest appearances, etc. but seeing him so often makes me wonder if he is leaving too much responsibility to the little elves.  But they seem to be dedicated to their cause and quite happy so I think they have worked out a system that works for all.  I hope you find what you want under the Christmas tree.

Suspended Snowflake

I had new snowflake die cuts and used them rather extensively in my Christmas card designs this year.  This card requires two identical snowflakes with filament adhered between them.  The filament is taped to the front of the card, centered in the window which was die cut.  The white front is folder embossed and I added sparkly stickers to the center of the snowflakes.  Of course the suspended effect is only effective when the card is open but I think it's a nice surprise for the recipient.  And it's pretty easy to accomplish which is always a good thing.  I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Dotted Die Cut

I thought this dotted circle die cut was unusual and a good possibility for some fun designs.  I backed it with contrasting cardstock and added a punched border in the same color.  The snowflakes are die cut or punched and I added a glitzy sticker to the center of the snowflakes.

Leftover Circle

This card started with the circle cut from yesterday's card.  I simply matted it on a slightly larger circle and added a double bow.  The card front was embossed and the green border was die cut.  I removed the front edge of the card and backed it with a thin strip of green cardstock.  I added a wider strip of red cardstock inside the card.  Pretty easy and a way to use the leftovers.

White Wreath

For this Christmas card I cut a circle from patterned paper.  The wreath and poinsettia were die cut and I added yellow dots for the flower center and loops of ribbon behind the flower.  The patterned paper was popped up.  Tomorrow I'll show how I used the circles cut from this design for another card design.

Blended Grafitti

I photographed this graffiti downtown and blended the face (downloaded from the internet) with it.  I added some grunge corders and a text stamp.  Faces and the human form definitely have a place in photo blending.

Face On The Wall

I made a presentation on photo blending to our camera club.  Afterwards one of the members briefly mentioned seeing in a photography magazine a photo of a face blended with trees.  That got me thinking that I hadn't used many humans in my blending so I gave it a try.  The face was downloaded so it's not anyone I know.  The wall is a photo I took in OR.

Last of The Dots

This one isn't so different but since I'm desperate for cards to post, I decided to show it anyway.  I'm working on Christmas cards (inadvertently packed those I had finished) so will be posting some of those now that Thanksgiving is past.

Dots In Three Sizes

For this card I cut off a section of the piece that was die cut and added some patterned paper.  The flower, leaves and butterflies were punched and I put a narrow strip of cardstock between the two paper pieces.