Saturday, November 30, 2013

Vintage Christmas at Sugar Creek Hollow/Victorian ornaments

Hello and thanks for stopping by! The new two-week challenge starting today (11/30/13) at Sugar Creek Hollow is "Vintage Christmas" and we welcome a Guest Designer for this challenge, Avril Branthwaite. Be sure to visit her beautiful blog!

I love vintage ornaments and have several really old ones from my Mom's family. I did some research into vintage Christmas decorations and learned that the terms "scrap" and "scrapbook" came from the Victorian era (who knew?). As a way to keep their children busy and entertained,19th Century moms would cut out scraps from magazines and give the children albums (often handmade) to paste them into. I also learned that young Victorian ladies would spend hours making tree ornaments from things they had on hand--trimming scrap images from magazines and adding tinsel, ribbons, beads and so on! I thought it would be fun to try my hand at these "scrap and tinsel" ornaments. It is a really fun and inexpensive way to use vintage digis or images! I had the Stickles, ribbons and free digis; the only items I purchased were adhesive glitter stars from Michaels, a Heather Hudson ditigal collage, a one dollar ornament, tiny tinsel cotton balls, pipe cleaners and gold cording.  I made several to decorate my feather tree and I hope you'll have time to scroll down through the photos!

Image: Graphics Fairy
 

Image: Heather Hudson


Image: Graphics Fairy
 
For the next one, I re-purposed an inexpensive ornament from Target. I replaced the bell that was hanging in an open oval with an angel image and hung the bell from the bottom of the ornament: 



Image: Clearly Vintage 
 

 Image: Clearly Vintage
 
 
Image: Clearly Vintage; Rosette: Paper Source
 
 
In closing, here's a photo of my pretty feather tree (Vermont Country Store) decorated with my "Victorian reproduction" decorations.  A couple of the ornaments are too big for the feather tree and I'll move them to my big tree. Actually, this is so pretty I'm tempted not to use my big tree!
 
 
Would you like to read more about Christmas in the Victorian times? Here's a link to a neat website. 
Thanks for visiting my blog; I hope you had fun. I don't know about you but I'm really in the Christmas spirit now! Have fun crafting and don't forget to post your Vintage Christmas creation at the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge ! Please leave me a comment so I'll know you were here!
 
Sherry

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

OWH MWT: White on White

White on white is challenging for me; I'm not good at CAS and I always manage to get inky mystery marks on white! But here's a quick little card I made using one of the MFT fund raiser stamp sets and the Darice embossing folder. I hope it's not too simple...the less I handle the white paper the better, lol. I think it would be a sweet love or Valentine card for a hero to send home to a little girl, or a big girl!

 
Tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day! Have a wonderful holiday, everybody! I'm thankful for all my cardmaking buddies!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Another masculine birthday card

It's always fun paper-piecing this big overstuffed chair stamp. Unfortunately, I can't remember who makes it, so I will search back in my blog to try to find out!

Cards In Envy challenge: use punches!

Here is my A2-sized flat card for the new challenge at the Cards In Envy blog. I used the Stampin' Up bird punch. The sticker is from Glitz. I will go back upstairs and check the name of the DP, lol. This will be nice for a deployed hero to send home to his sweetheart.

 
Thanks for stopping by!


OWH Midwk Throwdown: Masculine birthday

Hi! I got out my new Tim Holtz stamps and big manila tags that I found at The Paper Source. I had to trim the tag a tiny bit to fit on an A2 card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Thank you cards for some very special people

These are cards I made last night and today in response to Sandy's special challenge--thank you notes for the postal workers who do so much all year 'round to get all those boxes of cards shipped out to our service members! First I looked through all my digis and stamps and chose those I thought would look cute in patriotic colors:

 
DP: mostly "Anthem" by BoBunny
The Raggedy Ann is pre-colored (MelonHeadz Illustrating)
Whimsie Doodles "Mailed My Heart" and Watering Can (Sandy A.) digis: I colored with Copics
 
My old tablecloth does not go well with these colors, lol! Thanks for stopping by!



Monday, November 18, 2013

OWH Sketch Challenge #199

Here is the new sketch at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog:

 
And here's a little friendship card I made:
 
Stamps: Inkadinkado 
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 

OWH Boot Camp: Using texture to add interest

Our instructor, Paula, has posted a new Boot Camp session today at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog, entitled "How does it feel? Using texture to add interest." Our assignment is to make a card that incorporates visual texture, tactile texture, or both. Here's a card I made:

Card ingredients:
Sentiment: Tim Holtz "Visual Artistry" stamp set
DP: Basic Grey's "Oxford" 6x6 pad
Burlap: Really Reasonable Ribbon
Ranger Distress Ink: Old Paper, Vintage Photo
Tim Holtz distress tool
Button, twine
 

 My card incorporates tactile texture, with the torn, distressed edges, burlap, button & twine. I stamped "Congratulations" on the inside. I hope a hero will want to send it home to their college or high school age son. It looks pretty masculine to me. Paula, thanks for sharing your design expertise with us in another great session!
Sherry

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Sugar Creek Hollow challenge: Tags & Boxes

A fun new challenge starts today at Sugar Creek Hollow: create vintage or shabby chic Tags or Boxes! You have two weeks to post your creation(s). We welcome a guest designer at SCH for this challenge: Bonnie Garby. She is uber-talented and we hope you'll visit her blog to enjoy her work! Here is the shabby chic style tag I made for the new challenge; I think it'd be pretty on a gift or a card, or as a small hanging decoration:


Image: Crafty Individuals UK
DP: Authentique "Something for All Seasons" 6x6 pad
Prima flowers
Postage Stamp punch: Fiskars
 
Thanks for visiting me; please leave me a comment so I'll know you were here. Now, you have two weeks to create vintage or shabby chic tags and/or boxes! Looking forward to seeing your creation at Sugar Creek Hollow!

 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

OWH Midweek Throwdown: Dry Embossing

The Midweek Throwdown challenge at Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog is dry embossing. I got out the Cuttlebug and made this AnyHero card:

 
Image: "Patriotic Girl", Inspired Stamps (Happy 3rd Birthday, Inspired Stamps!)
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Copics
Really Reasonable Ribbon
 
Thanks so much for stopping by today!
 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

AnyHero holiday card

Hi. I used today's new sketch at OWH (#198) and the Midweek Throwdown challenge theme: AnyHero holiday cards. The inside of the card is stamped "Cheer". The DP is Authentique's "Festive" 6x6 pad.


This little stamp always makes me crave hot chocolate (with a peppermint stick)!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Hambo Hoedown challenge: Clean & Simple

Hi! For the current Clean & Simple challenge at the Hambo Hoedown, I made a card in honor of illustrious Hambo artist Tim Hunter's birthday! Happy Birthday, Tim! It says "Happy Birthday" on the inside.    Of course, I used Hambo's Robot digi!

 
Thanks for stopping by!


Saturday, November 2, 2013

"Anything Vintage Goes!" New challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow

Welcome! Today is the start of a new biweekly challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow, where I am on the Design Team. "Anything Vintage Goes" is the theme, and we look forward to seeing your vintage or shabby chic creations over at Sugar Creek Hollow!

I made a masculine vintage card:


Images: Ship and Paris background paper, Free Vintage Digital Stamps

You have two weeks but don't forget to get busy on your vintage or shabby chic creation--Anything Vintage Goes!!