Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - January 2021 Edition

 

Happy New Year everyone, welcome to the January 2021 Edition of the Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas.  Debra, Lisa, and I are back for a new year of making holiday cards.  And this year we hope to have some special guests along for the ride.   And, we have a new logo.  Those "crafty elves" at the top are a digital stamp from someone on Etsy.  If you are interested, you can find the link in THIS post. 

For this month, I decided on a few super quick cards.  All took less than 15 minutes to make.

Here's a short video showing the cards with a brief explanation, if you are interested. 

 Card No. 1

For my first card, I used two digital sets from Joy Clair Designs.  Using Pages on my Mac, I combined the presents digital image from the Make A Wish Digital Set along with the "Merry Christmas" digital sentiment from the Dog Gone Christmas Digital Set. 

• I printed the presents/sentiment on a piece of A4 cardstock and colored them with Tombow water-based markers, Nos. 173, 493, 245, and 835.  
• I made a 4" x 9" card base out of white cardstock to which I adhered a piece of decorative paper.  Then, using the Slim Stitched Rectangle Die Set from PinkFresh Studio, I cut the image I just colored and I also cut a piece of red cardstock. 
• Then I layered the card.  Red cardstock to decorative paper and then the image of the presents. 
• And, to finish off the card, I added red, blue, green, and silver Stickles on the bows and ribbons - to add some sparkle.

Card No. 2

This card is so super fast to make it's not funny.  I used 2 dies and it came together in less than 5 minutes!  And this card is great for a mixed religion family - who light a menorah and put up a tree. 

• I made a top-folding A2 card base of white cardstock.  
• Using the largest die from the Stitched Rectangle Die Set 1 (Pink & Main), I cut a piece of silver cardstock and using the next die down, I cut a piece of textured navy blue cardstock.  I adhered the silver to the card front and then the navy blue to the silver.
• Using the same silver cardstock, I die cut the Star Ornament Layer 1 die (Paper Rose) once and the Star of David die 2 times.  Both dies come in the same package.  
• I adhered the Star Ornament to the card front, then the 2 small Star of David pieces to the ornament.
• Lastly, I adhered 3 small crystals to the ornament string.
  

Card Nos. 3 and 4

OK.  I feel like I am kinda cheating here by using jounaling cards from The Muttcracker line from Photoplay Paper to make actual cards but, why not? That's what they are here for, are fast to make, and cute as can be.  Well, having 7 dogs and 3 cats, I might be biased. 

If you want to re-create these cards, I used Feliz Navidog (#MUT9530), Santa Paws (#MUT9533), Ho Ho Ho (#MUT9532), Muttcracker (#MUT9535), and Solids Plus Gold (#CMR9499) and some red cardstock. 

For the Feliz Navidog card - 

• I started by making a top-folding A2 card from white cardstock.  
• Using Stitched Rectangles Set 1 from Pink & Main, I used the largest die to cut a piece from HO HO HO, another die to cut a piece from the Solids Plus Gold sheet, and another one to cut the journaling card from the Feliz Navidog sheet. 
• I adhered the HO Ho HO piece (the red with the bones) to the card front, then the Solids Plus Gold piece, and then the Feliz Navidog journaling card. 

For the Cat Hanging On The Ornament card - 

• I did the same as above but I used the largest die from the Stitched Rectangles Set 1 to cut a piece of the Muttcracker paper, which I adhered to the card front.  
• Using two other dies from the same set, I cut a piece of red cardstock and one of the journaling cards from the Santa Paws sheet and adhered them to the card front.
• To make this card just a wee bit different, I added some small crystals to the ornaments. 
  

January 2021 is done!

I hope you enjoyed these quick, cute and easy cards to make.  Do you have a favorite?  If I have inspired you to make holiday cards, please let me know!  Or leave a link to your work in the comment section below.  

Remember to go and check out the other Crafty Elves to see what they have been up to this month and leave them some love!  Links to their posts are below.  

Crafty Elf Debra 

&

Crafty Elf Lisa

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today.  Until next time -

Hugs from Brasil. 

~Michael

Love Frame Valentine's Day Easel Card

 

Hello everyone and welcome to my first Anthony's Paper Craft Design Team Member post of 2021.  This year, each of the Design Team Members will post a card or project on Thursdays of each month and, on the 15th of each month, we will have a group post based on a theme.  This month is all about Valentine's Day or Love. 

Anthony's Paper Craft has several Valentine's Day stamp sets - Valentine's Day 1, Valentine's Day 2, Love Frame, not to mention plenty of flower images including Roses and Jumbo Roses.  

For my project, I am using the Love Frame set, which, as it's main image, has a frame of hearts that is 5.5" x 5.5" and is perfect as a photo frame or, as I did, for a poem.  

To make my card - 

• First, my card base, using a 12" x 12" piece of red cardstock.  I cut a piece 6" x 12" and placed it on my scoring board with the 12" side along the top.  Then I scored at 6" and 9".    
• Then I folded it as in the photo below to form my base. 

 

• Using the same red cardstock, I cut another piece, 6" x 6", and put that to the side to use later.
• I stamped the heart frame image on to white cardstock, trimmed it to a 5.5" square, used the Large Angle from the Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper on each of the corners, and adhered it to the 6" x6" red cardstock.   
  
• Then I cut another piece of red cardstock, 4.5" x 4.5", cut the corners with the Small Angle from the same Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, and adhered this to the center of the white border.  

  

For the center, I wanted a love poem.  So I went online and did a search and the first one that came up was a beautiful poem/quote from Kiersten White from her book The Chaos of Stars.   I had never read it before but, when I did read it, I knew it was perfect for this card.  {I hope I am allowed to use it here - yikes}.

 

So I typed it up, printed it out on to white cardstock, trimmed it to a 4" square, cut the corners with the same Corner Chomper and adhered it to the red cardstock using foam tape. 

• Next, I went thru my paper stash and adhered a piece of decorative 6" paper to the bottom inside portion of the card.  This part will be visible when the card is open. 

 

• Now, flip the 6" x 12" piece of red cardstock over so that the 3" section is at the bottom.  Then apply double-sided tape or wet glue to this section.  Then adhere the 6" section with the poem to the tape.

The card should now sit like this.

Now, some final touches to finish off the card.  

• I colored in the hearts with Rambunctious Red BIC Intensity Ultra Fine Tip Marker.  Then I applied Glossy Accents over the hearts and then I added some Fairy Dust Glitter over the hearts so that, once dry, will give off some shimmer.  
• I also adhered some larger crystals to the corners of the card front, as well as on the inside to hold the card open, and smaller crystals around the heart flourishes.  LOVE NEEDS TO SHINE!

 

 

 

Lastly, I cut a piece of white cardstock, 2.75" x 5.75", and adhered it to the back so that a note can be written and, when the card is closed, the note is not seen.

 

Done!  Here is the final card and, I have to say this out loud, I LOVE IT!  And I hope you love it too.  No pun intended.  

 

 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  The team will have more Valentine's Day and Love inspiration in the following weeks.  I'd love to know what you think of this card.  Leave me a comment!  I'd love to hear from you.  Until next time!

Hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael
 

A New Year Begins...

 

Happy New Year and welcome to the year 2021.  I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year.  We stayed in with burgers and fries, cheap champagne, fireworks in the distance, and dogs barking.  Nothing new.  I have always been a sci-fi nerd and, when I was a kid, the year 2021 was very had to imagine and so futuristic.  And, yet, here it is.  Still feels futuristic with what we have had to endure in 2020.    

I stopped making resolutions years ago because I never keep them.  Since I learned so much in 2020, with so much time on my hands, I decided to make a list of some things I hope to learn or do this year - 

• learn how to make a chocolate babka, Italian cookies like I used to get in the bakeries in Astoria, try-color or rainbow cookies, and deep dish pizza.
• start making and editing craft and baking videos.

That's it.  Small stuff.  

I also see a lot of people coming up with their word for the year.  At first I thought this was silly. But then I decided to tackle a storage room and go thru boxes of stuff I moved here with.  It is mind blowing how much craft stuff I own but have never used.  Rubber stamps, dies, papers...you name it.  So my word for 2021 is USE.  I plan to try and USE the things I have never used.  

Now, on to my card for today.  

• I made an A2 card base.  
• Using the Stitched Rectangle Die set from Pink & Main, I cut three layers.  The base layer using white glittered cardstock from American Crafts, a black layer, and then a white layer.  
• I adhered the white glittered layer to my card front and then the black layer on top.
• On the white layer I stamped the two Martini glasses (American Art Stamp) and then the star sparkles above the glasses (Lilipop Carimbos). 
• Using the Happy New Year die from Elizabeth Crafts, I die the sentiment several times from black cardstock, glued them together, and then I adhered the sentiment across the glasses.
• I adhered the white cardstock with the images and sentiment to the card front and, lastly, some crystals above the glasses and then I applied Glossy Accents to the glasses and set it aside to dry.

This was a fast and fun card to make.  

So, did you make any resolutions or have some idea of what you would like to learn or do this year?  Have you come up with a word for 2021 that you would like to commit to?  Leave me a comment and let me know.  I'm curious and would love to know.  

Enjoy the rest of your day and weekend.  I am off to clean a bit more and do some crafting. Until next time!

Hugs from Brasil - 

~Michael