Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas - October 2022 Edition

 

Hello everyone and welcome to the October 2022 Edition of the Crafty Elves' Countdown to Christmas.  I took last month off to work on a big project for someone in town.  It's still not finished but I found time this month to make 3 fun cards using 1 retired stamp from Impression Obsession.  

If you are just joining me/us, on the 25th of each month, the Crafty Elves - me, Debra of Meticulosity, Lisa of Life of a BZScrapper, post up to 4 fun Christmas/holiday card ideas.  And this month we are thrilled to welcome a new Crafty Elf to the group - Misty aka The Jolly Fat Elf.  Misty was a Guest Crafty Elf once and, since she loves to make cards - especially Christmas cards, we asked her to join us.  And she said YES!  So now, by the time November comes, you will have even more inspiration and ideas for your holiday card-making.  

A photo/link to the other Crafty Elves' projects, as well as links to all of our social media pages, are at the end of this blog post. 

Now...on to my card ideas.

If you would like to see how I made the card in real-time, I even made a video this month - 

To make this card I used the Holstein Cow stamp from Impression Obsession.  This image is retired BUT...Impression Obsession has this Cow Farm digital stamp that would also be great.  I have already used the Holstein Cow stamp on some cards I made for World Food Day, which you can check out HERE or over on my IG page.    

• I used a 4" x 5.25" stitched rectangle die to cut a piece of white cardstock.  Then I used my Misti to stamp the cow image on it.  This cow is so big that I could not fully stamp him and, if I do, I will not be able to use the speech bubble.  

• I made an A2 card base using red cardstock.  Then I adhered a piece of white fun foam to the back of the image and then to the card front.      

• I adhered a Santa hat 3D sticker that I had in my stash to the cow.  I bought these at Hobby Lobby a few years ago but they are still available this year.  A Santa Hat die would look great too.

• Then I made my sentiment on the computer, printed them out, and used a speech bubble die to cut one.  I put some foam tape behind the speech bubble but, before I adhered it to the card front, I distressed the edges with black ink so it would pop off the card. 

Regarding speech bubble dies - I used one from a retired MFT/Die-namics stamp/die set called Say What.  I show another card in the video where I used the Speech Bubbles set from Xcut.   

Now...you could just stop here and the card would look fantastic.  But I wanted to add just a few things.  So, I added some red enamel dots to the card front and two small googly eyes to the cow.  Cuz it's fun! 

Done.  Here is a photo of 3 cards I made using this stamp set.  Two for Christmas and one for the New Year.  I talk about them over in the video.  

Here is one of Lisa's cards, which you can find HERE.   

Here is Misty's non-traditional colored Christmas card, which you can find on her YouTube Channel, HERE.

Here is Debra's card, which you can find HERE.

I hope you can find some time to visit the other Crafty Elves.  All of their social media pages are below. Following us would be great too. 

My Instagram Page

My Blog

My Facebook Page

My YouTube Channel 

Debra's Blog Post

Debra's Instagram Page

Debra's Facebook Page

Lisa's Blog Post

Lisa's Instagram Page

Lisa's Facebook Page 

Misty's YouTube Channel 

Misty's Instagram Page 

Misty's Facebook Page 

I'm curious...do you have a favorite of my cards?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.  I hope you have enjoyed this idea and, until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil. 

~Michael 

NYC Haul (Sorta) - T-shirts, candy, Harry Potter stuff and crafty stuff!

Hello everyone!  Short, but fun, post today.    

So, back in August, Ruy went to NY to take care of some things.  Before he left he asked me what I needed or wanted.  All I really needed was some fun, cheap t-shirts from Kohl's.  I love how they fit, the cotton usually is soft, and you cannot beat the prices at Kohl's.  Well, he did bring me back t-shirts and a lot of stuff I did not ask for!  And, my friends Sue and Debra sent him things for me to bring back too.

I also made a video where I talk more about what I got and some funny things about them.

First...the t-shirts...since I live in t-shirts - a cool Harry Potter one, several Marvel and superhero shirts, NYC shirts - of course - and a funny one for me to wear on Halloween.

Food!! A box of my fav cereal from the states - Captain Crunch.  Not that I ate it everyday but it was fun to munch on at times.  We don't have many cereals from the USA here - corn flakes (my fav), Fruit Loops (never ate that).  But we have lots of oatmeal.  

He also got some pancake syrups - super expensive here if you can find them, real vanilla extract, Skppy peanut butter - hard to find here and expensive when you do.  We do have more natural peanut butters and I am fine with them.  And PayDay bars.  Payday means fart in Portuguese...lol.

He also went for Chinese food and brought me back some of the packets you get.  We do have a Chinese restaurant about 30 minutes from here but expensive and not as much fun as one from NY.

He also went to the Harry Potter store in NYC, which was NOT there when I lived there, and he got me a cool t-shirt, a Griffindor journal, a keychain, and a 9 3/4 charm that I wear on my neck.

But, the BEST was the bag they put it all in.  That is going to be scanned and used for a Harry Potter mini album. 

He also got me a Stephen King book - my fav author and, believe it or not, I have not read or seen this movie.

From my friend Sue, I got some super fun Halloween napkins and chocolate nonpareils from Wegmans.  I used my Mini Minc on the napkins to make some Halloween cards and, I ate the chocolate within a week.  Back story - Sue and I always did road trips to rubber stamp shows.  And we would always stop at Wegman's in PA to stock up on the BEST chocolate nonpareils on the planet.  Now...I just make my own.  Fun but not the same.  

And, from my friend Debra, some sheets of cloud paper I asked her for from Hobby Lobby.  She also sent me lots of candy.  It seems that, when I mention to her that there is something we don't have here, she writes it down.  And then she goes shopping.  She sent lots of Mike n Ike candies.  Also, when I did a card for S'mores Day, I wrote in my blog post that we do not have graham crackers here so it's hard to make a real s'more.  She sent some.  

She also sent stickers from Paperhouse that I will be using for some mini albums soon.  YAY!

Thanks to Ruy, Sue, and Debra for bringing some happiness into my life.  It's the little things in life.  It really takes so little to make me happy.  LOL

Out of everything, I think the bag is the best thing.  Kidding!!!!  

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.  Go check out the vid for more fun musings.  LOL. And, until next time - 

Hugs from Brasil.

~Michael