My monthly quota of Christmas cards

I have been challenged to make 5 Christmas cards each month on Paper Wings (my quota to have enough by Dec. 1). I already have 2 done because of a Blog Hop early this month so this past week I got my other 3 finished.

This card is made with TAC stamps from the set Hung on a Tree.   I layered with some "mirror" card stock I had.

You an see the Silver Shimmer spray but I couldn't get the right camera angle to get the shimmer.  I colored with Copics and added the gems.  I feel this card is missing something but I just can't put my finger on it.  Any ideas?

This card uses a stamp by....  is it Cow Town Rubber Stamps??  I've had this stamp for at least 10 years.  I'd seen it once and did a search for it as I just had to have it.  The text is from a TAC set called Noel Noel.

I added some Stardust Clear Gel pen to the hair, beard, and belt buckle.  I was debating using some white liquid applique on the coat but thought it would overpower the image.  I may try it yet.

Here I embossed the white card stock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder on my Wizard.  The stamp is by TAC in the Jingle Jolly set.  Have you figured out the tree yet??

It's the aluminum seal from a coffee can! I used my bone folder to give it some dimension and added the angel eyelet at the top.  I still have one more tree to work with so hope my mojo gets inspired for my 5 Sept. cards.

Did you enjoy the Fond/Final Farewell hop in tribute to The Angel Company?  I relived so many wonderful memories and enjoyed seeing cards from the past.  If you didn't see it just look at the post before this.

A Final Farewell to The Angel Company Blog Hop

Tonight we're honoring The Angel Company and Mischelle Smith with a final blog hop sponsored by Paper Wings (our "angel" forum and gallery). I just celebrated my 9th anniversary with the company last week and they were the most wonderful years! I have made some amazing friends (whom I consider family) and loved being involved with this Godly-based company (Seminar and all meals were opened with prayer). My memories will be with me forever (such as Diana M. jumping on me screaming "You're Carol Norby!",  Annette B teaching Mabelle how to straw fart, and Char's fart machine that backfired on her - thanks Claudia G.!). Seminars were fantastic - I've laughed so hard that tears flowed and my gut hurt. Mischelle is such a graceful and classy lady and I will miss her very much.  She encouraged us all and walked the extra mile to help us when we needed it.  I thank her and the TAC staff for a wonderful flight. I pray Mischelle will be greatly blessed in the years to come.

I used 2 sets, Be Fabulous and For Everything, on this card.  I used a black glitter pen on the Thank You's exclamation point but do not like it. My intention was to do the whole phrase but the pen's point isn't fine enough.

Here you can see the Copic marker coloring on the large flower.  I added white gel pen highlights to some of the petals (and on some leaves).  I used the Stardust Clear Gel pen on the fly.  I think these turned out pretty good!

And here's the markers I used.  I tried to coordinate with my red card stock. Didn't do too bad with that.

Now, here's 5 cards I made many years ago.

This elk came from a set called Moose. I still have it.  Being from northwest Wyoming I've seen moose in Yellowstone Park and Sunlight Basin.  Majestic animals but stay far from the cows when they have calves. I made the wood grain background but can't remember how, I'll have to look back at my old Technique Junkies newsletter.  This was made in about 2003.

This wind mill comes from the set called Windmills.  I used chalk pencils on the background.  This was done in 2006.

Another masculine card.  The stamps are part of a large sheet of stamps called Northwoods Moose. This was made in 2003.  Back then TAC sold full sheets of stamps - 8" x 10" or so.

This last card uses the stamp YesterYear (and I still have the stamp).  It was published in the RubberStamper magazine in the September 2003 issue. I was so amazed to be published!  The magazine page, a small scan of the cover, and the card are framed. (You may have to click on the card to enlarge since it shows rather small.)

 This last card from the past used the set Cat's Meow (and I still have it). This card was also published but in the November 2003 issue of Scrap & Stamp.  I've only had 2 cards published in magazines but I did have a card in the Fall/Winter 2008 catalog on page 45 using the Be Still set.  Funny thing about that card... I didn't like it!  Was so surprised it was picked!

I have every TAC catty from day one. Some came spiral bound! TAC even used to sell the stamp wheels, of which I still have many, long before another company bought out Clear Snap's wheels.

We have been informed there will be no more product for sale... No last blowout, nothing.  I was hoping, but, oh well....

There are quite a few of us "angels" involved in this hop so please take some time and visit. Grab a cuppa coffee or two and sit back and enjoy our fond memories.  And we'd love to hear from you if you have any  memories of TAC as a customer or been in a class. I also want to thank Shirley and Rita for their great work in organizing these hops - you gals were fabulous!  As you can see by the number participating that we all loved TAC very much.

Julie
Seleise
Rita W.
Donna
Chan
Mary
Angela
Laura
Barbara
Trudy
Shirley
Wendy
Carol
Rita K.
Kim
Paula Kay
Teresa
Maria
Deb
Diana
Christine
Chelsea
Sandy
Char
Diane
Chris
Stacy
Rita
Angie
Ginger
Betty

New Bible cover...

I was wanting to change my Bible cover and with this recently purchased stamp from TAC I came up with this...

I used "New Creation" stamp and Uptown Girl paper.  Isn't this just cool!

I added some extra details with my white gel pen.  What do you think?

You can purchase a Bible cover and much more by clinking on the Daily Window picture in the side bar. It's right under the Technique Junkies picture.  They carry a wide variety of cool bags and stuff!

Tomorrow evening I'm taking part in a Final Farewell blog hop. It was hard coming up with something as I'm still very sad over TAC hanging up their wings. I hope you'll stop by and then visit the other angels involved.

I will continue to blog and share my love of stamping. I plan to continue to teach stamping - both at the LSS, GVR (senior group in Green Valley, AZ) and hopefully in homes but without sales (unless I buy paper and other supplies to resell).  I'm contemplating selling card kits (already stamped and ready for assembly) here plus other crafts.  What would you like to see? 

That's a lot of stamps!

I decided I needed to re-organize my stamps and it took me ALL day last Monday.  I sorted them, indexed them according to theme, then onto the shelves they went.  I ran out of room!!!

I guess I need to pull a few more to sell. If you're looking for cheap (used and loved) stamps just click on the "Stamps for Sale" button just under the banner then contact me.  Anyway, at least ALL my stamps are in one place instead of 3 or 4!

And I have a sneak peak for you.  This little piece is part of a swap card.  I can't show the whole card until the swap is complete but I can show you this much...

As you can see I used Cha Cha SWIC and matching card stock.  And don't you just love these little gems from the Black Gem Collection??  I'll get the swap back in a week or so then I can show you the complete card so stay tuned!

Important Notice for TAC lovers.....

"It is with great sadness that I must announce we are hanging up our wings. These past several years our industry has faced enormous challenges and as a result, we have seen many companies close their doors. We continued to hope we could see The Angel Company through this recession and back into prosperous days and we held onto this hope as long as we could.

One of the largest challenges affecting each of us is our industry not being able to support all of the direct sales companies in our field. Even in a healthy economy, we are a niche market trying to compete for a very limited number of distributors. As a small company, this has been a grueling challenge for us. Times are tough for everyone ~ in direct sales and retail environments.

I would like to thank each of you for being an customer and Angel these past 14 years. Indeed, it has been a pleasure to serve you.

Mischelle"

I have been with TAC for 9 years and have learned so much and made some amazing friends! Mischelle is a real trooper and inspiration to me. I want to thank her and the TAC staff for making this company a Godly based and for their love for their demonstrators.  I can fully understand the reason for closing as I have seen my sales drop off to almost nothing. Anyway, Mischelle, God bless you for everything.

I will continue to blog for the joy of stamping and scrapping.  I hope you, my followers and subscribers, will continue with me and that I will continue to inspire you.  Thanks.

(P.S. - No links will be working anymore as to stamp sets and TAC accessories.)

This weekend I will be participating in a Final Farewell blog hop in honor to TAC and Mischelle.

Sunrise, Sunset

I belong to the AZ Stampers group and each month we do an Above/Below swap.  This means that you send a card within the chosen theme to the gal signed up below you and to the gal signed up above you. This month's theme is Sunset.

I brayered my Country K-Pad ink on a small piece of glossy white cardstock.  I tore a piece of paper to cover what I brayered then brayered Burnt Umber PH ink to represent the ground. I stamped the pine tree from the retired Good Timber set in Noir PH ink and then filled in the trunk with my black Copic marker.  The text is a stamp called His Glory.

I added 3 little "flowers" from the Black Gem collection.  I think they add just that final touch to the card. Unfortunately, the black Copic marker really stands out on the tree.  I was hoping it would have blended in better but then, maybe my ink pad needs re-inked....

Sending Thoughts & Prayers....

Today my prayers are going out to a certain wonderful lady who has been a great inspiration to me and to many others for many years.  I love her and admire her for the great dreams she inspired in many people.

I made this card to honor her and to let her know that her and her family are in my prayers.  I made it cheerful in color to help cheer her up.  God has something great in mind for her as she transitions forward.

I used a stamp sets Dotty Flowers and Thoughts & Prayers. The flower is embossed with clear embossing powder after I inked the images with VersaMark ink then my regular inks.  The ribbon is striped with Copic markers.   I added the little felt flower, button, and white scrapper's floss to hide the ribbon seam. The paper is Cha Cha SWIC, one of my favorites for it's bright colors.

Time to Sit Quietly...

I have decided to finally ink a new set called Sit Quietly.  I really like the different phrases with this set (9 stamps for $21.95 - pg. 106).  I used one of TAC's free downloadable prints and a splash of red (not a tsunami this time). 

I really like how this turned out.  I added a red button and some white scrappers floss to embellish.

My hubby did ask where the glitter was...  I told him I was going a bit more subtle with this post. Did I pull that off??

Dear Friend...

Again, while I was blurfing as I was cleaning up my email inbox, I seen a cool card that inspired me. I keep forgetting to write down who it was and I really need to do that. Anyway, I immediately went to my now clean work table (and it is still clean) and went to work...

I used some tan (similar to Kraft cardstock) and some red from my stash and 2 stamp sets: Blossoms & Blessings and Love You.  I used my Corner Chomper to round the corners which I think really added to the look.

I dressed up the center of the large blossom with crystals from my I Rock tool.  I had a little trouble keeping them where I wanted as I was heating up the crystal and a couple moved. Bummer.  But the overall look is still there. I think just about any sentiment would work for this style.  What do you think?

Happy Birthday and colored ribbon...

As I was blurfing the other day I came across a post from PaperTreyInk about coloring ribbon with Copic markers. Well, this fascinated me and I had to watch.  Talk about a step up from just changing the overall ribbon color!

Isn't this just cool!  After I choose the colors for my card I found coordinating marker colors and, using my clear ruler and white grosgrain ribbon, I added the stripes. I white embossed the leaf image.

I used stamp sets Happily Grateful and Age Is A Number.  I punched a 1" circle from DCWV cardstock and sanded the edge to show the white, then punched the dragonfly.  I used my white gel pen (I don't have the link at the moment) and the Stardust Clear gel pen to add some dots and lines then adhered a crystal. 
I love how this card turned out!  I did have some problems keeping my ruler from slipping a bit but with practice...

More OSW cards...

Here's a couple more cards from my OSW template. I hope to finish the others soon... 

These are so easy and fun! I used a couple Copic markers on the anchor.

I found a white spiral clip which I think really adds to this piece.

Have you tried these?  I posted some very similar a year or so ago using different card stock colors - yellow and green.  I think I like the blues better.

What a disaster!

I finally had to take time to clean my work table. I swear the paper scraps exploded! Couldn't even find my Cricut and it's a large red machine! Well, I'm still at it!

Isn't this a site!!Holy cow!  Anyway, I got a large tote out and filled it with all the paper and off to the living room I went.  Got enough floor space to spread out and put on a movie....

Three hours later and it still wasn't totally done!  I still have a bit left in the tote BUT I did find my table!



What a relief! I have space! I wonder how long this will last....

Have you had this problem?  I still have some paper scraps to sort but I'm back to making cards!
(Now if only Blogger will get back to normal... its been a real bugger this week with its updates and changes.)

One Sheet Wonder cards...

I've been working another of my September classes in Green Valley, AZ and decided to try the One Sheet Wonder (OSW).  The template I have can make a background for 9 cards but my "students" will only make 4.  I will post the template here after my class under the Techniques & Resources button just under the banner.  This class will be Sept. 21st at 1pm.  This class was a hit at the Green Valley Recreation class I had a year ago. 

I used the Anchor To My Soul set as I love the phrases that go with it. This is a large set of stamps (9 of which 5 are text and 4 are images) for $21.95.  Such a versatile set!  I did cut the lemonade glass from the chair to make 5 separate images to use on my background.  I colored the sheet with chalks and a cotton ball.

Don't you just love the phrases!! I am a Christian and love inspirational text.

I've been working on cleaning my work table.  I swear the paper piles just exploded!  I've worked for over 5 hours and still have a ways to go as I sort paper scraps, unfinished cards, and have even found my 2" x 1" acrylic block with a couple of stamps on it!  Beats me what set those little stamps go to... another hour to figure that one out as they're retired. Oh well.  I took a picture of my desk "before" and will take one "after".  I even found my big Cricut Impression! I knew it was buried somewhere in there...

Another Majestic Mountain

This is my last "stand up" card that I'll be teaching in my Nature Calls class on Sept. 7 at the LSS in Green Valley, AZ.  I was going to use the Eyes To See set but the store owner objected to the rifle in the image.  Beats me! Oh well.  So, I ended up using Majestic Mountain stamp set.

I decided to use 2 different browns for this and stamped the image in Burnt Umber.
I used a sponge to add more brown ink around the torn edges to make it look a bit more aged.

I did use the Stardust Clear Gel pen on the mountain tops and in the water falls.  Plus I added a pearl from the Clear & Pearl Gem collection as an added embellishment.

My 2nd Sept. class is doing the OSW (One Sheet Wonder) and the "students" will make 4 of the 9 cards.  After the class I'll post the template for you.