A great way to start the day...

...is with this post! I hope you are all enjoying the week thus far. After a half day of school for the kids Monday followed by having Tuesday off, I was quite ready for them to go back today! For some reason, the school takes these days and devotes them to parent teacher conferences. But let's think about this: first, we had two days off for Hurricane Sandy at the beginning of the month, then yesterday for P/T conferences, the kids get next Monday off for Veterans' Day, then three days the following week for Thanksgiving....do kids every attend school anymore? I don't remember getting all of these days off when I was a kid! That's what made the snow day so wonderful (which I fear we'll be getting a lot of this year, so I predict we are in school well into June. Ugh.)

So today, after completing a couple of writing assignments, I will be planting my butt at the craft table! I have made a large amount of Christmas cards for my own friends and family, so I think it's time to make some things for the shop and craft fairs! Boxed Christmas cards, potty charts, gift albums...I am quite motivated and inspired to do all of these things. The housework can wait, inspiration is fleeting!

Here are a few cards I would like to share with you, all made a few days ago.

I have been trying to use up my stash to make room for next year's crafty goodness (can you say "giveaway" soon? Yeah, I'll be giving a lot of it away so stay tuned!) This card features AC Dear Lizzy Neapolitan on a pearlescent paper from Crafter's Companion. The sentiment is Birthday Wishes from the new Mulberry Woods Everyday line. I took some AC Beach house paper flowers, stacked them up, and held them together with an AC jewel brad. Fruit Punch Stickles and Spectrum Noir marker for the edge around the banner were just what I needed to finish this off!

 This one was kind of fun. I have had this image printed out ready to color for quite some time, Stamp It Australia - Feather Script. After coloring it up with my Spectrum Noir pens, I covered a base in homemade mist made with Flamingo Pearl Ex powder, water, and a touch of water based glue to hold it on the paper. Love the subtle shimmer! Used some Echo Park Playful to mount the image, and an assortment of washis behind the mat. That's it! Let the image do the talking on this one :) The sentiment is Toreads - Sky. It was a little too plain for my tastes, so I added some Fruit Punch and Patina Stickles.

 More pearlescent paper from Crafter's Companion, along with two Stamp It Australia stamps from the holiday collection: Love, Joy, Peace and Tree Whirl. Lily Bee Merry & Bright Paper, ruffled ribbon from Reasonable Ribbon, some Tim Holtz distress ink along with AC Cranberry ink to recreate that awesome burgandy color, and silver Liquid Pearls to compliment the card base.

 A nice non-traditional Christmas card using MME Miss Caroline wood plank paper. I love this color combo so much! Paintbox Poppets - Winter Pastime image and sentiment, colored with Spectrum Noir pens. The mat was inked up with SEI chalk box ink. MME twine behind the sentiment, which is affixed with foam squares for dimension.

 Finally, I colored up this cute Humphrey stamp and paired it with Carta Bella Merry & Bright paper (my new favorite color combination for Christmas! So bright and fun!) Both the image and banner with sentiment are adhered with foam squares.

 Ok, there they are! Hope you like them, now I'm off to make fun cards for the shop. Watch for them later on.

xoxo
Khristen