Christmas Flutter

I wanted to share the wonderful Christmas card received from super talented Tanya Watts. You remember Tanya from past blogs, she is a designer that lives in Belgium (her blog is a must see!). Well back in November Tanya invited anyone that read her blog to send her their address and she would mail them a Christmas card. She didn't "care if you lived on the other side of the planet", if you were on her list she would send you one of her handmade Christmas cards. I wasn't shy and added my name to her list. True to her word, Tanya sent me this great card. I love it when Christmas keeps fluttering in!

Wrong Turn

I'm back to blogging about birds. But this time it's a colorful one. In fact this one showed up on Christmas day dressed in a red suit.

My husband saw him through the sun room window. The bird ( I have no idea what kind it is, I guess if we are going to become bird watchers I better get a bird book to identify what kind we are looking at) staked his claim to the bird feeder . He was after the sunflower seeds.

He flew off to sit on the fence for a while.

I think he was waiting for me to leave. ( I was taking pictures thought the window) A friend of his came by to wait with him.

We had another visitor, this one had a black head and a yellow beak. Not your usual Arizona backyard bird.

They must have flown south for the winter. Which was a big joke...it has been freezing here in the Valley of the Sun. The birds must of thought they took a wrong turn.

Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho, and all that Jazz

To say I "scrap swiped" this idea for my 2008 Christmas card would be an understatement.When I saw the November/December Somerset Studio magazine cover, I knew I had to find a way to make Rachel Killpack's fabulous "Christmas Star" in to a card.

I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, slowly the pieces came together. Without looking to hard I found the patterned paper. Bo-Bunny Press (Jan Lanoy) "Winter Whisper Swirl". The music patterned paper is K&Company, "Life's Journey Music". I had the white feathers left over from a long ago project and bought the silver star garland at Joann's. Then the search got a bit harder. What the heck was I going to use for the flourish in the center of the angels? I ended up getting a wooden applique, which I dry brushed with white paint and highlighted with distress ink. When it dried, I scanned the wooden applique, then printed it using the wallet size layout to get the size I needed. I cutout the scanned flourish, highlighted it with a white gel pen and covered with Crystal Stickle glitter. I went through all my old photos looking for an image I could use for the angels. I couldn't find any picture that would work. I check the Internet, nothing. I finally got on Flickr and found the exact image Rachel had used. It had been posted by Suzee Que. After printing and cutting out the angels, I used a opalescence eyeshadow and tinted the angels so they would have a bit of a shimmer. The angels and the flourish were backed with chipboard to give the card some dimension.

As my husband and I were addressing the envelopes for the card, he asked me if I had made this card before, I told him this was the first time. He said he had seen this someplace before. I told him he had...it was on the front cover of Somerset Studio I had sitting out for the last month. Yep... it was a total scrap swipe!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Blue Christmas

The Christmas card for 2007 was a scraplift ( "lift" sounds so much better than "swipe") I don't remember where or when I saw the idea, but all that wonderful Basic Gray pattern paper grabbed me. I think the line was called "Figgy Pudding" and I liked the idea of using shades of blue for Christmas. Of course I used "Tim Holtz" distress ink "old paper" on all the edges. I also found a great clear rubber stamp for the star garland. I must have punched dozens of yellow stars for the tops of the trees. The inside message reads, "He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree".

Retro Christmas

Back to the cards of Christmas past with this one coming from 2006. I had found this Melissa Frances retro Christmas patterned paper at Mystic Paper ( back when they were across the street from their present location, in a corner of an antique store...they have come a long way!). The paper reminded me of wrapping paper used on the presents when I was a kid. I had a photo of Christmas taken at my uncle's house in Tucson about 1957 of my sister and I with our cousins. The picture and the paper were a perfect fit for a Christmas card. I did a zig-zag stitch on the machine with green thread, added the "Merry Christmas" ribbon and a green tree brad.

If you are keeping count and wondering if you missed a post on the Christmas card for 2005, you didn't. I was so busy I didn't get cards made so boxed cards were sent.

No Last Minute

Being a floral designer means the week before a big holiday I have to have EVERYTHING done (a flower shop gets to be pretty busy this time of year). There can be no last minute to do list. That is just what I have done this last week. Got all the shopping done, addressed the Christmas cards, made candy with my DH ( yum..divinity),

got the gifts boxed for out of town family,

and finally trimmed the tree, DH put some Christmas music on the stereo to get us in the holiday spirit.

Tonight we are going to hear the "Messiah"...can't get more Christmas than that. By this time tomorrow I should be up to my elbows in Christmas pine, holly, and red and white carnations.

Oranges and a Charlie Brown Chirstmas Tree

Nothing says Christmas in Arizona like going out in your back yard and picking an orange off your tree. This is the time of year when the oranges ripen, get their color and become ready to eat. The grand kids can't wait to pick, peel and eat a juicy navel orange. (the neighbors cat just likes to rub up against the leaves)

While most people are shoveling snow, we Arizonans in the Valley of the Sun squeeze our backyard citrus for juice, plant pansies in the garden, and decorate the Christmas tree.

I have a naked "Charlie Brown" tree waiting in the front room for lights and ornaments...

I know, I know it's two weeks until Christmas!I am making a dent in my to do list though...I finished my Christmas Cards and have most of them addressed..now if only I can remember to get down to the Post Office and buy stamps !

Posted Once Again

I already posted this card I made for 2004 (but here it is again). It was inspired by a light green sparkly Christmas stocking I found at Joann's (fabric and craft store). I liked that it was so festive and fit perfectly into the holiday season..but not the traditional red and green (in case you haven't noticed I go for the non-traditional). I looked all over for a shear light green material, but couldn't find the same color as the stocking. I finally bought the stocking and cut it apart to get the material I wanted. I layered and stitched (using the sewing machine) with metallic gold thread the material on top of a Bazzill card stock that complemented the shear material and edged the card stock in gold. Layered on that, I used an ivory card stock, "happy holidays" rubber stamp, heat embossed in gold. This was my first attempt at heat embossing. I made many, many "happy holidays", before I got enough that actually looked like they read "happy holidays". I used a willow green paint over the gold embossing and added a gold star brad. The card base was stamped with a sheet music rubber stamp in gold. Then I gold edged the card and placed the light green layers over the gold rubber stamping. The message on the inside of the card reads "As the merry bells keep ringing happy holidays to you"

Christmas Past

While I'm working on this years Christmas cards, and all the other Christmas projects I have on my to-do list, I was going to show you cards from Christmas past. I pulled out the one from I believe 2003. If I remember correctly I made these cards during the summer of that year because I was caught up on all my other projects. I have never been caught up again! The brown, green and gold holly paper was a wrapping paper , a holly rubber stamp, gold ink, a star brad and fiber. I was really into lots of floppy fiber at the time. The message inside the card reads..."Christmas waves a magic wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful".

All I can say is, "I have come along way in my designs"!

Shiny Brite

I am hooked on Shiny Brite ornaments. It started out innocently enough.

Every year I would pick up one or two, here and there. Then I discovered the "mother load". There is a shop in Mesa called "Treasures from the Past Antiques".

I don't know why, but they always seem to have a larger selection then most other antique stores in the area. The weekend after Thanksgiving they have a sale.

So of course as long as they're on sale...I have to check out what they have and end up buying. Now I have a collection. What to do with all those ornaments?

Well my other collection is terrariums, so that's how all those Shiny Brites are displayed. This year the grand kids are not at the house all the time so I have a vase full of them on the coffee table.

The pink and green one, and the gold textured 1920's ornament are my latest finds.

I also found the glittery retro birds at the antique store, thought they were kind of cool,

so three of them came home with me.

Back to decorating...