Oh Deer - Brandy's Fantastic Card Swap Christmas Card Featuring Memory Box

Brandy and I are at the Mesa, AZ Scrapbook Expo tomorrow.  This is an annual tradition that goes back to the CK days and extends well more than a decade (well, rounding makes it closer to two decades, but who's counting?).  We joined the card swap at the Expo last year and so thoroughly enjoyed it that we decided to join again this year.  So here we are with Brandy's entry into the contest.  Die cut heaven with her Spellbinders deer (gotta love eyelashes) and a hand stamped background of the Memory Box Typewriter Holiday Elements background stamp.  Simple, elegant and delightful.  I'm hoping she gets some well earned recognition for this one.

Since she had all the supplies out, Brandy went ahead and made this alternative version that she will use for her Christmas cards.

So much fun, but not as much fun as we'll have this weekend at the Expo.

I'm linking this up with the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember Memory Box linky party.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Here we are on a quiet Christmas Eve and I am stopping in to wish you and yours well.  Brandy and I have finished our Christmas paper crafting and are both ensconced with our families, celebrating Christmas.

Tonight I share the card Brandy made.  A beautiful buffalo plain card with a paper die cut bow.  I tried to capture the beauty of this card, but there is something lacking in my rendition. It is beautiful!

Here's a view prior to mailing to me - notice how well the bow made it through the mail in a bubble mailer!

So we celebrate Christmas Eve and the anticipation of our family celebrations tomorrow.  Wishing you and yours a Happy Christmas Eve!

Andie for 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Just popping in for our annual posts of Brandy's beautiful Christmas card creations.  This year's cards hit one out of the park *as usual*.  She's used the Tim Holtz Snowglobe Thinlits die set with solid cardstock to create a winter scene in a snowglobe.  The card front is edged with some silver embossing powder to add to the snowy look.  Inside are clear and white seed beads for a snowfall and twine holds the sentiment in place

As an added challenge to herself, Brandy chose to try her hand at painting a similar image onto a card front as a variation.  I simply cannot say which version I enjoy more. 

All our Christmas preparations are finished and it is time to slow down, find peace and joy and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus in a tiny manger all those many silent nights ago.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Andie for 

One More Christmas Card - Madonna and Child

I find that the older I get the more Christmas cards I send.  I suppose this is a good thing.  However, when I make my Christmas cards I typically only make about 50.  Then I end up needing a few more. This year I played around with a few other designs. In this case, I used an old Stampin' Up wood block stamp of the Madonna and child. I used Kristina Werner's no line watercolor technique with my Distress Markers.  I die cut the image out and layered it onto some patterned paper with a bit of twine for accents.  

I'm really pleased with how these cards turned out.  I'll probably make a few more of these next year - a small card that is simple and attractive.

I hope you found Christmas to meet all your expectations.  We certainly did.  Here's looking forward to hearing more about some presents that I can now edit pictures and post.

Merry Christmas!

I prepped this post up earlier this week as I will be on my way to Christmas breakfast when this posts.  This is the Christmas morning celebration with my husband's family and is a rich tradition.  This year will be bittersweet as we will be one short at the table as Dan's dad passed away earlier this year.

My card this year is simple - die cut from Cricut's Paper Lace cart to set the stage for my glittery poinsettias.  The centers of the flower are white and clear seed beads.






On the inside - a Cricut die cut Merry Christmas laced with white glue and the same glitter to look like snow.  

We'll head later today to my mother's house for a Christmas feast - though who can eat after that big breakfast?  I will hope that your day is filled with warmth, cheer and blessings.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

It has become somewhat a tradition that I share with you a warm Christmas Eve greeting which is Brandy's Christmas card.  This means that in a few short hours it will be that wonderful day of the year - the celebration of the birth of our savior, Jesus.  Brandy's card is made using the Die'sire Create a Card Christmas Angel die which she used to cut this white shimmer card.  Forgive my photography skills, but getting the shimmer was quite tough.  The card is simple, elegant and strikes just the right sound - making me think of the angel's trumpets resounding to announce the birth of our Lord.  Beautiful.

I hope this finds you all warm and comfy and enjoying the last minute preparations for tomorrow.  Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve

 Just popping in on the blog to wish everyone a very happy Christmas Eve in anticipation of the big celebration tomorrow.  I've shared here Brandy's Christmas card that she sent to me.  This beauty was created with Spellbinders Build a Wreath die.  For her wreath, she cut 5 separate passed of the pieces using different colors of green cardstock and one base.  Building the wreaths became quite the project- lots of crafty hours with the help of her sister Sherry.  The red holy is Stickles and look fabulous in person.

Unfortunately, my piece lost it's tiny little bell in the middle of the wreath- a victim of machine cancelling at the post office.  Note to the wise- add a little piece of cardstock to reinforce these kind of small goodies when you mail them....









I write this on Christmas Eve with too many items on my to do list.  I've worked many long hours (again!  I find myself here again!) in the past week and didn't get what I'd hope to completed before today.  I thought I would share a small blog post from a good friend, Dale Kiefer, on the subject of Christmas.  He wrote this post describing what he calls the two Christmases.  I'm all for celebrating Christmas 1, but I am working on forgiving myself my faults in the Christmas 1 celebrations.  I am committed to grasping every thought to bring my mind to bear on the celebration of Christmas 2 which will culminate for this year with Christmas Eve service in a few short hours, only to begin again on the next day as I rejoice in the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

May all your celebrations be merry and bright this year!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Three days late.  It was a very Merry Christmas at the Millers (both Brandy and Andie's).  So much so that these pictures taken in haste right before the holiday never were posted.  They are too good to go to waste, so I'm going to try to squeeze them in.

First up is Brandy's Christmas card.  This gate fold card design is really effective and in true Brandy style, she's embellished the entire card. 

• Santa is embossed with red embossing powder.
• The holly leaves are stamped with green ink and the red bling added as a holly berry.
• The patterned paper is distressed and then adhered with a Tiny Attacher to the the layers of cardstock which make up the card.
• Santa and the sentiment inside were cut using the Spellbinders Labels 19 dies and edged with Black Soot Distress Ink.

We hope your Christmas was joy filled and your recovery from the holidays is bright.

Merry Christmas

Brandy made these astounding creations for her Christmas cards this year.  The amount of work and effort that she poured into her beautiful creation is simply inspiring.  This card was a labor of love that was almost the year in making as she pieced together the intricate components of this beautiful card. Christmas is the perfect time to stop and consider how very blessed we all are.  I am blessed very much by my bff and her creativity.  It binds us, but has quietly become such a small part of our friendship which is only a reflection of how very large our friendship has become!

My personal card has a rich green background that I now realize is not accurately captured in this photo.  Yet look at that stunning detail and beautiful color combinations!


















I am going to try to list the components of this card.  Each die cut piece is embossed including the corner stamps, the frame, dove, poinsettia, and leaves. 





Poinsettias and Leaves-  Heartfelt Creations Petite Poinsettia using the Layered Poinsettia Shapeabilities Die Set
Lace "Fence"- Heartfelt Creations Decorative Lace Border which was spritzed with Glimmer Mist and crumpled while still wet.  The lace was then pulled apart to create the fence-like structure.
Dove- Heartfelt Creations Holiday Dove using the Heartfelt Creations Christmas Cheer Die Set
Frame-  Frame cut using Spellbinders Labels 20 Mega Nestabilities die and embossed using Heartfelt Creations Holiday Poinsettia Candle stamp set and Heartfelt Creations Rye Grass Flourish stamp set. 

The Heartfelt Creations Rye Grass Flourish stamp set was also used to emboss the corners of the card base.





Here's a few tags Brandy made from the spare parts.  Even the spare parts are simply fabulous, don't you think?  Please join me in encouraging Brandy.  This was a fair bit of work for a woman who works long hours supporting a large organization.  She is the very definition of dedicated, but I enjoy her dedication to her art and craft very much. 

Andie (on behalf of Brandy)

Merry Christmas Eve!

I had previously blogged about my inspiration for this year's Christmas card.  I saw the rather "summerish" card and knew that it was just the right design for some Graphic 45 paper that I had seen on sale at Embellish It!  I purchased the patterned paper for a song and thus began my endeavor.  The white cardstock sentiment is embossed using Spellbinders Snowflake Impressabilities.  The stamped sentiment came from Close to My Heart's Christmas Card Chatter set.  The stamp was made using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  What a mess I made distressing all those edges to the card!  Nonetheless, it was worth it in the final analysis.

As we celebrate the birth of our savior, the Lord Jesus, I pray that God's glory might be revealed to you in big and small ways this season.  From our house to yours:

Andie