Acetate & Sewing for Christmas!

I spent quite a while trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my Christmas cards this year, but when I saw theses beautiful acetate sheets: I knew I had to incorporate them in my cards somehow. Pretty, huh? :)

I also wanted to try to make the cards relatively easy to mass produce, because as we ALL know...I HATE MASS PRODUCTION!! Grrr...

So, it became: One piece of acetate per card, the card-stock base, a piece of card-stock to stamp on for UNDER the acetate, a small piece of DSP (which I did in a wide variety), and then I decided to sew on them, too. I did 3 main colors. There was a red (Riding Hood Red - which you'll see below), a light blue textured card stock, and a dark blue (Night of Navy). The pieces of c/s that are below the acetate varied between Kraft & white. And... the stamped sentiments varied between "Merry Christmas" & "Seasons Greetings". The inside sentiments varied more, but I'm too lazy to type it out. (Just bein' honest.) I also hand-tore each piece, to give it a distressed look, just to give it a little extra somethin'-somethin'. And THEN, added ribbon. Which varied between Very Vanilla & Whisper White, depending on the card. :)

And here is ONE of the three cards that I made, this one I sent to my dear, sweet friend, Lydia aka understandblue who was sweet enough to take a picture of it for me to post for you today. Thanks, sweetie-head-honey-bunches-of-wild-oats!! xoxo



Thanks for stopping by and having a look!

All my best,

Hero Arts puts on a Party!

I had to say thank you to all the folks over at Stampers Corner in Elk Grove, CA...they were one of the stores that held a Hero Arts Catalog Preview/Debut Party on Saturday and it was soooo much fun!!

I went up for a good part of the day & was so lucky to be able to spend some time with my sweet friend, Ashley (from the Etsy Inspired Challenge Blog and Heart Hugs Designs) and I asked her to join me at the event. I had planned to go a little nuts, so I made sure my credit card could handle it before doing all my shopping. :)

It was a really nice time, though. There were a lot of shoppers - super nice turnout!! Way to support your LSS, Elk Grove!! Wooo! There were make n' takes (which we stood in line for) and cookies and we found out some hot & exciting news about the new Tim Holtz product line which is to debut at CHA!! CAN'T WAIT!!!

But the new stamps....are just gorgeous. So many really beautiful backgrounds, clings, woodmounts, clear... the options are endless. My shopping bag weighed a ton. I bought a bunch of the new clings, the new Silhouette Grass wooodmount stamp (so glad I bought that as they sold out really quickly), and 2 sentiment sets. I even received quite a few freebies, too. It was just a great time. So happy I went, got to spend a bit of time with Ashley, and got my mind off of my stresses for a bit.

Of course, then I was up til the wee hours last night/this morning finishing my Christmas cards (ugh!), but they're at least done and on the way. Hope they brighten your day a little knowing how much YOU brighten my life, my friends.


Leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow to spend my Christmas with my mom & dad. So, until I get back...Merry Christmas my beloved friends. Thank you for all your prayers, good thoughts, happy vibes. Every last one of them were (and are) appreciated. It's for people like you that I sit here and smile today. Many hugs to you, and blessings to you as you celebrate (however you do...IF you do) on Christmas.




Much love,

Where do I go from here?

Next month will (potentially) be my "Blogaversary". But I've come to some realizations as of late. I'm not exactly sure why I'm blogging. Is it for me? Or for other people?

I have a lot of things to think about. May shut the whole thing down. Need to get my head straight and know what's best for me.

So next month may be the end of papergrace. I just don't know. All I know right now is that I have a lot to think about.

Wishing everyone the best for a happy, healthy & Merry Christmas.

All my best,

Mass Production Nightmare

I was asked by Eddy's co-worker to make her some Christmas cards. I was hesitant because I'm just not a fan of doing multiple cards and doing things en mass. I really don't have the space for it and I almost ALWAYS wind up designing things that are too complicated and take me forever to do.

I started having nightmares about paper, glue, and glitter all over the house. Dreams of the cats running off with pieces of the cards were dancing in my head. Not pretty. Did I really want to do this? Is the aggravation going to be worth it? My back started spasming in anticipation.

I started the prep work. Got the card bases cut & embossed (cardstock in Real Red & Always Artichoke by Stampin Up!) & embossed background is Snowflakes (Provocraft)). Got my little snowbanks all cut, punched & stamped. I was ROCKIN'! Started getting the ovals going...hmmm... Cuttlebug or Big Shot? Tried both. Less slippage in the Cuttlebug so I cut & embossed all the Nestie Petite Ovals for the Verve (Christmas In the Air) sentiment in my Cuttlebug. This wasn't going to be that hard! HAHAHAH!! Stamped my sentiment using Walnut Stain Distress Inks by Ranger. Then I sponged the edges (Bashful Blue - SU!) and glitterized them (with Frosted Lace Stickles - Ranger). Easy peasy, right? Boy, was I wrong. Day 2 was yet to come.

Day 2 - started early, well, for me. I had to put more Frosted Lace on the Snowbanks, let those dry then stamp snowflakes, more Frosted Lace... in the meantime the cats decided to pay a visit. AND, they wanted up on my craft desk. UH-OHHH!! NOOOO!!!!!! The Stickles are still wet!!!! You know what that means, right? Oh, yes. Stickle-y Frosted Lace kitty paws. Grrr.... Just shocked that nothing was ruined. And the cats were banished from the craft room/office and very unhappy.

So, I thought I really don't have THAT much left to do, right? Just round off the corners for the paper for the inside of the cards, stamp that sentiment, adhere the insides, the snowbanks, the outside sentiments, then HAND CUT the little trees...all 60 (yes, SIXTY) of them, then adhere those and tie on silver elastic cord. How long could that take? HAHHAHAAHAH!! Let me just say I will never paper-piece a card for anyone other than myself to give ever again. My fingers still hurt. I'm crazy. I finally finished them all around 9-something PM, yes...PM last night.

Here, my dear friends, are the finished cards:



Other things went wrong, like running out of adhesive for my Glue Glider, I had the wrong adhesive in my Xyron (which I used to adhere all the trees) so 9 trees got "eaten" and I had to redo those. I cut a bunch of the cord the wrong length...fun stuff like that. It was a rough project, but from what I hear she loves the cards. :)

Now...what to do for my OWN Christmas cards?


All my best,

Holy Toothpicks!!!

It's that time again. That time of the month where those crazy and insanely gifted ladies over at the Everything but The Kitchen Sink blog have dreamed up another one of their challenges using an ordinary household item. Here's this month's challenge:




Crazy, huh?

I had to think about this one for a while. Then like a star shining from the sky...it hit me and I knew what I wanted to do. :)



and my obligatory close-up of my Star of Bethlehem:



I will say that this challenge, well...challenged me. :D I had this idea in my head all along, but I had a heck of a time really getting my Star to look just right. Or shine bright enough. Hahahaha!! Don't think I'll make a bunch of these for Christmas as much as I like it, though. I hope YOU like it, too.



{Supplies:
Stamps: O Holy Night (Inkadinkado)
Cardstock: Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!), Metallic Silver (Paper Temptress), White (Georgia Pacific), DSP - SnowKissed Solids Digital (2Peas/Betsy Tuma)
Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)
Embossing Powder: Silver (Stampin' Up)
Glitter: Crystal Fine, Sterling, and Florentine Gold (all by Martha Stewart)
Rhinestone: Clear (Colorbök)
Elastic Cord: Silver (Stampin' Up)
Etc.: Toothpicks (Safeway) }




All my best,