still thinkin Christmas

I think it helps me get excited about the school year if I promise myself that Christmas can't be far away. So here are today's holiday cards.

Ellen's Cardinals

Ok the snowman is cute, but aren't these cardinals just incredible?  I must admit I nearly lost it trying to make them ... those beaks are about the size of a pin head. You might see some pin holes in them since I was poking them with a pin to move them, my fingers were just too fat.

I tried to stack them for the photo so you wouldnt' notice that the one guy lost his beak --- but of course it shows. Sigh. I just can't win. It is someplace on my table downstairs, or on the cat, or on the floor, or on my eyebrow. Think it is probably time to make another one. Ever try cutting a paper punch in quarters and gluing it?

Once again the inspiration came from Ellen Kemper's Blog ... you can find her cards here...

New Copic Colors

No, these aren't the NEW copic colors, they are colors that are new to me. We stopped at Hobby Lobby and who can resist 30% off. However, I had no clue which colors I already have, so I went with greens since I knew I have very few.  Believe it or not, I didn't duplicate!

Here is the flowerpot I always color with any new markers just to see how they work. The yellow came out of my stash.

Then I pulled out my favorite digi frog and gave him shading and warts.

Happy Back to School

Can you believe this little girl was made with the owl punch? See the owl, upside down, for her hair? And the vest is her dress. I found a tutorial online and had to try it... Ellen Kemper is great with punches!  Now I want to try all the other things she does with the owl punch!

Teapot Tuesday

Today's teapot has an elegant feel. I am not usually an elegant kind of gal, but I gave it my best shot.

Got a little carried away with my new liquid pearls. They are fun to play with!

I should have turned the flash on ...

A card for Elaine

Fortunately Elaine never reads my blog --- and I have the perfect Christmas card all made for her. I thought it would be hard to follow last year's card which was a snowman dead, face down in the snow, stabbed with his own carrot ... but when I saw this card and found the tutorial online, I had to try it!

Gathering the ribbon for the elastic was an "ah ha" moment, I think I will be doing that again and again... but not for boxer elastic of course.

Couldn't find my sanding block and tried a pencil eraser. Some distressing, but not enough. So I took the card and rubbed it on the bricks in the basement. Worked great aside from the fact I have some slightly discernible red stripes on the powder blue paint of the brick wall. Oh well. Adds character.

Why do I feel I have to hide this card from Mike !

Hard to resist

Hard to resist casing this card by princess heather. If anyone ever asks you, distress stickles do NOT work the same as liquid pearls.   This is one of those nice generic designs that can be a birthday or sympathy card ( or both?) so I will wait to add sentiments as needed.