Challenge Cards

It seems it's been ages since I've been able to complete any cards for RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut mb.  Yesterday I did both sketches.  I think it's a first - both sketches submitted on the first day of the challenge.
I love participating in card challenges and am looking forward to the upcoming weeks when I can be a regular contributor.

I used the Heritage cartridge for this card.  I chose the Accent image on page 58, copied it then flipped one image.  I welded both to a rectangle from George, sized on my Gypsy.  Lots of paper layering and called it done.

The papers for this card (actually both cards) are from my scrap drawers.  The flower is cut from 3 sizes of EK Success punches and then layered.  All I added was a little inking.  I'll save the sentiment for later when I decide how I'll use the card.

I hope you have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve and Day.

May 2011 bring you happiness, love, peace and security.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

An Album for my Hubby

I made this 8 x 8 album as a gift for my husband.  He has raised and trained bird dogs for many, many years and Yaller is his newest acquisition - a two year old English Pointer.  When hubby is busy training and hunting, I have lots of time for my cardmaking so it's perfect for both of us!

The papers have been in my stash for awhile.  I'm always on the lookout for hunting papers and embellishments so that when I have the right pictures, I'm ready to scrap them. Also, this is the first time I've used my Cinch.  It was really simple to use - yay!

I must say, I was pleased by how excited he was about this simple gift. 

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn



Altered Composition Books

I have 3 great-nephews who love to write and draw when they're at Grammy's house (my sister-in-law). I made them their own personalized composition book so they could write stories while visiting (and maybe sit still for a few minutes!).  I used Lyrical Letters - jumbo, for the names.  When my daughter saw what I was making, she asked for one too.  I made her two, one work-themed, and one more personal.  These are so quick and easy to make.  I stock up on the composition books during the back-to-school sales.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas.  It rained most of the day here, but that didn't dampen the holiday spirits.  My daughter is packing to head back to Lubbock, Texas.  It will be interesting to see how all her gifts plus her after-Christmas shopping will fit in her Tahoe along with what she brought and her two dogs! 

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thank you so much for joining me on my blogging journey. It's been amazing so far.  I appreciate your visits, your comments, and your support.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that it is a day of love, peace, and joy.

I'll be back after Christmas to share some altered composition books that I made as last minute gifts, and a mini-album for my hubby.  Also, my debut as a guest designer for Sketches in Thyme is January 4.  I hope you'll take a look.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Glittered Ornaments

My daughter is home for Christmas and she had a wonderful time creating these glittered ornaments.  What makes her's so creative is the way she mixed the glitters to achieve some rather unique colors.  Three of them are on the tree and the rest are being given as gifts.  She used vinyl for the initials, cut on the Cricut, and the bows are either stiff organzas or wired ribbons.

Although I'm still finishing up a few last minute quick gifts that I decided to make, we really are ready for Christmas.  It seems to be over all too quickly, so I plan on enjoying friends and family as much as I can.

If I don't get in another post before Christmas, I wish each of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I truly appreciate your kind words and your visits to my blog.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Tuesday Takes Challenge #4

I found a few minutes to create this card for the Tuesday Takes Challenge.  I love this BoBunny double-sided paper.  I also love the pink, black, white combination (you'll see more on my January 4th designer spot - hint, hint).  The large flower is from the coordinating BoBunny rub-ons set, and the small flowers are punches with Stickles centers.  The label is from one of the Nestabilities Labels sets.

My daughter has been making glitter ornaments.  She's having fun mixing the different glitters to come up with unique colors.  All we have to do is add bows and then I'll post her efforts.  We even went back to JoAnn's to pick up more glass ornaments - with the 70% off sale, not too many were left, but we bought what we could to save for next year.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Magnetic Stocking Ornaments

We had a White Elephant gift exchange at the Holiday Crop last Sunday and I got these magnetic stocking ornaments made by Petaloo.  I just added my neighbor kids' names and the year and, wa-la, a quick and easy gift.  The stockings open up (the magnets keep them closed as they hang on the tree) to reveal a pocket, which I added, filled with a little Christmas spending money.  Now, it just can't get any easier than that!  I think these will be a good project for My Sheri Crafts challenge this week :)

My daughter just drove in from Lubbock, Texas today and now I feel like Christmas has arrived.  The only thing that would make it better would be to have both of my daughters home.  My youngest (who lives in Champaign, IL) is working on Christmas day, so we'll have Christmas via Skype with her.

Don't forget to take time to enjoy the season.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Using Those Scraps!

I know, I said I was finished with Christmas cards, but I had some nice-sized scrap pieces left from challenge projects so I figured I'd add two more designs to those being mailed.  I truly am finished now because the cards are signed, the labels are on, and I'll be heading to the post office first thing in the morning - woohoo!
Besides, I purchased some fabulous BoBunny papers at Monique Griffith's Holiday Crop and I can't wait to start using them.
So, these cards are pretty simple (simple becoming my middle name, I think) with just paper layers, some ribbon, and embellishments - I got the holly brads and leaves at M's, and the snowflakes are a MS punch with a few Stickles added.  That's it!  And no paper went to waste.

I hope you're finding time to complete all your holiday projects.  Don't forget to take a moment or two to just enjoy yourself and your family.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Notecards in a Purse

The wonderful Glenda at Glenda's Cards created an adorable Red Hat Snowlady Purse.  I have a dear friend who is a Red Hatter and I thought the idea would be perfect for her.  She is a Santa collector (an entire room is devoted year-round to every kind of Santa you can imagine - rugs, blankets, candles, dolls, figurines, dishes, etc. ), but since she recently lost her husband, I felt something more personal would be nice.

I used purse2 from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and cut it at 11.5 on a 24 inch mat. The snowlady was created from circle Nesties and her hat came from a package of embellishments I found at JoAnn.  The snowflakes were punched and then I added lots of bling.  I made notecards to go inside the purse.  They measure 5.25 x 3.75.  I used Beyond Birthdays for the "Hello Friend" cut.

Thank you again, Glenda for the darling idea.  I hope my friend will be pleased with her gift.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

My Final Christmas Card

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  When I return from Sunday's crop, I should have 60 Christmas cards ready to mail.  Each time I thought I was finished putting together a kit, I would find another sketch or fall in love with more paper combinations.  I finally decided this is it - I'm done (we'll see how far that goes!!!).

I love all the papers in the DCWV Homemade Christmas Stack and one of the sketches in Raq's Challenge seemed to be the perfect layout for the papers I chose.  It's a simple layout, just corner punching, scallop and plain circles, a few MS branches, and, of course, paper layering.  The embellishment is from that great K&Company pack I found at Michael's.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  We're having dinner with my bestest friend and her husband tonight - going to try to do some serious damage at a rib place , then an Open House tomorrow and the Holiday Crop on Sunday.  I love getting out and looking at the lights as we travel from place to place.  "Light Looking" was a family tradition for many years, then coming home and having a big pot of soup.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Oh Christmas Tree

Even though I've been creating Christmas cards for many of the recent challenges, I still haven't quite finished my personal cards.  I keep getting  those darn "card visions" running around in my head late at night or in the early morning hours (boy, have my dream subjects changed since I've gotten older!).  This is one of those visions and I decided to make multiples of this one to mail.  I try to keep in mind that the cards I actually  mail shouldn't have too much raised dimension (foam dots or embellishments) because of the extra postage required for special handling.

I used George for the tree, stretching the triangle on the Gypsy and then embossing it with Divine Swirls.  The star is punched from DCWV glitter paper.  The background border is an EK Success punch and then embossed with Diamonds in the Rough.  The snow is hand cut and embossed with Swiss Dots.  Finally, the tree trunk is embossed with Distressed Stripes.  I played around with different inking and decided that the white on white worked best. 

I'm sorry that the picture is dark.  It's cloudy and rainy so I had to take it indoors. 

I have 6 Crop Kits ready for Sunday's Holiday Crop.  I'm still working on a few more things to take, but at least I know I'll come home with all my Christmas cards ready to mail - woohoo!!

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Masculine Birthday Card

My brother-in-law's birthday is Saturday so I made this card for him.  The paper is DCWV The Guy Stack.  I used French Manor and Beyond Birthdays for the cuts.  I love layering papers, so this card definitely reflects my style.

I know it is a busy time for all of you and I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you take time to visit my blog.  I also appreciate your comments.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Tuesday Takes Challenge #2

This is my card for the second Tuesday Takes challenge at the Sketches in Thyme.  I really gave my Cuttlebug a workout on this one.  I used Nestabilities Labels Eight and three embossing folders; Holly, Divine Swirls, and Swiss Dots.  The embellie is K&Company - I hit it big at the Michael's sale yesterday and came home with quite a few Christmas goodies including 5 packages of embellishments!

I'm busy putting together Crop Kits to take with me on Sunday to Monique Griffith's Holiday Crop Party.  I'm trying to get all my Christmas cards cut so that I can spend the day assembling.  I also have a few other projects that I'm hoping to complete.  By having all my projects ready to assemble, I can enjoy  chatting with gals, eating, and just having a grand time.  Of course, I'll take my Cricut and Gypsy just in case I get divine inspiration during the day

Hope your week is off to a great start.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Fuzzy Sock Cupcake

This is certainly not an original idea - I've seen it posted on quite a few blogs - but what a great quickie gift for the girlies (young or old) on your Christmas list. 

I used the cupcake wrapper from the Easter 2010 cartridge, using the hide contour on the little holes around the top.  I added the trees from Joys of the Season.  When you select the grouping button on the Gypsy, the trees become cutouts.  The paper is BoBunny.  I was excited to find paper with purple accents to match the socks I'd purchased.  I just added a sparkly pom pom for the "cherry" on top. 

Such a simple gift with a little added love because you created the wrapping.  Gotta love that!

Well, it's holiday crunch time.  Most of the decorating is done and I'm ready to wrap presents.  I'm still deciding on my final Christmas cards for mailing - hmmmmmm?? 

Hope your December is off to a wonderful start.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn