Thoughts of a Grasshopper

Back in 1997 or 1998 we were living in Sacramento in a town house.  One evening we went for a walk to look at Christmas lights and decorations.  As we were walking, I saw this light ball hanging by someone's front door.  I thought it was awesome.  A year or two later, I found directions to make it but I never did.  Every year I would have the best of intentions to make it.  On several occasions I bought the cups to make it.  Lights are never an issue.  I have a plastic tote filled with lights. This year I have 5+ projects to make:  1. pine cone light basket, 2. light ball, 3. wreath for the kitchen, 4. wooden candle trio that is 42" tall, and 5. "NOEL" for the mantle.  The other projects are small things that I want to make to give to people.  I made the pine cone light basket on the 8th.  I made one back in 2000 which got wrecked in one of the moves or perhaps water damaged from flooding in the basement in Virginia that happ...

This is the card that brought me to 80.  You can't really see from the picture, but I popped the wall up with dimensionals so that the fire and back of the fireplace are behind, recessed if you will. Stamps:  Festive Fireplace CS:  Season of Cheer DP, WW, Cherry Cobbler, VV, Smoky Slate Ink:  Soft Suede, Smoky Slate, Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities:  Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight Misc.:  Festive Fireside framelit, pool party marker, soft suede marker, dimesionals

This isn't the best picture, but I'm going with it due to time.  This one comes from a sketch I had from several months ago.  I looked to see what stamp set I had out that would work with it and this is what I ended up with. Stamps:  Peaceful Pines Ink:  Mossy Meadow CS:  WW, Mossy Meadow, Season of Cheer DP, Home for Christmas DP, Merry Moments paper stack Misc.:  Perfect Pines framelit, triple banner punch, 2-1/4" circle punch, Home for Christmas enamel dots, scallop border punch

More cutting of the deer.  The bottom deer is popped up with a dimensional.  This concludes the Pinterest CASEing I did. :) Stamps:  Wonderland Framelit:  Wonderful Wreath CS:  Mossy Meadow, WW, Real Red Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Pool Party (stamped off) Misc.:  dimensionals, multipurpose adhesive sheet, trim tinsel clear

You can't go wrong with Pool Party and Real Red.  For the circle behind Santa, I punched a circle and it was too big so I trimmed it down.  Not too shabby for being sort of freehand. :) Stamps:  Wondrous Wreath Framelit: Wonderful Wreath Ink:  Pool Party, Mossy Meadow (stamped off once) CS:  Pool Party, WW, Home for Christmas DP, Silver Glitter Misc.:  Triple Banner Punch, Big Shot multipurpose adhesive sheets

More reindeer from the Home for Christmas designer paper.  There isn't any stamping on this card. CS:  Crumb Cake, Home for Christmas DP Misc.:  Rhinestone Jewels, Home for Christmas enamel dots, Gently Falling EF, linen thread

A little crooked on the crop, huh?  I saw this card on Pinterest and really liked it.  There is something about these reindeer that make me happy and think of Christmas when I was a child. Stamps:  Embellished Ornaments (sentiment) CS:  Crumb Cake, Mossy Meadow, WW, Home for Christmas DP Ink:  Tuxedo Black Misc.: Glue dots, dimensionals, thread, Home for Christmas enamel dots, burlap ribbon

I color washed white cardstock with the Aquapainter and Night of Navy reinker.  I embossed stars with white embossing powder and glued on some stars from the silver glitter paper that I had punched from scraps from another card.  I embossed "silent night" just above the homes to the right. Stamps:  Jingle All the Way CS:  Night of Navy, WW Ink:  VersaMark Embossing Powder:  White and Silver Edgelit:  Sleigh Ride Misc.: Night of Navy reinker, aquapainter

Another Pinerest CASE. Stamps:  Wonderland CS:  Crumb Cake Ink:  Craft White, Mossy Meadow Punches:  Curvy Corner Trio, Triple Banner

This is a pretty straight forward card.  I pulled some paper from the Trim the Tree paper stack.  I edged the roof tops, all of the trees and the curvy border with the glue pen and dazzling diamonds.  It would be better to use dimensionals to make each layer pop, but I didn't want to risk having to pay more postage with several layers of dimensionals.

This gem is CASEd from Mary Brown.  I made 4 of these and 3 of the 4 have the red center but I ran out so this one has the cream center.  It's all good. Stamps:  Reason for the Season CS:  Cherry Cobbler, WW, Silver Glitter Ink:  VersaMark Misc.:  Silver embossing powder, Home for Christmas Enamel Dots, Elegant Dots EF

The overall card is pretty much the same.  I think I added the gold foil strip on the side and I left it a full card.  I used the blendability markers to color the wreath. Stamps:  Peaceful Wreath Ink:  Soft Suede CS:  VV, Crumb Cake, Gold Foil Misc.: Softly Falling EF, gold cording

For the next 9 days, I'm going to share a card that is completely or mostly CASEd from Pinterest.  I started working on Christmas cards in October and I finished my 80th card Friday night.  I still need more for local friends but this completes those that need to be mailed off.  Yay!  I'm NEVER done this early.  There have been years I've had to mail our cards off in batches.  So happy I can focus on other things and not have to worry about getting them made. I think this card was inspired by a different set and my wanting to use some of the paper that I have.   Thinlit:  Delicate Ornaments CS:  Real Red, WW, Red & Silver foil, Silver glitter, Merry Moments DP, Hope for Christmas DP Misc.:  Silver 1/8" ribbon