Holiday Card Making 2011

This week, I've been working on my holiday cards! For this year's card- I was inspired by a design from Cards 2010 Christmas Card magazine. The inspiration was an image of a Christmas tree stamped out of green spirals, with the sentiment Merry Christmas stamped across the tree in red ink, about 3/4" down on the card. So for my own spin on this, I found a Christmas tree graphic made of birds from the Graphic's Fairy and added a Season's Greetings garland along with my own digital sparkle button with a red/white twine bow. Here's how the card was created;

First I created the design using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and printed it on 6"x8" blank white cards from Studio G (that I bought at Michael's for $1.50 for a set of 8 cards/envelopes).

After printing all of the cards, I used tacky glue along with a tooth pick for spreading/smoothing and created the base for fallen snow on some parts of the tree. Then I sprinkled extra fine white glitter over the patches of glue to make the snow.

Once all the glitter was completely dry, I used Fabri-Tac permanent adhesive glue to adhere red and green rhinestones used as ornaments on the tree. And here is the finished product;

There's a sentiment printed on the inside of the cards that says; "May the spirit of the season bring you love, happiness and joy!"

I made 24 of these cards to send to family and friends. There are a few more to finish up today and they will be in the mail by the end of the week! And soon this will be another holiday project crossed off the list. I'm slowly but steadily getting things done over here. *smile*

I hope you enjoyed this overview of my holiday card making process for 2011! Happy Holidays! xo

Supplies Used:

 

Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Review Vol.#7- Our Christmas tree search

This weekend was full of holiday cheer! Christmas decorating is in the midst, and we also took a trip to A Quiet Place Tree Farm to find our lucky tree for 2011! We actually visited two tree farms, but the second one was the charm! We spotted our tree within 5 mins. of being there, and realized we lucked out this year with a beautiful white spruce!! Mom is totally excited, and I'm happy because it was my first time searching for a Christmas tree at a tree farm, of which I picked out (yyeeaayyyy!). While we were there, I also met the cutest little dog named Netty...she was so sweet and naturally had to be featured here on my blog! Anyway, there will be more pictures to come once our tree is up and decorated! I hope you're enjoying this festive time of year! Be back soon...xo



Photos take by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 4- Getting Started

So yesterday was officially December 1st, and the December Daily days have finally arrived! Here are a couple images of my first page. Nothing much happend yesterday, so page one is all text with a little description of my thoughts on the holiday season and being joyful for the "everyday" blessings that we often overlook.

Today is another day, and another page...looking forward to the progression of it all. *smile*

A preview of my first digital scrapbooking collection!

My first digital kit sneak peak

First came my love for traditional scrapbooking while shopping the isles of a local craft store in early 2007 and then came my love for digital scrapbooking- once I joined a few online scrapbooking communities and discovered the beautiful digital creations of others! And if you know the software, then digital scrapbooking is just as creative as conventional scrapbooking, if not more! I say more, because you can easily manipulate paper and embellishment colors and customize anything to fit your style or whatever look your trying to achieve! I've dabbled in the world of digital for a few years now...more for my career in fashion design, but also for scrapbooking and have recently decided to create my own kit to incorporate into a baby memory book. It's been a slow process, but it has been going much better than I expected, so I'm pleasantly surprised! First I decided on a theme and then created an inspiration board and decided on a color palette;

Images on the inspiration board are from; Bump Smitten and On to Baby

And from there, I started to create my first digital scrapbook collection. I'm far from finished at this point, but very happy with the progress I've made. I'm looking forward to the finish product-a personal goal that will finally be accomplished!

The best part of scrapbooking for me is the tangible elements and how you can add so much texture and dimension to a flat page, but with the nature of digital scrapbooking, this gets a little more complex. But I've found that I love digital scrapbooking kits that are very realistic with a lot of dimension, texture and look as if they are popping right off the page. One of my favorite digital designers is Vinnie Pearce. Her work has a very realistic look to it, so I love working with a lot of her products. Unfortunately I don't scrapbook as often as I'd like (let alone digitally), but I still love to have all the options! I'm also a big fan of hybrid scrapbooking, where traditional meets digital scrapbooking. All the possibilities are awesome, which is why I love this hobby so much!

What are your thoughts on digital scrapbooking?





Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#6- Thanksgiving & my 100th post!

I can't even believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone! We are now on the heels of December!! The holiday season has rushed upon us yet again! It's so crazy how this time of year always creeps up on us before we know it!

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with family and/or friends. I know I sure did! It was quiet and really gave me time to reflect on what matters most in life- family. I came up with the menu this year; from appetizers to dessert and prepared the whole meal myself for the first time (with some guidance from mom of course). It was really fun and felt rewarding to sit at the table on Thursday afternoon, knowing how much hard work and love I put into everything that was there. I must say that the turkey, dressing and everything else came out pretty delicious (for a first timer). Everyone was proud, including me!

I'm also proud to announce that I've FINALLY made it to my 100th post! It's a little sad to say that it's taken me a couple years to make such a benchmark on my blog, but in another way, it's definitely something to celebrate- a sign of great progress (especially within the last couple months). Since taking the Blogging Your Way e-course by Holly Becker of Decor8, I've kept up with my posts much more often and feel that I've come a long way in such a short time! I highly recommend this course to anyone who has a blog and wants to learn new ways to improve it or if your someone who is interested in starting a blog, but haven't taken the plunge just yet! There are so many helpful lessons, filled with invaluable information and resources! So if you are the slightest bit interested, I suggest you check it out! *wink*

Thanks for stopping in and reading my 100th post! I appreciate YOU, the readers who take the time to visit and add feedback which is always welcome! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! xo



Photos taken by; Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 3

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!! I'm popping in today really quick to show you the progress I made on my DD yesterday. I finalized the cover (except for a possible handwritten quote I might add to the bottom) and added a shiny textured "Christmasy" ribbon trim. It looks very festive (like a trim you'd see on a Christmas tree), I like it.

And here are some of my transparent overlays to go before each page. I designed most of them on the computer, except for the chicken wire and green circle overlays from Hambly Studios which came in my DD kit. I created the overlays in all different sizes, to mix it up a little and add variation to my DD.

Here are a few close-ups:

Yesterday my mom and I were both working on our December Daily together. It was really nice to spend quality time together while creating something that we will cherish for years to come. We also did this last year and plan to make a tradition of it! I'll be back later this week to share more photos of the DD progress... 

Right now we're off to finish our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner! I hope you all are enjoying your day so far! xo



Photos taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 2

December daily is finally under way (for me)! A little late, but it's happening nonetheless! I spent some time yesterday afternoon planning the outside cover of my album, and this is what I came up with. I really like it so far- I'm a very traditional Christmas kind-of girl, so of course it's red & green. As I said in my previous post here, I'm using the December Daily kit by Ali Edwards & Studio Calico and I'm loving it! I'm also using some things from last year's Christmas stash that I still have, after all, that's what scrapbooking is all about right, using up those "scraps"!

The numbers and title in the above pictures are not stuck down yet...I'm still deciding if I want the cover arranged this way, or slightly different. But the general look will remain the same- even if some of the placement changes. The background paper is already adhered to the album, so that part is permanent! BTW, I strongly suggest that if you are doing a December Daily, and you're on Pinterest, check out all the DD inspiration there, because there's A LOT! Good luck with your DD, and I'll be back soon to post more updates with mine. *wink*



Photos taken by: Wahkuna

Weekend in Reveiw Vol.#5- A low-key fall weekend

Our neighbor's front gate (a photo taken during my fall stroll).

Hello and happy Monday to ya! My weekend was pretty low key mostly, but I did get a few things accomplished. Friday was spent cleaning and organizing- I don't know about you, but I always feel more energized when my space is clean (which also helps my creativity and productivity). When everything is a mess, I feel stifled and don't feel like doing much of anything, but now, all is right with my world and the creativity is flowing!

On Saturday I met up with a close cousin for dinner and drinks. It was a much needed break from everything and some good quality time spent together catching up. Sometimes it's nice to just walk away from everything and recharge a little, and this was just what the Dr. ordered!

Mom and I also did most of our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, which was fantastic! I'm in charge of the dinner this year, and added a few new items to the menu, so I'm looking forward to it. Unfortunately I didn't get around to working on my DD album...however, I'm hoping to do that sometime this week. The positive thinking is key *wink*.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Be back soon! xo

Friendship Card for a Special Person

Supplies Used: Patterned Paper- October Afternoon & Fancy Pants Designs; Distress Ink- Tim Holtz/Ranger ink; Brads- American Crafts; Sentiment Label- Designed by Wahkuna

I know from experience that receiving an unexpected but thoughtful greeting in the mail can make your whole day! I've taken notice of this feeling and I'm trying to spread that same cheer around to more people in my life. This friendship card was created for a special person (who will remain nameless for now). The mix of patterns and colors fit perfectly together and the sentiment expresses exactly how I feel about our friendship. I used the Lawn Party kit by Studio Calico to create this card and my favorite part is the crochet lace ribbon, which adds a homespun touch-not to mention that the aqua color is just GORGEOUS!

I can't wait to mail this to that special someone, and hopefully make their day too! *smile*


Happy Friday everyone- enjoy your weekend!



Photos taken by: Wahkuna

December Daily 2011 Part 1

I can't even believe it's that time of year again, to start working on my December Daily album! I probably should've already started thinking about how I'm going to set up and decorate my album this year, but I haven't! Life always gets away from us and before you know it, you have to think fast! Luckily I took enough initiative to order the December Daily kit by Ali Edwards and Studio Calico before it was sold out- PHEW! I also tweaked the design of my pages from last year and was able to get the file to the printer earlier this week. I picked up the printed pages yesterday (for my mom and I) and now need to focus on the fun part- decorating!! The possibilities are endless and that's what I love most about this album...I'm so excited!

Unlike last year, I plan to complete my December Daily and be proud of the outcome! So I'll be back sometime soon with updates on my progress. Until then, happy crafting my friends!

BTW, are any of you working on a December Daily album too? If so, how do you go about creating your album? Please feel free to share your crafty tips!



Photo taken by: Wahkuna (via camera phone)