2020 Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Ornaments 2020:
Clothes Pin Nativity 

This is my 5th year to participate in the Christmas ornament swap hosted by Moose on the Loose.  I make something a little different each time but I have decided to start a series.  From now until whenever, I am going to make clothes pin ornaments.  They are cheap and easy.  

This year I made this nativity.  I got the idea from Pinterest and there are a TON of clothes pin ornaments there.  I'm thinking about making a snowman next year.  

The ornaments must have a stamp on the ornament or on a tag attached to it.  Mine was on the tag with my sig stamp and AQ number.  

After just 5 years my little Letterbox tree is really filling up :)

Secret Santa Stamps

I believe this is my 9th year to participate in the Secret Santa stamp swap.  Bungalow Boxer had my name and send a pinecone/needle stamp, an awesome logbook, and some chocolates.  

I actually met Bungalow Boxer early this year.  She was passing thru town on her way to an event, and asked if I wanted to get together for an exchange.  It was fun getting a surprise from someone I recently met.   While in the area, she planted some boxes and I got them on Spring Break.

I am looking for a good place with pine trees to hide my stamp.  I wanted to stop and look at a cemetery yesterday but my family said no :(

I had Sherlock Miles and her sent this detective stamp I carved and a few LTCs.

Merry Christmas to all!  

Advent Calendar LTCs

I was excited when SLeaves posted the "Advent Calendar" LTC swap.  I like making cards/boxes for silly holidays and I immediately went to the interweb looking for fun holidays in December.   

My first day is December 12th.  It is National Gingerbread House Day.  I carved my stamp, stamped it on cardstock, and colored it with Copic markers.  I also went over the snow areas with my Scrapbook.com glitter brush pen. 

My second day is December 18th.  This is Answer The Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day!  I carved my stamp, colored it with Marvy markers and stamped it on cardstock. 

The one requirement from the tracker is that they have the date on them.  I have goofy handwriting so I ordered a few different stamp sets to use on the date.  

I'm happy with them and looking forward to seeing the other cards. 

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him LTC

This is my card for Disney Addict's, "Christmas Time" LTC swap.  Again, I went to Pinterest for my inspiration.  

For my card, I took playing cards, and used Gesso to glue down some old, torn text papers.  Once that was dry, I stamped my stamp, and colored it with Distress Crayons & a water brush.  I affixed my strip of text with a glue stick.

I wanted to add some glitter and set the cards, so I bought some glitter spray paint at the craft store.  It was a total dud.  The can did not work at all and if I could have found the receipt, I would have returned it.

Christmas Time: 
Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Then I went to Walmart and bought some glitter spray paint and it had waaay to much glitter.  Even when I tried to go easy on the nozzle, it was too much.  

I used to have some glitter Mod Podge and could not find it.  I ordered some online.  It came and I loved it.  I loved that it had multi size glitter pieces.  I painted it on my cards and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.  I'm very happy with my first Christmas LTC of 2020.

 

Secret Santa Stamp

Check out the cute stamp I got from my Secret Santa.  We have 2 pickle ornaments on our Christmas tree and I love this stamp.  I actually plan on keeping my stamp this year.  I usually plant them as traditional boxes or send them off as hitchhikers.  Thanks AdventurousAcorn!

I sent my stamp off to RDHG.  They have a travel blog and I thought they would enjoy this traveling Woodstock stamp. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year <3

Christmas Ornaments 2019

2019 Ornaments

This is my 4th year to participate in the Christmas Ornament swap, hosted by Moose on the Loose.  I got a bunch of fun ornaments today.

For this swap you are supposed to make an ornament and include a stamp.  The stamp can be on the ornament or a tag or something like that.

Last year someone made personalized ornaments for each participant.  I decided to do that too.  I got this idea from Pinterest.  I had an old atlas that was worn and had been wet.  I found each persons city on the map and made sure that it was inside the ring of the ornament.

Home is where the heart is 

If you follow my blog, the stamp should look familiar.  This is the stamp that I used all year in the New/Underused Product LTC swaps.  Here I made Shrinky Dinks with them.  I'm very happy with how they turned out :)

Merry Christmas <3

Winter LTC Swap

 I am participating in another one of aMAZEing adventure frog's LTC swaps.  This one is called "Winter Craft & Swap" and my card is called "Joy to the World."  When I first signed up, I planned to make a card with a snowman on it.  But after a while I realized that I hadn't made any Christmas themed cards in 2018.  So I changed my plans.

This card is basically the same as my Heart Art card.  I took strips of old text paper that I bought on Etsy (dictionary, encyclopedia, music, etc), spread a thin layer of glue on watercolor paper using an old gift card, both over and under the papers, and let it dry.  Then, I spread Gesso with a gift card and let it dry.  Next, I took an old sock and rubbed Ground Espresso & Rusty Hinge Distress Inks.

Finished card, card before extra ink,
card before crackle (L-R)

When I was done with that, I cut the cards to size, stamped my stamp, brushed Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint-Clear Rock Candy on top, and let that dry.  Last time I used this technique, I wasn't happy with the crackle effect.  This go round, I was disappointed that the Distress Ink background really smeared when brushing the crackle paint on.  I tried using my heat tool on some of the cards before adding the crackle and the problem didn't stop.  So in the end, I went back and added extra Distress Ink on top of the crackle.

I punched the corners of the cards before adding the crackle.  I glued the whole thing to brown paper.  I struggled to come up with a name for the card.  I wanted to use a Christmas Carol but I have already made a card called "Mary Did You Know".  I thought about calling it Madonna something but that didn't feel right.  I was listening to Christmas music and Joy to the World jumped out at me.  I love how they turned out.  I know it is February but I made the cards in late November <3

2018 Secret Santa Stamps

Secret Santa Stamp by christmaspickle

My Secret Santa Stamp arrived earlier this week.  It was carved by christmaspickle.  I thought it was cool that I was put with another Christmas person.

They sent this "InSight MARS" stamp.  A card included says, "This carve is in honor of NASA's recent Mars exploration mission: Insight.  This is a modification of the mission logo."

My Secret Santa Stamp to Celcilia57

I sent my stamp on to Cecilia57.  In the interview part of her profile page on Atlas Quest, she says that when she grew up she wanted to be a Marine Biologist and her favorite animal is a sea otter.  I was very nervous about carving the bubbles on the otter stamp but they turned out pretty well.

This is my 7th year to participate in the Secret Santa stamp swap.  Last year I planted my stamp on New Years Day and as long as the weather is decent, I plan to do that again this time.  Merry Christmas :)

Christmas Ornaments 2018 Part 2

I recently got my Letterboxing Christmas Ornaments and I love them.  People are so creative! 

One person burned all the participants signature stamp on a wood slice.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence that the ornament had the same snowman as my sig stamp.  But in the clue for the ornament they put a pic of all the ones they made. 

Christmas Ornaments 2018

"Cozy Flannel Wreath" 

I'm participating in Moose on the Loose's 9th Annual Christmas Ornament swap.  This is my 3rd year do it.  The past two years the main focus of my ornament was the stamp but not this year.  I made these wreathes with plastic shower curtain hooks, flannel fabric, and ribbon.  They were quick and easy :)

Secret Santa Stamp

This year my Secret Stamp Santa is Brandy.  She carved this cute penguin stamp.  I'll look for a place to hide it this winter :)

I mentioned before about getting a tree for my letterboxing ornaments.  I dug around in the basement and found one.  It had shot gun shell lights on it but the Princess stole them.  This tree has ornaments from 2 years of participating in the swap.  I am signed up for next year and already have an idea I want to try.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year <3

Socks & Stamps

This year I am participating in some sock & stamp swaps.  I was a stay at home mom for 13 years and now I am working at a day care.  They sent out a flyer about a sock swap.  It said to buy a pair of Christmas socks and fill it with things that make you happy.  I got some chocolate Kisses, Burt's Bees goodies, a Star Wars spatula, and carved a stamp.


I am also in a sock swap on AQ.  After making a sock full of fun stuff for work I couldn't just send a pair of socks.  I sent Christmas socks, Kisses, another Burt's Bees, and I carved a stamp.  My sock buddy made me socks!  She also made an ear warmer and a fancy candy cane holder. 


This is my 6th year to be in the AQ Secret Santa stamp swap.  After looking at all the colorful Christmas socks I had to send some in this swap too.  I send Christmas socks, Kisses, LTCs, and a stamp.  I am still waiting on my stamp from my Secret Santa and I'll post about it when it arrives.

Christmas Ornament Swap Part 2

Here are the ornaments I got from the Christmas ornament swap, hosted by Moose on the Loose.  They all look great!  I think I am going to buy a small pre-lit tree to put my boxing ornaments on <3

Christmas Art LTCs

Distress Inks & Water

I like Distress Inks and trying new things so I bought a few Distress Oxides.  It took me a few tries to figure them out, but in the end I really like the look they give.

I used both Distress Ink and Oxides for this card.  It is called, "Primitive Creche" for Gypsy Fiddler's "Christmas/Holiday Art" LTC swap.

Distress Oxides & Water

I started off rubbing the inks on my craft mat, spraying them with water, smearing the card stock card thru, and let it dry.

Now for the Oxides.  I rubbed them on my craft mat, sprayed with water, smeared/daubed the card in the ink, and dry it with your drier.  Then you take the card and tap/rub it in a different area of the Oxides and dry it.  You may have to do this 2-3 times.  The drying is one thing I never do with the Distress Inks; I just let them sit.

Christmas Art: Primitive Creche

Once the cards were to a point that I liked, I sprinkled some water on them, let them set for a few seconds and patted with a paper towel to remove extra water.

I stamped my stamp, embossed it, and I rounded the corners with a punch.  I am really happy with how they turned out :)

Christmas Ornament Swap

Daper Snowman

I am back in the Christmas Ornament swap, hosted by Moose on the Loose.  I participated a few years ago and really liked it.

I carved my stamp and made the main part of my ornament over the summer.  I left the ribbon for later.  Next thing I knew the deadline was upon me.  I burned my finger prints off, hot gluing the ribbons on.  I think they look pretty good :)

Secret Santa Stamps

This is my 5th year to participate in the Secret Santa stamp swap.  The 1st year we got an awesome Santa stamp that we planted near Santa Claus, Indiana.  The 2nd year we got a tiny frog stamp that we sent off as a hitchhiker.  The 3rd year we received a stamp of Charlie Brown, Snoopy & tree, that has recently gone missing.  Last year we got a Gingerbread man, that we sent out as a hitchhiker.

This year our Secret Santa was RideTheMoose (fun trail name).  She sent these cool stamps AND some chocolates!  One of the great things about these stamps is that they were carved on materials that I have never seen before.  The white one is labeled, "seed" and I don't know what the pink one is.  They are both much thicker than Speedball pink.

I will probably plant the strawberry in the spring and the leaf guy in the fall.  Thank you RideTheMoose :)

Christmas LTC's 2016

I believe this is my 4th year to participate in Beetle's Christmas LTC swap and my card is called, "The Reason for the Season."

 I found my image and carved it right away but I was torn on the background.  I really wanted to glue some burlap fabric to the card. But in the tracker Beetle asks that you don't make your cards too heavy because it is a large swap (30 people).

I was on online looking at craft supplies and saw the Tim Holtz burlap stencil.  I bought it but still had problems deciding how to use it.  I sprayed ink on it, rubbed ink on with a Distress Ink Applicator, and brushed acrylic paint on it.  I didn't like how any of those turned out.

Christmas LTCs 2016: The Reason for the Season

I got to thinking about my card from two years ago.  Here is the link to that Blog post with step by step instructions and photos.  Because this is such a large swap I was only going to make 30 cards.  But I got down to the end and ran out of paper.  I thought about using different paper on that last one but my OCD kicked in and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought more paper.  Now I have 5 extra cards.

In the tracker Beetle asks that you share a Christmas memory with your card.  One of my favorite Christmas memories is performing in the live nativity as a Girl Scout at our zoo.  The zoo provided children's costumes, played the story on a tape, and we would go out into the petting zoo area with sheep, goats, llama, etc.  It was a lot of fun and afterward we would get hot chocolate and cookies.  Our zoo is run by the city so they would never allow that type of thing now but it was fun the few times we did it

This picture was taken in 1987 and I am the magi with the blue hat holding the candle next to the angel.  My mom has a boatload of pictures in her basement and thankfully I only had to go thru 2 photo albums to find this pic.

Christmas Carols LTC

Christmas Carols: Go Tell it on the Mountain 

This my card for the "Christmas Carols" LTC swap.  It is a little plainer than I had planned.  I was going to layer the paper but the stamp is just to big.  It is hard to tell from this pic but the paper has music notes on it.  It didn't work out like I planned but I like it :)

Pre-Thanksgiving Leftovers and Secret Santa

I know I am a little late getting this post out.  I participated in TAP's Pre-Thanksgiving Leftover LTC swap.  I was hoping that she would do a "post" swap too and I would do one blog for both.  But my husband had a hunting accident the day before Thanksgiving, we spent 3 days in the hospital that was an hour from home, and there is no way I could have worked on cards if she did two swaps.  But I took pics to make a blog post so here it is.

The background for this card was really fun to make :)  I got the idea on Pinterest, of course.  I made a stencil out of hot glue on my fancy craft mat.  I stuck half of a sheet of paper behind the mat so I knew how big to make my stencil.

You let the glue dry/harden and pull it up.  I tried this with regular and glossy card stock.  I sprayed fall colored alcohol inks on.  For the regular card stock I also sprayed a little water.  I liked the regular card stock best.

Pre-Thanksgiving Leftovers-
Proud Pumpkin

For these "left over" swaps you are supposed to use only materials that you have on hand.  So, I can't tell you what colors I used because they were already in the spray bottles.  I ran out of hot glue making my stencil but lucky my husband had some in his garage.

I just got a new sewing machine and I wanted to try it out on this project.  I played around with it a few different ways.  I wanted to do a zig zag stitch but thought it was to busy.  I still think it needs something...

Secret Santa stamp from Porras Posse 

I got my stamp from my AQ Secret Santa!  Porras Posse sent me this cute gingerbread man, stamp pouch, and logbook.  I think I am going to send him off as a Hitchhiker.  I love Hitchhikers :)

Christmas Ornament Swap

Christmas Ornament 2015:
Poinsettia 

This was my first year to participate in the Christmas Ornament swap on AQ.  I had an idea and carved my stamp right away.  But I got distracted and didn't make my ornaments until the last minute.

The great stuff I got :D

I was really surprised by all the cool ornaments that I got from the swap.  I thought I would wait until I got my ornaments to sign up for next year.  Well, that was a mistake because now the swap is full for next year :(  I guess I could make something and hope that someone drops out.

Anyway, this is a fun swap.  If you haven't participated (and are able to get in) you should give it a try :)