Creating Christmas cards for the Holidays

Wow where does the time go...I have been so so busy getting ready for the Holidays- its been over a month almost since I posted anything on here...Well I have completed over 150 Holiday cards, made all my gifts this year and did 55 pages in my grandsons scrapbook...that's where my extra time has been-creating away!!!!
I will post a few of the cards that I have been making and they're ready to send out this Monday.
                                                                                                                                          and above is the matching tags I made to go with ( so I did about 15 tags for each of the cards). One of my favorite cards. I embossed both the card and the tag and used the negative area for the card and then  saved the cutout of the deer and used it on the tags- 2 for 1 deal here.

                                                 
I love the look of nature and pinecone on this card- with the burlap and twine added. Really simple with a little stamping on the background and coloring of the pines and cones on the front. Did some doodling and inking and of course a little stickles- made matching tags but not shown here- forgot to take a picture of them.

And the cute little gingerbread men- have to have a few of these cards and tags. Which the card was a Cricut cut and the tags were stamped and added either rick rack or painted (tulip paint) to give the 3-D look and added some buttons on this vintage looking papers from a Christmas paper stack.
 And I also made several cards which I had posted earlier (actually my last post) my favorite one was of Santa which  was embossed- so cute. Well, hopefully I will have a little more free time to post some great layouts of my grandson- that I have worked one in the next few weeks.  Oh yeah, I put up all my decorations and 3 trees this year in my home- so I have been very busy...but everything looks so wonderful- now its time to enjoy it all.  Happy Holidays to All.

Holiday Make and Take

                               HOLIDAY MAKE & TAKE

I'm hosting an Open House Holiday   Make & Take   Please come and join me in being creative and making some Holiday cards and tags during the weekend of November 22- 24th (see schedule below)
                                            Costs for this Make & Take is only $25.00
      I (Creative Hostess-Debbie Bakk) will have All the supplies needed for you to complete 20 cards and several tags- already designed and pre-planned- so you don't have to be "creative"- just have fun and assemble them - and add your own personal touches, so you can give handmade cards to friends and family this year. All in the comfort of my home, which my whole lower level (craft areas) are designed or set up for 10 friends/ladies to join me at one given time. So pick a day & time which suits your schedule and give me a call to reserve your seat/seats. Call or bring a friend or two- the more the merrier!!!
                 Dates:  November 22- 24th   (you pick a day & time to fit your schedule)
                                        Friday 22nd- 6pm - 11 pm
           Times:           Saturday 23rd   1 pm - 11 pm
                                 Sunday 24th  noon - 8 pm
         Where:        316 Sterbenz Ct. Antioch, Illinois  60002
         R.S.V.P.     by November 17th     to reserve/any questions  call  Debbie Bakk   847-207-1734
Here is a preview of a few of the cards we will be creating- more pictures by the weekend to come
                        **please bring your choice of beverage with you - - -  snacks will be supplied***
               

Alaskan Cruise- final layouts

I have finally finished all 83 of the Alaskan Cruise vacation pages for a friend...WOW !!! the finale ones are of the family all dressed up for the cruise dinners and so they are pretty simple pages because of the wonderful- and large photos I was working with. These first post are a 2 page layout of the parents and one son/girlfriend and I tried to just pull out the colors and use this new glitter paper in gold -that cuts really well with my Expressions

 This 2-page layout above was very difficult for me and took me some time to figure out what I was doing- but I had a idea to bring out the etched artwork in the dining room into this layout. If you look closer at the glasswork on staircase- you can see what I was trying to create. So that kinda explains the background on this layout of the formal dining room -postcards and the lovely photo of a grandma and granddaughter

 The last few pages here are some more of the Cruise line photos they had taken and I used papers  she had bought from the cruise that were especially made for this vacation of theirs. I tried to also keep them very simple and did some fussing cutting of the papers with the bears and placed them on the pages.
   Well, I really enjoyed creating all these layouts for my friend and look forward to her next vacation.

The Butchart Gardens

Botanical it is- so with that in mind I looked thru my scraps/stash and found these flowers already cut out from a earlier page that I had done and these were scraps(can't throw anything away) I love to tear paper, so I found some papers in green and deep purple and torn away and matted the photos with white cardstock and added all the cut flowers to the page- ending up with a very colorful 2-page layout for my friends book of her Alaskan vacation.

Oh...Canada...

Oh Canada...was another one of my friends stop on their Alaskan trip- And look what I came up with for these photos she had for me to scrap.

So, the color Red was appropriate for this 2-page layout along with some bear and elk stickers and then I just stamped some leaves and added glitter to them and a few other little embellishments. Did a simple white cardstock for the mats on all photos and had the precut Canada and stamped with rubber stamp alphas the sub-title of Victoria, BC

Hand stitching on a 2-page layout

Some hand done stitching along the borders on this 2-page layout. With some cricut cuts of leaves and some premade/bought Alaskan vacation chipboard stickers and little bit of green inking and this one was good to go.

Nautical theme TPE#216

One of my favorite 2-pages that I have been working on for a friend of their Alaskan cruise- this was one of the formal nights and they had some wonderful large photos to work with that were taken by the cruise line photographer( so these were very special to them).  As you can clearly see this has the nautical theme with the ship and anchor. I used several Cricut cuts and some light lavender embossed papers that I found in my stash.  I really like working with this new glitter paper that I bought at my last retreat I attented- cuts very well with my Expressions. I didn't want to take away from the great photos so, I kept it pretty simple and elegant - I will be applying this over at The Pink Elephant challenge for a nautical them on a project #216.

SOUS- die cuts "Gates"

This was such a hard page to do- trying to figure out how to put everything on this page and still have the brochure available to open and read and the postcard visible and some kind of theme for all of it. So, I came up with the color scheme(from the postcard) and put the cricut cut gates at the bottom on the page and used a border punch for the brochure sleeve. There was more information  and memorabilia than actual photos. I will be applying this page over at SOUS for the Gate die cut challenge this week

Frosted Designs # challenge

Well, since I have been working on some Alaskan pages for a friend- the number 69 was the engine number of the Yukon Trail train ride they were on with all kinds of stops for adventure along the way. So, I will be entering this page for the challenge over at Frosted Designs this week- to use numbers on a project.

Alaska here we come

Over at Scrap Our Stash the themed challenge is Road Trip/Travel and I sure have been busy doing a lot of pages for a friend's trip/cruise to Alaska. So here is one that I picked out to enter into this challenge. This 2-page layout was the beginning of their journey to Alaska.

Did several cricut cuts for the luggage and airplane then used some travel strip Borders from K&Company and several rub-ons. Also, the precut Seattle title and made some clouds and inked all the edges in blue. I also had to find room for the space needle brochure, which I added a tab- so it can be lifted up to read the inside.

Totem Poles galore...

Totem Poles and lots of them . I used my Gypsy and Expressions to plan this title out and weld together. I torn papers and put them in the corners of the pages and then painted with white acrylic on the pics , instead of matting each photo. Also used a few postcard embellies and another 2-page layout is finished.

Up in the Clouds

Up in the Clouds in Alaska while on the train ride- I wish I could of been with my friend on this beautiful journey. Again a lot of 4 x 6 pictures and just using pre bought Alaska papers from scrap my trip. I did make a few clouds and stamped my title in them amd this simply 2 page layout was done.

 While up in the clouds they did take the time to adventure out a bit and take a few more photos. Once again I also used the Alaskan papers (bear pawprints)-and a few laser cut embellies on this layout

Wonderful sites while in Alaska

Oh the beautiful sites in Alaska...but they are kinda hard to scrap at least for me-but I do like the simplicity of the finished pages- and you see those sites in the photos and not all the embellishments that are usually on a layout. So here are 2- 2page layouts of just photos (all 4x6's) which I simply matted each photo and put them on special papers with Alaskan pictures as the background and a little sticker in the middle of the pictures which represents what was going on. A train ride and lots of photographic moments or sites.

 I did have a little more room to add a few embellies on the layout below. I used my crimper on some scrap paper in the colors I wanted to pull out -very earthy and then handmade a few square embellies and attached a button and some twine along with a title cut out with Cricut Expression and covered in Stickles for a little and pop. Behind the title was some distraction from the paper pictures so I painted or dry bruched white paint over the area for the title to go so it would be seen better

All Aboard..WP&YR Route

 This is a 2-page layout that I took separate pics of- I really like how this page turned out..it took me awhile to plan it- but it was worth the time. I took some pages out of a brochure that she had in her supplies and cut out little stuff and the best part was I used the map of the route they were on. half of it on each page.
Also has some R&R scrap paper -but not enough for both pages - Cut out the title with my Gypsy and Expression and put the little compass in the middle of the O in the title

 
 

 Liarsville -above was another excursion to pan for gold...so of course I used a gold embossed special paper for the background and a few embellies cut out and used part of some Alaska paper for the trim on the bottom. Colors of the Alaska state flag- blue and gold.

Bridges & Tunnels...where some of the sites on their train ride from Skagway, Alaska over 70 miles north and then back again. I did  the banners in the colors of the train- yellow and green- and hand stitched with twine some X X X and eyelets in between 

Musher's Camp in Alaska

 An excursion while on their cruise in Alaska- Musher's Camp with the sled dogs... I love to scrap the outdoors- and this one was fun to do. I had a lot of memorabilia and photos to work with- so I did 6 pages of this event for her. In this next layout, I have a brochure -which can be lifted up to read all about the camp and a photo of their ticket stubs and cruise itinerary- a few other embellishments including the white stamped paw prints all over the page.

  Man's Best Friend 2 page was a simply layout so you could see all the action is the photos of the dog sleds- embellies used where ribbon on the corner of pics , washi tape, some red square epoxy stickers, cricut cut out titles and alpha stickers

  Of course, they had to go cuddle with the puppies...AWWW how cute. Here I used some doggy print papers I had and some black embossed bumpy paper ( not sure where or how long I have this paper- but I found it in my stash) and I just hand painted the words right on it and made some other embellies with corrugated chipboard.

Breathtaking Views

     These next two layouts of the Alaskan Cruise are my favorites- I'm not sure what I like best -the colors-the simplicity or the photos- they are Breath taking that's for sure

 I used her Alaskan papers then just simply matted pics in white along with a few embellishments that she had in the supplies like the laser cut ship for Alaskan Cruising whale & hawk and the port hole. But, I didn't use the tree/sun insert that was in the port hole--I cut out a picture and put it behind  instead- how cool is that?
     On both of these pages I used this new silver glitter paper- it is wonderful to work with and very shiny but doesn't leave any messes- I did the titles with this special paper ( I need to get me some more)

   The great Outdoors is so simple- but really pops out at ya- Love it and the colors of red, white and teal in the photo- go so well together.  Another Gypsy welded Cricut cut and banner with the word wonder stamped on them

 Of course they went to the Captain's  reception/dinner one evening and took a few photos of the wonderful staff- so again with the simplicity and theme I used a big anchor for the embellishments and a captain's hat along with a few journal spots for her to write in- along with the wonderful selection of Alaskan themed papers to choose from

Alaskan Cruise

 Here are some more fabulous pages for the Alaskan Cruise book I did for a friend. I tried to keep all the pages fairly simple and to the theme, and she didn't want a lot of journaling to be done- so only a few pages I would put a spot or tag for that. Here I used my Expression to cut out the life savers and colored them and put black cord on them and pop dots for 3 dimensional

Since they go on a lot of cruises ( which I have never been on one- some day I will) they took some pictures of what I call the cloth critters in their rooms- I think they are so cute.

While on the cruise the girls took a few fun arts & craft classes to here is a page dedicated to the jewelry class they had fun doing. I have attached a few odd and end jewelry pieces to the page and used some colorful background papers since there wasn't much colors in the photos, and some washi tape-including on the alpha letters

I like the pop of colors I did on this page of the girls singing  Karaoke while on the ship. So I took a clue from the colors or the patterns in there clothes for the background paper and then just added the cricut cut title & names in some bright colors of hot pink and glitter gold

 Whale watching while on the Alaskan Cruise- how cool this must be. The pictures weren't the greatest- but you get the idea of the activity they were doing on this cold cloudy day. I love the cute whales that I cut out and added some water spouts to and the clouds above. And the whale paper was one of the papers she already had in the supplies to use. And below was a fun page to scrap- it was my friends Birthday while on their vacation so with the Cricut I cut out the title and some colorful balloons and with white acrylic paint did the mats for the photos

Finished 83 pages of Alaska Trip

    Oh my!!! Yes, I just finished 83 pages or layouts for a friend and her Family on their Alaskan Cruise...so I will be posting quite a few on here in the next few weeks. I started doing these pages the beginning of June while on a weekend retreat (got 68 done) and then this past weekend did the rest of the them and I finished last night. 

 My friend- gave me the pictures in envelopes for each activity or day while on the cruise...then I do the layouts to my likings or ideas. She also, has a large 12 x 12 storage box filled with papers and embellishments that she collected or bought while on the trip- to go with the theme of this trip/cruise. So I do my best to work with the products or supplies given to me.

 But, sometimes it doesn't work out for me and I use other papers and ideas or embellies that I have made. Like in the above 2 page layout -I used an old map and made the sun bursts/circle embellies.

 I also have been given permission to cut the pictures to work for me and my layout ideas...which is great- otherwise its really hard or makes for a lot of pages if you have to stick with the 4 x 6 size photos.

 Here is one of the lazer cuts she had in the supply box for me to use- just had to find the right size pictures and lots and lots of fussy cutting to put all the colors of cardstock behind this lazer cut.

 And sometimes- I have to work with large photos that they had taken by the cruise or travel planners and I don't want to cut these up- so it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for much else- so I like to keep it simple as I can and like to work with the memorable that goes with the vacation...like postcards, tickets, and itineraries

 And- to work with some of the wonderful lazer cuts she had for me in the Cruise supply box were wonderful and expensive- so I wanted these to be the main focal point also...simple but you sense the Alaskan them in the pages without a whole lots of embellishments going on.