In addition to making a retirement card for Skip for all of the Sea Scouts to sign, we need to have a birthday card for everyone to sign too.

As soon as I saw this darling digi over at Beccy’s Place, I just knew it would be perfect for a card for Skip. Both of my boys agree with me that this is something about this bear’s face that really reminds us all of Skip. Hopefully both cards (scroll down to see the other one) will be hits.

Last spring, my older son joined Sea Scouts. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it is a venturing crew within Boy Scouts of America that focuses on sailing and sea safety. Well, the adult leader of his Ship is retiring from his career in nursing and we wanted to have a card for all of the Scouts to sign. I made this card drawing inspiration from the latest sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You.

And, the inside looks like this:

Of course, I just realized that 2 Sketches 4 You is on a bit of hiatus for the holidays. Hopefully, I’m not too late to participate in the challenge fun. Hopefully Skip likes this card. Now, off to make a birthday card for him.

Over the holidays, it seems that my creativity simply went on vacation (and didn’t bother to take me). Yes, things have been busy and then our dog passed away, but I haven’t even really been motivated to go into my craft room for a couple of weeks. Today, that all changes. One of my new year’s resolutions is to reclaim my lost creativity and to get back into my scrapbooks and cardmaking. Next weekend should really kick-start the scrapbooking component since I am going on my annual scrapbooking retreat, but for the cards, I had to take matters into my own hands.

For my first foray back, I kept things pretty simple. I used the latest sketch from The Sweetest Thing (#98) as my starting point. After I printed it out and took a look at it, the scalloped portion on the sketch made me think that it would make a good easel card, so I turned the sketch on its side.  I also drew motivation from the latest challenge over at the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge (#115) – Buttons and Bows. I will admit that I have knots more than bows, but I think that you get the idea.

I don’t know exactly why I chose to make a Christmas card to start the new year, but for whatever reason a Christmas card is what came together for me. I guess when I looked at my stash of buttons and ribbons, the reds and greens just jumped out at me. The image is a stamp that my dear friend Laura had and I begged her to let me have it. It is just so simple, but I love it.

So, what do you think of my first attempt to find my lost creativity? Do you think I am on the right track?

You may have noticed that I have been rather absent of late. With preparing for the holiday, my crafting time has been rather limited. However, I did want to take a quick moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (or happy holiday to those who celebrate anything other than Christmas) and a Happy New Year.

The latest challenge over at House Mouse and Friends is “Oh Charming Christmas Tree.” What could be more charming than two darling little mice trying to get their Christmas tree home (but not making much progress)?

Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that Hobby Lobby opened up close to me and carries House Mouse stamps? I didn’t get this one there, but having easy access to new ones has brought new life to my older House Mouse stamps as well. I used the latest sketch from Mojo Monday as the inspiration for the layout. All of the papers were from the “A Country Christmas” pack from the Paper Studio. Even the little tree that I used to embellish the oval was cut from one of the papers in that pack. I got this pack of paper from Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago, but this was my first real chance to use any of the papers from it.

It seems like lately I have either not had time to craft, or when I have had time, I have had specific projects to work on. Yesterday, I finished up some Christmas cards. This morning, I have had a very peaceful house. The other early riser in the house spent the night with his God-parents and the other son and my DH are still sleeping. So, I did what any good crafter would do. I checked out the new challenges for this weekend and got to work. I decided to use the latest sketch from Our Creative Corner since it seemed to provide the perfect opportunity to use some of the darling cupcake embellishments that I got last night and the House Mouse Make a Wish stamp that I bought a couple of weeks ago but had yet to ink.

I chose my color scheme based on the colors in the cupcake embellishment. The card is super girlie which isn’t my usual style, but, overall, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think?

Okay, not really. I am really starting to get into the Christmas spirit and am looking forward to spending the time with my family. In the meantime, the latest challenge over at Papertake Weekly is to make a Christmas card without using any red or green – Red and Green Must Not be Seen. No problem! Here is what I came up with:

I just adore this little drummer boy stamp that I got last year and thought he would work so well on a card with no red or green.

I paired it with this sweet sentiment stamp that I got this year and I think they make a perfect match. In case you can’t read it, the sentiment says, “In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning.”

I actually made several of these and am planning to give them to all of the members of my team at work. I hope they like them.

I think that I have mentioned it a couple of times, but I am participating in an Open House event at the Staples in Westminster, MD this Saturday morning. I am going to have some of my cards there, but the main thing that I am going to be selling is small gift bags. I have been having lots of fun making and decorating the bags, but as a result, I haven’t been doing as much with challenges. This morning, I decided to combine the two as I made the gift bag for the door prize that I am bringing Saturday. I got a friend of mine who hand makes jewelry to make a pair of earrings that I am going to wrap up in this:

I used the latest sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches (#94). I loved how the ribbon stripes simulated ribbons on a package. I also drew inspiration from the latest challenge over at My Time to Craft (#118) – Reindeer Greetings. I was thinking about using my little Santa stamp on one of the bags, but when I saw the call for Reindeer Greetings, it was easy enough for me to switch up and use this cute little reindeer.

I believe the earrings are going to be red, so they will even color coordinate with the wrapping.

I don’t know about you, but I do know that a lot of people give their fur-babies presents at the holidays. At least I hope so. Next week, I am doing an Open House event for which I made a bunch of small gift bags and will be selling cards. I thought it might be nice to have some dog-themed gift bags:

I made these using the latest sketch from Friday Sketchers (#131) as the inspiration for the layout. Here are some closer up shots:

They are too small for doggie toys, but are the perfect size for putting a couple of doggie treats in.

What do you think? Do you spoil your fur-babies for the holidays?

After my friend got the “Mary Kay” gift bags that I made for her, she was really excited and I think she was telling everyone about them. I know she told a woman who is hoping to organize an event at the Staples where they bring in vendors and allow them to sell their products right in the store. Of course, the hope is that people will come in to check out the vendors and then will wind up buying stuff from the store as well. They are still trying to work out the details, but if they do have the event, it looks like I will have a booth to sell gift bags and cards. I have started making some gift bags for that event just in case.

And in case people want something that isn’t too focused on the holidays:

The bags are small but perfect for wrapping gift card and other small items.

Apparently she also was talking to another friend who does wedding planning and was telling her about the bags. When we had lunch today, she suggested that I make some examples that we can share with this other friend who can then promote the bags to her clients. They really are perfect for jewelry (bride’s maid gifts) or for small table favors. Here is one that I made up this evening:

I am sure that I will be creating several more designs over the coming week or so in preparation for the possible event. In the mean time, I would love to hear from you about what you like (and dislike) about the ones that I have already put together. Also, I would love to hear suggestions of things that you think would work well with these small bags. Let me hear from you!