With a Little Help from My Friends . . .

I am finally getting caught up with my long list of "to do's." I have a few more things to wrap and cookies and fudge to make, but I AM getting there, really. lol

I hope no one minds, but I used two of my HM ATCs today to make a card for my parents and one for my husband. They were so darn cute, I even hated to put them in a folder and leave them there in the dark . . . (well, you know what I mean).

So, I used this little cutie from Tracy (megjoralys on SCS), added a black piece of cs behind him, trimmed with my Fiskars scissors, which are very neglected now that I have my Nesties :) then placed on a piece of red and green dp that I first embossed with my cb Divine Swirls folder. I added a little red button/holly leaf 3D embellishment at the bottom that my friend Deb (Dcorder on SCS) sent me in an elf package.

Next up is a cute little HM that looks so content. This ATC was sent in a swap to me from Andrea (Littlekid11 on SCS). She is quite the little crafter like her mom :) I layered this one on black cs as well and tried the scissors the other direct to get the points to stick out a little more. I experimented a little bit with the vanilla cs base of the card and inked up the canvas bg stamp with old olive then sponge on some ruby red. It wasn't quite what I imagined, but it didn't look bad either. I used a strip of the red and plaid dp I have been using a lot this season and layered that on a scrap of green. Underneath the HM is a punched hole to thread my wasabi ribbon through, again received from Wish RAK (hmmm, I believe from Jessica/Jlazarski on SCS). The wasabi ribbon was then tied and a piece of organdy burgundy was added. I really wanted a red, but couldn't get the shade quite right. I think this will do. A small 3D package embellishment was also used from my friend Deb (Dcorder on SCS) to balance it out a bit.

The two cards above were truly labors of love by me and my friends. Again, I hope they don't mind that I used their ATCs for my family cards, but I know the receivers will truly cherish them and NOT throw them away. My mom has every card I have ever made her, and well . . . my hubby knows better than throw them away (I usually *save them for him* and display them in my office--lol).

I also have a card I made for my Grandpa (also entered in the WishRAK challenge on SCS).

The details are here.

and this saying truly fit my son ( a WishRAK image sent to me from Nancy P/crooked river at SCS) . . . Kept it pretty simple for Cody's with a few layers and the Merry Christmas twill tape from Jlazarski (thanks again, Jess!)

I received another precious Christmas card from a good SCS friend. This time it is from my little sis/divine secret sibling--Kelly S (gadget19). Thanks so much, Kelly. This set is gorgeous, and I was hoping to purchase it before Christmas, but I don't think it will happen. I love how she colored in the gown and can you see the shimmer on the angels wings? Just gorgeous. I will be displaying this one for a while too!

This will no doubt be my last post before Christmas, as we are leaving tomorrow morning for my parent's home to celebrate then my IL's on Christmas day, and work in between, so . . .

Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS from the "Little family home" to yours !

With love, Kelly