12th day of Christmas

Today was gingerbread house day with three more grandchildren. The youngest licked his fingers a few times after all that's what taste testing is all about.

Applying colored sugar takes a steady hand and a gentle shaking motion.

Concentration is very important.

Sometimes too much sugar causes funny faces.

Those aren't puffy cheeks! A teddy graham jumped into his mouth. Mmmm good.

The finished houses were works of art.

The youngest wanted to play with the toys not pose for another photo! I can't blame them...decorating houses is hard work.

This house is very artistic and colorful. I love the wreath over the door. There is even a door knob and the decorative colored balls at the peak of the house were placed there one at a time. Wow now that's attention to details.

This is today's card:

See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

11th day of Christmas

I just got home from the cookie exchange. Chocolate Chip, Peppermint Bark, Spritz, Cracker Candy, Pizzelles, Peanut Butter Balls, Lemon Wreaths, Rugelach, Truffles and Raspberry Jelly Bars were a few of the many cookie that we exchanged. I haven't even seen this many different cookies in a bakery! It was a delight for the sweet tooth in each of us.



Here is the card for today.

One Nestability die and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. A green ribbon, a red Christmas tree brad and three gold pearls added a little bling. This card is fairly simple but there is beauty in simplicity. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

10th day of Christmas

Only two weeks left to finish the Christmas shopping. This weekend I'll be attending a Christmas cookie exchange at my daughters home on Saturday and the next round of Gingerbread houses on Sunday. The two youngest grandchildren and their older sister will be decorating houses so this is going to be fun! Lots of finger licking with the little ones.

This is the card for today:

Sizzix embossing folder, EK Success edge punch and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. The image was highlighted with a Sakura Stardust pen. A gold metallic pen was applied to the edges of the papers. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

9th day of Christmas

This card used the same image as in the 4th day of Christmas. This image was printed on white cardstock instead of ivory and the background is green rather than red. Same image but a different outcome just by changing the colors.

Nestability deckled edge die, Cuttlebug folder, and Stazon opaque Cotton White ink pad were used to create this card. I didn't use much "bling" on this card. I did highlight the image with a Sakura Stardust pen. The center of the metal star was filled with Stickles, the corners of the green background were rounded and all the edges were highlighted with a gold metallic pen. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

8th day of Christmas

Today's Christmas song is "Angels we have heard on high". So in honor of Angels here is an angelic card.

Two of the same size scalloped Nestability dies were used, one for the photo and one for mauve cardstock. The mauve piece was offset from the picture and about 1/3 of it was cut off. The small snowflakes are from a Fiskar corner punch. Instead of using this punch to make a decorative corner it was used only for the snowflakes that are left over after punching the corner. A larger white charm has a bow on top tied with some silver thread. Vintage photo was sponged around the picture and was then detailed on the edges with a gold metallic pen. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

7th day of Christmas

Today would be a good day for a sleigh ride since we have plenty of snow. Get blankets to keep warm and after the ride some hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Personally I like the hot chocolate and marshmallow part the best. I am not a "snow" person.

You know how I love "bling" so can you find it on this card?

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestability dies, deckle edge scissors, and Vintage Photo dye ink were used on this card. The background has Vintage Photo sponged over the raised areas. The remaining pieces have Vintage Photo sponged on the edges of the paper. The edges of the paper were highlighted with a gold metallic pen. Hint the "bling" is in the bottom right side under Christmas Greetings. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

6th day of Christmas

Lots of snow! The almanac predicted cold but not much snow this winter. Well if this is a precursor of things to come...we're in big trouble. Not only is it cold but we have about 16" of snow. So much for the almanacs predictions.

I have been listening to Christmas songs the last few days. This song is on "repeat" in my head...."I'll have a blue Christmas without you...." so today's card is blue. A welcome break from the traditional red and green.

The mother in me wants to know "Where are your gloves?" It is clearly snowing in this photo but her hands are bare.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities die, and Fiskar corner punch were used to create this card. I sponged Stazon opaque cotton white over the raised design in the blue background and Vintage Photo on the edges of the remaining pieces. In honor of "bling" (that I truly love using), I put three pearls on the top right corner and three on the bottom left corner. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

5th day of Christmas

Today was a great day because four of my grandchildren came over to decorate gingerbread houses. They are so inventive and their house reflect their creativity. Each one had an idea to try on his or her house and were willing to share that idea with everyone. They were able to "CASE" each other. Here is how the houses looked before they started decorating.

The geniuses at work:

They were encouraged to taste test everything! Licking fingers was one of the best ways to be sure that the frosting was tasty.

Concentration helped get the snow on the roof to look perfect. The snow looks just like that on the toop of my house today!

Sometimes they used a butter knife instead of fingers and if the frosting got on the fingers all the better to lick off!

Adding snow to the green roof with a peppermint walkway. How cool is that!

The completed housing project:

There is a "ham" in every family and and it was difficult to get them to be smile for a picture so the in the next photo they didn't have to be serious and they weren't!!

Here is the card for the fifth day of Christmas:

See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

4th day of Christmas

Today is day four of the Vintage Christmas card series. Three weeks from now the hustle and bustle will be all over and the bills will start arriving. I hope you have all of your Christmas cards made and most of your shopping done. I started wrapping today so that I could take inventory of what I bought and who else I need to buy for. Tomorrow is gingerbread house day and four of my grandchildren will be coming over to decorate. They will each have a house to decorate. The remaining grandchildren will be decorating next Sunday. I love to see how creative they are.

Here is the card for today.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities, Tim Holtz music stamp, Vintage Photo dye ink were all used on this card. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

3rd day of Christmas

Day number three and a third card. This image is from the Vintage Christmas Card book and CD sold at Dover Publishing.

All papers were sponged with a Vintage Photo dye ink pad. Background was created with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, image was cut with a deckled oval Nestability die, layered on top of another green paper cut with a Nestability die. The scalloped border at the bottom was made with a Martha Stewart edger punch. Gold pearls were added for a little "bling". See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

2nd day of Christmas

This is the card for the second day of Christmas. The image is from the same CD as in the previous post. I'm really lovin' this vintage look.

The holly leaves in the corners were from a Sizzix die. The embossed background is a Sizzix embossing folder. I sponged Vintage Photo dye ink around the edges of the photo to give it a more antique look. The background has Vintage Photo dye sponged over the entire surface of the raised image. Rhinestones in center of the holly for a little bling. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.

1st day of Christms

"Everything old is new again". Vintage seems to be very popular this year. So my contribution to this new fad, will be one vintage Christmas card a day for the next 12 days. I bought a vintage book and CD from Dover Publishing and the images on these cards are from the CD.

1st day of Christmas:

This definitely a jolly ol' Santa and a very angelic little girl. The background papers were from a K and Company pad. The rectangular image was cut with a Nestability die and a corner punch was used to soften the shape. The scallop behind the image is cut with a Nestability die. The green paper was scalloped with an EK success edge punch. A Sakura stardust pen was used to add highlights to the image. See you tomorrow!

Back to creating cards in my Butterfly Garden.