Happy New Year!

Ok, it might be a bit early for the greeting...but its not really the holiday that I'm after this time.

For the first time in a long time I've actually written a family holiday letter...but not in time to send out as a Christmas card...so I'm sending New Year's greetings instead!

I chose a swirly greeting from the Silhouette store by Jennifer Wambach...she is rapidly becoming my favorite designer to purchase designs from...I really like her style! 

I made my own 2013 in the software, then made page after page of cuts...if I get all the addresses that I asked for, I'll be sending out 40 of these cards...as it is right now I'll be sending 33. Which is a big change from the zero that I usually manage to send!

Here's a look at the front...I usually fancy things up on my cards with a fun technique or two...but facing 40 cards to make...I wanted to get them out the door before January 2014...so I kept it simple. I did use sparkly cardstock for the designs...that adds some bling, right?

I did give in to putting another design on the inside though...I purchased this star border and cut it from a contrasting cardstock. We'll sign around the stars, I'll tuck in the printed letter that I wrote...and off they'll go!

I'm trying to be good and use up the cardstock that I have...so there is a real mix of colors, they look fun and happy, don't they?

Do you send out holiday cards or letters on a regular basis? I enjoyed writing this one so much, its definitely going to be high on my priority list for the end of next year!

I'm linking up over at the Cameo Creations Challenge ~ New Year's Theme. Join in on the fun if you would like to!

Thanks for stopping by!

Meredith

Friends with Flair

How fun...its that time again! Time to link up your Unity projects and see what everyone else has been up to the past week!

Even if you're not linking...you should check out all the cute projects at Friends with Flair this week!

I'm trying to crank out a set of cards that can be used for many occasions...and am trying out several layouts that I've pinned to this board.

Here's one...keeping the sentiment general and layout simple without looking plain...

I figure that if I keep making the samples two at a time I'll eventually find the layout that I love...and meanwhile, I'll be stocking up on my ready-made card stash that I like to keep on hand!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Coredinations (purple), scrap bin (white)
• stamps: Unity SOTW
• embossing folder: The Paper Studio
• punch: Martha Stewart (border), EK Success (frame), The Paper Studio (circle)
• ink: Colorbox

Thanks much for stopping by!

Meredith

Penguin Christmas Tags

The more I play with my Silhouette Cameo, the more I like it!

I hosted a swap recently to exchange Christmas tags, and in my search through Pinterest (love that place!) I came across these adorable tags...I loved them, but I'm not much into painting, so I turned the design into a paper craft!

I opened up the Silhouette Studio software (and just so you know, I do not have the Designer Edition...just the basic software that comes with the machine) and used the tools to draw the shapes for the pieces of the penguin. 

It was way easier than I expected! If you haven't played with the drawing tools in the software yet, I encourage you to do so!

Here's the finished tag...Isn't he adorable?

I made a whole bunch for the swap...

And then I couldn't stop!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Coredinations
• ribbon: stash
• googly eyes

And since I'm so tickled with making my own cutting file, I wanted to share it with you! The download includes step by step instructions to make the tag/ornament.

If you download the penguin, please come back and leave a comment when you've cut him out...I'd love to hear (and see) how he works for you!

Penguin Tag/Ornament .studio file

I'm linking up to the challenges at:

• Cameo Creations Challenge ~ Anything Goes Christmas
• 3 Girl Jam Challenge ~ Christmas Inspirations
• Silhouette Blog ~ Christmas Projects

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Meredith

Mitten Wreath

Oh wow, did I ever have some fun with this project! 

I've been playing more and more with my Silhouette Cameo, and when they had 50% off their designs for Black Friday...I might have gotten a bit giddy with purchases...

Anyway, one of the designs that I purchased was a fabulous mitten wreath by Jennifer Wambach. 

I made one of the wreaths out of some Basic Grey papers (Jovial) that I had along with some shimmery cardstock (Coredinations). The design was incredibly simple to put together...there are four layers, the base wreath, the outlines of the mittens, the mittens and the cuffs. Because the base layer has the outline shape built right in, it is easy to glue and layer the mittens seamlessly.

I used six different patterned papers for the mittens and cuffs, inked them with black distress ink and glued them to the mitten base. I then used dimensional squares on the back of the mittens and glued them to the wreath base. Too easy! Oh, I did enlarge the original design...I just sized it up until the wreath base filled a 12x12 page, then cut everything accordingly.

The cutouts on the mittens alternate between snowflakes and circles. In this pic you can see that clearly and see the shine of the cardstock that I used.

Altogether a great project...but this one went out as a secret santa gift...shh...

Now I had to make one for myself! This time I pulled out blues...since that's my favorite color! I used DCWV patterned papers, and textured cardstock (Coredinations) plus some cardstock from stash.

I modified the design a bit, because I wanted to add buttons to the mittens. With the software that came with the Cameo it was as easy as ungrouping the design parts and deleting the snowflakes and bubbles from the mitten interior! 

After inking and gluing, this is the result!

I cut two additional mitten bases, then stamped them with some cute winter greetings from Unity and hung them from the middle of the wreath with baker's twine that I made into pom-poms.

I'll be linking up to Friends with Flair to show off the Unity stamps...if you have a project made with Unity you should join in!

I'm also linking up to the Cameo Creations Challenge ~ Christmas creations

And to the 3 Girl Jam Challenge ~ Christmas Inspirations

Thanks for stopping by! If you have a Silhouette machine, come back soon because I'll be sharing my first cutting file that I made myself! 

Meredith

Friends with Flair

Wow, Friday again? So soon?

I love the business of the holiday season, but would like to not have the fun days go by so quickly!

I've got a quick project tonight...using one of my SOTW, they are so easy to pick up and play with!

This one will be on its way soon to a friend who is having a tough time right now.

Just one layer, and some blending with distress inks...plus a bit of bling!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Wausau
• stamps: Unity
• ink: Tim Holtz distress ink
• gems: The Paper Studio

I'm linking this card up to Unity Friends with Flair.

Have a great night and thank you for stopping by!

Meredith

Snowball Scott

I've found another challenge blog to play along with...and they even give you an image for you to play with!

Have a peek at A Day for Daisies if they are new to you...or if you'd like to pick up this cute little guy!

He's an adorable little snowman...take a look!

I've been squeaking a bit of time to play with my markers...I know that it will take a lot of practice to get as good as I'd like to be, but I don't think that I'm starting out too poorly.

Although I did quickly learn the importance of using quality cardstock intended  for use with markers...I went ahead and placed an order for the Neenah cardstock through Amazon...I figured I'd go broke buying it a page at a time from the LSS at $1 each.

Anyway, here's a bit closer picture of the coloring...

The shading around the edges is distress ink, and I added some ink to the embossed snowflakes on the strip under the buttons, too. Simple and quick, it took longer for the glue to dry under the buttons than it did to make the rest of the card!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Neenah, Coredinations
• image: A Day for Daisies
• markers: Spectrum Noir
• ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
• embossing folder: Cuttlebug
• die cut: Spellbinders
• buttons & twine: stash

Thanks for visiting,

Meredith

Friends with Flair

Its Friday, and that means time to show off your Unity projects!

I have a fun card to show off today...but first...I wanted to show you what I found on my table one evening...

Isn't he the funniest? Just about any box, basket or bag that has any space at all in it, he manages to stuff himself into! Whenever I see him scrunching and cramming I can't help but think of one of the first books that I read as a child...and read to my children...

I still love this funny, rhyming story.

Alright, on to the card! This one will be winging its way to my daughter as soon as I get the stamp on it! 

I stamped the penguin on cardstock and trimmed around him, same with the sentiment banner. After tearing some patterned paper to make the 'hills' for him to stand on I stamped the penguin again directly on the card. Layered the trimmed penguin with pop dots and added falling snowflakes punched from different patterned papers. The plain snowflakes were ok...but they look even better with bling in the middle!

Here's a little closer view of the dimension...and that cute penguin!

Supplies:

• cardstock: Neenah
• patterned paper: DCWV
• ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Memento
• stamp: Unity Stamp of the Week
• punch: EK Success
• gems: stash

Linking up to

• Friends with Flair
• Cute Cards Thursday ~ snowflakes

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Meredith