Goodbye 2015!

Hi there!

I wanted to write one more post before the end of the year to share some recent cards I've created. I've also thrown in some other random photos - just because.

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family. We always head to my sister's house for a cozy night. Her home is filled with holiday warmth and gorgeous decor! Here's some pics from Christmas Eve.

Her family room is so cozy - just love it!

Here's the staircase in the foyer.

The living room is beautiful!

She sets a lovely table too! This is one of three.

Here I am with my three sisters, cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner.

And one of me and my hubby.

We had such a fun night! Then Christmas day was spent with our boys. Always calm and quiet and so relaxing. Of course I forgot to take pics. I guess I was too excited opening presents. Here's my favorite one, from my two sons. They are so clever, aren't they?

 I will be wearing this A LOT!!! Isn't it fun?!

I've been creating some cards lately too. Here's just a few.

Love this sweet MFT set called Adorable Elephants!

 On this one I used the ornament stamp, which is included in MFT's Santa's Elves stamp set.

The rest of the cards use Simon Says Stamp exclusive products, most from their DieCember release. If you have any questions, let me know in a comment.

For this last card I used the Heart Vent die from Simon Says Stamp's, newest release, You Have My Heart.

I only have two days left of work! My last day before retiring is Thursday, Dec. 31st! Ahhhhhh!!! I can't believe it's actually gonna happen! I'm excited - a little bit scared - but mostly excited. I'm looking forward to having more time to start visiting and commenting again on your blogs - I miss it! And I'm excited to have more time to create too! I'll still be running the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group, along with the challenges over there. The current one is water coloring. Would love to see you head on over to check it out!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Here's to a fabulous, crafty and creative 2016! ♥
 

It's DieCember at Simon Says Stamp!

Hi there!

I'm back today with a couple of cards using a new die set from Simon Says Stamp. 

It's my second favorite crafty month of the year - DieCember - and Simon has some awesome dies to celebrate! You can check them all out right here. 

I've been playing with one of the new die sets from the release called, Single Roses and I love it!

On my first card I used Foiled Cardstock from DCWV for the roses. So simple but creates such a pretty (and shiny) effect!

This second card took me a whole lot longer. Seriously, I don't even want to admit how long I worked on this one - lol! It was so fun though using Distress Inks, to not only create the watercolor background, but to also shade my flowers. 

I decided to only add a bit of the white, positive portions of the die to give it an even more artsy feel. That fun die-cut sentiment is also from Simon Says Stamp. It was one of the products in their, "From All of Us" release last month. And I used Stickles too! Haven't done that in awhile - so fun! Here's a close-up so you can see the sparkle.

Reminder to self - Use Stickles more often! I found the easiest way to add them to the flowers was with a tiny paint brush, or just spread the Stickles on with your finger.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll check out Simon's DieCember release! Dies are such a fun way to add beauty and dimension to our cards and most of them are cheaper than stamp sets!

Have a great day! ♥