Mr Cardmaker has Finally Lost It...

I have had this tradition, for the past several years, of making calendars every year--one for Charlie, and one for his mom. 
These take me forever to make, for some odd reason, and I usually don't manage to get them done until the middle of January. This year, though, I had them done for Christmas! They still took WAY too much time to make, though, and I have vowed I will find a better way to do them.

For Charlie's mom, I made this--

I used The Stamps of Life's Calendar to Build stamp set to do the calendar pages.  Oh, my lawdy bees, this was a job.  Never again. way too much finagling with the 29th -31st on ALL of these months, and lining it all up just gave me heartburn.  I will find a calendar to download and print next time, fo' sho'.
Nana is a fan of the purples, so I went to town with my scraps and a butterfly die that I got for ONE DOLLAR at JoAnn's a while back.  It will come to me who made it...
Oh, and the tiny butterflies are done with my tiny heart punch on the fold of some paper scraps. SO easy, and a fun trick.

Another view--

For Charlie, I made this--

So, yeah. Stars and telephones.  You know, your usual, classic combo.
Yeah...
So, CLEARLY my brains had slid into my shoes on this one.  Call it "Holiday Fatigue", or whatever...
I liked the image, I like the glittery stars....So sue me. He likes it.
(Honestly, it occurred to me that he would be bringing it to work, where he uses the (WHAT?) TELEPHONE (!)--All day long. SOOO...)

Another view of this one--

And, so now Charlie will know what day it is. Tah-DAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

All Best-

Richard

Mr Cardmaker Makes Post (Card) Holiday Thank Yous

Well, this posting is rather late for the season, though, happily, these cards went out in a timely fashion.

Did you have a nice holiday season? Get lovely gifties? Take a trip? Get hammered on New Year's Eve?

We are very fortunate to have a generous family, who not only favor us with gifts, but also share their time and talents with us throughout the year. Making "Thank You" cards is always a pleasure, and I like spending lots of time on them, trying to get them to be "just so."

I made ten of these--

I LOVE old post cards.  I found this stamp (minus the Thank You sentiment--I added that) at Michaels after Christmas sale, and I snapped it up. I will get LOTS of use out of this over the coming years.

So, on white card stock, I used several Distress Inks to age the edges, watercolor the greenery, and add the "light in the window".  I also aged it more with some water drops, and then some black ink flicked onto the image.  Some shredding of the edges, a matte, a base, and there you go.

Then came the glitter.  OH, the glitter! Sadly, it is SO difficult for me to capture that shimmer in my photos.  you can just make out some of it in this shot..

Maybe a bit better now?  Look in the trees.
Oh well.  They were SHINY SHINY SHINY. For reals. Just sayin'. The roofs, the trees, the snowbanks...*sigh*...

Anyway...
This stamp will be great in a soft tan on cream card stock, or in red or green on matching card stock as a subtle background. SO much can be added on top of this, along with using it as is.  I look forward to doing many things with this stamp for next Christmas. 

My Michaels had several left this week at 80% off (!), so you might have a look at your local store...

Oh yeah, did you know that the CHA (Craft and Hobby Assoc.?) show is this week?  That means more NEW GOODIES coming available!  Oh my aching wallet...But what FUN! Watch for all the new releases coming up.

I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, and Darnell's NBUS #3 challenge, because they want something NEW.  My stamp was just the thing!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
All Best-
Richard