A Rustic Christmas

Yes, this card is a little darker than my usual fare. Honestly though if you took a peek in my home you would see a very different story from the pinks, blues and "frilly" things I prefer in card making. I guess that means I am a well rounded individual and my inner girly girl is trying to get out!!!!! So I wanted to share a little peek at some of the little touches in my home this season. And maybe you can see why I picked the dark colors I did....



The scale belonged to my Dad. He used it on our farm for various things. After my Dad passed away, my Mom remained on the farm for eleven more years. Finally after 42 years of living in the same place it came time to move Mom closer to me. We sorted, packed and pitched countless items. Many things went to auction. But for some reason I could not part with this. It seemed such a real reminder of who my Dad was... ever practical and attentive to detail. So I salted it away for another 4 years before finally pulling it out. And where did it land? It has a place of prominence on my bathroom counter with a lovely sprig of faux cedar and a distressed timepiece in the center. And you know what? I love it there... So now you can see why frilly things are so different for me. I like rust, prim, black and country...

Thanks for visiting and maybe I will share some other "snapshots" of life here...

Don't forget to stop by Saturday as we will have another Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge!

Blessings...

Ingredients

Paper - Bazzill, Prima - North Country Collection; Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs - Blessed Christmas; Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa; Dies - Spellbinders Fleur De Lis, Standard Squares Large, Satin Ribbon

The Shabby Tea Room #90 - Winter Picnic

Well it's time for another fabbo challenge at The Shabby Tea Room. This week I am truly honored to be submitting a card as a guest designer. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing! Have you seen some of the amazing things those ladies come up with? Wow! So while I shake my head in wonderment you can check my humble submission below. The inspiration photo for this challenge is above. The crew is looking for creations with

White or Cream, Silver and Glitter

And here's mine...



The base is simple white card stock. I then cut a slightly smaller layer and paper punched the edges with an eyelet punch. I then lightly covered the eyelet ends with glitter glue and poured on the crystal coarse glitter glue. After letting it set, I shook off the excess and added it to the base with dimensional foam. The next layer is a shiny piece of silver card stock. I added a ribbon trim along the bottom that has silver and crystal hanging beads. The final base layer is a 5 x 5 piece of white card stock. I attached woven bias tape, securing it on the back with simple scotch tape. I bought a package of the Wright's Bias Tape Single Fold for this project. After placing it with dimensional foam I pulled out my dies. The silver base for the sentiment is from Spellbinders Holly Motifs. I stamped the sentiment in black and cut it with Spellbinders Standard Circles Large. The white rose is a cut from Cricut Flower Shoppe. I added a pearl in the center and a few paper punched branches (white) and silver leaves (Spellbinders Foliage). The stick pin is one I made with a pearl topped pin and some beads I had on hand. This lovely sentiment is from an upcoming release at Our Daily Bread Designs called aptly, Simple Things. It will be available on December 1st! Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Ingredients

Paper - American Craft, Colorbok; Stamp - Our Daily Bread Designs - Simple Things (available December 1st); Ink - Versafine Onyx Black; Dies - Spellbinders Holly Motifs, Standard Circles Large, Cricut - Flower Shoppe; Paper Punches - EK Success; Pearls, Ribbon Trim; Crystal Coarse Glitter; Custom Stick Pin; Bias Tape - Wrights Single Fold

The Shabby Tea Room #89 - Colors of Nature

This week's challenge at The Shabby Tea Room is called the Colors of Nature. Participants have been asked to use the above photo for inspiration! Wow! Aren't the colors amazing? And I just love flowering cabbage! I sure wish I could figure out how to do this arrangement for my front door!

And here is my very humble interpretation...



The base is kraft paper and I have added a layer of distressed Basic Grey paper. Underneath I added a little ecru trim from a set I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I then added a rich red bow. The beauty of this? It came off of a soap and lotion set I bought for my bathroom! I snagged that and added it to my stash immediately! I then added some artificial leaves I found in a huge bag at my local dollar store for you guessed it... $1! The button is a wooden one I stained with a Copic marker (V04) taking pains to make it look rough. I pulled gold wire through it and wrapped it around a small pencil for added interest. The final touches include one of my favorite ODBD sets (Harvest Blessings) stamped on kraft with a dark orange ink! Thanks so much for stopping by and come back tomorrow to see my post for the coming Shabby Tea Room Challenge! I am so honored and excited to be this week's guest designer! Blessings...

Ingredients

Paper - Bazzill, Basic Grey - Indie Blooms; Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs - Harvest Blessings; Ink - Close to My Heart - Autumn Terracota; Lace - Spare Parts; Ribbon - from my stash; Gold Wire; Button (my stash); Leaves (my stash)

ODBDSLC86 Recipe Challenge - Ribbon, Lace & Glitter

I love a good recipe! And today the challenge team is working with three essential card ingredients (especially at Christmas time).... Ribbon, Lace and Glitter...

And let me just tell ya alot of glitter managed to make it on my floor for this one...

For the snowflake I used 3 layers of the SB Create a Flake One plus a tiny negative star piece I had left from one of the original cuts. I applied glitter glue to each layer and dusted them with crystal coarse glitter. After letting them cure I adhered the layers together with dimensional glue dots. The final snowflake was placed on a Picot Edge Circle cut. I also used a paper crimper on the bottom layer of white card stock for some added interest! Thanks so much for reading and I pray you have a wonderful week!

Here's how to play...

To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Friday, December 2 at 8 a.m. EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced next Saturday. If you are not using ODBD stamps, please do not enter more than once. Additional entries without using ODBD stamps will not be commented on or will they qualify for prizes.

While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Designs images and sentiments on your creations, we would love to see them if you have them.As a way of recognizing those who do use Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we will again be choosing 1 to 2 creations to spotlight for our Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award, however, you must use Our Daily Bread stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Friday, December 2 at 8 a.m. EST. If you upload your creations to SplitcoastStampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword is ODBDSLC86. When creating your posts on blogs please include a direct link to the challenge.

And don't forget to visit the other Breadsticks! Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful weekend!

Chris
Fran
Silke
Sabrina
Sue


Ingredients

Paper - Bazzill, Colorbok, Webster's Pages Botanical Christmas & Winter Fairy Tales Paper Pack; Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs - Warm Wishes; Ink - Close to My Heart - Cotton Candy; Dies - Spellbinders - Create a Flake One, Picot Edge Circles, Cheery Lynn Designs - French Pastry; Satin Ribbon; Lace; Paper Crimper; Crystal Coarse Glitter, Glitter Glue

And a special thank you to the ladies over at Stampin' Sisters in Christ. I am honored to have one of my cards selected for their Shining Star Award. You can check out the post here. Thanks again ladies!!!

In the meadow we will build a snowman...

It's time to explore Cricut and since Thanksgiving is officially behind us I pulled out a snowman cut. I am using one of my favorite frosty cartridges Winter Woodland.

Ingredients

Paper - Bazzill, Bo Bunny Snowfall Collection; Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs - Warm Wishes; Ink - Close to My Heart - Moonstruck; Die Cut - Cricut Winter Woodland; Pearl Flourish - Zva, Pearls; Lace; Paper Punch

Cricut Cuts

Snowman & Layers - Winter Woodland (page 31) 4 inches

Challenges

Mojo Monday 216

Giving Thanks

For all my friends in the United States, Happy Thanksgiving! I will be spending this one with my step-son's family. We are looking forward to turkey and all the trimmings, parades and maybe a football game or two! After the mess is gone many people will pull out the paper and start making their Friday shopping list. Of course many have already scoped out the online ads weeks ago!

There are so many things to be thankful for at the Ulrich home this year. And most certainly one of mine is the chance to spend time today with family and friends. We are all healthy and happy! What a blessing that is these times! I am thankful to live in a country where I can do what I love and say what I wish. There is no fear of persecution or retaliation for being a Christian. And most importantly, I am so thankful for my Lord who gave his life on Calvary for me.

What a blessing it is to work with such fine folks at Our Daily Bread Designs. Kelley and crew have such wonderful hearts! And in celebration of what we as a team are thankful for Kelley is starting a Giving Thanks sale at ODBD today! We are thankful for our customers who make this such a special place and in appreciation of that you can take advantage of 10% off and FREE Shipping. Visit the ODBD blog for complete details and to see some of the other lovely creations the design team has created from the Give Thanks set. There will be four blessed winners of a $20 Gift Certificate drawn from those who comment on the Breadsticks' posts! Hop on over to ODBD's blog to find the photo links for all participating team members. You have until Sunday November 27 at midnight EST to comment. Thank you for stopping in and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ingredients

Paper - Neenah Solar Crest, Bazzill, Bo Bunny - Forever Fall Paper Pad; Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs - Give Thanks; Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Copics; Dies - Spellbinders - Foliage, Floral Doily, Labels Eighteen; Cheery Lynn Designs - French Pastry, Cricut - Walk in My Garden; Feathers, Simplicity Mini Puff Ball Trim

Exploring Cricut - Let's Talk Turkey!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only a few days away? Yikes! This year has flown by (no pun intended...) There are so many things I am thankful for this year. I am thankful for my family, wonderful career and I am thankful for you! I have met some wonderful folks while blogging the last few years. Your wonderful comments, support and prayers mean so much! Thank you for being you! I pray this Thanksgiving will find you surrounded by loved ones sharing and creating family memories!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Exploring Cricut has issued a challenge for us to talk turkey! The design team was asked to create a project using our favorite Cricut turkey. I started out creating "Tom" for a floral arrangement but decided he would serve my purposes better on a scrapbook page. After all, I plan on taking some Thanksgiving photos this year! Enjoy and don't forget to hop over to Exploring Cricut to link your creations! You just might win! Blessings...



Cricut Cuts

Turkey - Create A Critter page 70 (5.25 inches)
Pumpkin - Create A Critter page 70 (3 inches)
Sign - Create A Critter page 28 (4 inches)

Tom's closeup... I tied a ribbon around his hat for some dash and ran it through one of those slides I had laying around from scrapbooking years back... And aren't the white dots in his eyes super cute? I added those with a white gel pen! A complete product list is available at the end of my post.



Paper - Bazzill, K & Co. Tim Coffey Halloween & Fall Paper Pad; Cricut Cartridge - Create a Critter; Embossing Folders - PC - Houndstooth (pumpkin), Swiss Dots (Turkey feathers); Grosgrain ribbon (hat band), leaf ribbon - pumpkin; Slide (hat band) - Making Memories; Black Marker - Memento (wording); White gel pen - Signo