Christmas in July!!

Okay, cal me a dork, but I just can't help it! I'm seriously a Christmas junkie.. really!! I'm the first one to want to put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving!!! It just makes me happy!! So no surprise, I love to get my Christmas cards early... really early!! I used to be that person who waited and waited to make my cards, December 1st and I had no clue what I was going to do!! I even had in my shopping cart one year those "hand made" cards from Costco.... that would have made my life at that time so much easier... but I had a serious guilt trip!! So the following January I had a friend who had a weekend crop, so I decided that was going to be the year I was going to be ahead, way ahead.. an entire year actually!! And I have continued that for several years!! It's so nice to focus on all the other things now!!! And breathe!! I used Copic Markers (YG13, G14, R35, T1, E02, E00 and E57).  This was my first time using these markers.. and I can honestly say I'm HOOKED!! What did I do before these??

Other supplies I used were Doodle Bug (North Pole) paper line/"Jolly Lollies", "Christmas Cheer", and "Sweet Tweets", EK large banner punch (a definite favorite these days!), Stickles/"Frosted Lace", EK snowflake punch, Bazzill cardstock/"Coconut Swirl", My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Clear Stamp/"Flurry of Love", Memento Dye Ink/"Tuxedo Black", and Doodlebug glitter paper/"White"

I really love my Crative Memories Circle cutters!! I know there are soo many circle cutters out there and I have tried them all! But CM cutters just move easier and smoother (for me) and are so convenient!

Whoo loves you Baby!!

Since my monsters tray turned out so well I decided to make a tray for my niece who is having a baby boy in September!!! (It sure is all about the boys around here as of late!!) She said his nursery is all owls and squirrels!!! So I used softer more subtle colors for this tray.  I used Heidi Swapp  "Make pretty stuff" banner embellishment, Colorbox "friendly forest" epoxy chipboard embellishments, Maya Road chipboard flourishes.

 The "Z" which I painted was Tim Holtz's idea-ology harlequin chipboard alphabets.  (Little guy's name is Zeb!) I also used Tim Hotlz's adage tickets, and Pebbles Phrase cards.  Once again my Silhouette Cameo saved the day with this adorable chubby squirrel!! (Have you ever tried to find squirrel embellishments?? Not out there, anywhere!!) My cute owl ("The owl says hoo-oo..) came from October Afternoon's "Science Fair".

Crazy About Monsters!!

My daughter is having a baby (yeah!! another grandson!!) due in October and his nursery is all monsters so I made her a 7gypsies tray full of monsters to display!!  

Using the Fancy Pants "To the Moon" paper collection , I was able to create bright and fun backgrounds that went perfectly with the boy and monsters theme I was going for! Of course I used by Silhouette Cameo (Love) for all of the monsters!! The "I adore you" stickers were from Deja Views clear word sticker collections...another one of my favorite embellishments!! The "It's a Boy Thing" was from the Pebbles "I love you more than you'll ever know" journaling and quote cards.  

I just love the way this cute little monster turned out!! Not too scary!!