WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY?

Hi Crafty Friends! I accomplished most of what I needed to do over the weekend! What a good feeling! I gathered up all my Halloween stuff and just have to rearrange and pack the box I keep it in. Then I can put it at the back of the craft closet, safe and sound for next year! I will still be selling (and showing you!) some beautiful fall and Thanksgiving cards in the next week or so, before going “totally Christmas”.

Thanksgiving is really my favorite holiday now, replacing Christmas. Why? Partly because I love, love, love the fall colors! And partly because Thanksgiving hasn’t gotten as commercialized as Christmas. And mostly because I love the extra focus on what I believe is one of the most important aspects of living life today: gratitude! I love being more cognizant of all the blessings in my life . . . on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis. I love giving to others, as I have been blessed. I love doing those little things in life that are so meaningful, important, and appreciated.

SO – making sure that you know there’s a lot of “Fall” still coming up, today I’m showing you three Christmas cards I just created. The first one is another card we’ll make at my Nov. 12th “Pinecone Christmas” workshop in Grass Valley, CA. (get your seat reserved now, if you haven’t already!) I knew after I did the last card I showed you – the very pale grey one with blue/green foliage – that I wanted to do a monochromatic version of the pine cone cards. Voila! Here it is!

I used vanilla cardstock for most of the card, accented with some gold shimmerly vellum, gold edged ribbon, and a few gold stickles on the edges of the pinecones. I love monocromatic cards and am really happy with the way this one turned out. It’s truly eclectic! The pretty lacy die of the first layer is from Anna Griffin. The foliage is from The Greetery and Stampin’ Up and the ribbon is from Stampin’ Up.

The next two cards will be part of my card making class this Thursday at Acres of Hope here in Auburn, CA. This is a residential program for moms and their littles who are trying to get their lives back on track and become independent and stable members of society after experiencing many different kinds of trauma and hardship. It is such a wonderful program and I am so honored to be a volunteer there. So, some of the moms and I will be making Christmas cards Thursday, per their request. These are probably women who have never created a card, so I am being careful to help them with beautiful but fairly easy-to-make cards for their introduction to card making. I know we’ll have a good time, and I’m looking forward to doing workshops with them on a regular basis. These are the two cards I’ve finished, which will go along with one or two more, for a fun crafting workshop!

I hope you’ve enjoyed a bit of Christmas here today. Friday I’ll be sharing some wonderful Fall cards with you, so we’ll keep all the holidays covered! As always, if you ever have questions about anything you see her, don’t hesitate to ask. I love to hear your comments! Happy creating!

Hugs! Janice