It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I can't believe we're just a couple days away from Christmas. My family exchanges gifts on Christmas Eve, Santa brings stockings on Christmas Day and somewhere in there we do a family celebration with my husband's brothers and aunts. That's the big family gathering, with tons of food, presents, talking, laughing and hugging. This is the tree from this year.

I love catching up with all the nieces and nephews and there are 11 on my husband's side of the family. Our aunts are in their 80s and are a hoot and a holler. They're around 5 feet, Italian through and through and opinionated as all get out. They're hilarious and they are loved by everyone who meets them, practically...but I'm guessing Aunt Katie has ruffled a few feathers in her life. Aunt Mae is the exact opposite of that. My favorite perfect example of this is when Aunt Katie told her younger sister, "you're cold, put on a sweater." And Aunt Mae did!

This is a tag I just finished with some vintage elves from an old postcard, tiny words from Cosmo Cricket and poinsettias made with a die I won from Poppy Stamps. I went for the grunge look and used a tag I had already painted and foiled lightly. The black stars are foam and the candy cane I made from a pipe cleaner that was already red and white. I used a Pitt Artist's marker for edging.

This last Christmas card I'm sharing uses a Power Poppy digital on kraft paper. I love white pencil on craft. I used white Uniball pen and some light colored pencil too. The plaid paper is Carta Bella.

Happy Holidays!

Chark

Too Cute to Spook

I don't know if you're like me, but I have a ton of goodies saved up and could probably never use all my craft supplies if I live another 50 years! Well, maybe if I crafted every day, I could, but you get what I'm saying—I love my pretty stuff! :)

So, I went into my box of Halloween goodies and just started playing around and came up with two cards that used my older supplies. And just so you understand how old, these cute chipboard pieces were made by Imaginisce and I don't even think they're a company anymore...think they merged with We R Memory Supplies or something. At any rate, you can't get them. However, I love how these turned out and that I actually used my supplies!

The ghost used to be a sticker, but I had to use new adhesive...lol. The bats are flocked and from a sheet of paper from, like, a hundred years ago. I only had small pieces of the paper left and I think I used it up on this card! The orange sequin trim was from the Target Dollar Spot and the star paper is from Doodlebug Design.

The leaves and vampire are from the same Imaginisce collection, the words are stickers that didn't stick anymore on their own and the flocked pumpkin is actually a new item from the Dollar Tree this year. The paper was from a Halloween win forever ago.

If you're looking for free vintage images, you can head here to Artfully Musing. Some are Halloween and some aren't, but they're all cool.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Family Friday

I've been sorting though photos and found a couple I had put away for a scrapbook page. My mom had a photo from a 1955 that I've seen since I was a kid. She's sitting on a moon while visiting Lake Erie. We also have a photo of my husband's mom and dad sitting on the same moon at Buckeye Lake, a resort area in Ohio. I've always loved these photos.

We were visiting a museum a couple years ago and saw an exhibit on the popularity of these moon photo booths in the 50s. They had a moon to pose with, of course every one of us posed with it. I made sure to print my daughter's photo in sepia and then made this page of my mom and my daughter. It makes me pretty happy!

I went with a book and star paper I had in my stash because I felt it was perfect for the story of my two favorite women. I used pink glitter photo corners, because it needed a little fun. The photos sixty years apart and my mom is 19, while my daughter is 23.

I'm also sorting through my mom's pics and she has these in her collection. The guys I don't know and will have to ask if she knows. The left pic is her mom, her grandma and her two great-uncles. My grandmother is about 15 here after they came to America from Hungary, about 1906. I love finding old pics of family. But they are definitely fragile. 

They're photos that have had details painted onto them, which is something some photographers did. I think because their photos weren't that good! Just a guess. Maybe they thought it made them look better. I'll have to research a bit and see what I find.

Happy Friday!
Chark

Taylor Made March Kit

So I love Monica Taylor's videos that show us how to create fabulous vintage projects and so I was Super Excited to be asked to guest design for her March kit release from her shop, TaylorMadeCards4U. I got to use the Vintage Passport Kit with tons of beautiful vintage images.

I'm usually more of a cutesy designer, but I love vintage images and ephemera and want to be more vintage chic than I am. If you like Tim Holtz, you'll like this March kit. And, if you're like me and can't always pull off that look, you'll still like it! You'll notice I snuck in a red glitter heart and some Glossy Accents on the bees on this gift tag I created.

I printed out the collage sheet, trimmed down the rose panel that says Birdie Darling and then fussy cut the bees and added hearts. I just printed them on my inkjet color printer on regular paper because I knew I would be adhering it to a cardstock tag.

For this card, I used a dotted paper I had for the scalloped frame die cut and then trimmed and layered a lot of the images from the March kit. There's a lovely clock, vintage ads and a page from a  beekeeping book. Again, I just trimmed out two bees to add on the tag. This time I didn't use Glossy Accents on them, but I did add a little strip of rhinestones. 

I would say this hive syrup ad is one of my fave images from the kit. I enlarged it and printed it on kraft cardstock in black and white and then colored it with white Prismacolor pencil. I added some other colors on top of the white pencil and then white gel pen to the hive. The flower and leaves are Prima and the butterfly and clock are from the kit, trimmed out as accents.

There are a lot more images to play with in this kit and I'm looking forward to using the honeycomb and yellow floral papers in another project. You can head here to the shop to see what digi kits and physical stamps/ephemera are in the shop, or head here to watch the videos from Monica.

Thanks for having me this month, Monica, love this kit!

Happy Tuesday!

Chark

Freebie Friday, Friends

Today I have a unicorn digi stamp to share with you. I saw a mug that had a picture of a unicorn and this saying on it and since my daughter will often say, "she is beauty, she is grace" when she drops something or trips, I had to make a card for her with this saying.

I actually had to ask her to send me a phone pic of the card since I forgot to take my own. I wanted a unicorn dancing but couldn't find one, so I drew one. I think it turned out pretty well, so I have one here for you to download if you wanna use it for cards. Just right click on the image and download to your computer. 

And here's a Halloween image from a real digi artist for free...it's from Useless Trinkets, I love her stuff. So cute! She has a unicorn too, along with monsters with coffee cups. Check it out!

If you're more vintage-y than cute, here's a great site where you can get these printable images and the instructions on how to make the garland. Free!

Happy Friday!

Chark

My Flapper Auntie

One of my relatives posted this picture of my Aunt Irene from the 1920s (with her bestie, Gail) and I pulled it off and printed it for myself (the lesson is—any pic you post can be copied and printed by any of your fb "friends" or "friends of friends" or whoever is allowed to see your pics). Since it's my aunt, I feel that was okay to do, but it's kinda weird to know that any of your pics can be printed anywhere...doncha think? 

At any rate, Aunt Irene was a flapper of sorts in our small town, even though when I knew her, she was just an kind older woman who let me stay way too often at her house. They had a lovely house with lots of gorgeous woodwork and a red kitchen stool that I always commandeered when I visited. 

When I saw this picture, I had to make a scrapbook page of it. Cool car, cool clothes and saucy-looking Auntie. I used a bunch of Glitz products for this page. Unfortunately, their website is no longer up and running, although you can still buy their products here and there.

Love vintage family photos because they can give you a glimpse into the past and the people who came before you. I like the family stories that get passed around too for the same reason. Hope you have some good ones!

Happy Monday,
Chark

Love You Lots

Valentine's Day fast approaches and if you have kids, I'm sure you're already thinking of valentines. Maybe you want to send a valentine yourself. I usually make a card for my husband and kids because, duh, I like making cards! 

We do a Valentine treasure hunt with candy at the end for the kids...and we used to put a little gift with a large Hershey kiss. Seems like the gifts get bigger each year. We graduated from a small stuffed animal to a movie to a Lego set to something video game related for the son. 

Here are some free digis to help you get started on Valentines. I think I'll use some of these for cards or tags, even though you could also use them for scrapbooking. It's from Papercrafts magazine's site and you can download them in jpg or pdf form. I especially like the the alphabet card.

Here's some free cute Valentine art from Sweet Clipart.

And if you're looking for an image to color, check out this cute bee from Paper Smooches and their free art. They also have hearts and other free stamps that would work for Valentine's Day.

 

This free image is from Hannah Lynn Designs. And you could add a different sentiment if you're going for a Valentine card...but I think I might just use her as is on a Smash Book page after I color her a little more. Looovvveee Hannah Lynn drawings and digi stamps. They are perfect if you like Copics, watercolor pencils or colored pencils. Fun to color!

One of my favorite sites for FREE vintage graphics is The Graphics Fairy. This rose is from an 1868 children's magazine. Lovely!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

It's Always Tea Time

See below to win!*

The post title is from the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland and it's how I feel about life! I love tea—hot or cold, green or black, slightly sweetened or unsweetened. It's all good in my humble opinion. So, even though I'm entering the Tsuruta Designs Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, I made a tea cup. Shhh! Don't tell anyone it's not coffee.

I used a vintage clip art from The Graphics Fairy, which has tons of free vintage illustrations. Love them! And I used some free Alice vintage digi art too. I used Shabby Shutters and Barn Door Distress Inks that I applied straight to the paper and trim from Doodlebug Design. The hello die is from Papertrey ink. Hope you'll join in the hop! Thanks for looking at my coffee tea card.

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17 Turtles:  $15 Store Gift Card

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Color Cast Designs:  Coffee Lovers kit

Create a Smile:  Monster Party stamp set

Hero Arts:  A Little & Today's Special stamps/Cup 'O Joe Shadow ink

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Two Paper Divas:  Your Warm My Heart stamp set

Your Next Stamp:  $20

Verve Stamps:  $25

Whole Wild World:  Coffee before Talkee mug

CANDY ALERT: *I'm giving away your choice of stencil from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies, where I'm on the Design Team. All you gotta do is comment on any of my three Friday posts about the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and you'll be entered. I'd love if you followed my blog, but that's not required. I'll announce the winner next week. Contest will end on Monday, Dec. 15, at 11:59pm (edt).

p.s. If you spend $25 or more at a2z Scrapbooking, you can get 15% off your total if you use CHARK15 as your coupon code...hey, I'm a coupon!  

Happy Friday,
Chark

Christmas Is Coming!

Watch out, it's right behind you! Just kidding, of course, the holidays are always fun to celebrate. However, it can seem like things aren't getting completed fast enough for some of us and today's that day for me. In just 4 short days, my husband's family will be coming to my house to celebrate Christmas...did you notice I said MY HOUSE?!!!

I guess that means I'll have to stop playing around with glitter at my kitchen table sometime today. But, the crafts are Christmas related, so I have to finish them...which means I'm starting to get stressed. Deep breath. No one cares if the curtain has a spot on it or if my windows are clean, right? This is your cue to say, "Right!"

Everything will get finished in time—or it won't and Christmas will come anyway! Ha! So, today I have free digi art to share in case you are trying to get some of your Christmas crafting finished too.

I love The Graphics Fairy, where you'll find this image, because they have cool and free art. Just print this out, sit down to color the night away and attach it to a gift bag or card front and you're set! You could print a couple of them out and cut some petals out to layer on the base flower too, if you're not pressed for time.

 

If you're looking to make some vintage cards or ornaments, check out their post here, with all these images and directions for the ornaments. I love vintage Santa images.

If you like Frozen, you can go here to download a free printable journaling card with Elsa on it...it'd make a cute tag for gifts too! They also have Gaston, Big Hero and Mary Poppins journaling cards and gifts you can order with these images. They have Mickey too!

Have a great Wednesday and quit looking at my dirty windows!
Chark

Hiya, Girls!

I used the cutest die cut girls to make some tags and thought I'd share how they turned out. They're from Pretty Little Studio and I just love them so much. Their die cuts are vintage cuteness, don't ya think?

I used Canvas Corp black and ivory printed paper pad for the backgrounds and various distress inks to ink the edges. And then I added little bling bits to spice them up. These shiny hearts are Doodlebug Design.

They were fun to make and I'll probably use the them for gifts or cards. If I can part with them. I may need to buy more for myself. Luckily, they are inexpensive!

Happy Wednesday!
Chark