Here Comes Santa and Rudolph!

This is it...December. The last month of the year. It's a time to review the past year of what we've done well and what we've done not so well and think about what we want to work at improving next year. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but I do attempt to try and make each year better in some way. In 2016 I'd like to improve my card making abilities to include more clean and simple designs. I have a tendency to put everything except the kitchen sink on some cards and I'd like to quit feeling like more is better.

There's a new challenge on the 1st of every month at Craft-Dee BowZ and for this month the challenge is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HAND MADE BOW.  The challenge has been this for a long time now and why?  Well, we're a team of 4 who LOVE bows. For those who don't make many bows because they don't "come out right" with your different ribbons, your goal for 2016 is to improve your bow making ability.  And, to meet that goal, Santa needs to bring you a Craft-Dee BowZ tool. It's an inexpensive tool that you will have forever and use all the time. There's absolutely no reason you can't make a bow with this simple tool. And no, I don't work on commission and get a percentage of any sales. ;) 

I promise you will like making bows a whole lot more than you do now if you use the Craft-Dee BowZ tool. I'm so confident that you'll like making bows with this tool that if you purchase a Craft-Dee BowZ tool in December, I'll send you ribbon so you can practice your bows. Just e-mail me after you place your order, I'll confirm your order (or send me the confirmation e-mail) and send me your address. That will be my Christmas present to you! Your present to me could be that you enter our challenge each month, at least once, with an awesome bow on your project.

For the challenge this month I used the most adorable, not just adorable but most adorable, stamp by Wild Rose. This image is ranking at the top of my favorites right now. I looked at this and started humming:  Santa Clause is coming to town...He's making a list, checking it twice....

I LOVE making Christmas cards and I love winter. Our weather is terribly hot here in the desert of Arizona in the summer and in the winter we're one of the places that everyone wants to visit!  Our temperatures are beautiful in the winter, even on the cold side to us who have gotten accustomed to warmer than usual temperatures!

The image is colored with Copics and I used Glossy Accents as my adhesive and applied Sparkle n Sprinkle Crystal Ice Glitter on Santa's beard and Susie Sparkle Crystal Rainbow Glitter on his coat and hat. I used Glossy Accents on my Rudolph's nose but didn't add any glitter to it.

I used my QuicKutz Nesting Circles Dies on my card and the beautiful embossing folder is by Nellie Snellen. This is a brand new embossing folder that I just bought in November at the Mesa Stamp Convention (and I used my Cuttlebug). I love it because it's 6"x6" and that's my favorite size card. The silver glitter flat back embellishments in the corners are from Michael's. For those who think I shouldn't have put them on the card since this is a CAS card, I ask for patience and understanding. ;)

Thank you, Donna, for the beautiful silver ribbon. I made a triple looped bow with my Craft-Dee BowZ tool and I am so please with this bow. Notice there's no little doo-dad in the middle of my bow? Two reasons: the bow came out so wonderful that I didn't want to cover it up AT ALL; and the other reason is because I've attempted a CAS card!

If you've come from the Craft-Dee BowZ challenge blog, then you've seen the other gorgeous Christmas cards by Barbara, Vicki and Tracey already. If you haven't seen them, click on over and take a look. The challenge for December is ANYTHING GOES AND INCLUDE A HAND MADE BOW and I hope you'll join us for the last challenge of the year.

                                                                                          Hugs,

                                                            Gail

This card is entered in the following challenges:
7 Kids College Fund, Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, The Crafty Addicts, Crafty Gals Corner, Fab n Funky, The Paper Shelter, As You Like It, C.R.A.F.T., DRS Designs, Inspiration Destination, Crafty Girls Creations, Creative Fingers, Winter Wonderland, Crafty Ribbons, Crafting with Friends, Simply Paper Crafts, Pink Gems, Digi Designs, Creative Craft Cottage, Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge, Clean and Simple on Sunday, AAA Cards, Vintage Stamping Challenge, Crafting From the Heart, Creative Card Crew, Jo's Scrap Shack, Cuttlebug Mania, Crafting for all Seasons, Hiding in my Craft Room, Inky Impressions, Creative Moments, Craft Your Passion, Li'l Patch of Crafty Friends, Christmas Stampin' All Year Long, Art by Miran, Wags n Whiskers, Inkspirational Challenges, Lemon Shortbread, DL. Art, Creatalicious, Whimsy Inspires, Crazy 4 Challenges, Suzy Bee's, World Wide Open Design Team Challenge, Bunny Zoe's Crafts, Get Creative, Artistic Inspirations, Petal Lu Challenge, Sweet Stamps, Weekly Christmas Card Challenge, Glitter n Sparkle, Fantasy Stampers, Not Just Cards, 613 Avenue Create