Christmas is around the corner.......

 So I am working feverishly to get my cards done for January and February so I can relax..... Although I am working all of Christmas which is kind of a bummer but I can't complain because I do get paid very well to be working this holiday season. I do get down in the dumps though when I know that I will be going home on Christmas day to sleep in preparation of my night shift Christmas night, instead of spending it with my family. Today I completed a couple of cards for my good friend Ashley. She is a coworker of mine who has become a really amazing friend. I made her 2 cards, one for work so everyone could sign it and of course my own very personal birthday card for her..... which I can not wait to show you...... it is to DIE for adorable..... The first stamp set is Ninja Skillz from There She Goes stamps..... I know I will get a lot of use from this particular stamp set, it is AMAZING..... I actually got this idea from the blog hop, more specifically from the Paper Perfect Designs.

There She Goes "Ninja Skillz"
Gina K Kraft, Black and Lipstick Red cardstock
Gina K Pure Luxury 120lb cardstock
Memento Black Tuxedo
Copics: C3, C5, C7, C9, R39, R89.
Promarkers: Blush, Sunkissed Pink and Baby Pink
Liquid Pearls
Yellow Stickles

The second card I am posting is Ashley's second card from me personally. She loves sock monkeys.... so when I saw this particular stamp I totally thought of her and knew I would be making a card for using this stamp. The stamp I am talking about is Sitting Monkey from Whimsie Doodles.

Whimsie Doodles "Sitting Monkey"
Gina K Kraft cardstock cut out with the Grand Caliber Scalloped Circle.
Patterned Paper: Jilly Bean Soup "Homemade 6 Bean Soup"
Fancy Pant's "Summer Soul"
Tim Holtz Distressing Ink in Walnet Stain
Copics: E74, E77, E79, V17, V25, RV19, BG49, G07, E40, R37, R39

Woke up to more snow...........

So I woke up to a white white world and as I type this I am watching it all be washed away by the rain..... our crazy weather....... you got to love it......
I got all of my cards done for January, including for my coworkers. Thankfully January is not a busy month for birthdays..... so now I can start on February..... in the mean time I will post the final card for the birthdays in January......
This particular card was made for my cousin's wife..... and I really enjoyed making this one, there is something about the red, black and white colour combination. It truly is classic. I chose a really cute stamp called CiCi from Making it Crafty (she is closed for the holiday season so when she opens I will include a link to the stamp)....... she was a dream to colour up, see for yourself......

Sketch Inspiration is from Deconstructed Sketch #52
Making it Crafty "CiCi" Digi
Gina K Black Onyx and Lipstick Red
BoBunny "Enchanted"
Copic Markers: E74, E77, E79 (hair), R37, R39, R89, Y11, Y15, Y17 and 110 (cherry, dress and flower),  YG23, YG25 (eyes), E44, E47 (stem)
Promarkers: Blush, Sunkissed Pink and Baby Pink (skin)
I also covered the flower centre with Glossy Accents...
Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle...

What a Beautiful Day..........

So as with any West Coast day, the snow is almost melted, there is still some on the sides of the roads...... the sun is shining and it is gorgeous outside...... although they are calling for more snow tonight, we will see...... I am having a hard time believing the Christmas is just around the corner literally..... Unfortunately I am working all of Christmas so we will be doing ours on Boxing Day this year...... which is just fine with me, I am just glad that I get to spend it with my family. That is really all that matters to me.......
So the card I am posting today is again for a family member who lives South of the border. I used some really cute paper from a company that is new to me, Pebbles. The patterned paper pack is called "Seen & Noted". Funny I went through the paper packs we have..... a total of 75 packs.... that is just the 6X6 paper packs....... CRAZY..... but I have an addiction to paper... well who am I kidding I have an addiction to supplies in general........ here is the card, I hope you enjoy......

Sketch Inspiration Deconstructed Sketch #80
CC Designs Sweet Pixie Cupcake Brigitta
Gina K Ocean Mist cardtock and green
Pebbles "Seen & Noted"
Copic Markers: E25, E27, E29 (hair), BG01, BG02, BG15, BG23, BG32, BG49 (Dress), E40, E43, R37, R39, R89, V01, V12, Rv21, RV23, Rv32, Rv24 (cupcakes).
Promarkers: Blush, Sunkissed Pink and baby Pink (skin)

The Greeting Farm's Dressy Joyce....

I hope this morning finds you all well.......My last post had mentioned I thought we would get snow and we definitely had our first snowfall. I worked last night and it snowed for most of the night. My walk home this morning was a little wet and sloppy and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.It is definitely feeling more like Christmas......
My second card I completed for my January birthdays uses The Greeting Farm's Dressy Joyce..... she is adorable and I use her a lot. I used some new paper I bought from our local craft store here in town from My Mind's Eye's called So Sophie. The paper is absolutely gorgeous. I am a HUGE fan of MME paper..... It is also the first time I have dabbled in the shaped cards and I have to say I see myself doing this a lot in the future.....I am also happy to say that I have finally found the PERFECT colour combination for golden brown/brown with Copic markers..... I made for a young family member and I hope she loves it......

It feels like it is going to snow.........

Well I think Winter is officially here. It smells like it is going to snow today but whether it does is another thing. Living on the West Coast always brings you surprises in way of weather, it says it will do one thing and well I would say 75% of the time it does the opposite. I don't mind snow if I do not have to go anywhere. I have a Honda Fit which is not really snow appropriate and here the snow is not your light fluffy stuff, it is the heavy wet gross yucky snow.... and nobody knows how to drive in it.....
I could go on forever about the lack of snow driving skills BUT I want to get to the important stuff....creativity. Now that my Christmas cards are completed I have decided to start on my Birthday/Anniversary cards for the new year. I am going away in March for 3 weeks so I have to make sure all my cards are done until then so everyone gets theres. The one I am posting today is so cute..... I made it for a special girl (my best friend's daughter), although she is not a little girl anymore, she is turning 20. WOW, I remember when she was a baby and we would load her into my car for drives in the middle of the night just to get her asleep because she always feel asleep when we were driving... now she has grown into a beautiful woman.... I seriously love her like she was my own...... Unfortunately I can not remember the name or maker of the stamp I used :( If anybody who sees this remembers please let me know so I can give proper credit...... :) Taylor LOVES purple and what girl doesn't like shoes???? I am not one who uses coloured cardstock for cardbacks but I am trying really hard to venture out of my comfort zone...

I used MOJO Monday's sketch #260 (square) for inspiration.
Copic Markers: BV00, V9, V17 and N9
Diamond Stickles
Purple Cardstock from Stampin Up
Black Polka Dotted Paper - Unkown Source
I also used a white Sigma Uniball gel pen to add dots to the scallop square
Spellbinders: Large square and coordinating scalloped square.

Heavy Hearted.......

I am absolutely beside myself in grief and devastation after learning of the tragic and horrific shootings at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. My heart is broken for the families affected by this tragedy. Those poor parents who dropped their children off to what is suppose to be a safe haven only to find out that they will never see their children again. I am not a parent but I am an aunt and I take care of sick children every day so they are very important to me and when I hear of something so senseless I have to be honest it angers me greatly, I don't understand it. I hope that the mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings hug each other a little tighter tonight....... I am not a religious person but I do believe there is a God and I hope that time will bring healing and peace to the families who have lost their loved ones today and that God will wrap his arms around each and every one that was affected by this...... and may those beautiful babies and adults who lost their lives RIP.

Who can forget my favourite little people....

So final post of the night is dedicated to my niece and nephew..... the 2 most special people in my life. I had so much fun making these ones for them and was trying to think of a way to add a "treat" to the card..... you will see what I mean..... I also will include a picture of my niece making her gingerbread house. Apparently my nephew must think it is uncool to participate because he would rather watch TV but London, Grandma and I had a blast doing this......

CC All That Scraps Sweet Pixie Santa Birgitta

Pattie's Creations "Holiday Reindeer"

My niece Lo and her fabulous creation :)

My girl's cards............

Wow 2 posts in one day, that is crazy..... so I had to post the pictures of the finished cards I made for all my good friends....... they all have their favourite colours although that was not entirely how I based who would get what card. I used some Tiddly Inks digital stamps which of course our ALWAYS super adorable...... and I always have a great time colouring them...... I also used a stamp from a new artist Pattie, who has an Etsy store, see the link below. So here they are.... enjoy....

Tiddly Inks "Cocoa Wishes"

SillyDillyBeans "Three Penguins"

Tiddly Inks "Minnie's Christmas Lights"

Tiddly Inks "Minnie's Christmas Lights"
I made this card with a few different variations in
colours for different friends. Apparently I did not take pictures of all of them.

Pattie's Creations "Holiday Reindeer"
This one is for my adorable hairdresser Tara who is a miracle worker..... :)
You can't see it but I added Glossy Accents to his nose... SUPER CUTE.

Christmas is almost here........

Our weather on the West Coast has been milder than usual which means we have not had any snow yet so I totally thought it was appropriate to add some falling snow to my page, how cute is that? Well I have been a busy bee...... trying to get all my Christmas cards completed. You saw from my last post the ones I sent my aunts and uncles.... well this post will be the ones I sent to my immediate cousins. I also completed the same ones for the Paediatricians I work with. As I am typing this I just realized I never took a picture of any of the 30 cards I did for my co-workers....DOH!!!. That wasn't very smart of me as they have all been sent out already so I guess I won't be showing those ones...sorry.... :(. I am so happy to be done with the Christmas cards..... I unfortunately did not write the colour Copics I used either.... WOW, where has my head gone? I can however tell you that I used stamps from a great little artist named Megan Suarez from SillyDillyBeans... Check these out they are super cute.... :)

So many cards, so little time....

I just had a quick moment to blog, I have a ton of cards to post just not enough time to post them so here's hoping for some time on the my next set off and then you will have an abundance to look forward to..... It is SUPER windy here and I am concerned the power will be going out soon, although I am on the hospital grid so I am hoping that is not the case. A friend of mine and I are going to see Journey in Victoria tonight so we will be heading out shortly for a little shopping, a little dinner and then the concert. Super looking forward to that. The weather is looking on the up and up so far so we may be able to drive back tonight BUT this is the West Coast and that can change rather quickly..... you don't want to drive THE Malahat on a snowy night.... YUCK.... anyways I am off to get ready.... I will post my cards soon......