Easy Handmade Christmas Cards Using Stickers

Spellbinder's had a HUGE warehouse clearance sale in November so I took advantage of that and ordered a whole box of new toys.  One of the things I ordered was a $1.00 set of Nutcracker Ballet Chipboard Stickers.   You heard me right, $1.00!!! And guess what, they are still only $1.00 as I write this post, so you may want to scoop them up as they are cute!

So far, I managed to make four cards and two tags out of the sticker set, and I still have some stickers leftover.

Stickers today are not the same as stickers when I was a kid. Today's stickers have so much more interest, detail, and dimension.  They are so attractive looking, they are perfect for making quick and easy cards:  no stamping or coloring involved.  Anyone can do it!

My first two cards are my own design, and the last two cards I cased from the Spellbinder website which always has great ideas of how to use their products.

Christmas Ornaments Card

To make this card, I used the ornament stickers in the set and placed them on the white panel in different lengths.  I added gold twine to 'hang' the ornaments, and I used two red bow stickers for two of the ornaments and I created a gold bow out of the twine for the third ornament.  The "25" sentiment is also a sticker from the set.  I put some pretty Christmas designer paper in the background and added four rhinestones in the corners of the white panel.

Christmas Stocking Card & Tags

My next card uses a mix of stickers from the Nutcracker set, plus some Circuit cut outs and other stash I had lying around my craft room.  The stitched border was done with this month's latest Stitching Die:  "Cross Stitch Nested Card Front and Tag"

To make this card, I cut a Christmas stocking using my Circuit machine then I just filled it with a lot of the stickers from the Nutcracker set.  I added a foam snow man, and more images I cut with my Circuit machine in the bottom right corner, along with the sentiment. The evergreen foliage is from another Spellbinder's set.  Adhesive crystals and snowflakes were added for embellishment.

To make the tags, I simply cut them out, stitched them, stamped a sentiment and Christmas image, and then added an eyelet to the hole. 

The edges of the card and tags were stitched using one strand of red embroidery floss.

My last two cards were inspired by the cards on the Spellbinder's website.  The layout is the same, but because I didn't have the exact same supplies the designer paper and sentiments are different. 

                           Nutcracker Card

To make the first card I simply stuck the stickers onto the white card stock base that I cut with a Spellbinder's die.  Then everything was adhered to a pretty Christmas designer paper adhered to a white card.

Speaking of The Nutcracker, has anyone watched the new Ben Stiller Christmas movie "Nutcrackers" on Hulu?  It is so good.  The children in the movie dance their own version of The Nutcracker at the end of the movie, and it is so touching. It's hard not to cry!

Mouse King Card

To make the second card I adhered the stickers to a light blue card stock, then I put some glittery Christmas designer paper below and separated the two panels with a silver ribbon.  The simple card is finished off with a sticker sentiment and poinsettia flower.

 I hope you enjoyed my easy handmade Christmas cards and you will try making your own cards out of stickers too!  Only one pack of stickers made all these cards!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Fisher's AgriPark Fall Festival

This is a continuation of a fall travel series.  If you missed any of my previous posts you can find them here:  Bird Watching at the La Crosse Marsh, A Return to Galena Illinois, A Visit to the Lincoln Home, A Visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, and The Lincoln Tomb and Historic Springfield, and Turkey Run State Park.

The day after hiking in Turkey Run State Park we went to a fall festival at Fisher's Agripark.  Fisher's Agripark is a 33 acre urban farm located in Fishers Indiana.  The park pays homage to Fisher's agricultural  roots and provides inspiration to future farmers and homesteaders.  The park has public fields and gardens, livestock,  a playground, nature trail, nursery, and more!

The park holds a variety of activities from May through October, one of which is their Fall Festival which we attended!

The festival had so much to do we couldn't even do it all in four hours!  Here is a list of everything they had going on at the farm:

• Movie in the barn (“Home on the Range”)
• DIY veggie stamp tote bag
• Mini pumpkin painting
• Wood pumpkin craft
• S’mores & fire puts
• Putt putt golf
• Face painting
• Photo booth
• Super slide
• Inflatables
• Animal encounter
• Nature trail and playground
• Food, snack, and drink vendors

Because we had young ones, we spent a lot of time playing in the inflatables.  

They had a corn maze inflatable, which I thought was kinda cooky coming from Wisconsin where we have 'real' corn mazes, but the little ones seemed to enjoy it.

They had an inflatable farm, which seemed to be Elisha's favorite.

And they had an inflatable barn to jump in with a slide attached!

They also had a real tall, fast slide!

After playing in the inflatables, the kids were hungry so we headed for the food trucks.  We enjoyed smash burgers, walking tacos, hot dogs, and hot pretzels.  With full tummies, I thought it was best to let the stomachs settle before playing again, so the kids all got their faces painted!

Atticus and Elisha chose different Spider Men variations and Alethea chose a unicorn colored kitty.

I was so impressed with the ladies doing the face painting.  They were so good at it, and they were great with the kids!

Grandpa and Ashley took turns holding baby Lazarus,  I was the photographer that night, so I'm not in any pictures unless I handed my phone to someone and said "Here, take my picture!"  I do that at least once so when we're looking through family photos someday no one thinks I'm dead cause I'm not in any of the pictures. 😀

I don't know what's going on in the photo below.  I think Elisha is using his bargaining powers on Grandpa Todd.  He has learned when he doesn't get what he wants from one authority figure, to just go try another.  I have no idea where he learned this from, and why he even attempts it, because it does not work!  Trust me, we're on to him! 😂

Once everyone's face was painted, we headed over to the farm animals.  The children were given feed to give to the animals.

We decided to take the short nature trail back to the play activities.  The trail went through the woods where some small fall arrangements of pumpkins and hay stacks were displayed.

It was finally time to roast some marshmallows and make s'mores.  Atticus had been asking to do this all night and we kept saying "later", "later".  Well, "later" finally came and he one happy boy!

After s'mores time it was time for me to get in a fall photo so I grabbed Elisha and had Grandpa take our picture.

The grandkids really enjoyed playing on the playground and on the giant haystack.

And I thought I should include a photo of this little guy, baby Lazarus, since you couldn't see him much in mommy's Snuggie.

I hope you enjoyed our fall activity and photos, even if it's a little late as it is now the Christmas season.

 Next week I will finish up with this series and then I will be taking a two week holiday break.  I will come back after the New Year with a new travel series on Yellowstone National Park and more!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

"Cozy Moments to Calm Your Heart" Devotional Coloring Book

I really enjoy adult coloring books, but I don't just color any ol' book.  I prefer to buy books that have some connection to my faith, that way, I can both color and mediate on God's word at the same time.  I find coloring very relaxing.  I usually do it after all the chores have been done for the day;  about an hour before it's time to start supper.  It recharges me to sit and rest a spell after running around all day.

I have been working on a coloring/devotional book of the Book of Psalms which I showed you in these two blog posts:  "Coloring Through the Book of Psalms" and "Coloring Through the Book of Psalms, Part II".    But I decided to take a break from the book and return to it in the spring/summer after I saw the "Cozy Moments to Calm Your Heart" book on Dayspring.  I thought it was such a pretty winter book, and would look lovely sitting on my coffee table, and who doesn't love cardinals, right?

The book has over 158 pages, half of which are coloring pages, so it is quite a thick, large book, and I doubt I'll even finish it this winter.  

It is spiral bound, which makes it so much easier to color than normal coloring books.  And the pages are super strong and thick so you don't need to worry about bleeding through the other side (unless you use markers, which bleed through anything).

The very first page is a dedication page.  I colored the page, but I left the spaces blank.  I'm not sure if I'll regift this book when I'm finished.  Not every one likes to color, and they may appreciate reading the devotionals and looking at the beautifully colored pages by yours' truly.

The next page is an introduction to the book.  This book is all about "Resting in the Lord";  taking advantage of the long, cold winter as a time to experience the calming presence of God.

The next page features a devotional with an illustration to color on the opposite page.  The entire book is set up this way.  Each time you flip the page, there is another devotional and another coloring page.  The devotional always includes a scripture, which I try to mediate on as I color, and pray.

The designs in this book are so large and intricate it takes me a long time to finish coloring one page.  I chose to use colored pencils so it doesn't bleed on the other side of the paper.  I never used to like coloring with pencils, but I taught myself how to work with them and I've really been enjoying it.  It does help to use high quality colored pencils like Prismacolor Pencils or Castle Arts.

For the duration of this post, I will only show you the rest of the pages I have colored so far, along with the title of the devotional and a scripture reference.

"A Candle in the Dark"

Romans 5:5

"Revealing Love, Inviting Peace"

Proverbs 15:1

"The Calm Path"

1 Kings 19:11-12

"A Blanket of Peace"

Proverbs 15:18

"The Light Kept On"

John 1:5

"Rest and Reset"

Isaiah 9:7

"Giving the Pace A Break"

Isaiah 30:15

"Personal Peacemakers"

Proverbs 17:27

"With Full and Grateful Hearts"

John 1:14

"The Love We Crave"

Zephaniah 3:17

"God's Work in the Wait"

Isaiah 40:31

"Good and Helpful"

Psalm 94:19

"Things Our Soul Needs"

Psalm 119:52

 I hope you enjoyed my colored pages!  I will show you more as I complete them.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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