Joy and Cheer

Today I'm sharing a holiday card I made using Sweet Sunday Sketch 249! I LOVE Karen's sketches and was so happy to have a chance to play along this week. Here's the sketch:

And here's my creation:

I absolutely ADORE this sentiment from Paper Source! (Confession: I bought it last year and this is the first time I've inked it up. Anyone else guilty of this type of behavior??? C'mon...be honest...) It has such a playful nature about it that pairs up nicely with these super duper cute penguins from Mama Elephant! Gosh, I am smitten with these little fellas! They totally make me SMILE!

I gave this card (in a coordinating envelope) to my friend, Rosemarie, yesterday...along with a gift basket. Here's a quick look at that:

 

Rosemarie and her husband, Dan, love to cook, so I put together a basket full of breakfast-themed items for them including: Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix (from Red Mill), Butter Infused Olive Oil and Vermont Maple Balsamic (from Elevated Olive in Steamboat, CO---which I picked up on our recent ski trip to Steamboat), an OXO Spatula (from Whole Foods), and two Red Dahlia Villa Stripe Napkins (from World Market).

And yes...the photo was taken in my car because I am running completely behind on life (more on that below) and thus had to stop at Whole Foods to pick up the pancake mix and spatula on my way to meet Rosemarie yesterday morning. HA! Oh well...it all worked out just fine.

 

On a personal note: As I mentioned above, I am quite behind on life. My husband's father passed away suddenly the week before Thanksgiving. It has been tough (and crazy busy), but we are staying strong and taking things one step at a time. On a much happier note, my husband is now on Winter Break, so we've been having lots of fun. We went to see the holiday symphony in our little town of Golden. We also just recently spent a long weekend in Steamboat---skiing, hiking, hot tubbin' and just relaxing and enjoying mountain life. And tomorrow we're heading to Winter Park for two days (an anniversary gift from my folks---THANKS, Mom and Dad!)----can't wait! Well, off to run some errands and tackle some more of the to-do list! Just wanted to update you on what's been happening in my world and the many reasons my blog has been so quiet recently.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you're having a festive holiday season!

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Supplies:

Stamps: Artic Penguins (Mama Elephant), Joy and Cheer Message (Paper Source)

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko), Onyx Black Versafine (Tsukineko)

Markers: Copic Sketch Markers

Cardstock: Rustic White and Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Snow Day 6x6 Inch Petite Paper Pack (Lawn Fawn)

Specialty Paper: Gold

Dies: Artic Penguin Coordinating Creative Cuts (Mama Elephant), star from Sailboat Dies (Paper Smooches)

Adhesive: Adhesive Tape Runner (Tombow), Scor-Tape (Scor-Pal), Mono Multi Liquid Glue (Tombow), Studio Matte Multi-Medium (Claudine Hellmuth)