After Christmas catch up!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!! I hope each and every one of you had a BLESSED Christmas!!!!!! And please be sure to have a SAFE and wonderful New Year!!!!!

I've been very busy in the month of December but have only been able to show you just a tiny bit of the things I've actually worked on this month.  So, without further ado, I bring you more of my creative projects!!!!!

First, I'd like to show you ONE of the artist trays I've been working on.  I decided to make one for my mother and mother-in-law for Christmas this year.  This one was for my mother-in-law.  She, herself, was born and raised in Panama.  My father-in-law was born and raised in Cuba.  Hence, the heritage cubes.  I also included a picture of her immediate family at our wedding (her and her husband, Oscar and myself, and her two step sons).  Of course, I also included a pic of our family, and her first, and only "blood" grand baby.  Both of her step sons have children, but Maya is her first blood :-)

Any who, here's a picture of the finished product...

And with different lighting...

For the "Panama" cube, I made a Panamanian flag for the background using my Cricut, then covered it with various items that she likes or that represent her heritage.  Flowers are Prima, cross brad by Recollections, wording by K&Company, and center vintage brad made by Spare Parts.  I also made a baseball and soccer ball from grungeboard by Tim Holtz, a little embossing powder, and permanent markers!!!

For the Cuba cube, i found specialty paper and a local Scrapbooking store that said Cuba all over it and just cut a square of it.  The flowers are by Spare Parts,  the clock and metal piece by Tim Holtz, and various ribbon and chipboard. I embossed the chipboard with my swiss dots embossing folder, used Tumbled Glass Distress Stain from Tim Holtz, then inked the top with Broken China Distress ink.  

For the other squares, I used various papers by 7Gypsies and Coordinations.  I embossed the background of the family pic paper with the brick embossing folder, then sanded it down.  I also used Prima canvas corners and dyed them with Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Rich Mahogany.  There's various other embellies by Tim Holtz, K&Company, Basic Grey, etc.  

I will also have some close-ups posted at a later date with pics from the other one I completed for my mother, and my first paper bag album that turned out PHENOMENAL!!!!

As far as paper crafting, I was able to complete a few scrapbook layouts.  This one is one of my favs!!!!! This was used for my Guest Designer Spotlight Challenge over at Sketches4All and GDT at Colorful Creations!!! The sketch is by Jenessa Franco and it was just wonderful to work with!  Here is the original sketch...

And my page...

This is my oldest daughter on her very first trip to Animal Kingdom (a branch of the Disney World theme parks).  She LOVED it!!!!!!

I used papers by the K&Company Wild Saffron paper stack which were perfect for this challenge.  All the borders and embellies are K&Company as well, which made everything very simple for me!!!! Isn't she darling?!?!?!

Another page I made was of my sister Amber during her Senior year.  She is gorgeous of course!!! I used an original sketch and page by Tabitha Triplett (with her permission of course!!!) and used it for my Scraplift challenge at Colorful Creations and Sketches4All!!!! 

Here is her sketch and page... she does very beautiful work!!!!

Isn't it stunning!!! I just loved her color scheme so much that I decided to lift from the page itself, which I usually do not do!!!

Here is the page I was able to create of my sister, also using various hues of blue!

I love this paper by Cloud9 Design!!!! I think it's gorgeous!!! The flowers are by Prima and Spare Parts and various embellies and brads.  I am in love with how this page turned out!!!!

Here are a few Christmas pages I completed as well....

This is Alyssa opening her Rapunzel Tower that Santa left for her last year!  She was so thrilled to add yet another princess house to her collection!!!!

Papers are by K&Company as are the journaling piece, border, and chipboard heart.  

This is her opening her Barbie doll and house the same year at my Mother's house.   I completed this for GDT over at Colorful Creations! 

Papers are by K&Company and MME "Be Merry" paper stacks.  I also used am embossing folder by Tim Holtz on the silver paper, then on blue Coordinations sandable paper.  I sanded the blue paper, then inked the top with Broken China Distress ink.  Then, I cut it up and used them as titling pieces!!! I am really happy with how this turned out!

Here are some last minute Halloween pages I completed as well.

The first is my husband and I at our annual Halloween party.  We were the good guys for a change!!! Hahahaha!!!! The papers are by K&Company as are most of the embellies.  The "metal" skeleton pieces are by Jolees with borders by Martha Stewart!!!

The second is a pic of my buddy Maurii at out Halloween party and he is by far the BEST looking Batman I've ever seen!!!!!! 

Papers are also by K&Company (different stack), as are all the embellies.  The border again is by Martha Stewart. 

And last are some Christmas cards I finished up just in time!!!!

This was for a game for our members at Colorful Creations during the Jingle Bell Blog Hop!  We were given an image (the cupcake) to use and make anything with.  I decided on a card.  

I made this card especially for Aunt because she just LOVES Poinsettias!!!!! This is actually a stamp that I colored using various stamp markers, then I added glitter using different glitter glues as well.  I finished it with some hemp cord and sentiment.

These were cards I made for my family and for a challenge for the Jingle Bell Blog Hop.  We were advised to make something using the words "Merry and Bright".  Again, I decided on a card :-)

Well gang, thanks for staying with me through all of this!!!!! Again, have a SAFE and wonderful New Year and a VERY LUCKY day :-)