Grace Notes
Showing posts with label Poetry by Grace Baxter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry by Grace Baxter. Show all posts
February 21, 2024
FAMILY SKATE - Two Christmas Card Designs
Family Skating Silhouettes
This Christmas, I decided to design something more NON-traditional, and yet, it IS traditional. What do I mean?
I came across silhouettes of people skating that just happen to look EXACTLY like my children! This technique is not your typical Christmas design. Yet, the designs themselves are nostalgic for me.
A Swiss-like Scene
Daughter and Son-in-Law
My daughter and son-in-law love to travel. One of their favourite places is Switzerland. They also love to get out in the fresh air and go for walks, no matter if it's winter or not.
I designed this card, keeping in mind their love for Swiss home architecture, mountainous terrain (hills, in this case) and big beautiful pine trees. The couple skating on this card look exactly like them!
Daughter, Son-in-Law & Granddaughter
This little family is perfect for my other daughter's little family. They were thrilled with it and told me: "It' just like US! How did you do that?"
It's like I always say: Cardmaking has to be personal to the recipients, or why bother! This year, I was delighted with how these two cards turned out.
November 02, 2023
BELIEVE IN THE BABE
Believe in the Babe of Bethlehem
The Title Says It All
In recent years, each Christmas season we see the word "Believe" showing up in holiday decor items. But what does THAT mean? Believe in what?
Of course, for many people, it is assumed that the word means believe in Santa Claus. However, the Christmas story, the REAL story is not about a jolly man in a red suit. In fact, St. Nicholas himself knew about and reverenced Jesus.
The Design
The card is 5 x 7" in shades of soft teal, taupe and aqua, with accents of gold foil cardstock.
I created this card as a reminder of the truth about Christmas. The Babe of Bethlehem, of course, refers to Jesus who is the entire reason for CHRISTmas. In fact, one fabulous Christmas store in Frankenmuth has become world-famous for its size and Christmas decorations, trees and ornaments. Busloads of people flock to Bronner's year round to experience the sparkle and delights the store holds.
What I (and thousands of others) love is that Bronner's specializes in Nativity sets and scenes, and Christmas items that are all about the birth of Jesus, who was and still is, Saviour of the World.
Poem Inside: My Christmas Wish for You
I wrote this special poem especially for Christmas 2020. It was a sad time of lockdowns and despair. Yet, the beauty of Christmas was not lost by those who treasure its meaning and joy.
I'd love to know your thoughts about this card.
December 24, 2017
CHRISTMAS JOY
Sending Christmas Joy
The perfect card design for a sister who shares my memories of skating together, years ago. Oh, the hours we'd spend on the ice until our toes were frozen! (Click pictures for close-up.)
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| Figure Skates, Shimmery Gold accents, Snowflakes and Greenery |
Details
This card is a generous size: card base measures 4-1/4" x 6-1/2". It is thick with layers and needed to be mailed in a protective, puffy envelope to protect the skates.
Everything was created in Cricut Design Space EXCEPT for the punched pine branches. See list of cartridges below.
Inside
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| Figure Skates Christmas Card -- Inside |
Poem and Verse, by Grace Baxter
Cartridges Used:
- White embossed background overlay, flourish design label, from Elegant Edges, embossed with snowflakes
- Gold foil frame, flourish rectangle, from Elegant Edges
- Sentiment frame shape, label from Heritage
- Figure skates, from Go Canada!
- "Sending Christmas Joy" sentiment, written with Alphalicious font
Merry Christmas, Friends!
December 15, 2015
Bringing in the Greens
The Holly and the Ivy
In my November 24th post, I offered a chance for my followers to share their favourite Christmas theme, and I would make a card featuring that theme. In response, Cocoa's Mom expressed her favourite theme:What a fun idea, Grace! My favorite Christmas theme is the greenery. From the special 'Bringing in the Greens' service at church to the holly sprigs Mom tucked behind every picture to the tree lighting in the nearby town, this was the signal that the season was upon us. And, of course, my favorite carol is "The Holly and the Ivy!" : )
So here is my card, designed from the inspiration Cocoa's Mom provided. I also love designing cards and tags around themes provided in Christmas Carols . See my jumbo tags from Christmas 2014, featuring Away in a Manger and Silent Night version 1 and Silent Night version 2.
I did some research to learn more about the tradition of "Hanging of the Greens" or Bringing in the Greens.
Card Inside
You'll find the story on the inside of the card. I never realized before that the carol, The Holly and the Ivy goes back in history to the days of the Pilgrims. The words are important to the whole idea of "Bringing in the Greens". This card was fun to make. Thank you, Cocoa's Mom for the inspiration!
Cartridges Used
Elegant Edges - Scalloped border, frames for music
Anna Griffin's Winter Wonderland - holly
December 29, 2014
SKATING GIRL ~ STEP CARD
Yes, It is Still the Season!
Even though Christmas Day is past, we are still enjoying Christmas week up until New Year's Day. Here's a STEP card created for my daughter. It is reminiscent of her skating on a pond last winter, doing what she calls her "fancies".
There's not a lot to explain about this one. The picture pretty much says it all. The cartridge used for this card is Winter Frolic. I added facial features with ProMarkers.
For the verse, I composed the poem, formatted it in Word and printed it on white cardstock (not paper). The back card panel is the perfect place for the poem.
December 19, 2014
WARM BIRTHDAY WISHES
Masculine Christmas Birthday Card
This one is for my son whose birthday is Christmas Day. It could work well for any man you know who has a winter birthday.
Cardstock Determines Style
I love the new CS stack I bought recently at JoAnn's. It's called "Pine St. Square" and has so many great rustic designs. I especially love this design for the deer, wearing their plaid pajamas. (Work with me here people.)
And while shopping there, I just happened to pick up a single sheet of plaid paper that is the same plaid! Don't you love when that happens? Totally unplanned and fabulous.
Details
The card size is 4-1/2" x 6-1/4" cut from black CS. This is a tad larger than the usual A2 card, sized just right for my envelopes. Mitts are shadowed with black but not attatched to them. Plaid mitts are popped on top of the shadow.
Sentiment
I created the sentiment on my Gypsy using 3 different fonts. Normally, the rule is to use no more than 2 fonts on anything. But Cricut had used 3 for a similar phrase on the Winter Woodland cartridge. Apparently, they don't know the typography rule so I figured I could get away with it, just this once.
Here's the breakdown for the sentiment:
Warm - from Winter Woodland
Birthday - I created using Library Fonts, script
Wishes - Winter Woodland
Inside
I wrote a little poem for the inside, based on a children's song I used to sing to my son, years ago. (I hope he remembers.)
For the wee winter home, I embossed the left edge.
Corners are cut from the same green used on the front. It's a funny green that matches perfectly with the background paper.
Cartridges Used
Elegant Edges - green gear-shaped circle behind mitts
Joys of the Season - Mitts
Joys of the Season - Mitts
Library Fonts - "Birthday"
Winter Woodland - "Warm" and "Wishes"
I entered this card in the Craft Journal Challenge, Make it Monday - Anything Goes Winter, HERE. Fingers crossed that my entry places in the top 3.
December 16, 2014
MUSICAL ORNAMENT CARD
Sparkly Ornament
This pair of cards are 2-of-a-kind, yet different. One base is green, the other red, and the frames are opposites too.
Card size is 4-1/4" x 5-1/2". I love red, white and green for Christmas. For a more modern twist, I decided to use a green that is not the true Christmas green, and a red that is more of a burgundy-raspberry. I just happened to have the right ribbon to accent the Music Ornaments.
Details
White frame is 3.75"w x 5"hThe ornament shape is cut from Winter Wonderland at 1.82w x 1.96h.
"Joy" is 1.86w x 1.55h. All cuts were sized on the Gypsy.
I created the music in PhotoShop and sized it down. It is the actual music from the Christmas carol, Angels We Have Heard on High.
To create the sparkly window, I used a special technique.
Faithful Followers are welcome to any extra tips and pointers for techniques I use in my projects. It's easy to join. Just click the button at right to "Join This Site".
Inside
Green Card
Inside, I repeated the ornament shape for the Bible verse, then I heat embossed the verse for shine and dimension.
For the card verse, I cut a shape from Elegant Edges, then printed my prepared Word verse onto the shape.
Red Card
For the red card, I kept the verse panel simple with a rectangular shape and embossed frame.
I used the same 1/4" embossing for the front panel of each card.
The photos at right and below show the embossed borders on the white panels.
I am quite happy with the way these cards turned out.
I hope the recipients enjoy them!
Cartridges Used
Winter Wonderland - ornament and Joy
Elegant Edges - inside panel for green card
December 18, 2011
Angels Touch Their Harps
Shining Angel and Golden Harp
One of the loveliest Christmas carols is, "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear". This card depicts that scene, "from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold".
The white card base is 5"x7". The musical excerpt is scanned from an old hymnal, then edited in PhotoShop to remove all the other verses. I needed to pair down the music to keep it neat. At this size, I was able to print 4 per page with room to spare.
The sky background is from a sheet I've had for awhile. Sadly, I can't find more of it anywhere. Other sky backgrounds just are not as realistic as this one. On with the card.
As usual, we learn as we work through these things. For my first card, I placed the music over my gold "mat". Then I thought, in order to save expensive cardstock it would be smarter to cut a frame to place over the music, AND it would look more like a real frame.
Here's what worked best: On the Gypsy, I designed a frame and placed the harp inside. Voila! Two images for the price of one, literally!
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| Angel close-up |
For the angel's wings and dress, I cut one on blackout for the backing. The lacy fronts, though pretty, needed something a little extra. Heavenly star glow! (In crafting terms that would be glitter.) Isn't she beautiful!
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| Copyright 2011 Grace Baxter |
All of the card printing was done before assembling the rest. I prepared the card inside on my computer, printing all the words from "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear" on the left panel. The verse on the right side is a poem I composed especially for this card. I love it when God gives me wonderful poems that more fully express the story behind the cards.
I'm looking forward to a Christmas Eve service where, hopefully, we will all be singing some of those wonderful old Christmas carols.
November 05, 2011
SNOWMAN FAMILY
There is nothing more fun than the whole family going tobogganing. This snowman family is out for a fun day on the slopes.
I created this card for a family of three, and designed the snowmen to mimic the style of each family member. I love the hat on the Dad. It's exactly what he would wear! And the sweet little Mom, standing quietly by while Dad pulls baby along on the sled, is SO like her (not complaining that her toes are getting cold).
The pictures pretty well tell the story. This card is a 5x7 because I needed lots of room for everything. The snowy hills are hand-cut from embossed swirly cardstock. Rather than explain every single detail that went into this card, I will let you figure it out from the pictures.
I will say though, I gave the characters at least 3 layers. The sled has 2 layers. And please notice the snowmen's noses.They are totally carrot-like only better. I glammed them up with some gold ridges, first drawn with pencil and painted over top. I could NOT stop smiling as these characters came to life.
I prepared the verse on my computer and printed it on white cardstock. The top panel has the same snowflake background as on the card front. I used another piece to mat the verse on the bottom. Before gluing down the mat and verse, I stamped snowflakes all over the base and added 3 silver snowflakes for interest.
It's at times like this, when I am designing cards that are personal to the recipients that I have the most fun. I couldn't wait for them to open their card. I knew they'd love it. Exchanging personal cards has now become one of our family's yearly Christmas traditions, and it is SO much better when they are hand-made.
November 01, 2011
O Christmas Tree
This is MY version of the familiar Christmas song, O Christmas Tree. Today is the day I put up my tree, and I was thinking about all the great Christmases of years gone by and how important a role the tree has always played.
So here is my poem. While reading it, I suggest you hum the melody or sing the words of the poem. Just my way of giving you a little taste of Christmas early. ENJOY!
So here is my poem. While reading it, I suggest you hum the melody or sing the words of the poem. Just my way of giving you a little taste of Christmas early. ENJOY!
That One Gift
December 14, 2010
That One Gift - Poem by Grace Baxter
November 24, 2010
Oh Christmas Tree - by Grace Baxter
This is MY version of the familiar Christmas song, O Christmas Tree. Today is the day I put up my tree, and I was thinking about all the great Christmases of years gone by and how important a role the tree has always played.
So here is my poem. While reading it, I suggest you click on the music below so you can hear how the words fit with the tune. Just my way of giving you a little taste of Christmas early. ENJOY!
So here is my poem. While reading it, I suggest you click on the music below so you can hear how the words fit with the tune. Just my way of giving you a little taste of Christmas early. ENJOY!
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