Snow Business

Hello again! I'm back with yet another Christmas card! Next year, I'm definitely going to make Christmas cards all year long. I don't like being caught short at the end of the year.

I used four different challenges to come up with this card:

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C117--It's Santa

Heart Song Inspiration Challenge #28--use snowflakes and/or doilies

Mojo Monday 219 Sketch Challenge

TCP Tuesday 188 Color Challenge

  

For the inside, I used a postage stamp edge punch on the top and bottom of the center panel and sponged Aged Mahogany Distress Ink on all the edges. 

That's it for this card, but I'll be back again soon with one last Christmas card. Until then...

~Hugs, 

 

Stamps: Christmas Characters (Inkadinkadoo); inside sentiment (Recollections set 182607)
Paper: Basics White (Basic Grey); Susan Winget Glad Tidings (K&Co); Simply Delightful (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Copic Markers; Memento; Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies: Classic Scalloped Circles Lg, Std Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Postage Stamp edge punch; Martha Steward Scoreboard; eyelets; twine (The Twinery); Stickles; Snow Marker (Marvy); gold metallic pen
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Sparkle & Cheer

Hello Friends! I hope you're having a great week! Tomorrow is the last day of school until January, and I am so looking forward to the break--sleeping late and no homework! I think I said in an earlier post that I had made my last Christmas card. Well, if I did, I was wrong! I got all my cards in the mail this week and found that I was a few short, so I made several duplicate cards.

I normally don't like making more than one of each card, but this one was fun to make--probably because of all the Stickles and the Pearl Pen. I think those little bottles of shiny fun are my favorite craft items. :) This Taylored Expressions Christmas tree stamp is perfect for decorating with glittery dots of joy, don't you think? And, it fits in nicely for the Heart Song Inspirations Challenge #28 to use snowflakes or doilies.

For the inside, I outlined the interior of the die with a green fine-point Sharpie. It turned out okay, but I definitely need some practice with that.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Friday!

~Hugs, 

 

Stamps: Sparkle & Cheer (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Copic Markers; Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Memento; Colorbox
Dies: Ironwork Motifs, Foliage, Std Circles Lg, Labels Four (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Dots, Circles & Stars embossing folder (Sizzix); Stickles; Pearl Pen; Shimmer Spritz (Tsukineko)
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Birds on a Box

Happy Tuesday, Friends! I've got a fun project to share with you today--a secret box! Heather Perreaux has put together a wonderful tutorial here, at Splitcoaststampers. I followed it almost exactly except I added a magnet to help it stay closed.

 

This box is so much easier than it looks (the hardest part was coloring the three images), but I recommend that you watch the video tutorial. Some of the written instructions are a little unclear, and there are not any templates to print off. You can enlarge the ones on the tutorial, but they become so blurry, it's hard to read them. [NOTE: I have since found a pdf of Heather's templates here.]

  

  

I added a magnet inside the middle shelf, toward the front, and another against the left opening, to hold the box closed a little better. You can see it in these two photos. Be careful, though, that the magnets aren't too strong! :) I ended up having to use one strong magnet and one weaker one. I've got two Ghirardelli Squares in each shelf in this photo.

The image is one from Flourishes, from the set, Christmas Classics. I was a little worried about having to color three identical images, since Copics aren't my strongest talent, but it ended up being easy peasy, after all.

This is my first Secret Box, but I know it won't be my last.

I'll be entering this in a few challenges:

TCP Tuesday 183: Color Challenge: Red, Marigold, Chocolate

Crazy 4 Challenges 112: Wrap it up! (Make a gift, box, bag, gift card holder, etc.)

Heart Song Inspiration #23: Anything Goes
Dolce Stamps and Cards: Square Card & Die Cut Challenge #04--It's not a card, but it is square and has die cuts :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fabulous day!

 

Stamps: Christmas Classics (Flourishes)
Paper: Circa 1934 (Cosmo Cricket)
Ink: Copic Markers, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Liquid Pearls, foam dots, magnets
Size: 3" cube

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Paisley Hope

 Hello Friends! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. My DD and I saw Dolphin Tale yesterday, and, Wow!, what a great movie! Makes me want to head down to Clearwater and see Winter in person! The card I want to share with you today fits the theme of that movie--Hope.

The layout I'm using is the Tuesday Morning Sketch #115. This week, they have an inspiration photo of a beautiful paisley tote to go along with the sketch, and for the entire month, you have to use pink somewhere on your card.

 

Heart Song Inspirations also has a challenge this week to use die cuts and/or a sponged background on your card, so I used a Spellbinders Lacy Square as my sentiment panel.

The papers, from the Best of K&Co stack, were perfect for the TMS inspiration photo. I love the muted colors. To pop up the sentiment layers, I ran scrap cardstock through my paper crimper, cut two squares from it, then glued them together with the crimps running vertically on one square and horizontally on the other. I love doing that when I have something fairly large that I want to pop up. It's really sturdy and lifts it just enough to add dimension, but not so much that you can see underneath it. The metal and rhinestone flower is a brad from Michaels. I found it in a set of metal embellishments at Michaels in their Christmas section. The rhinestones were clear, so I colored them with a Copic marker.

Close ups of the flowers, which I distressed a little with Distress Ink, and the layered scalloped edge borders embellished with Liquid Pearl dots.

 

On the inside of the card, I used a sentiment from the Verve Stamps Words of Wisdom set, and rounded the corners of the pink cs with my Corner Chomper.

And, that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Hope (Quietfire); Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper: Best of K&Co
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-On; Inkssentials clear embossing ink
Dies: Lacy Squares (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Diamond Lace Edge Punch (EK Success); Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder; Metal & Rhinestone flower-colored with a Copic marker (Michaels); Corner Chomper; flowers (Recollections); Liquid Pearls
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Delight yourself

Hi there! Hope you're enjoying a nice, long weekend. Except for a family wedding this past Friday, we have no plans except to hang out and relax. My idea of the perfect weekend. Well, as long as there is some craft time in there somewhere, it's perfect. ;)

I'm playing along with Mojo Monday today. I've missed Mojo Monday for a couple of weeks, so I was glad to get to join in this week. I love an asymmetrical sketch.

I paired this layout up with Kathy's Lily Pad Palette challenge. Look at these rich colors...aren't they gorgeous!

The Mojo Monday 209 challenge ends tonight at 8PM MT, so if you haven't played yet, there's still time--as long as you're quick, ;) but the Lily Pad challenge ends on October 20, so you have plenty of time to go through your stash of cs and create a masterpiece. Also, the Heart Song Inspirations #18 challenge is going on now, too, and it's Anything Goes. Can't get any easier than that, but it ends tonight, too, so hurry if you want to enter.

Here's my creation:

The Bible verse (Psalm 37:4) is from Verve. Before I stamped it, I sponged Wild Honey Distress Ink on the circle die cut, and stamped the Verve leafy sprig stamp just on the edge in Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. I originally ran the dark orange cs through my paper crimper, but it was way too small afterward, so I partially flattened it back out, then stamped the same leafy sprig stamp randomly to create a background design. You can still see the crimps a little bit. I was afraid I wouldn't like it, but I do.

I colored gold rhinestones with an orange and a brown Copic marker and the blue bling is Stickles. Got to have some sparkle somewhere, ya know! :D

I made the plaid brad on the bow with my iTop Brad Maker and covered it with Glossy Accents. I'm loving that tool. It's so nice to be able to make exactly what you want. 

I kept the inside very simple, using the same leafy sprig stamp to tie it to the front of the card.

And, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping in for a visit, and have a wonderful evening!

 

Stamps: Psalm 37:4, Sunny Days (Verve)
Paper: Farmhouse Collection (Crate Paper); Mango Frost Matstack (DCWV)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Versamark; Copic markers
Dies: Lattice Rectangles; Beaded Circles; Std Circles Lg (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Daisy Punch (Martha Stewart); seam binding (Hug Snug); iTop Brad Maker; paper crimper; rhinestones; Glossy Accents; Stickles; sewing thread; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Autumn Leaves

Happy Thursday! I'm back with another fall card today.  I used the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge 147 for this one. I also went with three of the same challenges I used in my Celebrate Fall card a few days ago:

CR84FN39 Color Challenge: colors of orange, yellow, and brown;

Crazy 4 Challenges #106: theme of a Halloween or Fall card;

Heartsong Inspiration's challenge #17: to use ribbon and/or a tag.

I am loving these warm fall colors. 

All the stamps, as well as the leaf gems, on this card came out of the dollor bin at Joann's. Whoo Hoo! I love a bargain!

I colored the acorns and leaves with Copics, cut them out and popped them up on a stacked Spellbinders Beaded Circle and Std Circle Large. Eventually, I ended up coloring two more of the acorns and leaves, cutting them out and popping them on top of the first ones, but angled slightly to give it a more dense look. Coloring those leaves was a little bit of a challenge for me, because I wasn't sure what stage of fall I wanted the leaves to be in. In the end, I decided, what the heck, I'll use all of them, ;) and ended up using a deep red, bright orange, yellow, and two shades of brown. I like the result, but I'm not sure I could ever duplicate it. 8~D 

This card could be just about any kind of card you wanted it to be, but I chose to go with Thanksgiving, simply because I had this pretty stamp and wanted to use it.

I hope you're getting ready for a wonderful weekend. The temperature seems to finally be coming down a little bit here in Georgia, so we may be spending some time outdoors for a change.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Stamps: Fall Mini Assortment (Studio 112)
Paper: Cafe Mediterranean, Safari Chic (DCWV); Best of K&Co
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-On; Copic markers; Gold Metallic Pen (EK Success)
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Large
Accessories: Scallop Diamond Edger (EK Success); Leafy Branch embossing folder (Cuttlebug); glitter embossing powder (Zing); Autumn Days Acrylic Gems (Studio 18); ribbon (Offray); Piercing tool; foam dots; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Celebrate Fall

Hi Friends! I hope your week is starting off good. Mine certainly is. Yesterday I learned that my "Just For You" card was chosen as a Froggin' Fantastic Four over at Lily Pad Cards! This is the second time I've enjoyed that honor! The other winners' cards are awesome--you should definitely check them out.  

There is another bit of exciting news, too...but I'll tell you about that in a few days! ;)  

My card today is seasonal, for fall, of course. I used the Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 4 sketch, the CR84FN39 Color Challenge colors of orange, yellow, and brown, the Crazy 4 Challenges #106 theme of a Halloween or Fall card, and Heartsong Inspiration's challenge #17 to use ribbon and/or a tag--I used both. :)  

To make the diagonal strips, I just cut strips of paper, sewed them to the bg paper, then trimmed the ends off. That didn't require much in the way of measuring--figuring angles isn't one of my strong points. I added the little orange leaves (Stampendous) to the orange strips as an afterthought.

In my materials list below, you'll see that I used waxed linen thread, but you might not notice it in the photo. See the orange flowers on the tag (Sunny Days, Verve)? It actually looks like a button in the center of the flower, so I pierced the holes and used the linen thread to "sew" it. Then I covered just the button part with Glossy Accents to make it stand out from the rest of the flower. Not difficult, just hard to see here. :)

I just love this meandering stitch (I don't know if there's an "official" name for it).

And, that'll do it for me today. Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all my visitors and love hearing from you, too.

 

Stamps: Sweet Treats, Sunny Days (Verve); Everything Happy (Stampendous)
Paper: Best of K&Co
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-On
Dies: Tiny Sweet Scallop (Verve)
Accessories: Polka Dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug); ribbon (Offray); waxed linen thread; Glossy Accents; sewing thread; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5x5")

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Just for You--A First

Good Saturday Morning to you! I'm going to be brief today. Mojo Monday's sketch this week was either a square or a round card, and I opted for the round one. It's my first attempt at a card that isn't square or rectangular, and I loved working on it. It's always fun to learn to do something new. The colors are from Kathy's Lily Pad Palette challenge.

Another first for me was successful paper piercing on the inside of the card.  

I hope you have a chance to get inky this weekend! Thanks for stopping by! 

Challenges:
Mojo Monday 206 Sketch Challenge
Heart Song Inspirations Challenge #13: Anything Goes
Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge

 

Stamps: Sunny Days & Sweet Treats (Verve)
Paper: Que Sera Sera (K&Co); Shimmer Stack (DCWV); Floriade2 Digikit (Design by Anita, Two Peas in a Bucket); Sweet Threads (Basic Grey); Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox; Staz-On
Dies: Sm Labels, Lg Labels, Std Circles Lg, Classic Scalloped Circles Small & Large (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Flower (Recollections); ribbon (Michael's); flower rhinestones (K&Co); foam dots; paper piercer
Size: 4.25" diameter circle

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