A green snowflake?

 What? You mean you have never seen a green snowflake before? Well this is all we really get in Florida! You can’t really blame me. I made this card to fit into 4 different challenges and the color scheme at Copic color challenge was YG03, BV02 and B93. I had to fudge a bit and used BV01.

The card also completes sketch challenge 82 at A Spoonful of Sugar, week 80 at Penny Black was to use a charm and finally Day 306 at 365 cards asked us to Dig Deep into our stash to use something we have hoarded. The sketch challenge is self explanatory. My “charm” is also my hoarded item. I must confess, it is really a brad with its points cut off. I looked through all my stash and couldn’t find any more charms in a Christmas theme, so I improvised. The image is by Penny Black from the Christmas Critters clear set. The green snowflake is a Spellbinders die from the Snowflake Wonder set. Here is a close-up of the adorable hedgie. I used Polar White flower soft on the stocking. The following copics were used to color: YG03, BV01, B93, E11, G28, R29, RV10, E00, W1, the blender and a clear spica pen.

It is 11:30pm as I am posting this so let me wish you all a very Happy New Year. I am going to head to the living room to watch the ball drop with the family.

Divide and Conquer

 

Surprise…two posts tonight! I popped on and looked at 365 Cards. I have been checking the challenges regularly, just haven’t been able to complete any :( Today’s challenge was to divide and conquer. Mark your card into 4 equal quadrants and put a stamped image on one, rhinestones on another, a flower on the third and a punched image on the fourth. I pulled out my Basic Grey Sugared paper pack and choose coordinating papers. I cut them out with my Labels 4 die (i love this shape). The stamped image is by Justrite Just a Note set. Once I thought of how to make the quadrants, the card went together rather quickly.

I am off to bed to read Julie & Julia. I am waiting patiently for my name to come up on the library hold list. Last I checked, I was still number 130.  Have a fun New Year’s Eve!

2009 is dwindling down...

I see it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted. We were really trying to not have a hectic holiday but life had other plans. There was a sudden death in the family which had me hurriedly getting my Mom to the airport on Christmas Eve. Luckily I was able to get a flight out of our city and she only lives 10 minutes from the airport. It seems that I am not a good clothes packer as I gave her tons of pants to wear, but only a small amount of tops.

So as we only have one day left of 2009, I resolve to do better on my postings. I also plan to eat a bit healthier and to work out on our Wii Fit. I bought the Fit Plus game and it has loads of challenges to do. I also want to plan on being a better blogger friend and to visit and make comments on blogs that I follow.

The new year is bringing a new Magnolia blog to follow. You will find it here called Magnolia Stamp Lovers. It officially starts Monday January 3rd. To help kick off the new blog, one of the DT Viviane is giving away some blog candy. She is offering 100 images! I have these both marked as favorites now and can't wait until next week!
See ya soon:)

Is it too late to be good?

 My son came home from work today and asked me to make a card for his boss who is also my coworker. He has a good sense of humor so I pulled out this unmounted snowman stamp that I hadn’t used yet.

I began by cutting out a shape with my Spellbinders Label 8 die and stamped the image with Memento black ink. I colored it with my copics and then went about looking for a piece of paper that would match the scarf. I know, usually smart people pick the paper out first (head is shaking here). I found this piece of Basic Grey from an old collection called Mistletoe and Pear. The sentiment is by The Cat’s Pajamas and I thought it was very fitting for the naughty little dog. The snowflakes are also Spellbinder dies, a mix of Create a flake 1 and 2. I added just a bit of sparkle using Mermaid stickles on the scarf and hat band and glittering snow on the snow of course.  Now I just hope the guys remembered to purchase the gift card to go inside.

Ciao (I have been watching Under the Tuscan Sun while I typed this!)

 

Butterfly and Angels

 I know it has been awhile since I posted. Sorry, but other things have gotten in the way of my crafting. Today was make it/take it day at Stamp and Deliver. I was demoing the butterfly stamp from a recent post. This card below was my alternate way to use the stamp.

I stamped the image in Versamark ink and embossed with gold powder. After cutting it out, I used a copic marker to color it in. The sentiment is a new one by Just Rite from the Just a Note set. The paper is all from the Basic Grey Lemonade paper pack. As an added touch, I made the flight trail out of alternating pink pearls and green rhinestones.

One of the projects that has kept me busy is a small order of Christmas cards for a lady at work. They are for her relatives and she likes a card that reflects the true meaning of the holiday. I purchased the Rejoice set by Flourishes knowing I would use the angel stamp in the set. As you will see I made the same card in three different color schemes. The first is Burgundy; the patterned paper is from Bo Bunny and I used Memento ink in Rhubarb Stalk.

Next is brown; paper by K and Company ink is Versafine Vintage Sepia.

 

And finally the blue version; paper by Bo Bunny and ink is SU Not Quite Navy.

The sentiment is from the same Flourishes Rejoice set. I used my Nestabilities to cut out the circles. I also went over the angel wings and stars with my Atyou spica pen in clear. If you click on any picture to enlarge it, you will see the sparkle.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to finish my own Christmas cards.

Embossing and a holiday treat holder

 I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. Ours went well even though the turkey was a bit underdone. The microwave helped to cure that problem. I basically relaxed over the weekend and caught up on my reading. If you are a James Patterson fan, I recommend his latest – I Alex Cross. We also decorated the house inside and out for Christmas.

On to the card below. Tomorrow is our monthly card swap at Stamp and Deliver. The theme was to use any type of embossing on our cards.

I went the easy way out and did dry embossing. I used the flourish frame Cuttlebug folder on a white panel. Layered this onto a green panel then a red panel. The finished card is 5 by 6.5 inches. The sentiment on the card is from Bo Bunny. It is actually a rub-on. A few red and green Kaiser pearls were a finishing touch. I have really decided that all my holiday cards are going to be clean and simple. I am not going to stress over them this year.

The next quick little holiday treat is for our co-workers. It is a simple matchbook fold treat holder and inside is a Ghirardelli chocolate square.

The paper is from Basic Grey – one of their older Christmas packs. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on one end. The sentiment is Just Rite from the Merry Little Christmas set. I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. The layered circles are cut from my Nestabilities. If I work assembly line style I should be able to finish them in a few nights. I have about 4 dozen to make and I just might have my DH help this year. Surely he can use a paper cutter….

Reindeer Food and a Christmas Card

I saw this idea on a couple of blogs now and thought I would make up a batch for my nephews in Georgia. I had the pail from Stampendous and it was the perfect size for Reindeer Food. I used a strip of patterned paper that I had in my collection for a while now.

I stamped the image and colored it with my copics then cut it out with my nestabilities. The snowflakes are also a variety of nestabilities. What you can’t see are the cute buttons I glued all around the pail. The saying was printed out on the computer.

The second project I finished today was a simple Christmas card. I saw the layout at Heartprints blog and fell in love. It lets me use my Cuttlebug and ScorPal.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see the details better. I began by cutting out the nesties Label 9 and the ribbon tag. The sentiment is from The Cat’s Pajamas. The image is by Impression Obsession and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. I used the following copic colors: c1, yr07, B0000, BV0000, Spica pens in yellow and clear. I used the swiss dots CB folder on the card base first, then lined it up and scored in 1/4 increments. This really came together fast tonight and I just might look at my images and see what else would fit on that nestie to make this my Christmas card for this year. I know many of you are probably saying….it is almost Thanksgiving and you have not designed your Christmas cards yet? I work much better under pressure. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving week. If you are traveling….safe traveling wishes go out to you.

Happiness Is……

 A coworker is getting married in a few weeks so I thought I better get her card finished soon. It worked out really well that today’s challenge at 365 cards was to color…but alas we could not use markers! My first thought, was oh no but once I pulled out my prisma pencils and started working it wasn’t that bad.

I dug through my floral stamp sets and decided to use this one by Flourishes called Sweet Pea. I inked the image with Versafine Vintage Sepia and stamped just a portion of the large stamp. That image square is just 3.5 by 3.5 inches. I used only two pencils to color with, Olive Green and Pink. I also used a lot of Gamsol and my blending stumps! Once the image was colored, the rest was easy. The cardstock is SU Blush Blossom, ribbon is Champagne satin that I have been hording since my Flourishes weekend last February (the bow easy was used for the bow), a few mini pearls and the sentiment (which is from the sweet pea stamp set).I think it will do just fine for a wedding card, don’t you?

Give Yourself Room to Grow

 A quick little post this morning before work. I checked the challenge for today at 365 cards and saw that it was Simply Put. We could only use one piece of patterned paper, one embellishment and one sentiment.

So with my card base of SU Marigold Morning, a strip of Basic Grey Indian Summer paper edged with a Fiskars border punch, a flower from Prima and a rub on from Marcella for my sentiment my card is done. I hope you have a great Friday and may it be the start of a wonderful weekend for you!

Just Rite Christmas Card

 I was able to work with one of my new Justrite holiday sets last night. I used the Old Fashioned set and choose the stamp with the snowpeople.

I began by stamping the image in Rich cocoa ink and coloring it with my copics. Then I cut out the image with my nestabilities. I sponged a bit of ink around the edge. The background paper is from Bo Bunny and the pink is a scrap of something. Not a very elaborate or hard card to make. I might make a few more of these for my Christmas cards this year.

This weekend I need to write up a diagram of what I have in each cube. I have put my stuff away all nice and neat and now I can’t remember where I put anything. I also need to get my remaining stamps off the wooden blocks. The wood adds alot of weight to my cube boxes!

Purple Butterfly Wishes

 Next month it is my turn to demo at Stamp and Deliver’s Make N Take Saturday. I choose to use the Basic Grey clear stamp set called Dragonfly. No you don’t need glasses, there is not a dragonfly on the card so stop playing I Spy! I picked this gorgeous paper from Harlee Quinnz Designs called – what else – Butterfly Garden. The entire sheet is beautiful, so no matter which section you use, your card will turn out fabulous. 

I inked the stamp in Versamark and sprinkled pearlustre Amethyst embossing powder from Stampendous. You can’t see the shine in the photo, but it is really shimmery IRL. The image is stamped in a soft shade of green Bazzill paper, sorry I don’t know the correct color name. I punched a fancy corner from the same green paper and a scrap of purple Bazzill bling. A strip of purple ribbon, some raindrops and a sentiment finish the card. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession. This was a rather fast card to put together. The longest part was cutting the stamped image out.

I loved working in my newly organized craft area tonight. Everything is neatly put away….I just have to remember where that place is. That will be next weekend’s task…labeling the cubes. Here is a quick shot of the Expedit cube system we got from Ikea. Please excuse the weird light in the middle of the picture. That is my Ott light. I have 24 cubes that store everything (almost everything…my stamps and inks).

Snow in Florida…..Not

This has been a busy weekend for me. We went to Ikea to attempt to find a storage solution for all my crafting supplies. We were successful!

We purchased an Expedit cube system that has 16 cubes in it and another cube that has another 8 cubes and we stacked the two. So with 24 cubes to organize and fill my Sunday was completely gone. I will take a picture during the daylight as it is too dark right now. I started this card Saturday morning but didn’t get very far. Yesterday’s challenge at 365 Cards was to use the word Snow as your inspiration. I decided to make a snow globe or something close :)

I began by using my largest circle nestabilitie. I cut a piece of Christmas paper from the newest DCWV stack and a second circle of just white cardstock. I tore the white to resemble a snowy ground. I used a snowman from Darcie’s that I have had a few years and never inked up until now. I colored him with Copics and cut him out. I spread Glistening Snow Writer by Deco Art on the “globe”. I cut and scored a piece of cardstock for the base and added a snowflake composed of felt and a button. I looked pretty blank and after trying a few items I decided to use two pieces of ribbon that gave the appearance of wrapping the base like a package. I am totally exhausted and heading for bed.  I hope you were able to complete whatever weekend plans you had!

Lady in Red

I absolutely love re-creating this note card. It was one of the first designs I ever made in a card class but I never tire of making it. Today's challenge on 365Cards is to make a card that has a hat on it. This lovely vintage style lady fit the bill perfectly.

To begin, I stamped the image in Versamark and embossed her in gold. I then cut the image out. The background paper of the roses and flowers is some that I have had for years. I am almost out of it so I need to find a few more sheets soon. I carefully trimmed a few flowers to layer the image on. Next, I made a card base that is a bit smaller than A2 size. She looks better on a small note card than a full size card. I trimmed the corners with two different punches, one is called the iron eagle but I don't know the other name sorry. I trimmed a piece of burgandy mulberry paper and feathered the edges with a water pen. After gluing the flowers and stamped image on top of the mulberry paper, I took a gold Krylon pen and splotched (yes that is a word) it over the front. I also trimmed the card edge with the gold pen. For the finishing touch, three buttons were added on her hat.

That's it for now. I need to get to work this morning. I hope you enjoy your Friday :)

Christmas Patchwork Angel

 Today’s post is for the challenge at 365 Cards. We had to put a patch somewhere on our card. I decided to use a patch on this angel by Lockhart Stamps. I know the patch seems a bit big for her dress, but I wanted you to see it and not think it was a defect.

I began by choosing this yummy paper from Bo Bunny called Snowy Serenade Overture. It glitters in real life. I layered this on some Bazzill Bling cardstock. I stamped the image and colored it with copics. The wings were painted with some Pixie Dust Shimmerz. I sponged some Tea Dye distress ink around the image to keep it in tune with the background paper. I added a few Prima poinsettias, greenery from a Martha Stewart punch, Kaiser pearls and ribbon from May Arts. Here is a closer view of the image (if you click on the picture it will enlarge) so you can see the shimmer:

 This one came together pretty easily tonight. Maybe my creative mojo is returning!

Long time no Blog!

 It has been a long time since I have posted anything. If I am being honest, it took a lot to create this card tonight. My last post was right after my son had surgery. He has healed perfectly but still can’t lift extra heavy objects until Thanksgiving. We left to babysit for my nephews in Atlanta over the weekend. The boys were great but I really didn’t look forward to riding in the car for 8 hours. After the long weekend, we came back home and my family promptly got the flu! We didn’t physically go to the doctor, but from what I hear there is no seasonal flu going around right now, we had a mild case of H1N1. We all felt like crap for about a week. Once the crappiness leaves, you still have NO energy and a lasting cough. To add to my ailments, I pulled a muscle in my lower back from coughing!

So when I say it has taken all my energy to sit here and work on a card, it really has. I decided to play catch up at 365 Cards Super sketchy Sunday.

I picked up this new set from The Cat’s Pajamas while I was in Georgia. I thought it would work well with the sketch this week. I began by using papers from My Mind’s Eye. Next I stamped the image and sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cutting them out using my Labels 1 nesties. I colored the image with my copics then distressed the edges with Tea Dye ink. I added a touch of Polar White Flower Soft and a hint of diamond glaze to the candy cane. Here is a closer view of the cute bear -

If you click on the image it will enlarge to give you a closer look. Hopefully my creative itch will beat out my lack of energy and I can create a few more things this week. See ya soon :)

Perfect Paisley

 I was able to work on a quick card just now and luckily today’s challenge at 365 Cards was easy for me. We were to use paisley on our card with as a background or a stamp.

I had the paisley vellum CB’d left over from another project so I grabbed it and placed it over SU Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I attached it with some white brads. The flowers are by Prima, the ribbon is All My Memories and sentiment is by IO. That’s it!

The patient had a good night and slept all the way through. He has completely thawed out and is uncomfortable but nothing he can’t tolerate. He was able to shower and he said the worst part is just going from standing to sitting and vice versa. That stretches your stomach and groin muscles. This will probably be my last post as early tomorrow morning I leave for Atlanta to babysit for my nephews this weekend. I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned and I will see you next week :)

I just washed my hands

I think I heard this more than 100 times today while at the hospital with my son. It is a new rule the hospital has implemented to help fight MRSA. If the staff member who is wanting to treat you doesn't say this, you are not supposed to let them touch you. The mantra began at 6:30 am and continued until he was released just before 1:00 pm.
The hernia repair went very smoothly and was done in an hour. Then I had to wait for him to fully wake up. That took awhile. He is home and has been resting comfortably all afternoon on the couch. The weather was very pleasant today (meaning 76) so I had the windows open. He wanted his comforter on him for warmth and it had to be gray side facing him. OK. I have kept his ice pack going all day so it wouldn't get warm and mushy. I left to go to the store for 1/2 with my husband in charge. I come home and the a/c is now on, set to 74, the ceiling fan is on high in the living room, my son is complaining about the heat wave in the house and demands a cold cloth for his body!
I am like, what happened? Did I mention, the son now has an attitude. I am guessing the numbing solution they poured into his groin is wearing off. Oh joy. Lortabs here we come:)
forgive me for not getting a card done today....if he cooperates I will try one tomorrow.

Tuesday’s Trio for a friend

 Today’s card involves a trio of items for the challenge at 365 cards. You were required to use a pearl, tag and ribbon on your card. I began by grabbing one of my seldom used CB folders, script and embossed a piece of dark brown cardstock.

I rubbed copper metallic paste over the embossing to make it shimmer. Next I stamped a collage stamp by Hero Arts onto a piece of kraft and then a scrap of blush cardstock. I cut out just the heart image from the blush and layered it onto the kraft image. I tore the bottom edge and layered this onto a turquoise scrap and tore that bottom edge. Using a colored pencil, I highlighted the butterfly and the postmark in blue. To go along with using seldom used products of mine, I dug out some copper eyelets and threaded the ribbon through them. I attached the tag, (don’t look for the hello stamp in any store….that’s my handwriting *wink*) a few prima flowers and the required pearl. I took the challenge literally and it said pearl, so I used a rhinestone for the second flower.

Nothing to hard or complex on this and it isn’t bulky so it should be easy to mail to a friend. Gotta get to bed as it is an early day tomorrow. My son is having surgery and we have to be at the hospital by 6:30 am.

Inspired by Fabric

 We have made it home on our unexpected trip to Buffalo, NY. We drove straight home on Saturday and shaved off one hour from our trip up. We would have made it home two hours faster, but we hit a detour in WV due to “Bridge Day”. Apparently it is a big to do with people jumping off a particular bridge located on Rt. 19. I will say that the detour route was even more scenic than Rt. 19 as we kept going around hair pin turns and finding waterfalls around each corner. The fall foliage was in full bloom even on a gray rainy day. We came home to our little dog Zoey looking so lonely. Each time we went outside to grab more bags, she thought we were leaving her again. Our cat Smokey apparently thought my photo cube was his new bed. It was tipped over so the opening was facing outward and I had a ton of gray fur on the white backdrop! If you see any fur in my photos, please just overlook them. I spent quite a bit of time with a lint roller earlier.

On to today’s card. It is Day 233 at 365 cards and the challenge was to use your favorite fabric to inspire a card. I couldn’t use curtains as we don’t have any. We are a mini blind household. I looked at our comforters and they are all a solid color so nothing there. After looking around the house I finally settled on this picture frame:

That lovely family is my sister from three years ago and she will probably freak if she reads this and sees herself. I bought this frame at Pier One ages ago. Please excuse the glare in the bottom right of the glass. Any who..here is the card that I was inspired to create:

 I began with a base of SU chocolate chip and embossed a flower stamp with versamark and Weathered White powder. I punched flowers from SU Riding Hood Red and vellum paper and layered them. A dab of Diamond Glaze and micro beads were used for the centers. The ribbon is also Riding Hood Red taffeta and the sentiment is from Impression Obsession.

That’s all for tonight. Today was extremely long at work as I tried to catch up on a week’s worth. Blackberry’s are a great invention, but they also just keep informing you of what is waiting for you upon your return!

Quick Update from the Chilly North

Good Morning

Just wanted to give a quick update. We are in Buffalo, NY to attend my Mother-in-law's funeral. We drove straight through on Monday, 19 hours total. Today is the memorial service at the funeral home and a mass will be tomorrow. The weather up here is a culture shock from the heat wave in FL. We left 96 degree heat and came to 34 degree cold. They are actually expecting flurries tomorrow and Friday! Why can't the country just have a huge fan and get the weather to meet in the middle somewhere around 60ish.

Sorry, but I didn't bring any stamping supplies with me nor do I have any cards made ahead so I could schedule some new posts. I am not that organized with this blog yet.
Hopefully, we will be home on Sunday and I can work on something before my next venture to Atlanta for a babysitting gig with my nephews.

Friendship Grows…

I was determined to make a card again today. This adorable image came last week in the midst of my heat wave. Why have I suddenly taken a liking to stamps that don’t have a face? Well, technically Magnolias have a face, just not a complete one. This cutie is a relatively new one by Sarah Kay for Stampavie. I ordered a new Christmas image at Stampers Dream and the website told me that people who bought that particular one also bought this gardener. So in my shopping cart she went.

The challenge today at 365 Cards was to use denim. I pulled out my old patterned paper and found this piece. I began by stamping the image on a piece of GinaK paper that was cut with my Small Label nestie. I then stamped the image again on the pp and carefully cut out the overalls and glued it onto the image. The rest of the image was colored with my Copics. I sponged the edges with Tea Dye distress ink. The background papers are from Basic Grey Indian Summer pack. The sentiment is by Stampabilities that is supposed to go with a House Mouse image, but I inked it up into two lines so it would fit my card. The flowers are from Petaloo and are called Wild Roses. I would love to have some of these IRL. A bit of silk ribbon is across the top and it is hard to see in the photo but there is a snippit of pale pink ribbon in the knot.

Tomorrow is our 1st annual Chili Cook Off at work so it will be a long day. I will catch up with you on Friday.

Punchy Bats

 It has been so long since I have been able to work on any card. It started last week. Remember my attempt to play tennis after work? Well, I am actually getting better at that and I no longer feel like crap from heat exhaustion. But the same day, our air conditioner broke. Even though it is October, we are still getting temps close to 90 here in Florida. It took 6 days to get a new a/c installed. We now have a huge Bryant beast in our backyard. But it cooled the house down from 85 to 75 in two hours! So needless to say, with an extremely warm house and not getting too much sleep at night from above mentioned heat, I have not done much of anything.

I checked the Daily Dare blog and saw that A spoonful of Sugar had a new challenge up today. It was to create a Halloween card. Even though I don’t need another one of these, I made the above card. I saw a similar card in a stamping magazine a few weeks ago at Barnes & Noble and sketched some notes. I began by punching the EK Success corner punch on a strip of black cardstock three times, rotating the punch each time. The paper left in the middle ends up looking like a bat! I glued this to a black cardstock base trimming the right edge so the bat strip would fit. I used some scraps of paper by Cosmo Cricket for the left edge and inside card. I cut a circle with my Nestie out of cream cardstock. I sponged some SU More Mustard to make it look like a harvest moon. The witch silhouette was stamped in black along with the bats and sentiment. The stamps are from GinaK. Finally, I spritzed the circle with Jack O'’Lantern Glimmer Mist and the card with Haunted Shadow Glimmer Mist. I tried getting it to shimmer in the picture, but just couldn’t capture it.

Oh well, such is life. I am off to have a piece of pumpkin pie that my son brought home.

Mother Earth

 

Is it a flag for a new country? No, it is my interpretation for the 4 elements of nature. Today’s challenge 365 Cards was tough. We were to divide our card into four equal parts and have them represent earth, air, fire and water.  Please click on the link and check out what the others did. They are fabulous. I went for the basics and choose to display the colors that represent the elements. Things to note on my simple card: the swirls on the four sections all match perfectly together and I remembered to tilt the earth on it’s axis *wink* (If any of you are science majors, please tell me if I tilted the earth on the wrong side.)

I played tennis again after work today and it went much better. I ate a small sandwich before playing and I bought a Sobe life water to drink. We were actually able to volley the ball quite a few times. On the down side, we were scolded about our shoes. Apparently we have running shoes not “tennis” shoes. We left horrible marks in the clay. So this weekend I have to go shopping. Apparently they also make “tennis” clothing that enable you to put a ball in your pocket without stopping the blood flow to your thigh. I hate to go clothes shopping but I will have to make a trip this weekend.

Winter’s Butterflies

 I did it, I did it! I finished all 30 challenges for the month of September on 365 Cards! Today’s card challenge was about white space. We could only add items along the top and left edges of the card and put a little something in the bottom right hand corner.

The stamp on the left I brought home tonight from Stamp and Deliver. It is part of the October stamps for Great Impressions. I colored it with a few copics. The round stamp is a new set from JustRite called A Merry Little Christmas. That was waiting in the mail for me today after work! I stamped that in SU Cool Caribbean ink. I added the strip of blue snowflake ribbon and a couple of buttons along the top. This gives me another holiday card to send out. This is at least 5 count them 5 Christmas/holiday cards finished by September 30th. I never really start making my cards this early. I need to tell my hubby that this blogging and following 365 Cards is really getting me more organized. Do you think he will buy it? Enjoy the rest of your day :)

Autumn blessings

 I will apologize now for my card. I attempted to play tennis this afternoon with a co-worker and I think I developed a mild case of heat exhaustion. Can you have a mild case? Extreme nausea, chills, sweats, light-headed. I am sooo out of shape it isn’t funny.  I have stared at this card for over an hour now and it won’t improve itself. So it is getting posted.

The challenge today at  365 cards is to paper piece a particular template given us by Pam. I used the pumpkin shape but not the face. The papers used are from the Basic Grey Indian Summer pack. The background stamping is from GinaK Whimsical Autumn stamp set. Not much else to explain on this. I am off to bed and I hope I wake up feeling normal again.

Life on the fringe

Today’s challenge at 365 cards required us to use fringe on two sides of our card. I must confess, I had the pear image made for quite a while but just this afternoon finished a card with it.

The image was made by stamping first with versamark then layering embossing powders to color it in. A really hot heat gun helps with this technique. The powders are from The Powder Keg and the technique was taught by Janelle (the owner herself). I stamped a saying on a panel of burgundy cardstock and layered that onto a creamy yellow card base. The scalloped ovals were layered with a foam dot and that saying is by My Sentiments Exactly. The fringe is from a Basic Grey Sugared fiber set. I thought the colors went pretty well.

That’s all for now, I need get dinner ready as I have some swap commitments that need to get finished and sent on their way to Canada.

Super Skating Hedgie Sketch

 It is Sunday so another fabulous sketch was given to us by Pam to follow at 365 Cards. Here is her sketch:

And here is what I was inspired to do:

When I first looked at the sketch and saw the line along the bottom edge, my first thought was to use my new Martha Stewart icicle punch. The card evolved around that. I took a piece of  SU Cool Caribbean and punched the strip of icicles out. I was able to use a piece of paper from my new BG Eskimos Kisses paper pad. The hedgie image is from the Penny Black Holly Day Critters clear set. That was stamped on an extra nestie labels 3 piece. The image was colored with Copics and spica pens. The pink Noel is actually a  snow flake die from Spellbinders Create a Flake 2 set. The ribbon is from my holiday stash and the snowflakes on the ribbon are from Hero Arts. As I laid the pieces in place on the paper it looked nice but sorta plain. I took out my Zig glue pen and outlined the icicles, the nestie label and the snowflake with glue and sprinkled micro-fine glitter over them. That looked much better.

Only three days left to go and I will have completed every challenge for the month of September at 365 Cards! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday :)

Sandy Greetings

 Today’s challenge at 365 Cards was to try a new technique – Sanding. We needed to give the card a distresses look by sanding it. Like many others, I pulled out my Coredinations cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug. I choose to use my Holly folder. After sanding the image, I used the ticket corner punch on the corners. I decided to keep the card simple so I added two prima flowers, a strip of organza ribbon, a few Robins Nest dew drops and the sentiment.

This card didn’t take more than 15 minutes to complete and I am truly grateful. We had a long day traveling out of town to attend a gun show. I have never been to one before and it was an eye opening experience. It was a successful trip as I was able to find a gun that I liked, a 32 Kel-tec semi-automatic.  We traded in one that I didn’t like at all. I was able to buy a second clip, ammo and a small case that fits in my pocket and conceals it nicely all within our budget. The gun is so small that your hand covers the whole thing. Now when I travel out of town alone for work, I will feel a bit more comfortable.

I have tried a different look for the image upload. It is called reflection….what do you think?

Rejoice Challenge Combo

 I have been really trying to complete all the challenges for the month of September at 365 Cards. I needed to complete yesterday’s challenge Day 208 which was a challenge combo. We needed to take one challenge each from June, July and August to use on your card. I choose the following:

Day 119 See a Silhouette

Day 139 Paper Piercing

Day 162 Super sketchy Sunday

For a closer view, you can click on the image to enlarge it.

I have to admit, my first thought was to grab my Spooky Silhouettes stamp set by GinaK but then I stopped myself and said “No more Halloween cards”. It is my quest to make more Christmas cards now so I am not scrambling on Dec 20th to finish them. I didn’t want to look through the June challenges again to pick another one so I kept the silhouette and used this angel stamp by Inkadinkado. I stamped her in Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy on a piece of white cardstock. Next I used a corner template by Ornare to create the piercing. I trimmed the corners with a corner rounder and ran my gold leaf pen along the edge. This was adhered to a dark green card for the base. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of gold cardstock and glued buttons on the edges to keep with the sketch. A third larger button and a piece of lace finished the card. 

In my earlier post tonight , I mentioned the show Monk. Did you watch it? Did you think Natalie would really get decapitated? I knew Mr. Monk would not let that happen. I am off to bed now. Tomorrow we are heading to a gun show.

It’s a Jungle Out There

So are you thinking about African Safaris or the television show Monk? I hate that this is the last season of Monk. I just started watching it late last year! Oh well, my hubby works at the library and he can bring home all the past seasons on DVD for me. Today’s challenge at 365 Cards was to make a card with a jungle theme.

I had purchased these Changito stamps after a class using these cute monkeys. I stamped and colored the image in. I did stamp a leafy branch that is just peeking out of the leafy ribbon. Isn’t that wonderful May Arts ribbon? I have that in a few colors. The brown panel was run through the CB for texture. If you can't see it very well, click on the image for a larger view. I haven’t stamped an inside sentiment yet as I could use this card for a few different occasions. The green base card is made with Bazzill cardstock.

For all you Monk fans, it is Friday night and there is a new episode tonight with a voodoo doll theme.

Tilda wants Peace and Love

 This post is a catch up post. I was not able to finish Monday’s challenge at 365 Cards until tonight. We had to use a color scheme that reminded me of fall. Friends came over that night so I was only able to work on my card for a short time. This is what got completed.

I looked through my paper hoping to find a sheet that incorporated all the colors like the sample showed us. No such luck. But Basic Grey did come to the rescue with the Ambrosia pack. I added some SU Dusty Durango, Marigold Morning and a bit of retired paper. I used my scalloped circle nestie to cut out the border for Tilda to sit in. The ribbon words are from my leftover box and the cool large flower is a new one by Prima. I wish I had some live ones like that. I colored Tilda in with the following copics: E000, E00, E11, E33, E59, R20, Y21, YR14, B93, B95 and B97.

Are you ready to see the finished card?

Please click on the card for a larger image. I think I captured all the required colors. That’s it for tonight. I have been wanting to try a new jam that a friend at work brought back from her vacation. It is called Butler’s Best - Peach Amaretto Pecan. The recipe on the side says to make a sandwich with the jam and cream cheese. Dip sandwich into French toast batter and fry. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

DIY Flutterby blooms

 Today’s card was made to fulfill two challenges. The first is for 365 cards which asked us to create our own patterned paper. Since today is Wednesday, I hopped over to Danni’s blog Flutter by Wednesday which asked us to make a card with a butterfly or fairy on it and include flowers. No twisting my arm to include a butterfly!

For the patterned paper I first choose a background sheet from my new pack of Basic Grey Indian Summer. (I finally got to pick up my new paper!) Next I took a piece of SU Kraft paper and used the Fine Lace background stamp with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. Then I choose a stamp by Inkadinkado from the Fall Season clear set. I inked it with my Kaleidacolor pad - Cappuccino Delight. I randomly stamped it over the fine lace image. I trimmed the corners with an EK Success corner punch. For the butterfly, I took a small piece of Tim Holtz grunge paper and my butterfly CB set. I cut out the image first than ran it through one of the four embossing folders that come in the set. I used a sponge and choose two shades of ink from the ink pad to color it. I popped it up with foam tape and attempted to curl the wings a bit. I added a few Primas to resemble the butterfly’s flight trail.

The card seems a bit dark to me  but that is what I was drawn to create tonight. I didn’t think I was in a dark or gloomy mood. Hopefully tomorrow’s card will look cheerier.

Tuesday Triplets

The challenge today on 365 Cards was to use three items on your card. If you used a flower, you had to use three and so on. I decided I wanted to start making some Christmas cards so I pulled out last year’s paper pack Christmas Magic Collection by Little Yellow Bicycle. The snowflake punch outs were on the first page. It was a sign! 

I punched out three of them and set about getting the right background paper. If you click on the image to enlarge it, you will see that some of the circles are blue, so the blue snowflake really isn’t out of place on this card :) I added a sentiment by Penny Black and even though our sentiment didn’t have to be done three times, it was appropriate to stamp Let it Snow….Let it Snow….Let it Snow. I added three new teardrops from Robin’s Nest and my bow is a triple one made with my Bow Easy. I hand trimmed the front flap of my card to give it that wavy look. No fancy scissors will achieve that wave.

I have got to run back to work for a meeting tonight. Hopefully it won’t last too long as I still have to work on yesterday’s color combo card.

Life holds many blessings

I have finally finished the demo card for next month’s make and takes at Stamp and Deliver. I really was struggling with this for some reason.  

I had the sentiment to use and the border folder but didn’t know what else to do. After placing both on many different patterned papers, I looked at a  leftover scrap and it clicked. I used my nesties Label 4 to layer the image. The border embossing is done directly on the card front. The printed paper butts right up to the edge (or rather where the edge would be). Since the paper had streaks of color in the corner I was lucky enough to find these button by Tres Jolie that also had the color streaks on them, how cool was that! They looked naked just sitting there so I tied a bit of hemp in them.

So what do you think? You can click on the image for a larger view. In other news, I recently discovered that I had over 12,300 views to my blog! I was blown away by the number. Little ole me who is not on a design team or widely known on SCS. I have only been blogging for 6 months and never in my wildest dreams thought my counter would get that high. At this rate I will hit 15,000 before Christmas I imagine. When I hit 15,000 I will have some super fantastic blog candy up for grabs. Not sure what yet, but some stamp sets and neat embellishments for sure. So if you want a chance to win this, please keep coming back for a visit and watch for the candy to be announced.

A Haunting Sketch

Today is Sunday so I couldn’t wait to see what sketch Pam created at 365 cards.  Here is what she gave us to work with:

 

And here is what I did with it:

I looked at the circles in the top left of the sketch and new I wanted to use my new paper from Bo Bunny for those. I compiled the rest of the card from there. MFT Fright Night stamp set was used for the focal image, sentiment and spider. I used my SU 1 1/4 circle punch, the bats are from my Martha Stewart punch and the candies are buttons from Dress it up Happy Haunting collection. SU Modern Label punch was used for the sentiment. Here are the copics I used to color in the image:

 I think this card turned out rather cute and will be perfect to send to my youngest nephew for Halloween. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I am off to eat some lunch then attempt my demo card.

They’re After Me Lucky Charms

 How sad is it that I had a bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast today while I was reading that the daily challenge at 365 Cards was to use a lucky charm on your card? I have a smidge of Irish heritage in me, so I went with the clover (although now that I look at the stamp, it isn’t a 4 leaf one :(  and a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

The stamps are from Studio G. I used my nesties to cut out the circles for layering. I randomly stamped the clover on the background. I used my Krylon gold leaf pen to outline the card. A scrap of two toned green ribbon was my finishing touch.

Tomorrow is Sunday, which means Pam will come up with another super sketch for us to follow. I also have got to complete my demo card for next month’s Make and Take at Stamp and Deliver. I have the sentiment and the CB embossing border already picked out for me. Getting them to work together hasn’t happened yet for me.

You look Mahvalous!

 Yesterday was Day 202 at 365 cards. The challenge was called Once Upon a Time. We were to base our card on a favorite fairy tale. I have to honestly say that I don’t have a favorite. So while at work I Googled fairy tales. There are a lot that I had never heard of before. But I came across one, The Ugly Duckling, that intrigued me. I switched to a search of images and found this one that I fell in love with.

I layered the image on a scrap of SU Orchid Opulence and a scrap of white. It is hard to tell from the picture, but I used a gold Atyou Spica pen around the mirror so it would shimmer. The background paper I have had for a while. A local stamp store was going out of business a year of so ago and they had this line of marbleized paper. I bought a sheet in every color they had thinking it was the greatest thing. Well, I haven’t found many times to use them but this card seemed to work ok. The sentiment is in the font of “Cheri”. I added the heart by Rain Dots and the flower gem by Hero Arts.

……And they lived happily ever after.

One Two Buckle My Shoe

 Today the challenge at 365 Cards was to use a shoe on your card. I looked through my stamps and the only true shoe stamp I have I used just recently from Ginak. I know that I could have googled images but there were so many to choose from. I settled on this stamp by Paperbag Studios. I hope it is okay that I have more than shoes on my card. They looked funny if I cut off the pants. 

I first stamped the image in brown then again in blue ink. I cut the pants out and used foam tape to pop them up for dimension. I used a script stamp with brown ink for the lower half of the card. The word adventure is an unmounted stamp and I used screw brads to keep the feel of a masculine card.

Very easy card to put together. I should make a few more to have on hand.

Three in one Tilda

I have been wanting to color one of my many RAK images of Tilda. Today I looked at a few challenge blogs that I follow and I was able to make this card and complete three challenges. To begin, 365 Cards asked us to create a card with what’s inside that counts. The front should enable you to know that Tilda is missing her friend. See, she is sitting all by herself on the wonderfully colored bench. Be kind, it was first time coloring wood. The second challenge using sparkle for Flutter by Wednesday #75. I used Stickles on her dress and hair bows. I also painted her wings and the flowers with Pixie Dust Shimmerz.

The third and final challenge was for Just Magnolia Week 22. We needed to use embossing on our card. To begin with I colored the bench and Tilda with copics. I cut out Tilda and placed her on the bench. I then set out to find some patterned paper and settled on this piece of SU from last year’s Holiday mini. I embossed the paper with my CB Moroccan Screen folder. I cut out the bench using my Labels 5 nesties and sponged SU Baja Breeze ink. It looked naked without the ink. I added a button with a cool heart imprinted on it (click the picture to make it bigger and you will see it), new primas I purchased this past weekend and Robin’s Nest teardrops. Get it , I told you Tilda was sad as she is missing her friend.

Here is the sentiment inside the card. It is from Hampton Art.

Here is a close-up of Tilda so you can try to see her sparkle.  That’s all for tonight, it is after 11, the Leno show is over and I need to get to bed.