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.