Angels Among Us

I got a chance to stamp a little bit last night and today, in bits and pieces!  I got some new DP from K & Co with some Christmas money, and I was itching to make a card with it:

Unfortunately, I am in need of several get-well cards, so this one will start me out!  It uses a neglected Inque Boutique set called Stitch Fun (I just found out that Inque Boutique is not available where I used to purchase it, so not sure if it is still available at all!) along with PTI's Paper Tray. The image is stamped on Shimmery White in Stazon and watercolored; the border is stamped in Garden Green.  I added a scalloped oval around the image and sponged and pierced it.  It is the reverse side of the plaid paper---it is so hard to decide which side to use!  I added some Mellow Moss ribbon and it was done!  Oh, I added a few Stickles to the center of the design as well.

My next card, which just wouldn't cooperate, is from a very old SU set called Country Angel.  This ended up being totally different than what I had planned, and I am really not that happy with it, but it's done & that's that:

I did not plan on cutting out my little angel; the sentiment is not centered over her, and I just don't like the heart at the bottom.  I am thrilled that I got to use a new Crafty Secrets set (that I won!!!) called Home Sweet Home.  That is where the sentiment and the little scroll are from.  I won some other goodies that I am sure you'll be seeing soon!  The paper is from BG's Urban Prairie, as is the brad.  My angel is watercolored, and her wings are twinkled with Twinkling H20's.  I paper pieced the bird & nest, and her wings are popped up on dimensionals.  Anyway, the reason I chose an angel card is that I shared on someone's blog (can't remember who!) a story about my daughter and her Willow Tree angel collection.  My friend Elaine wanted to know the story too, so here it is! 

You may remember I posted that my daughter Dana lost the house she was renting with her boyfriend to a fire a few months ago.  They were able to salvage a few things, and her boyfriend brought her the Willow Tree angels she had collected, and said, "Honey, I'm really sorry.  I tried to save your angels, but the wings burned off.  There is just wire left."  Dana started to laugh and said, "That's okay, honey.  They're supposed to be that way!"  What a wonderful thing, to be able to laugh in the midst of a terrible loss.  As an update, the house has been rebuilt and they are moving in this week!  It is much nicer than it was before, so that is a blessing!

Well my post is way too long, so if you want any recipes, let me know!  Have a WONDERFUL new year--stay happy and healthy and don't drink and drive!

A Cute Little Snowman

I don't have anything new to share today, but I wanted to share with you a cute Christmas card I got from my bloggin' buddy, Barb, at Paper Pursuits.  I got LOTS of wonderful cards from LOTS of wonderful stampers, but I wanted to share this one:

because Barb will be joining the Color Throwdown Team in January!  Woo hoo!!!  This little baby has so many details, I just love to sit & look at it.....lots of shimmery sparkle all around the edges, great coloring, cute ribbon detail, scallops & piercing.....just a wonder to behold!  Anyway, look for her on January 7, and meanwhile, check out her blog for more great creations!

Mass Producing

I needed some quick cards in a hurry, so I did some mass producing today. The NMBS blog, to which I have not posted anything for a long time, had a challenge to made thank you cards with a monogram. After I made these:

I realized I was using a retired alphabet set. Oh well!! I used some of the green from Holiday Treasures, and matched each of the ink colors with a scalloped mat and grosgrain ribbon trim. The sentiment is from Fresh Cuts.

• Stamps: Letterpress Alphabet, Fresh Cuts
• Paper: WW, Holiday Treasures
• Ink: Apricot Appeal, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Stazon Black
• Acc: Grosgrain Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Nesties, Dimensionals

I also needed some sympathy cards. As I was looking through my non-SU DP, I came across my BG Stella Ruby. The designs are so strong & vivid, yet with muted colors, that I let the floral pattern be the main image and just added a small sentiment and felt flower; the piece I cut off, I added on the inside of the card along with the sentiment:

My photography just does not capture the beauty and deep colors of these papers!

Here's how the inside looks with the scrap adhered. Just adds a little extra touch.

Thanks for visiting today!

• Stamps: Here for You, Verve; God's Blessings
• Paper: Old Olive, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Stella Ruby by BG
• Ink: Chocolate Chip
• Acc: Felt Fusion Too Flowers, Nesties, Rich Regal brads, Dimensionals

Back to Normal?

What is normal, anyway?  Are you back to normal at your household?  We are not at mine, but I am carving out some stamping time before I go do all the things I need to do today!  I was perusing Jami's blog, Stamp Happy with Sgt Stamper and saw a challenge on the 2RedBananas blog, so I thought I'd go for it.  I needed a special birthday card (although I should be stamping thank you and get well cards!) and my favorite "go-to" stamp set is Best Wishes & More, as if you didn't know that already! 

It's a pretty simple card--I haven't stamped in a while, so I had to ease back in gradually!  LOL!  This roughly uses Layout #1 from Clean & Simple Stamping.  The center panel uses Bella Rose DP; the centers of the flowers are covered with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The background DP is Urban Prairie from Basic Grey!  Thanks for visiting---I may be back again with some other cards today, we'll see how it goes!

• Stamps:  Best Wishes & More
• Paper:  WW, BG Urban Prairie, Basic Black, Bella Rose
• Ink:  Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Cameo Coral, Regal Rose, Stazon Black
• Acc:  Glitter, Glue

Stamp Simply #67

Happy Day after Christmas!  I hope & pray that everyone had a safe, happy, healthy Christmas!  Our celebrations continue today and tomorrow as more family arrives, and we do some traveling ourselves to visit.  So I don't know how much stamping you'll see from me in the next few days! 

But today is Friday, and that means the Stamp Simply Challenge from Sharon at No Time To Stamp?. Today's challenge is to use something new you received for Christmas!  Maybe it was a new tool, paper, stamps, whatever, incorporate it into your creation and share it with us!  The keyword  is ssnotime67.  You can play this challenge, then upload your project to your blog or an online gallery, and be sure to link it to Sharon's blog so we can all see it!  And don't forget to tell us what new item you're using!

My new item on this card is some Basic Grey paper I got--which I just love!! Urban Prairie has some of the prettiest patterns in the nicest colors--I think I am going to be going through this pad quickly!  I just matted the two panels on cardstock for some extra punch, and then adhered my glittery heart.  I stamped it with Versamark, then sprinkled it with Heat & Stick powder, heating it only until it just turned glossy.  Then I sprinkled on some MS glitter and reheated it just for a second to set.  My sentiment was punched out with the Word Window punch and I added a little matching bling, and I am on my way to making my Valentine cards!

Check out what the other Stamp Simply girls have done (their blogs will be updated periodically, so check back if you don't see the latest creation!): Julie, Janine, Jennifer, Tammy, Dee, Becky, and AJ.  And remember, you can see everyone's creations by checking back to Sharon's blog!  Have fun!

• Stamps:  Best Wishes & More, Essential Sentiments, MFT
• Paper:  WW, Basic Black, Regal Rose, Basic Grey Urban Prairie
• Ink:  Palette Noir, Versamark
• Acc:  Heat & Stick Powder, Heat Tool, MS Glitter, Word Window Punch, Rhinestone, Dimensionals

Happy Christmas Eve

Today we awoke to a coating of ice on everything, but the temps are going up, rain will be arriving and it will be a messy day of delivering flowers!  But until then, I snuck into my craft room and dashed out this cute bread box I had been hankering to make ever since I saw it on Create With Me (Julia)'s blog.  You can see the original here at Technostamper.  Oh my goodness, how fun & easy these are.  I didn't stamp a thing, used all SU products--this is for my dad, so I am sure he'll give me my snowflakes back!

Mine is bare-bones basic, but you could gussy it up in lots of ways!

I also made a quick gift card holder from some more Basic Grey Figgy paper:

 

The ribbon slides behind the HPH frame; sentiments from Flourishes & PTI were used, along with MS snowflake & edge punches!  The tricky part of this card was to make sure the ornaments were headed in the right direction on the DP!


Enjoy your holiday and blessings to all!

Sorry.....

I have been MIA! I apologize for the lack of posting, but I am a little under the weather with a nasty sore throat, plus I am working this week at my cousin's floral shop, in & out of the cold! I hope to have something stamped tonight or tomorrow. I know everybody is busy with last-minute preparations! Have a blessed day!

Quick, Easy Gift Packaging

I had a free morning to play around and make some quick food packaging. None of these are exceptionally beautiful or unique--just some real basic easy ways to decorate your holiday goodies. I do want to try making some little boxes for my mini breads like Julia has here, but that will have to wait until tomorrow!

My husband likes to take treats to coworkers for Christmas; these are guys that will rip into anything he brings, regardless of the packaging, but I still wanted it to look a little bit special! He wanted them to be "surprised" by what was in the bag, so he didn't want cello, he wanted BROWN. So I took some DP from a huge Christmas slab I had, added some stamped embellishments from Paper Trey's Holiday Treats and tied the top with some curling ribbon--it's all going to get tossed anyway!:

He gives peppermint bark to the girls in the office:

I added some glittered snowflakes just to make them a little extra special. I have so much fun using Martha Stewart's glitter! The images are from CHF's Vintage Winter Signage; sentiments are from the same PTI set as above, and the snowflake punch is also MS. By the way, the CUTE DP I used on these bags is part of a free download from sweet Becky Oehlers! You can find it on her blog, Hemidemisemiquaver Design! Thanks, Becky!

This last item was just something I was playing around with, having some fun & experimenting with stamps & diecuts:

This is a chopped date cannister from the grocery store; I will be putting some cookies in it for a sweet Scottish lady from my church. I wanted to play with my new JustRite Christmas Ensemble for the top:

This was stamped in Ballet Blue and Old Olive. I have tons of this double-sided satin ribbon in Brilliant Blue, so I used that around the middle for my tag, and added some snowflakes I die-cut with SU's new dies:

Of course, I had to keep playing around with my glitter, so the snowflake on the left uses MS glitter; the one of the right uses SU's Dazzling Diamonds, both on Ballet Blue cs. I realize the colors are a little odd for Christmas, but I sometimes like to do non-traditional! The tag is from Punch Pals, punched with both tag punches.

Thanks for visiting--the rest of the day I am volunteering at a local food bank for their annual Christmas dinner--I get to cut & serve desserts---right up my alley!

• Stamps: Holiday Treats, PTI; Christmas Ensemble, JustRite; Punch Pals, SU
• Paper: Provo Christmas Slab, Ballet Blue, WW, Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Always Artichoke
• Ink: Ballet Blue, Old Olive, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze
• Acc: Punches, Ribbon, Snowflake Dies, Nesties, DD & MS glitter, Elmer's Spray Adhesive Bond, Heat Tool

Quick Card Challenge

Well, it's Friday and Sharon at No Time to Stamp? has another challenge for everyone!  As Christmas is literally just around the corner, any cards we make at this point need to be quick - really quick -- BEYOND QUICK!!! And that's what today's challenge is.  Create a Christmas card (or card for other event if you are done with Christmas cards) that are SO SIMPLE you could assume that a creative stamper CASING your card COULD MAKE 6 of them in 30 minutes or less -- now that HAS to be a simple card!!!!  No other rules.  You can link your creation by leaving a comment on Sharon's post, or posting it to any online gallery--use the keyword "ssnotime66" .

I needed some quick cards for my downline and my time was running out!  I saw a cute card recently on Clean & Simple Stamping and she credited it to Becky Oehlers!!!  So off I went and made 13 cards in about an hour!  Not bad!!

I cut circles from the Ski Slope DP with my Nesties; Warm Words' "sparkle" was stamped in Encore silver and the ornament top was made with SU's Brushed Silver cardstock punched with the Scallop Edge punch.  I cut the punched pieces between the scallops to make the top shape, then added a silver "string" and a little sparkle (to cover up an "oops"!) with a Zig Painty!  Quick and easy!  I punched some small stars from my scraps to accent the inside, as you can see above!  I hope this inspires you to make some quick cards--be sure to post them to Sharon's blog so we can all enjoy them!

• Stamps:  Warm Words, Best Yet
• Paper:  WW, Ski Slope DP
• Ink:  Baja Breeze, Silver Encore
• Acc:  Zig Painty, Nesties, Star Punch, Scallop Edge Punch

Can You Stand.....

one more Christmas card?  I needed another card -- so used a set I hadn't used much this year, Season of Joy:

I used non-traditional paper and colors, but I think the recipient will like it!

• Stamps:  Season of Joy
• Paper:  Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, Manchester DP
• Ink:  Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze
• Acc:  3/4" Punch, Taffeta Ribbon, Glitter, Dimensionals

And how about a "green" card?  We received a flyer in the mail and the envelope had this cute snow scene, so I recycled it into a card I'll be using as a thank you. 

The image from Whippersnapper's Snowman for Peace was stamped once on the flyer, then again on Whisper White, colored & cut out.  For the life of me, I have no idea why I colored his hat RED; a purple one would have matched much better!  Oh well!  Sentiment is from Winter Schminter, and the star is from Verve's Winter Wonder.  Some Dazzling Diamonds glitter made my snow scene shine & sparkle!

• Stamps:  Snowman for Peace, Winter Schminter, Whippersnapper; Winter Wonder, Verve
• Paper:  Whisper White, flyer from the mail
• Ink:  Stazon Black, Riding Hood Red, Brocade Blue, White Craft
• Acc:  Blender Pens, DD Glitter, Only Orange marker, White EP, Heat Tool

Make sure you stop back on Friday as I will be Sharon Johnson's Featured Stamper for her Stamp Simply Challenge on No Time to Stamp?!!!

32 Christmas Trees

So many bloggers are showing their beautiful Christmas trees in their beautifully decorated houses.....well, you're not going to see that here! I mean, look at that crooked little tree--it looks like it is going to fall over! So if you want to see some neat trees, my friend Barb at Paper Pursuits, has 32 Christmas trees in her house---can you imagine? 32 trees!!! She gave me permission to post her link on my blog so you can enjoy all of them without leaving your seat! So have a look:
Barb's Christmas Trees
I don't have anything to post today as I have been busy shopping and baking--maybe tomorrow!!!

A Quick Gift!

I needed a few quick gifts for the ladies in my Bible study...we are always complaining that we can't remember our verses, or struggle remembering what we want to pray about during prayer time. I know a lot of people use journals, but I saw these spiral-bound index cards at Walmart and I liked the size of them as well as the price!

I started by removing the spiral with the pliers from my SU Tool Kit.

When it was removed all the way, I measured the front & back cardboard backings and covered them with some DP.

I used Elmer's Craft Bond sprayed onto the back of the DP as well as the cardboard backing for a really good adhesive coverage.

I used my 1/8" hole punch to punch holes in the top of the backing, just using the existing holes as templates.

Then I put a rubber band around the front & back cardboard backings, with the cards in the middle to hold them all together, and fed my spiral back through again.

I added some simple embellishments by using my JustRite stamper:

This side is for prayers; flip it over and Bible verses can be written on the reverse side of the cards:

I have already started using mine! Here are the ones I made for my ladies:

Thanks for visiting me today! Hope your holiday plans are progressing smoothly! I have shopping to do, so I am off & running!

• Stamps: Special Occasions Font, JustRite
• Paper: WW, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Wassail, BG; Autumn Vine, Bella Rose, Urban Garden, SU
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy, Bravo Burgundy
• Acc: Nesties, Ribbon, Sponge Daubers, Tool Kit

Busy Weekend

I didn't have much time to stamp this weekend as it was our church's Live Nativity. We have done this for about 15 years and we draw almost 1000 people during the three nights. The church is in a rural area and still has old wooden carriage sheds; these make a perfect backdrop for the stable setting. Here are a few pictures (click on them for a closer view):

 

 

Villagers in the village

 

 

 

 

Roman centurian and his horse

 

 

 

 

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger

 

 

Shepherds in the stable...look closely and you can see the chickens roosting, just above the donkey!

Angels---these little girls have the coldest job!!! There are also sheep in the foreground (hard to see)

 

 

My nephew, the shepherd!

 

 

The Three Wise Men--my niece is Mary, and I am not quite sure what Joseph is chowing down on!!!

Of course, I stayed inside and made hot chocolate with my team and served lots & lots of cookies! Thanks for allowing me to share this with you!

 

 

 

 

I did stamp a couple cards, CASEing a sweet simple card from Mary Fish, shown here. She is an incredibly creative demonstrator and I think you would enjoy visiting her blog!

I used a different ribbon and DP instead of CBing the background, but I love this layout! TFL!

• Stamps: All Holidays
• Paper: WW, Real Red, Ski Slope
• Ink: Real Red
• Acc: Baja Breeze & Real Red Ribbon, Felt Snowflakes, Silver Brads,