Snowflake Delight

Just a quick post today....such a busy time of the year!  Today's Clean & Simple challenge at SCS is an autumn makeover....take a card and revamp it into a CAS card or just make it better.  After perusing my own gallery at SCS, I see where I use a lot of similar styles....I guess you might say I was boring!  I found this card to remake (one of my favs), although I don't know that it's an AUTUMN card (!!) but I used my new Waltzingmouse Stamps to make a thank you:

This uses the snowflake from Claire's Sewing Box Christmas set, embossed in white on some Golly by Jolly paper; the strip is also some GbJ paper as well.  I used a big white SU brad and mounted the whole shebang on some white CB'd cardstock, as you can see.  Real Red and Sage Shadow inks were used!  Thanks for visiting today and God bless!

Color Q Challenge #8

I found a new fun color challenge site called Color Q, hosted by a long-time Color Throwdown participant, Arielle.  She is quite a creative stamper and these were such fun colors, I just had to play:

I had some Basic Grey paper, but I wanted this to be all-SU as I needed another customer thank you card.  I had to resort to mostly cardstock, as I could not find ANY DP in my stash that matched these colors!  I think I forgot to look in my Patterns Hostess pack---oh well!  I had fun making this and I hope you can get the effect, as it was a little difficult to photograph:

I cut a window in my card with a square Nestability, then another one in a Bravo Burgundy scalloped square.  I mounted some SU Snowflake--printed acetate beneath the window and made a little scene with the snowmen from The More the Merrier inside.  The scalloped topper is made using Old Olive, Always Artichoke and Bashful Blue, and all the snowflakes on the front are stamped in Craft White.  I used my SAMJ to reposition the sentiment and after stamping in Bravo Burgundy, punched it with a small oval punch.   I used the squares that were punched out for my inside:

 

 

Snowflakes used were from Christmas Punch and Short and Sweet, as is the sentiment on the inside.  The snowmen were colored with ink and blender pens!

 

 

 

 

This also uses the Mojo Monday #114 sketch--I haven't played one of those in AGES!!!  Here it is:

Thanks for visiting me today!

B&W Thank You

Stamping 411 had their Saturday Sketch Challenge 127, and I used it to make a thank you card for a special friend and customer! I chose the striking black & white DP that SU has in their mini catalog, paired with some Melon Mambo for an eye-catching combo. And here's the card:

Here is the sketch; I used Teeny Tiny Wishes and Friends 24-7 for my images, along with some punches and Melon Mambo ribbons! Hope she likes it!

Three Easy Pieces

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  My sister-in-law is an excellent cook, so we all had our fill of turkey and stuffing!

 

This week's Limited Supply Challenge at SCS is to make several cards using the same elements, different layouts.  The Pals Paper Arts Challenge is to make a "simple" card with a limited number of layers.  I had lots of play time today but just really couldn't make anything work the way I wanted it to, but I will add these to my card stash as I am sure they will be put to good use anyway.  Sorry for the poor photos; I hope your computer shows these colors better than mine does.

I had several pieces of Real Red left from a large project, so I used these as my starting point; stamped or wheeled each one with a different background (difficult to see here).  I used the Soft Holly Wheel, Baroque Borders wheel and Medallion background stamps; the snowflake is from Patterned Pines and each one is mounted on a Handsome Hunter nestie.  Once I got my basic idea, the layouts were simple & easy.  Each snowflake also has a little sparkly disc in its center; I have NO idea where these came from!!!  But they look cool!!   Here's a pic of each card:

Any questions, just shoot me an email!  TFL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

However you are spending your day, whether it be with friends, family or volunteering somewhere, I wish you all abundant blessings -- let us not forget from whom those blessings flow!  Our precious Lord and Saviour!  I am thankful for many things, as we all are, but especially thankful for the many friends I have made while stamping and blogging.  Here are a few cards I received this Thanksgiving season:

This is from Carol at Our Little Inspirations...the detail on this beauty is amazing!

And from my fellow stamper friend, Penny....great coloring on this wonderful PTI basket!

And this beauty from Beth---she has a real eye for layouts, color and choosing just the right image and sentiments....and she is making me WANT this stamp set!  And here's the inside:

And finally, another beautiful creation from Kristin....these colors are so yummy:

I also got this award from sweet Rose ( and Tammy) so I thought today would be a good day to participate.....I am passing it along to anyone and everyone, so if you want to play, feel free!

 

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Reddish brown, thanks to Clairol!
3. Your mother? Gone
4. Your father? 80 years old today
5. Your favorite food? Ice cream
6. Your dream last night? Can't remember
7. Your favorite drink? My iced tea
8. Your dream/goal? Heaven
9. What room are you in? DH's office
10. Your hobby? Stamping
11. Your fear? Getting robbed while in a bank
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Right here where I am
13. Where were you last night? Home stamping
14. Something that you aren't? Skinny
15. Muffins? Yum
16. Wish list item? New watch
17. Where did you grow up? Pennsylvania
18. Last thing you did? Made a birthday cake for my dad
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? On
21. Your Pets? Cat
22. Friends? Lots
23. Your life? Happy
24. Your mood? Balanced
25. Missing Someone? My mom
26. Vehicle? In the driveway
27. Something your not wearing? Sweater--and I am cold
28. Your favorite store? Walmart!!!
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Sunday
32. Your best friend? John
33. One place that I go to over and over? Grocery store
34. Facebook? Yes
35. Favorite place to eat? Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  God bless you!

Color Throwdown Coffee Break

Well, every once in a while, my Color Throwdown Challenge and my Diva Coffee Break Designs Challenge coincide so that I can COMBINE them!  Woohoo, a wonderful thing this week, since I am busy like everyone else!  Barbara has chosen some lovely colors to remind us that it is still fall!

And the Diva sketch, which works perfectly with these colors,  looks like this:

We would love to have you play along too!  Just post your creation, using the exact blog address of your post, to Mr Linky on the CTD blog.  Kindly linking back to the CTD ensures that your creation will qualify for the Featured Stamper position!  Use similar colors if you don't have the exact ones shown here. 

I needed a sympathy card, so I turned the sketch on its side:

My Old Olive panel was stamped with Tres Chic; the Dusty Durango panel stamped with Medallion, and the floral silhouette from Of The Earth was stamped on Sahara Sand with Versamark and embossed with Black Detail DP.  I also stamped Sanded on it as well for an additional vintage look.  The Elegant Eggplant panels are embossed with the Finial Press embossing folder.  Sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Everything is sponged for depth; I hope it brings some comfort to my friend!

Be sure to check out the CTD blog and the Diva blog!  Each one has wonderful creations from the designers for you to enjoy!!! 

 

Wonderful Friend

My last card for today is one I finally completed for the JUGS Color Challenge #8, and the Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch #126:

I had an embossed heart from Always laying on my desk (I am in clean-up mode) from a Diva challenge where I used the wrong color, so I thought I would incorporate it into my card:

An interesting sketch; I struggled a little with it and the colors, although these are some of my favorites!!  The heart was stamped in Bashful Blue craft ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder. I used Bashful Blue ink and an aquapainter to wash some color over the embossing for shadowing & depth.   Papers are from the Hostess Patterns III pack; you may be able to see the floral pattern from Boho Backgrounds stamped on the Bashful Blue panel at the bottom.  I was asked in an earlier post what white ink I use, but there was no email address to which I could reply; I almost always use SU's Craft White ink, which is what I used here and on my Top Note snowman's snowflakes!  The sentiment is also from Boho Backgrounds, it is not a set I use very often, but I should!  The three little flowers have some non-SU bling added to the centers.

Thanks for visiting today, I am so glad you did! 

Just Foolin' Around

My Curves manager had a little "craft show" at her facility yesterday, so I took some cards and did pretty well, for an impromptu event!  I also took along some new Waltzingmouse sets that I won at Stampin' Around Philly and played around with them a little bit.  My supplies were limited, and I got some little fuzzies on Mr Snowman here, but I was able to redeem him a bit and made him into a quick little card once I got home, using some bits & pieces I had laying on my desk:

 

I didn't glitter him up, but I did use some little tiny crystals I also won at SAP, and added them to the little snowflakes that I stamped on a RAK panel that I received from Carol!  Thanks again, Carol!  Unfortunately, I cannot link back to Claire's Waltzingmouse site, but if you have trouble locating it, just shoot me an email.

Here's another, using the holly image, a scrap piece of Real Red, and some Jolly by Golly DP:

Again, these were done with limited supplies & colors, but I really had fun with this set and look forward to playing with my others!  Stop back tomorrow for some CTD and DIVA fun!!!

One Fast Turkey

The CAS challenge at SCS today was to do sponging.....one of my favorite "vintaging" techniques!  Yippee!!  I needed a quick T-day card for a special someone, so I printed out a digi image from what has to be one of the most generous artists, Cathe Holden.  Thanks to Dana and Elise for their shouts of praise for her!  I quick printed it out, used a Nestie to cut it out, sponged it and mounted it on some new BG paper, Nook & Pantry.  Stamped the sentiment, added a ribbon, sponged around the edges of the DP and it was on its way!  Thanks for visiting today---I am back to a little craft show my local Curves is having, and I am having a good time!

Casing Old Favorites

I had a SU party today and wanted to make these to show the gals.....they both use the Top Note die and I am sure you've seen them around, but it's always fun to see them again!  Here is the Top Note box from the SCS tutorial by Angie Tieman found here; I used almost everything the same as she did (why reinvent the wheel?:

And here is Mr Snowman:

Doesn't he just make you want to smile?  I used a Button die for his eyes and a holly embellishment from SU's Christmas Jingle set.....a little snowy glitter would have looked good here, but I was in a hurry!  Thanks for looking---I am too tired to stamp anything today!!  Maybe tomorrow!  Have a great weekend!

A Pity Party

I don't even feel like posting today....ever have one of those days (weeks)?  My computer is wonky; I slept on my glasses and broke them (you know what NEW ones cost); I went out to breakfast yesterday with some friends, came home and got immediately got sick; and today my Pumpkin pooped on the carpet RIGHT NEXT TO THE LITTER BOX.  What's up with that?  Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I'll show you my little post.  First up is the PPA17 Challenge.  I loved Ann Schach's submission here.  And I saw another cute card somewhere in blogland yesterday that gave me an idea (can't find it now---didn't write it down).  But when I tried to put them together, I failed.  So while this is okay, it is not what I started out with---another pity party.  Here's the sketch challenge:

And here's the card:

The ribbon looks saggy here---but it is not really; and there is a nice little line of sparkle around each square that is not apparent here.  This is a nice, subtle, not-in-your-face card, but not what I was really going for.  So I'll try again another time.  I did have some fun with some digi vintage postcard  images I had purchased a long time ago off eBay, but since I didn't knew how to isolate a single image from the sheet, I never did a thing with them.  While at SAPhilly, my wonderful gifted friend Kristin showed me how to crop those images---oh happy day!!!  I played around with them and although this was my first attempt and it was done very quickly-my prototype, if you will--I will be making some more of these vintage postcard ornaments.  They are really easy and I CASEd this idea from another stamper---again, I didn't write it down, but I know she did Halloween images--maybe someone can tell me.  Anyway, here is my first attempt:

 

 

It looks so much sweeter IRL!  Remember, these are supposed to be vintage---I coated it with a nice sparkly MS snow glitter and mounted it on a copper nestie, then glued on some tinsel.  Does anyone know if they actually make & sell vintage tinsel? 

 

Here is a closeup:

 

And my dear sweet friend Carol also sent me some stamped images of Christmas words, so I made another one of the little images and mounted it on a card:

I feel so much better now....have a wonderful weekend!

Serenity Now

Whew, I am running around like a crazy woman today, so I think I need to take a deep breath and quote that line from Seinfeld....."serenity now"...!  LOL!  I haven't had time to stamp yet today, so I am just showing you a couple quick photos of the cards we did for my last Christmas Card Stamp Camp.  Again, I always make these cards kind of simple so that the brains aren't drained too much!

Alas, the card on the left here looks like it has a black panel, but it is really Handsome Hunter!!

Just a hint for using the Patterned Pines stamp set, shown on the right card:  I cut the trees apart into three separate stamps; pulled off the original foam backing and remounted them on EZMount.  Now I can use them on an acrylic block and get a lot more use from them!  Not rocket science, but I used to be afraid to cut up my stamps and do something different!  This way, I could position one tree pointing up and one pointing down on the block--they "nested" together ---and stamp them on one piece of (smaller) cardstock.    Then my customers just cut them out and layered them on the Bravo Burgundy.  I really like this color combo, too!

Well, off to my chores and hopefully some stamping later on!  Thanks for visiting today!

Color Throwdown Challenge #69

Cathy is our hostess with the mostest this week, and I couldn't wait to play with these wonderful colors of Cream, Dark Red, Chocolate and Olive! 

Be sure to check out the CTD blog where you can see all the details about today's sponsor and giveaway!!  Link your own card there via Mr Linky so we can see everyone's wonderful creations as well.   You never know, you may be chosen as our Featured Stamper!  So on to my card:

Oooh, I just fell in love with this Santa the minute I saw him in all his vintage-y sweetness!  To fit him all in, I made my card a bit larger than usual size,  6.75 x 4.5".  He is stamped on Naturals Ivory in Memento  Brown and colored lightly with SU pastels, then cut out with the Top Note diecut.    I sponged the edges for some more of that nice vintage look.  The background papers are from a MME's scrapbook paper kit called The Merry Days of Christmas; this is one sheet, both sides being used.  I added some retired SU Riding Hood Red ribbon, a button and some glittery greenery.  Too bad you can't see it so well, but Santa's beard is snowy and glittery too:

Well, take my word for it......it's glittery!

 

 

 

 

Santa and the sentiment are both from Flourishes; I finished the sentiment on the inside:

 

by stamping the words on another Naturals Ivory panel, cutting it out with a Nestie, then mounting it on a panel from the scrapbook kit that I "antiqued" to go along with the vintage feel of Santa.  I also stamped an envelope I had left over from some old Christmas cards.  Yep, that's me.....green (or should I say red!).

 

 

So stop on over to the CTD blog to see what the other designers have come up with!  If you have any questions about anything here, just shoot me an email!  Thanks for visiting and have a blessed day!

Gosh, I just love this card....I think I'll just keep it for myself! :D