CASology 226 and Inspired by 34 Chalkboard Candles

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I haven't played with the CASology challenge for a long time....but the "candle" cue fit in with a birthday card that I needed to make!

I have to admit, this is the third attempt at making a CAS card with a candle on it!  I might show you one of the other ones....I think the third one just might go in the trash!  But anyway, here we go with the keeper....or the one to be sent, as it were:

I don't have too many candle stamps, but I did find one in the Sprinkles of Life set, and stamped it randomly in white on some chalkboard paper.  I added a couple of flower images from a Paper Pumpkin set and cut it all out with a Stitched Shapes circle:

I embossed a sentiment (same Paper Pumpkin set) in white on Melon Mambo, cut it into a banner, added some sequins (these are really pink, trust me!) and mounted it on a heavy white card base. I am also submitting this to the Inspired by All the Little Things challenge for this week; even though it's a Christmas scene, I am going for the chalkboard and pink!

 Cassidy did some stamping for fun recently using the Snow Place set and my retired markers!

I love that she throws tradition out the window when she uses color....in her world, a Santa hat can be red and yellow and a candy cane red, white and navy blue (her favorite color, btw!):

Enjoy your day!

Stamp Ink Paper 76 Embossed Poinsettia

Hi everyone!  It's the last Tuesday of the month, and that means it's my final challenge as a GD with the fabulous Stamp Ink Paper team!  I want to thank them for allowing me to have such a great time creating with them!  This week their challenge just happened to fit into my schedule quite nicely:  embossing!  It can be dry embossing or heat embossing, or both!

One of my newer customers had a question about heat embossing and I realized that while SU has white craft ink and white embossing powder, we no longer have black embossing powder or black craft ink!  So it gave me a chance to do some experimenting to answer my own question:  can I emboss with SU's Black Archival ink and clear embossing powder?  The answer, happily, is "YES"!  I had embossed this pretty Verve poinsettia because this set happened to be on my desk, and I went ahead and colored it in with some ink and an aquapainter and made it into today's card!

The "joy" sentiment (My Favorite Things' Hand Lettered Holiday) was heat embossed with Gold encore ink (again, sadly retired from SU) and gold embossing powder atop a gold foil stitched square:

And here's a closer shot of my embossed poinsettia!  Poor Rose Red is sadly neglected, in my opinion, but pairs nicely with Cherry Cobbler!  I used Rose Red for the outer petals and Cherry Cobbler for the inner petals, finishing it off with a gold glimmer brad;

 

I even got daring and actually used some metallic thread from my Stitched with Love kit...surprisingly, it's not as difficult to use as I first imagined!  The floral and the gold panel were adhere to another embossed piece...this time, the paper was pre-embossed, a pretty Cherry Cobbler pattern from Kaiser Craft's Home for Christmas 6x6 pad.  

I hope you'll play along with us....the DT has come up with some fabulous embossed creations...be sure to check them all out at the SIP blog!

Last week while on vacation, we decided to try our hand at making soft pretzels!  I mixed up the dough, and Cassidy helped knead it:

 

Then we rolled it into long thin logs:

and formed them into the pretzel shapes!  Even Grampy got in the action!  (He really likes any kind of pretzels!):

Cassidy sprinkled on some salt, and we baked them in the oven!

YUM!  For our first try, they weren't too bad.  Next time I would not do the baking soda bath...to me, it gave them a strange taste.  And I might bake them a wee bit longer.  But all in all, they were pretty good!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

MTS152 and CCMC434 Thinking of You

Happy Monday, all!  A quick little post today using Match the Sketch's sketch and Create with Connie & Mary's colors:

I needed a get-well card for my BIL....he cut the upper portion of his finger on a wood splitter!  Yowch!  The surgeon was able to reattach it but he will be in the hospital for a few days!  I took the sketch and turned it on its side as I liked the orientation better.  The Vintage Leaves leaf was stamped in Delightful Dijon; the sentiment from Wetlands in Cherry Cobbler, and the other splatters in Crumb Cake.  Some of them are from Work of Art and some are from Timeless Textures:

I also stamped the circular element as well as the horizontal and vertical elements in different images from Timeless Textures....all stamped in Versamark to give it a nice subtle look.

We've had several "murmurations" of starlings over the last week....Cassidy was fascinated by them!

Enjoy your day!

Paper Players 323 Sketch

Happy Sunday, peeps!  It's time for a Paper Players challenge, and my sweet friend Sandy is our hostess with a really great sketch!  It gave me a chance to use some new goodies....I just can't help shopping early for my own Christmas gifts, LOL!

I pulled out some retired SU Christmas paper...maybe from a couple of years ago?.....and used it on a Crumb Cake card base, then added a Pear Pizzazz panel embossed with a Tim Holtz EF (Knit Set-Deer).  I used a Verve set and die (Unto Us) to stamp and cut out the deer in Early Espresso, then added some Pretty Pines cut in Old Olive and a sentiment from Bells & Boughs, diecut with a Stitched Shapes oval framelit:

As an afterthought, I liberally covered the pine branches in glue and added some Martha Stewart glitter:

and added some wide organdy Cherry Cobbler ribbon behind my sentiment.  Love the country feel to this!

I am sure you'll find a great use for this sketch...Christmas or some other occasion!  Be sure to share it with us at the Paper Players and check out what the others created as well!

A happy Thanksgiving photo!  She actually agreed to wear a dress AND put her hair in ponytails!

Enjoy your day!

FMS264 Herd It's Your Birthday

 

Happy Black Friday, everyone!  I hope all my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  It was probably one of our best ever!  Great food and good times with family!  

My dad's birthday is tomorrow, so for his card, I used the FMS sketch:

flipping it so my cow wasn't looking off into space!

My dad farmed for many years, then retired from farming and went into carpentry.  But you never take the farm out of the farmer, so I thought I would use this Papertrey set, On the Farm, for his card! I stamped the sunrise in Crushed Curry and the farmland in Wild Wasabi, then cut them out with a Lil'Inker stitched square die.  I fussy cut the cow and mounted it on top with dimensionals after I stamped a rather wonky dotted line with a Paper Pumpkin image. The sentiment is from the same set; paper is from Echo Park's Fall is in the Air 6x6 pad:

I thought this was a cute sentiment (Barnyard Sentiments), although my dad would insist that there is no partyin' left in him, LOL!

Thanks for poppin' in today!

My sweet girls on Thanksgiving:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA!  Hope you have a blessed holiday!  I know I have so much for which to be thankful, including all of my blog friends!  God bless you all!

And finally, I have a little peek at some of my Thanksgiving decorations.....a Native American couple:

and their Pilgrim friends:

A few of my turkeys:

and my favorite, a little set of Pilgrim candles that I think belonged to my grandmother!  I think they might be from the early 60s.  Aren't they cute?

Enjoy your day!

MM475 Jar of Cheer

Happy Wednesday, all!  This will be quick, as Thanksgiving eve is upon us and I have a flurry of things to do!  I chose the Mojo Monday sketch for my Christmas card today:

It's kind of sad that I have SO MUCH STUFF that pretty papers like these get forgotten...but then I get happy when I "find" them again!  These are the This Christmas Specialty papers, and they are so pretty with the new Jar of Cheer set:

I stamped the jar in Smoky Slate and everything else in Basic Gray, then used my aquapainter and inks to color in the ornaments and greenery.  It's too bad you cannot see the shimmer from the Wink of Stella pen...it looks really pretty IRL!  I added a bow from Jar of Love, stamped in Cherry Cobbler, because I thought it looked better than the striped bow that came with the set.

I stamped a sentiment from Stitched with Cheer, also in Basic Gray, right on the DSP and used a Cherry Cobbler banner to fill in the letters a wee bit:

I usually find coloring in images that large a bit tedious, but it was very relaxing today!  I need relaxing because I will be going full steam ahead today!  Thanks for popping in!

We had some insanely cold temps and 30-40 mph winds the last few days....my patio was covered with leaves because they had blown off the yard onto the patio!  So Cassidy decided to slide down the cellar door into the leaves....silly girl!

This is what is known as "wind-blown" hair!!  Enjoy your day!