Christmas Blessings . . . .

to all of my friends in blogland.  I was hoping to have a card to post today, but, alas, time has gotten away from me.  The past week has been a busy one, getting together with friends and family.  Tomorrow I fly to Denver CO to spend the next two weeks with my son and his family in Parker CO.  So excited to see them!!

Hopefully I will be able to visit your blogs now and then while I am away.  If not, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May 2013 be a happy and healthy one for each of you. 

Looking forward to another year of cardmaking and hoping to take part in more challenges, too. 

Take care!

last week . . . .

I was the lucky winner of the cutest set of stamps from Claudine Hellmuth. Included in the set is a gingerbread man, a string of lights, a car with presents stacked on top.   Her retro style is so unique.  I actually took a class from her at CHA a few summers ago.  She is a beautiful gal, inside and out. 

Here is a card I made with some of the stamps in the set:

Isn't that chubby little bird adorable??  The trees, bird and stars were stamped on Basic Grey patterned paper and cut out.  More patterned paper was adhered across the bottom of the dry embossed card.  Stardust Stickles glitter was then added.

Thanks to Claudine for a fun set of stamps!

triangle trees . . . .

covered with baker's twine were the basis of a tag made by Teri Anderson for Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist challenge.  Each day from December 1 - 12, there is a tag featured on The Classroom blog.  Teri's tag was on Day 6.

Here is the tag I made which was inspired by Teri's tag:

First, I glued some of Penny Black's Madison paper to the tag.  I tore white cardstock to make some snowbanks for the tree to sit on and added some turquoise glitter to outline them.  The tree was adorned with pearls and gems from Hero Arts and a Martha Stewart punched snowflake was added to the top of the tree.

Thanks for visiting!

snowflakes. . . .

haven't started falling here in Ohio, as yet.  Simon Says Stamp is asking for some for their challenge this week.

This dotted snowflake from Hero Arts is just so pretty that I had to use it again on a card.  I found the snowflake sticker in one of my drawers full of "stuff" and added it to the center.  The sentiment is from Stampendous and the snowflake border punch is from Fiskars.  The card measures 7 x 3.5 inches. 

Hope your weekend is a good one!

masculine cards . . . .

are difficult for me most times.

This is a card I made for a friend whose birthday is this week.  The tree stamp is an older Penny Black.  I used a technique that I learned years ago, but had pretty much not done in forever, called shadow stamping (or offset stamping).  A card made by the oh, so talented Elizabeth Allan recently made me want to try it again. 

Elizabeth used delicata gold ink to stamp over her tree but I don't have that pad.  I used Brilliance lightning black, which has some very subtle gold undertones that are hard to capture in a photo.  It is one of my favorite Brilliance pads.  The green ink is Memento bamboo.  The sentiment is Hero Arts and the paper is Basic Grey. 

Have a great day!

december sketch challenge. . . .

at the Craft's Meow:

and here is my card:

It isn't very often that I do a sketch challenge; maybe because I feel it is too challenging!!  For this one, I reversed the ribbon and lace elements so that the hearts wouldn't be upside down.  The patterned papers are from the Basic Grey Serenade 6 x 6 pad.  The stamps are from Hero Arts.  I don't own any Craft's Meow stamps as yet, but hope to one day soon. 

Since this challenge runs for the entire month and I actually do like this sketch, I may have to make another card or two for it.  :*)

TFL.

anything goes. . . .

is the theme this week at Simon Says Stamp.  

I have a lot of tags that are "pre-distressed".  That is, I sometimes just play with distress inks on my craft sheet and swipe a lot of tags at the same time.  This one was mostly just a blue/turquoise base.  This morning I added some dusty concord in several areas and proceeded to make the tag from there.  Penny Black stamps, Stampendous stickers and that tiny Memory Box nestled bird die were all I needed to complete the tag. 

Have a great Saturday!

picked raspberry with silver. . . .

is my recipe for the last batch of Christmas cards:

All along, I have wanted to use pink for one of my cards.  This ink is pretty much a "hot" pink, but I love the way it looks with the silver embossing.  All stamps are from Hero Arts and I've used some of those pretty little Sticko "gems" too. 

My goal was to finish my cards by the end of this month.  I now have 50 cards to mail out next week before leaving for Colorado for the holidays.  Yippee!

Have a great day!

a sketch challenge. . . .

at Simon Says Stamp this week:

and here is my card:

I used Penny Black Madison paper and a stamp from one of their clear sets.  Twine from the Twinery.

Just posting this in the nick of time!!!

penny black and winter blues

Isn't this happy snowman from Penny Black adorable??   One of my after Christmas purchases from last year and I just had to color him up for the winter blues challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

The papers are from a DCWV pad with lots of yummy blues.  The sentiment is one of my favorites from Hero Arts.  I did go back and add black enamel to the bird's eye, since I wasn't happy with the way it looked here. I also added a lot of stardust Stickles, just because I could.

Have a great weekend!

a thank you and some fabulous candy

This tag is my entry for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which is to make something for a thank you.  I started with a manila tag and did a lot of distressing, stamping, inking, etc.  Then I foam mounted two Memory Box birdies and a sentiment from Printworks. Then added some white liquid pearls, black enamel for the eyes and silver snowflake stickers.  

What I love about making a tag like this is that I never know what it will turn out to be.  I must say that I love the end result of this one!

**********************************************************************

While doing some blog hopping today I stumbled upon Bearly Mine crafts.  Donna is offering some wonderful blog candy to celebrate her upcoming birthday and Christmas.  For anyone living in the UK, there is also an Epsom printer up for grabs.  Hurry on over and check it out.

Thanks for visiting!

eight more cards. . .

Last year when I was visiting my son in Parker, CO, I purchased one sheet of these beautiful silver snowflakes (Martha Stewart) at Michaels.  There are only eight snowflakes on the sheet.   :*(  The Hero Arts dotted snowflake is also SO pretty, so I just had to pair these two together to make some cards.  The sentiment is from Printworks.

I combined dry embossing and white heat embossing to make the front panel.  A white pearl and silver metallic pearl added just the right amount of "bling".  A silver embossed sentiment is on the inside of this card.  So far this is my favorite of the cards I have made.  I may use this dotted snowflake for another design because I just LOVE it!  Only a little over a dozen more to make and my cards will be finished - YAY!

May you and your loved ones have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.  I have so many things for which to be thankful - and my online blogger friends are one of those things!  Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog; I truly appreciate it! 

one more dozen. . .

I made twelve of this design to add to my outgoing cards.  CAS, but it did take time to die cut the Memory Box swirl twice, punch two different sized snowflakes (Martha Stewart) and silver emboss the sentiments (another is inside the card). The silver embossing is much more shiny than the photo shows, as is the smallest snowflake.  The large gems are from Hero Arts.

Have a good weekend!

blue and white

I've always been in love with blue and white.  Blue and white dishes, blue and white curtains, a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.  LOVE.

Here is one of the cards I have made for Christmas.  I usually send about 45 cards of the same design but decided to change it up a bit and make different ones this year.  I made a dozen of this one:

The snow dots background and the snowy scene are from Hero Arts.  The sentiment is an old one from DeNami Designs.  I used Brilliance sky blue for stamping and added some sparkle with Stickles star dust glitter.

Have a wonderful day!

WITH SYMPATHY

Hello . . .

I've been busy making Christmas cards this week, but I decided to take a break and make a few cards for some challenges.

Simon Says Stamp is asking for thinking of you or sympathy cards this week.

 

The etched flowers cling stamp from Hero Arts is such a pretty image.  It looks nice this way; or it can be colored for a completely different effect. The sentiment is from PTI.

Thanks for visiting and may your weekend be a good one!

pearl

Simon Says Stamp and Show is asking for anything with pearl for their challenge this week.

I do realize that this card is not very appropro for their blog; that is, they really prefer more of a "t!m look" for their challenges.  Hopefully this card will make the cut :)

Since I used a Flourishes set, I am also entering their Timeless Tuesday challenge to stamp "off the edge".  I used Prismacolor pencils for the coloring and the pearls are from Teresa Collins. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have suffered in any way from Sandy!  So many are without power, so many homes destroyed, plus the flooding and blizzard conditions - just devastating.  Here's hoping there will be some relief quickly!!

TFL!

leaves/kraft

A card for two challenges:

and Simon Says Stamp, whose challenge is leaves.

I just got a new set of Flourishes stamps and I love the oak leaves included.  These were colored with Prismacolor pencils.  The embossing folder is from Sizzix. 

Thanks for visiting!

October card chain challenge and thank you

Hello...

Each month Deborah Nolan sponsors a card chain challenge.  You sign up to make a card and then you send your card to the person who signed up before you in the "chain".  Here is the card I sent to Loly in Alabama:

To find out more about this monthly event, go here.

I made a similar card as a thank you to a friend who lives in Florida.  She was in France for six weeks this summer and sent me a beautiful photo album full of pictures she took while there. 

Just used different patterned papers and colors for this one.  I love the pompom flower and the sticko gems have quickly become a favorite. Even though they sparkle,they are fairly flat.  Which makes it nice when mailing a card. 

Have a great day!

autumn. . .

This card was sent to a friend who lives in Las Vegas.  He grew up in Ohio.  Just wanted to remind him a little of his home state!

I can't seem to get enough of Tim's tattered leaves dies - love them!  Here I just colored a piece of white cardstock with distress inks, die cut the leaves, added some stamping and more distress inks around the edges. 

This week will definitely bring Indian summer weather to our neck of the woods.  The predictions are for 70's for 3 or 4 days - yay!!   We will probably be paying the piper for those temps next week.  :-)

TFL.

boo!

Admittedly, I am not much for Halloween.  But, I do have one Hero Arts Halloween stamp set, so I made a card for the current Simon Say Stamp challenge.

I used dusty concord and shaded lilac distress inks for the background and spiced marmalade for the moon.  There was a little bit of pink ink on the sponge that I was using for the lilac, so that added a bit of extra color. :)  Stickles was added to the moon and I drew the fence in with a Sharpie.

Not very inspired, but somewhat spooky, I think. 

Thanks for visiting. 

four letter word

SING!  Last week I posted my second four letter word collage(FALL). Here is the first collage I did for my rectangular box, in which I will be storing these collages.

Lots of distress inks, spritzes, stamps, etc.  I love the colors in this piece. 

I am working on a third collage right now; but got sidetracked with cleaning windows, blinds and washing/ironing curtains!  Hopefully I can share it soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Big Eyes Birthday

Today is one of my friend's birthday.  She loves owls. 

Patterned papers, PTI scallop die, Hero Arts Big Eyes and sentiment from Stampendous. Some more of those black pearl gems from Hero Arts.  Platinum Stickles around the eyes (doesn't show up very well in the photo.)

Have a wonderful day!

dies or punches

This week Simon Says Stamp's challenge is to use dies or punches.

There were a few leaves left over from the collage I made yesterday using the Tim Holtz tattered leaves die, so I decided to use them for a birthday card for my son.  For the background I used Hero Arts real leaves clear set.  The sentiment is from an old HA boxed set called Birthday Fancy Notes, which is one of my all-time favorites.

And, I just got these gems from Hero called black pearls.  There are two sizes on the sheet and, to me, they have the look of an abalone shell.  I will be ordering more of them, for sure/

Thanks for visiting!

RUSTIFICATION

Simon Says Stamp and Show's current challenge is to make something rusty, rustic, rust colored, etc. 

For quite some time now, I have wanted to do some collages for just my own personal pleasure. And, I wanted to do them using four-letter words.  When a new Michael's store opened in our area, I found a beautiful decorative box with the Eiffel Tower (I collect E.T.'s) on the lid.  I decided to make my collages to fit inside this box - 11 x 4.75 inches.  Single "pages", so to speak, to fill the box. 

This is only the second one of these collages I have done, but I had enormous fun doing it!  The background was created on a white cardstock and the letters and leaves on a rust piece of cardstock.  Lots of distress inks, stamps, color wash sprays and perfect pearls mists were added to created lots of color and dimension.  Once these were created, I cut the leaves with Tim Holtz tattered leaves die and the letters were cut using alphabet stencils from the office supply store. 

Sorry for such a long post - hope your day is a good one!

GLIMMER and SPARKLE

For the past two weeks or so, I have been painting ceilings, washing walls and rearranging furniture.  Still have more to do, but decided to take a break and make a card or two.  Actually, I made some birthday cards, but neglected to take photos and have already sent them out :(

This card is for the Simon Says Stamp challenge which calls for glimmer and sparkle. 

This autumn tree from Penny Black is one that I won in the Stamptember celebration at Simon Says Stamp.  I colored the leaves with Prismacolor pencils and then covered them with a Stardust sparkle pen.  And, they really do "glimmer" in real life, but it is hard to see in the photo.  The little "gems" are actually stickers from Stickos that also glimmer a bit. 

Have a great day!

birthday boy

My grandson, Ethan, will be 12 years old next week.  He is a very talented artist, even at this young age.  Here is the card I made for him:

I used a sheet of 12 x 12 patterned paper that I have had for years, which I think is Basic Grey.  Stamped the numbers on and colored them in with purple pencil.  The starbursts and stars were stamped with concord grape distress ink.  Some holographic paper makes the punched starbursts a bit sparkly, without too much bling. 

Have a great weekend!

PINK HYDRANGEA

One of my daughters will be celebrating her birthday on Sunday.  She loves pink and she loves hydrangeas.  Hopefully she will like the card I made for her:

Here is a close-up:

The pretty patterned papers are from the MME 6x6 pad called Blush.  I used lots of gems and glitter, too.

Thanks for visiting!

stamped and embossed

Good morning! 

Stamptember is still going strong at Simon Says Stamp this week with the challenge to "put a stamp on it". 





And, A Blog Named Hero has a challenge to use any kind of embossing on a card. 

 
Here is my card for both:

I love this pretty background stamp from Hero Arts and the squeezed lemonade, picked raspberry and dried marigold distress inks blend very nicely over the white embossing.  (Looks like summer's last hurrah!!)

Have a wonderful day!

STAMPTEMBER

Simon Says Stamp is celebrating the wonderful world of stamping for the whole month of September!  For the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, the theme is "Read all about it!"

My project is a bookmark. I started with a tag and created a background using distress inks and then added lots of stamping. I found the topper in an old Readers Digest condensed book, which was a perfect fit.  Some little bird stickers from K & Co. and two of Tim's tiny paper clips were also added. I used pop dots to elevate the focal images and added one of Hero Arts big gems to the flower.  Since I love to read, this will be added to my box of bookmarks for future use!!

By the way, I have added some more stamps to my "stamps for sale" page.  Just click on the page at the top to see what may be of interest to you!

It's another rainy day here, but it has been so dry that it is a very welcome rain!  And, I am looking forward to fall - my favorite season!

Labor Day Greetings

I hope that all of you who live in the USA are having a good Labor Day weekend!  We've had just a taste of "Isaac" here in Ohio, but a nice weekend for the most part.  Sure hope those who are without power and still not back in their homes will get some relief soon!

Again, out of town company and three days of work staining my porch have kept me away from stamping and blogging.  Took some time last night to make this little card for the Simon Says Stamp "anything goes" challenge:

I have no idea why this card has a pink cast to it, but it is white!  A small piece of some BoBunny patterned paper was on my desk, so I stamped the Hero Arts poppies on it and colored them in with pencils.  Sentiment is also Hero Arts.  It was then layered over a square of Colorbok patterned paper and placed on a square card with dimensional dots.  Green gems perk it all up a bit.  The orange ribbon was just a scrap that I had in my ribbon bowl. :*)

Thanks for visiting!

SORTING IT OUT

This afternoon I spent some time going through my stamps and rearranging shelves, drawers, boxes, etc. I found several stamps that I have decided to sell and will no doubt find a few more as I continue with my efforts to organize.  (Still have clear sets and clings to go through!)

Click on the above tab to see if you might just need one or two at a good price. Some of them are newer releases and some older, but they are all in good shape!

Thanks!

krafty crafting

Good morning!  Hope your weekend was a great one.  Two challenges again today:

Typically, I don't use kraft very often in making cards.  A Blog Named Hero has challenged us to do so.  And, I am also entering this in the Hero Arts clean and simple challenge. 

The Hero Arts Good Friends clear set was used for this card.  I must confess that I have very seldom used any of those tiny stamps included in some of the sets.  So, I decided to use two of them for this card. 

I added some white pencil and glitter to them for some pizazz, but it's hard to see in my photo.

Thanks for visiting!

animals

Finding an animal stamp in my collection is not easy!!  I have very few.  For the Simon Says Stamp challenge, I came upon this cat face from PSX (that may tell some of you how old this stamp is!!)

Some Basic Grey Konnichiwa papers die cut and layered on an embossed panel, which was then popped up on a green cardbase.  Sentiment is from Penny Black. 

Enjoy your day!

favorite technique

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is to use a favorite technique. 

I have always loved getting out my craft sheet, stacking a bunch of distress ink pads around it, smooshing them randomly, misting the inks with water and then pulling tags through the inks.  Each time you do it, there is a different outcome.  And, you can lay the tag back into the inks as much as you want for the look you want.

Quite some time ago, I spent a morning making lots of these tags, just for the fun of it.  For the challenge, I trimmed a tag down and white embossed a Hero Arts background stamp over the pre-made distress ink background.  I love the way the embossing over the distress ink makes it look so much more distressed!! 

Did you know that Ranger also sells sheets of manila-like cardstock to use for all of the fun distress techniques?  This is great for making cards.  But, since I have a plethora of tags in my stash, trimming them down for any project is the way to go.

Happy Monday to you!

two challenges - one card

Good morning!

I am submitting today's card to two challenges:  The Play Date Cafe:

 and Cas-ual Fridays:

The colors of pink carnation, orange sherbet and lemonade are so very pretty together.  And, I have always loved square cards, even though it takes more postage to send one.

The color of the cardstock for this card is much more yellow (lemonade) than the photo shows.  We are getting some much needed rain here today, so the lighting wasn't so great.

I found a really cute BoBunny stamp set this week and used pink and orange Brilliance ink pads to stamp one of the butterflies from that set. For the bodies of the butterflies, I used the Memory Box Darla butterfly die and trimmed them to fit.   

Hope you have a great weekend!

BINGO!

I'm Baaack - to my long neglected blog, that is!! 

Simon Says Stamp has provided this grid for us to use for this week's challenge:

I made a card for my grandaughter's birthday using the center line (die cut, free and glitter).

This week I found some beautiful 12 x 12 sheets of BoBunny patterned paper at a local craft store and some pretty gems, stones and pearls to match them.  I used one of the glittery gems on the Memory Box butterfly and some Stickles diamonds glitter around the edge of it. The stitched lines are in the paper itself; I love the light blue with black accents.

Thanks to anyone who is still interested enough to visit my blog and leave a comment!!  It has just been a very busy summer for me and, honestly, blogging and being on the computer takes up so much time.  Sadly, something has to get put aside and it's usually blogland!!

Hope your summer has been fun and full of family and friends.