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!