Home For Christmas

This is a card I designed for a friend of mine. She had purchased this set and knew the colors she wanted to use, but asked me for a little design help. Since I knew she would need to make several, I tried to keep it fairly simple, and use supplies I knew she had. Hopefully she likes it. Now I need to work on my own Christmas cards...I've only just begun! It doesn't show up too good in the photo, but after I water colored the image I used my versamark pen to highlight all areas that are snowy. Then I quickly sprinkled with Iridescent Ice EP, and heated with the heat tool. It is so pretty and sparkly in person.

Stamps: Home For Christmas & Best Yet
Card stock: Real Red, Textured Old Olive, Textured Chocolate Chip, White & Patterned paper from I Wish SSK
Ink: Black Stazon, Chocolate Chip & various colors to watercolor
Accessories: Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Bold Brights Brads, Photo Corner punch, Aqua Painter, versamark pen, Iridescent Ice EP

We got hit with our first real snow storm of the season yesterday. So my front porch is covered with snow just like this image. Every branch on every tree is highlighted with snow...it's just beautiful. Later I might brave the cold and go out for a few photos. Have a great day!

Four Season Tree

Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was pretty busy and flew by...as usual! Today I have a card to share with you that I created for one of my best friends. I've had this design in my head for quite some time, so I took a break from my Christmas projects to make it. After several hours of stamping, lots of tedious cutting & rearranging, along with more stamping, tedious cutting & rearranging, I can't really say that it turned out like I imagined it. For sure it looked way better in my head! BUT since I went through all that work and I didn't have any more time...out in the mail it went. I'm sure you've had some cards like that as well! Anyways...here it is...

I love the winter and summer panels, but I think the spring panel is way too busy. I guess I should have chosen different patterned papers. There's just too much going on. I still like the concept of the four panels depicting each season, so I may try again. On a positive note, I love the little tire swing created from the jumbo eyelet, don't you? I saw that first on a card on SCS, I think.

Have a great day!

A Cardinal Christmas Challenge

A quick post to share a card I created for Beate's weekend sketch challenge.

Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas, Sanded background
Card stock: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Black Stazon & various for watercoloring
Accessories: Sizzlet Buttons die, Glassy Glaze EP, Aqua painter, Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain, Linen thread

Have a great day!

Scary Sketch

Here's a card I created for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. Even though I used simple stamped images, getting the size of each of the layers proportioned correctly to match the sketch was a challenge for me. What I thought would be a quick card took me longer than expected, but I like the way it turned out ~ and as always, I'm glad I played along.

I just love all the images in the Eat, Drink & Be Scary set...especially the little spider and the witch's hat. They are perfect for cards and scrapbook pages. (which I really need to get busy on!)I'm also loving this color combo for Halloween ~ Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Perfect Plum & Kiwi Kiss. The plum strip was created using the jumbo roller Frightful Fence. Both Eat, Drink & Be Scary & the Frightful Fence wheel can be found in the Holiday Mini catalog.

Have a great day!

Boo!

I did a workshop last night and had such a good time! My hostess loves Halloween just like I do, so I knew she would especially love her hostess gift and the first project I demo-ed. She has an adorable 5 month baby girl so I know she'll be taking lots of photos of her on her 1st Halloween, so I demo-ed this cute little 6x6 page along with a matching clip to hold it.
I used the Haunting jumbo wheel along with the super cute new Halloween set from the Holiday Mini - Eat, Drink & Be Scary. I used the Big Shot and the Bigz scallop die to create the jagged edge, black mat for my circle. I just ran it through my machine twice - the 2nd time off set to get the jagged look. See the cute star embellishment on the hat? It is a piece of On Board chip board with Cosmo Glitter applied using Heat & Stick powder.

Other supplies used: Perfect Plum designer Prints Paper, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain & Kiwi Kiss double sided satin ribbons, Outline Alphabet, Square Scallop & Photo Corner punch, Vintage Brads.
As a hostess gift I created a cute pack of Scrap Candy which included stamped images, ribbon, card stock and punched embellishments that can be used for Halloween cards or scrapbook pages. I packaged these together in a cello bag with a topper. Book a workshop with me today and I will create a Scrap Candy pack especially for you!

Enjoy your weekend!

Scalloped Birds & Blooms

Hi there! A quick post to show you a cute little card we made at my card class yesterday afternoon. I've been kind of busy and just got around to photographing some of the projects I've been working on lately. This one was made almost completely with die cuts using my Big Shot.
I cut a piece of scored Certainly Celery card stock on the fold using the largest Scallop Bigz die to form the card base. The Ruby Red & Blush Blossoms circles were cut with the coluzzle. I stamped part of the tree from Season of Friendship inked with my Chocolate Chip marker, then proceeded to add the leaves - cut from Haiku paper using the Birds & Blooms Sizzlets, and of course the cute little bird which is also included in that set of dies. The little flowers were punched out with the Boho Blossoms Punch and embellished with little rhinestones for a touch of sparkle.

I was tempted to add some paper piercing around the circle and a background stamp to the Blush layer for more detail, but since we were making so many cards at the class I had to keep it a bit simpler than I normally would. Maybe I'll do that on the next one I make. Have a good evening!

A Quick & Easy Cardinal Christmas

This is a new set in the new Holiday Mini catalog, called A Cardinal Christmas. Even though I already own something similar I just couldn't pass it up! I've been super busy working on some other projects right now, but I just had to get this out and make at least one card with it, right? This card came together really quickly just using the images from the set. Love the solid foliage stamp that I used for the background! The cardinal is pretty easy to watercolor...I just used SU! classic inks and my aqua painter.
I used Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke & Whisper White card stock. The greeting is embossed in Winter White EP. To add a little more detail I used the Ticket Corner punch on the cardinal image and it's mats and tied on some Riding Hood Red Striped grosgrain ribbon. This stamp set will be available to order starting October 1st.

Look what I got in the mail from my super sweet & very talented blogger friend Denise:
Isn't this card adorable!? The little girl image is just so sweet and I love the way she colored her and added glitter to her wings. She even included some images for me to color. Thanks Denise!!! You totally made my day with this nice surprise! See more of Denise beautiful work at her blog: Stamping With Denise.


Looks like a beautiful Summer Fall day out there today...hope you find some time to enjoy it!

Haiku Tree

I saw this great sketch on Beate's blog, Fresh & Fun yesterday and thought it would be perfect to use with my new Season of Friendship set. Since the tree image is so large, a square card is just the ticket for showcasing the image yet still have room to use some pretty patterned papers and embellishments.

I inked the tree in Creamy Caramel thumped in Close to Cocoa. Then I used my markers to ink the leaves: More Mustard, Ruby Red & Old Olive. I created the sky behind the tree by using my Not Quite Navy pastel. The Haiku designer paper is so pretty and is perfect for fall, so I used a couple of the prints from that paper pack along with Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Very Vanilla card stock.

See the little scalloped tabs? I created those using the Scallop Square Punch. I just cut off the corners. Cute, huh? I was excited when I tried it and it actually worked out like I was thinking. I'm sure someone else has probably tried it before me, but to me it's a new thing. I was so excited to get those brads inserted to see how it looked that I suffered a devastating stampin' injury! (One of the prongs from the brad poked down deep inside my thumbnail, and it still hurts.) I probably won't even be able to clean house today because of it! ;-)

Other than my little injury I was quite happy with the way this one came together. I always love Beate's weekend sketches, so I'm glad I had some time to play along.

Have you heard?
Stampin' Up! will be releasing Phase two of their Decor Elements product line on October 1st. You're gonna love it! There are new designs just in time for the upcoming holidays, some cute decor for your kids' rooms and more color choices!

Just in time for Spooktacular Halloween Projects:
Make your home and Halloween projects spooktacular this year with the Spooky Spider Décor Elements™! Decorate your candy jar to thrill the treaters, or adhere it above your door to scare off the tricksters.The exclusive Spooky Spider comes in three sizes and two colors and is designed to coordinate with our Ghostly Greetings Designer Series paper and our Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog.

Spooky Spider:
Small: 4-5/8" x 4" - $5.95
Medium: 8-7/8" x 7-3/4" - $10.95
Large: 14-15/16" x 13" - $14.95

Extra Web Lengths (included)
Small: 4-1/2"
Medium: 8-11/16"
Large: 9-1/2"

These spiders won’t hang around long, so contact me today to get your Spooky Spider Décor Elements before they vanish into the night!

Eat, Drink & Be Scary!

I just love Halloween, so when I saw the Eat, Drink & Be Scary! set in the Holiday Mini I knew I HAD to have it! I have so many Halloween photos yet to scrap so I figure it will get lots of use. A friend came over to do a little scrappin' a few days ago and she was more than happy to play with my new goodies along with me. This is the page we did that day.
The old rickety picket fence is a new jumbo wheel called Frightful Fence which will also be available in the Holiday Mini starting October 1st. The spooky tree & pumpkin sitting on the fence are from the House of Haunts set. For the title I used the Well Worn alphabet stamped in Only Orange, Lavender Lace & Kiwi Kiss ink. I've been hording my favorite Halloween paper from SU! - Halloween Nights. I used a bit of it on this page. I really like the colors in those papers, and wish they would have included a bit of purple in this years Halloween pack. Even the NEW Halloween M&M's have purple in them! See...
Aren't they frighteningly festive!? I better hurry and make more packaged treats because those M&M's are mysteriously disappearing. (I had to eat all the ones I use for a "prop" in this photo...cause I touched them...I couldn't put them back after that, now could I? ;-) I prepared this cute little project for one of the M&T's at a meeting I had here for my downline & upline Wednesday night. The topper was cut out using the Top Note die, then wheeled with the Haunting jumbo wheel. I thought that the little spider was a nice detail stamped on the bag. I used Black Stazon for that. Not a big fan of spiders in real life...especially when they are in the house (yikes!) but it looks cute here.

Well, I need to go get things ready for my stamp club girls who will be here tonight. Check back tomorrow or Sunday to see the projects we did. I think they are going to like them. Have a great weekend!

Top Note Paisley Purse

Here is another card we did at my All Occasion Card Class over the weekend. I had seen the idea to make a cute purse using the Top Note die on my SBS sister Cindy's blog - Stamps, Paper & Ink, and thought it was the cutest thing! Since I'm addicted to my Big Shot (and the Top Note die!) I knew I needed to try this.

The only stamping was on the Chocolate Chip layers using White Craft ink & the Paisley background stamp. All pieces were cut out using the Big shot: Large Scallop (Bigz), Birds & Blooms (Sizzlets) and of course the Top Note die. The large circle was cut using my Coluzzle. The scallop was cut out of Pretty in Pink card stock & the large flower is Pink Pirouette. It was finished with a pink brad and 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon for the handle.

Wouldn't this be perfect to hold a gift card? Thanks for the wonderful inspiration Cindy!

Thanks for stopping by...have a creative day!

Top Note Thank You

Quick post today to show you this cute little card I created using the Top Note, Birds & Blooms & Swirls Scribbles dies. I cut the Top Note card by inserting my pre-folded card with the fold just below the cutting blade. The Blush Blossom layer is stamped with Blush craft ink and the Paisley background.

I joined a Big Shot swap in which I'll receive all the die cuts. I'm doing the Birds & Blooms & the Swirls & Scribbles. These are the colors I used for my die cuts and while cutting I thought the color combo would make a pretty card. So this is the outcome. Can't wait to get all the die cuts back the beginning of next month!

Well gotta run...(well, walk actually). My walking buddy will be here shortly since it's not raining today to go on our daily 4 mile walk. Looks like a sunny day...enjoy!

Season of Friendship

Guess it's been a while since I posted...sorry about that. I've been busy creating cards for my all occasion card classes - the first one was yesterday. I think this card was the group favorite. It uses the new stamp set - Season of Friendship which will be available in the Holiday Mini catalog starting in October.

This is a 2 step stampin' set which will be very versatile because the tree and leaves are separate images. The set also includes a flower, bird & a snowflake for a winter scene. I can't wait to create more projects with this set...I've got lots of ideas, but so far only time for this card. Instead of using markers to ink the leaves, we used the wet wipe technique for quick and easy inking to create the fall foliage.

Stamps: Season of Friendship
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, re-inkers for wet wipe technique
Card stock: More Mustard, Really Rust, Very Vanilla, Haiku Double-sided Designer Paper
Accessories: Photo Corner, 3/4" & 1" circle punches, Earth Element brads & Taupe grosgrain ribbon

If you'ld like to make this card, plus more...I still have two more card classes coming up: September 26th or 28th. Sign up today!

Have a good day!