Monday, November 30, 2015

Tag You're It! Challenge #35

Hello friends.  A 2nd post from me today as I'm sneaking in under the wire for the Tag You're It! challenge.  Tracey McNeely has a super bright and fun tag for inspiration this time around, and I was really drawn to her polka dotted background, the word "joy", and the holly leaves all incorporated into her tag.  This is my fun little version:


I used PTI's Tag Sale #5 die and some retired SU! DSP (Seasons of Style) with all the fun dots to start my tag, and then added a fun little bird from Penny Black's Winter Wonderland stamp set that I colored with my Copics and fussy cut.  The holly leaves and berries are from PTI's Enclosed: Bell stamp and die set, and the joy was cut from Cherry Cobbler cs with a Lil Inkers die.  I added a white tag for underneath so I could stamp the "to" and "from" on the back of it as the back of the DSP is a red/white stripe.  Quick, easy, and fun! :0)

Here's Tracey's cute, cute tag:


There's still 2 days to play along, so head on over to the Tag You're It! site right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Birgit & Marcia's Holiday Watercolor Challenge

Hello friends.  BIRGIT and I are back with our monthly challenge, and this time we decided to work on holiday cards with watercoloring.  I absolutely LOVE the look of watercoloring, but it's one of those technique's where control (or should I say "lack of" control) is really hard to come by, at least for me!  It's one of those that I feel sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't...grrrr!  But anyway, I have 3 cards to share with you today, so let's get to it!


For this card I started with a piece of watercolor paper, and then sprinkled Cobalt Blue Brushos on, and then spritzed with water.  LOVE how these backgrounds come out with this stuff!!  I used some Casual Friday's die to cut out my snowflakes, and then attached that layer to a white card base.  I embossed in black the "merry" from WPlus9's Hand Lettered Holiday set, and added the little banner with the "& bright", along with a couple black enamel dots.


Next up I used the "smooshing" technique for my red background with Pure Poppy ink.  Then I layered on a Comic Strip Frame (PTI) and a bunch of different die cuts that Birgit had mailed to me. (Having stamping friends is just the best, because they share with you...thank you, thank you Birgit!!)  I just love how fun this card turned out!  Oh, and the sentiment is from PTI's Think Big Favorites: #21.



I think this one is my favorite, as it involves flowers, and is just so soft and pretty.  My background was done with a Tim Holtz stencil (Speckles TH5021) and Smoky Slate ink.  I simply inked up the whole stencil with my ink pad, spritzed it with water, and then layed my card stock down on it.  It turned out in reverse of how the stencil is supposed to be, and I just really, really like how it turned out.  Next I used PTI's Painted Poinsettia's stamp set and embossed the flower outlines with white embossing powder, and then used my Aqua Painter and Wisteria Wonder and Perfect Plum inks to water color the flowers and Mossy Meadow ink for the leaves.  I fussy cut them out, and then glued them to my background piece.  I stamped some of the flourishes from the Painted Poinsettia stamp set with Delicata Silvery Shimmer ink, and then matted this layer to a piece of holographic silver cs, and then matted those layers to a Wisteria Wonder card base.  It really came together a lot quicker than it sounds, and is just one of those cards that really makes me smile to look at it! :0)

Make sure you check out Birgit's creations right HERE.  I know she will have many cards that will WOW you, so take the time to check it out and leave her some love too! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and cheering me and my dear friend Birgit on...we love hearing from you, so don't be shy and let us know what you think of our cards and our little monthly challenges. :0)

Friday, November 27, 2015

Make it Monday #232 - Layered Stamping on Kraft

Hello friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving?!  I did! :0)  Today I'm sharing my 2nd card (did not like my first card!!!) that I made for this weeks Make it Monday challenge with Dawn McVey.  Dawn has a great video on how to make colors pop on a darker cardstock like kraft, by using white ink first.  I've seen this technique before, but had never tried it, and for me, there was a bit of a learning curve.  I tried my first card with the new Winter Woods stamp set, and it just did not thrill me.  Dawn talked about this being a great technique to use with flowers, so I went back to a favorite from this Falls release - Twig Wreath.  Much better result...take a look:


   
I started with a kraft card base and then a piece of plaid from the Holiday Plaid papers, and then distressed both with Walnut Stain ink.  I used a Basic Bookmark #3 die also cut in kraft, and then stamped my sentiment from O Holy Night, before stamping the wreath from Twig Wreath.  Next came the fun part of adding the flowers, and I purposely after starting with the white ink, offset my Pure Poppy layer more than a little off center because you could see more of the contrast that way. For the little greenery around the flowers I used Ocean Tides and Aqua Mist so it would coordinate with the colors in the plaid.  Next I embossed the centers of the flowers with gold, and also some gold embossing on the leaf die cuts (Songbirds) that I added behind the bookmark.  A little seam binding ribbon and gold cording finished off this very vintage looking Christmas card.

Make sure you stop over to NICHOLE'S site to check out Dawn's video and beautiful card, and also to get all the info to play along.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop

Hello friends.  It's the 25th of the month, and that means it's time for the monthly blog hop over at Papertrey Ink.  Nichole always finds the most beautiful pictures for inspiration for us, and this months photo was no exception. 

Blog Hop Inspiration

I chose to work with the colors, and while I would have picked Enchanted Evening and Blueberry Sky for the blues in the photo, Nichole mentioned using Tropical Teal and Hawaiian Shores for the blues, along with Simply Chartreuse and Silver...so I followed Nichole's lead and came up with this small (4 1/4 X 4 1/4) card:


I used the Scene It: Bethlehem dies with white cs, and then blended the Tropical Teal and Hawaiian Shores on the starry section, and Simply Chartreuse on the tree section.  I had always used distress inks for blending, but recently watched a Laura Bassen video where she said she still loves using PTI inks to blend with because they blend like butter.  She was right! I loved blending the 2 blues together...it was practically effortless!!  Next I embossed in black part of the manger scene from Petite Places: Nativity and then added Perfect Pearls over the whole top.  I tried so hard to get a photo where you could see the glimmer of the pearlescent shine on the card, but no luck...IRL though, it really does shimmer!  I added a circle of silver glitter card stock behind the scene so the cut out stars would show through, and then added it to my white card panel with the simple sentiment from the Petite Places: Nativity stamp set.  I added a layer of white fun foam behind this layer and attached to a white card base.  CAS and a sweet little card to add to my Christmas stash! :0)

If you'd like to check out all the inspiration gleaned from the above photo, you can check it all out right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!! :0)

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

CCCB #289 - The Snow Queen

Hello friends.  For this final week of my being the Special Guest Star over at  City Crafters Challenge Blog, the theme is "The Snow Queen".  I took my inspiration quite literally from the photo and came up with this scene featuring snowy/iced trees.  I could have taken my inspiration from right outside my window this weekend, as this was exactly how it looked in my neck of the woods...I believe Winter has arrived in West Michigan!  Take a look:



I'm not a real outside snow person, but I can appreciate the beauty of it from inside my nice warm house!  I started my card by using an oldie but a goodie, SU!'s Lovely As A Tree, and embossing it on my card panel with white embossing powder.  Next I masked off the top and bottom of my card panel and a 3/4" circle for my moon, and then blended with distress inks (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky, & Faded Jeans). After removing my masks I used a PTI die (Wonderful Words: Holiday Die Collection) and taped it lightly over a portion of the inked background and then die cut it.  With just plain white card stock I die cut the word 5 more times and glued them all together, using the first one I die cut from my panel to put on the top.  I love the two toned dimension this gives a card!  Easy to do...just takes a little time to glue all the layers together! After stamping "ON EARTH" below the die cut, I mounted this panel to a white card base, and then even finished the inside of the card!!  (It's getting to be that time of year where I really need to finish the insides, so I'm not frantically trying to do the insides of 100 plus cards at the last minute!!  Anybody else out there do that, or am I the only procrastinator???)

  
If you'd like to play along with this challenge, you can find all the info you need and great inspiration right HERE.

I'd like to take a moment and thank Kirsty and her lovely and talented design team, for inviting me to tag along this month over at the City Crafters Challenge Blog.  It has been a delight to work with all of them this past month, and I thank you for this wonderful opportunity from the bottom of my heart!! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Monday, November 23, 2015

For Emily

Hello friends.  Many of you in blogland know Jennifer McGuire, and all month she has been sharing posts about kindness and small acts we all can do to make someone's life brighter.  Last week Jennifer shared about 2 young children fighting cancer and the card shower she wanted to throw for them.  You can read all about it right HERE.  My heart was so touched by the little girl Emily's story, who is a 6 year old who has been battling Neuroblastoma since she was 4.  Because I have 3 healthy daughters, I could not NOT make a card to share with Emily!  So hopefully this card will bring a smile to her face!


This little egg shaped snowman from Paper Smooches Warm Hearts set just melts my heart and I hope it will Emily's too!  Emily's favorite color is dark pink, so I blended Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, & Picked Raspberry Distress inks over my back ground that I had first embossed a few snowflakes on in white.  The "sending" "Hugs" were stamped and die cut from PTI's Big Hugs set.  The silver candy cane stripes on the sides were stamped from Winnie & Walter's Holiday Trimmings stamp set.  I really like how this simple card came out and hope Emily will like it too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and am hoping we can all take time this week to reflect on all we been blessed with..."Let our lives be full of both THANKS and GIVING"! :0)

Friday, November 20, 2015

Warm Hearts Card and YES, More Tags!

Hello friends.  With all the tags out there for inspiration, there's been a lot of drooling on my part at new stamp sets that I'd love to have, and a certain one in particular I just couldn't seem to hold back on!  I absolutely LOVE the little egg shaped snowman from Paper Smooches called Warm Hearts.  I still had my LOTV DSP pad out, so this card and tags came together quite easily.  Take a look:




Doesn't that little guy just make your heart melt?  And bring a goofy smile to your face?!!  Both the card and the tags were so easy to do (or EZPZ as Darnell would say!!).  Just a matter of some quick coloring with my Copics and then fussy cutting the simple shapes out for the snowman and bird, and then attaching to my card base and tags that I layered with the DSP.  A little bit of twine and a sentiment and done! :0) 

Going to add these tags to Tracey McNeely's  25 Days of Christmas Tags and also Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge .  Click on the highlighted links to play along, or even to just sit back and relax while gazing at oodles and oodles of great Christmas tags!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0) 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Merry Monday #180 - Reindeer

 

Hello friends.  Playing along with Merry Monday and the challenge this week is to use a reindeer on your card.  This card came together so easily (like maybe 5 minutes!) and I really liked how it turned out.  Then I realized I had used a deer die cut, and NOT a reindeer...grrrr!  So it's been sitting on my desk all week staring at me, and the more I look at it, the more I like it, so I'm going with it...just pretend she's really young (and that's why she doesn't have any antlers yet) and is mesmerized by her first snowfall! 


I used a white card base and added a  DSP (LOTV 6x6 pad) layer that I cut using a SSS die (Wavy Scallop Stitches).  I die cut the deer from a TH Movers and Shapers die with kraft cs and then sponged it with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress inks.  My sentiment (PTI's O Holy Night) was stamped with Early Espresso ink.  A piece of bakers twine (The Twinery) finished off this oh so simple card.   
                                 

          

There's still a few days to play along, so check out all the great inspiration and play along.  You can find all the info you need right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

More Tags???

Hello friends.  I seriously can't stop making them!  I see SO many cute ones on Tracey NcNeely's blog where she's doing the 25 Days of Christmas Tags, and then I'm hooked!  And Colleen of One Smile Lifts a Spirit, who I love to follow has been playing along with the tag challenges too, and she is always making such cute tags that I have to follow along!  So thanks Tracey and Colleen...no seriously, I mean THANKS!  I've been having a ball!! :0)  I have a couple to show you today using Lawn Fawn and Sweet & Sassy stamps.  Take a look:




I started by stamping and coloring all my images with Copics and then fussy cutting them out.  Next I die cut the circle tags (Lawn Fawn set of 3 dies) from white and then again with scraps of DSP, which I then cut again with a SSS die to take off about a third of the DSP so I had white space to look like a snow hill and also a space to stamp a sentiment.  The Alpaca is from Lawn Fawn and the snowman and bunny are from Sweet & Sassy.  The "be merry" and "holiday cheer" sentiments are from PTI's Tag-Its #9 stamp set.  I pop dotted the Alpaca's and snowman so they would stand out a bit from the DSP, and then finished with some red & white bakers twine.

Tracey's challenge is still going on, so if you need some more tags to add to your stash, you can check out everything you need to know to play along right HERE. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!! :0)

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Make it Monday #231 - Motif Building

Hello friends.  Playing along with Betsy and Papertrey Ink for the Make it Monday challenge, where Betsy has a wonderful video on starting in the middle and building out with your stamps.  This was SO much fun, and after a few pencil marks to get me started, this whimsical card was created:


I started with the largest snowflake from Snowflake Sparkle, and then started lining up my penguins (from Warmest Wishes) with the points of the snowflake.  After dressing up the penguins in their hats and scarfs, I started adding more snowflakes in between the penguins.  My sentiment came from In The Meadow and I added a snowflake on either side to balance it out.  I used Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy, black, and silver inks, and then matted to a Tropical Teal card base.  An enamel dot, some rhinestones, and some black & white bakers twine finished off this fun card.  This came together really easily and I think I may have to make a few more!

Make sure you check out Betsy's great card and video, and then play along...you can find all the info right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

CCCB #288 Color Challenge - Blue, White, Gray, & Touch of Silver

Hello friends.  I'm back with my 3rd week of being the special guest star over at City Crafters Challenge Blog and this week is a color challenge: blue, white, gray, and a touch of silver.  These colors remind me of cold and snow, and beautiful, beautiful snowflakes!  I used a brand new PTI stamp set called Snowflake Sparkle, and I can already tell I'm going to get a lot of use from this simple $5 set!  Take a look:


I started with a small card base (5 1/2 x 3 1/2) of white and randomly stamped the snowflakes in Smoky Slate, Blueberry Sky, & Spring Rain ink, leaving the lower right corner blank for my sentiment, which is from PTI's O Holy Night.  One of the snowflakes I die cut and pop dotted next to the sentiment for some dimension.  Next I added a thin strip of Smoky Slate cs that I stamped with  a diagonal stripe stamp from Winnie & Walter with Smoky Slate ink, and glued that to the edge of my card.  Next to that I glued an even thinner strip of silver cs.  A few gray enamel dots and a few rhinestones for the centers of the larger snowflakes finished off this snowy little card.

We'd love to have you play along with us and are looking forward to seeing what you create with these Winter colors! Here's the inspiration photo:



You can find all the info you need to play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do! :0) 

Monday, November 16, 2015

Tags, Tags, More Tags!

Hello friends.  Still on a big Christmas tag making kick here, and have another multi media tag to share with you today.  Take a look:



I started with a Casual Fridays die and kraft cs for the tag, and then stamped using Penny Blacks Christmas Story background stamp with Early Espresso ink.  My tree was stamped and die cut with PTI's Holiday Folk set, but before I die cut the trees, I used Stampendous's Frantage Shabby White Embossing Enamel to give the snowy gold look to the trees.  I was so proud of myself for being able to use this stuff this year without making a mess (you heat this from beneath your cs, not above it like traditional embossing powder) and without burning my fingers.  I think the secret is letting your heat tool really heat up first, and also using a big sheet of cs where you've already stamped your image, but haven't cut it out yet.  I guess this is one of those live and learn moments! :0)  Next I used the die tag again to cut out only about the lower third of the tag in Cherry Cobbler cs, and then embossed it with a striped embossing folder.  I distressed the tag with Tea Dye ink before attaching the tree and Cherry Cobbler layer, and then added my Wet Paint Holiday Die Merry that I embossed a little with gold.  A few sequins and some ribbon and twine finished off these vintage tags.

And with the scraps from the tags, I was able to make a bunch of mini tags...take a look:

  
Just pop dotted a little mini pine sprig (from PTI's Holiday Folk set) and some red Stickles for these tiny little tags.  Another proud moment for not wasting my scraps!! :0)

I'm entering these tags into Loll's Twelve Tags of Christmas, and also HLS November Christmas Challenge and HLS Mixed Media Challenge.

There's still time to play along with ALL of these challenges.  Loll has some absolutely STUNNING tags this year that she has made and then some gorgeous ones from her talented guest designers too.  Take the time to go and look...you won't be sorry!  And Happy Little Stampers has some beauties in their galleries right now too!  If you like to make tags, you don't need to look much further than these 3 sites for inspiration!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!

Friday, November 13, 2015

Make It Monday #230 - Cover Plate Watercoloring

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge today, where Ashley shows us how to watercolor with our cover plates.  To be honest, after seeing Ashley's beautiful card, I wanted to make one EXACTLY like hers...it is that awesome!  But, not having the tree cover plate nixed that idea right away!  So I used my circles cover plate and am very happy with the way it turned out!  Take a look:


I started by making my stencil with the cover plate and then water colored with my Aqua Painter and Scarlet Jewel, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, & Canyon Clay inks.  I should have taken a picture at this point so you could see how pretty the colors all blended together!  I wanted to use the ferns and flower from Meadow Greens, but wasn't sure how they'd look right on top of my water colored background, so I stamped the ferns on a piece of vellum in Smoky Slate ink.  Next I embossed in black my sentiment from Think Big Favorites: #24.  Then I inked up the flower and leaf stamps and then spritzed them with water before stamping them on water color paper.  I fussy cut them out and added them over the vellum.  I cut off a bit on each side of the background and the vellum layer, and then attached them to my card base with thin strips of Scarlet Jewel card stock, so you wouldn't see the glue through the vellum.  You can click on the picture to enlarge it and see a lot more of the detail.

Check out Ashley's gorgeous card and video, along with all the other entries right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!! :0)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Merry Monday #179 - Use Pink, Green, & White

Hello friends.  Today I am playing along with the Merry Monday challenge where we are being asked to use light pinks, greens, and white for our Christmas card.  I am totally in love with one of PTI's newest releases called Warmest Wishes and thought it would be perfect for this color challenge.  A little whimsical, but I love how it turned out!  Take a look:




Isn't the bear with his winter sweater just the cutest?!!  I started this card with a smooshed background with Certainly Celery ink, and then built the scene with the images from the set that I embossed in white and then painted with my Aqua Painter and more Certainly Celery ink and Pretty in Pink ink.  I added Dazzling Diamonds to most of the mountains and the stars to add sparkle and shine to this card.  The bear was embossed in black so he would stand out, along with the sentiment and the stars. 


Hope you'll all play along with Deanne's challenge and have some fun with these soft colors.  And make sure you check out all the inspiration from the design team this week too...they're all awesome!  You can find all the info to play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Monday, November 9, 2015

City Crafters Challenge #287 - Dye It (or Die It)

Hello friends.  Back with week two of being the Special Guest Star over at the City Crafters Challenge Blog, and this week the challenge is all about using your dies.  That's it...just dies!  No stamping, no DSP, nothing but dies!  That is a challenge, right?!!  After I started thinking about it though, the ideas started floating, and I came up with this relatively quick and easy card!  Take a look:


I started with a kraft card base, and then die cut the word "thankful" from PTI's Counting My Blessings many times, also with kraft cardstock.  I spaced the words out and glued four of the die cuts to my card base, and then glued additional die cuts (I think I layered 5 altogether) to the 2nd thankful for more dimension.  Before I glued down the top one, I sponged it using distress ink (Walnut Stain), so that it would stand out from the other three.  Next I die cut 3 leaves from PTI's Phrase Play #7 from Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, & Cherry Cobbler cardstocks, and then lightly gilded the edges with gold embossing powder.  I tucked all 3 of them under the "h" and then wrapped a piece of twine around the letter "h" also.  I die cut a couple small leaves from PTI's Polka Dot Parade #6 and randomly glued them down to look like they were falling from the thankful tree.  This really was an easy card...the longest part was doing all the die cuts!



Hope you will join in this week, and see what you can come up with using just your dies and your imagination!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)    

JOY





Hello friends.  I have been on a real Christmas tag kick lately, so hope you're not sick of looking at them yet, as I still have LOTS of ideas floating around in my head!!  My tags today are considered a "mixed media" tag, so I am going to play along with the very talented Loll and her Twelve Tags of Christmas event.  Take a look:




I started with Real Red cs and PTI's Basic Bookmark #2.  I stamped with Real Red ink using SU!'s retired background stamp En Francais, and then embossed in gold the tree's from Tim Holtz's Holiday Joy stamp and die set.  The deer is also another Tim Holtz die and I sponged him with distress inks.  The embossed snowflakes in gold and white are from the new Catherine Pooler SOA holiday box, and the joy die cut is from WPlus9's Hand Lettered Holiday.  A few sequins and ribbon from my stash finished off these tags.  They are a little bit brighter in my photos than they are IRL...I struggle with photographing anything in red, so just imagine them a tad bit deeper red.  I really like how these turned out and can't wait to see them on my Christmas packages! 

   
You can check out all of Loll's beautiful tags (and those of her designer friends too!) right HERE, and also play along.  There is a bounty of gorgeous inspiration here and you definitely don't want to miss it!

I am also entering these tags into the HLS November Christmas Challenge, and also their newest Current Mixed Media Challenge.

                                          

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!! :0)

Friday, November 6, 2015

Merry Monday #178 - Red & Gold

Hello friends.  Playing along with Merry Monday where this week the challenge is to use red & gold.  Simple, right?  Apparently not for me!  My first card came together rather quickly and I was quite please with how it came out.  Except that I couldn't photograph it to save my life!  And up till today we had all kinds of sunshine, so I have no idea why I couldn't get a good shot!  So made another card last night, and have spent a good part of the morning trying to photograph this one too...maybe it's just the combination of those colors?  Oh well, it is what it is!  Here's my second try:



I started with PTI's Basic Bookmark #3 and Real Red cs, and then stamped using Real Red ink Heidi Swapp's music background.  Next I used Tim Holtz's Festive stencil with Delicata Golden Glitz ink and stenciled over the music background.  I attached a sheer gold ribbon and a Tiny Tag star (PTI) to the tag, and then pop dotted the tag to a kraft layer that I ran through with an embossing folder from The Paper Studio.  I also sponged the embossed layer with the Delicata Golden Glitz ink...IRL this ink just shimmers and shines! 

There are some absolutely stunning examples from the design team this week and from the players too.  You can check it all out right HERE. 


Thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do!

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Make It Monday #229 - Fabric Strip Christmas Trees

Hello friends.  Playing along with Melissa Phillips and Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge today, where we make a fun little Christmas card using fabric strips. 

I had made a bunch of quilted Christmas ornaments last year, and had plenty of fabric to tear into strips for this cute little tree project.  Even though it's kind of a bulky little card, it would be great for hand giving with a little gift or plate of goodies!  Here's how mine came out:


You can click on the picture to enlarge it and see up close all the little add ons.  My tree had to go through a few hair cuts before it was a size that would fit on my card, but it still ended up being a quick and fun project!  I used a tag from Tiny Tags and also a piece of the plaid DSP from the new Holiday Plaid Collection.  I also added some stamped stars using the stamp from Warmest Wishes.  A few buttons tied with twine, and a gold star, and some sponging around the edges finished off my card.

You can check out Melissa's video and sweet little card right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

City Crafters Challenge # 286 - Getting Ready for Christmas



Hello friends.  I've been honored and humbled to be asked by Kirsty Vittoe to be the Special Guest Star of the City Crafter Challenge Blog for the month of November.  So for the next 4 weeks I will be playing along with the challenges, and for this first week of November, the challenge is all about Getting Ready for Christmas! 



I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to break out my new SU! embossing folder (Woodland Textured Impressions) to make my background.  I ran Smoky Slate cs through my Big Shot with the embossing folder, and then lightly inked up the raised birch tree images with my Versamark pad, added white embossing powder and then heat set it.  I added in black the horse and sleigh using a die from PTI's In The Meadow, along with a few of the birds from the same set die cut in Real Red cs.  My little stitched circle (My Favorite Things) was also die cut from Real Red cs, and then stamped with the be very merry from SU!.  I added a few sponged holly leaves from PTI's Holly Jolly die set in Smoky Slate cs to the top of the stitched circle along with an enamel dot and some red & white bakers twine.  I'm guessing this couple in the sleigh is off to hunt for that perfect Christmas tree to get their home ready for the holidays! :0)



I hope you'll all take the time to go check out the designers cards for this weeks challenge and then why not play along and get ready for Christmas by getting your cards started now!  You can find all the information you need to play along right HERE.  

                                                             Take it, it's yours

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)

Monday, November 2, 2015

Jingle All The Way Tags

Hi friends.  Just a quick post today, but wanted to share a few more tags I've made (you'll be seeing a lot of them in the next 2 months as I LOVE making them!!) using the Birdie Brown images in the Jingle All The Way stamp set from My Favorite Things.  LOVE the facial expressions on these cute little Santa's!  Take a look:





I stamped all three of these cuties on white cardstock, colored them with Copics, and then fussy cut them out.  My tags were die cut with a Casual Fridays die that I received with my first Catherine Pooler SOA box, and then I stamped the bottom of each tag with the candy cane stripe border stamp from the Winnie & Walter stamp set (Holiday Trimmings) that came with the 2nd SOA holiday kit by Catherine Pooler.  I attached each of the Santa's to the tags and added some red and white bakers twine to finish them off.  Oh, and a little glitter to their hats and beards. :0)  Quick and easy!! :0)

Edited to add:  adding this post to Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do! :0)