Thanks so much

Hello friends.  It was time to start making a few thank you notes for some of the lovely gifts I received this Christmas, and decided to play with my new "Fair Isle Motifs" stamp set (PTI).  Am really loving this set and how easy it is to use and line everything up!  A pair of Christmas socks I own is what inspired my color combination for this card, and I really like how it turned out!  Take a look:

No sunlight here again, so my flash kind of diluted the deepness of the red, but IRL it looks much nicer!  I used SU!'s Whisper White pigment ink and Momentos Tuxedo Black ink pads to stamp my design, and then added the layer to a white card base.  I finished by adding a simple black banner that I embossed with white the sentiment from "Embroidered Blooms" (PTI) and a small white enamel dot.  Quick and easy and looks just like my socks! :0)  And even a sweater my brother had when he was much younger! :0)  Definitely a fun stamp set to use and I've already got ideas floating around in my head for Christmas cards for next year! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope all of you have fun celebrating the New Year tonight and tomorrow!   

Papertrey Ink December 2014 Blog Hop

Hello friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and loved ones! 

The blog hop challenge this month at Papertrey Ink is to use silver and gold. 

So wish I was better at photographing sparkly and shimmery!  You'll just have to trust me that IRL this tag has lots of both!!  I used the "Basic Bookmark #3" die and stamped one of the trees from "O Tannenbaum" with gold metallic ink.  (oops...first stamped a French Script background stamp lightly in kraft ink)  The 2nd stamp that puts all the dots around the tree I embossed with silver.  The star and the tree base are embossed with gold.  The dots in the center of the tree I used silver stickles.  The "joy" die cut is from the "Holiday Wet Paint" dies and I used a gold mirror cardstock for that. I lightly sponged the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink (TH) to give the tag a bit of a vintage look.  A couple gold and silver sequins, a couple sprits of iridescent gold shimmer mist, and some seam binding ribbon finished off my tag. 

You can check out all the other gold and silver creations on Nichole's blog right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by and have fun hopping!  

Make it Monday #194 - Sympathy Cards & Stamped Borders

Good morning friends.  Just a quick post today as I really should be wrapping gifts rather than stamping, but hey...I'm addicted! (not sorry about it either!)  Melissa has a beautiful card and great video on how to make a border using partial stamping this week for the Make it Monday challenge.  I had fun using the December freebie stamp set (Pretty Petals) to make my card...take a look:

I apologize that the lighting wasn't better to take my photos, but there just isn't a lot of sun in Michigan in the winter!  I used Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist inks, along with black for the leaves, flower centers, and sentiment.  The sentiment is from "Heart - 2 - Heart #10" and for my tag I used the "Tag Sale #5" die.  I know it's a busy week, but if you do have some time, make sure you check out Melissa's video and beautiful card here .

Besides stamping, I love to knit, and decided to make a "First Christmas" ornament for my granddaughter Addy.  I think this will be a fitting ornament for her 1st Christmas:

Wishing each and every one of you a warm and most blessed Christmas with your families and loved ones!

Make it Monday #193 - Camouflaging Die Cuts

Happy Friday everyone!  Hope your "to do" lists are getting smaller and you're finding time to enjoy this beautiful season!  Today I'm playing along with the talented Laura Bassen from Papertrey Ink and the Make it Monday challenge.  Laura has a great video on how to camouflage your die cuts that you can check out right here .  Really loved the look of Laura's card, so I changed mine up just a bit to a "thank you" card, as I'm going to be needing a few of them!  Take a look:

I really like how this turned out, but I think I should have used a little more "elbow grease" as Laura said to make my colors (Aqua Mist & Hawaiian Shores) a little bolder.  My die cut is from the "Counting My Blessings Die Collection", and the "for you" is from 2 of the sentiments from the "Wet Paint" stamp set that I cut apart.  The half snowflake that I embossed the edges with silver, is from the "Phrase Play #9" die. (All dies and stamps from PTI)  I added a few iridescent sequins to finish my card.

Here's a closer view of the stacked "thankful" die cuts:

Love, LOVE the look of those die cuts stacked like that! :0)  Lots of really great cards in the gallery this week, so make sure you check them out!

I'll leave you with another picture of my adorable granddaughter Addy.  I know, I know, I'm a bit prejudiced, but I'm still new to the grandma thing, and every smile she gives me just reinforces for me how wonderful and beautiful she is! :0)

One of my daughter's dogs is just in love with Addy (he's a Puggle), and I think they're going to grow up together being best buds! :0)

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do! :0)

Merry Monday #139 - Winter Wonderland Theme

Good morning friends.  Haven't played along with the good people at Merry Monday's in a while, as thanks to them, I had all my cards done late in October (wellllllllll, except for some of the insides!!).  But anyway, I was inspired by some of the beautiful cards by the design team this week, and thought this would be a good opportunity to try out one of the distress ink background technique's that I learned from a Jennifer McGuire Ink video.  Take a look:

I don't know how much more winter themed you can get with a snowflake, right?!  I inlaid the snowflake ("Fancy Flakes" - PTI) into my background that I made using Stormy Sky and Dusty Concord Distress Inks (TH).  The technique that Jennifer McGuire showed in her video was adding the water spots after blending the inks, by using PearlEx mixed with water and then flicking a paintbrush in the mixture and then onto your background.  It leaves a very subtle shimmer to your background, and unfortunately, because we get no sun here in Michigan during the winter months, almost impossible to capture with the camera...grrrrrr!  IRL it is very soft and pretty!  My sentiment was embossed with white embossing powder ("Phrase Play #9" - PTI) onto a black banner, and I added a white enamel dot to finish it off.  More of a modern and graphic design than I'm used to making, but have to admit I really kinda like this card!  :0)

Make sure you check out all the other beauties and even play along, over at Merry Monday's .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Thursday!  I get to babysit my granddaughter Addy this afternoon while her mommy finishes up some shopping...lucky me!! :0)

A Furry Christmas

Good morning friends.  How about a little canine and feline Christmas card today?  Fell in love with this stamp from Simon Says Stamp and had to have it!

 
I'm not particularly a cat lover, but this one's kinda cute with the 2 doggies all decked out for Christmas!  Simple coloring with my Copics, a little glitter, cut out with a stitched rectangle die by Lil Inkers, and mounted to a white card base...easy peasy and cute!

Hope all your Christmas preparations are going well.  I still have SO much to do...procrastinating too much lately!! (I'd rather sit by my lit Christmas tree and read!! :0)  However, I did finish addressing all my Christmas cards last night, and they are ready to take to the post office today!

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

Pompom Pal Snowman

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Celebrated Christmas with my mom's side yesterday and had a wonderful time getting caught up with a lot of my aunts, uncles, and cousins!  And my granddaughter Addy was passed around all afternoon and did just wonderful with so many new faces!  Just wished I would have remembered to take out my camera that I specifically brought to capture all those special moments...grrrrr!  Too busy talking and eating! :0)

Just a quick card to share today using PTI's "Pompom Pals" stamp set and "Fancy Flake" dies.  Take a look:

 
Isn't that the cutest little face?!  Kept my coloring very simple and just used an R29 and B000 Copic markers.  The little star he's holding is really shiny IRL and I colored that with a silver Wink of Stella pen.  My background is a new snowflake embossing folder from Darice and I also added a few diamond bling dots to the centers of some of the embossed dots.  The little star and sentiment are from PTI's "Tiny Tags" stamp and die set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday! :0)

Christmas Tree Shaker

Good morning friends.  Just a quick post today.  Here's a card I made for Calla and her roomies for Christmas using PTI's "Shaker Shapes: Tree Die".

My background is a stamp from the "Season's Greetings" (PTI) that I repeated over and over again, and the sentiment inside the tree shaker is from "Sparkle & Shine: Holiday Additions".  Fun and festive and perfect for crazy college girls! :0)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

Rustic Wreath

Good morning friends.  Sharing with you another easy to mail card today (as much as I love adding embellishments, I do NOT like paying extra postage!!).  This card is definitely a CASE of Debbie Olson's card (Thinking Inking), and I kept it pretty much the same as I just LOVED her card.  I do not have the Copic Airbrush System like Debbie used though, so I used TH Distress Inks instead to color my wreath.  Take a look:

Isn't that such a beautiful wreath?!!  I used the embossed resist technique on this card.  Started with a piece of glossy white cs and then embossed using Spellbinders M-Bossabilities Rustic Wreath.  Next I lightly tapped the raised areas with my Versamark pad and then embossed using clear embossing powder.  Using a TH Ink Blending tool, I used Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks over the whole wreath, and then using a Kleenex, wiped off the excess ink from the areas that had the clear embossing powder on them.  Love, love, love the look of the white that shows through using this technique!  I finished with some red Stickles for the berries, and a sheer bow and tag (PTI - "Tiny Tags"). 

Another busy, busy day, so off I go!  Have a wonderful day and remember to enJOY  every bit of this amazing and beautiful season...the coming of our LORD and SAVIOR!!     

JOY

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Felt like an elf this weekend being busy, busy, busy!  Yes I've known for months the projects I wanted to have made for Christmas, but it always takes till that first week in December to realize that I'm running out of time!  I did make quite a bit of progress the last 2 days though, so hopefully everything gets done on time. 

Have just a quick card to share with you today, and one that is quick and simple to make and easily mailable!  I'm using PTI's "Phrase Play #8" and DSP from Kaisercraft.  Take a look:

The die really does all the work for you...all you need to do is pick out a couple of coordinating designer papers!  Have to love something that's this quick and easy at this time of year!! :0)  I finished by simply adding a piece of cream colored bakers twine, and that's really all it needed.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll also get a better view of how the word "joy" is inlaid into the script DSP.

Lots to do today, so back to being busy, busy, busy!  Never too busy to remember what time of year this really is though, and to take time to PREPARE my heart for Christmas Day when LOVE came down.  Have a blessed day everyone and remember to seek out the JOY!

Make it Monday #191 - Glittered Frames

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday challenge where Dawn McVey shows how making a simple glittered frame can really showcase your card.  I thought this would be a great time to break out my new "PomPom Pals" stamp set, and this is what I came up with:

I used Copic R29 and B000 markers to color the image and a silver Wink of Stella pen to color the stars.  I used the largest "Fancy Flakes" die behind the circle to add a little more depth to an almost all white card.  Now I know the name of the stamp set (PomPom Pals) suggests that I should be using pompoms on my image, and that clearly is not a pompom on Rudy's nose!  I thought I had planned so well ahead and had bought a pkg. of red, white, & green pompoms (and also a pkg. of pink ones to make Addy some gift tags) before my stamp set even arrived in the mail!  However, the ones I picked up were tooooooo big!  I tried trimming it down, but then it looked like crap!  So next I tried a red sequin, but it was too small....grrrrr!! After going through my stash, I found a pkg of red glittered circle shapes that actually matched my glittered frame and fit the space for his nose perfectly...was meant to be! :0)  I added a sentiment at the bottom using a die cut from "Fabulous Frames Die Collection" and "Tag-its #9" stamp set.

Got to babysit my granddaughter Addy yesterday, and thought I would leave you with a picture showing how big she's getting.

She's 13 weeks old now, and loves to smile and jabber ALL the time...just like her momma!! :0)

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

Let it Snow

Good morning friends.  I seem to be on a roll this week with the word "snow", and that's crazy as I don't even like the stuff!!  Anyway, my card today is a total CASE of one done by Kay Miller of My Joyful Moments .  It uses the stamp sets "City Scene" and "Wonderful Words: Snow" (both PTI), and it was SO perfect just the way it was, I hardly changed anything on my copy of it!  Take a look:

Isn't that just the prettiest little scene?!!  I put my snow hill on the outside of the clear window (as opposed to the inside like Kay did), and changed my sentiment up a little, but otherwise I kept my card the same as Kay's as hers was so perfect!  And who doesn't like a shaker card?!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!! :0) 

Bring on the Snow

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  I'm in full on Christmas spirit now, and yes, that means snow!  On my cards that is...can do without the white stuff outside!!  Have another screen panel card to share with you today, using SU!'s  "Frosty Friends" stamp.  Take a look:

Don't you just love this frosty little family?!!  I stamped my panels with Night of Navy ink and used an R29 Copic marker to fill in scarves, hats, birds, etc.  And LOTS of glitter of course!  The screen cardstock is a navy blue with white speckles that I get from my local SS.  I used a Martha Stewart punch on the top for the snowflakes and all the sentiments are from PTI (Wonderful Words: Snow and Season's Greetings).

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday! :0)

Make it Monday #190 - Stamping A Plaid Background

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday?!!  Ate too much, but had a wonderful time visiting with my mom and my brother and his family! :0)

Today I'm playing along with the Make it Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  Ashley Canon Newell shows how to make a plaid background and her card was SO pretty, I wanted to completely CASE it, except that I don't have the "Background Basics: Super Stripes" stamp set to create the plaid pattern that she did.  (It's on  my wish list now!!!)  So anyway, I did some digging through my stamps, and while my card is a simple, simple CASE of Ashley's, I was quite happy with what I figured out to use to create my plaid.  Take a look and see if you can guess what I used:

 
Well...any guesses??  I actually used part of the stamp from "Boutique Borders: Baby".  The parallel lines on this stamp are only about 2 1/4" long, so I had to do some matching up to make the lines fit across the width of my cardstock panel, but if you don't look too closely, it looks ok.  I used Scarlett Jewell (stamping twice to get the darker and lighter stripes) and Simply Chartreuse inks.  I used a grosgrain ribbon to cover the edge and then pop dotted my sentiment ("Season's Greetings") that I stamped inside the "Boutique Borders: Thanks" stamp and die.  I added a few gold sequins to finish and voila!... a humble copy of Ashley's beautiful card that you can see right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I'm going into Christmas mode and pulling out all the decorations today and am excited for tonight to come when I can sit back with some Christmas music playing, gazing at the lights on the tree, and taking the time to contemplate the real meaning of the season! :0)  Last year Melissa Phillips posted a link to a video by the Piano Guys doing O Come, O Come Emmanuel that is absolutely beautiful...I probably play it every couple weeks and never get tired of it.  If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend taking the time to watch it and it really will get you into the right frame of mind for this amazing season that's now upon us.  O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Christmas Version   

Papertrey Ink November 2014 Blog Hop - #2

Hello again friends.  Just a quick entry for the "Snow" blog hop over at Papertrey Ink.  I've been making lots of tags lately, and thought this one would be perfect for the hop.  Take a look:

I started with a Tag Sale #4 die and also the snow die from "Wonderful Words: Snow".  I masked the center of the tag with the word snow, and then used some TH distress inks to color the tag.  After removing the mask, I added the "snow" I had die cut  (and embossed with silver a part of the snowflake from Phrase Play #9) with pop dots so it would stand out more.  I added a few of the silver stars from the Shakers & Sprinkles Make it Market kit to my background, and finished with a seam binding ribbon (I dyed to match), silver cording, and a snowflake sequin.

Hope you're having fun blog hopping and seeing all the great projects out there!  You can check it all out right here .

Thanks again for stopping by! :0)

Papertrey Ink November 2014 Blog Hop

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop, where the theme this month is SNOW!  And while we haven't had as much snow as the folks in Buffalo, we've had our snowiest November since they started keeping records back in the 1800's, so I feel very qualified to play along with this challenge! :0)  While I may not be thrilled with the real stuff, I do love the beauty of snowflakes, and my favorite snowflake this year is from PTI's "Phrase Play #9".  And of course falling snowflakes made me think of shaker cards.....

Because of the poor lighting, it's hard to see, but after cutting out several snowflakes in white cs, I lightly pressed them into my Aqua Mist ink pad, and then dipped the edges into my Versamark pad and embossed with silver.  The Aqua Mist on the snowflakes ties in with the "wishes" I stamped behind the shaker part of the card.  Most of the confetti is from the "Shakers & Sprinkles" Make it Market kit.  I love how my flash picked up on the sparkle of the holographic paper I used to make the shaker part of the card!  I also added a few of the rainstones to my background to finish off the card.

You can check out all the other great cards and get all the info you need to play along today right here .

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

Happy Birthday Sue!

Good morning friends.  Today is my dear friend Sue's birthday.  We have been friends since our oldest daughters (they're 25 now) started pre-school, and share the love of many of the same things (our faith, reading, music, Charlie Brown, m & m's), and of course the biggie...stamping!  So today I would like to share the birthday card I made her.  Ever since another stamping friend of mine sent me this Halloween card, I have been in love with the screen panel cards.  Checking them out on Pinterest gave me lots of ideas, and this is what I came up with:

I started with a 5 1/2 x 11 piece of Blackberry Bliss cs and scored the long way at 2 3/4 intervals.  I used the Decorative Label punch (SU!) on the bottom and the Scallop Trim Border punch (retired - SU!) on top.  I used Gina K's Pure Ivory cs to do my stamping with "Mum's the Word" and Delightful Dahlia Additions" (PTI). The die cuts are from PTI's Wet Paint.  These cards are really very easy to do and make for something not only different, but fun too! :0)

I have a really cute snowman screen panel card to share with you too, so stay tuned!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and if you'd like to wish Sue a Happy Birthday too, you can go to her blog to do that and also see all her beautiful creations. Sue's Stamping Station
  

Who Doesn't Love a Little Sparkle & Shine????

Good morning friends.  Sharing a couple more gift tags today, and who doesn't love a little sparkle & shine (aka shaker tag) on their Christmas gifts??? 

I used PTI's Tag Sale #4 die to create the background piece and the red overlay, and then used a Spellbinders circle die to cut out the center of the red overlay piece.  I stamped the background piece with PTI's "Sparkle & Shine Holiday Additions".  The confetti is red, white, & green (Hobby Lobby) and the "Shine" die cut (also PTI) was cut from silver holographic cardstock (Michaels).  Easy peasy and fun!! :0)

Here's another version using the same "Shine" die cut:

This tag started with a Tag Sale #8 die cut (PTI), and then I used a few TH distress inks to stencil the starburst (Memory Box) on.  I used the same sentiment from my shaker tag and added a few iridescent sequins to finish this simple tag.

 Got to spend some time with our granddaughter Addy this weekend and have to share a couple pictures...she is growing so much!!

She is such a happy baby and just a joy to be around!! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll be back tomorrow with a birthday card and couple of projects for PTI's blog hop.  Have a great day.

Make it Monday #189 - Impression Line Watercoloring

Hello friends.  Playing along with Erin Lincoln and Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge today.  Again, I was a little limited in my choice of dies for this challenge, but it turned out ok and I have another Christmas card to add to my stash!  I used the Songbirds stamp set and dies for my card (have I mentioned before how much I like this set?!!!), and used the branch/leaves die to partially emboss and then paint the outlines with my Twinkling H20's.  Take a look:

The 2nd photo shows the outlines a bit better, and I used my Aqua Painter with Golden Jade Twinkling H20's. (I haven't used these in years and years and years, and was very surprised to find that they still work!  Hard to tell, but IRL the outline really shimmers!)  I filled in the leaves with New Leaf ink.  I used a script background stamp and Crumb Cake ink to give a little more visual interest to this layer and also sponged the edges with Antique Linen distress ink.  I added some scraps of DSP to my card base along with some paper lace.  The banner and the birds are both from the Songbirds set.  I finished with a few dots of red Stickles for the berries. 

You can check out Erin's video and beautiful card right here .

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

More Tags....

Good morning friends.  A little bit like blizzard conditions in my "neck of the woods" today, so a good time to just stay inside and stamp, right?!  Anyway, been making LOTS of tags lately, so over the next few weeks I'll be showing them to you...hopefully you'll be inspired to make your own! :0)  The tags I'd like to share with you today are using a new to me product called Frantage Shabby White Embossing Enamel.  It's a white and gold embossing powder that you sprinkle directly to the top of your project without using any sticking agent like Versamark, and then use your heat tool from below rather than on top.  YES, it is extremely MESSY!!  And yes, there is a bit of a learning curve in using it, but the results are SO cool looking!  Take a look:

 
We haven't had much sunlight here lately, so it's hard to see the gold speckles mixed in with all the white, but IRL it is definitely there and looks so neat and "vintage-y" (is that a word???).  The trees are from a TH die, the joy die is PTI's Holiday Wet Paint, and my back ground is a faux mother of pearl technique (found on Loll Thompson's site here ).  I used Antique Linen and Tea Dye distress inks along with White Opal Liquid Pearls to create that look, along with SU!'s "Pattern" and "Script" background stamps.  Quite a process for "just tags", but I really like how they turned out, and they are going to look great on the vintage-y wrapping paper I found at Michael's in their dollar spot! :0)

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

A Little Birdie.......

Hello friends.  Just a quick post today, but wanted to share a card and some tags I made using Penny Black's  little birds from her Winter Wonderland stamp set.

Don't these birdie's just make you smile?!!  LOVE them!!  If you have any questions about what stamps and dies I used, just give me a holler! :0)

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

Peace & Joy

Good morning friends.  Been busy this week making LOTS of tags, and thought I'd share a couple using SU!'s "Ornamental Pine" stamp set.

Both backgrounds were sponged using TH distress inks (Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, & Salty Ocean), and then the first tag I embossed with white and then used a few Copic markers to color over the embossing.  (Alcohol inks like Copics will stay on heat embossing, where regular markers will not)  The 2nd tag I colored with SU! markers (Always Artichoke, Old Olive, & Whisper White) directly onto the stamp.  The embossing and Copic colors take a bit more time, but pop a bit more and I think look a little more realistic.  Finished with PTI's Holiday Wet Paint dies and a few gold sequins. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful (and warm if you're in my "neck of the woods"...COLD and snowy here!!) weekend! :0)