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)

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)

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!

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)

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.  

                                                            

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

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)