Two Christmas gifts

Hi.  A very short post today, to share 2 framed layouts that I created for 2 of our nieces.  Now that they've unwrapped their gifts, it's safe to post the photos here!  It was difficult to get good photos because of the glass...so many reflections.  But I still wanted to share.

You wouldn't believe how long it took me to create these.   I know.  You've heard that from me before, huh?  But the time was SO worth it.  It's something I loved doing!

I hope the girls liked them.

For this one stayed with neutral colors, with a few accents of blue to coordinate with the blue background in her photo.  She's in chorus and likes reading and butterflies...so I incorporated a sheet sheet music printed vellum as the background.  Then I matted her photo with a piece of an old book page.  Then the scattering of butterflies.

For the second layout I used her favorite colors...the colors in her bedroom.  Pink and yellow.  I used some banner die cuts, a star border and a zig-zag border punch.

I used the same sentiment stamp for both layouts because I love the message.

"Take a moment to remember how special you are & how lucky the world is to have you in it."  It is so appropriate for 2 nieces that we love so much!

The stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

Thank you for taking a look today!

Merry Christmas with snowflakes

Hi, I'm finally back. It's been almost 2 weeks since my previous post.  I keep thinking that I've finished making all the Christmas cards that we need.  Then I realize I've forgotten 1 or 2 people.  I *think* this is my final card for the season.  This one is going to our paper carrier with a little something inside.

I'm playing along in 2 challenges.

The Paper Players #126 - Ann's CAS challenge, featuring snowflakes

Retro Sketches #42

Here's my take on that challenge combo!

You know what?  I began with the intention of making this a masculine card.  Hence the blue and brown color choices.  Because our paper carrier is a guy.  Um.  I'm thinking I should have stopped myself from adding those pretty blue gems.  So pretty.  But not "manly".

Well.

I guess that's Stanley's problem now.

Cause I just can't bring myself to remove those bits of bling.  No.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.  I appreciate all of my visitors!  Merry Christmas and Peace Be With You.

The recipe:

Card stock: marina mist, whisper white, early espresso (SU) white vellum (The Paper Studio)

Ink: early espresso (SU)

Stamps: love lives here - holiday (PTI)

DSP: festival of lights pack (SU)

Other: blue gems (The Paper Studio), damask snowflake die, snowflake medley die (PTI)

Merry Christmas - Just Us Girls Challenge

Ahhh.  Today is proving to be much more relaxing than yesterday.  Why do I push myself to get so much done in ONE day?  Anyway.  After addressing all of those cards yesterday, I realized I needed 2 more Christmas cards.  I created this one last night, but couldn't photograph until today.

If you receive my blog post through email, click HERE to read directly on my blog.

This one is also going into the Just Us Girls Challenge #166 - Technique challenge, embossing

I still had my heat tool on my craft table, so I chose heat embossing again. Besides...it's so much fun to watch that embossing powder melt into shiny-ness.  Really.

I embossed the leaf images and the sentiment in gold embossing powder.  Then I used my Wild Wasabi marker to color all of those tiny open areas within the leaves.  This is one of those techniques that I forget to use often, even though I enjoy it.  Very easy card to make and to mail.

Thank you for taking a few moments to stop and look.  I hope you're enjoying your Sunday.

Later!

Supplies:

Card stock: white (PTI)

Ink: wild wasabi (SU), versamark

Stamps: harvest berries (PTI), greetings of the season (SU)

Other: gold embossing powder (SU)

Merry Christmas - 2 challenges

Hey, happy weekend.  It's been such a busy weekend so far, that I haven't had a chance to relax yet.  Hopefully, after I've finished this post I'll settle into my recliner for the rest of the evening...and do NOTHING.

So, when I finished addressing Christmas cards today, I realized that I needed 2 more.  So this little number is one of the cards that (I hope) finishes my stack of cards that will go off the the post office on Monday.

I'm playing along in 2 challenges.

CASology week #22 - Sparkle (oh yes, I love sparkle)  This challenge blog is new to me, and I'm really excited to play along.  You should take a look at the inspiration provided by the design team!

Just Us Girls #166 - Technique Challenge {embossing}  I enjoy both heat embossing and dry embossing, so it didn't take me long to decide to play along with the girls this week.

I combined these 2 challenges into this Christmas card.

Guess what?  This card came together so quickly, that I wondered if something was wrong. Ha!  Really, though, I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  It was easy AND fun.

I used a set of star dies from WPlus9 for the focal panel, then I adhered a piece of champagne glimmer paper - very glittery - behind the panel.  The sentiment is heat embossed with champagne embossing powder.  After that I just popped up this panel with foam tape onto the card base and I was done.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.  I hope you'll leave a comment; I love hearing from my visitors!

Supplies:

Card stock: basic black, champagne glimmer (SU)

Ink: versamark

Stamps: Christmas blessings (PTI)

Other: clear cut stacker dies - stars (WPlus9), champagne embossing powder (Recollections), foam tape, scor-tape, anti-static bag

Holiday Hugs - a Christmas Card

Just a quick post tonight to share a card I made yesterday for 2 challenges.  The evening got away from me, so I had to wait until tonight to post.  Those weekends go SO fast.

CR84FN68 Color Challenge

Retro Sketches - rs#40

I made this card for one of my very special Aunts.  I think she'll like it!

I didn't have any natural light to take these photos, so the burgundy looks a bit washed out.  It's much richer in real life.  I did a lot of layering and embellishing on this card.  And it was fun.  Lots of fun!

I'll list my supplies below.  Gotta go.

Toodles!

Supplies:
Card stock: basic gray, naturals ivory, bravo burgundy, silver glimmer paper (SU)
Ink: smokey gray, onyx black (Versafine), cranberry crisp, basic gray (SU)
Stamps: BB:Postmarks, button boutique, love lives here-holiday (PTI)
Die: button card die collection (PTI)
Other: pewter stick pin (Jenni Bowlin), wine organdy ribbon, linen thread (SU), cream pom pom trim (from my stash), mini wooden spool (Maya Road), thread, scor-tape, foam tape, glue dots

Merry & Bright

If you're receiving my blog posts via email, click HERE to read directly from my blog.

I'm sharing a card that I made for several challenges.  The challenge that really jump started this card is the Moxie Fab World Challenge - Keen On Neon.  Rarely do I use neon colors on my projects/cards...but the inspiration that Cath provided was simply irresistible, so I just had to give it a try!

I'm using the colors from Color Throwdown CTD220.  SO pretty, and perfect for going neon.

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C #165 - Create a card that features a snowman.

The Paper Players Challenge #124, Ann's Theme Challenge - Snowmen

I recently saw a tri-fold card made by Julie Ebersole, on Ellen Hutson's Classroom.  That card inspired me to make this card.

I embossed the snowflakes in turquoise, citron and cherry after die cutting a window in the front of my card.  From there, I knew where to place my die cut, snowman stamped, panel (matted in cherry).  I colored the little guy's hat and scarf in cherry, also.  Then added a bit of stickles to the pom pom and trim of his cap.

I stamped a sentiment inside the card, on that center panel.

This card was a little difficult to photograph.  It refused to stay closed!  You'll see in one of the photos that I got a little help from one of my snowman decorative figures.  It worked!

Thanks for taking a look today!

Supplies:

Card stock: white (PTI), cherry cobbler (SU)

Ink: basic black, cherry cobbler (SU), versamark, jet black staz-on (Tseukineko)

Stamps: merry & bright (SU), snowflake medley (PTI)

Embossing powder: cherry cobbler, tempting turquoise (SU), citron (Recollections)

Dies: classic rectangles large (Spellbinders), clear cut stackers pinking squares (WPlus9)

Other: crystal stickles (Ranger), heat tool

Let Earth Receive Her King - a card for the Dynamic Duo challenge

Well, I'm back for one more post this evening.  My long holiday weekend is almost over...back to work tomorrow.  So, I'd better make this quick!

I'm playing along in the Dynamic Duos DD#30 Challenge - Midnight Muse & Silver

For anyone reading this post in an email, you can click HERE to read directly from my blog.

Midnight Muse is one of my favorite new SU colors, so I knew I wanted to get in on this challenge.  I'm almost done creating this year's Christmas cards.  So, in order to accomplish that, I wanted to stay with some simple designs and cards that would be easy to mail.  I made several cards today, using this same layout.  Just changing the color combos.  I made two cards using baja breeze and always artichoke. A very pretty combo, too.

I cut a mask from a piece of copy paper, using a spellbinders oval die.  Using that to cover my heat embossed sentiment, I randomly stamped various snowflakes from SU's Serene Snowflakes set in Midnight Muse and Basic Gray.  The sentiment is from SU's The Sounding Joy, by the way.  A few drops of silver liquid pearls added a little extra dimension.  The white was then adhered to a piece of SU brushed silver card stock.  Then I used foam adhesive to attach it all to a base of Midnight Muse card stock.

Thanks so much for stopping in to take a look.  I appreciate it!

A One Layer Christmas Card

Hi, just a quick post to share a one-layer card that I made yesterday.  I wanted to experiment with stamping- off multiple times from one inking.  I'm adding this card to Jackie Rockwell's one-layer holiday card challenge #1.

I cut a "slope" from a piece of scrap card stock to use as a mask for my sledding hill.  Then, I sponged the sky with Bashful Blue ink (SU).  I inked the little sledding stamp with Midnite Muse ink(SU), stamping multiple times without re-inking.  I'm pleased with the results!  I added stamped some stars and a sentiment (PTI) and I was done.  I'm now thinking that I should have placed the sentiment a little higher, it seems a little lost...hmmm.  Too late now, huh?

Thanks for taking a look!

Fabulous! A birthday card for CAS(E) this sketch!

As promised, I'm back with my 3rd post for today.  I think this beautiful, sunny and warm weather gave me some stamping energy!  Why don't I get that energy when it's time to do the house cleaning???

Enough about me.

I'm sharing a card that I made for the challenge at CAS(E) this sketch! - cts#6 by Lisa Arana

I made a list recently of some color ideas that I want to use...and this is one of them.  Sahara Sand and White.  I love the bright, clean look of this color combo.  And, I thought this sketch was just what I needed to bring it all together.

This is what I came up with.

I had also been wanting to use this SU chevron embossing folder that I got (earned, actually) recently.  Yeah, I'm liking this texture combined with these colors.  A lot.

I embossed the flowers with some Champagne embossing powder from Michaels.  I wanted a color that was close to the Sahara Sand card stock, but gold was too bright.  This worked much better.  Oh, I added a few drops of platinum Perfect Pearls to the centers of the flowers.  Such a soft look.

Well, I'd better finish this post and get back to the holiday movies that I mentioned in my previous post!

Thanks for spending a few minutes at my blog.  I truly appreciate my visitors and I love reading all comments!

Supplies:
Card stock: white (PTI), sahara sand (SU)
Ink: basic black (SU), Versamark
Stamps: flower fields (Stampendous), signature greetings (PTI)
Other: chevron embossing folder (SU by Sizzix), champagne EP (Recollections), platinum perfect pearls (Ranger), 3M foam tape

You Rock! Retro Sketches #38

Hey, I'm back with the second of 3 (count 'em...3) posts for today.  This has been a nice relaxing Sunday.  My husband and I have been watching Christmas movies (I know...already!) on the Hallmark channel, while I stamp.  So nice :o)

So, I'm sharing a card that I made for the Retro Sketchs #38 challenge.

In October I attended a Stampin' Up! party.  One of the new products that our (favorite) demonstrator, Kris, showed us was the Core'dinations card stock and the sanding blocks.  Well I brought home the panel I embossed, and sanded and I've been looking for the right card to use it.  I needed to make a masculine card today, and this panel was just what it needed!

This card came together quickly, and it's pretty straightforward.  A couple of layers, some foam tape, 3 brads and a sentiment.  That just about covers it.  I'll list my supplies below.

Thanks for taking a look today!

Supplies:

Card stock: island indigo, very vanilla, early espresso

Ink: early espresso (Stampin' Up!)

Designer Series Paper: festival of prints stack (SU)

Stamps: grunge me  (Papertrey Ink)

Other: double ended banner die (PTI), Christmas mint brads (s.e.i.), foam dots

A Christmas card to share.

Hello...happy Sunday!

I'm sharing another Christmas card that I made for my stash.  I saw a printed invitation on Pinterest that gave me the idea for this card.  Click HERE for the link.  I saw that invitation a week ago, and I just had to use the idea for a Christmas card.  It turned out even better than I imagined.  I think the patterned paper I used is what really makes this card...well, along with the banners :o)   And, I love these colors together.

Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla card stock.  Yummy holiday colors.

After stitching the banners onto the focal panel, I tied the ends of the thread in little bows.  You may not be able to see it in my photos, but I ran a Stardust glitter pen along the top of each banner and through the border of the sentiment.

That designer series paper that I used to mat the panel, is from my new favorite paper stack...Festival of Prints (SU).  These papers are so versatile because they can be used for most any card...not just Christmas cards.

Well, that's it.  Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!