Card Gift Set

Yes, I am still making Christmas gifts! Thank goodness our festivities are spread out over the course of the week. We were at the in-laws last night for dinner and left the boys with them until we return on Saturday. DH and I worked a half day today and then set about doing errands and puttering around the house. It feels so good to just stamp or work without having to worry about dinner or putting kids to bed. I was so productive which makes it even more satisfying. The boys had a chance to have a play date with some old friends which they were so looking forward to.

I made a set of cards as part of my MIL gift. I did two of each of the following designs. I didn't do a lot of embellishments so they aren't a hassle for her to send out. I used various pieces from the Porcelain Prints designer paper. I really like the color scheme of that paper, it's very soothing. They each use a scallop border that I created with a Martha Stewart border punch I got at Michaels. I like how it punches and embosses and fit the look of my cards perfectly. The stamp sets I used were Roses in Winter, Garden Silhouettes, It's your Birthday and Fancy Flexible Phrases. The FFP is such an awesome set, I can't believe SU never put it into the catalog. The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Don't forget to place your orders for retiring stamps, there are only a couple of days left. I just double checked my own list and placed an order for some of the plastic storage cases. I use them to store my miscellaneous stamps and embellishments. They are also great for storing card projects in process.

Thanks for stopping by.

Square Pair

After Christmas greetings!! I hope your day was filled with joy and you were surrounded by those you love! We had a nice relaxing day at our house, the in-laws were here to celebrate with us. We ate too much that is for sure and we don't even cook on Christmas!

Hubby bought me a beautiful KitchenAid food processor! I have been eyeing a food processor for several years but can never bring myself to spend the money. He said the deal was too good to pass up. I can't wait to try it out. My other gifts were all stamping related! I am so excited to have gotten a Scor-Pal and some Spica glitter markers!! I had to try out the Scor-Pal before the day was over.

Here is what I came up with... I took a 6" square of shimmer white card stock and scored it diagonally into a grid pattern. You could use a ruler and bone folder or a scoring blade on your Fiskars cutter if you don't have a Scor-Pal. I punched a 1 1/4" square out of a sheet of copy paper and used that as a mask to sponge on color. I used soft sky, wild wasabi and river rock inks. I then cut it into 2 pieces to use on my cards. Everything on these cards is SU except the white Liquid Pearls I used on the left card.

The card on the left uses Stem Silhouettes and Everyday Flexible Phrases. The card on the right uses Embrace Life and Celebrate Everything, both sets in the upcoming catalog. Click on the photo for a close up. The card stock is the same as the inks. White grosgrain ribbon finishes them off.

I can't wait to try the Scor Pal out on some boxes. We are off to Rochester for a dinner with family and friends. Maybe tomorrow will be more time to play.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's a Boy!

How are you?? I hope that as Christmas nears you are finding yourself ready and not over stressed. I am finding I have to choose this mindset rather than it just coming to pass. One of my pastors favorite things to say is, "breathe in, breathe out". I rather hate it when he tells ME that but I do need those reminders, LOL!
This afternoon we leave to go see my brother's family for 2 days. They welcomed their second son into the world on November 29th. We are all very anxious to see the new baby! I had made birth announcements for their first son and asked if she wanted some this time as well. I had purchased a 6x6 pack of Cosmo Cricket paper called Little Boys. At the time I had no particular plan for it but just loved the color scheme and worn look of the paper. I showed it to Melissa along with some ideas and she chose this airplane stamp from the now retired SU set, Toy Box. The colors were dictated by the patterned paper. I had parts of the design done but life and Christmas cards took front stage these last two weeks. Since we are going to see them today I was pressed into action last night. Lucky for me I had the energy and desire to make it a fun process. When it came time to type up all the info on the computer I was struck with the idea of doing it flight related to coordinate with the airplane. You should be able to read it or click on the photo for a larger view, but here is what it says

Announcing the arrival of

Logan Daniel_______

On flight 11.29.2007

Arrival time 3:51am

Baggage dimensions

7 lbs 2 oz

19.5 inches

Co-Pilots Chris & Melissa

Ground Crew Ethan

Sometimes a plan comes together and makes you smile!! I hope they like it! I printed it up on SU's vellum cardstock and set the ink with my heat gun. (after smearing the first 2!) There is a 3/4" strip of card stock that I ran through a Cuttlebug embossing folder so could I place my adhesive under that strip to keep it from showing through the vellum. I really need a circle punch to layer with the 1 3/8" one I have, I wanted to layer the airplane but have nothing close that would work. That would be my only complaint on these. There are dimensionals to pop up the circle. They plan to attach a photo to the left side to finish it.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Have an "ice" day!

The Dirty Dozen has started doing monthly challenges. It is open to all current and former DD. Each month we have a theme, a required element and a restricted element. This month was a penguin theme, the required element was ice of some kind and the restricted element was blue. What??!! Ice and no blue?? That is a challenge!

Well, put on your sunglasses, friends, my card is full of bling!! I knew I wanted to use this stamp by Whipper Snapper. I love the larger size of it and that I could do some coloring. My penguin selection is decent but most of them are smallish in size. I embossed it in black EP and watercolored him with a combination of watercolor crayons and inks. The ice is Icicle Stickles and it does look icy blue, but believe me it's just the Stickles. As much as I wanted to sneak a bit of blue in, I didn't cheat, LOL! I used Liquid Applique for the snow. I did use a snowflake stamp around the penguin that I embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. And it's all on shimmer white card stock. I couldn't let it rest there, though, I used the Cuttlebug snowflake folder on the pomegranate panel and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a Quickie Glue pen. The faux ribbon on the bottom uses a polka dot border stamp by Denami Designs. The silver accent is a Cuttlebug small embossing folder in a circle shape. I used silver card stock and cut off the corners so it wouldn't overwhelm the space. I highlighted the "cool" words with a black glaze pen.
This card was fun to make once I got over pouting about the blue restriction, LOL.

If you have a moment you should check out the other creations by the girls. There is such amazing talent in this group and I love to see how differently people interpret the challenge elements. See them here. More will be uploaded through out the day.

Have a great day!

Christmas Ornaments

So, I showed the ornament that I made for my host club exchange. The ladies were kind enough to send me theirs and the package arrived on Saturday. It was like Christmas!! I was so thrilled and awed by the beautiful ornaments they made!! I just had to brag on them a bit and show them to you!

The first one was made by Bev. It is one of those swinging ones, the proper name escapes me at the moment! I think the snowman is a Cornish Heritage Farm stamp. It says Merry Christmas on the other side. I love how the star is popped up and the little gems hang from the bottom. Isn't it wonderful??




The next one was made by Bonnie. She actually made a cute ensemble. She used gorgeous paper and a beautiful teal shimmer paint on the box and ornament. The jewels dress it up so pretty. Inside the box are really small wooden cubes that spell out "Joy".



The next one is from Gloria. She was one of the pastors DH worked with at our last church. Wait til I tell you her clever idea! She found sanding blocks that had a burgundy surface on them. The centers are gray foam. She covered the front with a stamped image and dressed it up with ribbon. But after enjoying it on the tree, it can be used to distress a stamping project! Isn't that the bomb??!!












Next up is Karen. Her and I love snowmen so this was so appropriate!! The mulbery type paper doesn't show up like I had hoped but the red and green colors and glitter are so perfect! She also used sparkly ribbon to tie it all together. That little snowman is one of my fav's he is so cute!







Last but not, least is Sue. She has been stamping way longer than me and has such great ideas. I had tried unsuccessfully to master these paper stars but Sue was able to do it. She used this beautiful ivory and gold paper and made it 3 dimensional by adhering 2 stars together. It is so fancy!



These ladies are such a joy to me. Now that I have moved, I look forward to those monthly get togethers when we have host club. We pack a lot into 2 hours!
Thanks ladies, I really love all of your ornaments. You are amazing!

Snowman Ornaments

Last year I ordered an ornament kit from Ellen Hutson's store. I never found the time to make them until this year. The kit came with frames, frosted glass and a stamp of my choice from the Lockhart ones she carries. I followed the instruction she included in the kit. Boy, were these fun to make! I had never worked with the frosted glass before and I just love the look of the clear embossing over the frosted side. I stamped the snowman in black onto white card stock and used Prismacolor pencils and my small assortment (5) of Copic markers to color them in. Once I had them colored it was just a matter of assembling them and adding a ribbon hanger.
I made these to exchange with my host club this month. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented us from meeting but I have sent the ornaments out for them. I hope I gave enough time so I haven't spoiled the surprise for them!

Tomorrow is the unveiling of a new Dirty Dozen gallery. This months theme challenged us all but you will find something for everyone I am sure!
Thanks for stopping in!

Again??!!

I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow since I am working so I'm posting again today. I am sure you don't mind!

Anna, aka SweetMissDaisy, posted a sketch challenge on her blog and it was just the springboard I needed. Mr. Brown stopped by my house this morning with a box of new goodies and one of the things I ordered was a host level 2 bundle called, Spring Solitude. I loved that it came with a matching wheel. The stamp set itself is a bit weird, I think, it has some nice flowers and then this bird and a branch. It makes me feel like singing the Sesame Street song "one of these is not like the others". Boy, I hope you don't have that tune in your head all night now, LOL! Anyhow, I was determined to use the set without adding any stray stamps into the mix. Doesn't it look like it belongs on the Partridge family tour bus??? The colors and design are a bit out of the box for me and I am not entirely sure I like it. The groovy guava panel is wheeled with the coordinating wheel called, Solitude, using purely pomegranate ink. Part of the sketch was to round the 2 corners. I wanted to use the bird and the branch but there was way too much white space for my liking so I stamped the 3 flower stamp in sky blue for a subtle backdrop. I think that flower stamp makes a great background. The sentiment is the only one in the stamp set so I didn't have a choice there. I added a bit of pomegranate ribbon, used the ticket corner punch on the main panel, popped it onto dimensionals and called it good.

I like to try to make at least a few samples where I only use the stamps that come in the set. This gives people/customers a good idea of the possibilities.

Thanks for stopping by!

Makin' Stuff...

with my two sons. We have been making ornaments the last couple of years for them to give out at Christmas. This year they saw someone at AC Moore making Pearl Ex ornaments and they were excited to try them. Now mind you my boys are 9 and 11 and sometimes don't have the patience crafts require, but I give them an A for effort! It seemed simple enough, spray the inside of a round glass ornament with adhesive spray, add some Pearl Ex and shake it until it is fully covered. The spraying ended up to be a bit trickier than it looked. If you spray too much you get splotches and streaks where the glue builds up. But for a 9 and 11 year old I think their efforts came out pretty good. You an see by the bottom right ornament what I mean by splotching. We added a blue and a silver color to that one and the two tone looks great if it weren't for the wad of blue on the one side. I think my favorite is the burgundy one. We added burgundy Pearl Ex but needed to add more so we decided to add some gold and now it has a beautiful marbled look that is oh so classy looking. They were impressed with their efforts and that's all that counts.



Last month at host club we covered some of those containers I got from my SIL. We used the Wintergreen designer paper. In addition to the paper, we used sage shadow card stock for the tops, the scallop circle punch and celery grosgrain ribbon for an accent on the top. The ribbon acts as a pull to remove the lid. We adhered everything with sticky strip for a quick and mess free project. At the time we filled them with candy but we brainstormed other ideas for what to fill them with. Ornaments were suggested. The ornaments the boys made fit perfectly with just enough room for some tissue paper. I think the presentation will be lovely and then they will have a way to store them after the holidays or they can re purpose the container for something else. I love it!

Baby Cards

I was asked to make a baby card for someone having twins, a boy and a girl. I bet that would be a difficult card to try to find off the store shelf! I was up for a challenge eventhough I am a bit limited in the baby stamp department.

The first card I made used the SU hostess set, Eventful. Those peas in a pod are too cute! I figured celery was a neutral color for a baby card, personally yellow is not a favorite color. I used the celery Prints DP for the front, the polka dots were calling my name. The peas were stamped onto celery, bashful blue and pretty in pink. I cut them out and layered them onto a white scallop oval. The peas are on dimensionals and the edges are sponged just a bit. Since I definitely didn't have an appropriate sentiment for twins, I created my own using Karen Foster snap stamps, I think these were the 1/4" size casual ones. I used the Making Memories button brads in the corners.

I was going to leave it at one card but at the last minute did a second. Choices are good. This one has a completely different feel to it. I used a Fabriano notecard, those are wonderful for coloring. I stamped the stork from Buggies and Booties twice, one is delivering a girl and the other a boy. It is a simple card that gets it's wow factor from the notepaper and watercoloring. Of course stamped envelopes to match make it fun too!

I hope they fit the bill!

Thanks for stopping by, have a marvelous Monday!

Be Good Part ll

Good Sunday morning to you! Here is the second set of cards I made with the sheet of Cosmo paper. I did a bit more variety on these ones. Like yesterdays cards, these are a vanilla base, mellow moss, pieces of the designer paper and accents of chocolate chip.
Snowflake: I embossed the large snowflake with vanilla EP and rubbed some mellow moss over it for depth. The center has a small brown brad. I added the Denami stitching stamp and some chocolate grosgrain ribbon.
Moose cards: one uses the trees from the retired, Pines, set and the other the tall pine tree from Lovely as a Tree. The trees were stamped in mellow moss and accented with an artichoke marker. The moose is stamped in chocolate craft ink and embossed in clear EP. The bottom card also has a faint stamping of the geese from the Pines set. The last card uses a stamp from Block Party. I inked it in mellow moss and used artichoke and chocolate markers to highlight some of the lines. The ribbon is the taupe grosgrain ribbon that SU retired last year. Come to think of it the chocolate grosgrain is also no longer available in the narrower size. I thought that was a big mistake on SU's part and I stocked up while I could.
I like the more subdued colors of these cards and that they would be good choices for men in my life.
I am off to church! Have a great day.

Holiday Cheer!

Is anyone still out there??? I am sorry to have been absent for so long. Life sorta overwhelmed me there for awhile. Truthfully, it still is but who isn't feeling it this time of year? It didn't help that I had a bit of a stamping melt down. Ever had one of those?? It's not pretty, let me tell ya! I really just needed to walk away from my craft for time.
Last night I just stamped for fun, no plan in mind. I have been eyeing my pad of Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper that I got from Jacksonbelle. I just love those vintage type papers. I made these 4 cards using the same paper. I wanted simple and not necessarily Christmas. I used the pinecone from Peaceful Wishes and the pine needles from the now retired, Pines set. The pinecones were stamped with chocolate chip craft ink and embossed with clear powder. The pine needles were stamped in mellow moss. I added some Liquid Applique and let it set overnight before heating. TIP: be careful when applying LA over top of an embossed image, if you heat it too much the LA runs as the embossing melts. I used one of my new favorite stamps for the stitching. I got it from Denami Designs on-line. It is almost the full length of a card and I love the look of the stitches and how speedy they are compared to the machine stitches! Each of my cards is finished just a bit differently. I stamped the sentiment in choc. chip craft ink and embossed with clear EP so it would show up over the paper.

Tomorrow I will post what I did with the other half of this yummy paper.

Blessings on your day!