Winter Birthday

 Hello friends! The cold temperatures call for heavy sweaters and I have a few colorful ones to share with you today! Made of paper, of course. 

Most of my stamp supplies purchased in last months have focused on Christmas and winter themes. Seems I'd had enough of flower variations for awhile! I'm glad I've had a chance to use these fun images for a February birthday. 

The Sweater Season Dies from Concord & 9th include so many small dies to add details, like the hats, hearts, snowflakes, collars and cuffs and other elements you can see on my sweaters. That was a delightful challenge to make the sweaters unique designs. The coordinating stamps include a knit texture and other stamps to embellish the sweaters with. They also have a cute sentiment. I didn't use it here, instead I chose these sentiments from a retired PTI set. I love how it all worked together! 

What else do I love? Bright colors, stars, hearts and polka dots! Provided here by Concord & 9th card stock -  the colors are even a bit brighter IRL and pretty papers from Simple Stories. 

The Sisterhood of Crafters has a Spots and Dots challenge. A new one to me, check it out HERE. Thanks, Leslie! 

This card is a slimline ( 4 x 6.5) and follows the adorable sketch from Jaydee. I see now that I put my sentiment on the other side.

Happy to play today at The Paper Players. Stay cozy, won't you? 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft

                  Make something beautiful!  

Floral Lace

 We are awaiting ice and snow tonight in the US due to a winter storm. I'm posting a peachy floral card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge that might put us in a springtime frame of mind. 

I received the 3D embossing Piped Floral Lace folder from Altenew this week and decided to pair it with two flowers from the layering Fresh Flowers Die Set. Using a white ink pad, I brushed lightly over the embossed image to add depth. The sentiment was cut from gold foil card stock and layered over vellum. 

I'm sipping hot tea as the temps drop. Praying for those in the states who may already be without power or heat. We are told to expect almost an inch of ice, that's always the worst. Sending warm hugs. Thanks for stopping by!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Challenges I'm joining are
Beautiful Blossoms 
NBUS 
Freshly Made Sketches: 

Winter Watch and Friendship

 SNOW. The huge storm affecting most of the US is all anyone can talk about. The grocery checkouts are thronged with people buying those foods/items to sustain us should there be power outages. 

It gets really crazy here in the south. 

These birds are used to all the commotion. Just two friends hanging out. 

I'm still creating with some new-to-me winter supplies. These birdies and their winter accessory dies (SSS) could not be cuter. I'm glad to feature them today! A bit of patterned paper and a sweet sentiment and it's ready to go! 

Similarly, I was ready to go and you know how I was dreaming of snow? We found a great deal and took an unexpected 8 day get-away to Lake Tahoe! It's a truly beautiful place! We don't ski but enjoyed a bit of hiking, the mountains and the lake, and yes, LOTS of snow! And so I wrap up with the theme for today. 

I'm entering these challenges: 
NBUS - using new stuff, mine are the dies
Double D Challenge - Friends
The Paper Players - CAS  Signs of Winter
Color Hues  Blue and White

Hope you're staying safe and well, and grateful for your good friends! I am all set to snuggle in at home and craft! See you soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies: 
Simon Says Stamp - Birdie Dies and Winter Accessory Dies
Pink & Main Chill is in the Air 6x6 paper pack
Silver foil card stock for hats
Sentiments - "Keep It Cozy" C9th Sweater Season; PB Chilly Days
Platinum  Embossing powder 

 It's me! Just a quick share today. At JUGS it's word week, and they're looking for cards for encouragement. I'm sending this one out today to my dear cousin battling cancer. The supplies are from my stash and they've been there so long - I don't remember their origins. 

I loved these papers from Echo Park and probably went way overboard in using them. I ended with the heart and then thought it needed a bit more so I added the sentiment. Her heart full of faith in spite of adversity does make me smile! The sentiment is from a wonderful collection from Waffle Flower called "Sweet Lattice Sentiments." Love the fonts, I'll be using this often. 

Besides Just Us Girls

I'm linking this to Word Art Wednesday - ATG. 

Thanks so much for your visit! See you soon! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 Well, hello, I guess I am due for a new post! I'm glad that some challenges have been up and running again, I really do need the inspiration. 

I have some new things to make with and had fun coming up with today's card. 

I never know exactly why, but I could not resist this darling set from Gina K. Unless it's the **snow.** It's a theme lately. I'm on a roll here from my warm house in the sunny south. I don't ski but I sure love this happy guy heading down the slopes. The Furry Flurries is my new stamp set. 

In order to play with the design by Amy at Freshly Made Sketches I had to stamp the mirror image of the stamp. Her sketch goes downhill from right to left, but the skier when stamped normally goes downhill from left to right. Reverse stamping fixed it! This is why I love challenges so much. Had to go refresh my memory on how to do this! Jennifer (HERE) has a great tutorial. Would I have bothered if it were not for the challenge? Nope.

Happy to feature again the Snow Much Fun paper pad from Doodlebug. The sentiment strip is cut from one of the papers. 

For embellishments, there are a few die cut snowflakes, details added to the image with a Shimmer pen. The coloring was done with Copics and I fussy cut the image.

That's all for now! I love that you come to visit, hope your day is wonderful!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Entering this to : 

NBUS
Freshly Made Sketches
SSS Wednesday Challenge
Love Those Pretty Papers
The Four Seasons Challenge

Snowy scenes

 My last post for this year, hooray! And Happy New Year to you! 

I just wanted to play with the Postal Collage Die and Snowy stencil from Waffle Flower. The birthday card is not needed for a couple of weeks so I had time to try out colors and techniques with the inking.  Here's what I came up with. 

I love the mountains and SNOW *as you know* mine is only on paper although it is cold here today. This stencil is great for guy cards and I will be using it often! You may see the snow sprinkles I added with spatters of white paint.

I chose Altenew inks for the scenes as I have several variations of each color to use. The sentiment is SSS Birthday Blitz. I loosely followed the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. So thankful for their inspiration! Also linking to Simon Says: Add a Sentiment!

I couldn't think of ending the year without a huge thank you to you, my loyal readers, and crafty friends. I began 14 years ago with this blog, can you believe it? Those in the wonderful community of paper crafters have brought me joy, encouragement, laughter and brightness to my days. Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Fabulous Flower

After making and mailing a slew of Christmas cards, I brought out a new-to-me flower for my card today. I know many of you around the country and Canada are having snow and I am so dreaming of snow. However. It's warm enough where I live today to actually try sun bathing.The air conditioner is on.

I might as well take a break from making winter cards, even if only for today. Here's a fabulous bloom creation made with the Lovely Layers Coneflower Dies from Honey Bee stamps. 

The  etched dies cut four layers for this flower and the dimension is amazing. I used two shades of pink card stock, and added sponged ink to vary the color a bit for each layer. When it was assembled I added more detail with flicking with Copic markers near the base of the flower. 

The sentiment is also from Honey Bee (Riding By) stamps. 

I know it seems early to get back to card making and posting but you may know how it is - the craft space is a happy place to relax and it requires no cooking or wrapping. Taking a mid-holiday crafty breather is good! 

Thanks so much for your visit. Hope you're having a great day! I'm sending this over to NBUS and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add a sentiment.

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!