Christmas in July

 Hi, hope you're doing well. Today I have a card to share with you that is one we made at a paper crafters class that I taught for 20 ladies today. I really enjoyed being with some wonderful card makers!

I thought this card was perfect to share for the Just Us Girls Challenge. It's their Die Week and they suggest that we use a die that is Old and Forgotten. 

I chose this elegant bow die a few years ago from The Greetery. It's fragile loops had just the flourished look I wanted for the focal point. The card is a simple fold design, with a pop up gift card holder inside. The DSP is from a box store, I wish the photo enabled you to better see the foiled gold and red berries that are part of the design. 

We're almost ready for the big holiday weekend here. Just popping in for a quick post this time! Now that preparing for the class is finished, next week I will beat the heat and play/create with some new goodies. See you soon! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Spread Joy for Penny Black

 Hi friends, good to see you. It's time to celebrate my Penny Black stamps again! I have so many Christmas images and sentiments from this company that it's a delight to be inspired to add one more card to the collection at Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  I've loved being a Guest Designer this month! 

A hard challenge involves choosing which stamps to use? My new snowman came out to play today. Or should I say snow - girl? 

She was kind enough to wear pink so I could try out a non-traditional color scheme that's been on my to-make list. I combined two shades of pink and aqua using my Copic markers and Concord & 9th card stock. 

The stamps I used are Frosty Feathers (new to me) and Feeling of Christmas. I thought these went together well, although I'm looking forward to using the Frosty Feathers sentiment in the future. It says something about it never being too early for Christmas music. I think this might be a fun sentiment for a spring-time card decked out in flowers, ha!

Today's card is decked out in a trio of snowflakes and Iridescent white cord. 

Please have a look at some of the wonderful creations at the Penny Black Saturday  Challenge Blog. Those who manage the blog and those talented friends who play work so very hard! A huge thank you. 

You should check out the fabulous fun and wonderful cards at Double D

.

Also, Darnelle has hosted another beautiful year at NBUS, giving our new supplies a home to show off in. NBUS=never-been-used-shtuff

I'm sending good wishes for you to have a wonderful few days as the year comes to an end. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Santa is in the house!

 I've had a line up of Christmas cards for you, but for today's post Santa is making his first appearance. I found this die in my stash - don't remember who made it, but it came out to play. Or, I guess I should say, HE came out to play!

Again, I found a sketch and it prompted me to search for just the right elements. Much thanks to Freshly Made Sketches for the inspiration. 

I added a few shadows to his beard with markers, a bit of glitter for the hat and nose, and snowflakes embossed on the background. The sentiment and stitched circle die are from The Greetery. 

It's strange to me to post on Saturday night, but I need to get this in the gallery at Freshly Made. Thanks so very much for your visit! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Let's Skate for Penny Black

 How happy I was to be invited as a Guest Designer at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for December. I'm always happy to play with their wonderful stamps and dies, especially for the holiday season. The challenge is always Anything Goes, and this month there is an option of Snow. It's up to you! 

I featured a few snow flakes and an ice skating theme. My card uses the Let's Skate Dies and the Jolly Snippets transparent stamps set. 

I love the sentiments used in this set - there are 26 sayings that are short in length, beautifully scripted and so easy to layer as I did for my tag. Especially nice is the inclusion of some phrases that are more general in nature, not just for the holidays but for winter as well. 

These skates are so fun to use and just the right size! I die cut two of only one skate so they would hang in tandem but it's nice that PB has a die for each: a left skate and a right skate. I used shimmer spray to add a shiny luster before die cutting in white and silver foil card stock.

I just felt like using more patterned papers recently so this Pink & Main Chill is in the Air 6x6 paper pack was a welcome addition to my stash! I realized life could just not be right without a bit more DSP for Christmas, and such pretty options to choose from. A soft silver satiny grained DSP covers the card base. 

Lastly, the tiny bit of sparkle on the snowflakes are Micro Disco Ball Sequins from Gina K. They're so small they are hard to catch but every bit worth it.  

I hope that you'll pull out your Penny Black stamps or dies and come play along!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 

Joy to you at Christmas

 It seems like I hit a roll on my preparations for Christmas yesterday. After getting into high gear most of the shopping is done! Today's focus will be decorating the tree. It just so happens that the tree in the Nostalgic Christmas set of stamps and dies (SSS) reminds me so much of Christmases past! I think it must be that teddy bear. Here's how it looks on today's card. 

Nothing fancy here, just a pretty die cut, bold stamped sentiment, a bit of DSP and sparkle! The re-inkers were used to color on watercolor card stock with a few details added with markers. 

Instead of embellishments I added the small image of stars to enhance the white space and the sentiment. 

I'm off just in time to add this to the challenge at The Paper Players!

When I saw vintage on Claire's grid I knew that I had to play. I chose vintage, patterned paper, sparkle but also got in trees, die cuts, Christmas and white. You'll want to check out the delightful inspiration from the TPP team. 

Hope your day has some sparkle in it too! Hope we can do this again soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Santa's Coming

 A happy Saturday hello from me.  The song says Santa is coming to town but as I look around stores in my community, I'd say he's already here! 

I'm not too much into Santa but this jolly guy is newly acquired and he's so cute!

I couldn't wait to feature him in the offering from Freshly Made Sketches. He's paired with a dancing penguin and the vertical word die.  This is also brand new and I know I will often use this in the holiday season. I used Copics to color. For sparkle, there's some wink of stell on his hat, and a few snowflakes.

I love this card layout I hope to use it again as it's so versatile! 

I hope your weekend is going well. It's rainy here, so I may have more crafty time!  Signing off with BIG hugs to you --

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies:  *new
Waffle Flower Overlapping Vertical Merry Word Die*, Gina K  Christmas Cheer stamps and dies*; Word stamp "Christmas is from PB stamps Christmas with Mimi

Challenges: 

Freshly Made Sketches 
NBUS
Simon Says Stamp  ATG, Gina K 
Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Santa
Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge 

Winter Wonderland for Christmas

It's a bright sunny day today, but in my craft room I'm dreaming of snowy woodland scenes. Inspired by the amazing work of Jill Foster, I've been trying some watercoloring on my Christmas cards this year using Penny Black supplies. A quick post today to show you how it's going. 

For my first card, I CASED the card that's on the back of the stamp packaging. The stamps are individual parts of a scene, and you can combine them in many different ways to arrange your composition. Masking makes even more options possible and adds depth. 

For the second card, I created my own arrangement for the scene. I added the snowy hills with card stock and used Stickles and white spatters to enhance the snow and tall pine. 

The coloring was done with Distress Ink re-inkers with some touch ups from markers. For the berries I used Crystal Effects and added a die cut bow to the leaves. 

I appreciate you checking in with me today and hope all things are going well for you. Big hugs and happy wishes. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!

Penny Black stamps used: 

First Christmas 

Scenic Layers

Woodland 

Season to Sparkle with Kindness and Joy

 Hello, I'm getting into the Christmas spirit! I'm happy to be here with a second card made just for the fun of playing in some new challenges. A new to me challenge, Christmas Craft Creations' theme is monochromatic cards. There were several entries that inspired me and a huge variety of color combos. 

I loved the idea of using pink and purples, so I searched my DSP files and found the retired paper from SU that forms the background panel for my card. 

The second challenge at 52 Christmas Countdown features one of my favorite techniques. Make a shaker card! My snowman image was stamped with Fig ink (Concord & 9th) onto white card stock and colored simply with Copic markers in rosy hues. A little ink blending around the snowman and a white snowy strip at the bottom help complete the scene. 

The new-to-me stamp and die are called Kindness and Joy from Penny Black. You can never have too many snow-people stamps, right? The sentiment is from a lovely PB set called Jolly Snippets that has some of the cutest sayings in small sizes and varied fonts.

Thanks so much for your visit today, I'm beginning to feel back in crafty rhythm again! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm adding this to the challenge at NBUS
Cut it Up Challenge Blog - Add a sentiment 
Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Joyful Christmas

How are you doing? This fall weather has given us a cool spell but the last few days of warm weather have been fabulous! 

 I've been in a stamping slump lately. I have 4 cards a month to make for DT gigs, and I make them very far ahead to avoid last minute stress. Doing it that way means I have a couple days of spurts for cards needed, and then a week or two or three goes by with no stamping. I'm not sure if I am losing my mojo or losing interest but I intend to kick myself into action with some challenges just for fun this week. 

Beginning with Just Us Girls where Nancy asks for a CAS card where we only use the center area of the card. She suggests that is easy and I agree, it was great to start with something simple. 

My hexagon dies (WPlus9) were inked with wood grain and I added a die cut border. Stamping a sentiment from SSS directly to the panel, I added a stamped image from Merry Sprigs (The Greetery) and layered three of the die cuts for extra dimension. Three simple pearls adorn the sentiment.

I will keep the stamping going and the blogging a bit short. Thanks for coming by to take a look. Your comments always boost my spirits and are so welcome!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Other Challenges entered: 

Krafty Chicks any occasion 

October Rudolph Days 

Simon Says Anything Goes

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge

Under the Mistletoe

 Hi, I took a break from decorating and wrapping to make a card today! I've been into greenery this year and there are so many dies that make it easy! The Under the Mistletoe Dies will work so well in combo with other greens, but for today I'm featuring them in a simple layout. 

I paired them with some Tartan Plaid paper and a bell of gold mirror card stock. Inspired at Freshly Made Sketches, I'll be entering this also at: 

Festive Friday  where I chose Gold, red, and Christmas 

Time Out Challenges

I'm so thankful that you stopped by today!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Dies: Under the Mistletoe by WPlus9, Merry Christmas - Birch Press Design, Tartan Plaid paper 

Candy Cane Lane Part two

 Hello, welcome back to my blog! 

If you saw yesterday's post you know I have cards three and four featuring the SimonSays Stamp card kit and Candy Cane Lane papers from Prima. 

Stripes and polka dots, what's not to love?  All it needed was a mat for the sentiment piece and a few die cut snowflakes. 

I love the next one with the bold and fine stripes. 

The Santa was cut out, including the banner and embellished with the candy canes in the kit.  I am happy to have used all the paper up except for a few scraps left. 

I hope to have more posts made with the rest of the kit soon. 

Just a personal note: Did you hear about Moore County NC which had a sabotage of it's electric power substations on Saturday? 

That is where I live. Fortunately, we didn't lose power but the problem is still continuing with over 30,000 homes/businesses without power. It's scary that this can happen! The community has come together to provide food, shelter and places to charge electronics, etc which is very encouraging.

Give extra hugs to the ones you love today!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Candy Cane Lane SSS December Card Kit

Hello, crafters! I'm excited to be bringing you today's post with the first  two of four cards using the Simon Says Stamp December Card Kit. I fell in love with the Candy Cane Lane papers from Prima and over the weekend I had a blast creating four cards using just the papers and a few embellishments.  

On this card I featured this sweet girl with gifts and embellished with the pretty poinsettias cut from the paper. I piece my favorite papers behind her and embellished with pearls. I love the femininity, vintage look, and pale pink and red combo.  The saying is one of my favorites for Christmas!

The next card features more poinsettias embellishing the deer I snipped from the patterned paper, complete with the sentiment. 

Aren't the papers the sweetest? More pearls, yes, please! I will be back tomorrow with the next cards.

Thanks so much, your visits mean so much to me! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

HoHoHo for The Paper Players!

 Hello, and welcome to my blog, I hope that things are going well for you. It's Sunday and for challenge #64 at The Paper Players, LeAnne has a super fun theme for us. Ho! Ho! Ho! Feature a Santa on your project. 

Believe it or not, I did not have a Santa in my stash. Really! All the more reason to find the cutest die in the Simon Says December Card Kit. I often avoid kits, but this one features fabulous papers and an interesting assortment of new things to try. 

I love the vintage look! For Santa's beard and mustache, I delighted in using the white velvet card stock. It feels so soft! I chose white card stock for his hat and used Copics to add color to the hat and face.

The selection of papers includes the text so I cut them out and the card is ready to go! Silver glitter paper makes the tiny stars and snowflakes twinkle. 

This square card measures 4-1/4". You can bet I will be back with another card or two or three from these wonderful papers. 

I sure hope that you will join us and play along at The Paper Players! This wonderfully talented group will inspire you every time! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Also adding this to the challenge at NBUS, 

SSS Monday Challenge Holiday Cheer, SSS Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Sending Love at Christmas

To my American friends, did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving? We had a busy fun-filled feast and family time. Now that the holiday is over,  I'm able to get back into the craft room to have some fun. 

I'm still playing with the Sizzix embossing folder, Winter  Pattern, embossing it on Pear Pizzazz card stock (SU!) this time. 

 I embellished using the Layered Poinsettia die (Waffle Flower) cut in cream and gold mirror card stock. The sentiment is from The Greetery. I embossed the top line of script in gold. 

I call this clean and layered in style, what do you think? 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Blue Christmas for The Paper Players

 It's officially time for me to begin making Christmas cards and I am ready! Jaydee gives us a festive array of colors in The Paper Players Challenge # 617. They are sure to get you in the spirit of holiday card-making! 

I love making color blended backgrounds but this time I let the paper do the work! 

I began with a paper from the Craft Consortium Patina pack that has a gorgeous textured look. I assembled snowflakes from a few different sets, inked them up with Versamark, and embossed them in white directly on to the patterned paper. The sentiments are from PTI. Stacking three layers of the CHRISTMAS die cut pieces gave dimension and they are topped with silver foil for the shine! And of course a few rhinestones embellish the snowflake centers. 

Thanks so much for your visit today. I sure hope you will check out the work of the DT as it is amazing! I look forward to seeing your cards in our gallery! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

                   Make something beautiful!  

Linking this card to:  

Poinsettia Builder for The Paper Players

 Welcome to my blog on this first day of a new week. Time for a new challenge at The Paper Players, and a first Christmas card for my stash for this year. It's a bit to early for me to be starting Christmas cards but you know with lovely and talented Ann's Sketch for TPP# 614 I had to go with what works and add a bit of elegance. 

Pulling out my Poinsettia Builder set (WPlus9) I found quite a few elements already stamped and ready to go, plus a few greenery pieces from Bells & Boughs. These are stamps for layering and the results are beautiful! 

If you haven't seen these before, check them out!* Here's my card. 

I used sponge daubers to add ink to the images before stamping and die cutting. I can't quite remember the inks I used but I suspect they're Distress Oxides as they blend so well. 

I arranged the bouquet on a die cut circle and assembled the card using Paper Rose's 6 x 6 Cosy Rosy papers. It needed a bit of sparkle so I added snowy glitter (hard to see), gold thread and a few sequins. The sentiments are from the Poinsettia Bouquet stamps. 

Please have a look at the wonderful samples our DT has for you this week and play along! Thanks for your visit today, it means so much that you come and have a look around. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

*Want to see more of my cards with this set? Find them   HERE and HERE. 

Inspired by YOU! Challenge #200!

It's a very special day as the Inspired By Challenge launches it's 200th challenge! We have lined up a challenge that is inspired by YOU and offers special prizes too!  We have posted the winners of all the challenges this year, and been asked to choose one card by YOU to be inspired by. 

I chose this beauty that Loll Thompson created for our October challenge.  I absolutely love her bold use of colors and clean crisp details.  Isn't that buffalo plaid gorgeous? I love how she added sweet pearls and the die cut wreath has such dimension!

My card is a CASE of Loll's layout and I used the trees from The Greetery Fir & Foliage 2.  Using Distress Oxide inks I  stamped each tree in three layers and die cut them.  In keeping with the bold colors I chose red for the sentiment and added a strip along the panel. The black stars added balance and a crisp accent.

We have such fun seeing the way you create and add your entries to our gallery at Inspired By! Now it's your turn to choose one of our past winner's projects and play along! 

It's our turn to say a huge thank you to each and every one who supports our challenge. This will be probably be my last post before Christmas. 

Wishing you JOY!

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!