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!  

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 

 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!  

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!  

Sending Joy

 Hello again, how are things going? For the first time in years, all the presents are shopped for and wrapped. It's an amazing feeling! 

I keep thinking I'm finished making holiday cards. Instead I keep finding I just want to make one more. Goodies on my desk seem so easy to assemble into a card when I come to tidy up. Here's my latest.

Most of the supplies are from Concord & 9th. I love making scenes bright with the snow globe die cuts. Using colors Pink and Green so that I can join the fun at Color Hues this month, I was also inspired to play again at Freshly Made Sketches. 

I appreciate your visit today. Thanks so much for coming by! 

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!  

 

Snow Flurries

 I'm here for just a minute. Catching my breath during a fun week of creating. I'm cranking out Christmas cards that others have designed right now, and it's helping me learn some new things and stay busy trying to keep up! 

I made a shaker card that I just wanted to share today. I love shakers! 

The snow globe works well in many styles. Using some DSP I made a scene inside mine. 

Hope you are having a great day!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Challenges: 
Just Us Girls - Winter 
NBUS - the snow globe set is new from           Concord & 9
Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge

You Make Christmas Special

 Hi there blog friends! I was delighted to see the sketch from Linda at Freshly Made Sketches and I just had to play along with one of my favorite stamp sets from MFT. Sadly, they have closed their business but I have these lovely Christmas critters lined up to greet you today. 

My Copic skills are a bit rusty but I pulled them out to color. Discovering that the fox had been colored -quite a bit of time ago- made that task easier. 

The sketch focused on 3 shapes or items but I couldn't resist adding the cute bird into the picture. 

Thanks for visiting today, I really appreciate you spending time to do that with me. Hugs!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Another joined at:
Christmas Kickstart 

Under the Tree

 Hello and welcome to my blog on this cold, rainy day. A perfect kind of Monday to get creative with some new wintry die cuts to make a card for the sketch at The Paper Players. For winter and Christmas I seem to have acquired three new packs of DSP so I set out to use some for a snowy scene. 

I love to make snow men IRL but rarely have the chance since I'm living in SC. Making a die cut snowman brings fond memories of childhood play. Aren't all snow men just a little bit wonky? This one sure is. 

The new-to-me supplies are the papers from Doodlebug Design 6x6 Snow Much Fun pack; Snowcapped Tree Die from Waffle Flower, and Festive Snow Globe Dies from Concord & 9th. The sentiment is from a favorite from PB -  the Jolly Snippets set. 

Simple embellishment details come from Glossy accents added to the carrot and the hat, an iridescent white cord bow, and Stickles added to the snowflakes.

Here's the lovely sketch providing inspiration by the Paper Players.

 Also adding this to NBUS and the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. 

Thanks so much for coming by, hope it's been a great day for you!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

ETA: what makes this snowman wonky? Well, the googly eyes for one thing. Secondly, the die doesn't include arms for this guy! So that he fits in the snow globe, I'm guessing. 

Keeping Cozy in the Sunshine

 Hello from me on another stay-at-home Saturday.  It is a lovely warm day full of sunshine although this morning it was cool enough on my walk to wear a sweater. 
Sweaters, it seems, are what this post is all about! 

I didn't have much stamping going on this week. I'm still having trouble with vertigo. But one thing led to another in the craft space. Ta-da! Here's what I made. 

I spent way too time much looking at cards and card challenges online. When I stumbled onto the Word Art Wednesday challenge I saw that they were encouraging use of Concord & 9th products AND offering a lucky winner a gift certificate to the C9 store. Talk about motivation! 

I've had the Sweater Season Stamp set and dies in my never been used box just waiting for this occasion to sparkle. Such adorable bits and pieces to assemble and craft into the cutest sweaters and hats! 

Now, these have been around for quite awhile. They offer endless possibilities but to me the most fun is picking the color combo from their line of card stock which I LOVE. I used Cranberry, Avocado and Tidepool. You can bet I'll be creating in some other hues as well and gluing the little bits together while I watch football. 

Hope your weekend is going well. 

See you again soon! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Entering: 

Word Art Wednesday

NBUS - stamps and dies
Simon Says Stamp - Getting Ready for Christmas - Christmas shopping?

Pink and Blue for Color Hues!

 Hello friends, I'm here to kick off my challenge at Colors Hues #95. Being the hostess means that I get to choose the colors we will be using. I chose pink and blue. We choose our colors ahead of time by a month or two and I saw a Christmas card that inspired me, so I went with it. 

I can't wait to see what will inspire you! Remember that the dark or light hues of the colors chosen are up to you!

Here's my card. 

I loved coloring the snow couple with Copics, and I even made their noses pink! I began by stamping the image with gray ink, coloring and then fussy cutting them. The All-in-One Hexagon Die provided the stitched frame and I sponged pale blue ink on the back panel, propping the sweethearts up with a bit of foam tape. 

I embossed white card stock and cut a strip of snowflakes, sponged lightly with blue to bring out the details, and placed this at the bottom of the card. 

Finally, sponging pink ink on Glitter paper, I die cut snowflakes to embellish. I LOVE snow-people so I'm sure I will be using this Chilly Day stamp set (Penny Black) often! 

Please do make sure to visit the challenge and admire the amazing team samples! We love having you play along with us. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies: 

Stamps: Penny Black - Chilly Days
Ink: Altenew - Blue Horizon, Blush Rose
Other: Penny Black - Blizzard EF, All-in-One                                                                                          Hexagon Die

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 

Christmas Memories for Color Hues

`Happy Friday morning to you, my crafting friends. How are things going for you?  

It's beginning to look like Christmas at our house! The shopping is done, the decorations are being put in place for the festive celebration of my favorite holiday. I love to think of family and one of the best memories I have from holidays past is going ice skating. Just a bit of nostalgia for you with today's card. Hope you like it! 

The lovely Let's Skate die is pretty enough to feature on it's own. 

It was was cut twice, once from SSS Pawsitively Velvet Snow White  card stock and once from Silver Glitter paper. I used black card stock behind the eyelets and added shading with a gray marker to create a bit of a scuffed up look. I love the texture and softness of the velvet paper! I also placed the sentiment strips a bit off center. On purpose. I thought that looked best with the skewed angle of the skates. 

Our new challenge at Color Hues is for pink and silver. You will have the entire month to play along. 

 

Please do join us at Color Hues! We hope our gallery will be filled with your delightful creations! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Penny Black supplies: Let's Skate die cut 51-750, Blizzard embossing folder

SSS: sentiments from Joy to You and Yours, Pawsitively Velvet Card Stock

I am adding this to the following challenges: 

NBUS   first time using the skate die

Time Out Challenges - 

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Mugs of Joy!

Are my American friends in the midst of Thanksgiving prep? My kitchen is filled with signs of delicious foods to come for the big feast. But I still found just a bit of time to stamp over the weekend. 

The Penny Black stamps called Mugs of Joy are darling images of whimsical mug figurines filled with greenery that I just could not resist. They've been newly added to my collection and I just loved using one of the images for today's card. 

The Paper Players are asking for CAS cards featuring TAGS and this was so fun to put together. 

The snowman mug was stamped in light gray and colored with watercolors and markers on the stripes of the scarf. I combined these blue papers from my stash and added a white die cut with The Greetery's Coaster die. 

I will share this also at NBUS. Thanks so much for your visit today, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

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