Sparkly Christmas

This sparkly card is for this week's Just Add Ink challenge, which is to JUST ADD SPARKLE.

While perusing some blogs yesterday, I ran across THIS wonderful creation by Vicki Dutcher.  I loved it so much, and the design really put me in mind of a Memory Box stamp that I just bought.  This card is a CASE of Vicki's card.

I just love this Memory Box image, and the die that works with it.  OK - Christmas card number 4 on December 20th. Yikes!

Music Therapy

It"s been sooooooo long since I've been able to take some time to craft.  This morning after I finally got into my craft room and made this card for this week's LIM challenge, I was reminded that I need to do this to stay balanced.  It is my therapy, my grounding, my happy place.  I know that, but it really struck me today.  I thought about the other night when I was having dinner with family and friends. Here is a snippet of our conversation:

Friend: "Fill in the blank: the Christmas season has not started until..." 

Me: "Until I have had my Christmas nervous breakdown." 

My 12 year old son: "Well, I guess it must be Christmas!"

Yikes!!

I have been on overload like everyone else.  Today with the inspiration of my favorite duo, Chrissie and Mandi, I found my happy place again.  This week is Theme Week and Chrissie and Mandi have chosen MUSIC.

I have not captured the beauty of my card with this photo.  As Mandi said in her post, white on white is horrendous to photograph. The texture and finish of the two white papers work so beautifully together.  Here are the supplies I used:

 

Paper:  Real Red, textured linen, pearl finish.

Ink:  VersaMark, Ranger Antique Linen distress ink. VersaFine Onyx Black.

Stamps:  PTI Christmas Blessings, Waltzingmouse Musical Backgrounds.

Supplies:  Memory Box Flowering Christmas Tree die, gold embossing powder, self adhesive crystals, Scor-Tape, corner rounder. 

 

This is perhaps the third Christmas card I have made so far. Only 147 to go. LOL!  I did not send Christmas cards for the first time three years ago.  Since then each year I vow that I am going to make and send them, but every year I run out of time.  Maybe valentines...

 

In case this is my last post before Christmas, which is probably a sure bet, Christmas Blessings to you, however you spend this special time.  Wishing you peace and some time to enjoy the beauty that is at the heart of the season. Merry Christmas.

Homer and a Bit of Bling - A Thanksgiving story

This week's Less Is More challenge is a recipe - use a bit of BLING.

Well, I always brine my turkey for Thanksgiving, which involves putting the bird in a bath of wonderful things like cider, herbs, apples, carrots, etc. for 3-4 days. I have no room in my refrigerator for the large bucket that he needs to sit in, so my friend Dee boards my bird in her spare fridge every year.  After Thanksgiving every year, the bird sends Dee a thank you note, and gives her a little gift. It's very funny.  So this is Homer the Turkey's card for Dee.

I had these beautiful leaves in my stash of this and that - I made them a looooooooooong time ago when trying out the emboss resist technique, and never used them.  I think the leaf stamps are from Hero Arts, but I am not sure.  I mounted them on red then brown, and added a little jute. To add a little interest and texture, I embossed 2 score lines on top and a zigzag sewing line.  My bit o' bling is to the left of the sentiment - green self adhesive crystals.  The card has been sent along with a little gift of truffles and goat cheese to Homer's boarder.  Now on to Christmas.  I have very few cards made.  Gotta switch into gear now, or give it up for this year. Fa La La La La!

Bountiful

 

It's ONE LAYER CARD week again over at the Simply Less Is More challenge blog.

The theme for this week is LEAVES.

 

It is true, I have become quite comfortable with one layer cards.  When I saw this challenge, I decided to stamp a variety of leaf images in a variety of fall colors around a leaf die cut which would be used as a mask.  The leaf image would be revealed when the die cut was removed.  Well, that really bombed.  It looked awful.  I wasn't ready to give up though, so I did it in reverse and stamped inside the cutout.  That worked really well.

 

I stamped an image of small leaves and acorns from PTI's Autumn Abundance in fall colors inside the cutout, then sponged lightly with green to pop it.  When I removed the cutout, this lovely leaf revealed itself.  I added some score lines on top, rounded the corners, stamped my sentiment, and my creation was complete.

 

I am going to head over to the LIM blog to see the fabulous creations that the Limettes have made.  Thanks for stopping in today.  Thanks for dropping by!

  

Dude, You Rock

This is my take on this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

 CFC28: Create a Clean And Simple Tag or a project that has a tag on it.

I built my card around a tag that was attached to a pair of pants I bought for my sons a while ago. When I removed the tag from the pants, I thought to save it to use on a project some day.  When I saw this week's challenge, I started thinking about how I could use that tag I had stuffed in my box of bits & pieces.  SU's Extreme Skateboard image came to mind to go along with my tag, and I was on my way.

I  embossed most of the Kraft base with PTI's Woodgrain IP and brayered it with Crumb Cake ink.  I left just enough smooth space on the bottom for the sentiment .  The tag had a little red on it that ended up being covered by the skater image, so I decided to use red behind my SU Extreme Skateboard skater dude for some pop.  I was not happy with the blank space at the bottom of the tag, so I used PTI's Faux Ribbon and  added those red lines.  I think that was the perfect touch.  I like the way it came out and now I have a good man-card waiting in the wings.

Supplies:

Stamps~PTI Faux Ribbon, Modern Wood Mats and Signature Greetings, SU Extreme Skateboard.

Ink~Crumb Cake, PTI Pure Poppy.

Paper~Kraft, White, Riding Hood Red.

Accessories-PTI Mat Stack 1 & Layerz Mat Stack 1, PTI Woodgrain IP, Dimensionals, brayer, corner rounder, distressing tool.

Thank you for stopping in. Have a wonderful day!

Gratitude

Whew! Just getting this one in under the wire for this week's Less Is More challenge. 

This week it is a colour challenge with the colors of Red and Orange in remembrance of the 'Gunpowder plot' of 1605 in the UK.

I have had one of those weeks - work all day, out for various obligations every night.  I awoke this morning at 4:30 with a gazillion things in my head, including this design for my LIM card that I probably would not have time to make.  I could not go back to sleep, so I got up, made a cup of tea, and put my idea together.  I love the result.

I inked the leaves from PTI's Harvest Berries in Tangerine Tango.  I then used PTI's new Premium Dye Ink in  Pure Poppy to ink the outer edges of the leaves.  These new ink pads are shaped in such a way that you can cover a large or small area easily.  They are really wonderful.

I mounted the image on Cherry Cobbler, added some linen thread, popped it up with Dimensionals and added the sentiment from Autumn Word Borders by Hero Arts with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink.  Have to get back to work now.  So glad I had a little time to post this.  Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Warmth & Joy

This week's Less Is More Challenge is 

*STARS*

 

I have not been able to play for the last 2 weeks, and I really wanted to be sure to make something for LIM this week.  I hate to miss it.  I don't know why, but I really struggled to come up with a star themed project.  I remembered a fabulous sheet of paper that I have - blue with silver metallic stars. I thought I could find some inspiration if I held it in my hand LOL, but alas, I never found it. Then I got the idea of using Verve's Starstruck collection and embossing in silver on Night of Navy card stock.  The card came together from there. I have to say that I love it - except for the sides on the white panel.  It looked too empty without some embellishment, but nothing I tried worked out to be fabulous.  I think piercing may have worked, but in the end, I added silver dots with a silver Sharpie.  I am not happy with that, they are uneven - I may just have to re-make it.  I do love the rest of the card though, so I went with it.

 

I pulled out an old SU wheel and inked it with Versa Mark to make a star background on the Kraft.  The embossing of the star came out beautifully, and I just love the sentiment from a new PTI set called Stylish Sentiments Holiday.

 

Thank you for stopping by.  I actually posted four things this weekend, which is a record for me. An October snowstorm worked wonders for my crafting.  Tonight I made a fabulous pot roast with shitake mushrooms and lots of root vegetables and wine.  Feels like mid January, but tomorrow is Halloween!  We have our costumes together.  There will definitely be frost on the pumpkin for the festivities.  Hope you have a fun day tomorrow whether you do or don't do Halloween.

Boo Crew

I just love this Boo Crew digi-image from MFT. I got it 2 years ago, and never used it.  It appears to be retired now.  I think I was a little scared of the amount of coloring that it required, but in 2 years I have become much more confident in my coloring skills.  I CASE'd the coloring from Michelle Boyer's card from September 2009.

Why are the words backwards you ask?  Well, I made this 8 1/2 x 11 panel for my dear friend who teaches first grade at the school my boys attend and in which I work. This is an iron-on transfer for a halloween treat bag that my friend will load up with treats for her students as a Halloween gift, and then they can use it for a trick-or-treat bag.  For an iron-on transfer, words have to be backwards to come out right when ironed on.

I printed the digi image on 8 1/2 x 11 Nenah Solar White paper, and colored it with Copics.  I cut the letters with Sizzix Fun Serif alphabet dies and my trusty old Sizzix die cut machine, ran them (backwards) through my Xyron, and placed them above the colored image. The fence is cut with a Martha Stewart punch, and the green rick rak is but from a PTI die.

I am proud of the way this came out, and I am happy to know the "littles" who will receive their treat bags designed by - ME!

Thanks you again for coming by.  Still snowing here in NJ...

Happy Haunting

This creation is a combination of 3 challenges:

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #95 The Challenge for this week is a
Theme Challenge!
Spooky/Creepy/Halloween!

and

That's Krafty Thursday #55 - use Kraft on your project.

Thanks so much for coming by. Still snowing here in NJ... and I am still in my PJ's in my craft room. It's a good day!

Supplies:
Stamps ~ PTI Tiny Treats Halloween.
Ink ~ PTI True Black, Memento Tuxedo Black.
Paper ~ Kraft, Basic Black, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, White.
Accessories ~ PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate, PTI Mat Stack 4 die, Nestabilities circle dies, Dimensionals, stitched grosgrain ribbon, buttons, black jute, glue dots, corner rounder.



Holiday Wishes

It is SNOWING hard here in New Jersey - very odd for October 29th.  We have not even had frost on the pumpkin yet!  I am staying in my PJ's and in my craft room today. Love it.

This is my project for this week's Make It Monday #38: Brayer and Impression Plate Techniques over at Nichole Heady's blog.  I really love the way this came out.  Betsy Veldman's video tutorial is wonderful, and I know I will be using this technique again and again. 

Supplies
Stamps ~ PTI 2011 Holiday Tags, PTI Fillable Frames #10.
Paper ~ White, Kiwi Kiss, SU (retired) Ski Slope DSP, Kraft.
Ink ~ Chocolate Chip, PTI Pure Poppy, Memento Pear Tart.
Accessories ~ Brayer, PTI & Nestabilities dies, PTI embossing plate, self-adhesive rhinestones, Copics, Twinery Pink Sorbet twine, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by today.

For Julie's Smile

This week CAS-ual Fridays is participating in a very special benefit blog hop for Julie Ranae. You can read Julie's story in her own words on her blog Julie's Open Window. Because it's a special week, CAS-ual Fridays has a special challenge inspired by Julie Ranae.

CFC23: Inspiration challenge. Create a Clean And Simple project using the quote as your inspiration OR use the quote as your sentiment.

When I read Julie's story and saw the outpouring of love and support from the papercrafting community, I was so moved. I really wanted to make something very special and encouraging, uplifting and hopeful for Julie's challenge.  My creation emerged from the inspiration I drew from FTL161 from the Clean & Simple blog:

and the Stampin' Royalty Challenge #92.

I hope with all of my heart that contributions to Julie's cause are abundant, and that she gets her smile back very, very soon.  Please check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog, and do what you can if you are so moved.

Thanks for stopping. Have a wonderful day. 

Supplies:

Card Stock - PTI White, Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard, So Saffron.

Stamps - PTI Turning a New Leaf and Little Bitty Bird.

Accessories - PTI Turning a New Leaf and Bloom Builders #3 dies, self adhesive rhinestones, Dimensionals, Score Pal, corner rounder.



Enjoy Thanksgiving

I am so happy that I had a little time to craft this morning, so I made this card for this week's Less Is More Challenge - week #36. It's a single layer card with

The ♥ can be singular, multiple, any colour, but, MUST be a one layer card, with no additional layers stuck on, apart from the odd embellishment or ribbon!

The weather here is crisp and clear - pumpkins and apples abound. The smell of fire in the air in the evenings... with a fall theme in mind, I went with Bramble Wreath from Memory Box as my main image, embellished with hearts from PTI's Love Lives Here : Holiday in fall colors.  I colored over the hearts with a clear glaze pen to pop them.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts (retired).

Have a happy day.  We have a 3 day weekend in celebration of Columbus Day.  Woo Hoo!I hope I can return to my craft room before the weekend is over.  Thank you for stopping by!

Ghoulfriends

This is my take on CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week, which is :

CFC22: Create a Clean And Simple project using a ribbon tab or loop. Big loops, tiny loops...get creative but the loops on a bow don't count.

Funny thing is that my MFT Totally Witchin' WTG paper pieced panel was the beginnings of my take on CFC#19, which was to use paper piecing on your Fall themed Clean And Simple project.  Well, I never finished that challenge - just the paper piecing.  Fast forward 3 challenges, and now my paper pieced witchies are the completion of CFC#22.  I added 2 triple layer loops on the left, popped up my panel on a white base, and added the sentiment. Voila!  Crafting time is hard to come by for me these days. So glad I finally got to play again at CAS-ual Fridays!  Thanks for stopping in!

Eat, Drink and Be Scary!

I have been so busy and crazy getting back to work - I am a school librarian, and the beginning of the school year is insane.  My 11 year old twin boys are very active and involved in lots of things, and I have had no time to craft.  I feel awful that I did not contribute any entries to the LIM try for 1000 posts. I have such loyalty to Chrissie and Mandi, and I am so sorry I could not take part in the festivities. In an effort to get back to the weekly challenges though, I made this for the Less Is More Week 34 challenge, which is a sketch.

The base layer is Elegant Eggplant, topped with Kiwi Kiss. I embossed the white panel with a spider web EF.  The spider is made with a MS punch and black glitter paper. It is very sparkly.  The little tag with the sentiment is made with SU tag punches and the tag image from the (retired) Eat, Drink & Be Scary set.  I am so happy to have had the chance to make something this week! Thank you for stopping in.

Hello Friend

I had a glorious summer off and now I am back to work.  As expected, I am having trouble finding time to craft, but I think about it all of the time.  This creation was rolling around in my head this morning at 4:30. I could not go back to sleep, so I finally just got up and made it!

The "Less Is More" challenge for week 32, is a ONE LAYER CARD entitled SEEING DOUBLE. Chrissie and Mandi would like to see TWO of something on our entries this week.  These little birdies from PTI's Little Bitty Bird set came to mind immediately.  I wanted to add a little texture so I stamped the SU "Sanded" background stamp on to the entire card with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then stamped the two branches with VersaFine Vintage Sepia and colored the leaves with Forest Moss and Bundled Sage. I colored the birds with Barn Door.  I used my red atyou spica glitter pen on the wings to give them sparkle. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. 

Thank you for stopping in today.  I am off to see what other Limettes have up their sleeves this week!

Remember

I {{{heart}}} PTI.  This card was created with the inspiration of Make It Monday #31: Creating Backgrounds With Non-background Stamps.  The video tutorial on this was wonderful and inspiring.  I received Havest Berries with my latest order, and I was anxious to use it.  I am trying to embrace the idea that it is time to think pumpkin instead of popsicle, so I chose fall colors for my project.  I stamped the background with the smallest ginkgo leaf image from the set in SU Crumb Cake ink and also added some berries. I stamped one of the background images from PTI's Half & Half in SU Garden Green and cut it out with the matching die to make the decorative strip.  The sentiment is stamped on vanilla card stock and matted in SU Cajun Craze.  I stamped the medium ginkgo images In SU Cajun Craze ink, cut them out and adhered them with dimensionals. I really love the way this turned out.

Thank you for visiting. I always appreciateyour comments so very much.

Christmas Blessings

My creation today is born of inspiration from 3 challenges:

Play Date Cafe #97

The Color Splash!

 Simply create something in Black and then add just a splash of color

THIS WEEK IT'S A SPLASH OF RED!!!!

***********************************
CAS-ual Fridays #18

In honor of International Literacy Day on September 8th,

the Girl Fridays have a special challenge involving papercrafting and books.

CFC18: Create a Clean And Simple project inspired by a book, and use the colors black, white and red.

I am a school librarian and I love to be surrounded by books, to share them with my students, and to read the the little ones.  My creation is inspired by the book The Littlest Christmas Tree : a Tale of Growing and Becoming by Janine Jasin. In this story, a small seedling pine wants very much to grow tall enough to become a real Christmas tree, but while she waits, she learns to appreciate the world around her and the value of being her very best right where she is planted.  It's one of my favorites!

***********************************
Less Is More #31

A colour themed challenge once more and this time it is:

METALLIC

Make CLEAN & SIMPLE cards with something that has a METALLIC finish to it... ink, embossing, card, charms, actual metal...

I have owned this Krylon Silver Leafing Pen for quite a while and never used it.  This was my perfect opportunity to break it out.  I used it to edge the while panel with the Christmas tree image on it.  It is a beautiful silver finish.  It does not show up well in the photos, but it is very bright and shiny.

Thank you for coming by. As always, I appreciate your wonderful comments so very much! Have a great week!

Supplies:

Paper~PTI white, Gina K black

Stamps~Penny Black Starlit, PTI Signature Christmas

Ink~VersaFine Onyx Black, PTI Fresh Snow.

Accessories~Kaiser Rhinestones, Sizzix/SU Petals-A-Plenty EF, Ellen Hutson red satin ribbon, Krylon Silver Leafing Pen, Dimensionals.

Across the Miles

This card is going to a far away friend, in a far away place, along with a special package. (Don't peek Jenny!)  Today is my last day before starting back to work after a wonderful summer off.  If it weren't for Irene, I would be at work right now!  I guess I have to thank her for that at least...

For this creation, I used a combination of 3 challenges for inspiration, and I am really pleased with the results. My first inspiration was:

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to : Use Stickers in your Clean And Simple design. rub-ons are fine too if you don't have stickers. This was no easy task for me at first. Stickers?  I don't use them on cards, only memory book pages.  You would crack up if you saw the monstrosity I created for my first try. Then I remembered that I had this gorgeous paper with coordinating stickers from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden Collection.  For my layout, I went with this week's wonderful sketch from the Clean & Simple blog : FTL155.

Finally, this week's Flutter By Wednesday #FBW168 is an open challenge! Anything goes as long as you have a butterfly, fairy or angel on your creation!!  My butterfly sticker creation certainly fits the bill there.  I love the way these three challenges inspired this creation.  I am grateful for all of the work that goes into these challenge blogs, and so inspired by the work I see.

Supplies:
Stamps - Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, PTI Everything Button Bits.
Ink - VersaMark, PTI Fresh Snow.
Paper - Kraft, Cajun Craze, White, Always Artichoke, Pink Paislee Butterfly Collection DP.
Accessories - Pink Paislee Butterfly Collection stickers, PTI Double-Ended Banners die, PTI Mehndi Medallion Impression Plate, white embossing powder.

Thank you for stopping in. Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday Trigger Invitation

I live in Northeastern US in NJ, about 40 miles from the coast.  Irene has been here and gone.  It was quite nerve wracking awiting her arrival.  We were very lucky to have had no damage, and we kept our power.  My beloved shoreline is devastated though.  I hope to be able to get to the shore tomorrow.  In the meantime, the winds are still high, so we have to wait to put our deck back in order.  Until then I am getting some crafting in before I return to work on  Tuesday.   I have been very inspired lately by the Moxie Fab World blog hosted by Cath Edvalson.  I decided to play the Tuesday Trigger : Girly & Gutsy challenge, which closes today. Here is the inspiration photo:

Isn't it just fab?? When I saw this, PTI's new Table Service set immediately came to mind.  I love these colors, and I enjoyed putting this card together.  For the background, I CASE'd an idea from THIS post on Nichole Heady's blog. I stamped the Chrysanthemum from PTI's Year of Flowers Collection on white card stock, then I outlined the flowers with a C1 Copic marker.  I love the way this looks. 

I am going to try to do at least one more challenge today.  I hope wherever you are, so are safe and dry and enjoying this day.  Thank you for stopping by.

Peaceful Soul

Week 28 - One Layer with a special feature.  USE INK

** This does include ink pads **

...hopefully in a way you haven't tried before.... or using a favourite technique.

Well I have to say I am so excited about this creation.  Mandi & Chrissie - thank you for making me do things I would not have done!  I {{{heart}}} LIM challenges. 

I recently made a couple of cards with an inking technique that I have never used before. Then lo and behold, this week's LIM challenge was to make a one layer card and use an inking technique that you may not have tried before.  I felt compelled to do something different, so I looked to my Ranger distress inks that I have barely used.  I really had no idea what to do with them., so I viewed a couple of Tim Holtz videos on You Tube and I was off.  I have to say that I think this is my favorite card I ever made.  I masked a one inch border on my vanilla cardstock. I then used various Ranger distress inks with a blending tool and covered the open rectangle. I spritzed with water and dried it with a heat gun. I added Glimmer Mist for shine, then stamped the triple tree image from PTI's Through The Trees.  I finished it off with a sentiment from PTI's Peaceful Garden.

I love the way this card turned out. I am thankful to Mandi and Chrissie for making me do this! Thank you for visiting my blog today. I siwh you a peaceful day!

CR84FN35 Thank You

 This is my take on CR84FN35 - Lavender, Celery and Gray.

I have fallen in love with the Acrylic Block Stamping technique.  You can read more about it HERE.  The base of my card is Basic Gray.  I scribbled with an Old Olive watercolor crayon on an acrylic block, misted it, and pressed it on to watercolor paper. I then stamped the butterfly image from PTI's Happy Trails on the matching die cut with Lavender Lace ink, added some tiny self adhesive pearls, and adhered it with Dimensionals.  I sprayed the watercolor paper with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist for some sheen.  The sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings is stamped with Versa Fine Onyx Black. Simple as that! I really like the way this turned out.  Thanks for stopping in and thank you for your wonderful comments.

Peaceful Wishes

This week it's time for another colour challenge over at the Simply Less Is More Challenge Blog.  Chrissie and Mandi have decided to ask us to make a card using the

COLOURS

of

OUR NATION'S FLAG!

I live in the USA, and our flag colors are Red, White and Blue.  I always check the LIM challenge the first moment I can get on my computer each Saturday.  I thought a lot about what I would do with this challenge, but I did not have time until this morning to do anything with my thoughts.  Very early in the day today, I saw THIS post from Susan Raihala of Simplicity. Susan's work always moves me. I wish I could see things through her eyes.  Susan used the Acrylic Block Stamping technique in her creation today - one I have never seen before. When I viewed Susan's creation with this technique, I immediately knew what I would do for the LIM challenge.  My card is a CASE of Susan's, but it has it's own character.  After trying this technique several times on white card stock, I decided I needed to use water color paper and I loved the results.  I am so pleased with this creation. I really love it, and I know I will use this technique again and again. Thank you so much for coming to view!

Summer Fruity Drink

It's Summertime, and the living is easy peasy lemon squeezy! My creation today is for 3 challenges -

FEELING FRUITY

Create using fruit on your cards or fruit colours...

*****

SUMMER FUN SOMETHING

*****

FOOD & DRINK

*****

I really love this Impression Obsession image - Sweet Lemonade.  It's so summery, fruity, lovey dovey, and PERFECT for these 3 challenges!  So I got to work stamping it with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloring it with Copics.  I cut it out with Nesties and  mounted it on black and Melon Mambo.  Not much more was needed with this combination, so I just decided to emboss white card stock with PTI's Sunshine Impression Plate for the base of my card.  I tried all kinds of placements for the sentiment, which is from Wilson Designs' Teeny Bikini.  Nothing looked right.  This image really stands on its own, so I took the plunge and stamped it right on the image panel.  I am so glad I did that. My eye was pleased! I need a glass on lemonade now...  Thank you for visiting my blog!  I always appreciate your wonderful comments.