Be Good

It's November, and time for a new set of challenges from Happy Little Stampers. I'm here with the November Christmas Challenge which is, as always, anything goes. This month's optional twist is "tag". I pulled out a Waltzingmouse Stamp set called Around Christmas Time and combined one of the images with Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale #4 die, cut from brushed silver card stock. I added some punched pine branches and an ornament hanger (paperclip). My tag is mounted on an embossed white panel, which is then mounted on a Real Red card base. The glitter bow is die cut from Pretty Pink Posh's Twine & Bows die set.

Head on over to the Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge,  check out the fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and play with us. The challenge winner will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the Happy Little Stampers Shop! Check out all the details HERE.

I'm also playing at:

Merry Monday #263

Muse: ChrismasVisions 88

Inspired By All The Little Things #71

Sandy Halloween

 

 

 I have not been able to get to my craft room for a long stretch again, but I did have the opportunity to create something yesterday during the day as I hunkered down with my family awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.  We live in NJ, about 45 miles from the (my beloved) shoreline.  I can say that I never experienced a storm like Sandy.  The media did not over-sensationalize it as many of us thought.  It really was the storm of the century - frightening.  With that said, our home is virtually unscathed. We lost power for only 16 hours, which is a miracle. Our basement is dry.  My 90 year old mom who refused to leave her home and stay with one of her daughters, is fine as is her home, aside from a 60 foot oak tree which fell on her property, but parallel to her house. We are so grateful. Millions of our NJ, NY and CT neighbors fared poorly and will be, for the forseeable future, without power and shelter and so many other things we tend to take for granted. 



I missed the deadline on these two challenges because of our power loss, but I thought I would post all the same since I am so glad I finally made something!  Halloween is not going to happen here, but I wanted to make something Halloween-y anyway.  I used ColourQ 160 for my color scheme, and CAS(E) this sketch #3 for me layout.

Thank you so much for stopping in today.  Hope you are safe and dry.

 

Stamps~Waltzingmouse Midnight Feast.

Ink~VersaMark, PTI Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Red Razzleberry.

Accessories~PTI Wrought Iron Impression Plate, Ranger and PTI embossing powders, Dimensionals, twine.

Papers~PTI, SU, Authentique.

Blog Header Inspiration

CFC72:  Create a project inspired by your blog header

The challenge over at CAS-UAL Fridays this week is brilliant!  My son was home sick yesterday so I was able to get into my craft room when I would otherwise be working. What a treat!  (Mother of the year, that's me... lol).  Anyway, this is my take on using my blog header for inspiration. I love the way it came out.  All supplies are PTI except the sentiment which is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Peace Love & Joy

Week 75 over at LIM is a color challenge - use GOLD. I used 4 gold elements on my card.  The Waltzingmouse Vintage Ornament is heat embossed with gold EP.  The gold burst in the oval opening is stamped with VersaColor gold ink. The ribbon is gold, and the gold fronds on the top of the ornament are punched from Creative Memories metallic gold paper. The sentiment is from PTI's Bells & Boughs.  The base of the card is embossed with PTI's Linen IP, but the picture does not capture that.  This card was really hard to photograph effectively.  

Well, I now have one Christmas card made. That is one more than last year - lol.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Bonjour

This card was made with the inspiration of this week's Dynamic Duo color and Clean & Simple sketch challenges.  I gave it a French flair with the French Script background and sentiment. 

Thanks for your visit! Or shall I say... Merci!

Supplies
Stamps~SU French Script, Waltzingmouse Fancy Phrases, PTI Butterfly Dreams.
Paper~PTI Black, White, Daffodil Delight.
Ink~PTI True Black.
Accessories~Distressing tool, PTI Double Banner Die, Memory Box Charlotte Border Die, Dimensionals

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.

Kraft-man Congrats

This week's Girl Fridays over at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog have a fun challenge for us -

Krafts-men: create a Clean And Simple masculine project using kraft.

 

I enjoy the CAS-ual Fridays challenges so much, and the DT and participants are wonderful.  Lots of luscious comments are exchanged, and that is so encouraging and supportive.  If you have not, please go on over to visit and play.  Lots of amazing talent there.

 

This project is so very simple.  I tried adding a little ribbon, a corner piece, some twine, some buttons or brads, but it really stands so well on its own so I left it alone.  I am learning...  The music is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Musical Backgrounds collection embossed with VersaMark and white embossing powder.  The guitar is from PTI's Rythm & Soul.  It is stamped in Memento Tuxedo black ink, colored with Copics, cut out and adhered with 3D foam squares.  You can't see it in the picture, but I used my gold Zig Painty pen to give a shiny brass look to the tuning heads on the guitar.  I love little details like that. 

 

I am off to link this up and check out the other CAS-ual Fridays creations.  Have a wonderful day!

New Home

This creation was made for yesterday's One Layer Wednesday challenge - OLW53, which is to "Make a one-layer 'New Home' card using at least two different coloured inks."  PTI's Love Lives Here collection immediately came to mind.  Again, I have to laugh at how simple this card is and yet how much I struggled with it.  For once, I knew exactly what I wanted to do; however, it took four tries before I got it right.  It was the frame that got me.  I planned to use Waltzingmouse Stamps' FRAME-IT collection to frame my little house and I love the way the sentiment fit into the open space on the frame.  Every time I stamped the frame on the card, I made a mistake of some sort - ink smudges, incorrect measturement, etc.  I finally got it right though, and I am happy with the way it came out.  I am really loving these challenges where less is really more - I feel like I am learning a lot. 

Here is my recipe:

Stamps ~ PTI-Love Lives Here, Waltzingmouse Stamps-Frame-It.

Paper ~ Gina K. Pure Luxury White.

Ink ~ Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi.

Accessories ~ Rose Red marker.

Thank you always for stopping by.  I appreciate your comments so much.

Bonjour!

I was able to complete one more challenge today (yay!!).  This is a PR for me!  I chose this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge WMSC44 for this project.  I love the way it came together.  It is very simple yet elegant.

My recipe is:

Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Fancy Phrases.

Ink - River Rock, VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

Paper - Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice card stock, Gina K's Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, Blush Blossom, Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue & WonderFALL DP.

Accessories - Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Kaiser self adhesive half pearls.

Thank you for stopping in.  I always appreciate your comments!

Tiny Cupcakes

I made this very simple 3" square mini card for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #41 and also for a new challenge blog I discovered : the Less is More Clean & Simple Challenge Blog.  I am trying hard to do more CAS cards these days, so I am so happy to have found this blog! 

 The WMS challenge is to to make "Little bitty mini cards!! They are quick, fun and great additions to a gift, a bouquet of flowers or candy treat."  The Less is more challenge is a color challenge - to use a "touch of red". 

I stamped 5 teeny tiny cupcakes from the Waltzingmouse Frame It set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on vanilla card stock and colored them with Copics. I and used the clear atyou spica glitter pen to give the icing some sparkle.  The cupcakes were cut out with a circle punch and mounted on Cherry Cobbler Heart Circles cut from Nestabilities Doily Heart Circles.  The circle in the center is popped up with Dimensionals. The frame and sentiment are also from Frame it.  Thanks for coming by - have a wonderful day!

Birthday Wishes

I am so happy that I actually completed two projects today!  This one is my take on this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge : WMSC31.

I just got this fabulous new collection of Webster's Pages 6x6 DP: Hollywood Vogue & WonderFALL from Sharon Johnson's Ribbon Store.  This DP is so great for making fabulous cards fast. (Fast is a relative term for me, but I'm just sayin...).  My card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, topped with a single sheet of the DP.  The wavy panel is the opposite side of that page.  I stamped one of the WMS Holiday Label No. 14 images using VersaMark Vintage Sepia ink on white cardstock cut with the matching Nestabilities Labels 14 die.  The sentiment is from the WMS Fancy Phrases collection and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink.  I lightly sponged around the edges of the label with Ranger Linen Distress Ink.  I added a ribbon, adhered the label with Dimensionals, added a bow and a French White Prima Fairytale Rose and - voila!    

Bundle of Joy

My niece Julie and her wonderful husband Gareth just welcomed their son, James Nicholas, into the world.  He is my Great Nephew.  He is so adorable and sweet.  It is a beautiful thing to have a baby in the family again.  The last babies born into my family were my babies, and they turned eleven in October.  They are excited to have a new cousin!

I needed to make James and his parents a very special card.  When I saw the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge today, I knew just what I would do.  I {heart} Waltzingmouse Stamps. Its owner, Claire Brennan, is just a delightful person.  Her designs are fabulous, as is her customer service.  If you have not shopped Waltzingmouse,  please go over and take a look!

There is very little stamping on this card.  I used WMSC30 for my layout.  I inverted the sketch because I wanted to use the space in the top right on the sketch for the baby carriage that I wanted on the bottom right.  The base of the card is Cherry Cobbler, and the second layer is Soft Suede over which I arranged pieces of Webster's Pages Petite Papers from the Lullaby Lane & Life's Portrait Combo Pack.  I purchased these from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  I cut out the carriage and hood from another sheet of DP and popped it up.  I also used a clear atyou Spica Glitter pen to add some sparkle to the hood and the butterflies.  You can't really see that in the picture, but it is a nice touch "in person".  I used Waltzingmouse's Holiday Label No. 14 and cut it out with the matching Nestabilities die.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse's Frame It set.  I embellished the label with Kaiser pearls added some ribbon and a bow that I made with the Bow Easy.  This is a very non-traditional baby card, but I love it!

Stamp Simply Thank You

This week, Sharon's Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge #145 is a color challenge. The challenge colors are YELLOW and GRAYwith EITHER White or Ivory as your neutral and adding Black for a little POP if you so desire. I had this short piece of wide yellow striped grosgrain ribbon from SU that I have been wanting to use up. I started with that for my yellow piece, and built the rest of the card around it. I used this fabulous new stamp set I purchased from Waltzing Mouse Stamps called Very Vintage Labels #5. The stamps are designed to be compatible with Nestabilities Labels Five. Claire Brennan is the designer, and her stamps are gorgeous. There are many other sets in Claire's collection that are designed to coordinate with Spellbinders label dies. This set will get lots and lots of use. The possibilities are endless!! The sentiment is from Verve. I received it as a thank you gift with an order. Very elegant. I really love the way this card came out. Thanks for the inspiration Sharon!!!