Christmas Card for my Folks...

This is a card I made for my parents. I know my mother will love it, she loves all things flowers! Once again, I painted a sheet of water color paper with various colors of Twinkling H2O's, then punched the flowers out with my Cuttlebug flower die. I shaped them with a stylus and paper shaping tool from the bottom, then layered four flowers one on top of another. It's held together with a brad. I added some glittered branches around it, and layered it on some label shapes.

Now I just have to mail it, and hope it's there by Christmas! Yes, I'm terrible. Love making cards, hate mailing them!

Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Paper: Watercolor paper, Cosmo Cricket, PTI, Bazzill

Ink: Palette, Distress

Accessories: Martha Stewart branch punch, Snowflake from The Punch Bunch, Spellbinders Labels Die, Glass Glitter, Brad, Gold ribbon, Nestabilities

Winter Village

Here's the other Stamps Happen stamp I bought on Ebay (paid a bit too much, yikes!!) which I LOVE! It's gorgeous! I also painted it with something different this time, not Tombow or SU markers. I've been wanting to try Peerless watercolors for a long time, they've been around forever, even when I was in High School. But I've never actually bought any until recently. I love watercolors, but I hate all the individual tubes of real watercolors. I've tried the pan watercolors, but they don't have as many colors that I wanted, and I don't like mixing my own too much. So, I figured, it's time I tried the Peerless. If you don't know what they are, read about them here. Well, I kind of like them. They may grow on me even more as I use them more. The colors are amazingly rich and vibrant.

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but I put glass glitter all over the roofs of the houses, it looks so sparkly IRL!

Anyway, that's what's new! Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Stamps Happen

Ink: Palette, Distress, Versamark

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, Papertrey Ink

Accessories: Clear EP, Peerless Watercolors, Green/gold ribbon, glass glitter, Copic Spica pen, Scribbles 3D paint, Martha Stewart sprig punch, Americana acrylic paint

Homespun Snow Angel

I found a web store last week that had the most adorable snowmen stamps, Stamping Details, by the artist Shara Reiner. I think I remember seeing some of her painting patterns a long time ago. Anyway, they didn't have too many, but I love the style of them and asked them if they would be selling more in the future. They said they might. But I did get this little snow angel, and I love it! I knew it had to be paired with some homespun plaid paper that I've had for ages and ages. And of course one of Anna Wight's famous snowflakes! I am just as addicted to making these as she is!

Stamps: Stamping Details, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Palette, Distress

Paper: Mustard Moon, Basic Grey, Hot press w/c paper, PTI, Bazzill

Accessories: Sizzix snowflake die, Martha Stewart snowflake and branch punch, glass glitter, button, Peerless watercolors, markers, Copic Spica pens

Festive Holiday Home

This Home for the Holidays add on set from Papertrey Ink sure is a lot of work, but soooooo worth it! I really didn't think I'd use it much, but when the end result looks so good...I just have to! Lots of cutting out tiny fences, windows, and the snowman, but I just wouldn't be able to get this effect from a one dimensional house image.

The cutting was the hardest part though, coloring it all is the fun part. After it was all colored in I simply used vanilla scented embossing powder to put the icicles along the eaves of the roof. Perfect finishing touch! This set is a lot of fun, I highly recommend it.

Till later!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, SU

Ink: Perfect Match, Palette, Distress, Versamark

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, PTI, Worldwin metallic

Accessories: PTI ribbon, Watercolor markers, Copic Spica pen, Sakura glaze pen

Fancy Snowflake in Blue

Pretty fancy card, huh! This is the new color from Papertrey Ink, called Spring Rain. Well, I can't even begin to 'think spring' yet, it's too darn cold! All the flourishes, snowflakes are embossed with vanilla embossing powder so it smells yummy! Not sure if it's still going to smell that way when the recipient gets it, but, oh well--I enjoyed embossing it!

Hope it inspires!
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark, Perfect Match
Paper: Papertrey Ink
Accessories: Swarovski crystal, CHF vanilla EP, Nestabilities, Spellbinders label die, PTI ribbon, brads, stickles

Winter Scene by Stamps Happen

I love this scenery stamp, it's my favorite. I love this artist's style so much so that I bid on another stamp like it on Ebay and ended up paying a lot more than I wanted to! I couldn't find it anywhere else, but there was the one that someone from the UK was selling, so I went for it. It's a winter scene in a circle frame and I can't wait to get it!
I used shrink plastic to make two little charms to dangle from the ribbon. One is a Sizzix snowflake die, and the other is simply a large Nestabilities scalloped oval stamped with my Justrite stamper. Pretty right?
Stamps: Stamps Happen, Justrite
Ink: Versafine, Distress
Paper: PTI, MME, Worldwin metallic, Stardream
Accessories: Nestabilities, Sizzix snowflake die, jump rings, PTI ribbon, Twinkling H20's, Tombow/SU markers, Stickles, Scor Pal

My Fave Christmas Tree Stamp

I really, really love this stamp from Penny Black! Everytime I use it, I love how it comes out. I wish you all could see the berries on the tree branches, IRL they are sooooo pretty! I watercolored them, then went over it with a clear Copic Spica pen, then went over all of them with some clear dimensional glaze. It's a product I've had for years, by Folk Art, called Papier. The berries have a subtle shimmer, and look round because of it. Juicy enough to eat! Anyway, I love how this card came out, and I'm going to be listing some more on Etsy, because.....drum roll please...I sold all of my cards I had listed on there! I was so excited, I couldn't believe it! Apparently, I was chosen for a 'Sneak Attack' by a website called The Handmade Movement. where they choose someone from Etsy to feature. WoW! I am so flattered! Thanks Handmade Movement! I needed that!

So, now that I've had a healthy boost to my confidence, I'm off to post some more cards!

Stamps: Penny Black, Papertry Ink

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, PTI

Ink: Palette, Distress

Accessories: Martha Stewart branch & snowflake punch, buttons, Tombow/SU markers, Folk Art Papier, gold brad, glass glitter, Copic SPica pen, raffia

Shimmery Reindeer

I needed to ink up some unused stamps I had, and decided on this reindeer stamp from Impression Obsession. I embossed them with black EP, to make it easier to watercolor them with Twinkling H2O's. Pretty straight forward and easy.

Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Impression Obsession, Papertrey Ink

Ink: Versamark, Palette, Distress

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Fancy Pants, PTI, Stardream, gold brad,

Accessories: Nestabilities, Green gold ribbon (AC Moore), Marth Stewart branch punch, Twinkling H20's

I love this stamp! Magnolia just keeps getting better and better! I wish I could have them all, LOL. This time in my DT pack were a bunch of manila tags, small, medium sized and large ones. My first thought was a small photo album, and Christmas tags. Well, I didn't quite have enough tags for really complete scrapbook, so I decided to make a tag photo card. With the second tag, I simply made a pocket out of DP (love the colors--no idea who makes them) then decorated a medium sized tag to slip into the pocket. I made a simple Nesties mat for a photo, & cut little slits in the corners to slip a pic into. Tied three of the tags together with ribbons and embroidery thread to finish it.
I also made a simple Christmas gift tag. I may have to get more manila tags for myself to make for my Christmas gifts this year. I really like the simplicity of adding some DP, a stamped image, some embellishments, ribbon and you have a really great tag. So easy! How great would they look attached to a really special gift?!
Thanks for stopping by!
Stamps: Magnolia, Verve Visual, Justrite
Ink: Palette, Distress
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Manila tags, unknown DP, PTI, Bazzill
Accessories: Nestabilities, self-stick rhinestones, brads, paper flowers, assorted ribbon, embroidery thread, mini sewing macine, Twinkling H20's, Tombow markers, Copic Spica pens, buttons, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, glass glitter

Wooly Mittens

Well, finally things are starting to slow down to my normal pace! It's been really hectic this past week. All the kids home from school, DBF home from work, the holiday...Phew! I have been making some cards, just didn't have the time to take pics, edit and post!
Anyway, I love this DP from Stampin Up. I first saw the blue patterned paper on a card uploaded to SCS and LOVED it! I don't really buy too much from SU because I think it's torture waiting for the packages to arrive, LOL. They're all the way across the country and only ship UPS so it takes FOREVER! But sometimes, when I really like something, I'll give in and order. So, I used the mittens stamps from Papertrey Ink's Snowfall set to stamp on the back of the paper, then cut them out. Then I felt they needed a little somthing extra, so I cut out tiny rectangles of wool felt for the cuffs.
That's one card down, keep checking back, I've got a Magnolia DT project to show you all!
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Paper: PTI, SU, Worldwin metallic
Accessories: Nestabiltiies, Wool felt, Embroidery thread, white twill ribbon

Tagged?! Me?! Nahhh...

What a grand world we would live in if we could forget our

troubles as easily as we forget our blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Don't forget to count your blessings today (preferably everyday).

I've been tagged by Terri, to share 7 random/weird facts about me, then tag 7 more people. Thanks for thinking of me Terri, but unfortunately after a few days of starting the post, it stayed in my drafts folder while I pondered on what to write about! I honestly just can't think of what to write! I even asked my DBF, my kids, anything to help me get started. Nada. Blank. So, I'll have to pass on this one.
But I do have a card to post today. I finally caved in and bought Papertrey Ink's Merry and Bright Additions. I didn't want any of their new stamp sets from the last release, but I've been wanting Merry and Bright, along with their new colors. I didn't have a whole lot of extra moolah, so I had to make a very difficult decision between Merry and Bright original and the additions. Tough call!
The thing I love most about PTI is that it's so easy to put together wonderful cards with very little effort. For me, I usually decide on a color scheme first. In this case, Ocean Tides, Poppy and Avocado. Then I choose the stamps I want for my main image. Finally it's just a matter of selecting a few coordinating little detail stamps, and/or a sentiment, some ribbon and that's it! They make it so easy.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Perfect Match

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Worldwin metallic, Stardream

Accessories: Nestabilities, Green/Gold ribbon from Mike's, Sizzix texture plates

100th Post Today!

I'm in sparkly snowflake heaven! I saw Anna Wight make a couple elaborate, layered glittered snowflakes on her blog and immediately knew I had to make them too! I didn't have the tin snowflakes at the time (I do now, and will be making some soon!) so I just used the German glass glitter to coat some of my Sizzix snowflakes. I love the look and am using them on everything! I just bought another 1/2 lb. of glass glitter on Ebay 'cause I was running out! I have a little rustic 'Everyday' tree that I keep up all year round and I plan on putting lots of sparkly snowflakes all over it! I'll take a picture soon.

Well, I got another small design team package from Magnolia, so I'm off to work on that!

Stamps: Plum Purdy Designs, Papertrey Ink

Paper: Hot press w/c, PTI, Cosmo Cricket

Ink: Palette, Distress

Accessories: Sizzix snowflake dies, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Button, German Glass Glitter, Jute string

Back to Basics

Whew! I need a break from complicated and detailed watercolored cards! While I was out and about yesterday, I saw lots of poinsettia's for sale. I love them, especially all the new fangled colors they come in nowadays. I wanted to make a fairly traditional poinsettia card, in red with some gold accents. I only have one actual poinsettia stamp, and it was too large for the idea I had forming in my head. I didn't feel like making one out of punched paper, so I flipped through my everyday stamp collection. Well, I spied Papertrey Ink's Boxes, Bags and Tags and the little flower set included with it! Perfect! Stamped a couple of those in Poppy and Moulin Rouge Palette Inks, cut them out, popped them up and I had my main image. The rest was easy! Isn't it pretty?
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Perfect Match, Palette, Colorbox
Paper: Papertrey Ink, Gold Stardream
Accessories: Gold striped ribbon, Nestabilities, Stickles

Folk Art Snowman

This is a verry rustic, distressed card! This snow guy is from another of my favorite decorative painting artists, Katrina Roncin's book Abundance of Blessings. I've had this book for a long time, and painted many a patterns from it. I love her primitive style and deep, antique colors. I traced and watercolored the image with a variety of Distress Inks, Adirondack reinkers, and of course, Tombow markers. I could not find an off-white pen or marker though, so I painted the snowflakes in the background with the old stand by, a paintbrush and acrylic paints. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled glitter on it. I love the way this card came out. It kind of looks like a special memento that's been lovingly saved in Grandma's attic for years!
Hope you like!
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, Kraft, Stardream
Accessories: Adirondack reinkers, Distress Inks, Tombow/SU markers, SU scallop punch, mini sewing machine, Americana acrylic paint, Art Institute glitter

A Few Questions Answered..

WARNING: This post is long, and may bore you to tears, LOL!

I just want to take a minute to thank everyone who has left such wonderful comments. I can't express how good it makes me feel, and keeps me motivated to do what I love to do! You don't know how many times I have thought to myself, how futile all the time and effort I put into this hobby is! Sometimes I scold myself for taking the time instead of doing something 'productive'. But the way I look at it is like this. Life is not always much fun. It's working hard, taking care of children, doing all of the things that we need to do on a day to day basis. Cleaning, making dinner, doing laundry, driving a gazillion miles to get all the kids where they need to be. So, when I have a few hours in between all of these things, I sit down, I create, I paint, I listen to my audio book and let all things just be for a few moments. It calms and centers me, allows my brain to take a break from worrying how am I going to pay for my car insurance, or buy Christmas presents this year. It allows me to take pleasure in what would otherwise be a very dreary life. If I didn't have something creative to do, I would be in a mental institution by now, LOL! SO, because I take this time for me, I am happier and healthier. Because I am happier and healthier, I can be a better mother, a better spouse, employee, etc. etc.

Anyway, I have been asked how I made the card in my previous post without a stamp? Well, it's actually quite simple. When I used to paint with acrylics on all sorts of surfaces, wood, plaster, tin, paper mache, whatever, I would have a pattern of the design I wanted to paint. (This card was made using one of the free patterns from Plum Purdy, you can download the ZIP file here) You will get a few B & W line drawings. I re size them to the size I want on my computer, then print it out. I cut out the pattern to fit on the surface I want to transfer it to, in this case a small square of watercolor paper, and use transfer paper to trace the pattern. In my case, I didn't have transfer paper, I just used a soft pencil to trace the lines on the back of the pattern. This way I can just put it onto the w/c paper right side up, and use a stylus to trace the lines again. Once I have my image transferred, I can go over the lines with a permanent fine line pen like Sakura Micron or ZIG. I use a brown .05MM Micron. I erase the stray pencil lines, and start water coloring like any stamped image. Yes, it's more work, takes longer, and isn't as perfect as a rubber stamped image, but I like it. It also gives me an almost unlimited choice of images because there are thousands of painting pattern books out there by a lot of wonderful artists! I have a very particular style that I love, folk art, primitive, rustic, whatever you want to call it, and there aren't a lot of stamps out there like that! So, this is my solution. It works for me!

A Few Cards for Sale

A couple of weeks ago I gave a bunch of my card stash to my mother, she wanted to take them to work with her and show them off. Well, lo and behold, she also sold a bunch of them! I was pretty surprised! Anyway, after much consideration, I've been convinced that I should try and sell them online. I haven't yet figured out where I will be offering them for sale on a regular basis, but I decided to start with a few auctions on Ebay. I used to sell my decorative hand painted items with pretty good success years ago, and figured I might try it again. So click on the link and see what I'm offering up for bid!

The cards I posted aren't actually stamped at all, at least the main images aren't. This one is one of Renee Mullins' free patterns from her Plum Purdy web site. It was the first one I tried doing without stamping. Most of her patterns are designed to painted with acrylic paints, but I was already water coloring, so I figured why not? I think it looks pretty darn cute! Now I just have to get into my DBF's storage shed and start digging for my pattern books! They're in there somewhere! Or maybe I could just buy a couple more from her, that would be much easier, LOL.

Oh well, hope you like!

I was so excited when Cambria Turnbow from Splitcoast Stampers emailed me about a new store she was opening with a partner called Our Craft Lounge. She wanted me (me??!!) to make her some samples using one of their new stamp sets! What a thrill, let me tell you. Of course I said yes, and how excited was I when I saw this set called 'Life is Sweet' with adorable yummy cupcakes and ice cream!
Anyway, using this set to make a variety of cards was easy, they're so fun!

From Watermelon Sugar

Last Two Magnolia Design Team Projects

Here are the last two cards I made for Magnolia DT. Same image, different looks. The second card has a pretty sweet little embellishment I'm pretty proud of. I made the little tree from a twig cut from a floral stem, then tied strips of green jute, or some kind of thin colored string that came in my DT package, all along the trunk. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's a bit stiff, which worked perfectly for the tree 'branches'. Again, I'm not sure who the maker of the DP is, I didn't get a whole sheet and there was no logo on it.

I decorated the inside of the card, too, so it shows through the 'window'. That's a gorgeous snowflake stamp embossed in silver, also from Magnolia. I love snowflakes, I have all kinds, fancy and rustic. You can never have too many snowflake stamps!

I tried something else pretty neat with the first card. I could not for the life of me find matching ribbon, but I had the perfect color of Twinkling H2O's. So I decide what the hey, I'm going to try and dye some white twill tape with it! Well, it worked beautifully! I simply brushed it on with a paintbrush (dampen the twill with a little bit of water first so it colors evenly), dried it with the heat gun, and bingo! It looks gorgeous!

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Magnolia, Pink Cat Studio, Papertrey Ink, JustRite

Ink: Palette, Versamark, Distress, Adirondack

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Bazzill, Stardream

Accessories: Nestabilities, Clear EP, Sheer red ribbon, Flower punches from The Punch Bunch, Tombow/SU markers, Liquid Pearls, mini sewing machine, Twinkling H2O's

Tilda's Gifts II

Here's another version of Tilda with her pile of gifts colored in more subdued colors. She's still lovely in her teal dress and candy striped stockings. Included in my DT package from Magnolia were these beautiful pine branches that look like they were punched from cardstock. I'm not sure who makes the punch, but it looks pretty similar to a Martha Stewart one I saw. I may have to get it. I added a few Dew Drops to the bunch simulating bright red berries. I love it and I have to find that punch! LOL! Being a stamper is bankrupting me!
Anyway, hope you find some inspiration with these Magnolia projects I've been posting. I don't think I'll ever run out of ideas when it comes to Magnolia stamps! They are truly one of my very favorite images.
Stamps: Magnolia, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Palette, Distress, Colorbox
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Basic Grey, Stardream
Accessories: Silver edge ribbon, Bazzill Chips, Dew Drops, Sakura Glaze pen, Ranger White gel pen, Silver EP

Tilda Sitting Pretty

Here's the same Tilda image I used on the gift box, but this time on a card. All the papers and the rhinestone tree are from Magnolia so I have no idea who makes them. :-( If anyone recognizes the DP please let me know so I can post the info here!
Stamps: Magnolia
Ink: Palette, Distress
Accessories: Nestabilities, Red grosgrain ribbon, Tombow/SU markers, Corner rounder punch, Mini sewing machine

Tilda Sitting in a Wreath

Another Magnolia DT project, this time a round papier mache box. I painted the lid with acrylic paint, and covered the rest of the box with DP from Basic Grey. The wreath was stamped with a tiny pine sprig stamp, all the way around a circle from PTI's Borders & Corners. This makes it easy to maintain the circular shape. A couple of berries in red and that's it! Hope you all like it!
Stamps: Magnolia, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Palette, Adirondack, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Basic Grey, PTI
Accessories: Nestabilities, Burgundy stitched ribbon, Copic Spica pens, Tombow/SU markers, Americana acrylic paint

Tilda's Gifts

Well, I sent my design team projects off to Magnolia a few days ago, so I figured it might be a good time to post some pics of what I did. The new Christmas stamps are beautiful, as usual! Be sure to check out all their new collections!
I created this card a bit differently than usual. Instead of coloring with markers and distress inks, I mostly used Twinkling H2O's. Unfortunately, the shimmer just doesn't show up well on camera. The effect is really beautiful and rich. Perfect for Christmas cards. I also chose to cut out the Tilda and present image and adhere them with dimensional foam tape directly to the Basic Grey DP. Kind of gives the effect of a richly wallpapered room, doesn't it? I really like it a lot. I may have to recreate this card for myself, because I just love the way it came out, LOL!
Stamps: Magnolia, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Palette, Distress
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Basic Grey, PTI, Bazzill
Accessories: Cream/gold ribbon, Liquid Pearls, Flower punches from The Punch Bunch, Nestabilities

Joy to the World

I have been waiting for these label dies from Spellbinders to become available since forever! Now finally I have my hands on some! I just love them, I have another set coming and I can't wait. They are such a refreshing change from circles, squares, ovals and rectangles, LOL. Sometimes you just have to have variety! It's hard to tell in the picture, but the mint green background paper was embossing with a shimmery EP in a berry pattern stamp that I have, matches the berry tree branch beautifully.
Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Posh Impressions
Ink: Versamark, Distress
Paper: Memory Box, PTI, EK Success
Accessories: Stickles, Spellbinders labels die, Chipboard coasters, Frosted EP, Black EP, Green/Gold ribbon from Michael's

Help! I'm Melting!

Look at this poor little guy! Hopefully there will lots of snow and freezing temperatures before the sun comes up! He is still adorable though, don't you think? I saw the sentiment somewhere on the web, and thought it was perfectly appropriate for this image, so I spent some time with tiny letters and my rectangle JustRite stamper. I guess I could've just printed it out, might've been easier now that I think of it, LOL!

Till later!

Stamps: Inky Antics, JustRite

Ink: Palette, Distress

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Basic Grey, PTI, Bazzill

Accessories: Natural grosgrain ribbon, Tombow/SU markers, Copic Spica Pens

Last Minute Halloween Treat Bags

Happy Halloween everyone! I needed to make up some last minute treat bags, so I did some quick bag toppers. These were sooooo simple. Black cardstock for the base, a DP layer, some die cut circles, a variety of stamped images/sentiments, glue it all together, staple it onto the bag and it's done! Now I have to go to the craft store and figure out how to make cat ears for my DD, I couldn't find any in the two big box stores I went to last night!

Happy trick-or-treating, hope you get tons of candy!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Inkadinkado

Paper: Bazzill, Rusty Pickle

Ink: Versafine, Palette

Accessories: Nestabilities

Sweet Snow Angel

I've had this sweet little angel stamp from Inky Antics for a while, and it hasn't seen ink yet! So I finally put her to good use.
The tree stamp is actually two stamps. The tree itself, trunk and branches is one I carved out of hard rubber quite a while ago. It's just the bare tree. The pine needles I added using this tiny little stamp I found on Ebay. I wanted the tree to resemble the old fashioned feather trees next to my snow angel.
Hope you like!
Stamps: Inky Antics
Ink: Palette, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: Hot press w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, Papertrey Ink
Accessories: Nestabilities, Adhesive backed paper lace trim (unknown), Copic Spica Pens, Paper Piercing Tool

Mini Pizza Box with Plum Purdy Snowman Set

I don't make too many boxes, bags or other containers usually, but I just might have to change that! I LOVE this little pizza box template from a Splitcoast Stampers Challenge! I put a bunch of Hershey's Kisses in it, what a perfect little last minute gift and card. I love this new Ski Slope DP from Stampin Up, too, I got two packages, but I might need to get more, LOL. I think I'll be going through it fairly quickly.
Anyway, this is another snowman rubber stamp set from Plum Purdy Designs. Sadly, it doesn't look like she has any more of these sets left either. Maybe people weren't buying her stamp sets as much as she would've liked and decided to discontinue them. (Boo hoo..) But I bet that's because no one from SCS knew about them! I would looooove to see Renee Mullins making more rubber stamps using her designs. She is awesomely talented!
Here are some more pictures of the set, click on them to see them larger.

Stamps: Plum Purdy Designs, Justrite, Papertrey Ink

Paper: Hot press w/c paper, PTI kraft, Stampin Up

Ink: Palette, Distress, Perfect Match

Accessories: Nestabilities, Red grosgrain ribbon, Scor Pal, Stickles, Tombow/SU markers

Green is Gold...

Well, Nicole Heady from Papertrey Ink has outdone herself once again! When I first saw this stamp set, I thought, Oh, beautiful! Another flourish stamp set...Well, I wasn't sure I needed another one, but I took the chance, and got it. Gorgeous, don't you think? This card was very simple, but elegant at the same time. I embossed the flourishes in copper ink/clear EP. The green/gold iridescent paper is actually vellum, which I had the darndest time mounting onto the card base without the adhesive showing, so I just found a similar color of Bazzill cardstock, spread a thin, even coat of glue stick to the back of the vellum, then smoothed it down onto the cardstock. Presto! No adhesive shows at all!
I am still anxiously waiting for Spellbinders to release their labels 1 set, so until then, I improvised and made my own label shape by tracing a Bazzill chipboard shape onto paper and cutting it out by hand. (Yes, I still do that occasionally! LOL)

---Trying to stay warm in PA.
Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Colorbox, Palette
Paper: Bazzill, PTI, vellum, Stardream
Accessories: Gold ribbon from AC Moore, Clear EP

Thankful Hearts

Can you all believe it has been snowing here all day??!! A wet, slushy kind of snow, but snow nonetheless! Not even the end of October and we have this crazy weather! I just can't believe it.

Well, anyway, the kids, DBF and I are all off work and school, so I have time to catch up on all the blog posting I haven't done. I got these stamps used off of eBay and they arrived last night, so I whipped up a quick card using the fall farm scene. I love the saltbox style of the barn, very folk-art-y! Just my thing! After I colored it with Distress inks and some markers, it literally shouted to be mounted on some Cosmo Cricket 'Gretel' paper! Perfect match don't you think?
Well, I'm off to shovel snow, ughh!
Stamps: Stampin Up!, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Paletter, Versafine, Distress, Adirondack
Paper: Hot Press watercolor paper, Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill
Accessories: Olive grosgrain ribbon, Tombow/SU markers, mini sewing machine, scallop edge scissors

Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink!

My first Papertrey Ink Blog Hop! I've always wanted to participate, but I never remembered until the last minute and didn't have a card ready. So today, I am prepared.

This month's challenge was to use the usual Papertrey Ink product, but also to incorporate Polka Dots into our projects! This isn't too difficult of course, as polka dots are everywhere! I used three of the small snowflake stamps from the 'Snowfall' stamp set to stamp a background for my card. I saw this color combo on the Papertrey site when browsing for ink pads. These three colors were right next to each other and I instantly thought, WOW, they look beautiful together! So I used them here, with ink as well as the paper. LOVE the new colors!

Have fun Blog Hopping!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Impression Obsession

Ink: Perfect Match

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Stardream

Accessories: Nestabilities, Copic Spica Pens, Sakura Glaze Pen, PTI saddle stitch ribbon

Sweet Snowman

Isn't this little guy adorable?!! While surfing my favorite sites, some of them having been bookmarked ages ago, I came across one of my favorite decorative painting artists, Renee Mullins from Plum Purdy Designs. As I've mentioned before, I used to do a lot of decorative painting myself years ago, and the urge to paint was kind of like an itch, so I went exploring all my old faves. Well, to my surprise, when looking through the gallery, I saw a card made with one of Renee's designs in a stamp! Needless to say, I was doing a funny little happy dance and immediately placed an order for a couple of snowman stamp sets. (Which were kind of hard to find on her site, and still are!) Apparently, the snowman sets are gone now, I went back and looked after a few fellow stampers asked me about them. Maybe if there is enough interest, Renee will bring them back to her site, along with a few new ones using her awesome designs!
Anyway, I love how this card came out, I hope you do too!
Stamps: Plum Purdy Designs, JustRite
Ink: Palette, Distress
Paper: Fabriano w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket, Papertrey Ink, Stardream
Accessories: Nestabilities, PTI twill ribbon, buttons, Tombow/SU! markers

Moonlit Sleigh Ride

This picture doesn't even come close to how pretty this card looks IRL. I colored the main image with dark blue Twinkling H2O's and it shimmers and sparkles in the light. Love that stuff! I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where the cabin scene and the sleigh rider stamps are from. Sorry! Before the days of storing my unmounted stamps in CD cases, I just had them thrown into a large plastic jar, and had no system for organization. Anyway, the paper is CTMH Refelections collection if I remember correctly.
Hope you like, and have a great day!
Stamps: Cherry Pie Art Stamps, Sleigh Ride Sign from Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Palette, Distress, Brilliance
Paper: Fabriano w/c paper, CTMH, Stardream
Accessories: Snowflakes punch from Martha Stewart and The Punch Bunch, Gold ribbon from AC Moore, Liquid Pearls, Dew Drops, Stickles, Twinkling H2O's, Tombow markers, mini sewing machine

Poinsettia Gift Box

This little gift box was made from the template on Mel Stampz blog here. It was very easy to put together with a Scor Pal. The poinsettia was made by punching out the petal shapes using a leaf shaped punch from a piece of watercolor paper I painted with a combo of Adirondack reinkers, Pearl Ex and a bit of Gum Arabic to bind it all together. The individual petals were then shaped with a plastic paper shaping tool by rubbing firmly on the wrong side of the petal until it curled up. Then I glued all the petals onto a small scalloped circle. Gorgeous, no? There's even a little Swarovski crystal in the center for some added bling. This box is almost a gift in itself, who cares what's inside, right??!! LOL.



Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versafine, Distress
Paper: Cosmo Cricket, PTI, watercolor paper, Stardream
Accessories: Nestabilities, Adirondack reinkers, Pearl Ex, Gum Arabic, Gold cord, Swarovski crystal, Punches from The Punch Bunch, mini sewing machine

Framed Snowman Tree (Festive Tree by Penny Black)

This is one of my new favorite Christmas stamps. I saw someone use it on a card while browsing Splitcoast Stampers gallery and knew I had to have one! A quick search on eBay and it was mine, woo hoo! Gotta love eBay for finding discontinued stamps! I liked the way the image came out so much I had to frame it. Yes, it's the same frame I used for the spooky Halloween house I did a while ago, but I figure after Halloween is over, instead of putting the frame away, I can easily swap out the image with another one. I'm entering this one in the new contest JustRite has going on right now using their preinked stampers. Those little pre-inked word sets are a cinch to use!

Stamps: Penny Black, JustRite Pre-Inked Word Stampers

Ink: Palette, Distress

Paper: Fabriano w/c paper, Cosmo Cricket

Accessories: Tombow/SU! markers, Striped ribbon, Copic Spica Pens, Nestabilities, mini sewing machine