Jingle all the way

Here's another Forever Friends bear card. I love this little guy in his stocking. I paper pieced the stocking to match the rest of the SU paper. I used all different coloring markers and pencils. The bear is in colored pencil, the shading around the stocking and the stocking itself in Copics, but the bow is colored with an SU marker. I can't find any color that comes close to Baja Breeze in CP or Copic, so I had to make the marker work. Normally I would just water color with it, but the paper was too smooth for that. So I just colored the whole bow, then went back with a Tombow blender to 'highlight' certain areas by actually removing some color. Worked pretty well, I think. 

Added some white sparkle snowflakes to the stocking with an XF Sharpie poster pen then some Polar White Flower Soft to the fuzzy part of the stocking.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Forever Friends, Papertrey Ink sentiment
Ink: Memento
Paper: SU, Heavenly White card base
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, SU scallop edge punch, SU ribbon, Flower Soft, Sharpie white XF poster pen, SU marker, Copics, colored pencils, OMS, SU designer label & word window punches

Caroling Trio

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a turkey-stuffed Thanksgiving and are recovering from the Black Friday hoards if you went out! Not me, I don't care how good of a deal there is to be had, you will NOT get me out of bed at 4 AM to go shopping, LOL! My idea of crazy shopping is staying up till midnight for a great new Papertrey Ink release, and I don't even do that often anymore! 

Anyway, onto my card. I picked up this adorable Caroling Trio of mice from Penny Black because I have a thing for lanterns. I know, strange but true. I just love all kinds of old fashioned lanterns. Maybe it's the warm amber glow I love, because I love coloring windows that are lit up at night too. It just gives me such a warm cozy feeling. So combine a pretty little lantern and some cute singing mice, and I just couldn't resist. I colored these cuties with my trusty colored pencils. 

 I had someone ask me a question in a comment recently (signed Anonymous, you know who you are, lol!) about how I color the area around the outside edges of my images.
BTW, if you have a question about something it is so much easier for me to answer you directly if you use the 'email me' link in the right sidebar of my blog, especially if you don't provide a way for me to reply to you. Just an FYI in case you never noticed it.
Back to the question/comment... it was suggested that I do a video of me coloring but I don't think I will ever do a video tutorial because of two reasons. I don't have a video camera and I'm incredibly shy. Yes, I admit it. I would get very nervous, sound like a bad infomercial host and most likely never end up uploading the video. Sorry, that's just the way it is. BUT, I can try to explain, and I might be able to provide some pictures as I work on a future project. In the meantime, I will direct you over to Paula Tracy's blog because I think she is the most fantastic colored pencilist (I made that word up tee hee!). She recently did a video on Stamping Bella's blog where she shows how she colors her grass, and it's pretty much the same way I do shading around an image. Minus the blades of grass.

So that's that. Hope you like this card as much as I do, thanks for visiting, I'll be back soon!

Stamps: Penny Black
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: Graphic 45, Gina K, PTI
Tools& Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake Lg. and Sm. punches, colored pencils, OMS, Sharpie XF poster paint pen, Stickles, antique pewter brad, PTI ribbon

LOTV Challenge Baby's First Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am so grateful to all my loyal blog readers, for all the wonderful comments that boost my spirits and keep me creating and sharing. Thank you for taking the time to leave me a few kind words, I appreciate it so much! 

Now on to this week's LOTV challenge. Bev has provided us with a lovely sketch to work from, you can see it here, on the Challenge blog. 

I chose this little cutie pie to create a Baby's First Christmas card. I colored him with my Copics and added a bit of Flower Soft to his hat and cuffs. 

I created my own DP with an assortment of PTI stamps. I figured baby boys don't mind bows, so I added a big aqua one to the card as well, lol!

Want to see some more LOTV goodness using this sketch? Head on over to the blog and drool all over the rest of the DT's cards. Of course you'll be so inspired to create your own card and you can enter for a chance to win some LOTV bucks!

May you be blessed with

warmth in your home,

love in your heart, 

peace in your soul 

and joy in your life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley, PTI

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match

Paper: Papertrey Ink

Tools & Accessories: PTI scallop die, Nestabilities, Copics, Liquid Glass, stitched ribbon, button, Polar White Flower Soft

Holiday Sweets

Good morning everyone, I've got a vintage looking card to share with you today, using Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar and Holiday Fillers sets. I find it amazing how much this set has grown on me, considering it didn't even faze me when I first saw it!
I wanted to try paper piecing the ruffle around the neck of the jar, to make it look like real scrap of homespun and the card practically made itself from there. Amazing how one simple element can inspire an entire card, I love when that happens!

After coloring all those individual peppermint candies (pheww!) I cut out the jar and covered the whole thing with Ultra Thick Embossing powder to make it look like glass. Not sure if it even shows in the picture, you'll just have to take my word for it!

The old Cosmo Cricket 'Be Good' collection fit perfectly with the peppermint candies, I'm almost out of that stuff...boo hoo!

Hope you like it, thanks for visiting!

Stamps: PTI, Catslife Press
Ink: Memento, DIstress, SU
Paper: PTI, Gina K, Cosmo Cricket
Tools and Accessories: Martha Stewart garlad punch, UTEE, colored pencils, OMS, tiny red rhinestone, natural twill ribbon, K & Co. paper lace, Spellbinders lacey circles/Labels 17

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge & a Winner!

I have two posts today, my Impression Obsession challenge is up too, just keep scrolling down or click here.

Thank you everyone for all the lovely comments from last week's blog hop! I enjoyed reading each and every one of them. The lucky winner chosen by Random Number is #106 Trine Anette!

Trine Anette please email me (link in my right sidebar) with your address so we can get your stamp sent right out to you.

This week our challenge is Glitter & Glitz. I chose some gorgeous papers from the very glitzy and glittery My Mind's Eye paper collection. I colored these two cutie pies 'Bringing Gifts' with my colored pencils with nice vintage colors pulled from the papers.

Once again I used one of the newly released (and sold out!) sentiment seals. For some reason I find it so much easier to use these than regular sentiments, I don't know why. I guess the circles just fit easier onto most card layouts, for me anyway, lol. BTW, these seals are available as digital downloads if you missed out on ordering the actual rubber. Almost as good, if not better, because you can resize them to any size you like.

Head on over to the LOTV challenge blog to see the eye candy from the rest of the DT, and to see if you've won a set of all the sentiment seals. (If you've entered).

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: LOTV

Ink: Memento

Paper: Heavenly White, Bristol vellum, PTI, My Mind's Eye

Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, silk ribbon, tiny pearls, colored pencils, OMS, PTI large scallop die

Impression Obsession Challenge 'Favorite Things'

Good morning everyone, it's time for an IO challenge! This week we're drawing inspiration from the song from The Sound of Music musical, 'My Favorite Things'. The third verse is what inspired me to create this card:

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things

Silver white winters appealed to me at this time of year, so I used silver embossing powder to emboss this Santa Bridge scene on water color paper. I then used some reinkers to water color the image. I LOVE the way this looks! Very soft and wintery. 

I used the Snowflake Cover-a-Card stamp to create the subtly patterned background paper.

Now hop on over to the Impression Obsession blog for all the details on how to join in the challenge for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate. For more 'My Favorite Things' inspiration check out the rest of the DT's blogs:

• Jeanne
• Jenny
• Julie
• Dina
• Deb
• Daniela
• Laura

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Impression Obsession CC035, G1780

Ink: Versamark, Distress, SU, Perfect Match

Paper: Canson Water color, SU, Stardream, PTI

Tools & Accessories: Silver embossing powder, water brush, satin ribbon, pearls, SU marker

Frosty Winter Wishes

Don't forget the Lili of the Valley blog hop is still going on, with a new stamp up for grabs, check it out here.

Well I apologize for being absent for a little while, it was crunch time for the Dirty Dozen over at Splitcoast Stampers. I procrastinated till the last minute, then really had to get my butt in gear to get my cards done for the midnight reveal! Shame on me, lol! Take a look at the beautiful stuff from all the Dirty Girls. 

Now onto our regularly scheduled programming...

I have a sweet snowman card to share with you all today. I LOVE snowmen stamps. This is probably one of the first ones I purchased when I got back into stamping, from Sunshine Designs. 

I colored him up with my pencils. I made one of my favorite snowflake embellishments out of coordinating papers and added lots of glass glitter to sparkle them up.

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

Well I'm off to work, have a great week!

Stamps: Sunshine Designs, sentiment from PTI
Ink: Memento
Paper: Heavenly White, PTI, Basic Grey
Tools & Accessories: Clever Lever snowflake punches, Tonic ticket corner punch, PTI button, tan twill tape,  colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Glass, Viva Decor paint pen, Crop-a-Dile, glass glitter, Martha Stewart tiny tag punch

Lili of the Valley Blog Hop!

This week the Lili of the Valley Challenge is being combined with a Blog Hop to celebrate the Release of the Tea and Chat, Party Girls and Sentiments collections, full details of the Challenge and Blog Hop can be found on the Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog . If you have arrived here from Edna's blog you are in the right place, if not then hop over to Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog  to begin. (Nice big prize on the main blog, you do not want to miss it!)

Now down to this weeks challenge. The theme iss ANYTHING GOES. Here is the card I made for the challenge using 'Time for a cuppa'.

I used October Afternoon's Thrift Shop papers to create this card. I like the vintage feel to them. The little darling is colored with Copics. I added some ultra fine glitter to the cupcake and the tablecloth which you can see better if you click on the close up below.

You can win this stamp if you just leave a comment on this post! The winner will be announced next Thursday so you have plenty of time! Each DT member is giving away a stamp as well, so check them all out. On the main LOTV blog you can win 3 sets of circle sentiment stamps. But you have to leave a comment on every blog along the hop in order to win. 
Here is the stamp you can win from my blog:

Here's a pic of the sentiment stamps you can win on LOTV blog:

The next stop on the hop is Lena Katrine's blog.  Have fun and good luck!

Snowman in a jar

Well I just couldn't resist any longer. I am a snowman junkie and tried to avoid buying another set, but I turned to jelly when I saw this set from PTI. I wasn't even too nuts about the jar idea, I told myself I didn't need to get in on that...but in the end I caved. Now I want to make a snowman in a jar for real! Well, maybe a cloth snowman in one of my old Ball jars, with mica snow and maybe a little candle lamp...The wheels are turning! If I do make one, I'll definitely share it with you all here!

 In the meantime, here's the paper version. Snow people were colored with Copics and glass glittered. The patterned paper was also stamped using a few different stamps.

I love the way this card came out, but then again, I have a weakness for the snowy folk! Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Impression Obsession
Ink: Memento, Distress
Paper: PTI
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders labels, coarse glass glitter,  Copics, SU edge punch, Sizzix/Basic Grey plaid embossing folder, Cuttlebug Argyle EF, Martha Stewart tiny tag punch, PTI ribbon

IODT Challenge- Holiday Family Traditions

Good morning everyone! It's time for an Impression Obsession challenge again. This week's challenge is to create a card depicting a family tradition for the holidays. Well, I'm sad to say that we don't have too many of those, every year tends to be a spur of the moment thing that's always changing. BUT, building snowmen is almost a tradition! Who doesn't love to build snowmen? This one is a bit nicer than the ones I'm used to seeing, wacky is the way things go around here, lol! 

Lots of stamping went into this card. I made both of the BG papers, the red/tan pattern is using Cover-a-Card Quilt stamp (CC033), and the kraft pattern was stamped with the Cover-a-Card Snowflake stamp (CC035). I embossed the Snowman with Sled  (H1786) image with brown EP and water colored it with Distress Inks.

 I didn't have room for the beautiful sentiment on the front of the card like I wanted, so I used up a couple of scraps of the patterned papers I had left to decorate the inside of the card as well. It adds such a nice touch to a card, I really should do it more often!

Want to see more? Head on over to the IO blog and check out the other DT ladies cards:

• Laura
• Deborah
• Dina
• Jeanne 
• Daniela
• Jenny
• Julie

Then get out your IO stamps and create your own Holiday Tradition card and enter it on the IO Blog for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the store.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Impression Obsession 'Not Only at Christmas', 'Snowman with Sled', Cover-a-Card Quilt, Cover-a-Card Snowflakes 
Ink: Versamark, Distress, Memento
Papers: PTI, Canson water color paper
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart string lattice edge punch & Snowflake punches, Stickles, Copic Spica pen, glass glitter, SU ribbon, Viva Decor pearl pen, Kaisercraft pearl, Mega Mount

LOTV Thursday Challenge 'One for the Girls'

This week at the Lili of the Valley Thursday challenge blog it's 'One for the Girls'! (I know it's early here, but in the UK it's Thursday!) I've done the ultimate in girly cards in honor of the challenge, flowers, bows, scallops & pretty colors. This is one of the new stamps to be released at the NEC show Nov. 4th if you're lucky enough to be within shouting distance. Otherwise, the rest of us folks have to wait till Nov. 12th for the online store release. Aren't these little girls just stinkin' adorable?! I love their sweet little faces.

 I colored them with Copics, and for the polka dots I used a white Sakura Glaze pen. Love that thing, it's totally opaque on any color. The sentiment is another seal also from the new release.

Hop on over to the LOTV blog and check out all the gorgeousness from the rest of the DT. You can also play along with us at the challenge for a chance to win some stamps. All the rules are on the blog.

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: LOTV
Ink: Distress, Memento
Paper: PTI, Cosmo Cricket
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities, PTI Beautiful Blooms II dies, Copics, Sakura Glaze pen, Martha Stewart scallop punch, paper piercer, PTI buttons, polka dot ribbon, Glamour Dust

Old Skates

A couple of weeks ago I was looking around for an ice skate stamp. I liked the new one PTI released, but wasn't gotta-have-it-crazy for it. I wanted something a little different. So I'm searching, and searching, finding a few but nothing I'm too crazy about. So I'm on Splitcoast, as usual, when I click on a message that has a picture attached of a card using this stamp. The poster was trying to identify the stamp maker. I knew as soon as I saw it, that was the ice skate stamp I wanted. To make a long story longer, it turns out the stamp was no longer being made, it was from several years ago. Well, I guess quite a few of us emailed the company (DRS Designs) asking about the stamp,  that they brought it back into production! How cool is that?! 

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory!

Pretty, huh? I don't know what it is, I just think they're so cute. I paper pieced them with some Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper, and matted them with these gorgeous Spellbinders Labels. The background paper is Cosmo Cricket Wonderland, gorgeousness!!

I colored the metal part of the skates with a silver Copic Spica pen, then went over it with some clear Liquid Glass. It looks like real shiny metal!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, I'm still feeling under the weather, but feel a bit better. I tried to do too much yesterday, and immediately felt worse, so I crashed on the couch for the rest of the day. I'm definitely taking it easy today, I need to recuperate before resuming my usual hectic days!
TTFN!

Stamps: DRS Designs, Gina K
Ink: Memento, Distress, Versamark
Paper: PTI, Gina K, Cosmo Cricket, Stardream
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels, Sizzix/Basic Grey embossing folder, PTI twill ribbon, PTI button, vanilla embossing powder, Copic sketch & Spica pen, Liquid Glass, cotton thread