Christmas Holly

The challenge at Merry Monday this week is to use

some holly on your card. This is one of those cards that

too forever to make. It didn't end up anything like the

image that was in my head when I started out.

I rummaged through some old stamps and found this one by PSX.

I haven't seen it for years - I'd forgotten how much I love it!

You'll have to check out the DT's cards - you'll be so inspired

that you'll want to join the challenge too.

I am submitting this to the following challenge:

 Christmas Card Challenge - anything goes

supplies:

all from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white, vellum

dsp: Merry Moments

stamp set: Holly Jolly Christmas (PSX)

ink: onyx black versafine

blendabilities: cherry cobbler, old olive

big shot: circles framelits

stencil: falling snow (Simon Says Stamp)

embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

lace doily

clear sequins

Wink of Stella glitter pen

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

Hey There Friend

I've had very little time to play this week as I've been

incredibly busy painting the upstairs of my house. I'm only

halfway done but I did manage to sneak away and make two

cards this week. This is one of them.

I received some happy mail this week. Some very happy mail.

Catherine Pooler recently came out with something called

the Stamp of Approval. It's a box of hand picked,

specially designed stamps, dies and accessories that are

delivered right to your door. These boxes are limited so

when they're gone, they're gone. Every few months a new

box is offered. Click on Catherine's name above for all

the details.

Ruby's Rainbow is hosting a challenge using diecuts or

punches. The Stamp of Approval box has a beautiful

friend die in it which is perfect for this challenge. I 

combined it with the color challenge at Colour Me...!

* Diecuts or Punches * 

supplies:

from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white (reg & heavy), basic gray

stamp set: Girlfriend (SOA Friendship collection), In Bloom (SOA Friendship collection)

ink: basic gray, melon mambo, daffodil delight

big shot: friend (SOA Friendship collection)

sequins: (SOA Friendship collection)

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

A Merry CAS(E)

The color challenge at Merry Monday and the

sketch challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch! are a perfect

combination for mass producing cards or to use

in a card stack class. It literally took me minutes to make.

supplies:

card stock: whisper white

stamp sets: Jolly & Joyful (Lil' Inkers), Joy to the Woods (Lan Fawn)

ink: always artichoke, old olive, cherry cobbler

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

Cheers

These ladies make me smile every time I see them!

And the greeting, 'At our age we're going to need glasses...

LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM!' makes me giggle.

I can relate to the needing glasses part for sure - sadly I can't get

by without my reading glasses anymore.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - food and/or drink

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes

Allsorts - favorite color

I had to think about my favorite color for a bit and then 

realized it's white because I can put any color with it and

it always looks clean and crisp.

supplies:

all from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white heavy

stamp set: Wine Diva (Art Impressions)

ink: memento black, versafine onyx black

blendabilities: nude, smoky slate, cherry cobbler, melon mambo, soft sky,

       wild wasabi, crumb cake, old olive, wisteria wonder, color lifter

Tim Holtz distress ink: tumbled glass, weathered wood

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

Up, Up and Away!

This card was inspired by 3 different challenges

 Seize the Birthday 
Lil' Inkers
ColourQ

  

The "Toppings" option for this challenge is...

"Anything That Flies"

When I saw that I instantly thought of the movie 'Up".

Now, I do realize that balloons do not technically 'fly'

but wouldn't that be fun if they did! 

I don't have taken with teal so I substituted tempting turquoise

I always find the solid dies intimidating to use - after I 

stamped the image I could never die cut it with an even

white edge. I tried die-cutting first and then stamping and...

that didn't work either. 

Then I discovered something so incredibly simple but so

perfect!

Here's a step x step picture tutorial that I hope makes sense

1 - die cut all the images onto one sheet of card stock.

2 - stamp the image you want to use and then place the 

coordinating die cut piece over top

3 - the die will 'nest' inside the die cut image. You can secure with

washi tape if you'd like.

4 - run through the big shot and voila! A perfectly stamped and

die cut image!

I love this idea! 

I'm going to do this for all my solid dies and keep the template

stored with the dies. 

supplies:

from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white - heavy, pumpkin pie, rich razzlebberry

stamp set: Balloon Builders (Lil' Inkers)

ink: rich razzleberry, pumpkin pie, tempting turquoise, early espresso

big shot: balloon dies (Lil' Inkers)

wink of stella glitter pen

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

The Eyes Have It!

The challenge at Less is More is to make a one layer card

with eyes on it. I saw that and didn't even look at the cards that

were there for inspiration - I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I've had this monster stamp set for a loooong time but never

used it as it never seemed to stamp a crisp image. BUT today

I received some happy mail - my birthday present from my

husband arrived today - it was the MISTI!!! This card was

perfect for it. I was able to stamp the image more than once

to ensure a crisp image. 

It worked!

I thought I had some googly eyes to use on this but I

can't find them anywhere (I'll probably find them in a day or two)

so I used crystal effects to give the eyes some dimension

and some shine. 

If you look closely (not too closely or you'll see the 

smudge haha) you'll notice little white dots on the monsters

cheeks. Lastly, I used a white jelly roll pen to add them. I love 

how it seems to finish the card off.

Now to go check out everyone's cards at Less is More

supplies:

all from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white (reg & heavy)

stamp set: Monstermaniacs, Happiest Birthday Wishes

               Balloon Builders (lil' Inkers)

blendabilities: melon mambo, wisteria wonder, coastal cabana,

     smoky slate, rich razzleberry, pink pirouette, bermuda bay,

     cherry cobbler, wild wasabi

ink: watermelon wonder, mint macaron, rich razzleberry, 

     memento tuxedo black, versafine onyx black

Tim Holtz distress ink: old paper

white jelly roll pen (Sakura)

big shot: large stitched rectangle stackables

crystal effects

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

DSP Crazy!

This card was a personal challenge - to use as much

dsp as I could handle.  My daughter said I went a little

DSP crazy.

I was inspired by a very talented

lady from StampNation. Her name is Allison Cope and she is the 

owner of Your Memories.  She's talented at all styles of

card making, but when I think of her cards I think of layers,

patterns and flowers. 

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of white embossing on black

card stock used for the sentiment and I always love the

way it looks so I thought I'd give it a try and I LOVE IT!

I'll definitely be doing more of that.

The green 'water color' background piece is a technique

I've been having a lot of fun with lately. You're sure to see 

it show up on lots of my cards. To see how to do this

dry water color technique click the link below

dry watercoloring tutorial

I'm submitting this to the following challenges:

StampNation - flowers

Crafting With Friends - anything goes

Simply Create Too - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes 

Creative Inspirations - flowers

Be sure to click on the links above to check out some

great blogs. You're sure to find a ton of inspiration!

supplies:

from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white (reg & heavy), basic black, vellum

dsp: English Garden

stamp set: Birthday Wish (Stampendous)

ink: whisper white

big shot: mini circle garland pretty panels confetti cuts die (Reverse Confetti),

            large stitched rectangle stackables (Lawn Fawn),

embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

stencil (plaid)

wink of stella glitter pen

sequins - a gift from a friend

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

A Pastel Christmas

Where has the time gone?

There's only 3 weeks left of summer break and I haven't

accomplished even half of what I wanted to.

I've had 6 weeks off so far and I've spent 4 of them

hanging out with family and I've had a ton of fun!

Now to get to work on my to do list!

First of which was to make a pastel Christmas card

for the challenge at Merry Monday. I started this card

last week but only had snippets of time here and there

to work on it until this morning.

This was a hard one for me as pastel is definitely outside

of my comfort zone. I think of pastels more for baby cards or

for flowery cards and not for Christmas so I was eager to 

give this one a try.

I think my favorite part of this card is the background. It's

the water color technique without water that I am loving

right now. My last blog post gives step by step instructions

on how to do this technique. It's super fast and super easy

and gives super results. 

Can you tell I think it's super!

supplies:

from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white (reg & heavy), vellum

stamp set: Winter Wreath (Avery Elle)

blendabilities: old olive, wild wasabi

ink: versamark, pink pirouette

white embossing powder

clear sequins 

colored sequins (craft medley)

big shot; lg stitched rectangle stackable

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!

Dry Water-coloring

I absolutely LOVE this technique. Not sure if it has a name

or not but I'm calling it 'dry water-coloring'. Typically 

water-coloring is done with water but not this one.

This is done with a paint brush, markers and rubbing alcohol.

And it is SO EASY!!!!

I came across a very talented lady by the name of Carissa Wiley

the other day. The name of her blog is Sprinkled with Glitter and 

all I can say is WOW! She has a fantastic video tutorial on this

exact technique. And you'll see that my card was inspired by hers.

The challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge right

now is anything goes. I thought it would be the perfect time

to try a new technique. I'll be doing this one a lot!

One thing to note is that the rubbing alcohol should be of a 

higher alcohol content. I found 99% content at my local drug store.

The reason for this is the higher content helps to prevent warping of

the vellum. Use a vellum that has some weight to it - this will

also help to prevent warping.

Here are the steps for 'dry water-coloring':

-pour some of the rubbing alcohol into a little spray bottle

- secure your vellum with some painters tape onto a hard surface

(I used a clipboard - it also secures one of the ends of he vellum)

- choose some markers. I used my blendabilities but the tutorial

I watched, copics were used.

- scribble in sections being sure to cover the whole piece

 - give the vellum a few spritz with rubbing alcohol

- spread the color around with a paint brush, if it's starts to

dry before you're done, just give it another spritz

That's it! It's that easy!!

I ran this through my big shot with the stitched rectangle stackables

to make two pieces.

Now to make a couple of cards with them.

Be sure to head over to the Simon Says Challenge Blog to see

all the wonderful cards.

supplies:

all from Stampin' Up! unless noted

card stock: whisper white, basic black, vellum

stamp set: The Open Sea

ink: smoky slate

blendabilites: night of navy, bermuda bay, coastal cabana

Tim Holtz distress ink: stormy sky

big shot: celebrations die (Penny Black)

stencil: dots decorative stencil

washi tape and sequins from the dollar store

Happy Stampin'

and thanks so much for visiting!