dream it. do it. (Stamplorations, TPE)

Hmmm....

Some NBUS stamps from Stamping Bella (a win from last year's Hope You Can Cling To over at Splitcoast).  "Jane's Girl" she's called.

Hmmm... Dream it. Do it. How's that for a motto for 2014? I'll take it!  I dream lots.  Maybe next year I can "do" more with the dreams too...

And may I take this moment to wish you and yours all the best for the new year too!

One more card featuring stamps and silhouettes... joining the fun at Stamplorations.

And I'm playing at The Pink Elephant - #231 Anything Goes.  Haven't been there for awhile.

Thanks for visiting. Ring in the New Year right.  Cheers to another great year together, friends!

Supplies for dream it do it:

Paper: cardbase Bringmann, PP Studio Calico

Stamps:   Stampng Bella, butterfly Martha Stewart

Ink :Distress Inks, Versamagic

Tools: corner rounder EKS

Other: 

herd there's a DT call (Stamplorations, PTI MIM)

Managed to pry myself off the couch and away from the cookies (eating them now) to create a card for the Stamplorations challenge and DT call.  Read more about it here.

I think I'll always love the Papertrey Ink On the Farm stamp set and dies.  I must be a farm girl at heart.  And I can never get enough of punny sentiments.  Have a look.

Used Distress Inks for the stamping.  Inked the sun with three different yellow/oranges and the hills with two greens.  Misted the stamp with water and stamped over the inked image again.  Love how the water reacts with the ink and adds such dimension.  The herd is die cut from black CS.

I'm also joining the end-of-the-year fun at Papertrey Ink's A la Carte MIM challenge.  I used "#106 Two-toned stamped flowers technique" shared by Melissa P.

As for the cookies... they made it to the neighbors on time...

And to our table...

I sincerely hope you are enjoying the time "zwischen den Jahren" (the days between Christmas and New Years).  We certainly are.

Supplies for herd it's your birthday:

Paper: cardbase Bringmann

Stamps:   PTI

Ink :Distress Inks, Versafine

Tools: die PTI

Other: crochet thread

pti december blog hop (PTI)

OK, I didn't play along last month cuz I wasn't into house building - it was so cool to see the beauties ya'll came up with, though.  So I'm a non-conformist again this month.  When I read Nichole's description of this month's blog hop I knew what I had to share with you.

This card was created for a submission call where the theme was to be inspired by a song.  Can you guess which song I chose?

"Brown paper packages tied up with string."  As in "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..."

I actually had a punched square tied with hemp twine originally, but it didn't "work" with "blue satin sash" so I nixed it for the stamped version.  BTW, if you want to get reacquainted with all of the stamps in your stamp collection, give this design a try ;)

And do you think this is a Christmas card?  Is that song actually a Christmas song?  I thought not. I chose to make this a get well card.  Inside reads - hope you "don't feel so bad" soon.  Get it? Probably too confusing for publication...

Off ya go, hopping now.  And don't blame me if you've got the song stuck in your cabeza.

Supplies - a ton - including PTI On the Farm die!

a party in a card (CARDS)

Sharing a sneak peek of a card of mine published in the January 2014 issue of CARDS magazine. It's on their blog today.  Check it out here.  They sure do stage wonderful photos, don't they?

Back to the cookies...

bang for your buck (CFC, SSS)

Hey there.  In case you don't have enough on your plate at the moment, here is a project that gives you THE best bang for your buck.  Seriously, this is SOOOO effective and basically so easy.

Saw one of these at my girlfriend's house years back and was flabbergasted when she explained how easy they were to make.  I then taught DD's grade school class how to make them and they were hanging all over windows in Nierstein!  When I recently saw this tutorial, I figured it was high time to share this idea.

Now you can make the arms of the snowflake with any size squares you like.  How about with neon Post-it notes?  But I used construction paper pieces that were about 8" square for each of the arms.  This puppy is huge!  See?

Speaking of puppy... that fencing is to keep Miss Ellie off of our open steps.  DD is slowly teaching her to do steps but she's basically a main floor pooch.

So, if you're not crafty burned-out yet, give this a try!  BTW, the tute tells you to draw or print out the lines to cut along on your folded squares.  I just snipped in from the folded edge, no guidelines ;)

I'm hooking up at these snowy challenges:

CASual Fridays #123 - Let it Snow

Simon Says Stamp - Let it Snow

the month of december (Stamplorations, CFC, SSS)

Whew.  It's a wonder any card magazine gets published in July when the work for it has to happen in December.  My Christmas cookies still are not made.  But I got some cards in for the PC submission call.  Something wrong with my priorities?!?!?

Anyhoo, my bronze glitter embossing powder was calling out to me again.

I tried a Laura B. technique - heat embossing the snowflakes, masking and then applying Distress Inks.  How fun.  Then a cool sentiment and deer silhouette from the Kesi Art Avent stamp set. Kinda likey.

I'm going places with this one:

Stamplorations December challenge - silhouette?  yep.

CASual Fridays #123 - snow? yep.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Let it Snow.  yep again.

And now, this is the word of the day week pour moi...  thanks DD ;)

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope your holiday preparations are joyful.

Supplies for mois de decembre:

Paper: cardbase The Paper Studio

Stamps:   snowflake Artemio, other Kesi Art

Ink : Versamark, Distress Inks, Versafine

Tools: circle die MFT

Other: Zing embossing powder

nod to peacock feathers (CASE)

OK, it's not peacock feathers but you may notice a resemblance to this photo from the challenge that I've just missed the deadline for over at CASE study!

I needed a quick sympathy card.  Quick, as in put-the-dog-in-her-box-and-take-her-downstairs-with-me-and-get-the-card-ready-to-put-in-the-mail-before-it's-time-for-her-to-go-outside-for-a-walk.

Sympathy, as in the man died who owns the Christmas tree farm we always go to.  Thus the need for green.  Don't know him personally but we do know his daughters and sons-in-law.  We were actually there getting this year's tree on the day he died.  Ugh.

Laid down a mask and sprayed with blue Dylusions and turquoise glimmer mist (like peacock shine, ya know?).  Then moved the mask and sprayed with lime green.  Sopped up the excess mist with some paper and die cut the leaves (kinda plume-ish?) from it with my cool new Kesi Art Feuillage die.  Then a sentiment from a wonderful set that you must have for these nasty occasions, Hero Arts Remember.

I really wanted to play along with this challenge.  Chupa was the first one I contacted when I heard Cath was leaving Moxie Fab.  I knew she would be "in the know".  She tipped me off to the massive blog hop - thanks Chupa!  I suggested doing something at CASE Study to honor Cath.  So happy to see she's doing it this month.  Another lovely tribute to one lovely lady.

Thanks for looking.

metallic on a limb (LIM, CFC)

Sharing a CAS card for two challenges.

I've sure gotten my money's worth out of this Sizzix Bigz Die - Tim Holtz Bird Branch.  I've used the branch so often (like here) and even the branch with bird a few times (like here).

Playing here:
Less is More - #149 Metallic plus one color (well I've got colored metallic, hope that works)
CASual Fridays - #122 Out on a limb.  Yep.

Thanks for visiting.  Hope your holiday preparations are going well.  Our tree is up and decorated. House nearly decorated.  Definitely have to get a couple presents out in the mail today.  Cookies call...  Presents need to be wrapped...


Supplies :
Paper: CS Bringmann, black American Crafts
Stamps: PTI
Ink: Versafine
Tools: die Sizzix
Other: sequins

copper - another trend? (LIM, Little Red Wagon, Inkspirational)

I'm playing in the Sparkle challenge over at Less is More.  It's CAS.  Really.  It's only a colored image and a piece of patterned paper!

And where's the sparkle, you ask?

I was the lucky winner of the 1st Anniversary celebration over at Addicted to CAS with my geocaching card and my prizes have started rolling in ;)  Seriously ATCAS ladies, you are tooooooo kind.

Got some Joanna Sheen and Stampendous Christmas stamps from Karen B. and was excited to put this Santa Claus image to use with some new glitter embossing powder from Zing (copper - another up and coming trend?!?) and non-traditional colors.  I watercolored the image with Distress Inks. Since I'm sending it as a thank you card, I left the sentiment off the front.

Waddayathink?  I'm joining the Here Comes Santa challenge at Little Red Wagon and also the Anything Goes fun at Inkspirational.

And today I received another prize - some Siligum from Marie along with this beautiful card.  She used the most amazing cardstock.  Love that sentiment.

Is it really Friday again?  So much to do...  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies for card:

Paper: watercolor paper, PP Studio Calico

Stamps:   Joanna Sheen

Ink : Versamark, Distress Inks

Tools: die Spellbinders

Other: Zing embossing powder, waterbrush

twofer ric (RIC)

I've thrown my hat in the ring for the DT call over at Runway Inspired.  There is one amazing mass of cardmaking talent over there, so I'm not sure I stand a chance.  But the worst they can say is "no" and then I'm right back where I am today, right?  You'll never know until you try...

I love creating from photo inspiration and although I am so NOT a fashionista, I really dig the RIC photos. Anyhoo, have you seen this?

Well, at first glance it screamed PTI Watercolor Wonder to me.  Those brush strokes of bold color. And lotsa black and white.  And then I noticed the oh-so-funky plissee (what? you ask. well it's German for "pleated" but sounds much cooler donchathink?)

So.  First up.  Strokes of color.  In the form of Adirondack Stream, Sunshine and Red Pepper. Topped with some black.  In the form of an Impression Obsession Butterflies stamp heat embossed black.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession Greeting Squares.

And then I decided to give my NBUS Kesi Art Dandelion die a workout.  So.  First up more Watercolor Wonder brush strokes on scrap card

which I then die cut.  And then combined with scraps from my ironing board (yippie!) to bring in elements from the photo: gold (bangle), vellum and scored lines (plissee), black square (sunglasses).  And an understated but ever-so-cool sentiment from Klartext Kartengruß.
 

I may have one more card for this challenge.  If you look closely at the photo maybe you'll know what I mean when I say Hero Arts Envelope Pattern...

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies for smile:

Paper: white CS Bringmann

Stamps:   PTI,  butterfly and sentiment Impression Obsession

Ink : Adirondack, Versamark

Tools: 

Other: black embossing powder

Supplies for alles gute:

Paper: white CS Bringmann, black and gold scrap

Stamps:   sentiment Klartext

Ink : Versafine

Tools: scoreboard, flower die Kesi Art (butterfly die Clearly Besotted, dragonfly punch)

Other: 

festive friday, finally (Festive Friday, SSS)

Just for fun here.  Check out this photo from Festive Friday.  Adorable, isn't it?

Well it motivated me to do some burnishing of glitter onto double-sided tape.  As is, candy cane. And keeping with the whimsy, of course there had to be pink sequins too.  And polka dot pink ribbon.  So why not put that all onto a gold card?  With a gold tag?  Sheesh.  Kinda " cray, cray" as Ms. Jazzy Paper herself would say.

I love the ladies over at Festive Friday.  And I love the idea of a challenge getting you creating Christmas cards throughout the year.  I'd love to say I'll play more often next year.   But I might be lyin'...

Also playing over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes this week.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies for holiday delights:

Paper: gold CS Me and my big Ideas, PP Studio Calico

Stamps:   American Crafts

Ink : Versamark

Tools: star die Sizzix, circle die MFT, tag die Memory Box

Other: sequins, ribbon, glitter

leaves and berries on bag (WPlus9, MIM, Simply Create Too)

Thrilled to hear that DD is looking forward to baking Christmas cookies with me this year (there are some perks to getting old-er!) I decided that our neighbor presents are going to be bags of cookies again.  You may recall that last year the angels had the floor.

Well nothing like the perfect inspiration to be found in these three challenges to get me on my feet and running in the prep for this year's present.

Image Credit

WPlus9 - Monday Mood Board #24
Papertrey - Make it Monday #142 Decorate Kraft Bags
Simply Create Too - #51 Snow or all white

Here's my creation (times six):

The elements?  A kraft bag, red ribbon, snowflakes (thanks to PTI Stylish Snowflakes), a round tag, green leaves, red berries (thanks to PTI Irresistibly Ikat) and what you can't really see is the horizontal woodgrain I created for my tag using Lydia F.'s tutorial.  The whitewashed wood in the Mood Board was actually the first thing to catch my eye.

Now... when to start baking?  Happy Sunday.

Supplies for kraft bag:

Paper: cream CS Bringmann, green CS DCWV

Stamps:   ikst and snowflakes PTI, sentiment WPlus9

Ink : white pigment Adirondack, red and gray Jenny Bowlin, Versafine

Tools: circle die MFT, leaf die WPlus9

Other: bag, sequins, ribbon

simply create too 51 (snow or only white)

It's time for another round of fun at Simply Create Too where our Challenge #51 theme is "Snow or Only White".  Lucky for me, I just got the Papertrey Mighty Oak die and decided to let it do most of the work creating an only white card.

Dry embossed the tree into CS.  Also die cut an extra tree trunk and dry embossed it with my Craft Concepts woodgrain embossing folder before adding it to the card.  Added my sympathy sentiment (basically, "our thoughts are with you") on a strip of vellum and voila.

Remember, you can create any kind of project, not just cards!  And we love to see cards by kids too! So have some fun and Simply Create Too!

Appreciate your visit again today.

Supplies for stillem gedenken:

Paper:  white CS Neenah, vellum

Stamps: sentiment 

Ink : Versafine

Tools: die Papertrey, embossing folder Craft Concepts

Other:

it IS a trend

Remember this card and post?

OK, it's official.  Hashtags are a trend! Check out this great article over at Papercrafters Library, Trendy Tuesday - Hashtags.  Thanks for including me in your story, Katherine.

BTW folks, if you are suffering from Moxie Fab withdrawal, this is a good place to get your fix!

christmas greetings (CBS)

Lost this challenge (#6 Christmas) from my radar screen somehow, but luckily I saw it again today.  So apologies for the lousy photo.  I had doggie duty and couldn't get to crafting until after the sun went down.  But I'm in before the challenge closes.

I purchased the Clearly Besotted Signature Christmas set after Christmas last year and this was the first time I got around to using it.  I just love the set.

Used CBS Building Blocks with Delicata gold for the square, then stamped the tree over it using Amuse Fern ink.  Die cut the image with a Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom ornament and then stamped some polka dots (another Building Block) on a scrap and die cut just the top portion of the ornament again.  Used decorative edge scissors to create an ornament topper.  I think it worked!
The strip of washi... not sure about that.  But I tried to balance it out with the sentiment in red.

I tapped all the edges in the gold ink pad, but TIP:  the folded edge of the card sinks into the sponge ink pad and soaks up more ink than desired.  Keep that in mind when using this technique, and tilt your card appropriately.  As much as I like the gilded edges effect, that left edge was not what I had in mind.  Looks like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be gilded or distressed.  Ugh.

Well, thanks for looking.  'Nite.

Supplies for season's greetings:

Paper:  cardbase The Paper Studio

Stamps: CBS

Ink : gold Delicata, green Amuse, red Jenny Bowlin

Tools: die Sizzix, corner rounder

Other: washi

shapes and stamps and sequins oh my! (Curtain Call, PC, Stamplorations)

Fat and happy, that's me.  Fat cuz I ate too much of our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.  And I might have just snitched the last of the chocolate mousse while writing this post... And happy cuz it went well.  And cuz it's over...

Anyhoo, where's the card, you ask?

Started out as an idea to create a blue star card.  Cuz that's what I got from the Curtain Call inspiration photo.  See 'em on the tree?

Well I knew I wanted to play at a new challenge I discovered from my pal Shirley B., Stamplorations.  I'm diggin' those stamps.  So the challenge calls for stamping and sequins.

Only problem was I got sidetracked by this nifty October Afternoon Holiday Style - great retro feel to this line.  Love the blue tone so decided to go with it.  Made a shaker star-shaped card, trapping sequins between the card and the layer of recycled packaging I stitched on.  Stamping was then limited to the embellies - the candy cane and sentiment up top - both embossed to keep up with the shiny-ness of the project ;)

Also placing this into the Paper Crafts November gallery challenge where it's all about sequins!

Happy (real) Thanksgiving week to ya'll.

Supplies for merry and bright:

Paper:  cardbase Bringmann, PP October Afternoon, recycled packaging

Stamps: sentiment WMS

Ink : Versamark

Tools: star die Sizzix, holly die MFT

Other: sequins

ode to jennifer m. (WPlus9)

OK, so there's a huge flower on the WPlus9 Mood Board #23.  But what do I notice?  Those cool green and white berry sprigs up top.  I truly have a "thing" for circles.  And polka dots.  Well, then it's not a long stretch to bokeh, right?

Looks familiar you say?  Did you see this lovely created by Jennifer M. a couple weeks ago.  I've been dying to give it a try.  So I picked up on the orange and green fabrics at the bottom and I was off and running.  Lots of bokeh.  A multi-layered heart (a cool option to popping items up on dimensional adhesive!).

Love this look.  Hope you likey too.

Supplies for find joy:

Paper:  cardbase Neenah

Stamps: dots from PTI and Technique Tuesday, sentiment WPlus9

Ink : amuse, Versamagic, Versafine

Tools: heart die WPlus9

Other: 

hope heals (RIC, CFC)

Here's a one-layer CAS card for ya.  Can you guess where my inspiration came from?

If you caught the black leaves then maybe you thought of the current photo over on the Runway. RIC #48.

My eye caught the wispy branches, pink flowers and the black leaves.  Been lovin' those since Cristina K. produced this lovely.

So the pink flowers morphed to a morning sky, created with distress inks spritzed with perfect pearls water on an acrylic block.  And I chose this vine image from Inkadinkado Delicate Branches to get my black leaves.  And what was going to be a sympathy card turned into a message of hope (the lovely morning sky, ya know?) on a get-well card.

And this was purely a fluke, but ... count the leaves on the vine.  (Can you guess where I'm going with this?)  There are 8.  And what is the cool challenge at CASual Fridays #121?

Have a wonderful weekend.  As I mentioned, we are celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday (there'll be 12 of us).  The pumpkin soup is done, ham is baked (I've got a good recipe if you're interested), cranberry relish made, sweet potatoes just waiting for the 'mallows, cornbread muffins and banana bread ready... pumpkin pie and stuffing are on the agenda for today.  Sure hope the bird thaws in time...  I just love the way the house smells at this time of year.  Un problemo - anyone wanna come clean my house?!?!?

On that note, thanks for visiting.

Supplies for hope heals:

Paper:  cardbase Bringmann

Stamps: Inkadinkado, sentiment WPlus9

Ink : Distress, Versafine

Tools: 

Other: acrylic block, mini mister

wms nov pajama party (wms, Stampotique)

Time for another Pajama Party over at Waltzingmouse Stamps.  A few items to share with you so I'll just get to it ...

Challenge 1 - Thank you 

Did some splattering with Distress Stain direct to paper, some stamping with grunge stamps and a big ole sentiment.  I'm  joining the fun over at Stampotique with this card too.  Challenge #126 calls for paint splatters.  Yep.

Challenge 2 - A Christmas card

I absolutely love this bloom from the Waltzingmouse Poinsettias stamp set.  Decided to let it do its thing on kraft with half of a Tim Holtz sentiment stamp from the Christmas Memories stamp set heat embossed in black.  Just a peek of Pink Paislee Luxe metallic CS along the side to tie in with the golden bling in the center of the bloom.

Challenge 3 - Tag it!

Claire, hope you're smiling ;)))  That's the mistletoe image from Festive Foliage (and there are now matching dies for this stamp set!) on a kraft tag and wearing a ruffled skirt.

Challenge 4 - Decorate the halls (or presents or tree or both!)

Remember this technique - heat embossing multiple times and then stamping in the still-warm-top-layer?  Made these as tags for presents that can later make their way onto the Christmas tree.  Used some older- but-loved October Afternoon PP along with recycled packing paper on these.

Don't stay up all night, now.  Sweet dreams ya'll...