Watercolor Poinsettia for Queen Beverly

The Queen for the Day at SCS this week is Beverly (aka ruby-heartedmom).  

Beverly has a wonderful gallery with lots of beautiful inspiration and she's so generous with her comments!  Here's the card I CASEd.

I stamped the poinsettia on watercolor paper with StazOn ink and used the Marker Layering Technique to color.  After it dried, I cut out the flower and leaves and adhered them to the front of the card.  I can see by the photo that I should have inked the edges of the flower. Oh, well, it's too late now.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Joyful Christmas
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Real Red, Garden Green)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Watercolor (snippet)
Other:  Delicate Designs EF, Gold Beads (?)

Addicted to Stamps and more has a new challenge up.  

HOLIDAYS

We want you to create something that has to do with a holiday that is seasonal (Christmas, Easter, New Years etc), a favourite holiday destination or even a national/public holiday.

I chose Christmas.

Festive Friday is offering up their last challenge of the year and ask us to pick any of the past challenges and do a new card.  I chose this challenge..

Pixie's Snippet Playground is staying open a little longer since Di has gone visiting a Christmas fair. Since I used some Watercolor paper snippets, I'm going to see what kind of mischief we can get into while she's away!  I've got my eye on that sleigh I saw sitting there. Wonder if we can find a horse?

52 Christmas Card Throwdown is asking us to chose a past challenge.  This is the one I picked.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is ANYTHING GOES!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Vanilla Suede

It's Merry Monday time again.  My, this year has gone by so fast! I can't believe that it 's the last Monday in November! Thanks to Merry Monday, my Christmas cards are finished. Now to sign, seal and post.  That's my Black Friday project.  

But here's my card for this week.

Our lovely Lesley found another wonderful inspiration for us.

You'll love the cards that the rest of the Design Team has created.  Do go check them out.

I'm going over to Pixie's Snippet Playground since I used Snippets for the poinsettia, fir and oval.  It's week 100 over there so there's lots of partying going on! Congratulations, Di, for keeping us all entertained and somewhat in line.  You are the best!

And it's the last Rudolph Days challenge of this year.  Sandra's challenge each month has inspired a lot of stampers to get those Christmas cards done early.  Thanks, Sandra.

CAS on Sunday is calling for a Winter Theme this week.  We only see poinsettias in the winter around here. And when I get a live one, I try to keep it all winter long. So I hope this will be accepted there.

Curtain Call is about to close.  Maybe if I hurry, I can make it with this CAS card.

Inkspirational Challenge is going with Anything Goes.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Bells and Boughs (retired)

Ink:  Soft Suede

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Soft Suede snippets

Other:  Holiday Frame EF (retired), Extra Large Oval Punch, Velvet Ribbon (retired), Poinsettia Die (Spellbinders), Fir Punch (Martha Stewart), Tiny beads

I hope you'll join us this week at Merry Monday.

Thanks for visiting.

Enjoy!

Storybook Friends Little Bunny

I am honored again to be the Guest Designer at Addicted to CAS .

Can you guess what the code word is this time?  Here's my card.  See if you can guess.

It's a bit of a different animal to be a......

DH and I don't have any pets any more.  And I don't have many animal stamps so I puzzled about this challenge.

Then I remembered the Storybook Friends stamp set that has been in my NBUS box for far too long.

And this little bunny kept hopping around in my brain.  We had a bunny when I was a kid and the people we bought our house from had a pet rabbit.  I understand that they make really good pets.

So I've adopted a pet rabbit.

On paper anyway.

I've named her Sparkle and she'll go to my sweet granddaughter on her birthday.

Addicted to CAS is offering this prize to the winner of this contest.

DigiDarla Designs

I see some awesome images at that site.

The Queen for the Day at SCS is Janette (aka blessingsx3).  She is truly blessed with card making talent.  Here is her sweet card that jumped out of her gallery at me.

I've used a sketch from the CAS - Colours and Sketches challenge.  It was last week's challenge, but I loved the sketch and it was perfect for this card.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Storybook Friends
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Smokey Slate), Strawberry Slush)
Paper:  Whisper White, Strawberry Slush
Other: Perfect Polka Dots EF, Circles Collection Framelit Dies, Scallop Circle Nesties (Spellbinder), Basic Pearls, Dazzling Details

I hope you'll look through your stash and find a pet to share with us at Addicted to CAS.

And if you want to see some eye candy, go visit Janette's gallery.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Enjoy!

Sparkling Snowflakes

I love snow and hope we'll see some here this winter.  As I'm writing this, we are in short sleeves.  But it will be cold again in a couple of days.  North Carolina is like that in the Fall.

I had 2 classes last week with 15 lovely ladies.  We made a card with this stacked snowflake.

I had some extra kits that I decided to make up with different layouts.

I believe the snowflakes were multiplying.

You'll be seeing more of these snowflakes in the future.

Hope you like them!

CAS(E) this Sketch provided the layout for this one.  Here's the sketch

And here's another for last week's Queen for the Day, Susie Nelson.  When I saw this card, I saw a snowflake.  But then I've been seeing a lot of snowflakes.  LOL.

Susie has and extensive gallery and so much inspiration there.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Paper:  White (Pip), Island Indigo, Silver Glimmer, Whisper White

Other:  Kars Snowflake EF (retired), Large Snowflake (Impression Obsession), Medium Snowflake (Snow Flurry Bigz die (retired)), Small Snowflake (Impression Obsession), Large Rhinestone Basic Jewel

Card Recipe (card 2)
Same as above with Stitched Mat Rectangles (Lil Inker) and a punched circle of Glimmer paper for the center.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

Evergreen Trimmed for Merry Monday

It's getting close to time to put up that Christmas tree and decorate it so pretty.  Maybe you've already put it up.  I haven't, but I decorated this little Christmas tree for Merry Monday.

Here's Lesley's fun challenge for this week.

Got the tree.  Got the bling.

And singing O' Christmas Tree.

Addicted to Stamps and More has an Anything Goes challenge this week. Wow, what a lot of beautiful cards in that gallery.

CAS-ual Fridays and Curtain Call are pairing up this week for their challenges. Take a look at their inspiration photo.  I hope it's OK that I have red balls on my tree.  I do love the red ornaments.

Holly Jolly Christmas challenge is singing the same song so I think I'll go join in the chorus!

Jingle Belles is asking for a card showing our favorite holiday tradition.  As long as I can remember the Christmas tree going up was the start of the magic.  My brother and I knew it wouldn't be long until Christmas and we'd be so excited from then on!  When our girls were growing up decorating the tree was a very special time and they would get so excited! Me too!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps: Evergreen, Teeny, Tiny Wishes

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, SU Markers (Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand)

Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, DSP

Other:  Big Shot, Top Note Die, Argyle EF, Red Gems (Mark Richards)

I've seen the beautiful cards the Design team has come up with and I know that you're going to love them too. 

 I hope you'll make a Christmas card with a tree and some bling and come join us at Merry Monday.

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

Christmas Star in Cherry Cobbler

I had so much fun making the Christmas Star card here that I couldn't wait to try another one.

This time I stamped with VersaMark on Chocolate Chip cardstock and used Cherry Cobbler embossing powder for the color.

The sentiment is a NBUS.  I'd used all the other sentiments from this set but not this one.  It seemed perfect for this big star.

After cutting the star out, I wrapped some gold cord around it to jazz it up a bit.

And did you notice I used up a snippet of Designer Paper?  I don't remember what the name is but it was a Stampin' Up! series.

Pixie's Snippet Playground likes to see our snippets so I'm going to skip over there to see what's happening this week.  Di always has such fun prizes to share.

Just us Girls has a color challenge from my friend Marisa.

I think that's kraft in the paper. Hopefully it's close enough.

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is GOT INK?  This week’s challenge is a simple one – use ink! Whether it is ink spray or an ink pad, an ink refill or maybe some India Ink pens – we want to see how you use ink this week on your crafting project. There's VersaMark ink under the embossing powder and on the sentiment.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Christmas Star (Holiday Single), Greetings of the Season
Ink:  VersaMark, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, DSP
Other:  Cherry Cobbler EP, Brads, Gold Cord (Michaels)

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

Festive Little Ornaments

Here's another aqua, red and white card.  I love this color/colour combination!

I happened to have some ornaments already inked and cut in these colors.

Festive Friday has the perfect challenge this week.  Use red, white and aqua on your project.

 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge says Got Ink?  We need to use ink on our projects.  My ornaments have been inked.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes, Mixed Medley

Ink:  Pool Party, Read Red

Paper:  Pool Party, Real Red, Whisper White

Other: Fancy Fans EF, Kars Snowflake EF (Cuttlebug-retired), Crisp Bows Die (Memory Box), 3/4" Circle Punch, Basic Pearls

I'm so glad you could stop by today.  Hope you come back soon.

Enjoy!

Never Forget

LEST WE FORGET

Christmas Star for Merry Monday

We have another fantastic challenge at Merry Monday.  What fun!

Here's the wonderful inspiration picture and challenge.

Isn't this a wonderful inspiration picture?

And it gave me a good opportunity to use a NBUS (new stamp).

Other challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays is still running an Embossing Challenge.  My other entry used heat embossing and this one uses dry embossing.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge says to KEEP IT CLEAN AND SIMPLE.  I think this fits the bill. 

Stampin' Up! Only is looking for a favorite sentiment for a particular kind of card.  This is one of my favorite sentiments for Christmas cards. It's large with that curly N and simple oel.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! 

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Christmas Star, Greetings of the Season

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip

Paper:  Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler

Other:  Stylish Stripes EF, Basic Rhinestone

I love how this stamp holds the ink!  I stamped the star with Cherry Cobbler ink on a scrap of Whisper White and fussy cut it out.  I scored the long lines from the back and the short lines from the front to give it some dimension. Two dimensionals stacked in the center of the back of the card popped it out a bit.

Now it's your turn.  If you need inspiration, the Design Team has a line up of fabulous cards. Then get out your stamps and ink and join us at Merry Monday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Holly Jolly Noel

Christmas is fast approaching and we're seeing more and more Christmas cards all over Blogland!  I love making Christmas cards all year, but I've got to admit that I get even more excited about them as we get closer to Christmas.

I had some leftover pieces left from my last Christmas card class and put them together to make this....

Challenges:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge this week is Traditional Colors Sort of...  Use Red and Green but add gold or silver.  The door is about to close on this party so I'd better get moving over there.

And I used snippets for the bauble/ornament top, ornament, greenery and the embossed piece was also a snippet.  So over to Pixie's Snippet Playground for a visit and a chance to play on the swings.

The Featured Stamper today at SCS is Marion Rivas, another new stamper to me. One thing I love about these challenges is that I see the work of stampers that I might not otherwise come across.  I chose this holiday card as inspiration.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes, Many Merry Messages (retired)

Ink:  Read Red, Garden Green, VersaMark, Encore Silver

Paper:  Garden Green, Whisper White

Other:  Snow Burst EF (retired), Clear EP, Silver EP, Silver Ribbon (Holiday Catalog), Pine Needle Border (Memory Box), Red Rhinestones, Silver cord (Michaels)

I stamped the ornament onto Whisper White with Real Red ink. When the ink was dry, I smacked the image with the VersaMark pad and clear embossed it. I could have used the Framelits to cut it out, but I chose to fussy cut to get closer to the ink.  The top was stamped on a scrap with Encore Silver ink and embossed with Silver Embossing Powder. (I take a strip of scrap and stamp multiple times so I have a supply of both silver and gold ornament tops.  Very handy.)

The Pine Needle Border die is a NBUS and I love the way it cut out so easily.

Thanks for stopping by again.

Enjoy!

Too Kind Fall Flower

I took some time to play.  Some of my attempts went in the trash, but a few made the cut.  Here's one of them.

I was trying some different color combinations with this 2-step stamp from Too Kind.  The larger flower was awful! Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Cobbler didn't look good to me.  But Pumpkin Pie and Tangerine Tango looked lots better.  Not wanting to waste the whole image, I cut out the little flower.  Then came the tricky part. How to use it?

I pulled this oval out of an envelope with some left over embossed pieces and sponged the center with some Soft Sky ink.  I adhered the flower, added a bow, and it was ready to go.

Lots of inspiration helped to put the card together.

Queen for the Day, Dara, had this beautiful card in her gallery that inspired.  I wasn't familiar with Dara at SCS, but I sure enjoyed browsing her gallery and getting to know her style.

Cuttlebug Mania has an Autumn Theme.  I'm not sure this is what they're looking for, but it has embossing with a Big Shot. I think the flower looks Fallish with it's orange hues.

Freshly Made Sketches helped me tweak the layout.  Here's the fab sketch by Linda C.

Pixie's Snippet Playground requires the use of snippets.  The oval and decorative paper pieces were all snippets.  Pixie's is so much fun and she has fabulous prizes each week as well as a very inspiring gallery and friendly folks.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is looking for Clean and Simple and this is pretty CAS. You really need to check out their Design Team cards and the gallery.  So much inspiration there!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Too Kind

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Soft Sky

Paper:  Whisper White, DSP (snippet box)

Other:  Square Lattice EF, Designer Frames EF, Corner Rounder Punch, Linen Thread

Thanks for joining me today.

Enjoy! 

Happy Anniversary

Did you know that Addicted to CAS is celebrating their first anniversary?  Well they are and I'm exited to say that they invited me to be their Guest Designer this month!  It's one of my favorite challenges and it's such an honor to be among these top designers.  What a warm and welcoming group!

Here's this week's challenge.



Happy Anniversary ATCAS

Thanks for inviting me to be a part of your celebration! 

This challenge is sponsored by

Deedee's Digis

Deedee will offer 3 digi sets for our winners.

It just so happens that my sister and brother-in-law will be celebrating their 57th anniversary in a few days.  They are pretty amazing! Guess where this card is going!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Happy Anniversary (Dollar Store)

Ink:  Encore Gold

Paper:  Brushed Gold, Shimmery Champagne (???)

Other:  Gold Embossing Powder, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Amira Flourish (Memory Box)

I hope you'll go over to Addicted to CAS and join in the fun.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Tracey

I'm late for a  party for Tracey McNeely who had a birthday last week.  There's a linky party going on here.  I hope there's some cake left!

If you don't know her, Tracey, of the blog In My Creative Opinion, is so inspiring.  Not only is she an exceptional CAS card designer, but she inspires with her encouraging comments. Many times she has visited my blog and made me feel so good.  Thanks Tracey and I hope you have enjoyed all the love sent your way.  

I kept seeing these stitched mats on Tracey's cards.  And every time I saw them I would think I really needed to get some.  I finally did and I sure do enjoy them.  I always think of Tracey when I use them.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Other:  Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil Inkers)

I first stamped the flower in Cherry Cobbler and sponged some Tangerine Tango on it.  I didn't like it at all. So...

I stamped the flower by inking it with Tangerine Tango and sponging some Cherry Cobbler on the stamp with a sponge dauber.  I liked it better so I cut it out and added it over the ugly first flower with dimensionals.

I'm going to take this over to Seize the Birthday too.  Any birthday card will do but we can add a topping of texture.  I've used the Stitched Mat Rectangles embossing.  I hope that's topping enough.

I'm really glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Little Ornament Keepsakes

Wow, it's November already!  Another month and we'll be having to send those Christmas cards out! Thanks to Lesley and her Merry Monday Challenge, I have plenty on hand.

Here's this week's challenge....

photo source

Don't you love these colors? 

Here's what I came up with.

The circles were the biggest challenge for me.  But I have circles in my ornament, rhinestones, rows of dots in the sentiment and even some of the letters.

I hope you'll join in this challenge and link back to Merry Monday! We love to see your Christmas creations!  While you're there, be sure to check out the rest of the DT samples! Oh, my, what inspiration!

Other challenges 

CAS-ual Fridays #119  Use dry or heat embossing on your Clean And Simple project. I have used heat embossing on my ornament.

Christmas Card Challenge #49 Dimension [My ornament and part of the sentiment are popped up.

Nonni's Korttikarkuri: My Christmas Challenge #2 Christmas Cards out of Scraps/Old Stash!
My ornament, bow and popped up part of the sentiment are made from scraps (snippets)

Pixie's Snippet Playground is always looking for cards using snippets so I'm skipping over there to see what shenanigans are going on.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes.  A very popular challenge, I must say!
All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Magical Season (Holiday Single)
Ink:  VersaMark, SU Markers (Pool Party, Real Red)
Paper:  Whisper White, Winter Frost Paper Stack, Pool Party Coredinations, Real Red
Other:  White EP, Basic Rhinestones, Corner Rounder Punch (Fiskars), Bow (Memory Box)

I stamped the smallest round ornament with VersaMark ink on a Real Red strip, added white embossing powder and heat set.  I chose to fussy cut it as I didn't want so much of a red outline.  The sentiment was inked with markers, huffed and stamped directly on the main panel. (With breath held, I might add!) I inked the last line of scrip and stamped again on a teeny, tiny scrap of white so I could pop it up.

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!