Peace

Recently I was putting a box of cards together for Operation Write Home.  I had room in the box for some more cards so I raided my Christmas UFO box to see what I could find that would be quick and easy.  And with no glitter.  LOL, now that that box is shipped, I can get out the glitter and glimmer!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (retired)
Ink:  Old Olive, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Paper:  Whisper White
Other:  White EP, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Kars Snowflake EF (Cuttlebug-retired I think), White Gel Pen

I found this tree stamped and die cut.  I stamped the "snow" around the tree with one of the Itty Bitty Background stamps and Whisper White Craft Ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I sponged around the tree with Marina Mist ink.  The image panel is popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals atop an embossed layer.  And I used a White Gel Pen to deposit some snow on the branches

Challenges

Festive Friday

This card says PEACE to me.  I'm thinking of the hush of snow falling and softly settling on the trees and ground.  

Simon Says Monday Challenge From dry embossed paper to creating a resist effect with clear embossing powder, extra fine embossing powder to melted UTEE in a pot, there’s a lot of textured fun to be had this week.

I have heat embossing and dry embossing.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you come back soon.

Enjoy!

Blooming with Kindness Inside Out

Here's an inside out card for the Technique Challenge at SCS this week.

 External Frame/Internal Greeting

Today's challenge is to create a frame on the outside opening of your design, and to have the actual sentiment and main image on the inside. 

The outside....

And the inside....

It uses the colors of the Color Challenge at SCS.  The butterfly really is Daffodil Delight and Old Olive.  I don't know why it's showing up orange here.

Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
Dessert Option--Use some kind of flower

Other Challenges:

Seize the Birthday 

And a couple of new to me challenges thanks to Cathy of Cathy's Card Spot

Cuttlebug Mania  

The front of the card is embossed with Perfect Polkas Dots Embossing Folder.

Simon Says Monday Challenge

Make the Cut

The window and frame were cut with the Window Frames Collection Framelits.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Blooming with Kindness, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired)

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Basic Black)

Paper:  Whisper White

Other:  Big Shot, Window Frames Collection Framelits, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Bitty Butterfly Punch, White Gel Pen.

I cut the window in the base card and front panel with the Window Framelit then cut a frame from a scrap piece using the same framelit and the next larger one.

Then I lightly traced the shape on the inside with a pencil.  Using this as a guide, I stamped the flower and sentiment and when the ink was dry, I erased the pencil marks.

The butterfly was stamped with Tuxedo Black (Memento) and colored with markers. Then I smacked it with the VersaMark pad and clear embossed it before punching it out. It's adhered with a glue dot under the body so the wings can be pulled up.  The antenna is drawn with the black marker.

I nearly scrapped this project as the first 2 times I went to stamp the image, it fell off the block onto the card.  I was able to fix that by applying 2-Way Glue to the top of the stamp and letting it dry.  It stays put very well on the block now. 

I was able to salvage one of the mishaps.  I'll share that with you later.

I hope you're having a wonderful day wherever you are.   Thanks for sharing some of it with me.

Enjoy!

A Closet Full of Dress Up

Last week I shared a card done with the Dress Up dies that my friend Ruthann let me use.  You can see that card here.  

Today I'm sharing an ensemble.  It's not my CAS style at all.  But it was fun and showcases all the elements that we used in making the cards in our Papercrafting class.

The hat is made with the 1 3/4" Circle, 1" Circle and 1 1/4" Scallop Circle punches. We can thank Rena for the idea of adding the scallop circle in the color of the dress. What a difference it made! The white circles were embossed with the Square Lattice Embossing folder to look like a straw hat.

While we were at it, I thought a purse would be nice.  It was made with the Decorative Label punch and also embossed with the Square Lattice EF.  I also used this punch for a piece of red to make it show up better.

I used some old clips for a handle on the purse as well as a hanger for the hat. 

Simon Says Stamp challenge is     PIN IT 

We want to see you use pins, paper clips, clothes pins, brads etc. on your projects for this week!  

Pixie's Crafty Playground is one of my favorite challenges.  Not only do I use some of those snippets, but we have such a good time there.

Ways to Use It at SCS is to use any metal embellishment on a card. I may have gone overboard with the metal on this.  I don't think I'll be mailing this one!

While I'm at it, let me show off the cards our little group put together last week.

Clockwise: Jan, Pat, Linda and Rena's creations. I had lots of dresses and stands cut out and card bases of all different colors. The snippet box got a work out!

Linda made another.  Very elegant!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  none

Ink:  none

Paper: Whisper White, DSP, Real Red

Other:  Dress Up Framelits, Decorative Label Punch, 1 3/4", 1" Circle Punches, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, Square Lattice EF, Real Red Ribbon, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch, Dots and Flourishes EF (Sizzix), Brass Clips (in my stash), Gold flat backed beads (in my stash)

It was a fun time together.

I hope you have some fun creative time today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Evergreen

It's Merry Monday time again.

Here's my card for this week.

Did you know that this stamp set is still available from Stampin' Up!?  It's not in the catalog, but you can still order it.  If you're interested, you can email me and I'll give your the numbers.

Be sure to check out the Design Team and Guest Designer cards.  Then make whatever Christmas card you want and link it in at Merry Monday.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Evergreen

Ink:  Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Paper:  Whisper White, DSP (retired), Champagne Glimmer

Other: Apothecary Accents Edgelit die, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Holograph stickers (?), Star of Wonder Die (Memory Box)

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Falling Snow

I found this tree in my UFO box.  I used the Poppin' Pastels technique on it.

To do this technique,  stamp the image with VersaMark ink and "pounce" some ink on the VersaMark with a sponge dauber.  In this case, I used a cosmetic swab and added some brown for the trunk and limbs and also some darker green highlights.  There's a full tutorial at SCS.

I saw the Festive Friday challenge was snow,

I knew just what I wanted to do with this image.  So I pulled out my favorite Kars Snowflake embossing folder and added a snowstorm.  I wish I could tell you where to find this amazing folder, but I've just checked and it's not available anywhere that I could find.

Jingle Belles is having a CARDSTOCK CHRISTMAS.  They ask that we use only cardstock and no Decorative Paper on a card.  Was this challenge for me or what?  My hoard of paper is safe for another day!

CAS on Sunday is having CHRISTMAS IN JULY.  That seems to be a popular challenge this month.  And this card is certainly CAS.

Merry Monday is having an ANYTHING GOES for the whole month of July.  There's some awesome cards in that gallery.  Lots of them!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamp: Lovely as a Tree
Ink:  VersaMark
Paper:  Mellow Moss (retired), Whisper White
Other:  Kars Snowflake EF (Cuttlebug), Linen Thread, White Gel Pen, Stampin' Pastels (available in the Clearance rack. See sidebar.)

Thank you for stopping by and for all your encouragement and inspiration.

Enjoy!

Dressed Up for Dynamic Duos

Here's a fun card that I made over the weekend.  My friend Ruthann let me borrow her Dress up Framelits and have I had so much fun with them!

We saw the "straw" hat on SCS  and I just had to add it.  Thanks Nancy for the directions.  It's so easy and a wonderful embellishment!

Dynamic Duos is doing bright yellow and green this week.  What fun, summery colors!

I hope that it's OK that I used Daffodil Delight for my bright yellow.  Sometimes my memory doesn't work well from downstairs to upstairs.  At least I remembered that it was yellow and green!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps: None

Ink:  None

Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Naturals Ivory, Naturals White, Daffodil Delight, DP (?)

Other:  1 3/4" and 1" Circle Punches, Big Shot, Dress up Framelit, Square Lattice EF, Flourish Dots EF (Sizzix), Daffodil Delight Ribbon, Itty, Bitty Shapes Punch, Basic Pearl

Thanks so much for the visit.

Enjoy!

Featuring Danni with Bitty Butterflies

This week's Featured Stamper at SCS is Danni (aka danni5199).  I wasn't familiar with Danni's work but that's one reason I enjoy doing the Featured Stamper Challenge.  I love finding new inspiration!  There's no envelope and my butterflies are lined up like little soldiers, but I hope it's close to Danni's fun card.

Here's is another with different colors.

I also had inspiration from Liz at Simply Creative.  What a wonderful idea to use up some of those snippets!

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is always looking for cards made for snippets so I'll go over there again.  I was waiting at the gate on my last card and was a bit lonely being the first one in.  The real reason I was so early was really that I was late for the last weekly antics and figured I'd just wait til the gates opened back up.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  SU (both retired)

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Concord Crush

Paper:  Island Indigo, Concord Crush, Snippets

Other:  Perfect Polka Dots EF, Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Basic Pearls

It's been such a wonderful long weekend. Time spent with friends and family, crafting and a clean house are all things that make me happy.  

A friend sent me this link from U-tube.  It's an amazing rendition of Amazing Grace.  Here's the link if you're interested.

Thanks for stopping by.  That makes me happy too!

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Embossed Tree

We're playing Merry Monday a little different this month.

I love an anything goes challenge, don't you?

I pulled out a piece that I had embossed last December.  The embossing folder belongs to a friend.

Don't look too closely at the painting.  LOL, it looks like I was in a hurry.  Probably was!

I swiped my markers across a plastic lid and picked up the color with a blender pen to keep the colors softer and somewhat even.

Edited to add

My friend Ardyth encouraged me to enter this in the Festive Friday Challenge.  So I'll take this one over there too.

It's a one layer card so it will be super easy to mail.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  None

Ink:  SU Markers (Garden Green, Real Red, Daffodil Delight)

Paper:  Heavy Wt. White (Hamermill?)

Other:  Big Shot, Tree EF (Cuttlebug), Blender Pen, Basic Rhinestones

Some of the design team and Guest Designers are sharing inspiration over at Merry Monday.  I hope you'll create a Christmas card and link it up with us.  You can link as many as  you want and get that head start on your Christmas stash.

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Ornament Keepsakes

It's Merry Monday time again!  This week I'm going for the gold.

Here's this week's sketch.  It amazes me that Lesley can come up with a different sketch each week! She is amazing!

I've got to admit that this sketch really challenged me.  First I saw 3 trees.  Do you see them when you turn the sketch over?

I couldn't make that work. But by adding some trees I was able to make a great Father's Day card for DH.

I hadn't used my Ornament Keepsake set in quite a while.  (Even though they're not in the new catalog, the stamps and the dies are still available.)  So I pulled out my gold embossing powder and went to work.

When I saw the fantastic cards the rest of the design team did, I wondered why I didn't just pull out some DSP?  Oh, well, you know me.  DSP is to hoard and not to use.  Oh, it's not? 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is looking for cards made with snippets and I was able to use quite a few snippets on this so I'm going to skip over to the playground.  Have I ever mentioned that Di has some lovely prizes each week?  Well she does and I am the happy (oh so happy) winner if Ryn's Water Droplet stamp that I mentioned 3 or 4 times last week.  I am so excited, Di and can't wait to stamp with them.

CAS-ual Fridays is asking for

  

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge #128 is looking for Diecuts or Punched Shapes

Christmas Cards All Year Round is looking for Vintage Cards this month.  

Festive Friday Challenge #10 is looking for a vintage theme too.  These look like vintage ornaments to me.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes, More Merry Messages

Ink:  Encore Gold

Paper: Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold

Other:  Gold EP, Holiday Ornaments Framelits, Square Lattice EF, Gold Cord

We're almost half way through the year.  Have you started on your Christmas cards yet?  Now's a good time to start and I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday.  And be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team's cards.  They're awesome!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Debbie Marcinkiewicz (FD)

Brenda Hofstatter (GD)

I hope I haven't kept you too long.  I appreciate your visit and especially your comments.  

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Blessings with Holly

Good Merry Monday morning! We have another of Lesley's wonderful CAS sketches this week. 

It's a perfect sketch for using Designer Series Paper isn't it?  

I didn't though.  

I was going to. 

But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I pulled out an embossing folder instead.  I fear I'm addicted to these things!

I had bought this Memory Box holly die a while back and hadn't used it.  I thought that it would work really well for the banner in the sketc so I cut it from Whisper White and sponged ink on it with eye shadow applicators.  It was a perfect match for the holly embossing folder.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  More Merry Messages

Ink:  Encore Gold, Soft Suede, Garden Green

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold, Whisper White (for holly)

Other:  Gold EP, Holly EF (Sizzix), Holly Branch die (Memory Box), Red Rhinestones (?)

Edited to add:

Festive Friday is having an inspiration challenge this week and this card fits!  Thanks for the tip, Ardyth.

Di is away but she's left the Pixie's playground open so I'm skipping over there with my snippets for a look see at what's going on. And a chance to win some bubbles. 

Before you go over there to take a look, be sure to check out the rest of the Merry Makers Team cards.  You'll be glad you did!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Debbie Marcinkiewicz (FD)

Cindy Majoy (GD)

And if you want to get a head start on your Christmas cards, join us at Merry Monday.

Lesley had some exciting news! She is in the top 20 of the Gallery Idol Contest at Paper Crafts Connection.  She'll be posting her next card today and we get to vote for our favorite.  Do go to her blog and check it out.  Congratulations, Lesley!  I'm so happy for you.  (Hope you win the whole shebang!)

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I don't say it often, but your visits and comments mean so much. 

Enjoy!

Best of Flowers for Queen Emily

 The Queen for the Day at SCS this week is Emily aka Stamp Muse.  Stamp Muse she is with a wonderful gallery!  I used this card  for inspiration.  And I inked up this bouquet again.  This time I went bright!

CASual Fridays has gone patriotic this week.

I hope it's OK that I added a tiny bit of a couple of other colors.

Addicted to Stamps and More #47 is having a MAKE YOUR MARK week.  I used markers to color this stamp so I can join in with the fun there.

Inkspirational  Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Challenge are both having an anything goes challenge this week.

                                                            

And last but not least Pixie's Creative Workshop  will get the 3rd visit this week with my snippets.  

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Best of Flowers
Ink:  SU Markers (Real Red, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight)
Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red
Other:  Square Lattice EF, Basic Pearls, Ovals Nesties, Lacy Oval Nestie (both Spellbinders)

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Poinsettia

It's Merry Monday time again.  

I love Lesley's sketch this week!  It went together so easily.

I'm going to take these posies over to the gals at Rudolph Day  If you'd like to join in, just take a festive Christmas card over there before the end of the month.

And Winter Wonderland has a photo inspiration...

 

I was inspired by the poinsettias in the picture.  And the reflection of light in the pearls makes me think of the candlelight. 

All Supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Christmas Blessings, Come to Bethlehem

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Primrose Petals, Garden Green)

Paper:  Whisper White, Primrose Petals

Other:  Lattice EF (Hello Friend, Sizzix), Ovals Collection, Framelits, Square Lattice EF, Basic Pearls, Blender Pen

I hope you'll check out the rest of the Design Team's cards.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Amy Tsuruta (FD)

JoAnn B (GD)

I hope you'll join us for Merry Monday this week and add to that Christmas stash.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!