Pines and Paneling

Hello friends.  I'm glad you could stop by today.

This week's Merry Monday Challenge is hosted by my

dear friend Marcia.  And she chose.....

I was inspired by the paneling and pine sprigs.  I loved the red peppermints but didn't have

any stamps that would work, so I chose a piece of red and green plaid ribbon to

mimic the colors of the candies.

I'm also going to enter this at the Poppystamps Challenge

and I'll add this to the gallery at CAS Christmas where Christine is hosting.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Yuletide (Kaisercraft), Mixed Christmas Sentiments (HLS)

Ink:   Real Red

Paper:   Crumb Cake, Watercolored Smoosh Background

Other:  Pine Sprigs (PS), Forest Pine Branch (MB), Ribbon , Wooden Snowflake (SU)

Christmas Barn

Hello friends.  I'm glad you stopped by.

The boys are hanging out with us this week and Jack has been keeping busy in

the studio playing with Brushos.  But I was able to put together a quick

card for Merry Monday where Leanne is hosting.

I have one barn stamp and it was in my NBUS box just waiting to make a debut!

Serendipity makes and sells this stamp.

I stamped it with Pumice Stone Distress ink and let it dry.

I colored the barn by putting some ink on my palette and picking up

color with a water brush.

When the ink was dry, I stamped again with VersaMark and embossed 

with heat and clear embossing powder.  Then I could do a wet

on wet wash for the sky without the ink from the design running.

The wreath was made by stamping a tiny snowflake stamp with green ink.

I used punches to make it into a wreath.

Some chunky Frantage added some texture and a snowy scene.

I'm also going to add this to the gallery at

CAS Christmas where Christine is hosting.

I think this will go to my nephew who farms.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Barn and Windmill (Serendipity), Christmas Treasures (Wish)

Ink:   Pumice Stone, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Pine Needles (DI), VersaMark

Paper:   Mixed Media (St), Neenah

Other:  Water Brush, Clear EP, Chunky Frantage EP (Stampendous)

Angel Kisses

Hello friends.  I'm glad you could stop by.

I wasn't sure I would get a card done for Merry Monday this week.
But thanks to my UFO box, I got one done quickly.

This week Linda is hosting the challenge.

When I saw Marcia's card I remembered that I had this image

stamped, colored and tucked away for future use.

I had stamped this a long time ago when stamping with friends

and even got it colored.

You know how it goes.  You stamp a bunch of stuff and it 

gets set aside for later. 

The background was also in the UFO box.  I had used some gold

stenciling creme to do some stars.  I didn't do a really good job on them

but it wasn't bad enough to throw away.

There's only a few showing and some tiny stars punched

from gold foil filled in.

I edged the background with some gold ink and heat embossed it 

in gold to go along with the sentiment.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Manger Kiss (Stampendous), Christmas Sentiments (Kaisercraft)

Ink:   Encore Gold, Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper:  Neenah, Gold Foil (SU) 

Other:  Stitche Arch Stax (MFT), Gold EP (SU), Metallic Gold Modelling Creme (Viva), Star Stencil (SU), Stars Border Punch (SU)

Be Merry Penguin

Hello friends.  I hope the weekend is off to a good start for you.

I have a Merry Monday card to show you today.

This week's challenge is

I only have one penguin stamp and he has seen a lot of use.

I wasn't sure if I could come up with a new idea for him or not, 

but a new design found it's way to a card.

I inked the stamp up with markers and huffed on it before stamping.

(It's a wood mount stamp.)

I used the markers to color in where it didn't stamp very dark

and colored in his beak and feet.

I found a piece of alcohol ink background in my stash that

he looked good against, tore some snowdrifts and

popped it all behind a little frame.

The shadow around his tummy isn't was done with watercolor pencil

and I added some Flower Soft to his hat before popping up

on dimensionals.

Alcohol ink designs are so much fun because you never know

what they'll look like.  To me it looks like the moon

is peeking through some clouds.

The sentiment looks black in the photo but it's dark blue

like the background.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Penguin (Michaels $1), Christmas Sentiments (Kaisercraft)

Ink:   Basic Black, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Bermuda Bay (SU Markers)

Paper:   Neenah

Other:  Alcohol Ink on photo paper, Double Pierced Rectangles (AE), Kars Snowflall EF (retired Cuttlebug)

A Sweet Merry Monday

Hello friends.  I'm glad you could stop by for a visit.

It's been a busy week, but I did get a Christmas card done.

I have used an Encrusted Jewel Technique for these gingerbread men.

First I die cut from some white cardboard as thick as the die would cut.

I laid a craft mat on my electric pancake griddle and 

put a small piece of parchment cooking paper on top of that.

Then I laid the die cut on the parchment paper and sprinkled liberally with 

clear embossing powder, covered with a corning lid and watched the powder melt.

When I  had a good puddle of melted powder, I sprinkled some 

Aged Gold Frantage on top and let that melt.

Once that melted, I sprinkled some Chunky White Frantage

and coarse red glitter on top.

When that was all melted, I carefully pulled the parchment off and

used a palette knife to pull the gingerbread men out of the surrounding puddle.

I added some small flat back beads for eyes and put back on the griddle

to melt them in.

The gingerbread are quite shiny and look like they've been glazed.

Here's another view...

I've chosen to hang these sweets from a tree.

Merry Monday is hosted by Kelly this week.

I'm also entering at Rudolph Days Challenge

where each month, Maureen hosts a Christmas card challenge.

It's anything goes for Christmas and lasts from 

the 25th of the month to the end of the month.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornamental Pine (SU), Festive Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Mossy Meadow, Real Red (SU))

Paper:   Baked Brown Sugar, Naturals White (SU)

Other:  Christmas Bits (LI), Embossing Powder (WOW-Clear, Frantage-Aged Gold, Shabby White), Coarse Red Glitter, Red Sharpie

Bell and Bough

Hello friends and welcome.

My sweet friend JoAnn is hosting Merry Monday this week.

What a wonderful opportunity to ink up this stamp that I bought last fall.

I'll admit that my first try wasn't good.  I'm hoping I can fiddle with it
and improve on it someday.  If at first  you don't succeed, try again.

This time it worked out much better.

I find that I do better with no line watercolor when I ink with markers.

I also find that inking with a lighter color first makes a big difference!

The MISTI (or other stamp positioner) is a must for this technique!

After inking and shading with a waterbrush, I cleaned the stamp
and inked again with Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder.

When I did the background wash (using Distress re-inker), I still had a little bleed around the berries.
But not as bad as usual.

I clear heat embossed the sentiment too.

Thanks, JoAnn, for giving me an excuse to ink up this stamp!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Bell and Bough, Believe (both PB)

Ink:   Versamark, Early Espresso (SU), Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Festive Berries, Barn Door, Fired Brick (DM), Salty Ocean, Iced Spruce (DR-I)

Paper:   Mixed Media (St), Neenah

Other:  Clear EP, MISTI, Water Brush

Merry Star

Hello friends.  Welcome to my blog!

This week's Merry Monday challenge is hosted by Debbie.

I liked the rustic look of the inspiration photo.

After I stamped and heat embossed the star, I sprinkled some

Chunky Frantage and some sparkly Frantage too and heat set

from underneath.

The design piece sits on a mat of woodgrain paper and I used

the Linen Impression Plate from Papertrey ink on the card base.

The sentiment is heat embossed too.

I felt like it needed a little something so I pulled out my foil stickers

to add a little sparkle and bling.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Many Merry Stars (SU), Believe (PB)

Ink:   Whisper White (SU)

Paper:   Crumb Cake (SU), Woodgrain (TH)

Other:  White EP, Linen Texture Plate (PTI), Frantage (Stampendous), Stickers (Stampendous)

Reindeer Merry Christmas

Hello friends.  I'm so glad you stopped by!

Another Christmas card today.

This very shiny reindeer is for the Merry Monday challenge this week.

Deanne is hosting and she says "no stamping allowed".

This die had been waiting patiently in my NBUS box for !#??

I used some paper that I had been hoarding too.

The die cut and mat are from a beautiful Anna Griffin

metallic paper pad.  It's much shinier than it looks in the photo

but you can see some of the pattern.

The textured paper is from another paper pad.  It's very thin

but has lovely texture.

The reindeer has another cardstock layer behind for extra body.

A Quick and CAS (QACAS) card!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  None

Ink:   None

Paper:   Neenah, Anna Griffin, Recollections

Other:  Reindeer Merry Christmas Die (GM)

Holiday Home for Merry Monday and Rudolph Day

Hello friends.  I'm glad you stopped by!

It's time for

Rudolph Days at Scrappy Mo's.

Where every month it's Anything Goes for Christmas.

from the 25th until the end of the month to enter.

I'm also playing at Merry Monday today.

My lovely friend Colleen is hosting this week.

Aren't those little houses adorable?

I chose to go with one house and some snowflakes and red.

It was a really quick card for me because everything was in the UFO box.

I did have to emboss the snowflakes in the background.

There was a piece in the UFO box, but I put adhesive on the snowflake

piece instead of the back of the frame.  Way too much sticky going on!

I decided to toss that and do another.

I added some Dazzling Details to the snowflakes and snow bank

so there's lots of sparkle.

Another card for the Christmas stash.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Holiday Home (SU), Mixed Christmas Sentiments (HLS)

Ink:   Cherry Cobbler (SU), Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:   Cherry Cobbler, Neenah

Other:  Copics, Stitched Square Dies (SSS), Snowflake EF (Darice), Dazzling Details (SU)

Glory to God

Hello friends and welcome.

My friend Sue is hosting Merry Monday this week.

I have a lot of favorite Christmas verses but this one has a special place in my heart

and memories of Christmas pageants.

And I'm always happy to have a reason to use a NBUS set!

After punching out the embossed image, I die cut a circle a little larger 

than the image and heat embossed the edges.

I die cut the smaller mat from a piece of gold Inka Gold Smoosh  and

heat embossed the edges of the larger die cut mat.

The design was adhered to a piece of Acrylic paper (love the texture) that

was matted with some Brushed Gold cardstock.

Thanks Merry Makers for the win last week!

I am honored.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Star of Wonder (PTI)

Ink:   Encore Gold

Paper:   Vanilla Thick, Brushed Gold (SU), Neenah, Sparkle, Inka Gold Smoosh, Acrylic

Other:  Gold EP (SU), Layering Mat Stack 3, Layerz Mat  Stack 3, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Infinity Circles (HA)

Another Ribbon for Merry Monday

Hello and welcome.

I have another ribbon card for Merry Monday.

In the course of making the mitten card that I shared yesterday,

I scrounged through my ribbon snippets and found this snowflake ribbon.

I immediately visualized another ribbon card.

This one was much quicker!

The snowflakes were already die cut so tying the bow

with the red metallic twine took longer than anything else!

Merry Monday

While I was at it.....

I love the crisp look of teal and red with white!

Embossing done while creating with a friend.

This one is for Less is More #369
I'm bringing that ribbon back

Two more cards for my Christmas stash.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Festive Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Whisper White (SU)

Paper:   Naturals White, Crumb Cake, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (SU)

Other:  Snowflake Duo Die (PB), Pinewood Planks EF (SU), (Ribbon & Twine ???)

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Mittens (Serendipity), Holiday Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Island Indigo, Real Red

Paper:   Neena, Mixed Media

Other:  Double Pierced Rectangles Die (Avery Elle)

Mittens and Ribbon for Merry Monday

Hello dear friends.

This week sure has whooshed by!

I've had time to be creative this week so I have a Merry Monday card ready earlier than usual.

Is it just me or are these weekly challenges coming quicker?

Nina is hosting at Merry Monday this week.

I don't use ribbons much these days.  But I have lots in my stash.

I wanted to use them in a way that didn't add bulk to a card

since the PO wants to charge more and make me stand in line if I add them.

This mitten stamp from Serendipity Stamps was sitting on my table.

It reminded me of how my Mom would tie my mittens together

and thread them through my sleeves so I wouldn't lose one.

I liked the earthy colors of the prompt and had a piece of narrow ribbon

in a gold brown color.  Everything clicked together and here we go!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Mittens (Serendipity), Festive Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede (SU), Pine Needles (DI)

Paper:   Crumb Cake, Naturals White (SU), Mixed Media

Other:  Pine Sprigs Die (PS), Pinewood Planks EF (SU)

Furry Friends Wish You a Merry Christmas

Hello friends.

I'm slipping in earlier than usual for Merry Monday this week.

Leanne is hosting the challenge.

This is the only Christmas stamp I have with puppies or dogs.

I stamped it on Mixed Media Paper with Pumice Stone Distress ink

and colored it with my Distress Markers and a water brush, then fussy cut them out.

I've framed the little trio and gave them a brick background

to rest against.

My plan was to put some flower soft on the one pups hat but realized 

that I'd forgotten it while I was editing the photo.

I'll go add it now.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Furry Christmas (SSS), Christmas Treasures (wish)

Ink:   Real Red (SU), Pumice Stone (DI), Distress Markers 

Paper:   Neena, Mixed Media, Real Red

Other:  Water Brush, Brick EF (TH), Stitched Squares & Stitched Rectangles (SSS)

Inspiration at Merry Monday

Hello my friends.

Another week has flown by and I'm coming in to Merry Monday
just under the wire.  Again...
edited to add, my computer jammed so I didn't get this entered at Merry Monday after all. :-(


This week Kim chose an inspiration photo.
I struggle with this kind of challenge.

I did notice that yummy topping and the candy cane.

I had the cup but no candy can die that would work.

So I pulled out my candy cane $1.00 stamp and stamped that.

It didn't stamp really well so I filled in with a Red Ultra Fine Sharpie.

I cut one of the candy canes out and it was a perfect fit.

The topping is some old Sparkle Paste that I put on top of
the die cut then sprinkled with red glitter.

And since the cup looked a bit plain, I added a sparkly snowflake
and some holly.

While I had the candy canes out, I went for a Twofer.

A dear friend had given me this beautiful scallop diamond die for Christmas.

I was delighted to see that the candy canes fit on it so nicely!

I stamped the peppermint on mixed media paper and used the tip of a

water brush to move the color.  The bow got a generous portion of WOS.

Since I popped that holly on my cup, I'll put this in the gallery at

CAS Christmas Card Challenge

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Christmas Sentiments (Kaisercraft), Candy Canes (Michaels)

Ink:   Real Red (SU)

Paper:   Neena, Foiled Vellum, Smoky Slate (SU)

Other:  What's in Your Cup Die (PB), Stitched Squares Die (SSS), Holly Punch (MS), Sparkle Texture Effect (MS), Red Ultra Fine Sharpie

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Candy Canes (Michaels)

Ink:  Real Red (SU)

Paper:  Neena, Mixed Media

Other:  Scallop Diamond Tags (PPP), Holiday Words (Quickutz), Water Brush, Clear Wink of Stella