A Quick Card, a Deal, and Thanksgiving Wishes

This has got to be the quickest post ever – I’m supposed to be packing up to leave for Chicago!

First, a quick card I made last night. The stamps are from a new set from Inkadinkado (see below.) I pieced the scarf out of a shimmery blue paper. The snowflake is sparkly, although it just looks multicolored in the picture - it’s silver. The card base is from DCWV. The snowman and mat are cut with rectangle Nestabilities. I ran the edges of both plain rectangular pieces on an ink pad and they are mounted on Pop Dots.

Next – my deal. We were at Costco last night and I was just thinking that they hadn’t had any stamping stuff for a long time. Well, they did last night! They had two different boxed sets of Inkadinkado stamps. Each box had five full sets of clear stamps, plus a nice acrylic block and an ink spot (which may just go right in the trash.) They were $19.89. Plus they each had $5 instant rebates. So, $14.89 for FIVE Inkadinkado sets!! Here is a picture of the box, and also of the stamps in each box.

Lastly, I would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. If you are traveling, I wish you safe travels. I hope you all have some special family and friends to spend the holiday with. We will be heading to Chicago shortly (assuming that I get ready!) and will return on Saturday. That means I get to see Andrew again – yippee! (And my daughter and son-in-law, too, of course! LOL!!)

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon.

Color Swap - Brown and Turquoise

My card for today is for a color swap for my Yahoo! group. The colors for this month are turquoise and brown. I used the “Fall-To Layout” sketch from Natasha’s blog, Clean and Simple Stamping, found here.

Both of my turquoise papers are from My Mind’s Eye that I got at Costco last year. The “friends” sentiment is from Penny Black. (Thanks again, Vicki! You can buy Penny Black, plus most anything else, from Vicki B.) The scrolly design is from a clear set from Studio G from Michael’s. Both of the stamps are stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia. I mounted these layers on some brown textured paper from a stack from JoAnn’s. The brads are from Bazzil, and the grosgrain ribbon is from Stampin’ Up! And of course, I had to use my Scor-Pal. Almost no card is complete without a little scoring. :)

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon.

JustRite Stamper Christmas

I stamped again! I’m always so excited to get to stamp something when I’ve been a while without. It’s the addiction, you know! I’ve been under the weather for a few days, and it feels wonderful to feel wonderful (or at least pretty good), if you know what I mean.

I did two things today – I finished another month of the calendar. Woo-hoo! I have decided that starting in January, and even perhaps in December, I will share my calendar page on the First of each month.

The other thing I did was make a Christmas card using my new JustRite Stamper and Christmas Ensemble. How fun! The main focus of the card was made with the JRS. I stamped the holly border with Versafine Onyx Black ink and colored the leaves and berries with Stampin’ Up! markers – Always Artichoke and Real Red. I cut it out with a scalloped circle Nestability. Then I stamped the Merry Christmas for the inside using the same two colors of markers. I apologize for the stamping not being done very well. I did it with an ink pad earlier, and it stamped very nicely. For some reason when I used the markers, it didn’t stamp as cleanly. But I was too impatient to do it again, and besides, I like the "weathered look." I cut and embossed that part with a plain circle Nestability. I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the bottom of the card, then cut a slice of Real Red and placed on the inside. It doesn’t go quite down to the bottom of the card, but you can’t tell that, since I had to set the card on the bottom of the red. I scored lines with my Scor-Pal on both sides of the ribbon that I added, and also on the top of the card. I mounted the JRS panel on Pop Dots. I sponged red (before adding the red strip on the bottom) around the edges of the card. It still needed more, so I used a little stamp from PaperTrey Ink’s Borders and Corners - Ovals to stamp the holly in the corners with Always Artichoke and colored the berries with Real Red.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon.

Lucky Me!!

Looky what I won! Michelle Rodgers of Stamper’s Dream had this post on her blog. And guess who was the lucky winner – me! Thank you so much, Michelle! (I just realized that post was on our anniversary – how cool!) I just emailed her on Tuesday and I received it today – how’s that for speedy.
Here is a picture of what I won. I’m so glad my Christmas cards aren't quite finished yet!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Casing Leslie Miller

While reading some blogs this morning, I found this card by Leslie Miller that I really liked. I promised I was going to case it soon, and now I have! Twice, in fact.

I started out trying to case it, but change things up just a little. I ended up with this first card. Really not too much similarity with Leslie’s. The border is punched with a new border punch by Martha Stewart that I got at Michael’s. (Gotta love those 50% off coupons!) I embossed the top of the white piece with a Cuttlebug snowflake folder, then scored a couple lines and added some Stickles. The bottom layer is Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red. The trees (with background) is from All-Night Media. I think the set is called Winter Wonderland. I stamped it with Versamark and then I embossed it with – coincidentally – Winter Wonderland embossing powder. I stamped the Merry Christmas with Versamark, also, and embossed with the same powder. I added the white ribbon and adhered it to a white card base.

Then I made myself do one much more like it! I used a Martha Stewart border punch again, embossed the snowflakes, scored lines on either side of the ribbon, which I then added – red grosgrain. I added Stickles to some parts of the snowflakes and also to the embossed line from the punch. I used SU! markers to color the trees, and a Versamarker to color the circles and the snow line – directly on the stamp. Then I used Winter Wonderland embossing powder on it. I stamped the Merry Christmas with Versafine Black Onyx and embossed it with Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder. Then I scored a double line on top and a single line underneath the sentiment, mounted it on Real Red, and then on to the white card base. I wish all the "sparkle" was visible in the pictures, but it doesn't photograph well.

Thanks so much, Leslie, for the inspiration!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Blog Award - and July

Deb (Itty Bitty Ink Spots) has graced me with another blog award - The "Kreativ Blogger" award. Thanks so much, Deb!

I think I’ll post one small part of a project I’m working on. Every year, I make calendars for a few friends and relatives. They are three and a half inches by five inches. So far, I have three months done – only nine more to go! Since I just finished up July today, I thought I’d share it with you.

Edited to add: Silly me! I didn't write anything about how I did this calendar page. Here is a little information: I used a Lasting Impressions brass stencil for all of the embossing. The hat is embossed and cut out of white and the stars and dots are colored with a marker and the edges are sponged with ink. The hat band is embossed and cut out of shimmery red and the stripes colored with a white gel pen. The hat is mounted on paper from a Summer Collection by Die Cuts With A View. The firecracker is embossed with the same stencil and sponged a bit with red ink. I hope that helps. The calendars are printed from a file that I did in an Excel spreadsheet.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Santa Christmas Card

Another quick Christmas card. I just HAD to do a little stamping tonight – time passes so quickly! We went out of town again this past weekend to visit with my husband’s mom and to celebrate her 91st birthday.

I stamped Santa on a shimmery white paper. I used Versafine Black Onyx with Papertrey Ink’s set “Believe.” I colored Santa’s hat and robe with a glue pen, then pressed red flocking on it. I used Liquid Applique on his beard and the “fluff” on his hat, sleeves and the bottom of his robe. I used Stampin’ Up! markers to color his face. The heart is popped up with a Pop Dot. I used a red gel pen for the hand-doodling around the edge. The background is embossed with a Fiskars Snowflakes texture plate. Both pieces are matted with SU!’s Real Red cardstock. The sentiment is also stamped with a stamp from PTI’s “Believe” set. I used an SU! punch to punch holes for the ribbon to go through. I also rubbed the ink pad on the edge of the sentiment to highlight it a little bit.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Two-Step Anniversary (Well, MORE than two steps!)

Tuesday allowed me a little stamping time, but I can’t post the cards I made to my blog yet, because the recipients of them read this. Today I got to make a card, too, and I’m going to take a chance and share it with you.

The card for today is actually stamped! I’ve been realizing that my cards don’t really have that much stamping anymore. And if today is any indication, I think I know why! This card took a LONG time. And I’m not sure I like it as well as the cards I’ve been making lately.

I started with Stampin’ Up!’s Very Vanilla for my card base. I used two Two-Step Stampin’ sets – Watercolor Garden II and Petal Prints. To stamp the leaf sprigs from Petal Prints, I used Kiwi Kiss and True Thyme. For the flowers from Watercolor Garden II, I used Pale Plum and Perfect Plum. I used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to line up my stamping the way I wanted it. Then I took a piece of vellum the same size as the card front. I scored a lattice of diagonal lines on the bottom with my Scor-Pal. I stamped the Happy Anniversary (from Inkadinkado’s Wedding/Marriage) with Versafine Black Onyx and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I used a double layer of ribbon – a sheer and a grosgrain. I used double-sided tape to adhere the vellum under the ribbon. Then I added a couple brads to attach the vellum in the upper corners.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Butterfly Birthday

My mother-in-law’s birthday is on Thursday, and as you can see by this card, she’ll be turning 91. She lives alone and is doing awesome!

I’ve had this “Garden Delight” set by Inkadinkado for quite a while and I finally used it. I stamped the butterfly on a variegated blue cardstock from Die Cuts With a View with Versafine Black Onyx ink, embossed it with clear embossing powder, and cut it out (without the antennae!) Then I cut a piece of white cardstock two and a half inches by three and a half inches. I stamped the butterfly partially in the corner. Then I stamped the tips of one of the flowery stamps several times in the opposite corner. After it was completely dry, I embossed it with a Diamonds in the Rough Cuttlebug folder. I mounted it on a piece of black, and then on a matching piece of the variegated blue. I folded the wings up a little bit, and used Pop Dots on the body to mount it. I added a thin strip of black about a third of the way from the bottom. The sentiment was printed on my computer.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

"Scrappy" Christmas Card

Gosh, I know it hasn’t been that long, but it seems like forever since I got to do any stamping or post something to my blog. I guess we’ve been busy! We just celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary yesterday and went away overnight. That was wonderful. But, we’re back now.

So, here is my card for today. It’s pretty much a “scrap card.” We had some friends over Friday night (after the Lutefisk Dinner at our church. Yum, yum. NOT! I wouldn’t touch the stuff, but everyone else at least eats a little bit of it:) ) Anyway, some of our guests wanted to see my “stuff” so I demonstrated the Snowflake folder, the Dotted Swiss folder and some Circle Nestabilities. I had the pieces laying around and I realized they would make kind of a nice card! So, I put them together and this is what I came up with. I sponged around the edges with Garden Green and Real Red. The circle is embossed with the Argyle CB folder. The snowflake is punched with a Marvy Uchida punch.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

"Clean and Simple" Christmas

Today’s card is definitely a 'Clean and Simple' card.

I'm trying to use up some items that I've had for a while, hence the sticker on this card. I can't tell you who makes the beautiful gold sticker, or even where I got it, but I have a whole sheet of trees, snowflakes and a couple reindeer to use to adorn cards and tags. I used my trusty Cuttlebug Snowflake folder and my Scor-Pal. And I sponged a little Bordering Blue around the edges and also very lightly across the embossing. The “Merry Christmas” stamp is made by Rubber Stampede and is embossed with gold embossing powder.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Edited to add: Thanks for your comment, Vicki! I emboss one side of the cardstock, and then emboss the other. I know some people have gotten an extra folder and cut it in pieces, but I have not done that.

"T is for Thimble"

My card for today is one that I did for an alphabet swap I’m in with my Yahoo! group. We were on the Letter T. “T is for Thimble” (and Thread.)

I started by stamping the thimble (from the retired Stampin’ Up! set Antique Collectibles) on a silver “mirror” cardstock with Staz-On. I colored parts of it with a gold gel pen. Then I took an embossing stylus and pressed in to make the “dimples.” I cut out the thimble and mounted it on Pop Dots. I cut the squares that the thimble is mounted on and the long rectangle background with Nestabilities. The scalloped layers are a yellow-ish gold shimmery paper. I thought the Bubbles Cuttlebug folder kind of went with the dimples in the thimble. I added some ribbon, and some scoring with my Scor-Pal. Then I threaded a real needle with real thread and adhered them in place. That’s it!

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Sketch Challenge - Fluffles

Today’s card is made using SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge 201, found here.

The main image was a stampoff I got from my friend Harriet almost a year ago. (After I had all my cards done for last year.) I colored it last spring while we were on vacation. I added some sparkle to it today. I mounted it on red cardstock and added some ribbon. The second layer is embossed with a Cuttlebug Snowflake folder and mounted on Green Galore cardstock by Stampin’ Up! The bottom layer was from a Die Cuts With a View card that I cut down to the size I wanted.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Color Challenge

My card for today uses the Color Challenge on SplitCoastStampers. The colors are Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Pretty in Pink.

The stamps are all from the Archiver’s Hot Spot – exclusively for them by Imaginisce. I stamped the poinsettia stamp with Riding Hood Red and Pretty in Pink on white, then used my Dotted Swiss Cuttlebug folder on it. Then I sponged Kiwi Kiss along the edges, and over the dots, very subtly. I stamped the “Merry Christmas” with Riding Hood Red and colored it with Pretty in Pink. I masked it, and then used the poinsettia stamp again, this time in Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss. I went over the Pretty in Pink with a glitter pen. I punched it out with a Marvy Uchida punch, and also used a Marvy punch for the Riding Hood Red scalloped circle, which I added white dots to with a gel pen. The circles are mounted on Pop Dots. The ribbon is from Michael’s. The snowflakes are punched from Kiwi Kiss and have pearl centers.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

Another Extremely Simple Card

This is a birthday card for my daughter-in-law. Her birthday is in December and she LOVES Christmas. I was using up these teapot stickers for Christmas cards, and I thought I better save one and use it for Brooke.

The stickers are from Michael’s and are by Mary Englebreit. (I got them last year.) They came dimensionalized and glittered. I stuck one on a circle punched with a plain circle Marvy punch. I mounted that on a scalloped circle punched out of red cardstock with a scalloped Marvy punch. I embossed a circle on the front of the card by using a plain circle Nestability. The “warm birthday wishes” was printed on my computer. I think she’ll really like it.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

"Twin" Christmas Cards

After working for a few hours on a card for an alphabet swap, I have nothing to share with you! I did get it the T card done, though, and I’ll post it after Sheri receives it. So, I guess I’ll upload a couple cards I made a few days ago. They use the same stamp, the same stencil, and pretty much the same layout. The stencil is by Dreamweavers. (I purchased it from Vicki B. You can find her blog and a link to her store here.) The stamp is a dollar stamp from Michael’s.

For the white card, I used Papertrey Ink’s Stamper’s Select cardstock and embossed using the stencil and my BIGkick. I sponged Stampin’ Up!’s Mellow Moss around the edges, and used Mellow Moss to stamp the sentiment. For the second card, I used a thinner cardstock and misted it with water before I embossed it. I left it in the stencil until it dried to keep it from curling. While in the stencil, I sponged Versamark over the whole thing, removed the stencil, and heat embossed it with Star Dust embossing powder by Stampendous. I mounted it on a piece of red cardstock. The card base is by Lasting Impressions – also purchased from Vicki B. I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Black Onyx and embossed it with the Star Dust powder, also, for some extra sparkle. (I wasn't very successful in photograhing the sparkle, but you can see it better if you click on the picture.)

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!

A Doubly Embossed Christmas Card

The card I’ve chosen for today is a simple Christmas card. I can tell you how I THINK I made it, because I did the main embossed part last year and found it in my “card parts” pile.

The image was embossed using a Lasting Impressions brass stencil. I’m pretty sure I must have left the stencil in place, and then covered the embossing with Versamark ink. I then used Stampendous Winter Wonderland embossing powder and heat embossed it. (I wish you could see the silver sparkle on it.) It’s cut out with a square scalloped Marvy punch, mounted on shimmery silver paper, and then onto red cardstock. I used the Scor-Pal on the red, also. The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. The Merry Christmas is from the retired Stampin’ Up! set Greetings 4 You, and I used the Scor-Pal again on both sides of the greeting.

Thanks so much for looking, and I hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!