Merry Little Christmas

Another Christmas card for today. I received this Tonic punch from my friend, Anne, so of course I had to use it right away!

I started with the punch. It’s a corner punch, but you can take the guides off and punch them as a border. I decided I wanted to mat with green for the holly leaves and then use Stickles for the berries. Of course, I had to score some lines with my Scor-Pal, too. Hmmm … what to use for an image. I thought candles would be nice so I dug out an old Anita’s stamp. I did the coloring with my Stampin’ Up! markers. I actually used two different colors of red – Real Red for the candles and Ruby Red for the bows – but you can’t tell that from the picture. I colored the pine boughs with Certainly Celery and then went over some areas with Old Olive. I used Barbara Trombley’s Art Institute Ultrafine Crystal glitter around the flames. The sentiment is from a clear Studio G set. I matted with Old Olive cardstock.

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

Two More Christmas Cards

Two more Christmas cards for you today. I'd say they are my last ones, but I've already started on another. I just can't stop! :)

I'm not sure who makes this patterned paper - I got it from a friend this summer in Des Moines. (Thanks, Vicki!) I matted it with shimmery gold paper. The ovals on both were cut with Nestabilities. For the first card, I used a dollar stamp from JoAnn's. I inked it up first with Certainly Celery and then inked it around the edges with Ruby Red. The second card contains stickers from the dollar spot at Michael's. The card base on both is Very Vanilla from Stampin' Up!

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

2RedBananas Fall Card

Well, I just couldn’t stay away very long! :) I got my January calendars done – only eleven more months to go. I have stamps picked out for some months, but not all of them.

Today’s card features “Falling Leaves Jack” – one of the new sets this month from 2RedBananas. I colored Jack with a water color brush and Stampin’ Up! inks. Well, except for his skin – I used a Copic marker for that. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. The card base is from Die Cuts With a View. The image and sentiment are mounted on More Mustard cardstock from Stampin’ Up! The strip of patterned paper is from a “Slab” I got at Michael's several years ago. The leaves are punched from the same paper. The sentiment and two leaves at the bottom are also mounted on Pop Dots. For the two bottom leaves, I adhered the paper to cardstock before I punched them to give them some “sturdiness.” Have fun checking out the new stamps from 2RedBananas. They are great quality unmounted rubber stamps!

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

Christmas Cards

Here are the rest of my Christmas cards - yippee!! (I actually have one more to make and one Hanukkah card, and then I'll be done.) I thought I would just upload them with no explanation, because they are fairly basic and I have other things to get done:)

Also, I may be "gone" for a while because my next project is to get my calendars made. I won't be posting them since I'll post them on the first of each month. So, don't give up on me - I'll be back!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

2RedBananas Banana Split Sunday Challenge - A Recipe

Today's card is for this week's 2RedBananas Banana Split Sunday challenge. The challenge this week is to use a square, the color red, and three buttons. Sound fun? We'd love to have you join us!

The stamps I used are from two of the soon-to-be released sets for October. I paper-pieced Penny's pajamas, the tree, and the tree skirt. The rest was colored with markers. Oh, and the star was colored with a gold sparkly gel pen. I added some red grosgrain ribbon along the left side and scored a line on each side of it with my Scor-Pal. I used a glittery gel pen to trace the letters in the sentiment, but you can't see that in the picture. I matted the image panel with printed paper and Real Red cardstock. The sentiment is matted with Real Red as well, and mounted on Dimensionals. The holly leaves were cut with a Sizzix die and I added buttons from Stampin' Up! for the holly berries.

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

Halloween Card for Andrew

This is for my grandson, Andrew, who turned one earlier this month. It was so fun to do!

The stamps are both from a House Mouse set by Stampabilities. I stamped the cute little mouse on white cardstock and colored him with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I cut it out, leaving a border of the very light blue I had added. I mounted it with Pop Dots on an oval cut with a Nestability die and sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink. I matted it on shimmery black paper and orange paper embossed with a Diamond Plate Cuttlebug folder. I stamped the sentiment with Fresh Snow ink from Papertrey Ink and embossed it with Detail White embossing powder.

I have to show you a picture of what's on the back, too:) This is another stamp I bought from Chris in Malaysia. I love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Fall Anniversary

This card is for my son and daughter-in-law who will be celebrating their third anniversary next Wednesday. It is larger than what I normally make - it is 5 x 7.

The leaves were done with a Cuttlebug combination die and embossing folder. They are courtesy of my friend Vicki. (Thanks again, Vicki!) I sponged them with Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel and Soft Suede Stampin' Up! inks. I also sponged the edges of the card base and the sentiment panel. The embossed layer is Soft Suede. I embossed it with three Cuttlebug folders - Swiss Dots on top, a folder from the Organic Flourish set in the middle, and Moroccan Screen on the bottom. The sentiment is by My Sentiments Exactly and is stamped in Soft Suede.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Two Very Clean and Simple Cards

Like all my cards aren't Clean and Simple - LOL! I didn't have a card from yesterday to share with you, so I thought I'd share two I made a couple weeks ago.

These are stamped with a wheel by Stampin' Up! called Forever Flowers. All I did was wheel the image (with Versafine Onyx Black ink) onto a strip of cardstock, color it, Scor-Pal it, mat it, and add it to the card front and added the sentiment. The card base is Stampers Select white from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Color Challenge

This card is for Color Challenge #241 on SplitCoastStampers. The colors are Always Artichoke, Cameo Coral, Bravo Burgundy and Very Vanilla. I substituted Baroque Burgundy for Bravo Burgundy.

I used Stampin' Up!'s two-step stamping set Botanical Blooms and inked up the stamps with Always Artichoke, Cameo Coral and Baroque Burgundy. For the inside of the leaves, I stamped off the stamp before stamping on the paper to make it lighter. The card base is Very Vanilla - the rest of the ivory is shimmery paper. The smaller ivory piece is embossed with a CB folder and Scor-Pal. The striped paper is from Stampin' Up! also. The matting pieces are the same as the ink colors.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon.

SCS CAS Challenge - Sympathy

This week's Clean and Simple (CAS) Challenge on SplitCoastStampers is to make a sympathy card.

The stamp is from Studio G - from the dollar stamps at Michael's. I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black, colored it with a Stampin' Up! Almost Amethyst marker and added pearls for the centers. The ribbon is New Leaf from Papertrey Ink. I used my Scor-Pal to score on both sides of the ribbon. The top is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. It is mounted on Old Olive cardstock. The black matting was embossed with a Swiss Dots folder.

Today I have something fun to do - I am meeting a newly-found friend (from SplitCoastStampers) at Anchor Paper, then we're going to lunch and then to my house to compare cards or maybe even do a little stamping! Hi Suzie!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Featured Stamper Challenge

This card is for the SplitCoastStampers Featured Stamper challenge #141. The featured stamper for this week is DancerRiley. My, what a gallery! Here is the card I chose to case.

You are to choose one of the Featured Stamper's cards and make a couple changes. The changes I made are: changed the color to light blue, eliminated one background layer and some layers on the sentiment.

The background is inked with a Snowflake wheel and Bashful Blue ink. I used a Swiss Dots folder to emboss the second layer of background. The ornaments are stamped with Versamark and embossed with Light Blue embossing powder. The sentiment is embossed with embossing powder, also. The circles are cut with Nestabilities. The ornaments and the sentiment are mounted on Pop Dots.

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

2RedBananas Sketch Challenge

Today's card is for this week's Banana Split Sunday Challenge at 2RedBananas. The challenge this week is a sketch.

The backgrounds are both stamped with stamps from the 2RedBananas set August/September Journaling Spot. I used Stampin' Up! colors - Always Artichoke and Baroque Burgundy - and matted the image panels with matching cardstock. The main panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug Snowflake folder, scored with a Scor-Pal and matted with Baroque Burgundy. The sentiment is from Rubber Stampede. The ornament is punched from Always Artichoke with an SU! ornament punch and embossed with the same Snowflake folder. I sponged some white ink over the embossing. You can't really see it, but the very top of the ornament is a piece punched from mirror-like silver paper. I tied a ribbon around the top, punched a hole for the silver cord, and added a brad to "hang" the ornament from. Come join us with the sketch! Oh, did I mention - there is a prize for the challenge - your choice of one of the new sets from October which will be released soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Six Cards!

Above and below are six cards that I have made recently. I just thought I would share them with you, with no specific details. I have made them for various challenges - Clean & Simple blog's Fall-to Layout, SplitCoastStampers Ways to Use It challenge, and SplitCoastStampers Limited Supplies challenge. They don't really require much explanation, but I would be very happy to answer any questions you may have - just drop me an email or leave me a comment.

Edited to add: Thanks for the comment, Sam! I guess maybe I should do a little explaining. :) The first card is a pre-embossed card from Die Cuts With a View. One of the challenges I made some of the cards for called for a pre-stamped notecard. The first, fourth and fifth cards are notecards I already had. The challenge for the second card is to use leaves. (These are from my friend, Vicki - thanks Vicki!) They are cut and embossed with a Cuttlebug die/folder. I sponged several colors of ink on them. The third card is a Fall-to Layout from the Clean & Simple Stamping blog. The theme for the last card is "Travel." The paper is some beautiful hand-made paper that my daughter and son-in-law brought me back from their trip to Korea and Japan a couple years ago.




Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Fall-to Layout - Christmas

This card is for Natasha Trupp's Clean & Simple Stamping blog's Fall-To Layout #63.

I stamped the background using three different snowflakes and Memories Soft Silver and Soft Baby Blue inks. The stamps are from Stampin' Up!'s Patterned Pines and Delightful Decorations sets and from an Inkadinkado set. The sentiment is from Michael's and is also stamped with Soft Baby Blue - even though it looks silver in the picture. Both pieces are matted with shimmery silver paper. I added three sizes of pearls to complete the card. I think this is such a great layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Sketch Challenge in Black and White

This card is for this week's SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge - #250.

The three top layers of patterned papers are all from The Paper Studio Black and White pack. The bottom layer is wheeled with a Forever Flowers wheel from Stampin' Up! All of the printed paper is matted with black. The flowers are sparkly - that is not white speckles on them in the picture - it's actually sparkles. I wish that showed up better in the picture. I got the flowers at Michael's (Prima Fabric Fancy Black Diamond) last week and have been wanting to make a black and white card ever since. I thought the sketch challenge would give me a good start on it. The sentiment is from the SU! set Special Blessings. The three squares and the sentiment are mounted on Pop Dots.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS CAS Color Challenge - Done and Re-Done!

I did these cards for this week's color challenge on SplitCoastStampers. The colors are Bermuda Bay, Apricot Appeal and Chocolate Chip. I also used Natasha's Fall-to Layout #63. I did the first card, didn't quite like it, so I re-did it. I like the second one much better. What do you think?

For both of them, I used a Stampin' Up! Forever Flowers wheel to stamp the background. For the top one I used Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, and for the bottom one I used Chocolate Chip. Both are colored with an SU! Bermuda Bay marker and a Marvy Pale Orange marker. (I don't have Apricot Appeal.) Both are matted on Bermuda Bay. The sentiment for the first one is from Stampabilities, and the second one is from Stampendous. Both are matted on Apricot Appeal. (I know the colors look different from the first picture to the second, but trust me - they are the same!) I really like the smaller panel with the thinner matting a lot better.

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

SCS Clean and Simple Challenge

This card is for Clean and Simple Challenge #36 - Thumping. You can find the challenge (with a link to the tutorial) here.

I used Stampin' Up! markers for all the coloring. I first colored the leaves with Crushed Curry, then 'thumped' with More Mustard and Dusty Durango. Then I colored the branches and trunk with Soft Suede. The sentiment is also colored with a Soft Suede marker. I mounted the image panel on Soft Suede. The stamps are both from a Stampin' Up! set called Thoughts and Prayers. That's it! It is, after all, for the Clean and Simple challenge:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Challenge Card

This card is for a sketch challenge from the Sunday Sketch and Stamp blog. I saw the sketch on Barb's blog and kind of messed up by not looking at the official blog right away. I thought there was supposed to be white space on the right, but I guess it was supposed to be a square card. Oh well! I still like the white over there:)

The ornament is from Stampin'Up!'s Delightful Decorations. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with Jeweled Gold embossing powder, then punched it out with the ornament punch. I punched a couple little holes and added a gold cord. It's mounted on white and then gold shimmery paper - both cut with Oval Nestabilities. The white strip is embossed with a snowflake Cuttlebug folder. I punched the snowflakes with an EK Success punch out of the same gold shimmery paper. I used larger red, glittery brads. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and is embossed with detail gold embossing powder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

2RedBananas Color Challenge

This card is for 2RedBanana's Challenge for this week. It's a color challenge this time - orange, purple and black. Why don't you play along - it will be fun! Edited to add: Here is a direct link to the challenge post.

I know those should probably be Halloween colors, but I wanted to do something different. This is what I came up with. I used glossy white cardstock. (Actually, I used photo paper.) I first brayered Stampin' Up!'s Pumpkin Pie on the top three-fourths of the card. Then I punched a circle and put it over the Pumpkin Pie and brayered again with Pumpkin Pie. Then I brayered Tangerine Tango on the very top and down a little ways. I next brayered with Almost Amethyst starting at the bottom and working my way up. Next I brayered with Lovely Lilac on the bottom. I stamped the trees from SU!'s Lovely as a Tree. The quote is from 2RedBananas' set Wrapped In His Love. I matted the brayered and stamped piece on black cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Thinking of You

I placed my last order from Stampin' Up! last week, and had to use some of my new things for today's card.

The image is from Thoughts and Prayers. I colored it with a couple new markers - Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry, along with Garden Green (or Old Olive, I don't remember!) The sentiment is also done with Rich Razzleberry. The border is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder from the set Ironworks. I added a couple lines with my Scor-Pal, of course:) The bottom of the matting is done with a Stampin' Up! border punch on Rich Razzleberry. I added mini rhinestones on the flowers. That's it!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Color Challenge - Thinking of You

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge #239 - Mellow Moss, Kraft and white.

I used the tree stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Forest Friends - coloring it with Mellow Moss and Soft Suede markers. The sentiment is from a dollar set from Michael's, also inked with Soft Suede. I rubbed the edges on a white ink pad. The image is matted with Mellow Moss and mounted on Pop Dots. The strip across the middle is embossed with a CB Argyle folder which was brayered with white ink (it's really hard to see in the picture) and partially matted with Mellow Moss. Short and sweet - after getting up early and having lots of time, I am suddenly in a rush!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Flower Birthday

Just another simple card for today. I got this stamp by Imaginisce and had to ink it up. It actually comes with two different flowers on the same stem, but I cut the stamp apart and used one flower twice. I also cut the single leaf apart from the rest of the stamp.

I stamped the image with Versafine Black Onyx, then colored with Stampin’ Up! markers in Cameo Coral, Summer Sun and Garden Green. I used Crystal Stickles on the flower centers. I punched the top with a Martha Stewart border punch. It’s matted on Papertrey Ink’s Berry Sorbet and New Leaf and popped up on Pop Dots. The bottom matting is embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The sentiment (from Stampendous) is stamped with Garden Green and cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Die. The ribbon is New Leaf from PTI. It just continues to rain here (after going soooo long without rain!) so it’s very hard for me to get a good picture.

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

Two Cards - One Folder

I have two cards today using another new Cuttlebug folder called Flourish Frame.

The first one (not a great photo) is a super-simple one I made for my mom. I actually did it for a SplitCoastStampers challenge last week, but didn’t end up uploading it. The challenge was to embellish your sentiment somehow – even by just adding a gem to dot an “i” which is what I did. I did the embossing directly on the card front, stamped the sentiment (from All-Night Media) with Papertrey Ink’s Berry Sorbet and mounted it on Berry Sorbet cardstock. The butterflies are also Berry Sorbet with more gems.

The second card has a little bit more to it, but it still quite Clean and Simple. I embossed the frame, then brayered over the back side (debossed side) with Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I wanted it to be a little “mottled” but looking at the picture, it looks more “unfinished!” (It looks better “in real life.”) For the main image panel, I used a Papertrey set called Beautiful Blooms. I stamped the flower, then masked it to stamp the leaves behind it. I like the “speckled” leaves. I inked up the stamp, stamped it off lightly, then stamped over the flower. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I matted it and added it to the frame.

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

2RedBananas Challenge - Halloween Project

This week's 2RedBananas Challenge is to make a Halloween project. I wasn't sure what to do, as "projects" are not my thing. Several years ago, my friend Anne sent me a Halloween treat - a bag of microwave popcorn in a cute little holder. I decided to copy that as my project, using two packages of instant hot cocoa instead.

I started with a piece of orange cardstock 5 x 8 1/2 inches. I stamped it with some leaves from an Inkadinkado set with Versafine Black Onyx. I scored a double line on each side for folding. I punched a hole for the ribbon. I stamped Jack-o-Lantern Penny (from 2RedBananas) on a piece of white cardstock and colored her with markers. I mounted her on shimmery black paper and added her to the front of the holder. For the back, I used a Stampin' Up! stamp and punches. I used black fun flock on the spider's body, then glued a couple pearls for the eyes, adding a black dot with a Sharpie marker. The sentiment is from a set I got at JoAnn's a few years ago. The other two stamps are from Inkadinkado. The back pieces are mounted on shimmery black, as well. I added the ribbon, then put the hot chocolate packets in and tied the bow. When you pull the ribbon up, the packets come up. (I apologize if you can not click on the pictures to enlarge them. I have problems with Blogger when I upload more than two pictures in on post.)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

October Calendar Page

Here is my October calendar page. I remembered all on my own to post it - yippee for me! :)


The main image is a Stampin' Up! stamp from the Tag Time set. I colored it with SU! markers. I was just looking for the Happy Halloween stamp but I couldn't find it so I can't tell you who it's from. Sorry! The background is a thin shimmery orange paper. Not much to it!


Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon.