How About Christmas Sunday ... and a Few Challenges

I had NOTHING going on today. Yippee! I got to make a card and I sure hope that I will get several more made. It feels wonderful to not have to go anywhere or do anything.

I found a few challenges that I wanted to do and I combined them into this one card. The stamps are both from an Echo Park set.  I used Kaleidoscope embossing powder for the sentiment. I matted each piece with matching cardstock. I mounted the sentiment on foam squares. The challenges I'm entering this card in are:
   Christmas Card Challenge blog - anything goes Christmas Card
   Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping blog - a sketch
   CAS-ual Fridays - use three of something
   CAS on Sunday - use glitter (I guess I kind of cheated, because I used sparkly embossing powder, which you really can't see in the picture.)

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

Flutter By Wednesday #236

How's this for a Clean and Simple card? :) I made it for this week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge, which is to use a sentiment on the front of your card. And use a butterfly or a fairy, too, of course! You can find the details and the wonderful creations of the design team on the Flutter By Wednesday blog.

For this card, I stamped the sentiment (from a Papertrey Ink set) on a small piece of white cardstock with SU!'s Soft Suede ink. I inked up the butterfly (from Inkadinkado) with Soft Suede, also. I stamped it off once and then stamped again over the sentiment. I matted with a layer of Soft Suede cardstock.

We'd love to have you join us this week!

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

It's All I've Got:-)

Still nothing new, so I'll share this quick card I made for my husband to send out. As I've mentioned several times before, he likes white and embossing.


The flowers and sentiment are on the same stamp - from the dollar bin at Michael's purchased a while ago. I colored the flowers with a Cameo Coral marker from Stampin' Up! The matting is Cameo Coral also. I added a few lines with my Scor-Pal and the background embossing was done with a Swiss Dots folder. I also added some brown pearls for the flower centers and raised the flower panel on Dimensionals.


I've had laryngitis since Saturday and I'm pretty sick of it! I've never had it before and I don't care to have it again. It's really not as bad as the tickle in my throat, though, which I've had for a about a week and a half! There, enough whining! I forgot I didn't do a card yesterday for the Repeat Impressions Stamp of the week (which is Swan and is available for 50% off . Details can be found here.) but I'll have one tomorrow for the WHAT IF? Wednesday sketch challenge.


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

White "Feline Better" Card

I made this card for yesterday's SplitCoastStampers Free4All challenge.  The challenge was to use at least two embossing folders.  You got "bonus" points for using one you've never used before. :)  I had never used the cat one before.


I embossed the cat first - using my cardboard "stack" on top of the folder so I didn't get the lines from the folder's edge.  Then I embossed the dots using a border folder.  I used the cardboard stack for that, too.  The sentiment (from Repeat Impressions) is stamped In Stampin' Up!'s Mauve Mist.  The entire front panel is mounted on Dimensionals.


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

Another White Christmas Card

Another Christmas card to share with you today.  I haven't had much time for stamping, for sure!  Yesterday we got all of our windows clean!  Whew - it feels good to have that done!

The embossing is all done with one Cuttlebug folder.  The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions and is stamped in Baja Breeze ink.  I scored on both sides of the sentiment with my Scor-Pal.  The ribbon is from my local paper store.  The panel is matted with Baja Breeze.

Friday, I told you about a little bit of blog candy.  One random commenter is going to win one of my completed calendars.  You can find the information in this post.  You have until midnight on Tuesday to comment on Friday's post.

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

Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week – Shade of the Elm

Another Monday brings another Repeat Impressions Stamp of the Week!  This week's stamp is called 2908-I, Shade of the Elm.  You can find it on this page.  To get the details on how to purchase it for 50% off (through Sunday, September 5 only!), visit the Repeat Impressions blog, The House That Stamps Built.  Also be sure to check out the other design members' blogs for their creations:

Ayana ~ Dana ~ Darsie ~ Harriet ~ Joy ~ Michele

And, if you haven't done your WHAT IF? Wednesday card, you still have until September 7 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to submit your card for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate.  Check out the great sketch and the complete instructions here.

I made this card for Natasha Trupp's Fall-to Layout #105.  I colored the image with Stampin' Up! markers.  I matted the image with Old Olive cardstock from SU!  I punched the border with a Martha Stewart Lattice Arch border punch.  The sentiment is also from Repeat Impressions.

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

A note to say ...

I saw a link on Joan B's blog, Paperlicious, to a sketch challenge from Jaya from India. Here is the challenge. I thought it looked like a great CAS challenge, so I did it:)

I used punches for the plain and scalloped squares. The flowers are Primas and I used brads for the centers. The sentiment is from a Heidi Grace set.  That's it!


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

Happy Birthday, Joyce!

This is for a friend from my Yahoo! group.  Happy Birthday tomorrow, Joyce!  (She is in California now, and I don't honestly think she will be checking my blog.)


I started by punching the flowers on a scrap of white, just to test a new punch.  I liked it, so I added the scoring and stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink)  Then I matted it on Perfect Plum cardstock from Stampin' Up! and added the pearl centers, and I also mounted it on Dimensionals.  The background was made with a stamp from Archivers (the leaves) stamped in Tim Holtz Peeled Paint ink and a "dot" stamp from a PTI set in Perfect Plum.  The bottom piece is mounted on Old Olive.


On a personal note, we found out yesterday that our son and daughter-in-law will be having a boy!  They are due in December.  How exciting!!!


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

Happy Independence Day! (And Happy Anniversary, Vicki!)

Well, it's Independence Day here in the USA!  I hope all my fellow Americans are enjoying the holiday.  And Happy Anniversary, Vicki and Gary!


To make this card, I stamped the outer design in Brocade Blue, then stamped the inner design in Old Olive. I also stamped the inner design on scrap paper in blue and cut out the butterfly. Since the butterfly was behind the leaf on the stamp, I cut around the leaf with a craft knife and put the butterfly behind it. The butterflies in the corners are from the same set, as is the sentiment. The main image panel is mounted on Old Olive cardstock. I added pearls to the butterflies and the sentiment.  The stamps are all from Papertrey Ink's Round & Round.  EDITED TO ADD:  Round & Round was PTI's Anniversary set, which could only be obtained by purchasing 12 sets from them throughout the year.  Or, be lucky enough to have a good friend who received two and shared! :) )


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

One-Layer Card

Even though my cards all almost all Clean and Simple, I rarely make a one-layer card. But, I made one last week:)


I stamped the flowers with a stamp from the dollar bin at Michael's. (It had a sentiment on it, but I cut it apart so I can use them separately.) I stamped the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics) over the stems. I scored five lines on the left side with my Scor-Pal. I put some pink on the flowers with a colored pencil, added Star Dust Stickles to them, and then gave each one a pearl center. That's it!


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

CAS Thinking of You

I haven't had time to stamp for quite a while, so I'll share a quick card I made last week.

I punched the border with a Martha Stewart punch.  I did the scoring with my Scor-Pal, then sponged a little green on the edges.  I used Stampin' Up! markers to color through the holes in the border.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! (All Year Cheer I) and the butterflies are punched with a Martha Stewart punch and have pearls for their bodies.

I'm not sure how much posting I'll be doing for a while.  Seems we have a lot going on!  But, I'll do my best:)

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

"Two-Fer" Day

I actually have eight cards made that I have not shared on my blog - amazing!  It's been fun having time to get some cards made.  Because I have several to share, I think I'll give you two today:)

This first one was made for the Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge for this week on SplitCoastStampers.  The challenge was to use teal, white, and one other color.  My "other color" was black.  I got some Sizzix texture plates a while ago at a local paper store and hadn't used them yet.  I finally used the heart one (see below) and still had it out on my table, so I used the reverse side for these flowers.  The paper I used is textured paper I got in a scrap pack quite a while ago from Target.  I matted it with Basic Black from Stampin' Up!  The flowers are from a bottle of Primas from Michael's and I used a black brad for the center.  The sentiment is from Gina K's Elegant Post set and is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black.

Just a simple Valentine's Day card for this second one.  As I said above, the embossing is done with a Sizzix texture plate.  I used Real Red cardstock.  The ribbon is Christmas ribbon from Martha Stewart.  Works for me!  The sentiment is from Inkadinkado, and the card base is from a box of textured cards from Die Cuts With a View.

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

A Valentine

I am having a hard time getting back into stamping. Seems like it's been a long time and I have too many new things! So, back to my scrap pile. :)

The ribbon for this card was "re-purposed" from a Christmas gift. (Heaven knows it wasn't from me - my presents rarely even get bows!) Isn't it beautiful? The stamp and the chipboard hearts were from a very fun gift I got (bought it myself!) from Tuesday Morning. It was a tote and it was filled with things. I think one day I'll post about it. It had stamps, chipboard, ghost shapes, etc. I may not use many of them, but it will be fun to try. (The tote and everything in it was only $20.) I used Versamark and silver embossing powder for the stamp. I rubbed the heart in Versamark and used the same silver embossing powder. For the other heart, I used red ink and thick clear embossing powder.

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

Wishing you …

I made a quick stop at a local paper store near me to pick up some envelopes, and they had their QuicKutz items on sale.  They rarely have anything on sale, so I had to check them out:) I got an embossing folder and used it on this card.  (I also got the envelopes and some Sizzix texture plates which were on clearance.)

So, here are the details on the card.  The background is embossed with my new QuicKutz folder.  I trimmed it down, added a couple lines with my Scor-Pal, and mounted it on shimmery pink paper.  The stamps are from Verve and I used Stampin’ Up!’s Rose Romance ink.  The “Wishing You” has rounded corners, is embossed with a Swiss Dots embossing folder and is mounted on the same pink shimmery paper.  The butterflies are also pink shimmery and are embellished with pearls.  That’s it!  It felt good to make something other than a Christmas card.  Even though I’ve been done with my Christmas cards for quite a while, I still seem to be making more of them!  I have 20 done for next year already.  I will try to upload some of them for tomorrow.

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

SCS Limited Supplies Challenge – White Christmas

This card is for SplitCoastStampers Limited Supplies Challenge #249 - to make a white Christmas card. You can use only white with one color of ink. I did not have time to make a card, nor did I need another Christmas card, but there was no way I could resist making a card for this challenge - I love white!!

So here the card I came up with. I used three of my new Cuttlebug Christmas embossing border folders and a snowflake punch. The vertical piece is mounted on Pop Dots. The snowflakes have pearl centers. I used Stampin’ Up!’s Soft Sky ink to sponge lightly around the edges and for the sentiment, which is from a clear dollar set from JoAnn’s.

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

2RedBananas Sketch Challenge

 

I made this card for this week’s 2RedBananas Banana Split Sunday Challenge.  The challenge this week is a sketch.  A random number will be drawn and the lucky winner will get their choice of one of the new 2RedBananas sets which will be released on Monday, November 23.  Please join us, and have some fun!

I used two of my new Cuttlebug embossing folders from Oh My Crafts.  I also added some scoring with my Scor-Pal under the snowflakes.  The matting is all Stampin’ Up!’s retired Soft Sky cardstock.  The sentiment is from 2RedBananas October release in the set called “Winter Wishes.”

EDITED TO ADD:  Sorry – this post should have been published on Sunday and not Saturday.  The 2RedBananas challenge starts on Sunday, November 15.

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!

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!

Sympathy Rose

This card is for my sister-in-law and her family. Her mother passed away Sunday night due to cancer. She was such a special person. We saw her in June and she looked great. In August she found out she had stomach cancer and that it had spread throughout her body and there was nothing they could do for her. So sad.

I started with a card base (Papertrey Ink Stampers Select cardstock) on which I had stamped the sentiment, from Papertrey’s anniversary set. (When Harriet (allycatcards) was here in June, she brought her PTI anniversary set. I stamped a couple card bases using the sympathy stamp.) I used a rose stamp from an Inkadinkado set, bending the stem quite a bit and the rose just a little bit before I put it on the acrylic block. I stamped it directly on the card base, and also twice on another piece of white cardstock. I colored all three images using Stampin’ Up! Old Olive and Cameo Coral markers. I cut out the flower from both extra stampings, and also the leaves. I mounted the cut-out pieces on Pop Dots and layered them. The rose has two layers popped up and so does the largest leaf. The other leaves have just one popped up layer.

We will be heading out of town later this morning for the funeral and will spend a few days with family. That means that every weekend in September we were out of town! Makes it kind of hard to get much stamping done. (Or housework!) Hopefully soon I will be able to share cards here more often again.

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

Birthday Card for Andrew

Here is the birthday card I made for our grandson. I can't believe he'll be a year old already in a couple weeks! We will celebrate his birthday when we go down for his baptism. We will celebrate his mom's birthday, too, which is on Friday.

I started by stamping the little robot three times on shimmery silver paper and once on white. I used Versafine Onyx Black and embossed with black embossing powder. For the first layer, I cut out the entire robot and put him flat on the white. The second layer is his head, including his ears. The third layer is just his head without the ears. Between the first and second layers and the second and third layers, I used Pop Dots. (You can see that close up in the small picture here.) I printed the sentiment on my computer and cut and embossed it with a Rectangle Nestability. I cut the red frame from Stampin' Up!'s Riding Hood Red cardstock. The solid black line is done with a black Sharpie, using another Rectangle Nestability to trace around. The sentiment has silver ink rubbed on the edges and is also mounted on Pop Dots.

We are looking forward to seeing Andrew again! We don't get to see him nearly often enough, but we'll do the best we can:)

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