peace, love & joy

Hello there!  Popping in with a card that I will be sharing over at the Paper Players challenge, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the Visions of Sugarplums challenge.   Last year I purchased the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass Greetings stamp set.  At the time it came out there weren't matching dies, but about a month later they released the matching dies.   Sadly I wasn't able to get them at the time, but finally this year I did... yay!  I used that stamp set and the dies along with the SSS Frozen Fractals set to make my card.  I stamped all the snowflakes on white cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink, applied clear embossing powder and heat set.   I then inked up the piece with distress oxide ink in blueprint sketch bluffing off the excess.  The piece was then splattered with white acrylic paint mixed with water and when dry die cut with a rectangle die. The words were stamped on vellum with VersaMark, embossed in white and then die cut with the matching dies.  I adhered the words and ampersand by rolling up medium sized glue dots and placing them behind the words where there is embossing.  The little sentiments were stamped using VersaFine CLAIR in Nocturne on a strip of paper, trimmed down and adhered.  The finished piece was adhered to a white cardstock base.   This has also been entered in the SSS flickr challenge #111.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white, PTI vellum; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR, VersaMark watermark; Ranger distress oxide; white acrylic paint

joy to the world tag...

hey!! popping in on this sunny, but cold day here in the PNW with another tag for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  I have lost count of how many tags I have made, but this one is for day 5.   Julie and Brandi created some amazing tags and challenged us to create something icy or frozen.  I was totally inspired by Brandi's beautiful tag to create my tag.  I used the Essentials by Ellen Season of Sparkle and Brushstroke Christmas stamp sets along with the Essentials by Ellen Brushstroke Joy die.  The layout for my tag is based on the current CAS(E) this Sketch so I will be adding my little tag to their line up.  I started by stamping snowflakes from Season of Sparkle on white cardstock using VersaMark ink.  I applied iridescent embossing powder and heat set.  Once that was done I die cut the tag from the cardstock and applied Distress ink in Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough to my tag fading it out at the bottom.  Joy was die cut from white cardstock three times, adhered together and then adhered to the tag.   I then covered the word with lots and lots of sparkly Ice Stickles in Diamond to give the tag an even icier look.  I stamped the sentiment (from Brushstroke Christmas in black and then trimmed it out.  Once the Stickles had dried I attached the sentiment and then added the ribbon and trim.   I think I will also be adding this to Lori's Visions of Sugarplums challenge which closes soon.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies: Cardstock: MFT white; Stamps:  Essentials by Ellen; Dies:  Essentials by Ellen and ODBD; Inks:  Ranger, VersaFine and VersaMark; SU! iridescent embossing powder; Midori white ribbon, tinsel trims; Ranger Ice Stickles

peace on earth..

Stopping in with another tag for Ellen's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  This tag is for day 8 where we are asked to use a watercolor technique.  I took my inspiration from Carly's cute tag.   I'm also going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp challenge of ice inspired, as well as Lori's Visions of Sugarplums challenge.     At the beginning of the week Ellen offered the opportunity to by Christmas products at 30% off.  I took advantage of that offer and purchased the beautiful Essentials by Ellen Season to Sparkle stamps and matching dies with the idea to use them specifically for my tag.  I didn't use the color combo from the SSS challenge, but took my inspiration from the photos. I stamped the stag on some watercolor paper using VersaMark ink, applied iridescent sparkle embossing powder and heat set.  Then I colored him with ZIG markers in two shades of brown and clean water.  I let him dry and then die cut my tag from watercolor paper, stamped it with the stars from the same set using the same embossing powder and then watercolored my sky with a gray and dark blue ZIG.  I added in some pink and orange to give it that Milky Way look.   The little snowy slope was created by die cutting a second tag in half with a die from AJVD, applying some light gray ZIG and blending it out.  Once everything was dry stamped the word peace in Onyx Black VersaFine (from the Season to Sparkle set) and then stamped "on earth" in VersaMark on black cardstock, applied white embossing powder, heat set it and trimmed it out.  I adhered the slope to my tag and then added the deer and the rest of the sentiment.  I decided to stamp the circle image from the set to create a little moon for the deer to be looking at.  That was also embossed with the iridescent embossing powder and then colored with two shades of gray ZIG markers.  To finish off the tag I added some more sparkle with Diamond Stickles and some the fringy, sparkly twine.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Ranger watercolor cardstock; Stamps:  Essentials by Ellen; Dies:  Essentials by Ellen and AJVD; Inks:  VersaMark and VersaFine; Embossing powder:  white and iridescent; ZIG clean color markers; sparkly twine

coffee lovers winter blog hop...

Hello!!!  As many of you know the Coffee Lovers Winter blog hop starts today and I have a card that I made for the hop using Hero Arts Coffee Cups Tags and the matching dies.   The layout for the card is based on the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.   This card is going to the gals who work at the Starbucks that I frequent so I went with a Starbucks Christmas inspired design.  The papers used are from the Teresa Collins Santa's List 6x6 pad.  I die cut the cup from the snowflake patterned paper and then the lid and the wrap from another piece from the pad and then stamped them with the matching images using green ink.  The little bit of holly was stamped in the same green and then die cut with the matching die.  The sentiment was stamped in a red ink that matched the snowflake paper.   The snowflake (from A Jillian Vance Design) was die cut from silver glitter cardstock because well... glitter makes everything better, right???   I was delighted to see that the die cut snowflake matches the little snowflakes in the pattern perfectly!!   Another piece of paper from the same pad was trimmed into a square and then everything layered up as you see on a white cardstock panel.  Since I'm not a coffee drinker my little cup is full to the brim with a yummy Starbucks Chai Latte made with soy milk!   With my icy looking snowflake I'm going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Ice Inspired and to Lori's Visions of Sugarplums challenge.

Hope you have a wonderful day... happy hopping!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  red, white, silver glitter cardstock; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  Hero Arts and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! Real Red and Emerald Envy 

tree tag

Hello!!  Stopping in with another tag for Ellen's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  This tag is for day 4 where Jennifer and Clare showed us many fun ways to use felt on our tags.  I was inspired by the way Jennifer used several different colors of felt on her tags.   I used the December Sketch for You to Try layout for my tag so I will be posting it there, as well.  Several different Reverse Confetti products used for this tiny version of the sketch!  I started by die cutting the large tag from the RC Tag Me die set from white cardstock.  The polka dot paper is also Reverse Confetti (Very Merry)and was die cut using the bottom half of the same die and then adhered to the tag.  I used additional papers from the pad to die cut the RC wreath and the little banner (a Simon Says Stamp die).  The banner and wreath were then adhered to the tag.  The little RC tree and trunk were die cut from green and brown felt, adhered together and then adhered to the tag.  I finished my little tag off with some baker's twine that matched the polka dot paper.  I just love how my mini version of the sketch turned out!!   Going to add this to Lori's Visions of Sugarplums challenge.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; Patterned paper: Reverse Confetti Very Merry; Dies:  Reverse Confetti and Simon Says Stamp; Twinery baker's twine; green and light brown felt

sharing some tags

Hello!!  Stopping in with a couple of tags that I made for Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a feminine twist.  I am not a huge maker of tags, but all of the tags that have been showcased on the CLASSroom blog really inspired me to make a few. I made tags using ideas from days two and three.  Day two was all about sparkle and using glitter and Julia and Kay provided some amazing inspiration.  I was definitely inspired by Julia's gorgeous tag and I was going to use a die cut covered with glitter, but both of my tries turned out badly so I decided to switch to using glitter cardstock.  Hopefully that is okay.  I die cut the tag from some thin chipboard and then covered it with some paper die cut with the same tag.  A tag was die cut from silver cardstock and then the bottom half was die cut using a stitched border die from A Jillian Vance Design.  I edged the tag with some Brilliance light blue ink and then I adhered the silver glitter cardstock.  A snowflake (from AJVD) was die cut from blue glitter cardstock and adhered to the tag.  The sentiment (from A Jillian Vance Design) was stamped and then trimmed out.  Each piece was edged with silver ink and then adhered to the tag.  Finished things off with some silver tinsel trim.

The second tag is uses the day 3 technique to use foiling. The inspiration tags provided my Carissa and Joni are just gorgeous!  I took my inspiration for this tag from Joni's beautiful design.   I die cut the holly swirl from AJVD from sticky back fun foam, the backing removed and then gold foil applied.  I then die cut some small poinsettias (from AJVD) from red foiled cardstock.  The tag (from AJVD) was die cut from thin chipboard and then covered with some patterned paper die cut with the same tag die.  The foil covered holly swirl was adhered to the tag and then the little poinsettias added.  Finished with the sentiment (from AJVD) and some thin red ribbon and gold thread tied in a bow.  I really, really, really like how both tags turned out!  I'm also going to add these to Lori's Vision of Sugarplums challenge.  Lori is doing her annual Visions of Sugarplums showcase.  If you have checked it out, you really should.  She has lots of fun prizes and a long list of talented guests including my friend Greta!

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Patterned paper:  Teresa Collins santa's list, Heidi Swapp red foil cardstock, MFT silver and blue glitter cardstock; Stamps:  A Jillian Vance Design; Die cuts: A Jillian Vance Design, Our Daily Bread Design; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black; silver tinsel trim, red ribbon, gold thread; Deco Art gold foil