love you always....

Hello friends.... wow!!  2012 is almost over!! Time sure does fly doesn't it??  The holiday rush is over for another year.   Hope everyone had a wonderful Christimas!! I did... I got a Nook from my boys!!!  

I don't know about you, but I haven't had the time to get any crafting done and if I had the time I just didn't feel like making anything.  That was until I saw the inspiration photo for the December PTI blog hop.  I wasn't able to play along, but the photos were so pretty that I just had to make something.  So I combined it with the current PTI "Make it Monday" challenge.  I only played in a few MIM's this year and if they continue it in 2013 I hope to play along more.

For this card I revisited the "glitter buttons" MIM.  I used the PTI anniversary set Pretty Peonies and the matching dies.   After die cutting the butterfly from Soft Stone cardstock I stamped the butterfly with VersaMark watermark ink, white embossing powder applied and then heat set.  The oval frame was die cut from white cardstock, stamped with VersaMark, clear embossing powder applied and heat set.  The leafy branches are a Taylored Expressions die and they were die cut from vellum and then some Ice Stickles applied to them as well.   Along the edge of the card I adhered a paper doily border, some Soft Stone ribbon and then layered everything else up and finished by adhering the glitter button and the sentiment. Here is a detail shot showing the butterfly a little better.  Picture isn't so great... sigh.... 

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & soft stone; Inks:  Tuxedo Black & VersaMark; Embossing Powder:  Ranger UltraFine clear & Filigree white; Stamps:  PTI Pretty Peonies; Dies:  PTI Pretty Peonies & TE Leafy Branch die; Ribbon:  Soft Stone; Paper Doily Border:  Funkie Junkie; Ranger Stickles Diamond Glitter Glue & Ice Stickles Glitter Glue; Button:  PTI

ODBDSLC137... Anything Goes and a Goodbye

Hello friends!!  Merry Christmas!! Today isn't the usual posting day for the Shining the Light challenge, but since tomorrow is Christmas the challenge team is posting one day early.  The challenge theme is anything goes with ODBD stamps and the challenge will last for two weeks.  I'm a bit sad today because this is my last post as a member of the ODBD challenge team.  I have enjoyed my year on the challenge team, but after much prayer and careful consideration realized that it was time for me to step down so I can focus more on my boys.  But not to worry... I will still be playing along with the Shining the Light challenges as often as I can!  I do want to thank Kelley, the owner of ODBD,  and Chris, the challenge team coordinator, for giving me the opportunity to represent Our Daily Bread Designs on a weekly basis.  It has been one of the best experiences of my life and has helped me grow in my faith in many different ways!   Now on to my card....

As I indicated this challenge is anything goes... but you must use ODBD stamps.  Initially I had decided to use one of my favorite ODBD stamp sets, Faith.  But as I was putting the card together, it just wasn't working out to my satisfaction.  So instead I used a verse from the Scripture Collection 5 set and the floral image from Don't Worry.   The layout for the card is based on the current Deconstructed Sketch.   I stamped the floral image on some My Mind's Eye patterned paper (Follow Your Heart Collection - Be Happy) using pink ink (it is a bit hard to see) and then overstamped the verse using black ink.  The edges of the piece were then inked with Rangers Old Paper and two corners curled back.  This piece was matted with cream cardstock that had been inked with Old Paper, as well.  All the other patterned paper and cardstock pieces were inked and corners curled before the card was assembled.  I finished things off with some lace, light pink sheer ribbon and pink roses.   I really like how the card turned out... so soft and feminine!

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, January 7th at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, January 7th at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC136. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy,and Chris. To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI cream & kraft; SU! pink; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Inks:  Ranger Old Paper; SU! Pink Pirouette & Memento Tuxedo Black; Lace:  May Arts; Pink Ribbon:  SU!; Roses:  unknown.

time for tea

Hello friends!!  Have a card for the current Less is More challenge which is drinks (any kind you choose).  My stamp choices for this category are limited to basically one stamp set, my Taylored Expressions Creativi-Tea set and one image in a Stampin Up! set.  I used to have a set of DeNami Design tropical drink stamps, but I gave those away to a friend.   So I went with my Creativi-Tea set.  Stamped the tea pot using light blue ink and trimmed it out.  The little medallion the tea pot is sitting on was stamped using Cherry Cobbler ink and trimmed out, as well.  The banner was cut using my MFT Fishtail Flag Stax dies.  The card was a bit plain until I added the little blue buttons.

 

Thanks for stopping by... 

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & kraft; PP:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3; Ink:  Memento Summer Sky & SU! Cherry Cobbler; Stamps:  Taylored Expressions; Dies:  MFT; Buttons:  PTI

CCC #24... Star

{for my Shining the Light post please scroll down}

Hello... I'm back with my post for this week's CASology challenge!  Wow... once, again, everyone who played along in last week's challenge blew me away!!  So many creative ideas... lots that made me think "why didn't I think of that???"!!   The cue word this week is "star" and I just know that I am going to be completely amazed by all the entries!   You can find all the details here.  This week our guest designer is the very talented Elise!!

I thought about doing another Christmas card, but went in a different direction and created a card that I think would make a really fun graduation card for either a boy or a girl.   I used a star from the Hero Arts set Galaxy of Stars.  I stamped the image on bright green cardstock (PTI's New Leaf) using VersaMark watermark ink, applied clear embossing powder, heat set and trimmed it out.  I love how this creates a beautiful tone on tone look.  I added some black and orange washi tape to the white cardstock piece before adhering the star.   The sentiment is from a PTI Fillable Frames set and stamped using Memento Bamboo Leaves.   I love how this card turned out!

Thanks for stopping by... make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer Elise, Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Hero Arts & PTI; Washi Tape:  Impress:  Ink:  Memento Bamboo Leaves, VersaMark WaterMark ink; Ranger Clear Embossing Powder

ODBDSLC135.... Let It Snow!!

Hello friends!!  It Tuesday and that means time for a brand new Shining the Light challenge!!  With winter arriving in a few days and Christmas just around the corner the challenge this week is to use snow or snowflakes on your project.  This could include snowflake images, die cuts, paper, embossing folders, etc.   For my card I used two newly released ODBD stamps:  Small Snowflake Background and Away in a Manger.  

Because I knew I was going to use the Small Snowflake background stamp I decided right away that I wanted to use the emboss/resist technique on my card.  The Small Snowflake background stamp is perfect for emboss/resist.  In fact the other newly release ODBD background stamp Snowflake Background is also perfect for this technique as well.  The next step was to determine what colors I was going to use.  As I looked through my Ranger Distress Inks I finally settled on purple, but I'm not entirely sure why, lol!!  Anywhoo... I stamped the background on white cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink, applied the clear embossing powder and heat set.  Once that was done I applied Milled Lavendar and Dusty Concord Distress inks to the image and wiped off any excess ink.  The sentiment from Away in a Manger was stamped using Dusty Concord and then die cut using a Spellbinders fancy tag... not sure which one and some Milled Lavendar was applied to that as well.  I attached the sentiment to the card using some super yummy May Arts white crinkle ribbon.  The card was looking a bit plain so I added some rhinestones to the tag, as well as the rhinestone flourishes and the purple rose. 

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, December 23rd at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, December 23rd at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC135. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy,and Chris. To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; Stamps:  ODBD; Inks:  Ranger Distress Inks, VersaMark Watermark ink; Dies:  Spellbinders tag dies; Rhinestones:  Stampin Up!; Rhinestone Flourishes:  Recollections; Ribbon:  May Arts; Rose:  Prima

you are a treasure....

Hello friends!!  It is a wet and really cold day here in Western Washington... typical mid-December for us.  I don't mind the cold, but combined with the wet... not so fun!  Anywhoo... I have a card to share today that I made for this month's Sketch for You to Try challenge.   I was so sad when I read Jen's (the owner of SFYTT) post and saw that she has decided to shut down SFYTT.  When I first started posting cards online SFYTT was one of those challenge blogs that I always saw people talking about and posting their cards for.  I checked out the challenge a few times, but never seemed to be able to get something done in time to play along.  I was finally able to start playing along toward the end of 2011 and challenged myself to complete all the sketches for 2012.   Much to my surprise and delight I was even asked to be a guest designer for SFYTT in March of this year!!  So... yeah... I was definitely sad when I read Jen's post.  But with the posting of this card I will have met my goal of completing all the sketches for 2012... Yay!!  The complete list is at the end of this post.

For my card I decided to use a recently acquire My Mind's Eye stamp set that coordinated with the newly released My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 collection, Ruby.    The sentiment is from a PTI mini set, Signature Series Dress Form.   SU!'s Ruby Red (an ink they no longer carry) is a really good match for one of the reds found in the patterned paper so I used that to stamp the doily image.  I cut it out with a Spellbinders plain circle die and then matted it with a plain circle of  Ruby Red cardstock.  The fishtail flags were cut with... yep... my totally over-worked Fishtail Flag Stax dies from My Favorite Things.  The kraft cardstock was embossed using a new SU! embossing folder, Fancy Fans.  While not part of the sketch I added the sentiment as shown because I liked how it looked!!   Finished it off with a kraft colored button and some twine that matched.  So there you have it... my final SFYTT card.  Now here is a list of all my SFYTT cards for the year:   January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November. 

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Jen for hosting such a fabulous sketch challenge that so many paper crafters have enjoyed!!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Crumb Cake; PTI cream; PP:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Ruby; Stamps:  My Mind's Eye & PTI; Ink:  SU! Ruby Red; Dies:  Spellbinderrs & My Favorite Things; button:  PTI; Twine:  The Funkie Junkie

you & me....

Hello friends!!    Have a card to share for a few challenges:  Less is More (make an anniversary card), Dynamic Duos (Gold & Black) and Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts "Make & Take" Cling  challenge.

As indicate the LIM challenge this week is to make an anniversary card... not something I do very often so I was a bit stumped.  But then I checked out the Dynamic Duos color combo and when I saw it was gold & black an idea began to form.  I have a fun clear set from Hero Arts called "You & Me" and I knew I wanted to use that set for the card.   I went back to Dynamic Duos spend a bit more time checking out what the design team created and noticed that they had a "dessert option" to incorporate music into your design.   That got me thinking further and I decided to through a couple of other Hero Arts stamps into the mix.  Both are cling stamps which is why this will be going into the Ellen Hutson challenge.   I stamped the large clef image from "Musical Clef" in Delicate Golden Glitz and then added the "you & me" in back.  The piece was then edged with additional Golden Glitz.   I finished things off by stamping the Hero Arts Music Background cling onto the card base using black ink and then adhering the main piece on top using foam dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Hero Arts: Musical Clef, Music Background & You & Me; Inks:  Memento Tuxedo Black & Delicata Golden Glitz

forever and always...

Hello friends!  Can't believe that Christmas is just a week and a half away and 2013 is just around the corner!  Boy.... the time sure has flown by!   Have a little card I made using the current color combo from the Dynamic Duos:  Pink Pirouette and Rose Red.  I have wanted to make a card using the colors for several days now, but just didn't have a good idea.   Then I saw Chupa's current Sketchbook Saturday sketch and my idea was born.

Do you have a stamp (or alot of stamps... tee hee!) that you really, really, really love?   I know I do and one of them is this damask stamp from the Stampin Up! set Bliss.  It is one of those stamps that  I could use over and over and never get tired of.  It is just a timeless, classic image.  When I saw Chupa's sketch and how it had a design in the lower lefthand corner I immediately thought of that stamp.   I paired it with some Verve stamps that have a more modern feel to them.   Verve was one of the first stamp companies that I started buying from when I found the online world of stamping, but then other companies caught my fancy and I stopped buying Verve stamps.   Recently, I started taking a look at Verve, again, and I really liked what I saw so when they had their Black Friday sale I took advantage of their specials and bought a few sets including one called No Matter What, a fun Valentine's Day set.   The hearts image and the sentiment were stamped with Rose Red ink and then a second heart was stamped with Pink Pirouette, trimmed out and adhered to the Rose Red image.  A bit of Diamond Stickles was brushed on the pink heart for some added shimmer.  To break up all the white I matted the circle with black cardstock and then finished things off with a few clear gems.   I have been putting together a box of cards for Operation Write Home and right now they are looking for Valentine's Day cards, so this one will go in the box to OWH.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Verve and Stampin Up!; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  Spellbinders Plain and Scalloped Circle dies; Ribbon:  Stampin Up!; Lace:  The Funkie Junkie; Rhinestones:  Stampin Up!

CCC #23.... Gift

{for my Shining the Light post, please scroll down.}

Hello!!  I'm back with my card for this week's CASology challenge.   The cue word this week is "gift".   You can find all the details for the challenge here and our guest designer is the uber talented Hannelie.   Don't forget... CASology is looking for some new team members.  You have until December 15th to get your application in.

Another very simple card from me this week.  When I saw the cue word I had only one idea in mind and that was to use a sentiment from the Hero Arts set Greatest Gift because you see to me Christmas really is only about the greatest gift ever given, Jesus.  As simple and uncomplicated as that.  I also didn't want to use a traditional Christmas color combo so I went instead with navy blue.  I stamped the sentiment toward the bottom of cardstock and then stamped the star (from the companion Hero Arts set Heavens Rejoice) above the sentiment as you see.  A clear rhinestone was added to the center.   I also used my SU! Ticket Corner punch to punch the corners for a bit more interest.   

Thanks for stopping by... make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer Hannelie, Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Night of Navy; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink:  SU! Night of Navy; Rhinestones:  Stampin Up!; Punch:  SU! Ticket Corner punch

ODBDSLC134... A Word Challenge

Hello friends!!  It is Tuesday and that means time for a new Shining the Light challenge!! This week we have a word challenge for you.   We are asking that you create your project using the letters in the word NOEL.   So... I'm going to admit right now that I had a bit of a hard time with this one and it took me some real thinking to figure out what I could do stamping-wise for the letter "O"!!    Here is what I came up with N:  Nesties; O: Over-stamping; E:  Embossing; L: Lace.

One of my favorite sets of Nesties is the Labels 21 set.  I have made several cards using the largest die in the set and decided to use them to make my card for this challenge.   I didn't want to make a Christmas card so I used the lovely ODBD set Mother Teresa.  The color combo was based on papers I pulled out of a BasicGrey 6x6 pad called Clippings.   I die cut the card from aqua cardstock and then used the largest die to create the first mat which was then embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder.  The image was stamped on white cardstock using yellow ink and then the sentiment was over-stamped with black ink.  This piece was matted with additional patterned paper.  Before adhering the stamped piece to the mats I added some lace.  A few buttons were included to finishing the card.

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC133. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy,and Chris. To join in the fun, please click here

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Aqua Mist & white; PP:  BasicGrey Clippings; Stamps:  Mother Teresa; Inks:  SU! So Saffron, Memento Tuxedo Black; Dies:  Spellbinders Labels 21; Buttons:  PTI; Lace:  May Arts

a little birdie...

Hello friends!!  Have a little card I made for this week's Less is More challenge.  The challenge this week is to use a row of something.   In an effort to get outside my box a bit more I really tried to make something a little different.   

I actually got my card done on Saturday morning, but Saturday was one of those really crazy days that I try to avoid at all costs!  The boys had swim lessons in the morning, then we can home for a bit and then it was off, again, to take the little one to a birthday party.  That was followed by a trip to our hairsylist for haircuts and wrapped up with a visit to our local zoo's annual holiday light show called (appropriately) ZooLights.  Because it was a very dry evening (after a week of pouring rain) it seemed that everyone in Tacoma and the surrounding area was at Point Defiance Zoo for Zoolights!  It took us 40 minutes to find a place to park!!  But it was fun because I got to see some of my cousins and their kids.  Anywhoo... on to my card. 

Super simple because this is one layer week.  I got out my washi tape and used tw colors to create rows of washi tape.  I then added a little sentiment from a Hero Arts Studio Calico stamp set, some clear rhinestones and I was done.  I must admit I'm stretching the idea a bit, but hopefully my card will pass muster!!

Edited to add:  I just found a new challenge blog called Keep it Simple! and their current challenge (which ends shortly) is to use washi tape so I'm going to pop this card into the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Hero Arts/Studio Calico; Rhinestones:  Hero Arts; Ink:  Tuxedo Black

peace.....

Hello friends!!  I thought I was kinda done making Christmasy-type cards, but I'm back with one that I made using the colors from this week's ColourQ.  I'm also going to be popping this into the current PTI Make it Monday challenge (glitter detail technique).

For this card I got out one of the first PTI sets I ever bought, Snowflake Serenade.  The snowflakes in the set are so pretty and I just love the style of the two large words found in the set.  I made the card base using Stampin Up!'s Midnight Muse (which is very similar to PTI's Enchanted Evening) and then added a layer of SU!'s Tempting Turquoise.  The word "peace" was stamped using Pacific Point ink and then I stamped each of the snowflakes using Pool Party (the closest color I have to Cool Caribbean).  I then got out my Quickie Glue pen (love that little pen) and added some glue to each of the snowflakes and applied the glitter.  I tore the corner of the white card stock piece, as well as the turquoise piece and then curled them up a bit to add some additional interest to the card.

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Midnight Muse & Tempting Turquoise; Stamps:  PTI; Inks:  SU! Pool Party & Pacific Point; Quickie Glue Pen; Glitter:  UltraFine Art Glitter

CCC #22... Sparkle!!

{for my Shining the Light post, please scroll down}

Hello... I'm back!!  Here with my post for the new CASology challenge.  This week our cue word is "sparkle".   There are so many fun directions you can take that one for sure.  All the information can be found here...  and now I have some exciting news to share!! CASology is having a design team call!!  You can find out all the information here.   We are also joined this week by our fabulous guest designer, Birgit!!! 

I went with my favorite layout for my card this week (hey... if it ain't broke, don't fix it!).   The stamps are from Penny Black and are perfect for this simple, simple layout. I also decided to use the traditional red and green Christmas combo.  The tree and image were stamped and then I randomly applied lots and lots of rhinestones to the tree.   To give just a little bit more interest to the card I rounded one corner on the card base and the second layer.  I actually made a card like this last year at Christmas time and I decided to remake it because I think it makes a lovely non-traditional holiday card.

Thanks for stopping by...  make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer Birgit,    Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Penny Black; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Rhinestones:  Stampin Up!

ODBDSLC133... Gettin' Sketchy!

Hello friends!!  It is Tuesday and that means time for a brand spankin' new Shining the Light challenge!  This week the challenge team is bringing you an absolutely fantastic sketch to spark your creativity!  

For my card I decided to use several of my most favorite ODBD stamp sets, Faith, Butterfly Corner and Butterfly, Single.    The color scheme came from the patterned papers that I used from the brand new My Mind's Eye Lost & Found 3 Oliver 6x6 pad.  I stamped the Butterfly Corner image using SU!'s Marina Mist and then die cut it using a plain Spellbinders die and then matted the image with plain circle die cut from navy blue cardstock.  The butterfly was stamped on white cardstock using More Mustard ink, die cut using the matching ODBD butterfly die and then the edges painted with Diamond Stickles.  A second butterfly was stamped on some of the Oliver patterned paper with More Mustard, die cut with the butterfly die and covered in Diamond Stickles.  Once the butterflies were dry they were layered over the main image.   I stamped the verse from the Faith set using Marina Mist, but it is a little hard to see.  Finished the card off with a fun doily and some lace. 
 
As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC133. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy,and Chris.  To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white; SU! navy; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Ink:  SU! Marina Mist & More Mustard; Diamond Stickles; Spellbinders Plain Circle Dies; May Arts lace; paper doily - Montana Misfits.

holiday blessings...

Hello friends.... have a little card to share for this week's Less is More challenge, as well as for the current Dynamic Duos challenge.   For this week's Less is More challenge we are being asked to use red and green which just happens to be the Dynamic Duos' color challenge, as well!!  Yay!!  The layout is based on the current sketch from Clean & Simple.

After checking out the C&S sketch I decided to use my very neglected PTI Winterberry stamp & die sets for the card.  I die cut the little tree and then stamped the image using Certain Celery ink.  I will admit that it took me at least three attempts to get the tree stamped perfectly centered on the die cut.  I am also going to admit that I messed up the little red berries several times, too!  The berries were added using red Liquid Pearls and on the first try (on a tree that was stamped slightly off center) the berries came out a little to gloppy.  The second one I dropped on the floor... and it landed face down!! Finally on the last try I was able to get perfect little berries.    Thankfully third time turned out to be the charm!!   Not the most imaginative card, but certainly cute.

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Riding Hood Red; Stamps:  PTI; Ink:  Stampin Up! Certain Celery; Dies:  PTI; Ranger Red Liquid Pearls; SU! border punch

Let the Heavens.....

Hello friends!!  Wow... time sure is flying!! Christmas is right around the corner.  Spent the last several days putting up our two Christmas trees.  I was worried it was going to take me longer, but thankfully it didn't... yay!!!  May try to take pictures of them at some point... both are decorated entirely in Hallmark ornaments are pretty darn cute!  

Anywhoo... inbetween getting the trees outs of storage, along with all those Hallmark ornaments, putting them up and decorating them, I managed to get a few cards made.  The one I'm sharing today is for the current Catered Crop challenge (Silver & Gold... I went with silver) and the current Deconstructed Sketch challenge.  The card was made using things that were close at hand on my kitchen counter.  The patterned paper is from a Stampin Up! designer paper pack from last year called Frostwood Lodge.  The stamp is from a new Hero Arts set Heavens Rejoice.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaMark watermark ink, applied silver ultrafine embossing powder and heat set it.  When I was done I was quite surprised at how nicely the embossing turned out.  Sometimes when I embossed sentiments the wording can end up not so clear, but this time it was perfect.  The fishtail flag banners were cut using my MFT fishtail flag stax dies.   Finished things off with some red bakers twine and two silver bells. 

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI; SU! Garden Green & Cherry Cobbler; DP:  Frostwood Lodge; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing Powder:  Ranger UltraFine Silver; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery - Red; Bells:  Michaels; Dies:  MFT Fishtail Flag Stax dies

CCC #21... past, present, future

{for my shining the light post, please scroll down}

hello there... i'm back!!   here with my card for this week's CASology challenge.  the cue word this week is time.   lots of different directions you can go in with this one.   our quest designer this week is the very talented N@.  All the details can be found here.

 



close up

i have to admit that when i saw the cue word my first thought was to use a clock.  but i don't have any clock images in my collection.  that left me with only one option... get outside my box and put my thinking cap on!   so i thought and thought some more... then i remembered that last week i had made a card for a splitcoaststampers challenge that used a lovely new stamp i had recently gotten from penny black.  the stamp is appropriately titled "time".   i had paired that stamp with another penny black stamp and used the emboss/resist technique for the card.  i decided to sort of recreate that card, but keeping this one more CAS than the other card.  i did this by stamping the sentiment in black ink, stamping the 2nd image over the top with versamark watermark ink, applied embossing powder and then heat set.  After that I applied Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord distress ink to the piece.  The final step was to die cut the image using a Spellbinders plain long rectangle die.  The finished piece was then adhered to the center of a white card base using foam dimensionals.   here is a close up shot of the sentiment... isn't it beautiful?  i just love so many of sentiments that you can get from penny black. 

thanks for stopping by....make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, N@! can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

supplies:  cardstock:  pti white; stamps:  penny black; inks:  memento tuxedo black, versamark watermark ink, ranger distress inks; ultrafine clear embossing powder; spellbinders dies

ODBDSLC132... Chickadee Ornament

Hello friends!!  Tuesday is here and that means time for a brand new Shining the Light challenge!!  This week the challenge team is asking you to make a holiday card that has an ornament or something hanging on it.   For my card this week I used the brand new Chickadee Ornament set.
This is the last week with our fabulous guest designer, Barbara.  Please make sure you check out her blog and leave her some love.

I kept things really simple and just let the chickadee ornament shine.  I stamped the ornament image using Memento Tuxedo black ink and then die cut it using a Spellbinders plain circle die.  Once it was die cut I colored the image with Copic markers.   Some red cardstock was die cut using another plain circle die to use as a mat for the ornament image.  The little hanger was stamped using Delicata Golden Glitz ink, trimmed out and adhered to the ornament.   The ornament was matted with the red circle and then the bakers twine was adhered to the back.   Some additional baker's twine was tied in a bow.   The white cardstock piece was embossed using my SU!/Sizzix woodgrain embossing folder and then inked with some Old Paper distress ink.  At the time I took the photo the ornament is actually hanging free.   I didn't put a sentiment on the front, but will add that to the inside at a later date. 

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, December 1st at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, December 1st at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC132. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy, Chris, and this month's guest designer, Barbara! To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI red and white; Stamps:  ODBD Chickadee Ornament; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Dies:  Spellbinders; Embossing Folder:  SU!/Sizzix Woodgrain; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery; Diamond Stickles; Copic Markers

wishing you the best ....

hello friends!   here with a card for several challenges:  Less is More - Glitz & Glamour; Retro Sketches & Dynamic Duos.    love it when saturday morning rolls around and i can see what the new LIM challenge is going to be for the week.   i also love checking a few other favorite challenges like Dynamic Duos to see if i can somehow fit a couple of them together.   was so glad to see that i was able to make one card for three!!  love it when that happens! 

the Dynamic Duos colors this week are midnight muse (a navy-bluish color) and silver... fit perfectly with the LIM challenge as i have lots of silver bling!  then i checked out the new Retro Sketch and thought... hmmm i can use that lovely sketch for my card!  the card base is made using midnight muse cardstock and the ribbon is PTI's enchanted evening... which is a pretty good match for midnight muse.  the ink is versamagic ocean depths.  the bling is from recollections.  i used several flourishes from the package and cut them up to suit my purpose.  in addition to the silver bling i used a bit of silver washi tape, as well.  pretty satisfied with the overall card although i may take a new photo of it in daylight... then maybe the washi tape will show up better!  must say a big thank you to allyson and deanna over at dynamic duos... lovely allyson picked my card as the winning card for dynamic duos challenge #28 and then this past week the super sweet deanna picked my card as a dynamic darling for challenge #29!   thanks, ladies!!

thanks for stopping by...

supplies:  cardstock:  pti and stampin up!; stamps:  pti; die:  stampin up!/sizzix; ink:  versamagic; ribbon:  pti; washi tape:  impress; flourishes:  recollections

CCC #20... Gobble, Gobble

{for my shining the light post, please scroll down}

hello!!  i'm back with my card for this week's CASology challenge.  here in the USA thanksgiving is just a few days away and our cue word this week is "gobble"!  how fun is that???  i can tell you that the design team has come up with some really clever cards!  this week we are joined by our super talented guest designer... donna!!  yay...woot, woot!!  you can find all the details for the challenge here.

i'm going to be real honest when i say that i was really worried about being able to come up with something for this week's CASology challenge.  when i saw the cue word "gobble" all i could think of was something food related... more specifically... turkey!  okay, i admit it i'm not the most original thinker... hee!!   but then i had another problem... only one small turkey stamp in my entirely too large stamp collection!  ugh... what to do, what to do??!!!  so i headed off to joann's to see what they might have in store for me and as i was wandering the papercrafting aisles i saw this little googly-eyed turkey peering at me from a package of k&co stickers.  an idea was finally forming, thank goodness!!   putting the card together was pretty simple... some die cutting, applying the sticker and then handwriting the sentiment on the little tag.  i was going to use the word "run" on the tag, but then i thought it would be funnier to use the word "yum" with the question mark.  i ran it past my 13 year old and he thought it was hilarious.  but honestly.. what does a 13 year old or me know? 

thanks for stopping by....make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, donna.    can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

supplies:  cardstock:  stampin up! crumb cake & old olive; dies:  sizzix and pti; sticker:  k&co;  black micron pen

ODBDSLC131... Celebrating the Holidays!

Hello friends!!   It is Tuesday and that means time for a brand new Shining the Light challenge!!  This week the challenge team is asking you to make a holiday project, Christmas or Thanksgivings, the choice is yours or you could make a card for both!!  I decided to make a Christmas card using the recently release ODBD set Perfect Gift.



Inside of Card

The layout for my card is based on this month's Sketch for You To Try.   The papers are from My Mind's Eye (of course!!)... the Winter Wonderland collection.  I stamped the tree using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored it with Copic markers and then trimmed it out.  It is hard to see, but some of the ornaments were not colored, but filled in using Diamond Stickles... looks really pretty in real life.  I also stamped the two little images of Christmas packages in Tuxedo Black, colored them and trimmed them out.  I added some texture to the light blue piece of paper by embossing it with my Swiss Dot embossing folder.  The die cut is a Spellbinders Lacy Circles.   The interior of the card was finished off with the sentiment die cut using a Spellbinders plain circle die.  It was then matted with an additional plain circle and another Lacy Circle die cut.   I like to finish off the interior of the card and provide a photo, but for some reason lots of people don't seem to understand that it is the INSIDE OF THE CARD because I get comments on how pretty the second card is!  Anywhoo... the above photo is of the INSIDE of the card and not a separate card.

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, November 25th at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, November 25th at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC131. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy, Chris, and this month's guest designer, Barbara! To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI cream & red; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  ODBD; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Dies:  Spellbinders; Embossing Folder:  Cuttlebug; Ribbon:  PTI; Diamond Stickles

another collage....

hello friends!!  it is an ugly grey and wet day here in washington state... it seems our typical late fall/early winter weather has finally set in... ugh!!  i was so enjoying all the really nice days we had been having lately... sigh!  anywhoo... have a little card i made for this week's Less is More challenge and the current ColourQ combo.

this card may look familiar to some of you because it is basically a redo of a card i made a few weeks ago.   there was nothing wrong with the first card... in fact i loved how it turned out and that is why i decided to recreate it using the colors from ColourQ and adding a bit of hardware (the butterfly charm) to satisfy this week's Less is More challenge.  all the stamps are from some of my favorite stampin up! sets.  i do love collage stamping and figuring out how to layer the colors and images so that everything looks harmonious.    this particular group of stamps makes it easy to achieve that harmony because they all work so well together.

thanks for stopping by...

supplies:  cardstock:  pti white; stamps:  stampin up!  because i care, bliss & vintage fresh; inks:  hero arts latte chalk ink, stampin up! tempting turquoise, really rust & old olive; butterfly charm; may arts twine

turn your face....

hello friends!   got a chance to make a card for the current flourishes challenge.  i love flourishes stamps, but lately it seems i hardly ever get a chance to get something done for their weekly challenges.  but i loved the inspiration photo for this week's challenge and was determined to get something made.  i used the current deconstructed sketch to help me along.

 

i'm pretty happy with how well this card turned out given the fact that i have been dealing with a migraine all day.  i hate migraines!!!  i don't get really, really bad ones like some people do, but occasionally i will get one that just saps my energy.  i have that kind today.... dinner will be pizza!!  anywhoo... i used one of my favorite flourishes sets, sunflowers, along with my very favorite dies... my favorite things fishtail flag stax.  i use them so much i think i'm going to wear them out!!  papers are from my mind's eye lost & found 2 sunshine 6x6 pad. 

well... that's about all from me...  thanks for stopping by...

supplies:  cardstock: pti cream; stampin up! crumb cake; pp:  my mind's eye; stamps:  flourishes; ink:  pti vintage cream & versafine vintage sepia; dies:  my favorite things; twine:  may arts; button:  pti

CCC #19 .... thanks!

{for my shining the light post please scroll down}

hello!!!  i'm back with my post for this week's CASology challenge.  so many wonderful and clever entries for our orange challenge!   i always have soo much fun checking out all the entries each week and many, many times i find myself thinking "doh! why didn't i think of that???"   this week the cue word is "thanks" and with thanksgiving right around the corner... well the options are endless!  our guest designer this week is the super clever and talented shelly!

i decided to have a little bit more fun with my alphabet dies this week.  instead of using the positive letters i used the negative image.  my card is really, really simple and really quite easy to execute.  you just need to make sure you spend the bit of extra time to make sure that all the letters are lined up and centered.  another tip to share.  this one relates to washi tape and you may already know this one.  i have a hard time using washi tape on my cards for the simple reason that i often don't like how it looks once i have added it to my card.  but i discovered that washi tape is absolutely perfect for holding down your dies and comes off easily with no leftover residue.   so if you have some washi tape and can't figure out what to do with it use it to hold down your dies!!   okay... on to my card.  i cut my white cardstock piece and then laid out the alpha bet dies on the cardstock.  i used a ruler to adjust the letters so that they were as close to the center of the cardstock as possible.  once that was done i taped them down with my washi tape and ran the piece through my big shot.  some fun polka dot paper was adhered to the back and then the entire piece adhere to the cardbase.  even with taking the time to center the letter i think this card didn't take me more than 15 minutes to make.

thanks for stopping by....make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, Shelly!   can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

supplies:  cardstock:  pti white; pp:  stampin up! marine mist polka dot; dies:  my favorite things high rise alphabet dies

ODBDSLC130... Silver or Gold

Hello friends!!  Tuesday is here and that means time for a brand new Shining the Light challenge!  This week the challenge team is asking you to use silver or gold on your project.  And we continue to welcome the uber talented Barbara as our guest designer!!!

ODBD has so many beautiful Christmas stamps and one of them is the set called His Gift.  This set features a beautiful collage like image of a poinsettia.  I love poinsettias and just had to add this set to my ODBD collection.  This was the set I chose to use for my card today.  I stamped the image using VersaMagic watermark ink, applied ultrafine silver embossing powder and then heat set the image.  Once that was done I die cut the image using a Spellbinders plain rectangle die.  I pulled aqua and kraft papers from the My Mind's Eye All is Bright 6x6 pad to coordinate with the silver embossed image.  Some of the paper was die cut using a Spellbinders Scalloped rectangle die to use as a mat for the image.  The sentiment is from the ODBD set Poinsettia Tag.   The card was finished off with some lace and kraft colored ribbon. 

As always, we will be giving out a prize, a $15.00 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, November 18th at 8:00 pm EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Design images and sentiments on your projects, we would definitely love to see them if you have them!! As a way of recognizing those who do use ODBD stamps we will be choosing three or more of our participants for the Shining the Light Award. In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, you must use ODBD stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday, November 18th at 8:00 pm EST. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword: ODBDSLC130. When creating your post on your blog, please include a direct link to the challenge.

Thanks for stopping by... please take some time to check out the beautiful projects created by my fellow "sticks" Lori, Jan Marie, Jan, Kathy, Chris, and this month's guest designer, Barbara! To join in the fun, please click here.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Ocean Tides; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs; Ink:  VersaMagic & PTI Ocean Tides; Embossing powder:  Ranger UltraFine Silver; Ribbon:  May Arts white lace & PTI kraft ribbon; Dies:  Spellbinders & My Favorite Things