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