Candlelight Christmas

Hello peeps! Yes it's been too long since I've posted anything here. I'll just say I've been dealing with an elderly family member [my mom] and let it go at that. Anyone who is, or has been, there will know it can be very time consuming and emotional. Needless to say a family comes first.

I made three new Christmas Card designs this year and can't take credit for any of them. I found all the ideas on Pinterest and I'm very glad I did. This one has candles and I love how it turned out. My lighting leaves a lot to be desired but it turned out so crisp and clean.

The red candle and the flames are glitter cardstock by Best Creations, Inc. [I'm emphasizing this part - glitter can not be used on OWH cards.] 

I do love using this cardstock for my cards because the glitter is somehow sealed on the paper. I've rubbed it on a rough surface, scratched it with my fingernail, ran a table knife over it... and the glitter did not come off. Even so, I would not use it for OWH cards because I don't want to take any chances.

Unfortunately the McGill Pine punch I used for the greenery fell apart just as I finished all my punching. Well... I've had it several years, used it a gazillion times, and it has served me well.

Enjoy your Christmas and thanks for stopping by!

Good morning friends! It's snowy, blowy, cold today as winter storm Draco is hitting my area. It's a good day to stay home and share some cards and good news from OWH.


First up I have two of the Christmas card designs I made for this year.

The sketch was created by Teresa for a challenge on the CardSwaps forum, which, is no longer in existence. I liked the design so much I knew it would make for fun Christmas cards. The DSP is by The Paper Co. that I got at Hobby Lobby. By the way, those of us from CardSwaps forum needed a new home so two of our members put their heads together and found us one. Thanks Judy and SusieQ for getting ScrapZee Community Forum up and running so we can all stay together. Love you gals! You can check out our challenges, swaps, and more, here.

Next... Eeeeekkkk!!!!!  Today Sandy, over at Operation Write Home, has introduced little 'ole me as their new Sketch Challenge gal for 2013. I'll be writing the weekly challenge post, and the sketches and sample cards will be provided for me. In addition to that intro Paula has me as the Featured Card Maker today on OWH's Stars & Stamps blog, along with my interview and some of my cards. Need to say it again peeps.... Eeeeekkkk!!! I know, I know, but I'm soooo excited.

You'll have to forgive me for leaving now. I've got to go calm down so I can finish my last minute candy making. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH sketch 151, just for fun!

Good afternoon peeps! Are you ready for Christmas? I'm about half way there, but that's normal for me. I thought I'd play around today... like I don't have a gazillion things still to do. But hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... right? Right, exactly!

At first I wasn't going to do this week's sketch on Operation Write Home's blog Stars and Stamps.

But then I looked down at my mess... errrr work space, and saw some left over reindeer heads made from SU's owl punch. So I whipped up this card from leftover scraps.

Yep, that's right. It's all made from leftovers. The reindeer antlers are from pieces parts of the Pine punch by McGill. The scraps of DSP are from the Christmas Cottage 6x6 paper pad by Teresa Collins. Oh, almost forgot the holly ribbon by May Arts. It's kind of hidden behind the reindeer heads, but it's there. :)

Well peeps, there's more candy to be made so I'm gonna run. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Sketch Challenge #150

Hello peeps, and Happy December! Boy, little did I know that when I posted on November 21st that it would be so long. I was a week longer at my son's for Thanksgiving than I planned, car trouble, and then computer issues when I got home. Loooonnngggg stories that you don't want to hear, and I don't want to repeat. Let's leave it at... I'm home, my car's fixed, and my computer is working. :)

Here's my card for this week's sketch challenge on Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. I used white puff paint to give the whipped cream topping some dimension. I used a sheet of double sided paper by Little Yellow Bicycle for the background paper and the large scalloped oval.

I need to add a warning right here. Those of us making cards for our heroes to write home DO NOT use glitter of any kind. It can flake off and make our heroes visible through night vision goggles. The strip of blue across the center of my card is glitter paper... so it will go with my cards only for my family and friends. I did several "flake" tests [rubbing the paper on clothing, scraping with finger nail, etc.] to see if the glitter would come off, and so far it doesn't.

However... I do not use this paper for OWH cards for our heroes. I won't take the chance with their safety, and neither should you. DO NOT use glitter or glitter paper when making cards for OWH!!

Here's a close up of the cocoa mug stamp.

If you want to try this layout for yourself, here's a pic of the sketch along with the measurements.

Supplies:
Cardstock - medium blue for card base, white
DSP - Flurry Dot Tonal from the Winterings collection by Little Yellow Bicycle
Glitter Paper - POW! Glitter Paper by American Crafts
Stamps - cocoa mug by Studio G clear stamps by Hampton Arts; sentiment from 'Snowy Short Stacks' by Stampendous
Punches/Dies - Scalloped Oval dies by Spellbinders; Snowflake punch [discontinued] by Creative Memories; Modern Label and Word Window punches by Stampin Up!
Liquid Pearls - White Opal and Baby Blue by Ranger
Copic - E25, to color the cocoa
Ink - Salvia Blue by Marvy Uchida

Well peeps, I'd better be going. It's been a long day and an even longer one tomorrow. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Turquoise and Silver... Oh My!!!

Good morning friends, hope all is well with you! I'm so excited about today's post, and card, that I can hardly stand it. eeeeeekkk!! Normally I'd post this tomorrow, but I'll be traveling to my son's for Thanksgiving so I'm posting it a day early.

Several weeks ago I was asked by Jan Hunnicutt to make a card for today's color Midweek Throwdown [MWT] for Operation Write Home's blog Stars & Stamps. For the colors I  chose Turquoise and Silver. I just love the look of these colors together and use them a lot for Christmas... so my sample card is a Christmas card. This is a very Clean and Simple [CAS] design and can be mass produced very easily.

The metallic silver card stock came with the scalloped edges and measures 4 1/4" X 5 1/2"; perfect size for a card front. I made sure I wiped my X-Static embossing pouch all over the card base before I stamped the tree and sentiment in Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

Normally this ink dries very quickly, but on the somewhat shiny card stock it gave me enough time to sprinkle on clear embossing powder and heat set it. This is why the X-Static pouch is needed. It's filled with a talc like powder and really helps prevent the embossing powder from sticking where you don't want it. In a pinch I've used baby powder but I prefer the embossing pouch. I added a simple ribbon bow and in less than 10 minutes I had a finished card.

Now you know why I'm so excited about this post, and why I want to make sure it gets posted. You see, I don't have the best of luck scheduling posts in blogger :( I'm soooo honored to be asked to make a card and pick the colors for this week's MWT. I love making cards and I'm proud of my work. At times I can be rather anal about my craft because I want it to be the best work I can do. But... for Jan, from OWH, to recognize the work of lil 'ole me and ask me to make a card for their blog..... well that's just to the moon and back awesome!!

Thank You so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit! And please, if you're traveling like me for Thanksgiving, be careful and watch for the crazies on the road. Card Recipe follows.

Recipe:
Cardstock - Yours Truly Metallic Silver A2 Scallop Note from Archiver's
Stamps - Tree , I've had so long I don't know where it's from. Sorry :(
               Sentiment, Christmas Wishes set by Stampendous
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink, by Ranger, in Peacock Feathers from the Spring Bundle
Clear Embossing Powder and Turquoise ribbon from JoAnn's
heat tool

CardSwaps & OWH Challenges

Good evening peeps! Today is Veteran's Day and I want to say "Thank You" to all our veterans for your service. Whether you're in active duty or not, whether you are still with us or not, your service to America is greatly appreciated!

Today's also been one of those blaaahh days. You know what I'm talkin about... you know you should be doing 10,000 things and nothing gets done. Well not quite, because I got two, make that three, cards made. This first one of for the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. Teresa came up with a sketch for us to follow and I really like it a lot.

This next card is for the Midweek Throwdown over at Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. I also used a Bonus Sketch that OWH posted a little while ago. Since it's Sunday I'll mention that I'm a Convert. Yep, I used to make a card willy nilly, but then started playing with sketches. I've seen the light and been converted. Now it seems I have a hard time making a card without a sketch. The MWT call was for red, white, and blue on our cards.

I'll put this in my next OWH box as an "Any Hero" card. While I was at it I decided to do one in off white as well. You know what they say about hindsight having 20/20 vision... yeah if I had a do over I'd have distressed the edges with some color. I chose not to use embellishments but I'm not sure that was a good idea.

Recipes:
1) Cardstock - Bazzill red                                       Cardstock - Bazzill red
     DP - red plaid by TPC                                        DP - Glory collection by Authentique Paper
     Embossing - Cuttlebug 'snowflakes' folder         Embossing - Cuttlebug 'A2 stars' folder
     Image - don't know                                              Image - Not Forgotten set by Our Daily Bread
     Copics - BG10, R29, E25, Y38, C1
     Ink - Tuxedo Black by Momento for both cards
     Printed ribbon and bakers twine

Well peeps, I'm callin it a night. I'm going to take this tired 'ole body to my easy chair for some TV time. As always, Thank You for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit!

CardSwaps Challenge, OWH Sketch, and Pinterest Make For Strange Bedfellows!

Blessed Sunday my friends! I know this is a long post title, but it fits this card to a T! The challenge at CardSwaps last Monday was to have a wreath on your card. I so wanted to make a punch art wreath with branches, or snowflakes, or leaves... all attempts were fails. I should clarify and say 3 days of fails! :(   Then I saw a card on Pinterest with the cutest, and simplest, wreath. I eagerly abandoned my punch art fails and made the Pinterest wreath. Seriously, this wreath took all of about 10 minutes start to finish. Operation Write Home's weekly sketch 145 came out this morning on their blog Stars & Stamps. An A-HAH moment and it all fell into place.

I really, really like how it turned out. I was able to take a concept from Pinterest, modify it slightly, and make a card that fills the CardSwaps challenge and the OWH sketch challenge. It was quite easy to put together and would make a great kit card. Oh... and there isn't any stamping involved. Last year I found Rub-On sets by The Paper Company. It's an outside - inside set meaning the Merry Christmas is the front, or outside sentiment. The inside sentiment reads Wishing you peace, joy and happiness. Actually, I assigned Merry Christmas to the front because it fit with the sketch. Whichever way you use the sentiments it reads very well, so I don't think it matters.

For the wreath I punched the center circle first then centered the larger punch over it and punched. For the banner I used the 3/4" square punch, at an angle, to make the fishtail ends.

Ooops! I had to come back and add something. Don't ya hate when that happens? Here is the sketch we are to follow at OWH:

Supplies:
Card Stock: Bazzill red, white, green
Embossing folder - SU Petals A Plenty
Punches: 2 1/2" scallop circle(Marvy Uchida)
               1 1/8" plain circle (not sure)
               3/4" square punch (Creative Memories or CM)
               Small heart border punch, EKSuccess... I think.
Sentiment: The Paper Co (TPC) rub-on set Merry Christmas Multiples
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink in Festive Berries
Poinsettia & Leaf: Hero Arts felt embellishments
Liquid Pearls: White Opal

Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Tutorial, Reverse Iris Folding

Hello Peeps! Although today is almost over, it was Tutorial Tuesday over on Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. You can check out the great tutorial, with instructions & template, here. Several years ago I tried Iris Folding but it was time consuming and I never quite mastered it. You had to cut individual strips of paper, fold them in half, then tape them to a specific layout to create a design or shape. Yeah... mine never really resembled anything, except a hot mess.

I decided to be brave and give this version a try... and I really like it!

I hate photographing red, but other than it's not quite the same red as in real life I'm very pleased with it. I'll definitely be doing this Reverse Iris Folding again.

Well time for bed. Thank you for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

"Thank You" Mom, & A Sketch Challenge

Hello friends, wow it's been a week since I've posted. I spent all last week trying to kink a cold that knocked me on my patootie and sent me to bed for the better part of 3 days! I'm starting to feel human again instead of a zombie.

First I want to say "Thank You" to my mom for giving birth to me 65 years ago today. I can honestly say she's my best friend! Dad passed 25 yrs ago, but I'm thankful to God that I still have my mom.

Second in line is the Sketch Challenge over at Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. We're up to #143 already! I have candy so read the entire post. Tonic Studios is sponsoring this week's sketch. On the sample cards Tonic Studios punches were used to create the stripes. I'm sad to say I don't own any of their product so I improvised. Here is the sketch we are to follow:

I flipped it on it's side and added some washi tape I got as a prize. I ran the white cardstock, with tape, through my Cuttlebug using their Snow Flakes embossing folder. Then I got stuck on how to finish it. :(  Don't ask how, but I decided to punch a 1 1/2" circle in the top layers and make an ornament.

For the inside I punched a 1 3/4" circle of of the red and embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder. It looked kind of blah... so I put a strip of tape across the bottom and added an extra little sentiment. I used some baker's twine to make the hanger and bow.

If it looks like the twine goes through the crease in the card... it's because it does! I used my piercing tool to poke a hole in the crease and ran my twine through it. On the inside I taped the end behind the sentiment circle. On the front I covered the end with the bow. Just a little finishing touch so there are no stubbly ends. :)

Earlier in my post I mentioned candy. I feel very blessed, and since it's my birthday I'm offering some goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this post. You'll have 1 week, until midnight EST Monday, October 29, 2012. I'll draw a random lucky winner on Tuesday, the 30th. Please make sure you leave me a way of getting in touch with you, or check back here next Tuesday for the winner.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by; hope you enjoyed your visit!

Time Out For a Short Post

Hello my blogger friends!

This week's sketch over at OWH had a bonus.... the regular sketch #141 plus a bonus sketch. Yeah, I'm still up to my eyeballs in birthday preparations. But I was just crazy enough to put that aside this morning and do the sketches... both of them!?!?! Sooooo..... here they are:

 

      

             

The sketch calls for a 5 1/4" circle, cut in half.  I made the top one first. Not wanting to waste the other half of the large circle, and since everything was out, I made the one on the bottom. Both cards are from one 12x12 designer paper called "Believe" by Bazzill Basics Paper. I love double sided paper and couldn't resist the wood grain/holly combination. The sentiments are in the "Snow's Woodland Pets" clear stamp set by Inky Antics, artist Tammy DeYoung.

Well, it's time for the cupcakes to come out of the oven. I'll leave you now and come back later and post the Bonus sketch for this week.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Busy week ahead: A Sketch Challenge & Candy!

Good morning friends!

This week will be a super busy one for me. It's week 1 of The Birthdays! [da da da dunnn] October is Birthday Central for so many of us in the family. This week [yesterday] two granddaughters celebrated their big day; Kaitlyn turned 11, and Kiara turned 8. Today my lovely mom is 90 years young. I'm having a small party for her this Saturday so it's busy, busy, busy!

This week is my turn to host the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. It started Monday [yesterday] and runs through Sunday, Oct 14th, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Note: you'll want to read my entire post... there's Candy involved! Here's the sketch I came up with, and 2 samples:

My first sample is Christmas themed. The papers are from the "Peaceful" collection by Authentique Paper. The sentiment is a sticker from the "Details" sticker sheet of the same collection. The gray is shimmer cardstock and I used VersaMark ink by Tsuneko to stamp small snowflakes for an all over design.

My second sample is also Christmas themed. The red and green designer papers are by The Paper Studio. I matted both papers on green dotted swiss cardstock by Bazzill Basics Paper.

Now for the Candy!
Each week at CardSwaps Member Challenge one lucky name is randomly drawn, by the host, from entrants who post a photo of a card made using this sketch. The winner receives Candy from me. Pop on over, enter a card, and you'll be entered in the drawing for Candy. Here's the link again.

Leave a comment on this post by 11:59 p.m. EST Sunday, October 14th, 2012. Next Monday, Oct 15th, I will randomly draw a name from the commenters to win more Candy from me.! I'll post the winners here next Monday. Please... in your comment leave a way for me to contact you.

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Midweek Throwdown

This is the last week of OWH birthday month, and this week features SRM stickers. Soooo, we are to use stickers. Now I'm not a big fan of stickers but, I have to admit, these new stickers that are coming out are really cool. The edges/backgrounds are clear so no more awful white that really looks stickerish. [Yep, just made a new word.] I chose OWH sketch #131 and turned it on it's side.

Aren't those penguin stickers sooooo cute? If you know me then you know I love penguins. When I saw these whimsical, happy stickers at Hobby Lobby I just had to buy them. I mean really... don't you think they're cute? I'm really happy with how this card turned out and I think this will be one design for this year's Christmas Cards.

Papers: Authentique 6x6 paper pad, Peaceful collection
Stickers: "Cute Penquin Stickers" by Hobby Lobby
Sentiment: "Christmas Assortment" clear stamp set by Scrappy Cat [gems included]
Border Punch: E.K. Success

As always, Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Christmas in Spetember

I made this Christmas card for the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. This week it's a color challenge with red being the dominant color.

The cardstock is darker red than the photo shows and looks much nicer. (Sure wish I could take good photos) I used a brand new embossing folder and stamp. The folder is from a new to me company named Crafts-Too and it's called Snowflake Banner. After embossing I used my craft knife to cut out the center so the white card base would show. The new stamp is Christmas Peace by Stampendous and was inked with Festive Berries from the Winter Bundle by Ranger. (I don't know if this bundle is still available) Some touches of Stickles, a white bow, and call it done!

Thank you so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit!