A New Challenge Site!

     My dear friend, Olga, turned me on to a new blog that is hosting challenges for  making scenes.  It is called Craft A Scene.  Their first challenge is up and it is an anything goes challenge.

     Well, I dug out my Stampscape Stamps, which just don't get enough use, and started playing.  I used 4:  Pines and Rocks -195G, Rocks and Reeds -071E, Ducks in Water Large -026B, and a group of Cattails that have no name.  My sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps and is from a set called Trendy Tags.

     I cut out my scene with a Spellbinder die that was a Christmas gift.  It is from Labels Twenty Two.  I colored with Copics and did sponging with SU! ink colors So Saffron and Baja Breeze.  The card base is Pure White and is layered with Memory Box dp from their Sweetbay collection.  My accents are a brown cording and a vintage button that I removed the shank from.

     Scenes are always fun to make, in my book, so please go check out this fantastic new challenge and create something!

It's Time for the Rose's!

     Well here we are with 2012 just hours old, and it's time for our very special monthly challenge with the Rose's. Let me first wish you a very Happy New Year.  Here is to lots of inspiration, health, and friendship in the coming year!

     Our hostess this month is Sue Walsh, and she has come up with a great challenge for us.  We were to include: ribbon, lace, glitter, something vintage, and something recycled.  Phew!  I think I went off the deep end with this one.  As far as I know, I have included all of the elements.

     I started with a base of Ivory Pure Luxury card stock.  Did I happen to mention that my new favorite tool is a Corner Chomper?  How did I survive without this thing?  Thanks to my DD, I won't have to do that anymore.  On top of a layer of Soft Sand PL, I added a piece of vintage collage paper from Paperbilities, and just started building.There is ivory cotton lace, a black loopy edge bow, 2 stick pins with heart heads, and an assortment of colored roses.  My vintage item is a stamp that represents an old love letter  with the sentiment done with stamps by Flourishes.  Coloring was done with Copics and the edges were blended with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink.  Glitter was added to the playing card on the collage paper, as well as some shiny puffed hearts from K&Co.  There is a brad added to the center of the dart board, and and MS butterfly for dimension.  Can you spot my recycled item?

     If you guessed the old US Air Mail stamp, you are correct.  We found a book of them while cleaning out my FIL's estate, and I snagged them.  They have brittle vellum between them in and old booklet.  I thought it made a cute addition to my crazy collage.  I will probably use this card as a Valentine, but as of yet, there is no inside sentiment.

     Please take a few minutes to stop by and visit the other Roses to see what they have designed for you.  You can find the list of their bogs on my sidebar.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Unity Friends with Flair!

     Good morning, my dear friends and fellow stampers!  I hope everyone had a super holiday, and that we are all ready for 2012 to burst onto the scene.

   
      This morning I would like to share a card I created with my December Kit of the Month, from Unity. I have linked it up on the Unity Blog and the Friends with Flair post.  It is a rather simple card, but I am loving how it came out.  From the time the kit arrived, I was drawn to these glasses!

     My card base is Soft Sand, Pure Luxury card stock, and I inked the background stamp from the kit with the Limited Edition, TH, Winter Distress Inks.  They are the best colors, and so glad Santa brought them!  The sentiment and glasses were both stamped with Versafine black ink.  I cut out the glasses and coated the lenses with Crystal Lacquer, then popped them off the card.  A row of coordinating buttons were added.

     That is it for me today.  Hubby is on vacation, so we will see what we get into.  If you have time, please stop over to the Unity Blog and check out all of the creations!  It's an awesome place to visit!

Merry Christmas!

     Just wanted to stop by and wish all of my Blogging and Stamping friends a very Merry Christmas.  I hope that you are able to spend the day with family and friends.  Our family had to celebrate a day early, so we are just enjoying our blessings today.

     Please remember that Christmas calories don't count!  Hope to be back with a post very soon.

Filled with Love

The December Unity KOM has arrived, and I just had to play!  I need a special card for an upcoming event and I just love how this came out.

Here is a picture of the kit.  Isn't it totally dreamy?

I started with a base of Pure Luxury Lovely Lavender, Pure Luxury cards stock.  My small print designer paper is from K&Co's Sweet Nectar. My inks are Versamagic, and were used to highlight my heart doily, and my small embossed trim and hearts.  I loaded it with romantic pearls that I received as a gift.  The mason jar has touches of Copic coloring, and was filled with a tiny heart stamp I had on hand.  I used Crystal Lacquer on it's label, and tied on a tiny little mint twine bow. Pop Dots add the dimension!  I did add a very light glisten of Stickles to some of the hearts. The card is 5x5.

I am entering this over at the Unity Blog for their Friday Friends with Flair post.

Well, here we are the last weekend before Christmas!  I still have tons to do, and my silly boss thinks I should be at work!  What is she thinking?  Okay, here is my lineup..... bake a little, wrap more, clean extra, and cook lots!

Sock Hopping!

Well, here we are in mid December!  Where has the time gone?  I decided to do a second entry for the House Mouse Monday Challenge blog.  The theme is still "Fuzzy and Warm", as the challenge is an extended one due to a deserved break by the design team.  As I looked at this card, I thought "What can be warmer than 3 mice hopping across a piano wrapped in holiday stockings?'.

I used a black Pure Luxury card base, some green dotted swiss paper from my scrap bin, and a paper panel I designed for my background using a musical background from Nina Brackett.  Of course there is my house Mouse stamp which I cut out and half popped off the card to give dimension.  Their stockings are glittered with MS mica flake glitter.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I added holiday ribbon, twine, and a button! Coloring is with Copics, and sponging with Distress Ink.

That's it for me this morning. Lots to do and none of it is fun.  Have a great day!

Have You Ever........

......... received a card in the mail that you knew needed a new life?  This little bear was on a card I received a couple years ago from my dear deceased sister-in-law.  I took it apart and saved the cute little bear.  This year, as I was preparing my cards for the holiday, I gave him a second look, and just knew I had to recycle him!

     I used a base of white, and then added card stock and designer paper from DCWV.  I punched a border with the MS, Bangle Chain Trim punch.  My ticket is a digi.  The crystal snowflakes are ones that I picked up at Target.

     My friend Carol taught me a new trick, and this is definitely a card that I used it on.  Since the little bear had so much going on, I flipped the card inside out to protect the front before I tucked him in the envelope.  Here is hoping that he arrived in one piece to his new home!  That trick really made for a much smoother card. A few of my cards came this year with the embellishments poking through and damage stickers from the P.O..  Try this out, it might help!  Have a super Tuesday!

All Together

    I  finally got to sit and play with the November Unity Kit of the Month!  It has some of the best images!  The kit is called "Take Your Time". It has a combination of holiday, winter, and friendship stamps.  Be sure to look it up!

    My card stock is all Pure Luxury from Gina K. Designs.  My inks are from Stampin Up!, and the rest is colored with Copic Markers. I layered a couple of Spellbinder dies and did some sponging.  The twine, snowflake punches, and aqua pearls, are my accent pieces.  The froth on my cocoa was coated with Crystal Lacquer and then sprinkled with Polar White, Flower Soft.  A light coat of Stickles give the hearts a shimmer.

     Their are a couple things that I just love about the Unity kits.  You can't deny the deep etched red rubber that gives good clean images.  Next, Their sentiments are always exciting in a variety of fonts.  Lastly, I love how they try to include a new background stamp in each kit.  Those are things you grab, time and time again!  This was soooo much fun!

     DH and I did some running today, to try and get on the fast track of our holiday prep.  We also stopped at a hospital to see a dear friend who had surgery last Thursday night, only to find she had been discharged 40 minutes earlier.  Glad she is home, but sheesh, that was fast!

     Hope all is well on you little piece of the planet.  Thanks for popping by.

Joy!

Good morning, friends!  Today I would like to share a card I made to finish up my card list.   The "JOY" stamp is one that I have had for many years.  I have no clue who made it, as it was an unmounted from a show, back in the day.  Papers are from My Minds Eye (Merry Days of Christmas), and I did use some lipstick red card stock, which I Cuttlebugged in the dotted swiss folder.  I used a Sakura pen for shimmer on the tiny hearts.  A Prima poinsettia and MS branch punches were attached, along with some red crinkled ribbon and Dew Drops.  The coloring was done with colored pencils and OMS for a change of pace, but shadowing is in Copic.  I added some free hand dots around little Stamps by Judith starbursts, and rounded things out with a bit of sponged ink by Colorbox. 

I would like to enter this in the weekly challenge over at Joan's Garden's.

That's it for me today.  I have been missing work due to medical issues, so I am going to make up some time today.  Hope your holiday is perking along!  Bless you all, and thanks for stopping by.

November Rose's Challenge

This month, I am the hostesss for our beautiful bouquet of roses.  I decided on a theme of "Birthday, Buttons, and Bling". 

My card base is Pure Luxury Lipstick Red, with a scrap of snowflake paper from my bin.  I layered that on white.  There are different layers of lace and trim, with a tulle bow.  The button in the center of the bow is antique milk glass with a silver luster.  I added MS snowflake punches with big clear gems for sparkle.  As for the sentiment, I combined 2 stamps.  The Merry and Bright is from Unity and the birthday part is from Making Memories. 

I have a friend who has a Christmas Eve birthday and I thought it would be a festive card for her.

Please be sure to check out what the rest of the Rose's have come up with.  Links to their blogs can be found on my sidebar.~~~~~~~~~>

Sorry for the short post, but I have been down with the virus my hubby had last week.  This is the first I have been able to lift my head.  Worst birthday gift my DH has ever given me!  Ha ha!

I would also like to thank all of the friends who sent birthday cards and wishes.  You are all so sweet and talented!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a beautiful, crisp morning in Pennsylvania, and I did not want this day to go by without wishing all of my friends, family and followers, a blessed Thanksgiving.  It truly has been a year of joys and sorrows for our family, with each event making us stronger and closer. 

May God bless each and every one of you as you feast, travel, and share special moments with those you love. 

Mary Anne

Love These Mousies!

The new challenge was posted for House Mouse Monday Challenge and  the topic is Warm Fuzzies.  I bought this new House Mouse stamp on my last trip to Ephrata along with a cute saying that I will use at a later date. So, I started thinking fuzzy.  I use to have a pair of socks that had an angora band.  Hence I colored the shared sock like them, and added some white Fun Flock for the fuzzy part.  I found the perfect green velvet ribbon and a round fuzzy, sticky dot to finish off my snow flake.  Here is a close up to show the texture.

Over at Art Impressions, the challenge is to use red, green and metallic.  I think I covered that as well, with the silver backing snowflake. I have also used Dew Drops, Stickles, and my Copic markers to create this card.

These have been my two favorite challenges lately, and I am so glad I was able to get them done! 

So far, the week has not started out on a good note.  Hubby came down with a virus yesterday afternoon, right as were were being taken out to dinner by our best friends as a birthday celebration.  He got as far as ordering his food and then when it came, begged them to box it and take it away.  We rushed through our food, did not order dessert and got him home.  He is still laying around today, and the pup is so confused, because daddy just does not do this!

I am staying in a different part of the house to try and avoid catching it.  Have a great day.  Hee Hee!