Happy New Year!

I just wanted to stop in for a few minutes, and wish all of my stamping and blogging friends a very happy, healthy, prosperous, and safe New Year! May 2011 be everything you hope and more. You make me smile each and every time you stop by and leave me words of encouragement. I will return to regular posting by the beginning of the week. Until then, I just wanted to share this card!

Supplies:

Papers: GKD Pure Luxury, Memory Box

Stamps: Cup of Cocoa from Sweet N' Sassy, sentiment unknown

Ribbon: Really Reasonable Ribbon

Coloring: Colored pencils

Embellishments: Enamel Accents, Stickles, MM brad, MS punch around, MS snowflake,

Glossy Accents, party hat added digitally

With a little coaxing from my friend Carol, I would like to enter this guy in the Crazy for Cocoa Challenge. The current theme is celebrations! I think with his little party hat, he may just qualify!

December Rose Challenge

Normally the Rose challenge posts on the last Sunday of the month, but with the hustle bustle of the holiday, we were asked to post on Christmas Eve. Ms. Olga Rose is in charge of the December Challenge and she asked us to create a card that showed the true meaning of Christmas.I went with a nature scene, as I feel that all things come from nature. It's beauty surrounds us and reminds us everyday that we are blessed.

My background was created with lots of ink, torn paper, and sponging. The tree and deer stamps are from Amuse. A couple of the trees are cut and popped. The trees and snowflakes are all done with Sakura Glitter Pen. My sentiment is an unmounted that I bought in a lot so no clue on it's origin. I stamped it on an SU! punch and flanked it with clear gems for sparkle. Sorry I could not capture more of the glimmer on the trees.

I want to take this time to wish all of my blogging friends a very Happy Holiday! Be safe, be warm, and enjoy all of those precious little moments with family and friends. If the man in the big red suit is visiting you, I hope you were on the nice list this year! I will be back with regular posts very soon!

The Grinch Game!

Hurry on over to Creative Clear Stamps blog and play the Grinch Game! There are fabulous prizes to be won! http://creativeclearstamps.blogspot.com/

It's really easy to play along, honest!

OBJECT: To help locate and capture the Grinch and recover all stolen property from Laura Lou Who. REWARD: SLEIGH FULL OF BLOG CANDY (minus the sleigh) (minimum prize value $100.00)

Head on over and check out all the rules! What fun!

Crazy Busy!

I sure hope that things begin to calm, and I am back to posting regularly, very soon! This week has been wild! My DS moved into his first place on Wednesday, and on Thursday, he proposed to the love of his life! After six years, she knows him for himself and accepts his zany personality! She said yes! This wedding will NOT be in 2011 like the other! Bear with me with this photo, because the box has a light in it! My DD was home for all of the excitment and just left for North Jersey. Finally, I get to sit and type!

I think I officially finished my Christmas shopping, yesterday. All that needs to be done now is a wee bit of baking. Not doing the normal, because I refuse to gain weight back over this holiday!!!!!! Hope every one's holiday prep is perking along nicely, and that I see you all again real soon. Thanks for letting me share!

The Right Tree

We are still in the deep freeze here in PA. After taking a count, I believe I only need to make 6 more cards! Woo Hoo! They will be cute but flat so that I don't have to do a P. O. run again. I hit it good when I went the other day, but I am sure it is not pretty now. This is a card that I made for some very special people. I hope they enjoy the humor!

I used a new stamp that is from Eat Cake Graphics. I just had to have it! It was so fun to color with my Copics and sponge with SU! inks. I use blue/grey, black and heavy white card stock. For sparkle, I used my old standby, Diamond Stickles and Rangers Enamel Accents for my dimensional snowflakes and the pups nose. The punched border is one I found at Mike's from E.K.Success and then inked with Old Olive. I added a glittered snowflake and gem. What do you think?

I would like to enter this in the following:

Freshly Brewed Challenge #26- Sparkle and Shine

Inky Impressions Challenge- Christmas

Okay, time to shower and get some banana bread in the oven! I have 3 brown bananas staring at me. Hmmmmm.... might need to turn these into early gifts. Have a great day!

The Holidays Make Me Punchy!

My card for today is an experiment using my MS corner punches. My friend Olga has been using them for some time to create beautiful focal points for her images. All you do is create any circle or oval, and line up the corner punches and go to town! You may end up with the last punch being kind of wonky, but that can be covered with flowers or bows.

My white card base was was run through the Cuttlebug with a holiday EF. I added a couple of strips of thin red cs. I highlighted a few of the embossed words rows with Poppy Parade ink from SU!. I used the Embroidered Floral corner punch for my larger circle. Isn't it cool how it comes out looking like a star? My center circle uses the Scroll Lace corner punch. I layered them and added a MM poinsettia to the center. My ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon. My only stamp is from Heartfelt Creations HCPC 3353 Cardinal Family PreCut Set, and colored with Copics. For accents I used Stickles, MS Branch punches, and sticky pearls.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

Joan's Gardens Challenge #25- Use only Heartfelt Creation stamps

Speedy The Cat's Friends Challenge #32- Use red and green

Stampin' Sisters in Christ- White with touches of red

Don't forget the wonderful challenge that is going on over at Joan's Gardens! If you stop over and check out the fabulous prizes, you may decide to enter! Thanks for coming by and just know that I appreciate each of you.

Daisy Patch Birthday

Well, I don't know about you guys, but that was one fast paced, crazy weekend! I did get a few holiday chores completed, so that was good. My tree is up, but I am sure I will add a few more things today. I alternate how I decorate each year, and this year is all of the cute ornaments. My DS helped do the top, since he is 6'3", and he got to put on the angel I use every year, which is from 1927. It was bought for my mom the year she was born. Then I know she is looking down on me, and sharing my holiday mayhem.

Okay, today I have a birthday card that I created using Heartfelt Creation stamps. My dp is from Cosmo Cricket. I then stamped leaves from HCPC 2254 Leafy Swirls PreCut Set with Memento Rich Cocoa ink directly onto the dp. They were colored with YG91 Putty, Copic Marker. The reverse side of my dp is a solid rusty/reddish rose. I used that side to stamp assorted daisies from my HCPC 3318 Daisy Patch Flowers PreCut Set in Versamark. I then added gold detail EP and heated. The centers of my flowers, were colored with Lipstick Red Copic R29, and then covered in Glossy Accents. They were cut and popped over the leaves. My happy birthday is from an EF, since neither of my Heartfelt sets used had a sentiment. The embossing is highlighted with Poppy Parade ink from SU!

I will be entering this in Joan's Gardens 25th Challenge. You must go check it out! There are amazing prizes to be won!

Happy Monday to all! I am out of here, and going to try to get into the Post office parking lot. This is all about timing during the holidays. Wish me luck.....

Joan's Gardens Challenge #25

I have gotten so many Heartfelt Creations stamps lately, I just can't let them sit here with such a super challenge at hand! As I said in yesterdays post, Joan's Gardens is celebrating it's 25th challenge, and with that, Heartfelt Creations has donated a huge prize package. Joan has also donated prizes to spice up the pot! Please try to find time to play, and if not at least check out the amazing work that is being submitted!!!

My card uses the Holly Scroll stamp #715F and to of the tiny cardinals from the Cardinal Family PreCut Set # HCPC3353. The scroll is a perfect size as a focal image for a smaller card. Mine is 4 1/4". My base is red and black card stock from Gina K. Designs and a dp from the new Basic Grey Curio collection. My images were colored with Copic Markers and popped off the card. I added a bit of Diamond Stickles for shimmer and my accents are black organza ribbon and olive green gems.

We are having a stretch of frigid weather here in PA, but nothing like some of our close neighbors, having so much of the white stuff. Hope you have a great weekend! Stay warm!

A Heartfelt RAK

The 25th Challenge over at Joan's Gardens is going to be quite spectacular! There is a huge prize involved! The two rules are that you MUST use only stamps from Heartfelt Creations, and you must be or become a follower of Joan's Blog. Joan also has a wonderful hop full of inspiration and prizes going on. You must go check it out here!

I belong to the RAK group over at Stamp TV, and a special request came in from a mother that had recently lost her daughter. The mom had promised to decorate the girls room for Christmas. She said she would be happy for any handmade ornaments that she could add to the tribute. It is very hard to refuse the request of a child. From what I understand, she had fought a long and courageous battle.

My first instinct was to make mine with the adorable snowman from Heartfelt Creations set HCPC 3342, Snowmen Melt Your Heart PreCut Set. I started with chipboard discs and even pulled out my Zyron to make sure everything adhered. I stuck with cool blues and did my coloring with Copic Markers. My reverse side has the sentiment. My embellishments are silver cording and sticky beads, dew drops, Mica flakes, and snowflake and branch punches from MS.

Take time to do that little extra something this holiday season. It will make you feel so good. I must add that my own DD just informed me she will be applying to be a bell ringer for the Salvation Army. You go, Dee! Proud of you! Thanks for stopping by!

A little 3D

Today I would like to share with you a little basket I created for the color challenge at Stamp TV this week. I normally keep those projects strictly over there, but I wanted to show the other photos, and I was limited to one over there.


The body of the basket was created using a template and stamp from the Rubber Cottage. I must admit that it was fun, except for the lid. I think that what I ended up doing will work for my purposes.

After I cut out the pieces of the template and scored my lines, I stamped the basket weave stamp that is included with Bermuda Bay ink from SU!. I then highlighted each weave with a Frost Blue Copic marker. Everything was adhered with Score Tape and small silver brads attached the pieces. Melanie Muenchinger's new Year of Borders set, designed for Gina K. Designs, was stamped across the lid with Old Olive ink, and then colored with Copics. The flower center were dotted with Enamel Accents, that makes the dots 3D. My basket lid is Ocean Mist CS and lined with a piece of Basic Grey, Eskimo Kisses. The handle is Green Apple CS. Both are Pure Luxury from Gina K. Designs. I created the closer with a circle punch, brad and hemp twine loop. After all that, I just had to make a coordinating tag using Melanie's Year of Flowers set.

I would like to enter this into a few Christmas challenges:

Just Us Girls: 3D challenge

Christmas Stampin' : Anything goes

Bunny Zoe's: Christmas but not a card

Stamp Insanity: Try something new
Freshly Brewed: Christmas/Winter Theme

Inktegrity Design: Anything goes

Fab n' Funky: Going with the flow
Stamp and Create: Tis the Season

Hope you like my project, and stop back again real soon!

My First Project as a Rose!

As one of the newest flowers in the bouquet, I would like to present my very first project. Connie Rose is project coordinator this month, and has asked us to make a book mark. I won't go into details, but let's just say our little packets of supplies did not arrive due to a technical malfunction out of her control. Being the strong Roses that we are, we created beautiful bookmarks to accomplish the task. Please take time to visit the other Roses, Sue, Connie, Olga, Patti, Kerrie, Betty, who is on hiatus, and Kym.

I started with chipboard and made mine a wee bit on the long side, as I am more of a magazine reader and it would work much better. The designer paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle. Since I just received some new Pure Luxury card stocks for my birthday, I had a few new choices, and decided to go with the Smoky Slate as an accent. I used a Labels Four Spellbinders die, scored and folded in half as my top feature. I then cut ovals in the same Slate and smaller in white as my focal image. The saying I thought was inspirational and came from my stash of unmounteds which are unknown. I added stitching with a white gel pen and felt leaves to decorate. I drilled a hole and added hemp twine with the ends sandwiched in circle punches and a felt leaf added to dangle.

That is it for this morning, I hope you have a glorious Sunday!

A Very Special Thank You!

Sorry I have been a real slacker the last few days. I truly tried to enjoy the holiday and go with the flow. Yesterday was spent shopping and celebrating my Birthday! I want to thank all of my sweet stamping friends for their thoughts, cards and well wishes. You all made it very special this year! I am quite use to a quiet day, but I was greeted with a stack of mail when I returned home.

My card was created using a new Heartfelt Creation stamp that I recently acquired. I just love it! It is called Baby Bluebirds and is # 815E. If you have a few minutes, check out all of the newly released goodies. They are gorgeous! My image was colored with Copics, sponged with Pear Tart ink form SU!. My papers are from K&Co's Madeline collection. I added white pearls and some soft green fiber as my accents.

Here is hoping that the rest of you're weekend is super! Be warm and be safe.