Stamp 413 PPRS

Did I mention I’m in the Christmas mode and I’m making ahead for next year.  Somehow I can’t bring myself to make winter cards in the summer, my heart is just not in it.  I receive orders for Christmas cards about mid-November and if I don’t have some done up already, then I panic. 
I still have a couple of these music sheets left.  I just love the added touch they give to these cards.  A bit vintage but not way too vintage.  I’m not really a lacy, buttony, frilly, swirly type personality and it’s difficult for me to do a really vintage card. 
Here’s that sweet snowflake die from PPRS and their scalloped circle die which I cut the middle out with one of the layers and used it for something else.  The snowflake looks at home nestled in there and layered on top of that piece of embossed gold mirror paper.  I stamped that little bow with the sweet Snow Flake insert stamps they have that just fit perfect into the snow flake.  I want to use the rest of them yet this year.  So while you are putting your Christmas decorations away, I will likely still be stamping Christmas cards for 2015.   After completing the card it still looked a bit lacking……ah, Washi tape, I love you.  a bit translucent, a bit of pattern, a lot of PUNCH.  perfect.

The last post

Another year is past.  In just a couple of hours we will be seeing a brand New Year.  2015…I can hardly believe it.  It seemed we just went through Y2K.  Are you old enough for that to have had an impact on you?  We all had a party where our son worked at that time.  We were in the break room and he had to be watching the computers to make sure everything transferred correctly to a brand new century.  Yes, I know people who had food stored up and generators ready.   Not us, but there were some people that were really cautious.  And now, wow, fifteen years already since then.
I decided to make that image that Sarah colored into a card and let that be my last holiday card for the year.  I have put all my Christmas stuff away but it is mostly all together so if I feel inclined to make a Christmas card during the year everything will be easy to locate.  There is a challenge out there somewhere that you make a card a week.  I know SCS has one but there are others too.  Maybe I will hop onto one of those.
So here is Sarah’s pretty little girl and I adore how this turned out.  Maybe it was so much fun because she and I were able to color together.  It’s been a long time since she and I did something crafty together.   Happy New Year everyone.  Make this year a great one.  Be happy with your decisions.  Step out in confidence.  BE YOU!!  Hugs!    I will submit this to Simon Says Wednesday challenge Anything goes.  Come and join in there is a full week left yet and there are two prizes this time.

Stamps 424,425,426 Some Odd Girl

Well, I simply MUST enter this card into Simon’s Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.   I won these images from them for getting inspired by all their designers on the last release and making comments.  What a fun thing to do and it can be rewarding with free stamps besides all the great ideas.   Thank you Simon for the very sweet gift.   My daughter and I sat down on Christmas day in the afternoon and each colored up an image of little miss Tree Trimming Kaylee.  (the green spots on the stamps are my way of indicating that I have used this image) I now have some very fun new stamps to make cards for next years holidays.  and eeps….I have been wanting some of those veneer embellishments and whaddayaknow, they appeared!!



She is such a sweetie.  I was trying out some Stampin’ Up water color paper, I guess for me, I like the stuff I get from Michaels better.  This seems really coarse on both sides and was not real easy to move the color around.  I used pencils and a Ranger water color brush and Sarah used pencils and blender pen.  Neither of us was really happy with the results but felt the blender pen worked better. You can see how coarse the paper is on this image. 

Breezy Christmas

 

Wishing each and everyone of you a peaceful and Joyous Christmas holiday.  Be safe and treasure the memories you make.

I thought this Prickley Pear set would make a beautiful card to wish you all A Merry Christmas with.

One thing we get a lot of in Wisconsin winters is cold blowing winds and snow.  I thought this water stamped background would portray that. Stamped in Peacock Feathers distress ink gives it a hint of blowing snow. First step was to spritz the water color paper with a fine mist of water.  Then stamp off the  snow swirl image and stamp to the paper.  Using a paper towel I quickly daubed up the excess water. I continued stamping and turning the stamp in different directions.  Ticket punched corners seemed a good thing to add to this card.

Next I die cut the Scalloped Oval Die out of teal.  I chose two stamps to add to the center part of the oval. That beautiful lamp post and the oval image with the similar snow flakes were perfect for this. The sweet sentiment worked well with this too.

This Oval 3’s set is a great little set with beautiful images.

 

Stampin’ Up #423

I saw this layout in the 2011 Stampin’ Up catalog and just had to try it.  It looks completely different than the picture shown in the catalog and I love the collage look of it.  Something completely different for me.   My goal for the new year is to start using up the textured Core’dinataions cardstocks that I have.  Here’s my first go at it.  I am entering this into Simon’s Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.

the details:

Prickley Pear, Spellbinders and Provocraft dies

Image: Stampin Up

crimper

Image is painted with Distress Inks scribbled on a Kraft mat and wink of Stella for the “water”  Love the look.

Finishing up a page of Susan Louise Arts

I am having so much fun designing with these vintage looking pre-prints from Sarah Louise. There are so many ways they can be used.  This sled sits on top of a nicely textured piece of velvet card stock and then show cases itself with a beautiful gold glimmer paper.  Simon Says Double stitched dies really add to this creation.






The chickadees on the mail box were just asking for a frame to highlight them.  I distressed the frame with Tim Holtz Pumice Stone ink. Taking advantage of the Ranger Specialty Paper they are printed on, I used Tea Dye ink and sponged the outside edges of the cut out piece.  I then laid a mask over the image and sprinkled generous amounts of water all around and let it set a bit before pressing a paper towel on it to dry.  The water reacts with the ink and makes white spots like big thick snowflakes.  I finished it off with some snowflake punches and Viva Pearl pen and a tiny piece of ribbon.  I really like how this turned out.  Thanks for looking.  Enjoy you holidays how ever you spend them.
I will enter this as one entry into the Simon Says Anything goes Challenge for Wednesday.

www.susanlouisearts.com

422 unknown

Ha, that title looks like an internet error.   However, this teeny little snow man ornament is in my stash from I have no idea where.  I don’t ever remember purchasing him.  He may have been part of another set or maybe he just came to live with me because he felt so at home with all the other snowmen hanging around.  And it does stay cold and snowy here for a long time.
He looks right at home here with that icy blue flourish,  made from Simon's Sea Glass card stock,  blowing in on him and surrounded by icy cool silver.  I think he is just the cutest.  So tiny.  The black snow flake paper is all sparkly too.  I will enter this into the ANYTHING GOES WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE WITH SIMON SAYS.

421 Prickley Pear

Using ‘em up, Yep, Using ‘em up.  I have these beautiful Christmas stamps from Prickley Pear and I can’t bear to put them away without stamping them first.   I know, I know, you’re probably all tired of holiday cards by this time.  I just don’t want to wait until next year to post these.  Well I guess I could start scheduling blog posts for December 2015 but that just seems WRONG.  Also, if I did that I wouldn’t be able to enter this into Simon’s Wednesday Inspiration Challenge.  You saw that beautiful cardinal picture, right?

#420

Mixing up the companies again.  My new double stitched dies from Simon Says.  This is what I purchased with my “winning” fifty dollars from them.  Then added MFT bow, Prickley Pear sentiment and Stampin Up basket of poinsettias.    So fun to keep this challenge of using all my stamps going.  Come with me into the new year and see what we can create.  Come on over and let’s play in the stamping room together or let’s do it by Face Time.  That’s the next best thing.  Enjoy the season everyone.

I am entering this into Simon’s Wednesday Inspiration Challenge.

That clump of berries picture inspired my ribbon.

Thank You #418 &419

I am getting quite a collection of die cuts and designer paper too.  It’s time to put those things to use more regularly.  This scalloped circle clear stamp was a Good Will purchase in one of the packs that I bought.  I used seedless preserve distress mini ink pad and swirled it onto the stamp to give it some character.  The word stamp was in that same pack and when I used the same distress ink with it it almost looks stitched, which made me very happy.  I love this beautiful Tattered lace flourish and the edge from Spellbinders.  It all just went together so well.  Add a bit of  Washi tape in a contrasting color and SWOON, I am in love with this card.

Stamp #416 & 417

This looks so pink but in real life it is a beautiful sea glass blue base from Simon Says Stamp and bright white.  It’s very striking.  I used pearlescent embossing paste over Simon Says Falling Snow stencil.  Prickley Pear circle die cut and snow flake circle and Door County Rubber Stamps beautiful little snow flake.  Another free one from our weekend retreat back in November.  I used my Viva Pearl pen for the blue pearl.  I love how this turned out.  The Birthday sentiment words are dies from Cheery Lynn.  Okay, I’m not partial that’s FIVE different companies all on one card.  LOL 

I am entering this in Simons Wednesday Inspiration Challenge.

Playing with Susan Louise image

I am surprised how many cards I  can make from one sheet of Susan Louise images.  I still have two left on the sheet.  I want to get those made into cards today.  Looking forward to more crafting time now that my cooking helper stint is over for the year.  Being away from home really cuts into crafting time.     It’s been fun but I am always glad when it is over.   Princess Judy, were you the one who sent me that sweet die cut?  It worked perfectly for this card and looks like the blustery winter wind blowing.  We used to do a lot of skating when we were kids.  Was I nuts???

414 & 415 PPRS

Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps really makes the cutest little images.  I am enjoying working with them as I have always been drawn to small images but never really “used” them.  I love their circle die that allows the images to fit perfectly into them.  They have such a wide array of little decorative edges to play with.

I got to use my new Simon Double Stitched dies that came in the mail yesterday.

I am entering this into the Simon Wednesday Inspiration Challenge.   Inspired by the swirly looks of the pine trees in photo one.

MFT Sketch 207 and Color Challenge

This is a stamp that I have used previously but I wanted to play in MFT color challenge and I don’t have a lot of their winter dies.  I used distress inks to water color in the required colors for the pallette challenge.  I got creative with the scalloped edge to us only MFT products on this card.  Look how I used this part from Blue Prints 1.  I use BP1 and 15 the most.

I am also entering it into Simon’s Winter Inspiration Wednesday Challenge,  I was inspired by the mittens and her little handful of pine cones which is snow in this picture.   

 

MFT 207 Sketch Challenge

Home for the Holidays with Prickley Pear

I wanted to try something a little bit different and use some non-traditional colors for a card.  I chose a graphite gray card stock for the main panel.  I used a stencil and my white color box pigment ink to create the bricks.  Then I chose  a chip board circle and covered it with a rust colored cut out. 
I love this sweet little collage musical image from Prickley Pear.  Its called Collage Pinecone Tag.  Because the stamp is rounded on the corners I wanted to round the edges of my two layered pieces but my corner chomper cuts too large for this delicate piece.  Hmmm….aha, I have done this before but not for a long time.  I still have some of those scalloped scissors that don’t cut worth a penny but they do make nice little curved edges on card stock.  Here’s how you do that?  Isn’t it fun???

Once that was completed I flicked spatters on the layers with a tooth brush.  I kind of protected 2/3rds of the green layer to keep the image clean.  I went digging in my stash and found the perfect little banner accent piece from My Mind’s Eye (clearanced after last Christmas at Michaels)  remember to go looking for the clearance stuff.  don’t you just love a bargain?  Seems like I just bought that though and here it is time to use it already.
I then added this pretty little ribbon from Hobby Lobby’s one dollar ribbons.  The colors were perfect for this.
Oh yes and that sweet little cardinal, he’s from Prickley Pear also.  He comes from the Scalloped Oval 3 Winter Stamps set and I fussy cut him out to perch right on that little sentiment from the same set.  So what do you think?  Does the non-traditional idea work? 

Frostyville

had an idea in my head that I wanted to use this Frostyville Border die from Memory Box. I purchased this die from Simon. I was very careful how I heat embossed on that foil.  I didn’t want it bursting into flames.  The image is PPRS and the sentiment is SU.  I am entering this into Simon’s Inspiration challenge.  Inspired by the snow flake on wood. 

Stamp 412 DCRS

Isn’t she sweet?  In her little apron and cookies in hand?  I love aprons.  I wish I would have kept some of the ones I made when I was in eight grade home ec.  I think my mom might still have the one I made for her.  It was purple and it was kind of sheer.  completely useless as an apron but still pretty. 

You know, it’s going to take me awhile to get through all the stamps we were given and what I purchased on that very fun weekend.  They offered us such discounts it was hard to say to NO to things I had had on my list over the years.  It was so fun to get free stamps.  That’s fun to me, because it is a challenge to use something that I didn't pick out.  Can I make it work?

I did choose this one though.  I chose the small one, it comes in a full size image too.  I just love how this all came together.  I had to think about it and try a couple of different things.  I’m glad for all the “schtuffs” I have on hand to make things work.  so fun

Stamp #411 Snow much fun

Another free stamp from our weekend retreat with Door County Rubber Stamps.  Isn’t he adorable?  I needed to make a CAS card for Split coast.  I didn’t have the exact saying I wanted so I hand wrote in the word “prosperous”  It just fish with this guys catching of a good fish.  I used MFT Blueprints 15 for the die cuts and the design.  I water colored my paper and image even though it isn’t water color paper.  It still worked okay.  Your paints don’t “move” on this regular cardstock like they do on water color paper.  And this will also go into Simon’s Monday Anything goes challenge.

Stamp #410 a wee little one

We got this little candy cane stamp as part of a gift bag at the Door County Stamping retreat back in October.  It’s  Door County Rubber Stamp original.   I was wondering how I would be using it.  Then I picked up these balsa wood tags at Michaels the other day for 50% off.  Best time to try something, right?  Wasn’t sure how I would like a “dark” holiday card but I love what the bakers  twine did to this creation.  Now I need to make more of them.  I am now working on my holiday cards for next year, while I’m in the mood and have all the supplies out. I will enter this in Simon Says Monday Challenge Anything goes.

using up a set Stamps 408/409

Yay! I got the entire Ginger Bread set from Mark’s Finest Papers used up.  These two little holly branches were in that set and needed using but to me they didn’t look at home with the ginger bread man.
I had embossed this house mouse image earlier (when I made my other similar card a couple of weeks ago)  You can see that card HERE.  But I smeared the embossing powder and ended up having to cut them out.  I didn’t want to throw them away.  (gasp)  I like how the holly really pops right off the page and looks realistic.  I added sequin berries for a bright little touch. I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Monday challenge.