Merry Christmas to all!

This card is to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! I have a few more tags to make to go with the fudge that we will deliver to our neighbors, and then it's off to bed. Gifts are done and under the tree and I'm ready for a "long winter's nap." I hope Santa is good to you and yours but more importantly I pray that you will celebrate the birth of our Saviour and that your hearts will be filled with joy because of the good news that was announced to the shepherds so long ago. Have a blessed and wonderful Christmas!!

SSNOTIME66 Challenge

I'm actually participating in a challenge while at the same time doing a card that needed doing for a December guy-birthday (our Pastor, actually.) My ornament and the pine branch are from Verve's Ornamental Christmas, and the birthday sentiment is from It's Your Birthday from SU! Verve includes the "caps" to the ornaments in either a solid or outlined version, so I stamped the solid in silver on top of the black. The ribbon is double-sided black and silver from May Arts, from Flourishes, and the buckle is from SU! It was quite simple....the card front is 4 x 4. I have not done my HM challenge, which I'm still hoping to have time to do. I love Sharon's entry for the SSNOTIME challenge, and I've not had time to check the others yet. Check them all out if you get a chance. Thanks for looking and I hope you have a wonderful pre-Christmas week-end.

Check out this great recipe!

Just a quick post to link you to Sue's blog for a great and easy recipe, "Candy Cane Kisses & Pretzels." I'm sure this would be a winner with the combination of salty and sweet. My mouth is watering. :) Can't wait to try it.

Warm Wishes from a Cool Dude

I have time for a quick post so thought I'd share my little Inkadinkadoo snowman that I found on sale at Michael's. I really thought he was too cute and had to work him up and this is what I came up with. I used my trusty Prismacolor pencils to color him and my MS punch for my snowflakes. The DP is Memory Box's Winterberry. The sentiment is from PTI's 2008 Holiday Tag Collection. I attached a close-up pic in case you couldn't see on the big picture how I "hung" my snowman and sentiment from a word window-punched "banner" (from SU!) I popped it up on dimensionals and "Frosty" is hanging freely.
Well, it's time to get some rest. Thanks so much for looking.....hope you like this little guy.

Christmas Taggin'

No, I'm not tagging someone right now. I've been playing with my JustRite stampers and making tags for the gifts I'm wrapping. They're going to my kids and I wanted them to be fun, and I've just had a ball with these. The little "Elmo" is for my sweetie granddaughter and it is a stamp I found on sale at Michael's by Inkadinkadoo and I just knew I'd use it for my babies. The possibilities for these stampers are not actually "endless" but pretty close. Just thought I'd post some holiday fun and yes, I am actually working on Christmas projects and not just "playing." I also made smaller tags using my 2008 Christmas Tag set from PTI, and various other stamps put together with my Nesties. These, however, really fill the bill for a larger package where you don't want your tag to get lost. I need to get back to the fun, - ahem....."work", so that's it for now. Thanks for looking and hope you like them.
Note: These are still on sale at Flourishes, and at JustRite Stampers until Dec.19.

Decorating the Tree

Check out these Happy Hoppers decorating their Christmas tree with their favorite thing.....carrots! "Snow" is the theme of this week's HM challenge, and this image actually fit to stamp it on this paper from Memory Box's "Winterberry". I unfortunately had to chop off the distant trees on the image, but it still worked out pretty well. I decided that the ultimate wish would be for it to snow carrots with each snowflake, so I created a few to make these little guys happy. I added some glitter to the rest of the snowflakes to glitz up this winter wonderland scene. The sentiment is from the snowman set from PTI and stamped on Shimmer White CS and punched with a MS lace punch. I think these are my first hoppers, and it was fun to color them after coloring so many mousies. The main CS is a Bazzill dotted swiss and the ribbon is from SU! Thank you for stopping by. Be sure to check out the rest of the "snow" creations over at the HM Monday Challenge blog and have a wonderful week.

Glitter and Glitz

Hello and warmest greetings. I am getting my HM post in just under the wire, but this week didn't allow for stamping (except for gift tags) or visiting and commenting on wonderful projects that I'm sure you all have posted. I'll try to get caught up soon, but I did get my card done for the HM challenge, plus one more card which I'll save and post sometime this week so I don't go so long without a card to share. This week's HM challenge was glitter and glitz, and I have to admit I love that part of the Christmas season. It's just so festive, and these little mousies are trying to do their part in looking festive. I used
Stickles on the ornaments and pine needles and clear embossed the lower background area. I also gold-embossed the sentiment and mounted it all on festive paper that I ordered a month ago from Scrap Supply. I think it was part of the Making Memories papers. I have lots more wrapping to do, cards to get out, a brunch to get ready to host and lots more, so I'll have to get back to work. I did get our presents wrapped and sent to the UK so I was happy to get that in the mail. I hope you're all enjoying the season even though I'm sure you're all as busy as I am. Hugs,.....
Edit: I put the close-up picture in to show the embossing and glitter even better, but it must lose something in the upload process. From my computer it shows up nice and clear, but alas, by the time it got to my blog it lost clarity. Sorry 'bout that.

Still here

Yes, I'm still here and I'm sorry but no cards to post tonight. Things are super busy here at our house so I'll be lucky to get my HM card done this week, although I'm determined to do it. I love the theme, which is glitter and glitz, so I'll do something for sure. I have a new-to-stamping friend who is unfamiliar with the abbreviations I used, so I'd like to clarify them for her and anyone else who isn't sure what they are. DP is Designer Paper, CS is cardstock, and PTI is Papertrey Ink which is the vendor I referenced in my post. Their store is linked under Favorite Resources on the side. I'll be by to see what the rest of you are doing as soon as I can. I am trying to accept the fact that there will be times when I can't do all with my stamping/blogging that I would like to, but that's only for a short time and then I should get back to more frequent postings, I hope. I wish you all safety and fun getting ready for Christmas. Take time to enjoy the blessings of the season. Hugs, Karen

Sweet Holiday Music

This week's HM challenge is polka dots. The DT did some fabulous cards so be sure to check them out. They're sure to make you smile. I did mine with my mousie "angels" and robed them in DP from SU's Fall Flowers. I sponged the background lightly with Soft Sky and then embossed some snowflakes on it, which I topped with light blue Kaiser half-pearls. I colored their wings with Copics and the mousies themselves with Prismacolor pencils. The blue paper is Bazzill and the polka dot paper behind it is from SU's Dashing. That is all mounted on this year's DP from SU and I added polka dot ribbon at the bottom from PTI. The basic CS is Wild Wasabi. Thanks to Jennifer who guest hosted this challenge. It was fun doing the polka dots. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful holiday.

Tilda's Christmas Wish

Yay! I finally got to color one of my new Tilda's. I decided she looked like she's deep in thought, as in perhaps wishing for something. So, the scene next to her looked like she might be wishing to be home for Christmas, or that someone would come home for Christmas, or that it would snow where she is, or maybe not snow,......so many maybies. I know she looks huge in comparison to the scene, but I did want the scene to represent her Christmas wish. The scene is from SU's Home for Christmas, as are the DP's. I colored Tilda with some Copics, some Prismacolor Pencils. I have 3 more I can't wait to color. I thought about offering some blog candy for the best guess at her Christmas wish, but I'd never be able to pick a winner, and I don't know how to use the Random chooser. I'll save that thought and when I figure out how to do it, I'll start occasionally offering some goodies. Thanks for stopping by. Don't faint that I have so many posts all of a sudden. I just got a little extra time to stamp. :) Hugs for the holidays.....

Award Thanks

I want to say a big thank you to Carolyn for nominating me for this lovely award. Carolyn, you are so thoughtful and encouraging. Thank you so much for this honor. I have loved getting to know so many through visiting their blogs and getting acquainted not only with their artistic talents but their gracious hearts as well. I am supposed to post the following with this award:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time, and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming; and these kind bloggers, aim to find friends and to be friends. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please, give more attention to these writers!

Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more, and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.

Please forgive me, but my nominations are going to be half the amount recommended. I checked the blogs of some that I would have nominated and alas they had already been awarded.
This time I will nominate 4 ladies who are talented stampers and spirited bloggers. Thank you ladies for the encouragement you have given to me both with your creations and your comments. Hugs and smiles,
Rachel
Shary
Nancy
Emma

Quilt Card Challenge

I was so anxious to participate in this challenge, and I finally finished this last night. Mary issued the challenge and you can read about it here. I used the downloaded "trial size" Christmas paper from PTI for my quilt pieces. I love the festive colors. I also stamped the sentiment on the quilt edges from PTI's "Made of Snow." The paper the sentiment was stamped on was PTI's Spring Moss, which I thought went well with their colors. It was tough matching these greens, but I used Old Olive behind the Spring Moss, and I used a Bazzill paper behind that, all mounted on Real Red. The photo corners have Kaiser Chocolate half-pearls on them. I loved doing this. It certainly went quicker than a real quilt and I love the festive look to it. Thanks for the challenge. Now I have to figure out if I can still post to the challenge and just how to do that. If I missed it, I still loved making the card. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hopefully I'll be back with a few more posts before the holiday.

Blog award

I am long overdue in acknowledging an award from my friend Mary. Mary nominated me for the "You Inspire Me" award. Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to think my cards could be an inspiration to someone. Mary has done amazing cards and recently hosted her own "quilt" challenge with PTI. I'm happy to say I finished my card, FINALLY, and will post it, hopefully, shortly. I loved that challenge, and if you haven't seen her quilt cards, be sure to check them out. They are amazing! Thank you so much, Mary. I would like to pass this on to a friend who inspired me to start my blog where I've been able to meet all my wonderful blogging friends and view their many talents. Jan Marie is a very talented lady herself and co-owner of Flourishes, and she has shared much with me to help me on my journey. She stays busy and doesn't get to post her own creations as often as she would like to, but she's an inspiration to me and I thank her for that. Thank you, Jan Marie!

....and all through the house.....

Well, today was sad because I had to say farewell to my dear friend who has been here for almost a week visiting......as visit long overdue. Needless to say, we had a wonderful time together and my daughter and I tried in our most persuasive way to keep her here. But alas, work was calling her, so as they say, "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." I did get to finish my card for this week's HM challenge that I started late the other night. This week's challenge was "All about Christmas." I am loving SU's Holiday Treasures Christmas paper, so that is what I used for the background panels. The main CS is Riding Hood Red, also from SU. Alas, the ribbon is also SU. The tag is from PTI's 2008 Holiday Tag Collection stamped on Flourishes Carmel CS with Palette ink and the snowflakes are done with a MS punch. I colored my little furry creatures with my Prisma colored pencils. I'm aching to color my first Tilda's from Magnolia stamps, and I'm also designing my quilt card for Mary's quilt challenge. I must also mail Thanksgiving cards and my grandson's birthday present, so I guess I'd better quit yacking and get to it. Be sure to check out all the cute little mousies in a Christmas theme at the HM Monday Challenge. Thanks for looking and a special thank you to those of you who leave encouraging comments. It always makes my day when someone likes my cards.
For now, hugs and smiles....

Junk Challenge

This week's HM challenge was "junk." I'm getting this in right under the wire because I've had a very busy week. My junk drawer could have furnished an entire banner, so I decided on using a straw and my "Mice Cappucino" stamp of Monica, Maxwell and Mudpie. I colored it some with Copics and mostly with Prisma color pencils due to my small inventory of Copics and my lack of confidence in coloring with them thus far. The DT created some great cards, as always, so be sure to check out their creations, as well as everyone's that were submitted for the challenge. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hate getting this in late, but I love the HM challenges and would rather be last minute than not participate. Tomorrow we get to see what this week's challenge is. Have a great evening.

Blogger Award

Oh my goodness, Nancy from Windstar Creations and Rachel from

My Cardstock Creations both nominated me for this award. I feel so honored. Thank you so much, Nancy and Rachel. That certainly brightened my day!! I finally figured out how to display the logo on my blog, so here it is. (Yay!) Now I get to pass this on, so here are the steps to follow:

1.The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs. (Click on name below for link)
5. Leave a message for your nominees.
I'm going to nominate some blogs that I've not nominated before, so here are my nominees:
Mary

Becca
Suzy
Coni
Latisha
I hope you'll check out these blogs and maybe you'll find a new favorite to follow.

Anniversary Wishes

I finally got to use my "Summer on the Patio" set from Flourishes to make my daughter and her husband an anniversary card for their 2nd anniversary. They're thrilled to be celebrating it with their 4-month-old baby boy. They did get to go out to dinner to a quaint Italian restaurant here in town, so the card ended up being appropriate. I used Crystal Effects on the wine in the wine glasses, and it looked very real, even though you can't see it in the picture. They loved the card and I think I'll enter it in this week's Featured Stamper challenge with Flourishes. Thanks for taking a look. I was also honored today with an award which I need to acknowledge and pass on. I'll try to get to that soon and proudly display my award on my site. I will leave a link when I do that to Nancy who passed on the award to me and you can check out her very cool blog. I wish you a wonderful Veteran's Day tomorrow. Hugs.......

These cute little bugs from Alota Rubber Stamps are ready for their Harvest celebration. I colored them with Copics, cut them out, and mounted them on a piece of DP from Basic Grey's "Mellow" (yes, .....again.) I mounted all of that on a piece of Riding Hood Red, added a strip of brown-checked ribbon and I added a couple of MS punched leaves.Finally I stamped a "Happy Thanksgiving" sentiment on Bazzill dotted swiss paper and they're good to go. I think they look happy and thankful for what they have. Thanks for taking a look.

HM Recipe Challenge

Here is my HM Recipe. One Candy Cane Dreams HM stamp, colored as desired. One stocking of felt, stuffed with a sleepy little mouse who already ate part of his candy cane. Mount mouse on dimensionals. Add two button brads to the stocking and two scallops cut with SU's scallop punch to the bottom edge of the card. Stamp one Merry Christmas sentiment from Flourishes "Rejoice" and mount over strip of Dashing DP from SU, and add one piece of ribbon, attached with a brass brad. Sprinkle with snowflakes in Brilliance "Cosmic Copper" using complimentary snowflake stamp from Alota Rubber Stamps. Mount all ingredients on green CS (Wild Wasabi in this case.) Photograph for HM Challenge and then enjoy! (Hmmm, I'm craving peppermint.....and a nap.) :) Thanks for looking at my entry. Be sure to head over the the HM Challenge blog and check out the other entries. They're wonderful and full of talent.

Make a Joyful Noise

Well, I finally got a card done that I could post. I have so many cards I want to make and post and so little time right now. This is my newest stamp from Sweet and Sassy. It's a Sarah Kay design called Angels Rejoice. My main cardstock is a Bazzill dotted swiss and my DP is Dashing from SU. The sentiment is from Flourishes Christmas set called Rejoice. I used my MS branch punch for some "holly" and attached some "berries" by cutting out red with my smallest circle punch and then attaching black half-pearls. My image was stamped with Versa Mark, heat embossed with black embossing powder, and then colored in parts with Copic markers. I used my large oval Nestie to cut and emboss the whole image and sponged it with Versa Magic in Wheat. I like how it turned out. I have a few more new stamps I'm anxious to stamp and post, so I'll try not to be so long in posting. Be sure to check out Paper Craft Planet. I need to find my way around it, but it's booming with papercrafters. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Fall Festival Fun

This card is for a sweet lady who does so much to make fellowship at our church a wonderful time. She is working feverishly to put together our annual Fall Festival. The children have so much fun dressing up and our activities include a Cake Walk, Hayride, Jumping Cage, and usually a Dunking Tank, although it's supposed to be too cold to do that this year. ( Can you imagine that, in Florida!) We also have lots of other little games, face painting, etc. Young and old love to come to this. My friend also put together a church reception this past Sunday night and an all-church shower for one of our brides-to-be last night.
I made this card for her in the hopes that it will put a smile on her face and help her remember this year's Fall Festival....unless she would rather forget it. LOL The point is to let her know how much she is appreciated. The background paper and scalloped paper at the bottom are from Basic Grey's "Mellow" which I'm still using with gusto. The "sentiment" was done with my Just-Rite stamper. I love the way I can personalize with that. My wreath is from a post from Paperlicious, and my "punch-pumpkin" is from a post from Snapnextras. Both of the ideas really grabbed me, and it all added to the theme of Fall Festival for this card. Thank you, ladies, for sharing these techniques. Don't you love Muzzie (you can tell him by the notch on his ear) dressed up as Swiss cheese?! This image is just too cute. I'm going to post this to the HM Challenge for this week since they are calling for something "natural". My bow on my wreath will hopefully qualify this card for that theme. Check out their cute cards for this week's challenge if you get a chance. Thank you for stopping by. I hope to get more posts up, but this week is tied up with many things, so I'll do what I can.

Beate's WSC63

I had a little time today and decided to try to jump in on Beate's week-end sketch challenge. I used a new stamp that I love by Inkadinkadoo. I'm still loving the papers in Basic Grey's "Mellow", so I used that for the main background paper. The sentiment is from Sweet and Sassy. The main CS is Riding Hood Red and the green is Kiwi Kiss, both from SU's new In-Colors for 2008. I embossed the Kiwi Kiss with my Divine Swirl Embossing Folder for my CB. I stamped the birds in Riding Hood Red and I sponged the birds in Certain Celery while it was still nested in my Nestie. The Zig zag borders are punched with my Martha Steward border punch. From a distance, it looks kind of Christmas-y. Thanks for looking. I do enjoy sketch challenges so this was fun for me.

Fun Fall Riley

I had two cards to make/send to two special people. One is my niece Lynda who won, for the second year in a row, "Teacher of the Year" at her school in Florida. I am so happy for her and she is most deserving of the honor. The other is my grandson who has "stuck by the stuff" and mowed enough lawns this summer to open a savings account. I'm very proud of him and wanted to send him a little something to add to it. So, my Riley card is going to go to one of them for sure. I am still loving Basic Grey's "Mellow" that I picked up at Michael's. I even went back and bought a second one. Riley is so cute sitting with the pumpkins, and I slid him into my new Sizzix die-cut envelope from SU that works fine in my CB. I can see me using this a lot. The DP has a touch of blue in it, so I incorporated Bashful Blue with PTI's Dark Chocolate. My pumpkin is Tangerine Tango, and I sponged it a bit to cut down on the bright tangerine color. The leaves are my Martha Stewart punch. My ribbon is Pumpkin Pie from SU. Hope you like it. It was fun to make. Will be back with another project soon.

Surprise Award

This morning I learned that my sweet friend Carolyn from P.M.S. Etc.
left me an award.  I am so honored to be recognized by such an outstanding
and talented artist.  Her cards and projects have all been so awesome and it
just makes my day (week, month.....) that she has honored me.  She is such
an encourager and I feel as though she's one of my dearest friends, even
though we've never met.  As I'm getting acquainted with many of you, I feel
like I'm developing friendships and I look forward to seeing each of your
creations and letting you know how much I love what you've said and done.
I love Fall, so this is a gorgeous picture to attach to my blog.  Thank you
so much, Carolyn. 
Now I confess that it is difficult for me to pass this on to just 6 bloggers.  So,
I'm going to cheat a bit and single out one blog that has been my pleasure to
visit, not only for the talent she shares but for the whitty things she posts
that cater to my love of humor.  So Paperlicious, I'll  pass this on to you.

HM "Not a Card" Challenge

This week's HM challenge was "anything but a card". I actually thought of several projects I could do, but I got one done for now so I'll post it. Susan Roberts from Rainy Day Creations recently did a beautiful door hanger using one of Flourishes new stamp sets. So I decided to do a door hanger and use my gruffie who fell asleep reading. I didn't have any chip board so I had to create my own, using some thin cardboard for a backing. I used my Western Sky DP from SU! and my "Bedtime Story" gruffie from HM. I also used some River Rock and Blue Bayou (both retired In-Color papers from SU) and colored once again with my Prismacolor pencils. I stamped some "z's" with VersaMark and added my Cosmo glitter to them. I like how it turned out and decided it would be a cute gift for the older grandkids to hang on their doors when they want to be left alone from pestering siblings. :) Thanks for looking - it was a fun challenge and I'll try to pursue one of my other ideas if there's time. Be sure to check out the other great entries. Hugs.

SSnotime 57 Challenge

Today's card is a challenge card inspired by a card entered for another challenge. I saw an awesome card this morning....well, I saw lots of awesome cards actually.....but this one caught my eye and I loved the colors. It was done by Laura Fredrickson for Flourishes. I realized that I had purchased Flourishes shimmery "Carmel" CS and never used it - yet. I also had the Divine Swirl embossing folder for my CB that I had never used. I also recently purchased Brilliance "Cosmic Copper" and hadn't used that yet either. The "No Time to Stamp" challenge this week was to do a card with no pictures. You could use DP and sentiments, but no stamped images. Since I wanted to do this challenge, Laura's card inspired me to use these elements to make my card. Since I also hate to make cards that will serve a purpose rather than just allow me to enter a challenge (I'm sure no one does that), I used my new "Christ is Born" sentiment from SU! to add another Christmas card to my "stash." I also found a Basic Grey paper this week called "Mellow" and I fell in love with it. I must buy one or two more because I can see really using this up. I incorporated all of these elements into my card, and while the colors don't say Christmas, the sentiment certainly does. I believe we were allowed to attach flowers as long as we didn't stamp them, so I attached my Prima Poinsettias. Be sure to check out Laura's card if you get a chance, and I will post this as well to the ssnotime57 challenge at SCS. I'm trying to get SCS to respond to an e-mail and explain why my gallery link won't take me to my gallery. If any of you have had a problem with that and no of a fix, please let me know. I've not heard anything back from them at SCS and it's been a week now. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful rest of the week-end.

Sweet Little One

This week's HM Challenge was a sketch. I really liked this one, and I found that with the layout of the card given to me, I can work pretty fast. I put it all together and colored the image last. My niece is expecting her first baby in a few weeks, so I made this for her precious new son. My yellows (including ribbon) are PTI's Lemon Tart and my blue's are SU's Brilliant Blue. I sponged my scalloped Nestie with blue and then used my circle punch to place blue circles along the left edge before adding my silver half-balls. The sentiment is from SU's "By Ones and By Twos". I attached my Prima flowers with my new flower brads from SU! Be sure to check out the other cute cards at the HM Challenge this week. Thanks for stopping by.
(Note: I realized my picture is making the colors look washed out. The lemon colors are bright and warm, but not overpowering. I've got my new light box, but I think I still need additional light to get the true colors to show. If anyone wants to tutor me, feel free. :) )

Christmas Workshop

This is my latest card for the workshop I have been asked to do for our ladies at my church. It's fairly simple but will teach them to use markers on the stamps and to use a reverse-mask technique as I did for the snowglobe and a mask technique for the presents. I'll post the others over the next few days. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you're having a good week.

SSnotime56

The challenge issued was to do a card inspired by nature and add wide ribbon if you had it. It was also suggested that Sharon Johnson's favorite card size is 5.5 x 5.5, but I forgot that. Sorry 'bout that. I started out with the pine boughs from Peaceful Wishes and added the Poinsettia from Flourishes new stamp set. Once they were both on there, I didn't like it and decided I would have to cut out the poinsettia and use it elsewhere because they just didn't go together. Just for fun, I started coloring the flower. I used my blender pens and Rose Red ink for the darker color. Then I used my Twinkling H2O's for the rest of the flower. I sponged Pink Pirouette around the white areas on the card and wanted to put my wide pink satin ribbon but wasn't able to do that with the flower in the way. Then I realized that I could cut out part of the flower and overlap it onto the ribbon. I stamped the "Joy" sentiment, also from "Poinsettia and Boxwoods". I added some snowflakes in Pink Pirouette and dotted the centers with my Star Dust Stickles. I also added that to the center of the poinsettia and the pine cone, although I did manage to put my thumb down right on the still-wet stickles on the pine cone. I mounted it all on Sage Shadow and decided I like it pretty well afterall. I usually put Fray Check on the edges of my ribbon to keep them from raveling, but in this case I added a small line of the Stickles. I might just make more of these for Christmas cards. Up close, where you can see the "glow" of the Stickles, it looks pretty fancy. Thanks for the fun challenge and thanks for looking.

Will the Real Amanda HM Please Take a Bow

Well, my conscience did not allow me to post a moose to the HM challenge, and I did not have time to get to the real Amanda until today. So, without further ado, here she is. I must ask that you read the previous post to know the conflict surrounding this ballerina and her confused designer. I used my Pumpkins Embossing Folder for my CB, as well as the Swiss Dots for the Riding Hood Red paper. I colored the pumpkins, etc. with my Twinkling H2O's. I got the brilliant idea to use my labelmaker for the sentiment, adhered it to the black paper and cut it out with my word window punch. Amanda is trying out some new ballet slippers. Thanks for looking and have a great week-end.

A Mouse in Moose Costume

This week's HM challenge is a Halloween theme, represented either by the image itself or the color scheme. Since I've already posted my two Halloween HM images, I decided to go with the color idea. The only problem is that this is a moose, not a mouse. (Shhhhh......) I thought about trying to see if anyone would notice, but alas, I'm afraid you would. :) Then, I thought that this could be Amanda in her Tu-tu, disguised as a moose, but again, I'm sure you wouldn't buy that either. The funny thing is that this idea came to mind with the intent of using Amanda in her tu-tu. However, I just received my order of Rileys and I simply grabbed Sophie instead of Amanda. Since I worked hard on my ballerina, be it moose or mouse, I am posting it anyway, at least to my blog. I'll have to decide if the HM DT will ban me from future participation if I post this to the HM challenge. I would still like to use Amanda, but I have now used my ballet-slipper charm with Sophie. Oh the woes of having "stampers confusion." I need to write Dear Paperlicious for help. I want to give this to my granddaughter for Halloween. She's been asking grandma for ballet slippers, so this is a start. My DP is Basic Grey's Ambrosia. Yellow CS and ribbon are PTI. Thank you for looking and I'll really work on my "animal confusion."

Great "shows" from Card Night

Last night was my monthly card class, and we did some great cards. We employed a variety of techniques and tools to come up with these cards. I got to try SU's new die cut machine, and I had to get the adorable envelope die on the lower left card since it is supposed to work fine in my Cuttlebug. (I do love my CB and have no desire to replace it.) It makes the cutest little envelope and could be used for so many things. Anyway, just thought you'd enjoy seeing these fun cards. The scarecrow is in the new Holiday Mini Catalog. There are so many products out there to stamp with - it's amazing. There is also so much talent out there and it's so much fun for me to see what all you stampers come up with. These cards we did were cased, and I'm not sure from who, but whoever you are, your designs are inspiring and we thank you for sharing. Happy World Cardmaking Day! KrB

One more for the Tag challenge

I made this card a few weeks ago for my daughter's birthday because she LOVES the Fall. I decided to add it to this week's HM challenge since it has a tag of sorts. I'm busy working on another project for my church ladies. This time they've asked me to do a Christmas workshop, so I am busy coming up with cards so I can get my supplies ordered. I'm honored that they asked me and hope they enjoy it. I'll post the cards I come up with as I go along. I need to be playing some Mannheim Steamroller to set the mood, don't I. Thanks for stopping by.

HM Monday Tag Challenge

This week's HM challenge was "Tags". The DT made the cutest cards. They're all fabulous. This is my contribution. I really like how it turned out. It just kind of evolved, although I new that I wanted to use this image and this sentiment. I made my own tag using SU's Summer Picnic DP. I cut out my stamped image and mounted the tag and the image to an oval Nestie mounted to a rectangular Nestie. I'm loving my new MS leaf punch. (Can't find the fern punch to save my life.) The rest of the papers are all from PTI and I used my Prima flowers from Michael's. I got my lightbox, finally, and I'm hoping this will enhance the pictures that I post. HM cards are always fun to make. Be sure to check out the DT entries, as well as those who posted to this challenge. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Tuesday.

Blessings in a Bowl

This is one of my favorite cards. I got the idea to do a bowl like this since I love yellow and blue and I have a miniature set in these colors. The image is "Mixed Greetings" from Flourishes. It is one of their new sets, and there are several possibilities with this set, just as there were with Forest of Trees. I stamped the bowl in More Mustard and drew the blue line with my Prismacolor Pencil. I cut it out and mounted it to give it some dimension. I also colored the fruit with my Prismacolor Pencils, used my scalloped Nesties for the ovals (PTI White and SU More Mustard)and my Label Tags trio Nestie (Brilliant Blue). My background papers are So Saffron and Blue DP from SU!, and Bravo Burgundy as my card base. I used my double-sided ribbon that I got from Flourishes, and attached the blue brads in the corners. Fairly simple, but it's one of my favorites and I will use it for the Holidays, so.....another one done. Yay!

Flourished Holiday Card

This is a card that I did with my new set from Flourishes called "Forest of Trees". I kept it simple, but I like how it turned out. This set has a lot of possibilities, and I'm sure you've seen several cards lately using one of the images from this set. I've got some ideas for more as soon as I get a chance to do them. I stamped the tree with Dark Hunter ink on White CS. I used Ruby Red for the background paper, stamped in red with a flourished design from Flourishes "Rejoice" set. The green paper is also Dark Hunter and I attached black brads down either side of it. The lace punch is Martha Stewart's Lace Punch. The "Joy" sentiment is also from the Rejoice set stamped in gold. The ribbon is May Arts Dark Red Sheer ribbon, also from Flourishes. The main CS is River Rock.
Tomorrow I hope to post one from another new set. Thanks for stopping by.

Holiday Series, Part III

Well, here is the last in my series. I really do like this set, and will probably do a version of these for my Thanksgiving cards, so hurray - I've already started. My next two posts are more Holiday featuring my new stamps from Flourishes. I'm really trying to use them as I get them and not let them sit idle.
I also got "tagged" yesterday, but I'm awaiting some final information before posting that. But, I wanted to finish the series and keep up with my posting. Happy Friday and thanks for looking and for the encouraging comments. They always brighten my day.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been Tagged.....
My friend Carolyn, tagged me. Thank you, Carolyn,....I'm very honored! Carolyn does the neatest cards....I do hope you'll check out her blog. Her HM cards got my attention instantly. She's also a delightful person who is truly an encourager.

So, here I go with 7 things about me:
1. I am a wife of 40 years, a mother of 38 years, a grandmother of 14 years, and Molly's mom for almost 2 years. I've loved being a homemaker and mother and am so privileged to be a grandmother to 8 fabulous kids.
2. My husband claims I accepted his marriage proposal in college so that I could drop the accounting class I was in the process of failing. Thirty-some years later, I went back to school and took accounting classes and got all A's. Before finishing the course towards a degree, I went to work for our church as the Financial Secretary and have been handling all financial matters for 6 years now.
3. I'm scared of balloons. Well, not so much the balloons, but the popping of them. Any time I'm around a child with a balloon, I want to run. I don't like sudden loud noises!!!
4. Over the years I've invested in supplies for and indulged myself in painting, sewing, (lots of sewing), smocking, crocheting, cross-stitching, quilting, scrapbooking, and now of course, stamping. I love stamping! I love looking at card creations....both my own and everyone else's. My other crafts, for the most part, are sitting dormant, but stamping is alive and well.
5. I love coffee. My grandkids know me for that. Is that wrong? :)
6. I'm faithful to exercising and try to eat healthy. That doesn't mean I don't like tasty stuff, cause I really do, but I do try to be sensible with eating and take care of myself.
7. I love the color red. I drive a red van and have a red leather chaise lounge in my craft studio.

Before I list the ones I'm tagging, here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The following seven have been tagged:

1. Joan Bardee @Paperlicious - A Delightfully funny and talented blogger and stamper
2. Sharon @No Time To Stamp - A Very talented stamper and encouraging blogger
3. Susan @Rainy Day Creations - A Very creative lady and fabulous stamper
4. Stacy @Twinshappy - A creator of great cards and a Colts fan
5. Cindy @ Stampin Therapy - A great blogger with delightful cards
6. Julie @ Out to Impress -A fabulous stamper and DT member for Flourishes
7. Jan Marie@ The Caruso Manner - A Very creative and talented lady and #1 Flourish

Ladies, I'm tagging you because I love following your work. I hope you don't mind playing along.
There are so many fabulous stampers and bloggers, so this was a tough decision and I hate leaving others out. If you find it too time-consuming to play along that's certainly understandable. I did want to pass on my "Tag, You're it" but the tagging of 7 other bloggers takes a bit of time and thought. I also added the comments next to your links - that's not part of the rules....just my encouragement to others to check out your links.

Holiday Series, Part II

This is the second card I did from the "First Fruits" set from Papertrey Ink. I did the background the same as the first card I posted. I kept it very simple so it's pretty self-explanatory. I used PTI papers. The flourished leaves in the corners were stamped with Versa Magic Chalk Ink in Wheat. Then I stamped over them in Palette's Dark Chocolate so they would show up in a subtle way. I mounted half-pearls on top of circles cut with my punch. Tomorrow I'll be back with the third card. I really do love this set. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, KrB

Holiday Series

I finally had a chance to make some cards - more than one, in fact. So, tonight I'm going to post the first in a "series" from the set called "First Fruits" from PTI. I really like this set and challenged myself to use all the elements in the set. Apart from a few sentiments and two images, I managed to use the rest of the 12 images and 5 of the sentiments between the 3 cards. I used PTI's Summer Sunrise and stamped off one of the images to create a background. I did the same thing on the green background paper. I took Vintage Cream, mounted on Mellow Moss, and sponged Always Artichoke and then stamped the pine boughs, then went over all of it lightly with River Rock. I used my Nestabilities, both Classic and Scalloped, and I used my double-sided ribbon from Flourishes, as well as my half-pearls in Chocolate from Flourishes. My daughter likes this one the best of the three, but I'll see what you all think. I'll definitely use it for a Thanksgiving card. Thanks for stopping by and I should have Card #2 for you tomorrow.

Fancy Floral

Well, I finally got to do a non-HM card tonight. Just needed a change of pace, and this was one of those stamps I hadn't yet had a chance to open. What I ended up with was not what I had in mind when I started, but this is how things developed. I was planning to use my new Parisian Summer DP from SU!, which I did use, but the colors in the pack, while gorgeous, are very soft so the pink that I planned to use looked too washed out. I had to go with Perfect Plum for the main CS paper. All the other papers are from the Parisian Summer, except for the ivory which is from PTI. The image is the snowflake flower from Flourishes Summer Botanicals. The ribbon is Lemon Tart from PTI's Perfect Match series. The half-pearls are Kaiser pearls in the Chocolate. The buckle is from SU's Antique Brass Hodgepodge. I've got new stamps coming, but I also have company coming, so hopefully it won't be too long and I can play with my new stamps. Hope you have a wonderful Friday. Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks to all those who left birthday wishes for DH. He enjoyed that. Will be by to see what you all have done as soon as I get a chance. Hugs, KrB
A quick edit to this post....One person who left a comment on my card at SCS does cards for the military and anyone can get involved. Check out this blog: http://cardsforheroes.org/ Wonderful idea. I'll be looking into it further.

Paper Pieced Birthday

Tonight I have a "twofer" (to quote Bert Stratton.) I needed to make a card for my husband's birthday, which is tomorrow. He seems to like my little HM's, and I got this one because I thought it would be great for putting about any message on it that you want. It's called "Chalky Consequences" and it features Maxwell. I also wanted to participate in the HM challenge for the week, which is paper piecing. So, this card will satisfy both the birthday card and the challenge. I cut out the stamped image of the mouse on the chalk rail and used dimensionals to place it on top of the same stamped image on the card. The chalkboard still looked a bit bare, so I made up a "writing chart" from what I remember them looking like back in good ol' school days. That helped and I also put it on with dimensionals. The balloon paper is from Basic Grey's "Cup Cake." The Happy Birthday was done by masking the mouse and then stamping the HB in VersaMark and embossing with white embossing powder. Be sure to check out the cards that the DT did at the HM site. They're all just too cute. Have a great Tuesday and I'll hopefully be back with more before too long.

If the Shoe Fits, Stamp It

I'm almost done with a week-long project of making gift tags to accompany the give-away at our church's ladies luncheon this coming week-end. The speaker that is coming is going to speak on "shoes", and I was asked to come up with a tag that would coordinate with her theme AND include a Bible verse. I ordered "Retro Boutique" from Gina K and used the shoe on the table. I ended up doing lots of colors and attaching half-rhinestones to each shoe. I colored with either PrismaColor pencils or Copics. (I'm still building my Copic inventory). I used my scallop punch, plus a 2" and a 2-1/2" punch. My son-inlaw and I created a circle in Photo Shop that was 2-1/2" that included the prescribed Bible verse and a greeting from the Ladies Ministry. In order to save on using up the black ink from my printer, I printed out one page and then had copies made. I did 108 tags in all (9 pages with 12 on a page.) I used spray adhesive to adhere the copied circles onto black CS and then punched them out together. I finished them off with ribbon and after I tie a few more tags with ribbon I should be done. I hope the ladies like them. I won't be able to attend because it's my daughter's birthday that day and we're expecting out-of-town company. Now I have birthday cards and a few miscellaneous cards to do and get out. Hopefully I can also participate in the HM Monday Challenge. Hope you all have a wonderful week. My heart goes out to those that have experienced the flooding and destruction from Ike. I wish I could make a card that would make it all better, but things just don't work that way. Still, we need to uphold them in prayer. Thanks for stopping by.