Blog Award from Rachel

Rachel from My Cardstock Creations nominated me for this award. Thank you bunches, Rachel. Needless to say, I was ENCOURAGED.

The rule's of this Award are as follows:

1) Post a link of the person who gave you this award.
2) Nominate 5 other people and give a link to there sites.
3) Let the people who you have nominated know.
4) Put a logo of the award on your blog.

My 5 nominees are : (this is always the tough part, because there are so many incredible bloggers and talented stampers - but here is my list for this time)

For beautiful card creations and the ability to make me laugh: Joan, Paperlicious
For adorable cards with critters that I'm just now discovering: Teresa, Crafteresa
For beautiful cards and as much encouragement as any person could give: Carolyn, P.M.S. Etc.
For cards and a blog that keep getting better and better: Cindy, Stamping Therapy
For a fun blog to visit and really great projects: Nancy, Windstar Creations

Please be sure to check out their blogs. I know you'll smile and be inspired. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog. It encourages me more than you know.

HM-ATC

Yay! House Mouse Monday Challenge is back! This week's challenge was to make an ATC, or Artist's Trading Card. These have to measure 2.5 x 3.5. I used SU papers in the Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. I then used my Rectangular Nestie on Shimmer White and cut out and mounted my HM image, "Morning Kick Start", on that. The sentiment is from Amuse, and the "coffee" on the mug is from Flourishes Coffee and Friends. I colored my image with Copics.
I'm frustrated that my pictures, once uploaded, have been looking so washed out. I'm still playing with solutions, but IRL they look so much perkier. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the DT's entries, as well as all the participants. These are fun little cards to make.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I kind of wish that were true where I live, but right now it is not. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful that we're not up to our eyeballs in snow, nor are we freezing and having to huddle together to stay warm. I'm quite sure it's in the lower 60's right now, which I know many of you would opt for in a heartbeat. But I grew up in the north and when January arrives you just kind of want to wear warm clothes for a little while and experience a change in season, to some extent anyway. But enough whining and on to my card. This is Willow and I've been seeing her a lot lately. She's from Whiff of Joy and I love the image. She's officially called Willow and Hot Chocolate, but she makes me think she's contemplating something while she's sipping her HC - hence, the "You're on my mind." I colored her with my Copic markers and I'm enjoying using them and getting more comfortable with them. My main CS is SU's Creamy Caramel, and I used SU's Ski Slope DP mounted on a strip of Riding Hood Red CS. The sentiment is from SU's Upsy Daisy and is one of the reasons I bought that set. I also used Baja Breeze for the scalloped oval and sentiment and my Nesties for Willow's image and the scalloped oval and sentiment. I used Prima flowers and a Build-a-Brad for their center.
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful week-end and for those of you who are having cold weather, have a cup of HC and stay warm. Hugs,

Be Mine Dragon

Recently I pre-ordered a new stamp from 7Kids College Fund that I thought was adorable. This Dragon with Flower is a Stampavie clear stamp, Lelo Design and I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and decided to make it a valentine card. I then decided to send it plus others to Julie Koerber's mom to help out with her challenge called Cards 4 Kids. You can read about it at Julie's blog here. The plaid DP is SU's Prestwick, and the CS is Rose Red behind the dragon. I used Prima flowers and Taffeta ribbon from SU. I had fun coloring this little guy. They have more adorable images at 7Kids CF, so check them out if you get a chance. Thanks for stopping by and happy Friday.

Little Lady

I'm finally getting a chance to catch up a bit on my blog visits and comments and thought I'd take a quick moment to post another card. This is one I did for my granddaughters 5th birthday which was in December. She loves pink, and when I got my
" Lizzie with Muff" stamp from Whiff of Joy, I knew I had to use it for her card. I tried to imagine her all fancied up with a fur muff and ear muffs, and some sparkles on her outfit. I also made one in a powder blue and they both turned out as I had hoped they would. I heat embossed the "fur" in white embossing powder and used my Stickles on the flourishes on her top and skirt. I used SU's Parisian Summer and Pink Pirouette for the scalloped oval. I colored her outfit mainly in Copic Markers, using R20 for the main pink color. I need to start taking pictures of my Copics that I use to color with because afterwards I forget what I used. Does anyone else have that problem? Thanks for your visit to my blog. I hope you like Lizzie. Tomorrow starts a new 2009 HM challenge. Hope you can join us. Happy New Year!

Celebrating with Truffles

Happy 2009! I wish you all a blessed year and hope it's starting off in a delightful way. I did get my HM card done for the latest challenge. I'm glad they gave us two weeks because the holidays definitely pulled me away from stamping and I'm anxious to get back to it. The HM challenge this time was embossing. It could be heat embossing, or any kind of embossing. Check out the blog for specifics. I have been waiting to use my Truffles HM stamp and decided to do it and emboss the frosting drizzles on the candies, as well as gold-emboss the "Chocolate Truffles" at the top. I tried using my Turpenoid Natural, which I'm guessing does the same thing Gamsol does, to blend my coloring with my Prismacolor pencils and I like how it blended the coloring on the chocolates, but I didn't like the way it "bled" the purple around the "Truffles" lettering. I usually don't use the turpenoid and I just need to be careful what I'm using it on I guess. I am acquiring more Copic Markers so next time I'll try my hand at using my Copics. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I saw so many gorgeous cards and I'm going to challenge myself to do some kind of Christmas card or project each month so I go into the next Christmas season, Lord willing, with a head-start. Take care and be sure to check out the other HM entries as I know they'll put a smile on your face.

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.