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.