Christmas Card Challenge

Since the beginning of the year I have been participating in the Splitcoast Christmas Card Challenge. You sign up to make a certain number of cards each month with the intent that when November arrives, you have all your Christmas cards done. So far I have kept my end of the bargain to make five cards each month. I have not posted January through March cards but may go back and do that later. I kind of hesitated posting them because then everyone will see them before they get them!!

My little Caroling Charlotte is a retired stamp from Whiff of Joy. She is so cute and fun to color!! I colored her with Copics (numbers used listed below). Her hat is edged with fun flock. The snowflake is from Stampin Up with a little rhinestone bling in the center.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Caroling Charlotte Paper: Gussies DP, Glorious Green, GinaK White Ink: Black Memento Accessories: Copics G07, G28, YG06, Y11, Y15, E00, E51, R27, R29, Y26, C1, Inkssentials Pen, atYou Spica Gold, Ribbon, SU snowflake, rhinestones

Sweet Pea

This card was for the Pink Cat Studio "The Either/Or" Challenge. Your card either had to have layers of the stamped image or stitches. I decided to go with the stitches! Sweet Pea and animal friends are colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on a double layered Top Note die panel. The paper is DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Boy layered on Brocade Blue and Barely Banana. I have had the Hero Arts Fancy Felt Buttons for a while now and this was the perfect card to put them on!

Enjoy!!

Please leave comments!! I love hearing from you!!

Tea-Rific Friend

I have this post scheduled as I am attending a compliance conference in Las Vegas this week. On Wednesday we fly up to Reno so I can bowl in the Women's USBC tournament and we will return home next Sunday. This card is for last Sunday's SCS Featured Stamper Challenge "Jaymerz". Jamie has a lot of cute cards to choose from. I found a card in her gallery using one of my favorite MFT stamps, Tea For Two, and decided to do my case of this card. I used the same image, but changed the colors, layout, and embellishments. The mouse and teacup were colored with Copics and layered with Nestabilities scallop rectangles. The light pink layer is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Folder. I added a K&Co Seaglass Grand Adhesion flower in the corner. The paper is from Making Memories Flower Patch tablet. Love those papers!! There is a touch of Glossy Accents on the dots on the cup and the heart on the mouses tail.

Enjoy!

Faithful Steps

I made this card for last Saturday's SCS Inspiration Challenge. The online store is Skeem and their candles, matchboxes, etc., are wonderful! I chose this "Filigree" matchbox as my inspiration. I keep wanting to use the Ornamental Elements from Flourishes on everything!! I love the sentiments in the Flourishes Timeless Quotes set as well. This one is my favorite. Isn't that what life is all about? With Faith you can do anything!!

Stamps: Flourishes Ornamental Elements and Timeless Quotes Paper: White, Black Ink: Black Accessories: Labels 4 Nestabilities, Ribbon, Kaiser Pearls, Pop Dots

Enjoy!!

Please leave me comments. I love the feedback!

StampinB's and SCS Sketch Challenge

WOW!! I did not realize that it has been a week since I posted here... I am such a slacker!! NOT!! I have a lot of cards that I have made over the last week and I have also been preparing my challenge for the Viva Las VSN Challenge that is taking place May 15th and 16th. I am one of the hostesses and one of the hourly challenges taking place that weekend is mine!! I made this card for the StampinB's challenge #1. The StampinB Design Team puts out a weekly challenge on fridays. You can find their blog here. I also used this for SCS Sketch challenge #224. I have resorted to keeping an Excel spreadsheet of all the challenges that are out there, just so I can keep up! The flowers are nestabilities that I colored using the Copic airbrush and then put on fuzzy brads for the centers. The bee's are colored with Copics and the wings have a touch of atyou Spica clear to give them a little glimmer.

Stamps: Stampabilities Happy Bee Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Certainly Celery Ink: Black Memento Accessories: Copics, atyou Spica, Brads, Pop Dots, Nestabilities

Enjoy!

Mom... The Gardenias are Blooming!!

I have been making rounds of our house just about every day to see what might be blooming. Mom knows that my favorite flower in the whole world is the Gardenia. We have three bushes on the side of the house and I have been waiting with much anticipation for their blooms. Today was the day!! There staring at me were two beautiful blooms!! Their fragrance brings a smile to my face and memories of my childhood. One of our neighbors that was a major influence with my interest in crafts had a large gardenia bush right next to her front door. Every time I visited with her she would find my face buried in the flowers when she opened the door!

An extra special treat today was finding a chameleon friend with "her" nose buried in the gardenia. Guess she likes them as much as I do! If you look closely at the top of the flower in the photo, you will see her.

The second picture is of more Amaryllis that have come up. This one is a different color from the pictures I posted a few days ago.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!

SCS Featured Stamper *Inge*

This card is for this weeks Featured Stamper Challenge, "Hop on over to the Gallery and check out *Inge*. The cards in her gallery are absolutely AMAZING!! So much attention to detail and lots of special touches on every card!! I chose her card found here for my "case". I loved the beachy theme of her card and that is what I went with for mine. Everything else on my card is different. I used the Copic airbrush for the background panel. The rest of the card elements were colored with Copics. The side panels were punched with Martha Stewart border punches.

Stamps: Hanna Stamps Fun In The Sun Paper: Regal Rose, Cool Caribbean, GinaK White, SU Petals and Paisley DP Ink: Black Memento, Cool Caribbean Accessories: Copics, Pop Dots, MS Border Punches

The weather is getting warmer now and it's time to have some fun at the beach!! I am sending "warm hellos" to everyone!! Hope your week is going well!

Enjoy!

BLOG HOPPIN BASH!

Today is release day for The Greeting Farm's new stamp sets. This is going to be the BIGGEST Anya release party so far! So find the list of blogs here that you can go visit to see all sorts of Anya's made by Club Anya members and friends!

Here is my card made with "Rock The Farm" Anya. She is such a little helper!! She is colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on the scalloped circle. The paper is from My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow with the edges sponged with More Mustard.

Enjoy!!

Now go see some more Anya's!!

Living Things Around Us

We didn't make it to the beach this weekend as it has been in the low 70's with 24 mile an hour winds. Makes for chilly times at the beach! So, I sat out on the back porch instead and basked in the sunlight where I was shielded from the wind. My brother Bruce is visiting from Tennessee and we had fun with this little guy!

He let me touch him a couple of times, but he got nervous and tried to puff his throat out at me.

I found these beautiful Amaryllis coming up in one of our beds by the driveway. Never could grow these outdoors in Tennessee!!

This is a Double Impatiens that I bought last year when we moved in our house. It sits on the front porch to welcome our visitors. It decided a couple of weeks ago to start blooming. It is covered with beautiful pink flowers!

Enjoy!!

Flower Pot Fairy

This card has been a few days in the making! I started last Monday looking at the SCS "Ways To Use It" challenge and made just the flower pot. On Tuesday I looked at the SCS "Color Combo" Challenge and pulled out the Bashful Blue and So Saffron papers. I already had a flower pot that was Close to Cocoa! I needed to figure out what flowers I wanted. Did I have dies to cut some or did I have stamp sets that I could use a flower from? Everything sat..... On Wednesday I made a totally different card for the SCS "Sketch" challenge (my previous Fairy Sketch card). Thursday was real busy and I did not have time to do the SCS "Ways To Use It" challenge. I looked at Friday's SCS "Limited Supply" challenge "Triple Play" and went back and looked at my flower pot and decided to finish it. What the heck!! I think I have three layers ~Flower pot base, flowers/leaves/fairy all on an insert card! I have three colors~ So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery (the chocolate chip is my neutral). I have three elements/focal points~ The fairy, flowers and ribbon! I have a card that covers three challenges and that would be a "Double Triple Play"!!

This is the insert card pulled out with one of the sentiments from the Stampin Up Curvy Verses set. The flowers are from the One Of A Kind set, cut out and popped up. The fairy is from The Greeting Farm and I added some Waterfall Stickles to her wings.

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Fairy, One of a Kind, Curvy Verses Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery Ink: Close to Cocoa Accessories: Copics, Daubers, Ribbon, Waterfall Stickles, Pop Dots, CB Swirls EF

Enjoy!

Please leave me comments! I would love to know who visits me!!

Simple Things Inspired

This card was for this Saturday's SCS Inspiration Challenge and I am also using it for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. The Flourishes challenge this week is to use your favorite Flourishes stamp set. This one was hard because EVERY Flourish stamp set I have is my favorite!! Since there is so much versatility with the Ornamental Elements set, I have to say it is my favorite of favorites!! The SCS challenge was "Grandin Road". Choosing an inspiration piece from this online store was pretty easy! I love anything to do with pillows and comforters!! Well these pillows called my name right off the bat! And Ornamental Elements was the stamp set to use!! I decided to use Red and White for my colors. I used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder for the white background panel. On top of that, the Ornamental Elements panel. Then came one of the sentiments from the Flourishes Timeless Quotes set. A few Martha Stewart punch butterflies and a red organdy bow for the finishing touches! Stamps: Flourishes Ornamental Elements and Timeless Quotes Paper: Real Red, White Ink: Real Red Accessories: CB Embossing Folder, MS Butterfly Punch, White Inkssentials Pen, Ribbon

Easter Wishes

I made about ten different Easter cards this year to send to family and friends. This was my last one, but one of my favorites. So, for Easter, this card is getting posted here on my blog before it even goes in my gallery on Splitcoast!! The stamp is from the Flourishes Easter set. The bunny and eggs are colored with Copics. The blue-green scallop circle was my first attempt with the Copic Airbrush. I am really liking my new toy!! The white scalloped circle is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The green grass is Flower Soft. Yet another new product that is a lot of fun to play with! Isn't the print paper divine? It is from the Making Memories Flower Patch Pad. Of course I had to add a bow using some scrumptious satin ribbon!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Little Fairy Sketch

This card is for today's SCS Sketch Challenge. You can click on the word sketch to see what the challenge sketch looks like. I finally got to use one of my little fairy's from The Greeting Farm! She is colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on the flowers. I brushed a little Cotton Candy Stickles on her wings to make them glittery. The print paper is from the Making Memories Flower Patch pad. Hope you like her!

Stamps: TGF Fariy, Quick and Cute Paper: Making Memories Flower Patch DP, Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana Ink: Black, Cameo Coral Accessories: Copics, Flowers, Brad, Stickles Cotton Candy

SCS Featured Stamper Challenge

I finally had time to do a challenge yesterday on Splitcoast. The featured stamper was Julie (JustWriteDesigns). The challenge was to case one of the cards from her gallery and change three things for your card design. I had so much fun looking through her beautiful cards, that I ended up picking two! First on my list was this card. I changed the image, colors and the ovals to circles on my card. For my card I used "Hoops" again from Victoria Case Art Designs. He is such a cute character to work with! I colored him with Copics, cut him out and popped him up in the circle. I kept the circle theme all over the card with the print paper, the circle cut out and the circle sentiment. I hand lettered the sentiment getting "hoopy" in there for "happy".

Card Recipe: Stamps: Victoria Case Designs Hoops Paper: Brilliant Blue, Rose Red, Barely Banana, DCWV Mini Stack Ink: Night of Navy Accessories: Copics, Circle Punch, CB Embossing Folder, Mosaic Circle Tiles, Brad

The second card I cased from Julie were these cute little dresses! I changed the paper, stamps and ribbons for my cards. They make the sweetest Easter Cards don't you think? The DCWV print paper is just the right scale. The bottom of the dresses and the collars were done with Nestabilities. A little touch of Kaiser Pearls on the bodice finishes them off. The sentiment from the Flourishes "Got Eggs" set is stamped on the vellum aprons using Brilliance Aurora ink.

Card Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes Easter Set Paper: Making Memories Flower Patch, GinaK White, Vellum Ink: Blush Blossom, Brilliance Aurora Accessories: Ribbon, Pearls, Nestabilities Enjoy!

Please leave me comments! I would love to know who visits me!

Awesome News!!

A couple of posts ago I talked about how busy my week was last week. On Saturday I did the VSN mini on Splitcoast and the next couple of days I then concentrated on completing my design team submission material for Victoria Case Art Design. I love Victoria's images and she does both rubber and digital. The submissions were due by March 31st and at the eleventh hour, I was uploading my cards and sending my submission email. Over the last few days Victoria has been announcing the new design team on her blog and YES, I MADE IT!! I am sooooo excited!! Check out her blog and all the creative members of her design team that I get to have fun with! This is one of the cards I did for my submission. I try to find images and stamps that are suitable for boys. The possibilities for this image for men is endless as well! For this card I used some SEI paper that I have been hoarding. It is from the Granny's Kitchen line. My basketball dude is colored with Copics and the edges of the panels and circles are sponged with VersaMagic Jumbo Java. The sentiment is a rub on from SU Chit Chat. Hope you like him!

Recipe: Stamps: Victoria Case Art Designs Hoops Paper: SEI Granny's Kitchen, GinaK White, Chocolate Chip Ink: Black, Jumbo Java Accessories: Copics, Circle Punch, Rub Ons

Please leave comments so that I know who visits me!

VSN Part Two

The next three cards are from the VSN mini on Saturday evening. The first challenge was "Mandalay Bay". We were to make a card inspired by the shark reef in the hotel. It was also a must to use a playing card on your card.The reef at the hotel is awesome!! I chose the seahorse from the Fishy Friends set. Embossed the background paper with the Cuttlebug bubbles folder and added a little "underwater bling". Card Recipe: Stamps: Fishy Friends Paper: Basic Grey Marrakech, White Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, Corner rounder, rhinestones The next card was for the challenge "The Paris". We were to make a viewmaster card. I chose the stamp set, Paris in the Spring, to go along with the theme. This was my first viewmaster card (don't you just love VSN challenges to get you outside your usual stamping realm!!) and it was not an easy feat!!

Card Recipe: Stamps: Paris in the Spring Paper: Basic Grey Euphoria, GinaK White Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, AtYou Spica Pens, Ribbon, Nestabilites, Circle Punches

The third and final challenge for the day was "Luxor Pyramid". We were to make a card inspired by the gaming table felt top using the faux felt technique. The card also had to be triangular. I made the card so it folds down to open. It is really pretty easy to make faux felt. Just run your cardstock through a crimper changing the direction every time. The paper becomes soft and you can separate the two layers and pull apart. The inside is soft and looks like felt! Since this was the last challenge of the day, my card was a toast to the Pit Bosses that ran the show on Saturday. Awesome job and so much fun!!

Card Recipe: Stamps: Cheers To You Paper: Basic Grey Marrakech, GinaK White, Bashful Blue Ink: Black Accessories: Copics, AtYou Spica Pen, Nestabilities, Ribbon

Please leave me comments. I would love to know who visits me!

Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) Fun!

During March and April there are mini VSN's that you can participate in before the big Viva Las VSN in May. This past Saturday the first mini was held. In the morning there were three challenges, one every hour. Then that evening there were three more, one every hour. The challenges were a blast! Each one was centered around a Vegas hotel. The first challenge was about the hotel Circus Circus. We were to make a card using the Circus as our inspiration. The kicker was that you had to use the color orange somewhere on your card. Since I am limited on the number of stamps I have pertaining to circus animals, I pulled out my Changito DOS set by Stampendous. This little monkey is so much fun to play with!! The paper is some that I picked up in Tennessee the last time I visited. It is Bloom and Grow by My Minds Eye.

Card Recipe: Stamps: Stampendous Changito DOS Paper: My Minds Eye, GinaK White Ink: Brown Memento Accessories: Copics, Chalks, Ribbon, Designer Label Punch

This next card was for the challenge "Bellagio". If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Bellagio, you will find the lobby ceiling is covered in Chihuly flowers. These are beautiful multicolor glass flowers. I took so many pictures the first time I went there! So for this challenge you were to use a transparency and flowers on your card. I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs onto the back of the transparency using Stazon Cotton White ink. Added several Flower Fusion flowers and the sentiment is a SU rub on.

Card Recipe: Stamps: Baroque Motifs Paper: Chocolate Chip, Crystal Clear Cardstock Ink: Stazon Cotton White Accessories: Flower fusion, Brads, Ribbon

The third and last card for the morning was for the challenge "The Venetian". The card inspiration was from the lobby of the hotel and you were to use the colors yellow/gold, white/cream, blue and burgundy. I have had this little dress pattern sitting on my stamp table and decided this would be a quick and cute card to make with these colors. The collar is a scallop circle punch cut in half. The little flowers on the apron and the piercings are filled in with Spica pen.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Background Basics Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Bashful Blue, GinaK White Ink: Bravo Burgundy Accessories: AtYou Spica Gold and Red pens, Pearls, Ribbon, Paper piercer