Three for Thursday

Since Christmas is over, I find I have more time to play challenges, so I made 2 cards for 3 challenges today. First up is the SCS313 sketch challenge. For this card I used an adorable free digi image called Furry Freddy with Flowers that I d/l from SpydersCorner. I know the picture didn't capture it very well, but the red panel is a very high-gloss, striped, embossed piece of card stock I found on a recent shopping trip. The white panel is from the BG white stack, and the black border was done with a new EK punch I just got. The heart borders are stickers from Just-a-Peel......the outline portion on the right, and the tiny inside hearts to the left. I colored the image with Copics, added stickles to the flowers and hearts and the sentiment is by SU!
This card is for the CCMC131 challenge to "Let it Snow" along with the sketch challenge from this week's OWH Sunday Challenge #49. This is the first time I've played along with Create with Connie & Mary, but I liked the fun challenge this week. It's been months since I played along with an OWH challenge, but most of my cards still go to that organization even if I don't get time to do the challenges.
Again, I used another free digi image I d/l from SpydersCorner. This one is called "It's Snowing Kitty." I needed to add to my stash of birthday cards so this is a perfect image for a winter greeting card. I used a plum colored scrap of BG dp for the top panel and embossed it with the Swiss Dots ef. The image was colored with Copics and embellished with stickles. I added some Geo sparklers to the lavender snowflake punches for a little shimmer. The black border was done with a SU! punch and the sentiment was done with SU! oval punches. The sentiment was done with clear mini stamps.
I hope you're all having a super Thursday! Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a few minutes of your day with me :)

Carol

Thank You and I've Been Tagged!

I made this card using some Bo Bunny Jazmyne DP that I bought a while ago and barely touched until now. I love the colors and designs of these papers so I had to use a combination of several of them. They came from a mini-book of diecuts, so the light lavender panel was pre-cut, while the other 2 borders were done with SU! border punches. The sentiment panel was done with an EK punch, and a SU! lg oval punch, and the sentiment is by Verve. The ribbon by PTI called Plum Pudding is a perfect match to these beautiful papers!

Brenda of BenziStampz tagged me before Christmas, but I haven't really had a whole lot of time to play along 'til now, so here are some Q&A's for those who might be interested:

Four Shows You Watch:
Medium
Mentalist
the Daily Show w/Jon Stewart
Conan

Four Things You Are Passionate About
kindness to animals
equal rights for everyone
card making
honesty

Four Words/Phrases You Say A Lot
HELLO!?!
Are you kidding me?!
PUH-LEEZE!
That's a shame!

Four Things You've Learned From The Past
honesty pays
not to trust everyone so easily
speaking quietly works better than shouting
I'm not coordinated enough to play video games

Four Places You'd Like To Go
Hawaii
Ireland
California
Paris

Four Things You Did Yesterday
spent the day with my best friend
printed some pictures for a scrapbook
bought a new punch *snort*
watched the Kennedy honors show

Four Things You're Looking Forward To
another stamping get together
another trip to L&L (I was just there today) LOL
a better new year in 2011
meeting more great friends I've made through stamping

Four Things You Love About Winter
seeing friends & family for Christmas
hot mulled cider
baking cookies
home made soup/stews

And now I'll pass these questions along to four of my fellow bloggers/friends and you're all welcome to play along if you have the time :)

Jill of Ribbon Challenged
Sue of Sue'sStampinStuff
Mary Anne of LakesideStamping
Wendy of WeeBeeStampin4fun

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope your week is going well!

Carol

Celebrate!

The challenge at the Crazy4Cocoa blog C4CC5 is to make a card that indicates a celebration! I used the Party Hat Cocoa image from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps for my card. The hat is all decked out with blue and silver stickles and looks festive enough for a New Year's card or a birthday celebration. I just stamped the word Celebrate so this card can be used for a lot of different occasions! I used 2 scraps of DP I've had in my stash forever, along with some bashful blue. I sponged bashful blue on the beads around the oval while it was still in the die, and also around the Cocoa image. This cute little guy was colored with Copics and I added some checkered ribbon from my stash, making the bow using my Bow-Easy. If you have some Cocoa images, come on over and play along with us. We can all find something to celebrate, right? :)
I hope you all have a lot to celebrate in the new year! Have a fun week, and thanks for stopping by.

Carol

Sweets for my Sweet

Here's the sketch for this week's Sweet Stop Sketch challenge 88. I have some cute Cocoa images and had to play along. You aren't required to use a Sweet 'n Sassy stamp, but if you have them they like to see them.
For my card I used the Cocoa's Chocolates digi stamp and colored him with copics. The DP is SU! Pear Pizazz and matted with black. The sentiment was computer generated and I added a chipboard heart with tied raffia in the center. There's red smooch on the cherries and I enhanced the icing on the candies with a white sharpie. The colors are non-traditional for Valentine's day, but I think this will make a cute valentine anyway.
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas yesterday. It's snowing here in PA today and foiled our dinner plans with a close friend, but I'm hoping it doesn't snow so much that I can't get out to get in on a few good sales this week!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season!

Carol

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" - Rascal Flatts Official Music Video

Just in Case........

I had time to play along with the Kitchen Sink Stamp Challenge #30 which is to CASE one of the KSS DT members! I don't come close to making magic with KSS like the DT does, but I gave it my best shot! I chose this beautiful card that Lisa made and tried to CASE it but I really don't think I did her much justice! LOL I stamped the 4-step lilacs (which I won by playing in a previous challenge) and used a sentiment from the KSS 3-step Hibiscus set.
For this one, I switched things up a little bit, adding piercing and a tiny chenille bow to the stem. The sentiment is also from the 3-step Hibiscus set.
This is going to be the last challenge posted to the KSS blog, so grab your KSS stamps and play along! Click onto the blog and scroll down for another link to see where the new year is taking KSS!
It's time to unwind and relax and just enjoy the season now. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season regardless of what you celebrate. Happy Holidays to each and every one of you..............you're all special to me!

Carol

stamps - KSS 4-step Lilacs, KSS 3-step Hibiscus
paper - white, papermates deep groovy grape, paperco green, lavender lace for butterfly
inks - Lilac - Memento 1 angel pink, 2 lulu lavender, 3 SU! lavender lace, 4 Memento Grape Jelly; (stem) 1 colorbox chestnut roan, 2 SU! chocolate chip; ( leaves) - Memento 1 new sprout, 2 bamboo leaves, 3 cottage ivy; (sentiment) 1st card, versafine onyx black, 2nd card Memento Grape Jelly
accessories - MS butterfly punch, MS pearls, piercing tool, SU! piercing template

Crazy 4 Cocoa Color Challenge C4CC4

This week the challenge over at C4CC4 is to use the colors brown, blue and red on your project. I pulled out a blue scrap of DCWV paper that looks like old wood, along with some scraps of real red card stock. I used the new Cocoa Loves Football image and colored him with Copics. I added 3 large white brads on the top, and 3 mini brads on the sentiment sticker tab. I twisted a little bit of brown hemp around the gingham ribbon just to give it a bit of a sporty feel.
If you have any Cocoa images, come over and have some fun by playing along with us. You could walk away with a new Sweet'nSassy stamp set at the end of the month!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're all finished shopping for the big day! Winter's here, aren't you thrilled? *cough* Make it a fabulous day!

Carol

A Calendar Year of Flowers

Recently I saw a beautiful calendar on Joanne's blog and inquired about the calendar template and she was kind enough to share it with me. You can find it here at MyPaperSecret.
I decided to go with a tall calendar, so I stamped each of the Flourishes year of flowers stamps and matted them with black after coloring. I added a coordinating piece of punched cardstock to the bottom of each page for interest. I used the inserts from SU! dp packs to make the stand, but found the longer pages were just too heavy to stand on their own, so I added 2 pieces of chipboard (the backing from legal pads) to the inside of the stand pages and that worked perfectly! I'm not posting all 12 months, but just a random sampling of a few. Above you see the month of January featuring the Crocus.
This is April with the daffodil.
December's flower is the Amaryllis.
This is a side view of the calendar and shows how it stands up. This is going to my sweet neighbor for Christmas.
Thanks for the link Joanne, and thanks to Cristina for sharing the calendar template! Much appreciated ladies!
Happy Monday Everyone!

Carol

Skating Teddies

I think this will be the last Christmas card I make this year. I finished this one up late last night and it's going to a friend of mine who's coming by later on today. I used a digital image by Kim McFarlane, and I'm pretty sure I got this free digi here, although I can't locate it now. I've had it for a while, so it may not be available anymore. I colored the image with Copics and added some stickles for accents here and there. I also added some liquid applique to the fur on their hats and added dazzling diamonds glitter for some sparkle. I made some faux brads on the sentiment panel and added a tiny bow. The sentiment is from some old wooden stampers I have and the mfr is unknown. Embossing was done with a Cuttlebug ef and the green diecuts were done with Spellbinders. I just love this cute image of skating teddies!
Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for spending a little part of your day here with me:)

Carol

Using Some Retired DP

My first card is for the SSS87 sketch challenge over at the Sweet Stop. I dug through my stash of DP and found this gorgeous retired SU! paper and decided to use it for the challenge. There's a twist to the challenge and that's to use stitching, either real or faux. I drug out the ole beast and actually sewed on my card today. I used the SweetnSassy Christmas Candle image and sentiment, coloring with Copics and adding stickles for some sparkle. The ribbon is by SU! and also retired. The sentiment was embossed with brown ep and a few golden nail heads were added. Note to self: buy new sewing machine needles so your stitches don't skip!
Here's another card I made using the same retired DP, along with old olive, chocolate chip and ruby red. This card was made for the QFTD40 over on SCS and this week's queen is Reddyisco/aka Jo. I chose this card of hers to case, since I've always loved this Rubber Stampede image! I swapped the flower for a snowflake and changed the sentiment panel a little, adding some gold deco pen accents to the sentiment and Santa's glasses.
It's been a busy day here at my house with company all afternoon, but I love it when friends stop by! It's that time of the year :D
Have a super weekend and thanks for stopping by here too!

Carol

More Joy!

Here's another card I was working on during the stamping get together last month. I just love this little Sweet 'n Sassy snowman, so I've made quite a few cards with him for Christmas. I think it's a fun way to spread a little joy through the mail. I stamped him with Versamark Onyx black, then heat embossed with clear detail and colored with Copics. The dp is SU! retired Ski Slope and matted with Baja Breeze and red.
Have a joyful weekend and thanks for stopping by :D

Carol

Thank You for these Awards!

I'm really late with this post and I apologize to these two wonderful ladies who shared these awards with me! The"I got Attitude" blog award came from Brenda of BenziStamps. I came to know Brenda on SCS and eventually got to know her better through her amazing DT work on the StampinB's challenge blog. Brenda, your thoughtful comments have always been inspiring to me, as well as your beautiful hand made cards! In receiving this award, I'm supposed to pass it on to 3 other bloggers who inspire me and reveal 3 things about myself that make me the person I am. I'm inspired by everyone I see in blogland and you all deserve this award, so it's impossible for me to narrow it down to just 3 recipients, but here are 3 things about me you might not know.

I love doing random acts of kindness
I love to sing when I'm driving alone in my car
I've had dreams of events that played out later in real life.

This stylish blogger award was given to me by Lyn of SpydersCorner. I came to know Lyn through her amazing free digital images she shares on her fabulous blog. She always adds a tiny spider to her images that make them unique and I just love her style. In receiving this award, you're to thank the person who shared it with you, share it with 8 other bloggers and share 8 things about yourself that you might not know. Thanks to you again Lyn for not only sharing this award with me, but for your generosity in sharing all those wonderful free digis with everyone! As with the above reward, all of my readers and friends deserve to have this, so please feel free to help yourself to it and tell everyone I gave it to you! Now for 8 more things about me you might not know.............

I love loud rock music
I can't read books - I always fall asleep 10 minutes after opening the book
I don't wear jewelry of any kind
I would rather still be working than retired
I don't have a cellphone (GASP!)
As Betty White said, I think Facebook is a huge waste of time
I've never seen the Sound of Music
I'm a morning person and can't deal with morning grumps :D

Again, thank you Brenda and Lyn for sharing these awards (and your wonderful talents) with me.
I wish you all a rewarding day and I hope everyone is staying warm!

Carol

Anything But a Card C4CC3

The challenge over at Crazy4Cocoa this week is to make anything but a card. I used the free Cocoa digi I got just for playing along with the first challenge, and I love that I can make it small enough to use on these matchbox candy holders. I've made a ton of these already and they're so fun to make and hand out. They always seem to bring a smile to everyone's face. I used real red card stock along with some retired SU! dp The sentiment in the circle is by Sweet 'n Sassy, and the one inside the oval is by Inkadinkado. The bottlecap circle was done with a Quickutz. Cocoa was colored with Copics and I used the square lattice embossing folder on the mats. I used a retired SU! corner punch, and added some silver cording to the corners for a little sparkle.
If you have any cocoa images, click the link above and come play along with us. There's a free stamp set up for grabs at the end of the month for those who play along, but you must use a Cocoa image. Sweet 'n Sassy has lots of Cocoa images, so join in on the fun! We'd love to see what you create!
Have a Cocoa kind of Tuesday and stay warm! It's c-c-c-cold out there today!!

Carol

Paper Pieced Pumpkins

I made this card for the Speedy the Cat's Friend's challenge #33, where Joanne challenged us this week to use paper piecing. I used the MFP Thankful Pumpkins and Mums set for this and used scraps of DP and kraft for the pumpkins. The yellow background is by PTI bitty basics and I created the faux brads by punching bits of kraft and DP and dotting them all with Glossy Accents. I also put some GA on the leaf. The rest is pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, shoot me an email.
Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Cocoa's Gift SSS86

I haven't done a sketch challenge in quite a while, so I played along with the Sweet Stop SSS86 this week. These colors are different for me, but I like how this turned out. I pulled out some scraps of kraft and unknown DP for this one, along with some ric-rac in a bronze color that I bought in a grab bag that was just sitting around collecting dust. I won this digi Cocoa image in a give-away from Denise, and have been using this image like crazy for Christmas tags, cards, and matchbox candy holders. I colored him with Copics and added some stickles for a pop of color on the blue ribbon. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and the pearls are from MS.
I hope you're having a great Monday! After some breakfast and coffee, I'm off to mail some packages. Wish me luck! LOL
Have a great Monday!

Carol

For the Dentist

While sitting at the dentist's office the other day, one of the girls was decorating the Christmas tree with toothbrushes and I thought that was such a cute idea! It reminded me of this House Mouse stamp I have, so I decided to make a card for him instead of just sending my check in the payment envelope. I hope this will bring a few smiles around the office.
I used BG Jovial DP with some real red ribbon & card stock, and colored the image with Copics. I added some liquid applique to the toothbrush for interest, and the sentiment is by Sweet 'n Sassy. 3 black brads finished this one off.
I'm getting close to wrapping up the Christmas card & gift making, so soon I can breathe a little easier. It's going to rain here in PA today, so I'll start my cookie baking later on today.
Happy Sunday everyone - make it a fabulous day!

Carol

Look for the Star

The challenge over at the Stampin' Bees blog this week is to use a star on a card. I embossed the star in the sky with silver ep and added stickles to the torn cardstock edges to resemble snow. The snowman from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps was cut out and popped up on foam tape. A very simple card to make, but I just adore the image of this snowman looking up to the star in the sky!
Do you have your Christmas cards finished yet? I'm still working on the last of mine, but I did get some mailed today and boy was I lucky! Not another soul was in the post office except moi!! I'm so grateful for that pleasant experience, trust me!! LOL Next week, the packages go out along with the rest of the cards, and I know I'll have plenty of company then!
Thanks for the little visit, I'm always happy to have you :D

Carol

An early Valentine

Here's a card I started a few weeks ago when I met with the other stampers I wrote about in a previous post. Denise shared this OCL stamped image with me (thanks Denise) and Cherie cut the image out with a cutting stylus! Cherie is the queen of stylus cutting as far as I'm concerned! (thanks Cherie). The background is what I call "mosaic" and it's all done with BG Indian Summer dp that I snipped into random pieces. First I ran a piece of cardstock through the Xyron, then adhered the dp pieces randomly on the sticky side, leaving spaces between all of them for embossing. After all the pieces were placed, I sprinkled gold ep over the piece and heat set it, giving the mosaic look. I matted it with a piece of Vintage Cream cardstock that was embossed using a Texture Fades ef. The ribbon is Vintage Cream and the sentiment is by SU!
I hope you're staying warm in this cold snap! It's going to get worse next week, so I think I'll get my errands done tomorrow and start my baking next week when it's too cold to go out! Make it a great day and thanks for stopping by :)

Carol

C4CC2_Santa's Little Helper

I have some exciting news to share with you today. I've been asked to join the DT for the Crazy for Cocoa Challenge blog found here and of course I couldn't say no!! This is the 2nd week for this new challenge, and in case you don't know what Crazy for Cocoa is all about, Sweet 'n Sassy stamps has a little mouse called "Cocoa" that appears on many clear and digital stamp sets found in the store. I fell in love with this cute little guy the first time I saw a stamp set hanging in a local stamp store and I had to buy it immediately. The above image of Cocoa is called Santa's Little Helper and it just makes me smile :) The challenge this week is to make a Christmas creation. I used Jovial DP by BG along with Real Red, and New Leaf cardstock. I embossed the red top note die cut with a square lattice ef and layered the image with Labels ten Nestabilities. Cocoa was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Tombows & a damp brush. I added some dazzling diamonds to the fur and pom-pom on Santa's hat for the final touch.
If you like Cocoa as much as I do, I hope you'll come on over and play too! Last week there was a free digi just for playing along, and a lucky participant for the month of December will pick up a free stamp set, so check it out!
Thanks for stopping by and stay warm!!! BRrrrrr, it's way too cold for me already and it's not even winter yet........is it?? Take care and have a fabulous day!

Carol

Christmas Puppy

The challenge this week at Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge #32 is to make a card with red & green. For my card I used a Whimsy digi image and colored him with Copics. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps and the paper is from BG. I used Nesties for the oval and sentiment panel, and the ribbon is from SU! To embellish the fur on his Santa hat, I added liquid applique and sprinkled on some Martha Stewart tinsel glitter and just let it dry.
Christmas is really coming up fast and I have so much more to get done! I guess I can safely assume I'm not alone though :)
Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!!! It's really cold here in PA this morning.....*shiver*

Carol

Stampin' Bees Challenge #87

The challenge at Stampin' Bees #87 this week is to create something using purple, turquoise, and something shiny! Yeah! I'm so there whenever you pair these two colors together! For this card I used an adorable free digi image from SpydersCorner called Top Hat Snowman. I colored him with Copics and Tombows and matted with PTI's plum cardstock. The dp is BG Figgy Pudding. I ran the white panel through the Big Kick with the snowflake ef and lightly swiped my Memento lulu lavender ink pad over the raised parts to add a bit of color. The snowflake was punched using a MS punch and layered with a shiny, silver snowflake brad. The sentiment was done with an Inkadinkado stamper and layered using the word window and fancy label punches. Ribbons are turquoise and eggplant from SU! and the bow was done with a bow easy. Add in a few turquoise brads and another Christmas card is done!
Thanks for the great challenge over at the Bees blog, and thanks for stopping in!

Carol

A Christmas Bird

I'm in full Christmas card mode now and finishing up my cards and projects for the big holiday. Yikes! It's December already, can you believe it?!
I used a long-hoarded piece of SU! dp for this one, along with some old olive, bashful blue, and white card stock. I used the Sizzix embossing folder and added some silver beads into the cross points. The bird was done with the SU bird punch and sponged in whale gray chalk ink and layered with the Spellbinders Blossom diecuts. The sentiment was stamped with an Inkadinkado stamp and layered with the word window and fancy label punches from SU! Quick and easy and the embossing really adds a touch of elegance IMHO.
Make it a great Wednesday and thanks so much for stopping by!

Carol