An Embossing Challenge

Welcome to another Stamps R Us challenge where we're asking you to add embossing to your cards. This week 's challenge is sponsored by Sketching Stamper Digi Stamps where you'll find some lovely and unique digi images for your card making. I'm using the poinsettia image, and I colored it with Copics. I used Cherry Cobbler, Wild Wasabi, and Early Espresso cardstock. I embossed a piece of dp with a sizzix ef, and then did the sentiment with a Spellbinders fancy label and a SNSS sentiment. I added some baker's twine in a criss-cross pattern and added some crystals to the center of the poinsettia and the sentiment panel.
This angle shows the crystals a little better than the other photo.

I hope you'll get those embossing folders out and come play along with us, because our sponsor is offering a generous prize to a randomly drawn winner.

You can find all the details here, along with the other gorgeous creations by my fellow DT members.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Carol

SNSDC30 Use your Favorites

Hello and welcome to the SNSDC30! This week the challenge is to use your favorites. This means your favorite stamp, paper, embossing folder, ..........whatever happens to be your favorite stamping item. This card has mostly all of my favorites! It's my favorite SNSS digi image and the first one I ever bought. It's Cocoa's Santa Hat and the sentiment is from the clear stamp set. Purple is my favorite color, so that's why I'm making a purple Christmas card. The embossing folder is SU! square lattice and my very favorite ef, and the die cut I used for the image is Spellbinders labels eighteen and for the time being, it's also a favorite of mine. I lined the edges with a silver paint pen, and added some liquid applique to the fur on Santa's hat. For those of us out there who really like purple, this card is going to be OK for Christmas giving :)

I hope you'll grab your favorites and make a card and share it with us! You don't need to use a SNSS image, but we love to see them when you do! When uploading to the galleries, please tag your creation with SNSDC30. In addition to the regular monthly challenge prize, during the month of November, one participant, chosen randomly, will receive 4 free digis each week!!! You do not have to use SNS digi stamps to play along.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Friday!

Carol

Crazy4Cocoa & Friends C4C25 - Dry Embossing

Welcome to the Crazy4Cocoa & Friends challenge #25. This week we're dry embossing our cards. I stamped the top inside portion of my snowglobe embossing folder with pear pizzazz ink and ran it through the big kick to create the background. I'm using the Santa's Helper Cocoa image that was colored with Copics. I added some liquid applique to the fur on Santa's hat, and added a sentiment from the Christmas Tags stamp set. I added some ribbon and die cuts with a labels 4 from Spellbinders, and my card was done!

I hope you'll play along with us and get some of those Christmas cards finished for your stash, so grab your Cocoa or cute critter images (like Rhubarb) from SNSS, and let's get started! Ready, set, emboss!!

When uploading to the galleries, please tag your creations with C4C25.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Carol

I'm Back.........somewhat :)

It feels good to be home again. I'm sure many of you weren't aware that I had hip replacement surgery on the 7th of November, so I'm gradually getting back into the swing of things while I recover. It's still difficult to make cards because I can't lean forward in the chair to reach for things like the phone, punches, stamps, etc. so the stamping will be a sporadic thing for a few weeks to come. I hope you'll all be patient with me while I go through the process.

It took me nearly 2 days to make this card for a friend who's celebrating her birthday next week, but I did it! I snipped random pieces of autumn dp and adhered them to a scrap of cardstock randomly, after running it through the Xyron. I left spaces in between them almost like cobblestone, and then added gold embossing powder and heat embossed it. For the final touch I embossed the whole piece using a snowcap ef. It's unusual, but I really like how it turned out. I used a border die from SNSS to make the crumb cake border and wove a piece of early espresso satin ribbon through, then added a sentiment using the Sincere Salutations set. This friend buys a lot of cards from me, so I wanted to make something she's never seen before. I think this one will surprise her because it's unique and also has the colors of autumn......which is the time of year she was born.

Thanks for all the well wishes and cards while I was away. I've missed everyone and really missed stamping, but in time I'll get back in the swing of things again.

Did anyone catch the NASCAR championship race on Sunday night? My favorite driver (Tony Stewart) won the race and the Sprint cup championship! I was in a state of euphoria and still don't think my feet have touched the floor yet! LOL What an exciting way to end the season! I think it might have been the best race I've ever seen.........but then I must admit - I'm one of Tony's biggest fans :)

Have a great week and for those who celebrate, have a fantastic Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be thankful for!

Carol

SNSDC29 A Bird Image

Welcome to another SNSDC where this week we're using a bird image for our cards. I'm using the SNSS digital titmouse image today, and I colored it with Copics. I guess the way I colored the bird looks a little strange, and I don't even have an explanation, other than I simply colored him the way I felt like coloring him :) I used all retired SU colors, papers, and ribbon for this one, and added a SNSS digi sentiment from the helping hand set and added a snippet of ribbon and a pearl. The butterflies were done with a MS punch and the lower panel was embossed with a Swiss Dots ef. The image was cut with a Spellbinders blossom die and sponged with Ranger ink.

If you play along with us, please tag your creations with SNSDC29 when uploading to the galleries.

In addition to the regular monthly challenge prize; during the month of November, one participant, chosen randomly, will receive 4 free digis each week!! You do not have to use SNS digi stamps to play along.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Carol

Crazy4Cocoa & Friends C4C24 - Non-Traditional Colors

Hello, happy Thursday, and welcome to another Crazy4Cocoa & Friends challenge! This week we're challenging you to make a Christmas card and use some non-traditional colors! I went way out of the Christmas color boundaries for this card, but I think some little girl will really enjoy receiving this because it has pink on it! I'm using Rhubarb's Candy Cane digi image for my card, and he was colored with Copics. The dp is a soft mauve color with snowflakes, so I colored Rhubarb to coordinate with the paper, and added pink and brown accents. The sentiment was done with the Christmas Tags clear set. I added a mat and some satin ribbon in early espresso colors, and 3 pink buttons with bakers twine.

If you want to play along with us, all you have to do is choose either a Cocoa image, or any of Cocoa's critter friends in the SNSS store and create a card with non-traditional colors! When uploading to the galleries, please tag your creations with C4C24!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

Carol

Stamps R Us - Bling It On Challenge

Hello and welcome to another Stamps R Us Challenge. This week our sponsor is Crafty Sentiments, and I'm using this adorable Flopsy in the Rain image. I colored the image with Copics and added lots of glossy accents to the puddle and raindrops that looks much better IRL. The white panel was embossed with a CB Swiss Dots ef, and I added some turquoise gemstones to "bling it up."

I hope you'll grab your bling and come play along with us. There will be a great prize for a randomly drawn participant, so be sure to join in the fun!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Carol

SNSDC28 Paper Piecing

Hello and happy Friday! My card today is for the SNSDC28 to use paper piecing on our cards. I printed this Rhubarb's Heart digi image on white cardstock and also on some BoBunny dp. I cut the heart from the dp and pieced it onto Rhubarb's heart. The sentiment is from SNSS's Valentine's Day Greetings and the image was colored with Copics. I added a few black gemstones and added some oval layers in black and crumbcake and outlined the labels four die cut with a gold paint pen.

If you play along with this challenge, you might just be the winner of a nice prize! In addition to the regular monthly challenge prize; during the month of November one participant will be randomly chosen to receive 4 free digi stamps each week!! You do not have to use SNS digi stamps to play along.

Thanks for stopping by today and make it a great Friday!

Carol

Crazy4Cocoa & Friends C4C23 - Honor a Vet!

Hello, and welcome to another Crazy4Cocoa & Friends challenge. This week in honor of Veteran's Day on November 11th, we ask you to honor a veteran by making a card for him or her! Use whatever supplies Veteran's day means to you. When I think of Veteran's Day, I think of patriotic colors, so I used red, white, blue & kraft along with this Patriotic Cocoa image for my card. The background was done by cutting out stars from some BoBunny Liberty dp, and embedding them into the kraft layer by lightly gluing them on and then embossing everything in one pass through the machine. I colored Cocoa with Copics and added a sentiment that's perfect to honor a veteran. We owe all of our veterans a note of gratitude for their efforts in serving our country. This will be an "Any Hero" card I'll put into my next shipment that goes to OWH.

Thanks for checking in today and if you want to play along with us, you can use any Cocoa, Rhubarb, or any of those cute critter images from SNSS to play along! Use clear stamps or digis - it's your choice! When uploading to the galleries, please tag your creation with C4C23.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and we look forward to seeing your Cocoa cards!

Remember to thank a veteran!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Carol

I'm Taking a Blogging Break

Hello crafters and a very happy Monday to everyone. I wanted to let you all know that I need to take some time away from the computer and blogging for a few weeks, but I'll be back soon! I've pre-scheduled my posts for the SNSDC, Crazy4Cocoa, and Stamps R Us challenges, so you might not even notice that I'm gone.........except for the fact that I won't be able to leave any comments for you. I'll catch up when I get back, promise!! Happy Stampin' everyone and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Release Party Challenge Cards

During SNSS's recent November release party, there were 3 challenges issued and I found time to finish them all. (Yay!) First up is Taylor's sketch challenge SNSSNOV11RP01. I used some vintage cream cardstock and a scrap of DP, along with a felt snowflake, embossing folder, and some Geo Sparkler stickers for this one.
This card was done for Holly's SNSSNOV11RP02 monochromatic challenge. I used the basic Rhubarb digi image and scraps of pink card stock and dp. I used labels eighteen dies for the image and added a tiny tag with a small pink gemstone, and of course a tiny white satin bow.
And this flowercake digi image was given as a freebie to all who attended the release party. This card was made for Monika's SNSSNOV11RP03 challenge to use 2 dies or punches. I used 2 dies and a punch for this, along with some Viva Decor pearls and glossy accents on the cake image. The dp is by Recollections and the green card stock and ribbon is PTI. The sentiment was computer generated and the embossing was done with a TH/Sizzix damask ef.

That's about it for me today, so thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Carol

SNSDC27 Make a Christmas Card

Welcome to the SNSDC27 which is to create a Christmas card! I'm using this adorable festive penguin digi image for my card that was colored with Copics and cut out using spellbinders circles and scalloped circles. I matted it with some BoBunny dp and Cherry Cobbler card stock using labels 18 from Spellbinders. The background is a single sheet of BoBunny dp, and since it said Jingle Bells, I decided to add a couple of tiny jingle bells to the ribbon with some silver cording. I just love those tiny bells :)

You can never start making Christmas cards too early, so this is your opportunity to get some into your stash by playing along with our challenge. In addition to the regular monthly challenge prize; during the month of November, one lucky participant will be chosen randomly to receive 4 free digi images each week! You do not have to use SNS digis to play along.

You can link your cards up here, and tag them with SNSDC27 when uploading to the galleries.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Friday!

Carol

Sweet 'n Sassy Release Day Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a blog hop in honor of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps release day! This month we're doing something really fun! The Design Divas and the Digi Team are hopping together to celebrate the fabulous clear stamps, digis, and dies being released tonight! You'll want to grab your favorite drink or snack and get ready for some amazing eye candy! Tonight we kick off our release party at 8:00PM EST in our member company forums over on Splitcoaststampers.com and we have a great party planned! There will be full reveals of all of the stamp sets, digis and dies, plus challenges and prizes!!

And speaking of prizes.....be sure to visit each blog on the hop and then leave a comment on the SNSS blog letting us know which set is your favorite! There is a fabulous prize up for grabs and it's the ENTIRE NOVEMBER RELEASE!!!!! How exciting is that! The winner's name will be randomly drawn from those comments at the release party tonight, so be sure to join us there tonight after you're done hopping!

If you arrived here from Holly's blog, then you're on the right track. If you just happened to pop in, you'll want to start at the beginning on the SNSS blog and follow along from there. You won't want to miss any stops along the way! I also have the complete list of bloggers at the end of this post for your convenience.
This is a brand new digi being released called Snowman Soup! Don't you just love this cute little snowman sitting in the cup?! There's a Snowman Soup poem sentiment that perfectly coordinates with this sweet image too! If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you should be able to read it. I made a tag for the sentiment and added a little ribbon and some silver snowflake stickers. I colored the image with Copics and popped it up on dimensionals after lining the outside edges with a Tombow marker. There are some matching snowflake stickers on the border of the cup, and I added some liquid applique to the fur on the hat. The background is called recessed diamonds and was done on my Scor-pal.

And now your next stop on the hop is the fabulous Taylor Usry. If you get lost along the way or find broken links, here is a list of all the bloggers participating in this hop.

SNSS Blog
Kim Schofield
Sandy Domelle
Ceal Pritchett
Mary Faus
Janette Olen
Makiko Jones
Kim Singdahlsen
Jessica Fick
Stephanie Wright
Dina Kowal
Holly McMillen
Carol Longacre - you're here
Taylor Usry
Cathy McCauley
Margo Smith
Bridget Finlay
Harriet Skelly
Monika Davis
Korin Sutherland

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day hopping!

Carol

Crazy4Cocoa & Friends C4C22 - Add Snowflakes!

Hello and happy Thursday! It's time for a new Crazy4Cocoa & friends challenge, and this week we're using snowflakes on our cards. They can be within the image, on the dp, on the ribbon, or just snowflake embellishments. As long as we see snowflakes, you're good to go :)

I'm using the SNSS Cup of Cocoa clear set for my card. He was colored with Copics, and mounted on 2 blossom die cuts edged with a silver paint pen. I used some retired SU! dp and added 2 felt snowflakes with brads. For the final touch, I added some silver beads.

You can use any SNSS critter image for the C4C22 challenge, so check out all those adorable Rhubarb and Bethany bunny images too! I'm sure you'll find something you like and you can play along with us. When uploading to the galleries, please use the keyword C4C22!

Thanks for stopping by today and have fun creating!

Carol

SC357 Masculine Thank-You

My hubby asked me this morning to make him a thank-you card for a friend who's done a lot of favors for him lately. Since he lives in a log cabin, I thought one of my Stampscape images would work perfectly. I'm using the sketch challenge 357 from SCS for my card. I stamped the image with Versafine Onyx Black ink, and embossed it with clear detail ep, then colored it with Copics. I found a scrap of blue card stock and embossed it with a Sizzix diamonds ef, then tied some brown & white twine around it. The image was matted on some early espresso & crumb cake card stock, then adhered to an espresso card base. The sentiment, from SU!'s Thank You Kindly set, was masked to stamp just one word and was done with a trimmed down word window punch. I hope he likes this, but I'm sure he's going to like the WaWa gift card inside even more :)

That's it for me today, but be sure and stop back tomorrow for a fun blog hop from SNSS!

Carol

White & Gold Christmas

Here's a quick and easy card I'll be making more of for Christmas. I used 2 older rubber stamps I've had in my stash since I began stamping. I embossed the tree image with gold ep, edged it with a gold paint pen while it was still in the die, then cut it using a labels eighteen die. For the background, I embossed the sentiment in gold, lined the edges with a gold paint pen and embossed it using a CB swiss dots ef. A few pieces of ribbon and a little bow, and this one was done!

Christmas will be here before we know it, so quick and easy works for me! I still have quite a few to make!

I hope you're enjoying your Tuesday, and I'll be back soon :)

Carol