Another One for the Kids

Here's a card I made for my next box of Cards for Hospitalized Kids. I used an image & sentiment I stamped at a friend's house, possibly Inky Antics? I just loved the sentiment so I stamped off a bunch of them to use on kids cards.

I used a panel of pool party for the background color, and you're getting a sneak peek of SU!'s new Arrows Textured embossing folder that's coming in the new Occasions catalog. I hand-cut the sentiment panel, and used SB square dies for the image which was colored with Copics. I added a little slide-on clip and some twine for a fun accent.

Wishing you all a very safe and happy new year celebration!! Thanks so much for stopping by today! See ya next year  :)

Carol

Think Snow (J/K)

I made this card with a free digi image I found at Spyer's Corner. I tried to color him with Copics to match this Fancy Pants designer paper called Blissful Blizzard, but I clearly missed the mark! I don't own as many Copics as I'd like, but the colors are as close as I can get :) Anyhoo, I matted with some dark cranberry card stock, adding some tiny silver snowflake stickers to the tiny punched snowflakes. It's pouring rain here in PA today and I'm grateful that it's not snow, but the sentiment went perfectly with this sweet & cute image!

I'll be entering this into the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge #130 which is "anything goes." Any sketch, any colors, any embellishments, etc.

I'm also taking this one over to the Snippets Playground #105 since I made use of some very tiny snippets of dsp for this one.

Thanks for stopping by, and I wish you a wonderful day!

Carol

Take Time to Smile

Here's a fun card I made with Deedee Anderson's Time With You pre-colored digital stamp set. I just love this cute little bunny peeking from behind the clock, and the sentiment is perfect for the cards I make for Cards for Hospitalized Kids. I used some 7 Gypsies dsp, matting with chocolate cardstock, and enhanced the image with some stamped smiley faces to coordinate with the theme of smiling. I added small & large gold brads to the clock and this quick card was finished!

You can find this stamp set by clicking the link above, or to see all of Deedee's digital stamp sets, click here and you'll find several pages of them. You won't be disappointed with the variety and very reasonable prices!

Thank you for taking time from your busy holiday week to stop by and see what I've been up to. Here's wishing you a great weekend!

Carol

Red & White Midweek Throwdown

These cards are for the OWH Stars and Stamps midweek throwdown color challenge to make either a red & white, or a green & white card, without it being specifically for Christmas. Since I'm going to miss the Valentine deadline I decided to make these general love cards. Each has a different embossed heart, and each has a different embossed heart-themed background, so even though they look the same, they're a little different. I used a G studio stamped sentiment, cherry cobbler seam binding and Cuttlebug embossing folders for the red hearts. Since each red piece of card stock was left over from previous projects, I'm also entering these cards into the combined Snippets Playground weeks 103 & 104.

Enjoy your day - thank so much for the visit during this busy time of the year!

Carol

My Five Favorite Christmas Cards of 2013

Happy day after Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with friends, family, and loved ones!

I decided to play along with Debbie's " My Five Favorite Christmas Creations"  and post my favorite 5 cards I've made in 2013. It's fun to look back and see what we've created during the past year that wind up in our favorites. I have a link to each card's original post underneath.

Silver and Red Christmas

Season's Greetings

Deer in the Snow with Pines

A Silver Christmas Card

Silver and White Christmas Blessings

I hope you'll consider playing along and link up your five favorites too so we can all see them! Now have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope your day is filled with special joy!

OWH Sketch Challenge #204

Here's my take on the OWH sketch challenge #204 using all SU! products. I found this piece of retired soft lavender dsp and cut into it, flipping it over to reveal the coordinating striped side for the top panel. All punches are from SU!, and I added a white button brad to the center medallion at the top. The bottom punched elements have a smaller punched piece of cardstock in the centers to match.

Merry Christmas eve to everyone who celebrates, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Christmas Cards for the Kids

Here's a card I made for my granddaughter. This is Cocoa Mouse hiding behind his tree, and it was colored with Copics. The dsp is by BoBunny.

Here's one I made for another granddaughter and this is Rhubarb the Teddy Bear holding his gift. I embossed one panel with large dots to coordinate with the polka dot dsp, and added a ribbon brad with a snippet of polka dot ribbon.

Things are getting hectic now with 2 days left before Christmas! I hope you're finished doing all you need to do!! Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

A Little Sunshine

Here's a little change of pace from the Christmas cards I've been posting lately! I thought on this cloudy day a little bit of sunshine would help brighten the day for all of us :) This is my interpretation of the Retro Sketch Challenge #95. As I often do, I flipped the sketch on it's side and added some color-coordinated embossed panels to make this one brighter. The right panel was done with a Market Street stamp. I tapped the outside edges of the rays with a Memento dandelion ink pad, and tapped the inside of the rays with a Memento Tangelo ink pad, then stamped it on white card stock. The embossed panels were done with SU! ef's and matted with black. The sentiment panel was done with SB dies, outlining the inside edge of the white panel with a black marker. The ribbon tabs and gemstones are from Pizzazz Aplenty.

That's going to do it for me today so thanks for stopping by! Until next time, take good care and make it a great day!!

Carol

Thankful for You

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is to "Bling it on!" I added a piece of bling to the red "love" banner and strung all of them on a piece of black & white twine. The sentiment is by Casual Fridays and the stamps and banners are a sneak peek from SU!'s Sale-a-Bration called Banner Blast. Everything was stamped in Basic Grey and Real Red.

Thanks for stopping by on this busy weekend! Make it a great one!

Carol

Those Crazy Cats!

I thought I'd share a few cards today that I've made for my cat-loving friends. This is a free pre-colored digi from CraftyMoments that I just had to have as soon as I saw it! A friend of mine has a cat who takes up a permanent home in her Christmas tree every year as soon as she decorates it. I don't know what it is about cats & trees, but they seem to love hiding in them.  I used some pieces of matching dsp from my overflowing bin and put this together with some punched lights/ornaments and twine. The sentiment was computer generated.
I'll enter this card into the Snippets Playground #103.

Here's another cat all tangled up in the Christmas lights! This is a cute stamped image I've had in my stash for quite a while, and Di just left me a comment to let me know it's "Fluffles" the cat by Stampendous! (thanks Di!)   The papers are from Fancy Pants, and the lights were punched from glittered cardstock and strung with bakers twine. I added some spica glitter pen accents to the tiny lights on the image.

Same image, same paper stack, but designed just a little bit differently. These cards have already been sent, so I hope they'll bring a smile to those folks who love cats and all their antics with Christmas decorations!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful day!

Carol

One Color and a Sneak Peek

Here's my card for this week's Shopping our Stash challenge #131 which is "One Color." You may use neutrals with your one color, so I've used turquoise with black & white. The flourish is a Cheery Lynn die, while the white flowers (both large and small) were done with a Simon Says Stamp Bella Bloom die. Those cute little blue flowers were done with a sneak peek SU! stamp and punch bundle called Petite Petals that will be available January 3rd in the upcoming Occasions catalog. I stamped them with turquoise ink, and added a mini brad to the centers, then popped them up on dimensionals. I rounded the corners of the turquoise panel to soften the overall look.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

OWH Midweek Throwdown

Here's my card for the OWH Stars and Stamps midweek throwdown which is to make "love cards for kids." I rooted out some retired dsp from SU! for this and added a pre-colored digi and sentiment from SNSS and a piece of gingham ribbon. Quick and easy and sure to make some little one feel loved :)

That's going to do it for me for this day, so thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Time With You

Deedee Anderson has just released this adorable new digi image set called "Time With You." I'm loving this sweet little bunny peeking from behind the big clock, and it has Roman numerals too - my favorite! I enhanced this pre-colored digi with a red mini brad in the center of the clock face, and colored the hands with a Spica glitter pen, also adding a touch of pink glitter pen to the bunny's nose. For the pendulum, I added a punched piece of matching cardstock and popped it up on a foam piece to add a little dimension. The brown crystals have been in my stash for several years, and the designer paper is from BoBunny called "Timepiece." The colors in the paper looked great with the image and it's printed with Roman numerals too - what a great match! The sentiment is one of 6 included in the set

You can purchase this fun set at DianesDaydreamDesigns by clicking "Browse the Store" and looking for the Deedee's Digis category. Just look at all you get with this stamp set for such a great price!

I'm using the Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge #229 for my card today and will be using this easy sketch again and again! This card will be going to Cards for Hospitalized Kids, and I'll be making several more for both CFHK and OWH! The sentiments are perfect for sending uplifting greetings to kids!

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a great Wednesday!

Carol

HMFMC #160

The House Mouse HMFMC #160 challenge is to use Silver and/or Gold, so I opted to go for the gold! I stamped and embossed this fun HM image with gold embossing powder, and colored him with Copics, adding liquid applique and sparkly stickles to the fur on his cap. I die cut with a SB postage stamp die, and matted it with embossed gold card stock and red, adding gold square brads to the corners. The sentiment was embossed with gold and layered the same as the image panel, and I added a piece of retired SU! dsp for the background. The final touch was a metallic ribbon bow attached with glossy accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and as always - I wish you a fantastic day!

Carol

Let it Snow, Let it Snow.......and it will!!

Here's my entry for this week's OWH Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #203. I took a few liberties with the sketch because I wanted to use some die cut pieces I'd cut for previous projects and never used. The fancy die cut is a Lotus from Spellbinders in vanilla cardstock, while the SU! bird is perched upon a woodland branch die cut. The sentiment was done on die-cut feathers with a Casual Friday's stamp, and the main color is Pool Party with dark grey scraps for the banners. I'm also entering this card into the Snippets playground #103, because practically everything used was a found snippet in my stash!

Here's an adorable pre-colored image from Laurie Furnell that I used to make this card for the Cards in Envy "Icy or Hot" challenge. Obviously I went with icy, as it's been snowing here in PA and it's not even officially winter yet!! I used papers from a Fancy pants Blizzard paper pad, and added a couple felt snowflakes along with some red gemstones from Pizzazz Aplenty. The sentiment was a printed border from the stack, so that worked out perfectly to make a quick & simple card and it's flat enough to mail with just one stamp! Yay!

I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is to "let it snow."

Stay warm and have a great week! Thanks for stopping by as always :)

Carol

More Christmas Cards

Here's my entry for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is "Let it Snow." I cut into this gorgeous piece of dsp I've had for a long time and finally made some cards with it. It has shades of light blue and beige, all swirled together with some gorgeous spatters & snowflake images. I matted it with a piece of beige cardstock, and added a felt snowflake with a matching blue snowflake brad in the center. The sentiment is an old wooden stamp I've had since I began stamping!

Here's another one I'm entering in the MFP Speedy Fox & Friends challenge #190 which is to use 3 different Christmas papers. I used 3 papers from the LillyBee Jingle pack, and added some embossed gold cardstock accents between the panels, and for the vertical banner. The sentiment was embossed in gold, and the candy cane image was fussy cut and popped on some Spellbinders circle dies. The bow was finished with some glossy accents.

We're bracing for another round of snow here in eastern PA today, so I'm staying indoors and will probably be in my craft room most of the day.......until it's time to shovel again that is :)

Stay warm, and make it a great day!

Carol

Love & Pocket Pals

Here's my card for the OWH midweek throwdown which is to make a love-themed card. I used this adorable PB image and layered it with BoBunny dsp, and some cute ribbon with printed hearts that I've had in my stash forever.

This is another pre-printed colored digi from Deedeesdigis.com called Pocket Pal Bunny. I love that his pocket is pre-printed with that cute pattern, so all I did was print the included sentiment and fussy cut it to fit on the pocket and add a little gem stone to the center of the flower! I used a scrap of lavender cardstock and embossed it with a Sizzix folder, then layered it with a yellow mat and added some flowers done with a  SU! Boho Blossoms punch, and added matching gemstones from Pizzazz Aplenty. The beautiful pink background paper is included with the stamp set and I love the swirled color that goes from light to dark in random patterns! This may be a spring-like card, but in the midst of this cold snap we're in, a touch of spring is just what I needed :) This very reasonably priced stamp set includes 4 images, 4 6x6 papers, and 6 sentiments!

Are you playing along with Deedee's December challenge? Check here for details and learn how you can earn a free stamp set every month just by playing along in her challenges!!

I'm also entering this card into the Snippets Playground #102.

Thanks for checking in, and I wish you a wonderful day!

Carol

Don't Worry - BEE Happy!

I made this for the Shopping our Stash #130 challenge which is a tic-tac-toe grid. I used the top line straight across which is "brads, ribbon, & tags." Look closely, and you'll see 2 mini brads on the bee's antennae :) The lower portion was stamped and clear embossed with an IO background stamp on gold cardstock, and after stamping, I took a Copic marker and randomly filled in the hexes with a little color to look more like real honeycomb. I used wooden $1 stamps to spell out "happy" and punched them with a SU! jewel tag, stringing them up on some black twine. The top panel is Bazzill Basics dsp and I added a gray grosgrain ribbon to the center. The word "bee" was done with my Quickutz, and the pre-colored bee image was done with SB squares and scalloped squares. I added some orange spica glitter pen accents to the bee's nose, "hands" and "feet." If anyone knows who's cute digi image this is, please let me know in a comment, and I'll give proper credit. I've had it in my files for some time and there's no name attached to it unfortunately.

Thanks for buzzing by, now go make it a great day!!

Carol

TMS 228

This card is for the Tuesday Morning Sketch #228. There's a twist to use jingle bells and/or a snowman, but I finished all my Christmas cards and shifted focus on cards for hospitalized kids instead. This is a pre-colored Dustin Pike image and I added some glitter pen details to the noses of the cat & mouse and scarves. The sentiment is from SU! and was layered on gray and gold cardstock and hand-cut to look like a ticket. The dsp is Bazzill basics Zinc, and the embossed panel was done with a Sizzix bubble wrap ef.

It's always so nice to have you stop by, so thanks for the visit and have yourself a fabulous day!

Carol

Dynamic Duos and Snippets

Here's a card I'm entering into the Dynamic Duos DD#82 to use the colors of rich pink and green. I used all leftover papers and scraps for this one, stamping & embossing the Hero Arts floral images in black onto matching dsp and fussy cutting them. The stems were done with a Sizzlet from SU! and layered on another snippet of dsp from my scrap bin. The sentiment was done with an Inkadinkado stamper on SU! jewel tags & I adhered them under the pink grosgrain ribbon with some black pearls on top.

This one is also heading over to the Snippets Playground #102.

Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a great day!

Carol

Thoughts of You

Here's my entry for the OWH Stars and Stamps Sketch challenge #202. I used a couple neglected embossing folders in my stash to do the kraft and vertical panels, and added some dsp from Authentique. The island indigo, pool party card stock & sentiment are from SU!. Those little doo-dads at the bottom were done with chocolate chip card stock and a SU! mini punch. The ribbon is also SU! and the pearls are from Pizzazz Aplenty.

This is a free digi that Deedee Anderson offered recently, and I honestly don't know if I've done it justice or not. The more I worked on this card, the less I liked it. I thought the dsp with the peppermint candies would work well with the peppermint whipped cream that I colored, but somehow it all became too busy when I put it all together. I colored the image with Copics, added snippets of DCWV card stock and snippets of ribbon and a sentiment from a SNSS stamp set. I punched a blue heart from the matching dsp and added it to the top of the ribbon snippet. The dsp is a very old piece of Basic Grey I've had for years! The horizontal panel was embossed with a Sizzix ef and I layered the image with Spellbinders circle & scalloped circle dies.

I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch #227 for this, and miraculously I've not run out of time to link it up as I often do!! LOL I'm also entering it into the Snippets Playground #102 since I used snippets of paper and ribbon.

S.N.O.W. is in the forecast for PA today, so I'll be finishing up some holiday baking and wrapping today. It will be a good day to be inside :)

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a warm and wonderful day!

Carol

Blue Christmas

Here's a card I made with SU! tag punches! It's called a Tag Punch Star, and they're so much fun to make! I added stickles to the edges of the star for some sparkle, and embossed the sentiment. I added a pair of MS punched snowflakes with a blue brad in the center. I'm entering this card into the MFP Speedy Fox & Friends challenge #189, which is "blue Christmas."

Here's a version of it in reverse colors. I used glittered blue cardstock and pearl white for this one, adding small circle punch of the glittered cardstock for the center (shaped with an eraser and popped on foam tape) and 2 MS punched snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great weekend!!

Carol

Embossed Ornaments

Today I have a couple more Christmas cards to share with you using SU! Ornament and Mosaic punches. I had a few snippets of this beautiful metallic cardstock in my stash, so I made good use of them with some punches and embossing folders They were embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder (Snowglobe & Powdered Sugar), and backed with an embossed piece of red cardstock - done with a SU! square lattice ef. The sentiment is by SU! and the ornaments are suspended on silver stickers.

Here's the same version in blue, embossed with a Cuttlebug (CB) swiss dots folder on a piece of baby blue card stock, while the ornaments were embossed with a CB Decorative Tiles ef. I was pleased with the save on the little scraps of this precious, pricey metallic card stock and got two more Christmas cards for the stash.

I'll enter these cards into the Snippets playground #101.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful day!

Carol

OWH Mid-Week Throwdown

This week's mid-week throwdown over at the Stars and Stamps blog is to make Valentine cards. I've had this one made, and last night added it to my next OWH box which I plan to send within the next day or two.
I embossed the SU! smoky slate cardstock with a diamond pattern embossing folder (sorry, don't have the name) and used SU! Hearts A-Flutter stamps and dies for the banner and heart. The sentiment was done with a Quickutz and the final touch was to add a small white heart-shaped brad in the center of the heart. The banner was embossed with silver ep, while the heart was embossed with black, giving a nice contrast. This was a simple design, so I made several in different colors...

I liked this simple & easy design, so I made a Pacific Point version, using the same SU! set of Hearts a Flutter stamps & dies, and embossing with white powder on black cardstock. I added a piece of SU! smoky slate chevron ribbon to this one with a punched border in black.

And here's the plum-colored version. I used the SU! Perfectly You stamp set for the smaller heart, embossing it with silver ep on pale gray textured cardstock. The Hearts a Flutter heart was embossed with white embossing powder on black and die cut with the matching SU! Hearts a Flutter die. The ribbon is from PTI and again - the sentiment was done with my Quickutz.

These cards don't have the traditional Valentine themed sentiment because if I should happen to mail them too late for Valentine's day, they can also be used for general love-themed cards.

Thanks for stopping by and sticking around for this longer-than-usual post. I wish you a wonderful day!

Carol

One Big Balancing Act and December's Calendar

Here's a House Mouse card with an image that just blew me away! I saw it in the store and had to have it! I just love that little guy balancing all those wrapped gifts, especially the one on the top left that's falling off the pile! LOL It reminds me of the old Rachael Ray shows where she carried all her supplies in one trip to her work table to prepare a meal! LOL I colored this with Copics and added 2 jewel tags with some twine & a mini brad for the sentiment and this card was done!

I'm entering this into the HMFMC#159 to make a card with "anything Christmas." I'm also entering it into the Cards In Envy "Tag! You're It" challenge to use a tag on your card, but make an A2 card suitable for mailing.

And here is the last of Heidi's year of calendars - December. This is just precious with the beautifully decorated ornament and the little hedgie holding his own ornament too I just love the soft color scheme she used here! I'll miss having one of these pages in front of me in the coming year, as this has really been the gift that keeps giving all year long! Thanks and hugs (Heidi!)

That't it for me today, but thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol

All Aboard the Gingerbread Express!

Good Monday Morning! Today I have a card using Deedee Anderson's brand new digi stamp set called "Gingerbread Train." If you played along with her November challenge, you received this stamp set for free, but it's still available right here if you want to play along in our December challenge. When you join in with Deedee's December's challenge, you'll receive January's digi stamp/set absolutely free! You might even want to follow Deedee's blog because she offers random free digis for a limited time too - now that's a good thing :) You can find all of Deedee's digis right here.

I used some retired SU! dsp that seemed to go along with this fun image, and fussy-cut the little conductor and popped him up on dimensionals. The sentiment was done with an EK ticket punch and I punched a few holes, as back in the older days, they punched your train tickets after you got on board.

I was going to enter this into the Tuesday Morning Sketches, but the links were already closed........sigh. I have a solid reputation for running a day late and a dollar short, but I hope you enjoy the card anyway :)

I'm looking forward to seeing what you create with this adorable digi, so come play along with us and have some fun! The train won't be pulling out of the station until the end of December, so you have plenty of time to play!

Have a great week ahead and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Catching up with OWH challenges

Here's my card for the OWH Stars and Stamps sketch challenge #201. I pulled a stamped image from my collection (sorry, didn't mark the mfr on the back) and assembled it with all SU! card stock, papers, ribbon, and candy dots. I used a MS border punch along the bottom and added glossy accents to the melted ice cubes and drink in this little guy's hand :)

This card is for the OWH Stars and Stamps mid-week throwdown color challenge. This week it's "white on white." I used a pretty die from Simon Says Stamp called "Bella Bloom" to make the layered flower, and added a white mini brad to the center. Embossing was done with a Cuttlebug decorative tiles folder, while the sentiment is from Casual Friday stamps and was stamped on some die-cut feathers.

I'm caught up for this week, and now I need to get some work done around the house! Thanks for stopping by!