Cocoa Mouse Autumn Cards

my friend Mary Anne recently gifted me with a few sheets of this great double-sided dsp by Jen Hadfield called "Warm and Cozy" so I made 2 cards with some of it, flipping it to use both sides as well as the tiny plaid border along the bottom. I used a SNSS Cocoa Mouse stamp set and paper-pieced the leaf with a different snippet of autumn leaves dsp, coloring the mouse with Copics. I used random snippets of cardstock for the mats and  different colored twine just for fun. I used 2 different sentiments from the Sweet 'n Sassy stamp set.

I'm sharing with the Double D "Feeling Fallish" challenge which includes this great inspirational photo...

Happy first day of November, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Got Cheese?

I put this card together with snippets of dsp and cardstock found in my overflowing bits and pieces container. The main image is my favorite Cocoa Mouse from SNSS and I colored it with Copics, adding a horizontal scalloped border done with a SNSS die. The mice were done with Gina Marie Designs dies, and the sentiment is from MFP. This is another card made for Cards for Hospitalized Kids but I'm also sharing it over at the Snippets Playground #251 where the only rule is to use snippets.

Thanks for the visit - it's always nice to have you stop by. Now go and have yourself a fantastic day!

Carol

Serene Scene

I used one of my favorite Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp sets (SNSS) called "The Sea" to create this card. I stamped the image and sentiment with versafine onyx black ink, then heat embossed them with clear detail ep which enabled me to sponge ink on top of it. I sponged with the following Distress inks - Blueprint Sketch, Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar, and Picked Raspberry. I was so pleased with the serene look that I chose some matching pink and blue cardstock and die-cut the panels with Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies. I'm surprised I haven't worn those dies out yet, because I use them more than anything else in my entire craft stash! LOL

I'm sharing this over at the Little Red Wagon Challenge #357 which is "let's get inky."

Thanks for the visit, and I hope your day is as calm and serene as my card :)

Carol

Make it Sparkle

Today I have a card with a digital butterfly image from SNSS. After printing I colored it with Copics, then added Stickles in yellow and turquoise to the darker colored portions of the butterfly. I sponged the edges of the image panel with some pale blue ink, and matted with white, blue, a square lattice embossed panel, and some rust-colored cardstock. I placed this on an embossed panel (sorry -I forget the name of the ef) and added a birthday sentiment with SB ribbon tag and grommet tag dies, and some ribbon from my stash.

I'm sharing this with the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #TT308 which is to "Make it Sparkle."

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

Carol

Cocoa Mouse Cards

Here's my favorite character to stamp and color - he's Cocoa mouse and he's from Sweet'n Sassy Stamps and he's sending some get well wishes. I colored the image with Copics, adding fluorescent blue to the band-aid, along with some tiny stars and hand-drawn squiggly lines above his "boo-boo." The paper is ancient, and I believe it's from the Wild Asparagus collection if memory serves me correctly. I die-cut the image with a Gina Marie stitched squares die.

The challenge at Cards in Envy this week is to use "stripes" so I'm entering this card there.

Lately I've been trying to make at least 2 of each card to fill up my stash, so I made a different one using this SNSS Cocoa mouse image:

This was done in shades of pink & brown, using snippets of matching designer paper, and a couple snippets of ribbon. I attached the ribbon with a pink brad and called this one done.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Carol

CASE-ing Brenda

I recently saw this pretty card and tutorial on Brenda's blog and knew I wanted to give this technique a try, so I pulled out my SU! Fabulous Flowers stamp set (r) and got to work. I stamped the image in Spun Sugar distress ink so I'd have the lighter color to work with, then die cut the center panel with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle die. I colored the panel with Copics; outlining the petals with a fine black marker before inserting it back into the larger piece. I cut all the panels with Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies and added a SU! (r) thank you sentiment along with some Pizzazz Aplenty pink gemstones. After I finished this, I decided to make another one using a different flower stamp........

This one was done with just one cut panel instead of 2, and I used the (r) SU! Blended Bloom stamp, again coloring just the insert piece before putting it back into the card base. I added a SNSS sentiment along with some Copic-colored snippets to match the big flower, punching them out with SU! mini punches and dotting the centers with tiny black gemstones from Pizzazz Aplenty.

I'm happy with how they turned out, so thanks for that fun tutorial Brenda - I'm surely going to make more of these in the future :) Go have yourself a wonderful day now, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Fluorescent Pink Get Well Card

A dear friend and neighbor was suddenly taken ill with hopefully a 24-hour bug of sorts, so I put together this get well card for her since she complained of a terrible headache. I found the previously stamped SNSS Cocoa Mouse image among my million and one doo-dads, so I colored it with Copics and die cut it with some Gina Marie stitched square dies. The pink striped dsp was in my bin of snippets, so I carried the pink theme throughout my card. I colored the band-aid on Cocoa's head with a Fluorescent Pink Copic, and colored snippets of white cardstock with the same Copic. I punched the butterflies from those snippets with 2 different punch-a-bunch butterfly punches and colored the bodies and antennae with a black marker. The sentiment panel was done with a fancy scalloped border punch from SU!

I'm sharing this over at the Shopping our Stash #250 which is to use up those unfinished objects, and use the color Pink (gah). They're doing this challenge as a tribute to Leslie Hanna who started/hosted this challenge and sadly passed away this past December. She hated the color pink, but she had an incredible sense of humor, so she understands this tribute better than any of us ever will. Miss you Leslie!

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

Carol

Say Cheese

Here's a card I made for my next Cards for Hospitalized Kids box. I printed a SNSS digital image of Cocoa Mouse, and colored him with Copics, adding Glossy Accents to the big orange bow on his block of swiss cheese. The tiny mice were done with die cuts from Gina Marie Designs with white cardstock and colored with Copics too. The background was embossed with a swiss dots embossing folder and the ribbon is from my stash. The sentiment is from CTMH.

Wishing you a great week ahead, and as always; thanks for stopping by.

Carol

Monochromatic Get Well Card

I have a monochromatic card to share today that's made with SNSS stamps. I first stamped the images with Versafine Onyx Black ink, then clear heat-embossed it to seal it. Then I taped it to a Nestabilities labels 10 die, and sponged in the color while it rested in the die. I used shades of red-to-pink inks then drew around the inside edge with a gold paint pen, and then die cut the image using my Big Shot. I created the image panel this way to give that crisp white edge which I really like. I die cut a larger labels 10 in a wine colored cardstock and edged that in gold also, and matted the image with it. The Papers used are Basic Grey Indian Summer (r) and I die cut some SB foliage leaves and punched some flowers using the dsp. The card base is a piece of Tim Holtz dsp from an older paper pad. I edged the sentiment panels with a gold paint pen to match the image mats too. The image, mat, leaves, and flowers were all embossed with a SU! square lattice ef and the finishing touch was a scalloped edge punched border done with a SU! punch.

I'm sharing this over at the Cuttlebug Mania Monochrome Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a fabulous day!

Carol

Happy Thanksgiving

I have a card today using a SNSS image called Rhubarb, and he's celebrating the day with a big pumpkin and some autumn leaves.

I hope your day is spent with loved ones and you'll take time to count your blessings, because we all have a lot to be thankful for - even in tough times.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Carol

Here Comes the Mouse Again.....

The challenge over at Jingle Belles is to "Deck the Halls in Pink" - in other words add pink to your holiday cards. For every card entered into the challenge, Stephanie and Lauren will each donate $2 to breast cancer research since October is breast cancer awareness month. Check out the details here on the Jingle Belles blog and help them out by playing along! Not only am I decking the halls in pink - I'm decorating them in fluorescent pink with my favorite little buddy - Cocoa mouse from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

I colored the SNSS image with Copics, adding pink (FRV1) and blue (FB2) fluorescent colors to the cup, then matted it on a SB scalloped square die - which was colored on the edges with the fluorescent pink Copic. I stamped the SNSS sentiment and hand cut it to fit on the SB grommet tag die cut - which was also colored with the same pink Copic marker. I added two tiny button brads and used an old piece of dsp I've had in my stash for years.

Thanks for checking in and have a happy Friday!

Carol

More Colorful Days

I used the same Sweet 'n Sassy (SNSS) sentiment to make my card yesterday and decided to use it again, so I pulled out my MFT stitched quilt die and made a couple more cards. This one made use of lots of colorful snippets, a very old paper flower and flower brad. I added a little "stitching" with a Lil Inker diagonal stitched die, by just cutting one side of the sentiment panel at a time, turning and then doing the other side.

Here's another one with some brighter colors and the only difference is that I heat-embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder.

I'll be sharing these over at a fun place to play - the Snippets playground #192.

Here's wishing YOU a colorful day and a great weekend at the same time!

Carol

A Cup of Cocoa

I'm going to sneak in a fun Christmas card I made using a SNSS Cocoa mouse image that was colored with Copics. I used some plum cardstock and satin ribbon that matched the designer paper from Echo Park's Winter Wishes paper pad. I thought perhaps making a Christmas card help me to forget how warm it is outside, but the cup of cocoa erased that cool feeling for a moment. lol Oh well, at least I have another Christmas card added to my stash.

I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use food and/or drink on our cards.

I'm listening to Ron Cade on the radio as he pays tribute to Elvis Presley's life & career through his music. Ron's been doing the Elvis show on Sunday morning radio now for 37 years. Thanks, Ron :) Elvis died on this day - August 16th in 1977 - and it's hard to imagine so many years have passed since we lost him.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a peaceful Sunday!

Carol

Silhouette Dogs

I had a recent request to make a birthday card for someone who loves and fosters dogs, so I pulled out the SNSS Puppy Love set along with my Lil Inker stitched rectangles and made a card. I stamped the images with versafine black onyx ink, then heat embossed them with clear ep. I sponged some ranger peacock feathers ink, along with some memento lulu lavender, and finally pool party ink at the top. It's done on a card base of GinaK designs wild lilac, and I added a Lil Inker diagonal stitched panel in white to break up the dark colors a little bit. The sentiment is from another SNSS stamp set and it was layered on stitched circles from Lil Inker, along with 2 matching mini brads.

That's it for me today, but thanks for stopping by and make it a great weekend!

Carol

Edit: Someone asked in a comment what SNSS means. It stands for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.
If you have questions you want answered, please leave a way for me to contact you :)

It's all about the CHOCOLATE!

Today I have a card made for the Words2ScrapBy challenge #19, which is "A Friend With Chocolate." I'm a friend to anyone who has chocolate :)

I won the Words2ScrapBy challenge for May which gave me the opportunity to guest design for them in July. In keeping with the chocolate theme, I chose this Sweet'nSassy Cocoa Mouse image, and colored it with Copics. I mounted it on (what else?) Chocolate Chip cardstock, adding a big piece of matching Chocolate Chip satin ribbon. The papers are from a K&Co Greenhouse paper pad by Carolyn Gavin.

I hope you'll find time to play along with this fun challenge because there's a $20 prize from Simon Says Stamp, and that's a great prize! 

And now I need to go find a piece of chocolate to satisfy that craving I'm suddenly having for chocolate :) I'm willing to share with a friend....any takers?

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great chocolate day!

Carol

Cocoa Mouse Likes Colors

Today I have a fun card using a SNSS Cocoa Mouse image and sentiment, along with a pre-printed digi remnant of notebook paper I found in my box of assorted doo-dads. I colored the image with Copics, and added a few bright colors of cardstock, along with stars, hexes, hearts and mini brads 

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

MFP Speedy Fox & Friends #263 - card must have 7 layers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes

Snippets Playground #178 & 179 - must use snippets

I hope you're having a great day and I'll be back again soon :)

Carol

Super Dad

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is to add a little texture. I think I might have included a touch of texture on this card! lol

I started with kraft card stock, embossing it with a SU! hexagon ef, adding snippets of red, navy and yellow hand-cut hexagons dropped randomly inside the embossed hexagons. I cut a navy SU! scalloped top tag punch, and embossed it with a SB M-bossabilities folder with smaller hexes. On top of that is a SU! note tag punch done in kraft, and on top of that is a border done with a Simon Says Stamp hexagon border punch with randomly placed negatives in matching colors. The "Super Dad" image is a digi from SNSS colored to match, and the final touch was some color coordinated twine added to the tops of both tags. 

With all of these snippets used, I have to share this one over at the Snippets Playground #164 too!

Wishing you a warm day wherever you are! I hope this cold weather will be over soon and I'm sure most of the country feels the same way! Thanks for stopping by today!

Carol

Fall Harvest

Here's my entry for the Mod Squad challenge - a fruitful harvest. I looked in my stash and realized I have no fruit images, so I went with the fall harvest theme and used a Cocoa mouse pumpkin image. The border was done with an EK punch and some espresso card stock, and I used 3 different Bo Bunny dsp's from the apple cider collection. I used a few of the punched elements on the main panel and tied it all up with some yellow gingham ribbon.

Fall is my favorite time of the year, but I'm having a hard time saying good-bye to the beautiful summer we've had this year! The weather has been perfect and we've really enjoyed being outdoors more than ever these past few months!

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day whatever you're doing!

Carol

Cocoa Beach

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is "summer." Nothing says summer more to me than a trip to the beach. Well here's my favorite little mouse "Cocoa" from SNSS having some fun in the sun. I used a piece of Doodlebug Designs paper that reminded me of water & sand, along with a scrap of orange polka dot paper found in my stash. The green and orange ribbons were also from my stash as well as the mini brads. The image was colored with Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today and I wish you a wonderful day whatever you're doing!

Carol

A Little Something

The Mod Squad challenge this week is "Marvelous Minis." That means we're going to make a 3x3 or 2.5x3.5 mini card. My card is a 3x3 that I made to go along with a little gift. I made a color coordinated envelope that you can see to the left of the card. The image is Cocoa's gift from SNSS, and I colored him with Copics to match the pretty piece of flocked dsp. I accented the pink color with chocolate cardstock, and added a piece of matching ribbon on one corner. The sentiment is from SU! and I hand-cut the banner. These little cards are great to keep on hand for those unexpected occasions when you need a quick gift for a special occasion. They're also a wonderful way to use those precious snippets of paper you can't bear to throw away!

Speaking of snippets, I'm also going to share this over at the Snippets Playground #131 since I used snippets to make the card and mini envelope!

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great day!

Carol