How Many More Sleeps???

Well, you can sure tell Christmas is getting closer - the kids at school are just BOUNCING off the walls.  Of course it doesn't help matters much that we've had a couple of inside recesses because it's been too darned cold to send them out for even a short length of time.  Thank goodness the holidays are almost here!

In the meantime, to keep my sanity, I came home today and crafted.  To heck with supper, they can fend for themselves.  ;)  I decided to combine Julee's Mojo Monday sketch with Splitcoast's Color Challenge: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray and Not Quite Navy (optional).

I dug out my Urban Garden DP because I KNEW those colors were inspired by this DP.  I decided to go with the stripe and layer with solid colors.  The main card is Baja Breeze with a layer of Kiwi Kiss behind the striped DP.  I used my Martha lace doily border punch but you can't really see the detail that well.  I used my blender pen and classic ink to color the image (from retired set Happy Harmony) and then cut it out with my new label Nestabilities.  The sentiment is from a MSE! acrylic set (Sympathy Sentiments) and I used Basic Gray to stamp it.  At the last minute I ticket-corner-punched the bottom corners and added some pearls but now I'm wishing I had left the corners alone and done 3 brads horizontally in that big, green space in the bottom left.  And I'm just now realizing that the ribbon was only supposed to go across the smaller layer...whatever. *sigh*  It's done now!  LOL

I think that's going to be it for me tonight. I thought about doing Kwerner's Color Challenge but I think I'll wait for SC's Sketch Challenge tomorrow and combine the two.  Have a good night and wherever you are - STAY WARM!!   

Sunday Sketch Trio

Welcome to another fun-filled week!!!  Since this is the last week of school before Christmas holidays, it is going to be a very busy one.  There are lots of events planned at the school and I still have some shopping to do, presents to wrap and sanity to keep!  :o)

Let's forget about the busy-ness and relax for a few minutes.  I have been feeling a bit "mojoless" over the past week, thus my lack of posts.  I decided to sit down this morning and I wasn't allowing myself to get up before I had accomplished "something."   I was up before anyone else . . . blessed silence . . . and started to check the blogs, something I hadn't really had time to do this week.  I started at Splitcoast where I found my color inspiration as well as a sketch.  The color challenge for this week was Taken With Teal, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and Whisper White.  UGH, was my initial reaction.  How was I going to make THOSE colors work together???

BUT, I persevered - not going to give up THAT easily!  So, without further ado, here we go:

Card #1: Sketch For You To Try

I started by stamping my very cool snowman from an Inkadinkado acrylic set with Riding Hood Red on Whisper White cardstock.  I cut him out with my Nestabilities Label and then I used the snowflake from the same set to stamp some Baja Breeze snowflakes around him.  I added a metallic brad and a half-pearl to one of the snowflakes to give it some more interest.  The rest is pretty self-explanatory: ribbon, ticket corner punch, cuttlebug, swiss dots EF, more pearls. . . 

Card #2 - Splitcoast Sketch Challenge #206

This card was a bit harder for me.  I wanted to keep Baja Breeze the focal color and I had already cut the BB for the main card.  Hmmmm... I worked on the vertical strips first - I used my Nestabilities pinking circles and plain circles to frame the sentiment and other two images.  The bottom two images are from the Snowflake Spot set (retired) and the top image is from a $1.50 stamp I bought at Michael's.  I put some red brads on the top one for berries and added some more pearls to the snowflake on the bottom.  Some white brads in the corners and some ribbon and bows along the side complete the center panel.  I started to put it all together and at the last minute, I ran the card front through the cuttlebug with my Snow Dots embossing folder and VOILA:

Card #3 - Taylor's Cupcake Challenge Sketch

My brain was feeling a bit "used" by the time I got to this sketch.  It is a beautifully elegant sketch and it gave me a chance to use my Martha border punch again!  I started with the main image which, again, is from that Inkadinkado acrylic stamp set.  I stamped it with Taken With Teal and ran it through the CB with my rectangle Nestabilities.  I layered it onto a piece of Riding Hood Red, scalloped the bottom and paper pierced a double row around the image.  Some red brads for berries, a couple photo corners and some sheer ribbon and the main image was done.  I found a scrap of Ski Slope paper to use for the bottom panel and ran a piece of Taken with Teal through the CB in the Argyle EF for the top panel.  I ticket corner punched the corners and added some silver brads before gluing it all together.

What do you think? I had a lot of fun making these and now I think I'm going to spend the afternoon curled up on the couch.  It is rather chilly here today (-29*C!!!) so anything I can do to stay warm, I will!!  Have a great week everyone!  Thanks for clicking by!

Just One More. . .

I wanted to do the Bellaversary Sketch Challenge tonight - just because.  I love this little Bittybloom!

Not much to explain - I used some of the Basic Grey Cupcake paper I bought this weekend and Old Olive, Not Quite Navy and Riding Hood Red cardstock.  I pulled out my new label Nestabilities and paper-poked the RHR layer.  I layered the 1" circle, small oval, designer label and the 1-3/8" punches for the sentiment and added some adhesive pearls to the image and sentiment.  I popped them both up and TA-DAH!!!  Finished.  :o)

Now I'm really going to go and hang out with my hubby.  Night all!

Mojo Monday

Marvelous Monday, everyone!  

It is going to be a busy week around here so I was happy to have been able to get some crafting done after school today.  Now that I've finished reading the Twilight series, I don't have the "pull" to read before creating!  It was a great series, BTW.  I'm not usually a vampire kind of gal but this was so much better than I expected.  I'm not sure if I want to see the movie - I've heard it's great if you are a 13 year old girl but maybe not-so-much for a 30-something like me.  What do you think?  If you've seen the movie, please leave a comment to help me make an *informed* choice!  :o)

Anyhoo, back to the reason for this post.  I combined Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch with last week's Color Throwdown:

I kind of changed the sketch a bit and used a sentiment for my main image instead of stamping a sentiment at the bottom like the sketch illustrates.  I used a quote from a Heidi Grace collection and stamped it on Pink Pirouette.  I layered it on Wild Wasabi and Basic Black, paper piercing the Wasabi layer.  I used my newest Martha Stewart border punch to do the black scalloped piece under the quote and attached some Wild Wasabi ribbon.  The pink DP layer was looking a bit boring so I paper pierced the corners and added some black half pearls to the bottom right corner.  Julee always gives us great sketches so its easy to come up with something beautiful.  

That's it for tonight.  Tomorrow is the Splitcoast Color Challenge and Kwerner's Color Challenge - hopefully I'll have time to play.  See you then!

Merry Christmas to . . .

. . . a couple special someones.  These are for 2 of my neices for Christmas.  

The girls and I were out shopping yesterday for supplies to do a diferent special project and while we were in our LSS, I asked them to each pick a paper that would match their room.  They have recently had their room repainted in pinks and brown - one of my favorite color combinations!!  I think they did a great job choosing papers that are the *same* but very different.  I sure hope they like them!!!  Heck - I hope mom and dad think they're OK!  I guess if the colors aren't quite right they can go and get any paper they want to replace it.

I used Decor Elements: Together Circle Frame in Chocolate and their first name initial.  I kind of messed up a little on J's but hopefully she won't notice!  The frame was very tricky to get on straight without bubbling or wrinkling . . .   Oh well!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy Bellaversary!!!

So, it's Em's 2nd Anniversary over at Stamping Bella and boy, does she know how to celebrate!  Not only did she release some NEW Bellas but she is throwing in some freebies if you place an order before tomorrow night!  I couldn't pass up free stuff so I placed my order like a good stampaholic should.

Anyhoo, as part of the celebration, the gals organized a "Bellaversary Bash" over at Splitcoast on Friday night.  They announced 3 challenges: a sketch challenge, an inspiration challenge and a color challenge.  I started with the color challenge ~ to use Em's signature colors of pink and light green.  I inked up Pia Puddingtop, worked my magic and voila!

I really like how this card turned out.  It took me quite awhile to get the juices flowing and even up until the end, I wasn't sure I liked it.  It was a last minute decision to use my shrink plastic and Verve's Ornamental Christmas that brought it all together.  I stamped the ornament image with Stazon, cut it out and then used my heat gun to shrink it - it always AMAZES me that it curls up and then totally flattens out.   The sparkly embossing powder is so perfect for Christmassy snow-type images. 

Recipe - Stamps: Pia Puddingtop, Verve's Ornamental Christmas  Ink: Black StazOn, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Basic Grey, Close to Cocoa  Accessories: Nestabilities, blender pen, adhesive rhinestones, Versamarker, Iridescent Ice EP, shrink plastic, siver cord, ribbon, dimensionals

I hope to be able to get the Sketch Challenge done today too but you know how it goes. . .  I *did* get some more frames done but I haven't taken pictures yet so you'll have to wait to see those.

Thanks for stopping by!  Only 18 more sleeps 'til Christmas!!!

How Much Do I LOVE Decor Elements????

I have been waiting not-so-patiently for my most recent Decor Elements order to come in and it is finally here! I have decided to make most of my Christmas gifts this year so some very lucky people (at least I think they are lucky!) will be getting one of these under the Christmas Tree:



I bought some Ribba frames from Ikea - these ones are almost 20" square - and used the small, black "Serve the Lord" Decor Elements. I used a neutral plaid DP but the recipient can change the background paper to whatever fits their decor. I think these are almost the EASIEST thing I have done - and they are so elegant.

ETA: The verse is applied to the outside of the glass frame front - it creates wonderful shadows and depth.

I'm going to do some more this weekend so check back if you want to see what I came up with! Later!

A Quickie. . .

I'm going to make this a quick post - I'm right in the middle of reading the "Twilight" series and am thoroughly addicted! I read the first two books in 2 days and I just got "Eclipse" from the library this morning. I've been DYING all day to get home to start reading it. But I wanted to make a card first and since I didn't want to think too hard, I used Julee's Mojo Monday sketch again and combined it with Kwerner's Color Inspiration Challenge:


Recipe: Paper - Watercolor paper, Taken With Teal, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery. Ink - Same as papers. Accessories - CB Embossing folders, Martha Stewart border punch, Nestabilities, blender pen, retired SU! ribbon, white gel pen, brad from Styled Silver HPH.

I'm not so thrilled with the result - I was feeling a bit distracted. I think I did a better job of "embracing the white" with this one, though. I still had to do "something" with the white layer so I ran it through my Cuttlebug - it was just too stark otherwise. The colors were fun to put together and definitely NOT in my box. And I didn't use any DP in this one either! Crazy!

'kay - I'm off for a couple of days. Big potluck tomorrow night and then Friday will be spent at a HUGE craft show in Edmonton. Enjoy your week and and let your crafting juices flow!

Monday Mojoliciousness on a Tuesday!

Hey there, everyone!

What a great week this is turning out to be - it looks (and feels) like it's going to snow, I'm heading up to Edmonton on Friday to go to the HUGE craft show at the Butterdome and we are having our stamp club potluck/Christmas party on Thursday night! AND I've been able to do some crafting. . .can it get much better?

I saw Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch yesterday but didn't have time to play. When I got home this afternoon I sat down and put my thinking cap on. The Color Challenge over at Splitcoast was Very Vanilla, Basic Black and Sahara Sand. I just ordered Sahara Sand paper and ink so I was happy for a chance to peel the plastic off the packages.



I love these colors together! Julee wanted us to "embrace the white" - I tried, really I did, Julee - but this was the best I could do:



I used my Philippians 4:13 Plain Jane stamp from Verve for the main image and a SU! rub-on for the image inside the square HPH. I ticket corner punched the main image and added silver brads to give it a bit *more*. I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder on the Sahara Sand layer as well as the Vanilla layer. After I had done the Vanilla layer, I thought it was missing something so I got my sponge dauber out and ran a bit of Sahara Sand ink over the surface of the dots. You might have to click on the image to see the detail a bit better. I used my new Martha scallop border punch (love it!), some black rick-rack and dimensionals to pop up the main image. I really love how this turned out and I know just who it's going to. . .

That's all for today, folks. I have to go to a parent meeting tonight to discuss plans for the Spring 2010 Europe trip. . . I think I am more excited than the kids! LOL See you tomorrow!

Sunday Sketch Trio

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I didn't get a chance to do any crafting yesterday - I spent most of it out and about: got my nails done, did some Christmas shopping, stopped at the library, met my peep, Lori, at Timmy's for coffee and then I got home for supper and just wanted to relax. Hubby and I watched "Hancock" and then I read for a bit before bed.

So, I woke up this morning and knew I had to get my hands dirty or I wouldn't be happy. I started by perusing my usual haunts on the weekend and found three sketches to use. Then I stopped in at Splitcoast and checked out the Inspiration Challenge - there were all kind of wrapping papers from Whimsy Press to inspire us!!! - lucky me, I was able to combine them all and create three cards!



Card #1: Paper Craft Planet Sketch & SCS Inspiration Challenge

I LOVE my Bellas! I am so tempted to order more - can I justify it??? LOL I started by stamping Matilda Muffinbread on watercolor paper with Black Stazon ink. I colored her with my blender pens and classic ink. What a difference watercolor paper makes!! So much easier to blend the colors. I used Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, and Riding Hood Red with some Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa for her hair and cupcake. I cut her out with my nesties, layered her on Riding Hood Red and paper pierced the corners. I added some sparkle to her wings with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Found some paper flowers and heart brads - the sentiment is from a MFT birthday set. In my opinion, it needs "something" but it will make a good birthday card.

Card #2: Sketch For You To Try and SCS Inspiration Challenge




Here's Wreathabella - adorable, right? The DP is from the Frosty Day DP and, even though you can't really see it, it has Christmas trees on it! Again, I used my Nesties to cut her, the sentiment and their layers. I ticket corner punched the DP and added some brads to the corners. I used my wide, striped ribbon from SU! instead of paper for the strip across the middle. I love how this card turned out! I think this one will go to my niece for Christmas with her Sears gift card inside. :o)

Card #3: Lauren's Saturday Sketch, OCC Challenge & SCS Inspiration Challenge



I had to "modify" the color choice for this one - the background of this wrapping paper looks awfully "brown-y/olive-y" and I did NOT have any paper that color. So, out came the Chocolate Chip, of course! The challenge for this week over at Our Creative Corner was to use snowflakes or snowmen in our creation - I used both. This card is pretty self-explanatory: I used my corner rounder, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots and Snow Dots embossing folders, some brown gingham ribbon and some paper snowflakes I picked up at the store yesterday. The rhinestone brads add a bit of sparkle.

So what do you think??? I always LOVE it when someone posts a comment - I get all giddy! And it's so much fun to watch the "Who's Visiting Now?' feed. . . I still can't believe that people from all over the WORLD have visited my blog! Enjoy the rest of your weekend - have a great week!

Oh My Bella. . .

Can we say freakin' ADORABLE??? My mailbox had some lovely surprises waiting for me when I went to town so I *had* to mount them and ink one up before I had supper! When I checked Taylor's blog this morning for the sketch challenge it hadn't been posted yet so I clicked over tonight and there it was:



I popped over to the Stamping Bella Color Challenge for this week to discover So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie and Riding Hood Red as the combo. LOVED IT! Once I had stamped Miss Eloise Greengrass on my CS, I realized that I was going to have to increase my card size a *teeny-tiny* bit. Even with the increase to a 5-1/2" square, the image kind of overtakes the card. But it's OK because she's so CUTE!!



I LOVE how this card turned out. I used my new Pinking Circles nesties (finally!) and think they give a card such a different look than the scallop circles do. I used my Riding Hood Red Ribbon and some more adhesive pearls - I am addicted to these things! In honor of American Thanksgiving, I found the sentiment in the retired "Happy Harmony" set. Can you believe I didn't use my paper piercer at ALL on this card??? I colored with my blender pen and classic inks on Naturals White cardstock. I used Iridescent Ice embossing powder to make her wings sparkly but it's hard to see unless you turn the card "just right."

I'm going to try to use some more of my new stamps from Stamping Bella this weekend - stay tuned!

T.G.I.F.

Today couldn't come too soon- it has been an absolutely crazy week. I am so glad I don't have to work Fridays; it gives me one day in the week to work on stuff that gets shoved to the back burner the rest of the week. While the laundry is laundering and the dishwasher is washing I can sit and make a card or two. Priorities, you know. . . :o)

SO - I started working on a card yesterday but had to rush off to Parent-Teacher Conferences so I didn't have time to finish it but I sat down this morning while my cookies were baking and got to work. I used this week's Color Challenge and Sketch Challenge from Splitcoast Stampers to make this card. The colors, in honor of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday were Really Rust, Very Vanilla and Going Grey. I don't have GG so I used my Basic Grey instead - I am LOVING grey in cards. It is my new favorite neutral! This was the sketch:

And this is my card:



I'm not thrilled with the result - I love the pearls, but I'm having a real "block" when it comes to which images to use in my cards these days. Not sure what is up with that. I decided not to put a sentiment on the front - I'll wait to see what occasion I need this one for.

After I finished that one, I went searching for another challenge or two and came across this week's Color Throwdown and, lo and behold, the colors were very similar: Sage Shadow, Real Rust (again) and Chocolate Chip. The Bella Sketch Challenge for this week is:

Which translated to:

Pretty basic -I used my Nesties for both cards and argyle embossing folder for this one. I'm not sure where I got this stamp set or even who makes it but I quite like it. I thought about coloring the letters but decided against it. Also used my paper piercer and the felt ribbon from SU!

I think I'm going to run to town this afternoon - I ordered some Bellas and new embossing folders so I should have a couple of packages waiting for me. Hopefully I'll get some time to "play" with them this weekend- it's going to be another busy one.

Happy Birthday To. . .

ME!!! Yep, it's my birthday and what a great day I had. I went to my local scrapbook store (where they give you 20% off your purchase on your birthday!!!), bought some new Nesties, a couple new stamp sets, a bunch of pearls and a large acrylic block. Oh, did I have fun! Then I made my way back to work, had birthday cake at lunch, crafted after school, went out to dinner with my family and in-laws, got some awesome presents from them, came home and now I'm tying to get caught up on my challenge "to do" list!

I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (or card, as it were. . .) and combined Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch with KWerner's Color Challenge #32:



I thought the color combo was absolutely beautiful and I LOVED that Kristina threw in the metallic option. I promptly got to work and in no time at all, came up with:


When I saw Riding Hood Red was one of the colors, I knew I HAD to use my new, wide, striped ribbon somewhere on the card. I don't have any gold paper so I figured embossing would be my next best option. I didn't want to emboss a huge picture so I got my new Plain Jane out and used it. I think it turned out beautifully. The snowflake was kind of an afterthought but I wanted to make it look like an ornament, thus the gold cord. Embossing always makes a card look like a million bucks (even when the image is slightly off-center. . .).

I'm going to go watch House and try to get another challenge done - well, at least started. I think I'll combine the SCS Color Challenge with Kazan's Sketch #14. . . we'll see how that goes! Thanks for stopping in!

Only a MONTH left 'til Christmas - can you BELIEVE it????