Christmas

Hi once again. I had some images colored up and with so much flurry going on around here, I finally got a chance AND the motivation, to get these images onto cards. This one was colored back during the summer while I was lolling around in the recliner. As you may have noticed if you visit here much, I LOVE anything with a cardinal. A friend had this lovely Northwoods stamp, showed me a card, and well, you can guess the rest of the story. This is another easy image to color...the hardest part is trying to shade my little red guy, cause he's so small. The Red copic color family is a hard color range for me to work with - it tends to bleed for me, as I have a somewhat 'heavy' hand. I also used some Spica glitter pens on the pine needles and ribbons. Diecut with S/B deckled rectangle. Green glitter mat was diecut with a larger size of the same set. Interior part (covered by the image) was cut out with a smaller die, to save weight. The bonus is that I now have that piece to use elsewhere. The silver glitter paper was just trimmed out to fit the cardbase. Ah, now for the snippets - that was the red glitter strips. (Saved from cutting out the inside of a die used in another project, and Voila, here it gets repurposed.)The strips are adhered down top & bottom, but do not run the width of the image. This glitter paper is quite thick, so would make the card entirely too bulky (at least for mailing). I have a few more of these images colored, so I have to think of some other designs to use 'em up! Also going to take Red over to Pixie's Playground since it just barely qualifies for the Snippets Challenge and then onto to Rudolph Day. Someone said (I'll call no names), that my eggnog needed something else, so maybe I'll add a warming ingredient. Whatta you think? Com' on along, and join in the Christmas fun. Cheers!

Christmas

Good afternoon and welcome. Update on my cataract surgery which was scheduled for today: Got postponed! After I had gotten myself all geared up to do it, get it over with, the doctor (very wisely) decided to wait to get some 12 yr old pre-lasix eye measurements from my Florida clinic...and that's IF these records can be found. Long story - but the short version is: the clinic has relocated; since I'm no longer an active patient, my records were archived to a central storage facility...may or may not be able to get located. But the doctor wanted to have the effort made. So now I'm tentatively scheduled for Dec ?5?. Anyhoo, all the scurrying around, dealing with 2 different clinics in 2 different states, several different nurses, techs, etc. -  is why I've been MIA for a couple of days.  OK...enough on that. It's in God's Hands, and I'm happy to leave it there. For the card: The image is by Impression Obsession-D8295, very easy to color. I used some Chromatix markers purchased at A C Moore. Added to my collection this past Black Friday. These have a small nib & a brush nib. I liked the small nib for the tiny area coloring, but I don't think these blend quite as nicely as the copics (could be the operator also). Diecut with a S/B Classic Oval - sponged with a bit of Memento Sky Blue, which gave the nice grayish tone at the edge - which I liked. The Distress Inks were too bright for this effect. Then diecut a bit of burgundy-ish Bazzill for a mat. The teal cardbase was a snippet that was in the pile, so embossed it with the Crafts Too Christmas Ornament EF, dabbed a smidge of Delicata Gold ink onto the embossing. Diecut a snippet of some greenish paper with the Cheery Lynn Carnivale die, then added a small strip cut from Authentique 12x12 Festival Collection, just because I thought the trim needed a touch of brightening. Since I do have a few snippets on here, perhaps I might just take a pitcher of eggnog over to Pixie's Playground and see what those mischievous pixies are up to.  I'm tellin' ya, those girls have the mostest fun. Also it's the final Rudolph Challenge over here at Stamping for Pleasure, so I'll enter this little card in that Challenge. Another place where there's lots of fun to be enjoyed. Check out both these places, and you're in for a treat! Have a great day, and Hugs & thanks for the visit.

Miscellaneous

Cuttlebug Snowflake EF

Hi, I'm back again. I received my order from Cropstop in the mail yesterday evening. Wow, that was pretty fast shipping. I had been on the hunt for this particular folder ever since seeing the lovely cards here and here. It was just a wonderful coincidence that I had put some items in a cart at Cropstop, and got an email from them. When I replied to the email & asked about this folder, not really expecting a positive outcome, to my delight, Haylie replied there was just one left in stock! YESSSS! Submitted that cart triple fast, late on the evening of 11/19, and the order arrived 11/23, (remember we had a no-mail holiday yesterday!). That is super good service, and I'm so tickled to have this folder in my stash. I hope I can create something even half so wonderful as Bonnie & Susan did with their folders. Thanks, Ladies, for such inspiring cards that sent me on the hunt for this neat folder. Just thought I'd do my enablin' bit here, as I expect my British followers could get this little baby. I found it at a couple of UK sites, but it was out of stock, however, I was able to request notification when it's back in stock. Don't you just love a happy ending???? Have a great day, and as always, thanks for visiting, and sharing any thoughts you may have time to leave. Hugs.

Fall

Gloria R.'s Thanksgiving Card

Hello, and welcome to another Fall card. This one arrived in the mail, made by my friend Gloria R. It is just the most beautiful card... sadly, my photography does not do it justice. Hopefully if you enlarge the photo by double clicking, you will get a better idea of the delicacy of the gold leaf veining against the glorious background. I'm guessing the background was done with distress inks, but however it was created, I just love it! The cardbase is a navy blue, matted with a soft orange-y Bazzill, then the image. The leaves are embossed with gold. Absolutely lovely, & I just had to share it. I have some of the most talented friends!!! I keep hoping some of it will rub off on me, just 'cause I hang around with them! Enjoy your day, and thanks for visiting. Hugs

Fall

Good afternoon. Thanks for visiting. On this Black Friday, in the USA, DH & I got up very early - as in 3:45am, to head over to our A C Moore which opened at 5am. The first 100 people got a $5 shopping card, plus total purchase was to be 40% off. My goal was to pick up some more clear storage containers, but I think I got just about everything else BUT those! Lots of paper pack sales and I got some more of the Chromatix markers, which I've been testing. I'm finding they work well for doing fine line work, when my copic nibs don't give me a clean thin line. (It's operator error, not the marker!) It's been a while since we did something crazy like this, getting up that early to go shopping! One lady told me she'd been in line since 2am - and yes, her hubby was with her too! DH said he heard some of the ladies comment they'd been up all night, hitting some of the stores that were open all night. Well, it was fun, impulsive, and the store was not so crowded it made shopping unpleasant, but we were glad to get back home, change clothes, and crawl back in bed for some more sleeping!!! Oh yes, we did stop at a McDonald's that was located in the same plaza for a quick bite to eat and some peppermint hot chocolate.

Here's a fall card with an image I had colored earlier, finally got put upon a card. I tried another fold card, using lightweight green Bazzill. The panels are brightly colored leaf motif paper purchased as single sheets from Hobby Lobby at a sale a few weeks back. The stamp of the fall harvest is labeled as Heather-M-36-HK, bought at a stamp show back in September. Diecut with S/Binders classic circles, sponged with DI Tea Die. Mat is from a Colorbok paper pak, diecut with the Scalloped Circle, edges distressed with Vintage Photo, as it was too 'red' for my taste. The distressing browned up the red to a somewhat more fallish tone. I remembered to be careful where I put the tape when I adhered the 2 circles together, so this time I was able to center the image on the folded card, without having it stick to the off side. The sentiment is from a Just Rite clear stamp set, stamped first with Memento Rhubarb Stalk, then overstamped again with Memento Bamboo Leaves. This was punched out with a tag punch, trimmed down to fit the space on the card. There were some thin strips from trimming the panels, so glued  them top & bottom on the sentiment. On the inside center panel, adhered more of the panel paper, so now it's ready to get something appropriate stamped inside. This one goes into my box of cards for next year. Isn't it wonderful to have a card ready ahead of the season? (Now if I just remember next year, where I put the box!!!! LOL.) Have a wonderful afternoon.

Birthday

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate the holiday, and Happy Autumn to those who may not. WELCOME to everyone, and thanks for popping by this beautiful day. Today's card is for an early December birthday for our best friend. DH just said "He won't like that", & when I asked why, his comment was "That's a Ford & you know he's a Chevrolet person". I don't have a chevvy truck stamp, so tough cookies!!! LOL. OK, here's the scoop: The stamp - Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company. Image was diecut with S/B Label 3, sponged and distressed with Tumbled Glass, then Antique Linen. Traced around the outside of the die to get a scant mat - which I handcut. This came from a 6x6 paper pack, and I've been buying these packs whenever I see them on sale. I have trouble with the larger 12x12 designs, as I never know how to use ones with huge designs to best effect.  The houndstooth design paper is from a Paper Studio 4.5x6.5" Stonewashed paper pack. The cardbase is lightweight Bazzill, embossed with a Lifestyle Whimsy folder (this got covered up pretty much, doesn't show up here very well). I decided to use a piece of the same houndstooth to diecut a S/B Fancy Label and stamped Happy Birthday in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Aquamarine ink, sprinkled with Ranger fine detail clear & embossed. I have some early January birthdays so I'll try to intersperse those with Christmas cards so you don't get too awfully bored with seeing just Christmas cards here. (Ok, so maybe there might be a few more fall cards! I have some images colored up that I need to get done up into cards!). Anyway, ya'll have a super lovely day, and I hope you're blessed to be able to enjoy it with some or all of your loved ones. Let us ALL remember it's a day to think upon our blessings, whether we celebrate the day as Thanksgiving, or whatever. We have been truly blessed, with being able to enjoy our hobby, have the supplies with which to create, the support & friendship of the other crafters who encourage us here in blogland, and too many other countless ways to mention. HUGS!

Christmas

Good morning, and thanks for stopping to visit. This was a 'get up early' morning for us, as DH & I both had a dermatology appointment. Have I ever mentioned, I don't "DO" early? So once this post is done, I'll change clothes, and hit the recliner for a little snooze until time to get my haircut this afternoon.  I'm pleased with the results on this card for many reaons. First, I like Northwoods rubber stamps; second, I LOVE cardinals. This one is called Cardinal and Birdhouse in White Pine, and is a rather large stamp. It was quite easy to color too. Of course it's colored with my favorite copics, and I punched the red bow from a Fiskars punch purchased at a Hobby Lobby Christmas sale last month. The punch was on plain white paper, so I colored it with copics and added some gel pen highlites. The image was diecut with the Memory Box Debutante frame, mounted on red lightweight Bazzill. I had ink on my fingers when adhering the diecut to cardbase, so I added the red rhinestones. A boo-boo turned out to be a good thing, because I think the added trim improved the overall look! This is intended for the DH's Christmas card unless I have time to do another Cardinal stamp that I have. He'll like this. We enjoy watching the cardinals at our bird feeder. Such beautifully bright birds, but not always very polite to the other little birdies. Have a Blessed Day.

Christmas

Good morning, and welcome for a little visit. I had a happy experience last night. I've been looking on the web for this folder which I had seen used here and here. Folks, these are some blogs that are truly worth your time to check out...some lovely cards. Anyhoo, each blogger kindly took the time to answer questions about how to find the folder, but alas, all places were out of stock. I was browsing around on Cropstop  hoping to find the folder, no luck. I did get some things loaded into a cart, but did not submit the order. Next day got an email from the lovely Haylie asking if I had just overlooked the 'submit button'. (which I hadn't, just wuz still a-thinkin'). So I replied to the email, and asked about this particular folder, sending a link so Haylie could see what I wanted. Lo & Behold! They had one left! HOO-RAY! It just so happened not to be showing up on the site, and I lucked out! Meant to be, wouldn't you say??? Cropstop is a good place to order EF's, their prices are competitive, they have a really great selection, and I've always been happy with my purchases. Free shipping over a certain amount too!

Christmas

Hi and welcome once again, along with a big welcome to a new follower. Hope you will enjoy the things you see here. Here's another card featuring that little duck with such an attitude (maybe he's a goose...I'm not sure of anything except I think he's adorable). He just puts me in mind of someone marching along, chest out, ready for whatever, and also dressed for it! I had colored up some images, so I'm using different background papers & trying to think of different layouts (you will remember I'm challenged with that sort of thing! Bear with me). Mr. Overdressed Duck is a Penny Black stamp, colored with copics. I used some gel glaze pen on the holly, berries & ribbons, as well as beak & feet. IRL this has a glisten to it. Diecut image & mat with my usual go-to Spellbinder Ovals, Classic & Scalloped. That is probably my favorite of all the spellbinders...hard as it is to choose. I tend to reach for that one the most. There is another oval that was retired, only ever found it in one size, called Deckled Ovals, which I've always thought did a lovely mat. The ribbon is a sparkly one I found on sale - probably Michaels; red paper is from a 4.5x6.5 Paper Studio Old World Winter pack found on sale. This set also comes in 12x12 (mine was from Hobby Lobby). Has lots of pretty designs in it. EF was Tim Holtz Book Covers, the oval one. Doesn't really show up well on this spotty paper, but I liked it anyway! Green cardbase is just a bit from my stash. I'm sure most of you are very organized with your supplies (I say this, smiling, because a lot of my stamp buddies are. They have their Bazzil & SU cardstock in folders, labeled, organized, etc). Unfortunately, a lot of my papers are in piles & pieces scattered around the floor of the room where I craft. Now mind, I DO have some in file cabinets, in folders, but not labeled. Couldn't tell you the exact name, should my life depend on it! I've just about given up on the organization dream, and trust me, it AIN'T gonna be one of my New Year's Resolutions either! As DH says "Well, if YOU'RE happy in your mess, that's all that matters". He doesn't go downstairs to watch that tv too much though! It once was HIS area, but now it's Mine, Mine, Mine!!! . It's pretty in my area today, very sunny, but quite windy. I can hear it whistling around the corners as I'm getting this post prepared. Now I have to go clean out my SUV. I think we're bringing home a new one this afternoon. I HATE buying a new auto. Do you? Too many new gadgets on it, I may not be smart enough to drive it. (I am the picker-outer though, so can't fuss about it). Have a wonderful day. Hugs

Christmas

Happy Friday! Welcome. Sigh, another Christmas card. Oh gosh, I'm sorry, but I have to get these made! This card honestly looks much better IRL, so apologies for my photography skills. I inked the C/B Holly Ribbons EF with Memento Love Letter ink, then embossed a piece of white c/s. Cleaned off the EF with a baby wipe, and it comes clean quickly. Hardest part of this is to decide if you want the deboss or emboss look. Used the Memory Box Collette Ornament die for the red glitter part, then the Memory Box Drop Ornament for the silver holograph paper behind. Once the silver was diecut, used the C/B Holly Ribbons to emboss it. The Collette was a little fussy with the glitter paper, as it was fairly thick. Ran through the Big Shot several times, cut it well. I have another diecut ready where I reversed the papers on these 2 dies, and liked it better. The sentiment is from a clear set - think was Hero Arts - inked with the Love Letter, and heatset with Ranger Clear Detail EP to give some glisten. Cut out with an oval punch, sponged the edges with the Love Letter ink and a finger dauber.  For those of us who celebrate Thanksgiving,{another sigh}, that's not far away. Hard to believe this year has sped by so quickly. Have a wonderful day, and get ready for the weekend. Hugs, and thanks for the visit.

Fall

Good Morning. So nice to have you visit here today. Another fall card to share. This one is from a borrowed stamp, which I think is by  Great Impressions- an oldie I'm sure. Colored as usual with copics and spica pens. The shadowing around the wheat stack was done with a BV (Blue Violet) marker, which enhances it IRL. Diecut & matted with S/B Labels 3, which I was going to use 'on point', but cut the card base too small to place it so. The turquoise glitter mat was handcut after tracing outer edge of die to get the scant mat. I liked the turquoise color with the DI Stormy Sky used to distress the edges of the focal image. The cardbase was actually from a DCWV paper pack The Naturals. This was a fairly easy image to color, not much fuss to it. Hope you like it. I'm trying to get enough images matted on cards, scheduled to pos, so that I have a free day, wherein I can blog surf and catch up on everyone's blog. I promise I will be around to visit as soon as I can! See you later. Have a fantastic day.

 

Fall

Hello and Good Morning. I'm back again with a Fall card for a little break between the Christmas cards. I have a couple birthday cards I have to get ready too, so that will make a little diversion with all the Christmas stuff. This card was made with the Inkadinkadoo green colored (like the PB slapstick stamps) rubber stamp. It's a solid stamp, but I choose to cut the sentiment apart from the motif so I could diecut with S/binders Large Label Small, then mat with the S/B Large Label Large. (what a clever way for them to differentiate the die! LOL). When I first started to buy these dies, I didn't realize they came in large & small sizes for a reason. So I'd look at the die, say "Oh I've got that one", not realizing that one needed both sizes in order to be able to cut nice mats. I had a real steep learning curve! Also I had not left the dies with the 'cover' that came with them, so then I didn't know if I had the small or large size. Had to go hunting on the internet for dimensions of the different sizes, measure mine in order to see which one I had The sentiment was diecut with the S/B Mat A that was released this year...a handy die to have in your stash. I did use a different marker-type to color the sentiment letters, a sort of metallic green. The main image was done with copics and Spica pens.  Anyhoo... after diecutting this image, I used some more of H/Lobby's sale papers, which are probably Paper Studio, for a nice fall mat, which you can't really see here. Thus the extra leaves added for some trim, a bit of dimension. The leaves were diecut with Impression Obsession leaf diecut, then sponged with Distress Inks in colors that worked with the individual colors of each leaf. Oh yes, I did use the Out-of-the-Box technique to cut the image, so that I could get the complete grape cluster. There are several good Youtubes on this technique, and it's one I really like. Hope you will enjoy. Have a super middle of the week day! See you soon. 

Christmas

 

Good Morning. Hope that your night was restful & your day is off to a great start. Here's a cute little Penny Black Hedgie stamp I had from last year, still remaining un-inked. This is a PB slapstick stamp - Christmas is coming. Colored with copics, diecut with S/Binders Label 8. Cardbase is blue Reflections cardstock. Starry paper was open stock from A C Moore, no mfg name that I can find. Bottom part of the mat was white GP from Walmart. Both pieces embossed with the C/B Dots folder, then I used a SU lacy punch on the bottom. The added stars were from the Memory Box Frosty Border punch, which I intended to use on the side, but it was way too large. Saw the stars as debris on the desk, had an "Aha" moment, when I saw an MS glue pen handy. Dabbed on a bit of glue, Bob's your uncle. I like them. Decided to just add a piece of snowflake ribbon on the side, sentiment is embossed with Judikins Aegean Silver (my favorite Silver emboss by the way). I think I like this little card, as I adore these hedgie guys anyway. They're so cute!! Have a great day, and thanks for popping by.

Miscellaneous

 Hi, thanks for stopping by. Thought I would share a picture of our Christmas cactus which seems to be blooming closer to Thanksgiving. I had about 6 of these, in different colors. Due to neglect, I've only 2 left. This is the prettier one. DH is feeling better, with better being a relative term, but we think the antibiotic is doing its job, so hopefully, the root canal can get done as scheduled this Wednesday. And a big thank you to all who left good wishes for him. He took the camera out on our back deck to snap a shot of the pretty red Japanese maple that is by the shed. It is a lovely view, with the red of the maple, against the golds & bronzes of the maple tree that is showing up over the shed roof. You can see also how brown our lawn is getting. The grass is dying back for the winter, still a couple patches that send up messy weed heads that have to be trimmed so the lawn doesn't look too grunge-y. Our skies are looking like rain is coming, but nothing has happened yet. It's just been a gray, gloomy sort of day outside. I'm scheduling a card for tomorrow's post, working on putting some images onto cards, and getting inserts made for the Thanksgiving cards we need to get ready. So hope you enjoy what I have to share with you this afternoon, and that you are having a lovely Monday. It's pretty quiet around our house today. Quiet is very good I think! Hugs

Christmas

Hi, and welcome back. Hope that your weekend was super and you're ready to face a new week. Here's another cardshare with the cute Penny Black Bear Hug featuring Miss Mimi. An easy stamp to color. I put some Polar White flower soft on the tufts of the hats, added a little sparkly while the flowersoft was still wet. Diecut the image with a S/B large circle, and left the bottom edge flat. Then I attempted another sponging effort on a separate piece of white cardstock, using Memento Summer Sky, Bahama Blue and a swipe of Danube Blue at the top skyline. Also used just a bit of London Fog along the snow at the very bottom. I keep watching what Heather Telford does here, and it looks so easy, until I try to do it! But I keep trying, and hopefully one of these days, I'll get something I'm pleased with! Practice makes perfect. The sentiment was punched with a McGill punch, and stamped with a Memento Blue ink. Cardbase is a lightweight red Bazzill. Enjoy. See you later.

Thanksgiving

Happy Sunday. I hope you've had a marvelous weekend so far, and that whatever your day brings will be just grand. Here's another topfold Fallish/Thanksgiving card share today.  Aren't these little mice just adorable? This is a Cornish Heritage Farm stamp, Friendly Critters Series, (TA-107S Harvest Mice). I think I got this off eBay a while back. The cardbase is a lighter weight Bazzill, image diecut with S/B Labels 28. The matting is some of the harvest fruit paper I got at H/Lobby on sale. I traced around the die, handcut the image to get the mat size I wanted. The next die size was too large. I've been seeing a lot of doilies used as embellishments or background, found this gold one in my messy drawer. Thought 'hmm, wonder how....'. I'm still deciding if I like this. Tried adding another section, top & bottom, too large for my card. Hope you enjoy seeing it.
On another note: DH was feeling a lot better today with his tooth abscess, so hopefully the new & stronger antibiotic is doing its job. If the infection can get cleared, he's scheduled for a root canal this coming Wednesday.  It was a perfectly lovely sunny, warm afternoon, just pleasant to be outside. Asked if he felt like taking a ride to our A C Moore store (more on that in a moment!), he said as long as he didn't have to get out of the car & didn't have to drive. I'm getting ready to go, decided to try putting a tennis shoe on my still-sore left foot. I've been trying off & on for a couple weeks to wear a shoe, and when the back of the shoe starts to slide up my heel, I'm going "Uh, no, I'm not going to do this yet!", and back I go into my flip-flops or a pair of backless shoes that are not comfortable to walk in. I loosened all the ties on the tongue of the shoe, very carefully slid the back of the tennis shoe over my heel. Not sure it was going to be a 'go' at first, nearly pulled it back off. Then "wait a minute...maybe I CAN tolerate this" so I went ahead, and retied the laces. I did throw the flip-flops in the backseat - just in case. I knew I wasn't doing a lot of walking, so thought I'd be ok, just driving. So this was a big HOO-RAY day for me. While we were out, it was lunch time, according to our tummies. My brain was trying hard to think of something the Mr. felt like eating, that he didn't have to chew a lot. Settled on an Olive Garden, and he got some soup (he's not a big soup eater!). I had the Zuppa de Tosca (potato soup) and salad. Dee-Lish-US! Then we boogied on home, and it was a nice outing...just long enough.
Now: the reason for my ACM run: look here.  When I saw what Candee had done with these Darice folders, I remembered I had seen them on a recent ACM run, and wanted to pick up some before they are gone. I have the TH diffuser folders - not used as yet. I noticed Candee's comment about the 'ledge' that the folder leaves. Candee always finds the neatest 'stuff', and is such an enabler! The store did have a fair selection of them, so mission accomplished. Of course I had to check out the other sales stuff, and there was some interesting things I spotted. That's it for now, have a great afternoon. Hugs and thanks for checking in.

Thanksgiving

Hi and welcome. So happy to have you visit in my corner of blogland. Here's an image I've had colored, just needed to get on a cardbase. Images were from a clear set by Inkadinkadoo 60-30187- done with copics. I've had this set for a while. I had been experimenting with airbrushing the background sky & grass, so I cut out the images, popped them up on my airbrushed piece. Used some outline stickers from Stamp On It - purchased from the vendor at the September stamp convention. If you remember my woes with the grapes sticker a few cards back, these punkins were what started that effort. The pumpkins had been colored with copics, and I was able to lift them from the sheet with a craft blade to put on the card. It wasn't awfully hard, so this is what made me think I could do the same with the grapes sticker. Oh my, I won't attempt grapes again!!! The background mats are from sales at Hobby Lobby, Paper Studio products. I especially like the paper behind the green mat, as it is harvest fruits, so colorful. A friend had used it for matting on a fall card, I saw it, and I live fairly close to a H/Lobby, so you know what came next! AND it was on sale!!! I'm not sure you can really see this well since it's matted behind 2 other papers, but if you double click on the image, it will enlarge. This card is larger than my usual, because I didn't want to cut down on the 'picture', and I did want to use all the colors of the mats, because I thought it really enhanced my image.  Hope you like it. Have a wonderful day, a great weekend, and many hugs. Thanks as always for coming by to see what's going on around here.

Christmas

Good morning, and let's have a cuppa java while we chat for a few...and welcome to a new follower. Gosh, if I see 100 followers on the picture module one of these days, I'm going to have to have some more blog candy. Already have some ideas (aren't I the optimistic one???LOL). Our Friday has started out very sunny, so I think it will be a great day. Hubby has been dealing with an abscessed tooth, so we've been to the dentist 3 times this week. Had it drained twice, several different prescriptions each time. If they can get it to clear the infection, he's having a root canal next week. AND if they can't save the present crown, which the abscess is under, then he will be having a new crown as well. Merry Christmas to us!!! But you do what you gotta do. Poor baby, he has been feeling so miserable. Enough of that. Here's the card I made to enter into the Outlawz Challenge Theme to Celebrate Circles. The Specs:
Stamp is from Our Daily Bread Designs Bread Basket Bundle. The circle could have been an ornament had I used the ornament 'cap' on it. When I saw this set, which had these cardinals, I was sunk. Love my cardinals. I tried to color one as a male, one as female. Of course colored with copics. Thought the shape of the stamp met the theme requirements, so continued the theme using S/Binders Small Classic Circles to diecut the image, then S/B Large Classic Circles for the red mat. S/B Big Scalloped Circle for the blue glitter mat, finishing with the S/B Grand Circle for the shaped card. The sentiment is from this same set, punched with a Paper Shaper Circle, sponged with Distress Ink in Festive Berry. The green trees were a last minute thought, not sure I like them, but they were adhered. Also punched from a Punch Bunch Small Tree - from paint chip papers from paint departments in our local stores.  The c/stock for the card is from Cloud 9 Luster Snowflake in Red.
Since I have used so many diecuts for this card, I think I'll enter my last card (allowed 3) to the Penny Black & More Any Die Will Do Challenge. This was a fun card to do, as I enjoy coloring cardinals. I also used some Spectrum Noire in greens on the branch needles. I've been collecting some of the sets at A C Moore, using my coupon. There is a brush nib (like the copics) on one end, but a smaller pen nib on the other end. Thought it would work on the fine line of the branches. My copic brush nib is not so delicate. These are nice pens, but I have to say, I like the touch of the copic brush nib better. Guess that's probably because I have grown accustomed to the feel of the brush...very light. The S.Noire nib felt 'hard' to my hand. Did what I wanted though! So I'll keep practicing at learning to use the Spectrum Pens. Just learned that these pens have refills, but have not seen them in MY stores. So thanks for coming to visit, and have a WUN-DA-FUL day. Hugs.

Christmas

Good Afternoon and welcome to my world. The sun is shining although it's a bit brisk outside. I worked last night on one of my personal goals, to do some cards with 'folds' rather than the same old style I usually feel comfortable with. I had a class in gatefold cards when I first started this hobby, but didn't remember any of the dimensions, so surfed the internet to find instructions for a tri-fold card (in my class was called gate-fold). OK..here it is:

Now I can't get it to lay down flat to photograph, even after having it pressed under some heavy stuff all night! I'm rather pleased with the card, probably because I just fell in love with this goofy little duck (Penny Black Caroling Duck) when I saw Sandra use it. The little guy is colored with copics; diecut with the new S/Binder Mat rectangles, as was the red glitter paper(snippet!) behind him. Sponged a bit of Vintage photo while still in the die. Debated on adding some white Flower soft to his hat (will try on next image.) The design papers are from a  Paper Studio's small Christmas Mat Stack from a recent Hobby Lobby sale. Sentiment is from ODBD. (snippet), S/Binder diecut & sponged with Vintage photo. The first 2 times I stamped this image, thought I had not gotten a sharp stamping. After redoing it again, I looked at the stamp. The 'missing' part of the loop on Merry is on the stamp, wasn't my poor stamping! (Sigh of relief!) Red glitter snowflake -another snippet- is an older S/binder die. I have lined the inside with some Paper Studio paper - also a H/Lobby Christmas sale item from an 8 1/2 x 11 pack. The lining may be why my card won't stay flat. I might place a white die cut inside center, to stamp a Christmas message. Don't think it will show up too well on the patterned paper. Now I'll dash over to the Playground, since I have several snippets on this one. (Hey if it's piled on my desk and I can use, it doesn't even make it to a snippet folder!!). Might also fit the bill of fare over at Any Die Will Do

at Penny Black and More. This will be my 2nd entry for this challenge. As I've said here previously, when I cut a mat, I also cut out the interior since it won't show. I nearly messed up with that little trick this time, which is why the duck isn't centered exactly as it probably should be. I had to place him over far enough that the backside of the focal image was not so visible. Lesson learned! Had already done the matting when I decided to try the fold card. Ya'll have a wonderful and blessed day. See you later.

Micellaneous

I am adding a second post today to thank Marianne who was kind enough to pass this award to me. Thank you so much, Marianne. I was thrilled to say the least. Now if I can do this properly, I'll pass this award along to another blogger, and hopefully make them feel as happy as I did when it came to me. It was a real bright spot in my day! Folks, I went through a lot of blogs trying to pass this award along and follow the rule of less than 200 followers. It was hard! I did my best, and I hope I got it right. There are so many blogs that I visit, with so much awesome talent, this was a tough task to fulfill. Hope you'll check out these creative bloggers.

About this award:

Liebster is a German word meaning "Beloved","Favourite," or "Dearest." This award is a peer to peer award in which fellow bloggers present the award to their favorite bloggers with less than 200 followers. The origins of this award is unclear, but is believed to have originated by a German blogger. This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion to share your dearest and most beloved blogs that have less than 200 followers.

Rules:

 

*Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog.

*Post the award onto your blog.

*Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have less than 200 followers.

*Leave a comment on their blog to let them know you have given them this awesome award!

WOW! picking just five bloggers was not an easy task, but here we go:

 

Brenda http://friendscraftinwithfriends.blogspot.com/

 

Susie http://susiestacey.blogspot.com/

Bonnie http://bon2stamp.blogspot.com/
 

Sandy http://shortandcrafty.blogspot.com/

Joanie http://joaniescraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Ladies, join the fun. I did a lot of copying & pasting, so I hope I got it right!!! Love your blogs.

 

TFL

Christmas

Hello and welcome to some new followers. I'm so delighted you wanted to visit here, and hope that you will enjoy what you see posted! Our day is a bit on the gray, gloomy drizzly side, for more reasons than just the weather. But I don't discuss politics or religion here, will content myself with saying I am a Christian. So on to brighter things, like the card specs: The stamp is Penny Black Overdressed Duck, colored with copics. Diecut with Spellbinders Classic Oval, mat is glitter paper, diecut with a S/Binder Scalloped Oval. The red Bazzil cardbase was embossed with a Darice Holly EF. Design paper is from Graphic 45, purchased last year(?). The paper was some snippets that were handy to cut into the rectangles for this card. The sentiment is diecut from S/binder beaded ovals, stamped in Memento red (Love Letter) with a new Our Daily Bread Design stamp that I received yesterday. Can't wait to play with the other stamps in this Bundle. I'm going to pop over to the Playground, see what Pixie's snippet girls are up to...Penny Black & More has a challenge going on that I think this may meet the requirements of Any Die will Do, so I'm linking there also.

I had seen this delightful stamp at Stamping for Pleasure and thought it was just the cutest image. Found it online along with another PB duck, had to get it! Thanks Sandra, for such enabling!!!

 On another note, let me say a big Thank You to Pam at Pumpys Blog for the chance to win a digi stamp in her 50th Wedding Anniversary Challenge. She did a random selection, and my name showed up. Hurray! It had to be random, because my card was so simple, and she had some awesome entries submitted. If I had looked at the entries, I would have been so intimidated to venture entering my own!!! Maybe if I bestir myself, I can have another card ready later this evening. In the meantime, have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

Anniversary

Hi & welcome on a lovely Friday afternoon. If you were in the path of Storm Sandy, I pray you are restored to power, didn't have any serious damage, and all your loved ones are safe. Today's card is to celebrate a fellow blogger's upcoming 50th Wedding Anniversary. Now, folks, that is a BIG Milestone. In today's world, not too many folks manage to make it together that long.  There's a challenge going on here, and I would appreciate it, if you have time, pay Pam a visit to wish her husband & her happiness on their special day. She also has some nice prizes, plus she has wonderful cards to enjoy.

OK, here's the card I'm going to send for Pam's challenge. It didn't turn out as I had envisioned, but as the saying goes: It is what it is. I was trying something with the sponging, and one of these days, I'm going to get that technique right!!
White cardstock base was embossed with S/Binder Scalloped Labels One, die #5. There's a technique showing how to emboss without cutting here. This video was sort of my jumping off place, but I didn't want to use glossy cardstock or use a brayer. After stamping Penny Black Holly Berries with versamark, embossed it with Ranger Seafoam white. Cut a paper mask with the same size S/B die, then used a large dauber to sponge on Memento New Sprout over the resist. Next sponged with Memento Pear Tart in different areas, reinked the stamp with Memento Pistachio, stamped it once more, then again without reinking. Stamped the sentiment with Pistachio. I had thought to use an embossing folder border on each side, but there didn't seem to be enough room, so I decided to use a white ribbon from the stash. I intend to try this technique again, probably using thicker weight cardstock - perhaps the Coredinations whitewash pack.
I'm going to link this to Pumpys 50th Anniversary Challenge.  Many Congratulations Pumpy to you & Tony.