Christmas Stocking

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. Work and getting ready for our friends who are coming to visit this coming weekend have gotten in the way of card making and blogging lately! But I dug around my stash and found this little Christmas card I made last month and never posted. It is a simple card that was made using Papertrey Ink's Stocking Prints set and Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Christmas paper. No Copics on this one!

I stamped the stocking and its top band two times using PTI's Ocean Tides ink. I went over the stamped damask design with a clear Spica pen and used a red Spica pen for the stitching. You can see the fine glitter in this closeup (click on the photo to see it larger). I cut out the second stocking and band and mounted them on top of the first one with foam tape. The panel was cut out using a Labels Five Nestabilities die and the background was sponged with PTI's Vintage Touch Tea Dye duo inks.

The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages set and was stamped with Scarlet Jewel ink and the ribbon and button are both Scarlet Jewel as well.

The sentiment on the inside is from the Tree Trimming Trio set and was also stamped with Ocean Tides. I added a strip of the paper I used on the front, wrapped it with some twine and added another Memory Box rhinestone snowflake.

Hope your week is going well! Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty Secrets Get Well

TGIF! It's been a long, busy week. We are expecting house guests next weekend, so I have been in a cleaning and straightening up frenzy when I haven't been working. As my mother always likes to say, there's nothing better for a house than a good company scare....so true!

Earlier this month I posted a card folder that I had made for my mother for her birthday. The folder contained four get well cards. The first two cards I posted were both made using Papertrey Ink stamps. Today I am showing the other two cards, which were made using Crafty Secrets' Feeling Yucky set. I love the whimsical, vintage feel of this set. This first card has the little nurse with her ginormous hypodermic needle. I think she has a sinister little look in her eye! She sort of reminds me of the nurse who gave me my flu shot this week...my arm is still sore ;-)

The background paper is from Graphic 45's Renaissance Faire collection and is called Romantique. The little nurse and her scary needle were colored with Copic markers and I added Glossy Accents to the syringe. The background of the stamped panel was airbrushed while it was still in the die.

For the inside of the card, I added a matted strip of the patterned paper and a sentiment from the Feeling Yucky set.

This second card has the weepy little duck from the set, along with some patterned paper containing a similar little tweety bird. It's actually Easter paper, but what the heck! The duck was also colored with Copic markers and Glossy Accents was applied to his tears.

The band across the middle of the card is a strip of the same paper I used for the butterfly birthday card I posted last Sunday, mounted on a scalloped-edge strip of coordinating card stock. The triple-looped bow was made with May Arts' silk ribbon, using the Bow Easy tool.

For the inside of this card, I added a small strip of the patterned paper, making sure to include one of the little chicks, matted on several layers of card stock, including one that was cut using the Martha Stewart Checkerboard border punch. The sentiment is from the Feeling Yucky set.

That's about it for me. Hope you've had a good week. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!

Belli Challenge Wednesday - #77 - Sherrod Studio

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week our challenge is to use TWINE or RAFFIA in your project. Our sponsor for this challenge is Sherrod Studio and one randomly selected winner will receive this Birthday Ella stamp set:

Each of the Belli girls received an image from Sherrod Studio to use for this week's project. The cornucopia and the sentiment I used for my card are both from the Harvest Blessings set.

The cornucopia was colored with Copic markers and cut out using a Labels Nine Nestabilities die. The sentiment was cut out using a Petite Ovals die and the backgrounds of both panels were airbrushed with Copic markers. I added some faux stitching around the border of each to break up the white edge and mounted the main image on circle and scalloped circle panels. The sentiment was mounted on a Fancy Tags panel, with raffia threaded through the tag and around the back of the main panel.

I used the WSC102 sketch from a couple of weeks ago as my starting point, and the card stock, Frances Meyer patterned paper, brown decorative-edged panel and embellishments came from my Krafty Kats group's last monthly kit.

For the inside of the card, I used a Fiskars leaf border punch on my Really Rust card stock, then used the leaves from it on the brown panel on the card front and in the corner above the sentiment on the inside.

To play along with us, create a card or project using RAFFIA or TWINE, share your link with us using Mr Linky on the Creative Belli post for today. We can't wait to see what you create! If you post to SCS or PCP or any other online gallery please use keyword CBC77 so we can find it.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Tis the season....

...for birthdays!

Today is my birthday and I have a bunch of friends who have birthdays in October, so I've been making, and still have to make, lots of birthday cards.

This first card was made for my online stamping buddy, Silke Ledlow, using patterned paper from The Angel Company, paired up with one of my favorite Lockhart Company Stamps - Patio Lavender, which was colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Endless Creations.

I cut the main image out using a Labels Five Nestabilities die and matted it on a Labels Six panel of Ocean Tides card stock from Papertrey Ink. The backgrounds of both stamped images were airbrushed.

For the inside of the card, I used a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set and added a matted strip of the patterned paper.

This second card was made for my boss's wife, who turned 40 earlier this month. I have no idea whose patterned paper this is, but I love the colors in it.

I matted the top and bottom of it with a scalloped edged sheet of BasicGrey paper and stamped my butterflies, from Papertrey Ink's Butterfly Kisses, on the patterned paper and cut them out, then adhered them just under the center, so their wings were popped up. I added a couple of silver pearls for their bodies. The sentiment is from the same set and was cut out using a Ribbon Tags Trio die, then threaded with Papertrey Ink's Ocean Tides satin ribbon and topped off with a Berry Sorbet button and some twine.


For the inside, I used another sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set, stamped with Berry Sorbet ink.

Sorry I was absent from blogging last week - I was out of town for work and was just too pooped at night to post!

Last night Tim took me out to a lovely dinner for my birthday, and I'll be spending today with my Kraft Kat friends! I can think of very few better ways to spend my birthday!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend too! Thanks for looking!

A Holiday Card

Happy Friday! Hope you've had a good week! I'm slowly but surely acknowledging that it's time to start making Christmas cards....Every year I resist until I have to scramble at the last minute...

I made this card last week when I received some new Cuttlebug folders in the mail. I love this Victoria folder and couldn't wait to make something with it. I ran the olive green paper through my Wizard in the folder and then took my Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow ink pad and ran it over the raised portions to make the background panel.

The main stamped image is from Flourishes' Birds and Vine set and was stamped in green and embossed with clear embossing powder then cut out with a Labels Four Nestabilities die. I colored the edge of the panel with a red foil pen then added the white dots to mimic the Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel Swiss Dot satin ribbon. I added some red Stickles to make berries on the vine.

The sentiment is from Repeat Impressions and was stamped with Scarlet Jewel ink and cut out using a Double Ended Tags die. The button and twine are from Papertrey Ink.

That's about it! Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Belli Challenge Wednesday - #76 - Creative Cuts and More

It's another Belli Challenge Wednesday and this week our sponsor is Creative Cuts and More. Terry, the owner, is offering some wonderful goodies! The winner of this week's challenge will receive the Haunted House Castle Mini Album AND Terry is very generously offering anyone who wants some of her fabulous die cuts a 15% discount on your order! All you have to do is use the coupon code Bellichallenge1009, so head on over to Creative Cuts and More and do some shoppin'!

This week's Belli Challenge is to create a card, scrapbook page, or project with a Fall or Thanksgiving theme and to use a LEAF on your project. Each of the Belli girls was able to use items from Creative Cuts and More to spotlight their wonderful products. I selected Nameplate #08 in Bronze metallic card stock for my card. All stamps used are from Papertrey Ink's Fall Elegance set. The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink's Autumn Abundance 8x8" paper pack and the ribbon is from May Arts. I used a couple of leaf brads on my nameplate and then used some Scattered Straw Stickles in the other four holes to create sparkly faux brads.

We can't wait to see what you create! Be sure to post your entry on the Belli Challenge blog using Mr. Linky at the bottom of today's post.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink WCMD Challenges

Good morning! Happy hump day! It's been a dreary week here so far and it has just started raining again.

Papertrey Ink issued four challenges on Saturday for World Card Making Day. I managed to make cards for two of the four challenges. My first card was for the third challenge, which had a theme of India, including gold, sequins, jewels, etc. This foil background paper from SEI's Moravia collection reminded me of this vine image from PTI's With Sympathy set. I stamped it in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with American Crafts' Gold Bling embossing powder. The flowers and the butterfly were punched out of copper foil, stamped with Versamark and also heat embossed with the gold Bling embossing powder. Gold beads were added to the centers of each.

The second card was for the fourth challenge, which was to use Dotted Outlines and/or Masking using an Australian theme. Since I am a SCUBA diver, when I think of Australia, I think of the Great Barrier Reef and fish. I used PTI's Polka Dot Basics set to outline my fish from Impression Obsession and to create the polka dot background panel. I masked the fish image to creat the polka dot outline and I used a white gel pen to do the dots at the top and bottom of the main background panel. I added three teardrop shaped dew drops in the upper left corner for water drops and to balance my sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

WCMD Challenges

I had high hopes for spending all day Saturday in my stamp room playing along with the World Card Making Day challenges over at Splitcoast Stampers. There was a new challenge posted every hour from 10:00am to 11:00pm. It was a bit overwhelming and I learned that I am a very SLOW card maker! Some people made a card for each challenge during the hour the challenge was posted - how do they do that?? I barely figure out the stamps, papers and layout I'm going to use in an hour...sigh... I only managed to finish two cards for the challenges, plus a third card using a new toy I received on Friday, which I'll post another day.

This first card was made for the Crafty Secrets challenge, which was to make the card pop, using the image or an embellishment. I used a couple of images from the Feely Yucky set. I paper pieced the little nurse's uniform and popped up her arm with dimensional tape. The needle in her hand has Glossy Accents on it to give it a little pop, and I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the row of faux stitching on the red border strip. The background paper is from Jillibean Soup's Alphabet Soup collection and I thought it was perfect with the little nurse image since it reminds me of an eye chart.

The second card is for the Magnolia-licious Challenge, which was to make a Holiday Ornament - either an ornament to hang on the tree or a card with an ornament on it. I had this paper from BasicGrey's Eskimo Kisses collection so I used the ornament paper for part of the background and created an ornament as my focal point using a stamp from GinaK Designs Got Snow set. I cut the image out using a circle Nestabilities die and added a small square of silver paper, topped with a section of a scalloped circle to make the top of my ornament.

The image was colored with Copic markers and I masked it off and airbrushed the sky. I added some Polar White Flower Soft for the snow man and the ground, then added some Stickles for his buttons, nose, eyes and mouth. The sketch is from Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try (SFYTT) from Saturday.

That's it for this year's WCMD challenges for me - hopefully I'll do better next time! Thanks for looking and enjoy your week - we're getting off to a dreary, rainy start here.

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hello! Happy World Card Making Day to my fellow card makers! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this holiday, World Card Making Day is a day especially for card makers around the world to:

• Celebrate the creativity of handmade cards and the personal connection that they create between friends and family

• Kick off (and get a head start on) the holiday card-making season.

This is my first time 'celebrating', but since I'm home today with nothing on my agenda, it seems like a fun way to spend the day! To learn more about it and find ways you can participate, if you're interested, click on the WCMD blinkie on the left side of my blog, or click on the link above to the WCMD web site.

The project I'm posting here is a card folder I made for my mother and gave to her on her birthday a few weeks ago. Last Christmas, I had made a card folder for her that contained four birthday cards (see this post for details) and later she mentioned that she was also in need of get well cards, so this folder contained four get well cards.

I used the All Boxed Up Timeless Template from Papertrey Ink (PTI) to create the card folder, using PTI's Gold Shimmer card stock. For the front cover, I used a piece of Bitty Dot Basics in Ripe Avocado, then I added a strip of Italian paper across the middle. The stamped image is from the With Sympathy set and was stamped with Memento Bamboo Leaves and Potter's Clay and then colored using Copic markers.


I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch to make the butterfly, and I stamped it using some of the flourishes from the With Sympathy set's main image, and then outlined it with a gold leaf pen. The second picture shows the folder when it is open, with two cards in each pocket.

The two cards I'm posting were both made using the Quilter's Sampler set. For the first card, I created a rectangular 'quilt' using two different squares from the set and colored them with Copic markers to match the papers I had selected. The spool of thread was stamped and cut out, then wrapped with some of the Gold tinsel from the Gold Collection. I stamped the needle from the set, cut out the eye and threaded it with some gold wire, then stuck it in my spool of thread. The scissors were stamped and colored with Copic markers and I colored over the handles with a gold Spica marker to give them some sparkle.

For the second card, I did basically the same things, using slightly different colors, and I used a scissor charm instead of the stamped scissors. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark directly on the patterned paper and heat embossed using Powder Keg embossing powder (China Jade, I think).

Sorry for such a long post - thanks for hanging in there with me if you made it this far! I'll save the other two cards for another post!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend!

Belli Challenge #75 - Shirleys2Girls

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to create a card, scrapbook page, or project using Halloween colored glitter or bling. Our sponsor this week is Shirleys2Girls, who provided the Belli design team with this digital image of Mazie. This is the first time I've used a digital image, so this was a good challenge for me! Please be sure to check out what the other Belli Challenge girls have done with Mazie!

I printed the image on Cryogen White paper using my ink jet printer and colored her using Copic markers. The sentiment is from Stampin' UP! and I colored directly on the stamp with brown, purple and orange markers. Both images were cut out using Nestabilities and I used an orange marker to outline the image while it was still in the die. I also added some glitter by going over portions of both images with Copic Spica pens.

The glittered background papers are from Best Creations' Trick or Treat collection and the bat in the corner is from May Arts' Satin Cutouts collection.

For the inside of the card, I used another Stampin' UP! sentiment, a scrap of the Halloween Stripe paper from the front of the card and another ribbon bat.

To play along with us, create a card or project using Halloween colored glitter or bling. The lucky winner for this week's challenge will receive a Halloween Stamp Set from Shirleys2Girls!

We can't wait to see what you come up with. If you post to SCS or PCP or any other online gallery please use keyword CBC75 so we can find it. Don't forget to add a link to your project using Mr. Linky on today's post on the Belli Challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for your warm hospitality

Happy Monday! Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

This is a card I made for Scrap Chic Boutique using some new patterned papers I recently received. The piece with the cherries and the strip with the pies are from Webster's Pages' Sweet as Cherry Pie collection and the woodgrain background paper is called Woodland and it's from Basic Grey's new Eskimo Kisses collection.

The Pie in the Window stamp is from Lockhart Stamp Company and was colored with Copic markers. I added some Flower Soft (Sweet Pea and Spring) to the flowers in the window box. You can't tell from the photo, but there is also a piece of acetate behind the curtains to make it look more like a window. I thought this sentiment, from Papertrey Ink's Quilter's Sampler set was perfect with the pie in the window.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Fair winds and following seas

Greetings! Sorry I've been MIA this week. I was out of town for work and had planned to post a few things, but it turned into a really busy week and I was just too pooped at night to even think about it!

I made this card for my brother's 50th birthday, which was 10 days ago. He is having a party tonight to celebrate, so today seems as good a day as any to post the card since I couldn't post it on the actual day. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Out to Sea set, the polka dot paper is from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Dot Basics Paper set and the Compass Rose paper is from Graphic 45's Transatlantique collection.

The Compass Rose image was stamped and embossed twice using Versamark ink and American Craft's new ZING! Glitter embossing powder. The fist image was cut out using a Labels Three Nestabilities die and the background was airbrushed using two colors of Copic markers. The center portion of the second image was cut into four 3/4" squares and matted on black inchie squares, which were then placed on top of the first embossed image.

My father was a doodler and one of his favorite things to doodle was a Compass Rose. When I saw this Compass Rose stamp and the Compass Rose paper, it just seemed like the perfect combination for a card for this milestone birthday. There was only one problem - my brother didn't remember that our dad used to doodle Compass Roses....Oh well, I tried!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Krafty Kat Knick Knacks

I have mentioned here before that I am in a stamp group called the Krafty Kats and each month one of us puts together a kit of paper and embellishments for each of the group members. We use the supplies in the kit to make as many projects as we can before our next get together. At each of our monthly get togethers, we 'show and tell' what we've all worked on since the last time we got together.

This month it was my turn to put together the kit. The environmentalist in me has been frustrated by all of the Ziploc bags we use each month to package all of the embellishments in, so I decided to make something we could re-use each month for our embellishments.

I selected one of the papers from last month's kit (Chatterbox Beach House Light Stripe), my Just Rite Stampers Trompe Script font and six acrylic boxes that some of my Papertrey Ink stamp sets were packaged in and made a matching set of six 'Krafty Kat Knick Knack' boxes for us to use and re-use. The photo shows the altered box, with the embellishments from this month's kit.

For the label, I stamped the small Cat Face image from Make an Impression stamps in So Saffron ink from Stampin' UP!, then I stamped the Just Rite text on top in Night of Navy ink. I cut the labels out using a Labels Four Nestabilities die and then used a So Saffron marker to color the outer edge. I finished it off by adding the dots with a navy marker.

Hope this gives you some ideas for re-purposing some of the packaging that comes with your stamping supplies! Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Belli Challenge Wednesday - #74 Fall or Halloween theme

This week's Belli Challenge is to create something with a Fall or Halloween theme. We have a great sponsor for this challenge - Creative Cuts and More. Creative Cuts & More is a leader in the die-cutting industry. They have a huge variety of bags, boxes, cards and shapes, that are offered in chipboard, acetate, felt, foam, shrink plastic, velvet paper and name-brand card stock including Bazzill Basics, Bazzill Bling, Stardream, Curious, and DoubleMates. They provided the Creative Belli Challenge design team with our choice of die cuts, and we all had a lot of fun playing with them! You really need to check out some of the other girls' projects - they're terrific!

For my card, I selected the Arch Window card in orange Bazzill Textured card stock and the Velvet Paper Witch on Broom die cut. I started by adhering a layer of acetate on the inside of the window (which makes it hard to get a good photo....), then I placed the moon and witch where I wanted them and adhered them to the shimmery blue paper background. The background was cut a little larger than the acetate sheet and adhered behind it. The moon is a 1 1/2" circle cut from Papertrey Ink Gold card stock. For the sky background, I used a sheet of Slate Blue Millennium Paper from Japan from Marco's Paper (sorry, I can't find it on their site, so they may not carry it anymore).

For my sentiment, I used a stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps, but only stamped the first line of it for the card front. I cut that out using a Spellbinder's Double Ended tag die, and airbrushed the background of it using a pale yellow Copic marker. The black pearls are from Kaisercraft.

For the inside of the card, I stamped the second line of the sentiment and cut it out using a Stampin' Up! word window punch, then layered that on a piece of the Millennium Paper that was cut out using the Modern Label punch from SU!. I stamped the second sentiment, from Repeat Impressions, directly on the card liner.

To add a bit of shimmer, I went over the sentiment on the front and the 'Ride it!' on the inside with a Pitch Black Copic Spica pen.

Be sure to go to the Belli Blog to view all the great projects for this week's challenge. While you're there, check out the prize that our sponsor, Creative Cuts and More is providing for this week's challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Many years ago, a group of my mother's friends nicknamed her Rose, because she always comes up smelling like a rose! As a result, I have amassed a collection of card making supplies that have a rose theme. For my mother's birthday, which is today, I made this very rosy card.

The roses are from a sheet of 3D decoupage flowers that are die cut in successively smaller layers. They come in black and white with silver or gold accents. The sheet I used had the silver accents and I colored them with a combination of Copic markers and chalks. The paper has a glossy finish, so the Copics don't blend well, but adding the chalk on top while the alcohol from the markers was still a little wet helped to smooth out the stroke lines a bit.

This shot gives you an idea of how the different layers are stacked up.

The patterned papers are all Stampin' UP!'s Bella Rose collection, the sentiment stamp, striped ribbon and crocheted flowers are also from Stampin' UP!.

For the envelope, I used the same papers, but stamped the smaller rose from SU's A Rose is a Rose set (see, I told you I have a lot of rose-themed supplies!), cut it out and popped it up to fill in a white spot on the patterned paper.

It's a bit over the top, but hopefully she'll like it!

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you!