Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Whoa! I'm over 1,000!

How cool! Just checked my counter and it's over 1,000. Yippee!! I think that if I hit over 1500 by my birthday in December, I just might have to give out some blog candy on my birthday!! When is that you ask??? Well, why don't you guess? And just so you know, I'll be 40 this year - yikes!! But....I can handle it!!!

So leave a comment and guess when my birthday is. I'll give the winner some birthday blog candy next month!

More Snow Friends




I just can't get enough of these little guys. Here is a set of cards/tags done in the Crystal Blue/Sweet Leaf combo. I used my CTMH markers for the coloring. The "hello" in the small 3x3 card is hand written.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: White Daisy, Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue (Close To My Heart)
Pattern Paper: Caprice Paper Pack (CTMH)
Inks: Staz-On black ink; Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue, Heavenly Blue, Sunflower, Blush, Cranberry (Exclusive Inks Markers from CTMH)
Stamps: Snow Friends, Merry Christmas Blocks (CTMH)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Snow Friends Layout

This cute little 6 x 6 layout is just ready and waiting for fun winter pics. I used paper from the Caprice paper packet, and snowflake buttons.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf, White Daisy (Close To My Heart)
B&T: Caprice Paper Pack (CTMH)
Inks: Sweet Leaf, Sunflower, Crystal Blue, Bamboo, Heavenly Blue (CTMH Exclusive Inks Markers), Staz-on Black
Stamps: Snow Friends (CTMH)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Closer look...


I really have to figure out the whole photography thing. I can't seem to get the lighting right, but here's another look at my Retro Christmas card.

Retro Christmas


This set of card, tags, and bookmark have such a retro feel. I love the way these turned out. Most of the stamping is second generation - only the trees, the snowflakes and the sentiments are not.

Supplies used:
Cardstock - White Daisy, Vineyard Berry, Sweet Leaf (Close To My Heart)
Inks: Vineyard Berry, Sweet Leaf, Black (CTMH Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads)
Stamps: Glistening Snow, Christmas Wishes (retired), Christmas Scripts, Merry Christmas Blocks (Close To My Heart)

Thanksgiving note

Hi everyone!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my mothers home over in Port Townsend. She fixed a lovely dinner, set a beautiful table, and we had great food, great conversation, a great time!

I hope that your Thanksgiving day was lovely and filled with many reasons to be thankful!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Second one today....Petal Christmas


This has got to be one of my favorite colors in the CTMH color palette. I love Petal! I used the Flurries stamp set for these cards. The small trio of flakes is stamped second generation over the entire card front of both cards. Then I stamped the larger flake in first generation Petal. The sentiments are stamped in black.

Sadly, the B&T paper shown here will be retiring soon - it's one of my favorite patterns CTMH has carried.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock and B&T: White Daisy, Petal - Close To My Heart
Ink: Petal and Black Exclusive Inks Stamp pads - CTMH
Stamps: Flurries, Christmas Scripts, Merry Christmas Blocks - CTMH

I'll be gone for a couple days, but I have more to post when I get back. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Can't wait for the pumpkin pie!!!!

Holiday sentiments


This was such an easy card. I used several of my clear acrylix sentiments all on one 4 x 4" block, along with a few small images. Inked them up all at one time with Ponderosa Pine ink and stamped it on white cardstock. I added some eyelets, and Cranberry Waxy Flax, layered it all on Cranberry cardstock, then on the polka-dotted B&T on a white card. Quick and easy!!



Supplies used:
Cardstock - White Daisy, Cranberry - Close To My Heart
Pattern Paper - Creative Basics - Holiday Paper packet - Close To My Heart
Ink - Ponderosa Pine Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad - CTMH
Eyelet and Waxy Flax - CTMH
Stamps - Frosty Friends, Christmas Scripts - CTMH

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Like blog candy?

Follow this link.....good luck!

More tomorrow!!

Ok, that's it for today, but there WILL be more tomorrow!! Come back!

Gift Boxes

These are two gift boxes that I have made with recent classes. The first is a chinese take-out box. I purchased these in bulk at a local restaurant supply store.

For the box, we used a New England Ivy panel cut to fit the front of the box - it is glued on with Glue Dots. (The surface of the box is coated and shiny. I figured the Glue Dots would keep that first layer securely attached to the box better than just glue or Tombow.)

The tag is inked first in Colonial White ink, then
"rolled" on Vineyard Berry to ink only the sentiment and the edges of the tag. The center label was stamped in New England Ivy ink. The holly and berries were stamped, cut out and glued on at an angle.

Then we created a tag for the top of the box and tied it on along with a couple extra pieces of coordinating ribbon.















This adorable box is made with QBee's peek-a-boo box template found at www.splitcoaststampers.com. It is an awesome little box. We used the same stamps and colors on this one.

Inside is a special treat of Andes mints - one of my favorites!!! The window is covered with a piece of transparency.


Supplies used:
Cardstock - White Daisy, New England Ivy - Close To My Heart
Stamps - Vintage Christmas - Close To My Heart
Inks - New England Ivy, Vineyard Berry - Close To My Heart Exclusive Inks Stamp Pads
Ribbon - Vineyard Berry Organdy, New England Ivy Organdy, and New England Ivy Grosgrain - Close To My Heart

Waiting patiently???

Good grief! It's been days! I finally have had a chance to take pictures of all the things I've been working on. So, thank you for waiting patiently (I'm hoping!!) and enjoy!





I made this set of cards for a silent auction to benefit my son's Instrumental Music program at the high school. These cards will join two stockings I crocheted and other items in a basket to be auctioned off tonight at a concert. These cards were made on a white cardstock base. I added the Holiday Red B&T paper across the bottom, a panel of Clover Meadow cardstock across the top and a 1/2" strip of black cardstock. The penguin (from The Cat's Pajamas) is stamped in black ink on a white oval (cut out with my oval coluzzle), colored in with CTMH markers, and layered on a black cardstock oval. I made a total of 10 cards.


Supplies used:
All cardstock (White Daisy, Clover Meadow, Black, Holiday Red B&T)- Close to my Heart
Penguin stamp - The Cat's Pajamas
Black ink - Close To My Heart Exclusive Ink
Markers (Clover Meadow, Holiday Red, Sunflower) - Close to my Heart

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Busy creating....

I've been so busy getting ready for my Create and Take class tonight that I haven't had time to take any pictures to post. I am hoping to find the time today to photograph a few of the things I've made in the last couple of days. I sat down with the Snow Friends set a couple days ago, a few different color combos and had a blast!! It was great, can't wait to show them all to you! I have some really fun projects for my class tonight, too. Hope they all like 'em!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Easy gift idea - Desk Calendar

I made this for a class much earlier in the year, but decided to share it as a fun and easy gift idea. It is made with two square paperboard coasters. I chose coordinating papers and covered both coasters on both sides. Small hinges hold them together so that it will stand on your desk. The calendar is one I printed up from the Publisher program and cut apart and stacked. It is attached with two brads. The blank mat on the left is for a favorite photo. Quick, easy, and a great gift. Another option is to leave off the calendar and put photos on both sides!

Check out my poll...

I've been trying to get myself started on Christmas cards, and really I just haven't had the time yet. I have some friends who are already done, and others in the same boat as I am in. How about you? Have you started? Are you done? How many do you usually make each year? I usually make between 40-50. Last year I used up lots of samples from my classes, and swap cards I had - so I really didn't have to make very many at all. It was kind of nice. But I don't think that's going to work this year!!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Snow Friends Card 3


Here's the third one! I like this one - clean and simple. This little guy has a birdy friend to talk to while the snow falls. He's just sweet. Again, he is colored with my CTMH markers in the colors of Twilight, orange, and the bird is a combination of Holiday Red and Cranberry (just hard to see the shading in the pic.) I added prismaglitter to this one, too. All along his shaded side, the ground and the snowflakes. He is matted on Twilight cardstock and the sentiment is stamped in Twilight ink.

Let it snow!! (At least, according to my daughter...I could do without, but...)

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Snow Friends Card 2

Joy to the World! Doesn't it look like he's singing?? Yet another
little Snow Friends pal. He is stamped in Black Staz-On (I haven't
used this for just cards. But discovered that I really liked the clear
crisp image it gave, and the fact that my markers didn't smear the
black at all. Very nice.) He is colored with Amethyst and Petal,
Heavenly Blue, and Orange Markers. I also added Prismaglitter
to the snowflakes, and the shaded edges of the snowman. The
cardstock is Twilight, Petal, and White Daisy. The snowflakes on
the back ground of the card are stamped in second generation
Twilight. A few of them also have the solid portion stamped in
second generation Petal.

The sentiment comes from the Christmas Scripts set.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Can't believe I didn't post this yet!!! Hanna!!


So what did Hanna go shopping for today??? I'm guessing shoes, a funky new purse, and some more great clothes!! Isn't she adorable?

I dressed Hanna in a Citrus Leaf with Clover Meadow trim dress. Her hair is a combination of Sunflower and Goldrush. Her bags are Twilight, Amethyst, Citrus Leaf, Blush, and the Sunflower/Goldrush combo. Her shoes, of course, match her dress. (All markers are CTMH.)

The Amethyst heart button is tied on with some citrus leaf colored floss. Hanna is layered on Amethyst cardstock and Citrus Leaf B&T paper.

I can't believe I hadn't posted her yet!!

Snow Friends Card 1


Well, hard to tell from this picture but the card base is Twilight blue, then a layer of chocolate, and then the snowman layer. Isn't he just the cutest? I love this little guy!! He's stamped in chocolate ink and colored with Petal, Twilight, and Orange CTMH markers. He also has a little glitter that doesn't really show in this picture. The saying is stamped in chocolate with the solid part of the small snowflake stamped in second generation Twilight. The bird is also Twilight. The layered snowflake is stamped in Chocolate for the outline, second generation Twilight for the inside and then glittered. I layered that on the larger snowflake which I stamped on Twilight cardstock and then cut out. (The stamped side is glued down.)

This is the November Stamp of the Month set from CTMH. Stay tuned for two more cards with this set!!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Javabella Friends


Just had to keep trying I guess. Here's the photo of my Javabellas card. I used CTMH White Daisy cardstock for the card and the image panel, and Holiday Red for the layer. I colored the Bellas with my CTMH markers. The "flower" in the vase is one of the new CTMH sparkles in Holiday Red. It was exactly the same size as the flower in the image, so I thought it would be fun!!

The red paper flower was dyed with Holiday Red reinker to match the other red elements in the card, layered with a smaller plain white flower and another Sparkle. The saying comes from the CTMH set called Because of You. It says "There are many people that we meet in our lives", and inside it says "but only a few are worth getting to know."
(Not 100% sure I agree with that, because I always seem to find lots of people I wish I could get to know better!)

Yay!! I played yesterday!!

I finally got some time to just sit and stamp and play yesterday. It was SO nice! Fun to stamp just for me - I just don't do that very often! So, I played with a new Bella stamp, my new Hanna set, and the November Stamp of the Month set - Snow Friends. I practiced coloring with my markers using techniques I've been reading about on lots of different blogs and felt pretty good about my results.

Hmm, seem to be having trouble uploading pictures. I'll keep trying and hopefully have something to show you soon.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Happy FRIDAY!

Wow, it's Friday, and I haven't posted anything since Tuesday! Yikes! What a week, though! I'm looking forward to a calm weekend....think it'll happen?? Somehow, I kind of doubt it! Well, my hope is to get to sit at my stamping desk and create today...so hopefully, I'll have something to share later! I have new Bellas and a Hanna set I haven't even gotten to touch yet!