Monday, November 30, 2009

Holiday Tilda

Good Morning!

Hope you're Monday is off to a great start! We had a pretty good weekend here, although our family is still recovering from a week of the sickies...finally though I think we are all feeling almost 100%!

I created a card today for some of the new challenges for this week. I also used a new Magnolia image. I've been waiting for my holiday order to arrive and it finally did! I love these new holiday stamps!

I've colored with Copics and added some white gel pen and Spica glitter pen accents to the image. The papers are My Mind's Eye Wonderful Winter, which I found at my local store on clearance! The paper has a Christmas tree pattern and some glittery accents. I embellished with some felt snowflakes and sticky gem rhinestones.

This card fits the challenges at:
Friday Sketchers - layout
Charisma Cardz - Christmas
Secret Crafter Saturday - Christmas Trees
Cupcake Craft - Red and Green
Kaboodle Doodles - Snowflakes
Stamp with Fun - Christmas

Thanks for dropping by today! Be sure to check back here tomorrow for some Whimsy news and a chance to win a Whimsy treat!

Friday, November 27, 2009

A Sketch Challenge

Happy Friday!

And today is no ordinary Friday, it's Black Friday! Anyone get up at the crack of dawn to do some Holiday shopping? I didn't, but then again I never do. We are the wait until the last minute types! LOL! I'm looking forward to the weekend myself, having some time to relax and be with my family! And who knows, maybe we'll do a little shopping too.


Today I have a card to share for the new Just Magnolia challenge. This week we have a sketch challenge for you and it's a fun one!

I took a break from the holiday cards and went for a cheerful pink and green card. I've used this Tilda with Lollipop image and colored her with Copics and highlighted with a gel pen. I paired her with some fun BasicGrey Eva papers with lots of circles. I embellished with Prima flowers and sticky pink pearls, some ribbon, and white gel pen faux stitching. The sentiment is from SU!'s set Short and Sweet.

Thanks for dropping by today, hop on over and check out all the beautiful eye candy from my fellow Just Magnolia DT members! Have a great weekend. Happy Stamping! :)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A Whimsy Christmas

Happy Wednesday!

Hope you're having a good week. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the States, so we are looking forward to a fun day with family sitting around the table eating turkey! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Today I have a Whimsy card to share with you that also fits some other challenges. I decided to use the Purr-fect Gift stamp from our Crissy Armstrong Collection. I just love this sweet little kitten's face and this stamp is great for paper piecing too.

There were a bunch of Christmas challenges this week so I grabbed some BasicGrey Wassail papers with some artichoke and burgundy card stock to make my card. The image was colored with Copics and then I paper pieced the gift box and popped up the kitten on foam tape. I've embellished with Prima flowers, my favorite embellishment, and also with some ribbon and a charm. Then I added this Merry Christmas sentiment from Whimsy Stamps to finish it off.

This card fits the challenges at:
Whimsy Stamps - Christmas Cards
Creative Card Crew - Favorite Things
Everybody Art Challenge - Christmas
Paper Take Weekly - Christmas Crackers

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope you all have a great day and a Happy Thanksgiving too. See you back here on Friday for a new Just Magnolia challenge! Happy stamping!

Oh and don't forget about the Whimsy Holiday Card Contest...for details, check HERE!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

One for the Boys

Good Morning!

It's Tuesday, hope you're having a good day! We are all gearing up for Thanksgiving here in the States and I'm just hoping that my family is recovered from these nasty sick germs in time to eat turkey!

Today I have a card to share that I made just for fun and it happens to also fit some of the challenges for the week.

This card uses a sweet Hanglar image that my friend Deb shared with me in an image swap. I just love these images, so cute! I've colored him with Copics and highlighted with a gel pen.

The layout is from Friday Sketchers and the papers are BasicGrey Granola. I used different blues and brown card stock and distressed the edges. I've embellished with ribbon, hemp twine, and buttons, and few eyelets.

This card also fits the challenges at:
A Spoon Full of Sugar - brown plus blue or pink (sponsored by Whimsy Stamps)
Cute Card Thursday - Teen Terrors (Sponsored by Whimsy Stamps)

Thanks for dropping by today, have a great afternoon! Happy stamping! :)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Another Holiday Card

Hello All!

Hope your week is off to a good start. We are all sick at our house, but making the most of it! Taking naps and watching a lot of TV!

I have a card to share that I made for my last guest design spot with SPCC. This week our color combo is:


And here's my take on this challenge...

I've started with this sweet Belles and Whistles image which Erin kindly shared with me! She actually gave me the stamp! Thank you Erin, I love it! I've colored the image with Copics and highlighted with a white gel pen.

I used a simple sketch so that the image would be the focal point. The papers are BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses with some green, cream, and kraft colored card stock. I distressed the edges of the papers, you know how much I like to do that! And I embellished with a big piece of satin ribbon and some Prima flowers.

Before I leave you today, I wanted to share some news about the "Holiday Card Contest" at Whimsy Stamps! We want to see you create a holiday themed card using a Whimsy Stamps image and you could win some great prizes and a chance to be published in our newsletter and in our Inspirations Gallery! Check out the Whimsy home page for information about deadlines and details!

Thanks for dropping by today! Hope you have a great Monday. I'm off to schedule some posts for the rest of the week just in case I start feeling worse! If I don't come by to visit, you'll understand why. Have a great day, happy stamping! :)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Holiday Card

Hi All,

Happy Sunday to you! Hope you're weekend is going well.

All this month at Paper Maniac the design team has been creating various projects for the holiday season. There have been some really neat ideas that are also simple to do. I on the other hand am out of creative ideas and with a sick kid at home, I opted for a holiday card for my work with week.

I went for a vintage Christmas feel for this card and used these pretty holiday papers by Graphic 45, which are available at Paper Maniac and I've distressed the edges. I used the sketch from Charisma Cardz and embellished with satin ribbon and prima flowers and a couple black sticky gems.

The image is from Belles and Whistles and has been colored with Copics and highlighted with a white gel pen. Thanks for sharing these sweeties with me Erin! This card also fits the challenge at Colour Create which was red, green, and white.

Thanks for dropping by today. If you are in need of more holiday crafting ideas, check out the Paper Maniac blog for some inspiration! Paper Maniac is also having a sale on select Unity products and some of the previous set can now be purchased in single stamps! But hurry they won't be available for long...once the singles are sold, that's it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Happy stamping! :)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Layer of Color Saturday - Backyard Birds

Good Morning!

Hope you are having a good weekend. We are staying in with sick kids, so I'm hoping to have some crafting time while they rest and nap. Then maybe I'll take my own nap!

Today I have a card to share that I made using the new Layers of Color stamp sets, Backyard Birds and Nature Walk. Both of these sets work great for any type of card, but I used them for a birthday card for my mother in law.

I've used some BasicGrey Wisteria papers and distressed all of the edges. I made the flowers with the flower stamps from Nature Walk and colored with with Twinkling H2Os to give them some shimmer and added pearls to the centers. The image was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copics and then I added some flower soft to the tree branch for some texture. My final embellishment was a piece of hodgepodge hardware to accent the image piece.

Both of these stamp sets are now available in the Layers of Color online boutique. You can also find more samples using these stamps in the online gallery. Lots and lots of beautiful ideas for these stamps!

Thanks for dropping by, enjoy your weekend! Happy stamping! :)

Friday, November 20, 2009

Masking and a Thank You

Ahhh, happy Friday Everyone!

Hope you had a good week and are ready for another weekend. I know I am! And I'm hoping to get to the movies this weekend too...anyone else?


Today I have two cards to share, first my card for Just Magnolia. This week we want to see you use masking and a Magnolia image. You do not need to use all Magnolia images, but please have at least one Magnolia image present on your project. Masking is a great technique when creating a scene.

I've used this sweet Tilda with my Whimsy Stamps Accessories log stamp. I first stamped Tilda and then stamped her again on scrap paper, cut her out, and then used the cut out to cover up my original Tilda on my image paper. Then I stamped the log over the image and removed the cut out of Tilda and viola...a sitting on a log Tilda! Be sure to check out the beautiful masking creation my design team members have made this week.

My image was colored with Copics and highlighted with a gel pen. I created the faux snow with some glue and chunky glitter. I cut the corners on my image piece with the ticket corner punch. I've distressed all the paper edges as well.

I used the sketch from last week's Friday Sketchers challenge with some BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses papers and red and pink card stock. Then embellished with Prima flowers and some organdy ribbon and a button and pearl.


This week at Stamp Something we are having a two week challenge! We want to give our DT gals a break for Thanksgiving next week. That means you all will have two weeks to play along and we also have two sponsors which means two blog candy winners and our Top 5 Stampers!

Our challenge this week is simple too....thank you somethings! We are all feeling thankful for your continued support and all the wonderful entries we get each week and in honor of the US Thanksgiving holiday we thought this was a perfect challenge theme.

For my card I used an image from one of our sponsors, Cardmad Fairy! Cardmad Fairy is actually owned by our designer Jenni! She has a line of fun digital images and was kind enough to let our DT use them for the challenge.

I've colored my image with Copics and then added some glitter glue accents to her wings and the little hearts she is holding. The papers are BasicGrey Lilykate and some blue and purplish card stock. I embellished with Prima flowers and ribbon and added a sentiment from the SU! set Short and Sweet.

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Happy Stamping! :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A Holiday Project and Card

Happy Almost Friday!!!

Hope your Thursday is off to a great start! I have a couple crafting projects to finish up but other than that, today should be a quiet day. Looking forward to that!

I have two projects to share with you today. The first is a hand made luminary. I had a lot of fun making this, well other than the trouble cutting through multiple pieces of paper with the Cuttlebug, but it worked out in the end.

I created this for my work at Paper Maniac. All month long the team has been sharing different holiday decor and project ideas. I actually got this idea from my friend Janna, but simplified my luminary. I've used one piece of card stock cut to 6 x 11 inches and scored at 3.5, 7, and 10.5 inches. I've decorated with more card stock and some designer paper. I stamped a reindeer from Layers of Color on the vellum and attached it to the inside of the luminary. Then just folded into a triangle shape and glued it together. I embellished with Prima flowers.

Next I have a card to share using a new Doodle Palace image called Holiday Mail. I've paired this fun image with some BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses paper and SU! card stock.

I've colored with Copics and added some Spica glitter pen highlights and faux snow with some glitter and glue. The layout is from this week's Inspirational Card Sketches challenge. I embellished with some sticky rhinestones, a felt snowflake, ribbon, and a button. This card also fits the "Four Seasons" challenge at Secret Crafter and the use a digi image challenge at Cupcake Craft.

Thanks for dropping on by today, hope you have a great day! Happy stamping! :)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Circle, Circles, and More Circles

Good Morning!

We've been pretty busy here most of the morning, but things are getting quiet now that all the rushing around is done. I hope you are having a good day so far.

I made a card for some challenges that I want to share today. I've also used a new image which I received from my friend Deb. Thanks Deb!

I'm just loving these new Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps! They are so funny to look at and a lot of fun to color too. I've used this cute Charlotte image from the Moonlight Whispers Collection. I've colored her with Copics and highlighted with a white gel pen.

I've used a take on the sketch at Sketch Saturday. Their sketch was all circles, including the image area, but I needed to use a rectangle to fit the image. I've paired the sketch with some BasicGrey Eva papers with lots of circles and dots to fit the challenge of "Lotsa Circles" at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge. I think this paper and all the circles in the layout and the gel pen dots definitely covers the circles challenge! I've embellished with more circles in the form of buttons, then added some hemp twine to fit the "Strings Attached" challenge at Creative Card Crew. My final accent was to add a couple little charms and some polka dot ribbon.

Thanks for dropping by today! Hope you have a super afternoon! Happy stamping! :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Holiday Pixie

Good Morning!

Hope your day is off to a great start! I have oodles of laundry and housework to do today, but before I get to that, I wanted to share a card I made with my new Santa Birgitta Swiss Pixie stamp! Isn't she cute!

I used the sketch from Mojo Monday and paired that with some Wassail BasicGrey papers. I just love these papers and colors, perfect for the holidays. My image was colored with Copics and highlighted with a white gel pen and Spica glitter pen. I've distressed the edges of my papers and added some sponging. I embellished with jumbo eyelets, ribbon, a felt snowflake and button and then some glue and glitter to make snow.

This card also fits the challenges at:
BasicGrey Challenges - Glitz and Bling
Kaboodle Doodles - Buttons, Bows, Bling

Thanks for dropping by today! Have a great Tuesday! Happy stamping! :)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Whimsy Does SPCC

Happy Monday All!

Hope you had a great weekend! We got a chance to have dinner with friends one night, stamp because it was raining all day on Saturday, and then yesterday my mom and I took the kids to see a Disney stage show! So we had a busy, but fun weekend! And now here were are at another Monday! Hope it's going well for you so far!

I'm going to share a card today that I made for my November GDT spot over at SPCC. I had fun with this challenge because the colors made me think of the holidays. This week's color combo is....

For my card I went with the new Whimsy Stamps, "N'ice Friends" stamp from the Crissy Armstrong Collection! I just love this adorable little guy and his sweet birdie friend!

I've colored the image with Copics and then added some snowy detail with chunky glitter and glue. The layout is from Truly Scrumptious and I've used some imaginisce papers from Paper Maniac. The papers had similar colors to those of the challenge at SPCC and they fit perfect with this image. I've embellished with some pompom ribbon which fits the challenge of texture at Cute Daisy May, felt snowflakes, and sticky rhinestones. The sentiment is from SU!'s set Short and Sweet.

Thanks for dropping by today! Hope you have a super day, happy stamping! :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Layers of Color Release Party


Happy Saturday All!

Hope you are having a great weekend! Today is the start of the Layers of Color release party! There are lots of fun things happening all weekend at Layers of Color, including the Autumn stamp release, party favors, and chances to win some fabulous prizes!

In total there are 9 new sets debuting this weekend, which amounts to over 80 new and original art stamps! And anyone who joins in the festivities will receive free digital image party favors and a chance to enter a drawing and contest with prizes of $250!! Head on over there now and check it out!

Here is my release party card! I made another easel card, I'm just loving these! So easy to make and they are a great way to display a card. I've used the sets Merci Bouquet and Rise and Shine to make this card.

I've gone with a cream and green color palette and used some vintage K and Company papers. I distressed the edges and added some sponging to some. I've embellished with Prima flowers and roses, pearls, gingham ribbon and eyelets, and a safety pin.

My images were stamped in Memento black and colored with copics and watercolor crayons. The sentiment is from Merci Bouquet and I've punched it with the modern label punch, large oval, and scalloped oval punches.

Thanks for dropping by today! Be sure to check out my fellow design team members' creations and don't miss the party! Happy stamping!

Friday, November 13, 2009

A Couple of Sketches

Happy Friday All!

TGIF, TGIF...can you tell I'm happy it's finally Friday! I am so looking forward to the weekend! Hope you are too and I hope it's a great one!

Today I have my two Friday cards to share with you. First is for Just Magnolia and then for Stamp Something. And funny, this week both of the challenges are new sketches to try out! Sorry...no combining the challenges this week!


At Just Magnolia we have a sketch from Mina! She always makes lovely sketches that are fun to use. This one is no exception, I will definitely use it again! And we also have a little bit of news to share too...the fabulous and fun Dawny P has joined our DT as a permanent member! Woo Hoo! Welcome Dawny!

Here's my card! I went for a vintage look with this one and distressed all the edges and use some pretty BasicGrey Eva papers. I love the colors in these; pinks, greens, browns...what could be better! I've colored my sweet Tilda with copics and then added some gel pen and glitter pen highlights. I've embellished with Prima flowers, roses, sticky pearls, and a piece of ruffled ribbon from May Arts. The sentiment is from Whimsy Stamps.

This card also fits the challenges at...
Simon Says Stamp - Thinking of You
La La Land - Getting Punchy


This week at Stamp Something we have a wonderful sketch designer and guest designer with us, it's Ann from Raindrop Echo Designs! She has created a fun and easy to use sketch and all you need to do is play along and have some fun with us!

I've gone with a cupcake digital image from our sponsor this week, Stretch and Bubble. The cupcake was screaming for someone fun to be sitting on top of it and I thought this Swiss Pixie cutie was perfect! They both have been colored with copics and then I added some chunky glitter and glitter glue accents to make them sparkle!

My papers are BG lemonade and SU! card stock. I've embellished with Prima flowers, sticky gems, ribbon tabs, and the glitter. I've embossed the pink layer under the image with the Swiss Dots folder and CB.

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you have a great Friday and if you are up for some challenges, please head on over to Just Magnolia and Stamp Something and join us, be sure to check out my design team members and their fabulous creations too! Happy Stamping! :)

This card also fits the challenge at...
Cute Card Thursday...Glitter Me Silly
A Spoon Full of Sugar...create a scene

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Holiday Treat Box and an Award

For the Whimsy Stamps blog hop, please click HERE!

Good Morning!

Hope you're having a good Thursday...it's almost Friday! I have to say that I for one am looking forward to the weekend. It's been a long week with sick kids, school holidays, and lots to do around the house. I'm needing a break!

Today I have a creation to share that I made for my Paper Maniac DT work. All month long the design team will be sharing Holiday ideas using various products from the Paper Maniac store. This is my project for the day...it's an acetate treat box!

I found the tutorial on Splitcoast, it was pretty easy to follow. I just had a bit of trouble getting my acetate to sit still while I scored and folded, slippery little thing! But once it was scored, I was able to stamp some snowflakes on one side and then I folded it up and made the box. I stamped my snowflakes in white Staz-on ink. If you wanted your treat box to keep the contents inside a secret, Paper Maniac carries a beautiful line of premium card stock in metallic and shimmer, I think they would be a beautiful alternative to acetate!

I've used Baja card stock and some SU! designer paper with a snowflake pattern. I've embellished with some eyelets and satin ribbon and then used a scalloped circle punch and a circle punch to do the sentiment on the front and top. The sentiment is from Whimsy Holiday Postmarks at Whimsy Stamps. I filled my box with some Dove chocolates...then I ate a bunch!

And before I leave you today, I wanted to share this fun award I received from my friend Deb. Thanks hun! I haven't gotten an award like this before and it was fun to answer!

The rules are:

I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.
So here we go:


1. Where is your cell phone? … purse

2. Your hair? …long
3. Your mother?…generous

4. Your father?… big teddy bear
5. Your favorite food? … chocolate
6. Your dream last night?… unknown
7. Your favorite drink? … Gingerale
8. Your dream/goal?… living it
9. What room are you in?… office/craftroom
10. Your hobby?… stamping
11. Your fear?… lots
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?… here, I think
13. Where were you last night? … Home
14. Something that you’re aren’t?… mean
15. Muffins?…blueberry
16. Wish list item? … stamps
17. Where did you grow up? … New Hampshire
18. Last thing you did?… emailed
19. What are you wearing?…sweats
20. Your TV?… big
21. Your Pets?…four
22. Friends? … wonderful
23. Your life?… happy
24. Your mood?…lazy
25. Missing Someone?…sometimes
26. vehicle?… Volvo
27. Something your not wearing?… socks
28. Your favorite store? …many
29. Your favorite color?…blue
30. When was the last time you laughed?…last night
31. Last time you cried?…not sure
32. Your best friend?… awesome
33. One place that I go to over and over? …Post Office
34. Facebook?… yes
35. Favorite place to eat?… out


I’d like to pass this award on to the following blog friends:
Erin, Vicki, Janna, Ann, and Laura to choose only 5 is never easy! If you haven't received this award before and would like it, please consider yourself awarded! And, I'm breaking the rules! HA!


Thanks for dropping by today! I'm off to do some laundry and then hopefully stamp! Have a great day, happy stamping! :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Thank You

For the Whimsy Blog Hop, please click HERE!

Hi All and happy Wednesday to you!

Hope your week is going well. Things are much better here, the kids are felling better and everyone is back to school and work. Things are slowly getting back to normal and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the germs are all gone!

I made a card last night for some challenges with a fun new image I received from my friend Deb. I love all the images Deb, thanks for sharing with me!

This is a new Kraftin' Kimmie stamp called Francesca. I just love her fun pose and the look on her face! She's been colored with Copics and I added a tiny bit of highlighting with a white gel pen. I've doodled around the image as well.

All of the papers are BasicGrey Lemonade and some SU! card stock in olive, pink, and razzleberry. I've distressed all the edges of my papers and embellished with a tag sentiment, Prima flowers, ribbon, and some sticky gems. Technically my sentiment might not fit perfectly with this image, but I had Deb in mind and wanted to say my thanks to her for sharing some images with me. And it could work for a "thank you for my lovely birthday present" card, right! LOL :)

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great day. If you haven't had time for the Whimsy hop to showcase the new release of the Crissy Armstrong Collection, you still have time! Check it out HERE!

This card fits the challenges at:
The Pink Elephant - Be Thankful
Creative Card Crew - doodles
Everybody Art Challenge - distressing
My Time to Craft - tags so much

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas....


On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
My True Love Sent to Me:
Twelve Drummers Drumming
Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords a Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Welcome to the end of the Whimsy Stamps "12 Days of Christmas" blog hop! Are you in a festive mood and singing along with our hop song yet? We hope you enjoyed the hop and got lots of inspiration from our Whimsy designers! Today's hop is for our new "holiday collection" release by artist Crissy Armstrong! We are very excited for you to finally be able to see and purchase these sweet stamps!

If you are just joining me you'll want to hop back to the beginning of the hop at Bev's Blog to see all the wonderful holiday creations made by the Whimsy Stamps Design Team and Crissy Armstrong herself!

For my project I created an easel card! These cards are all over blogland right now and so I just had to try making one. I love it too! Very easy to create and makes for a real eye catching card! I'd like to thank whoever came up with this fab idea, it's a keeper!

I have used the stamp Very Present Helpers on my card today. These little cuties remind me of our own cats getting into some holiday trouble! I've colored with Copics and then added some Twinkling H2Os for some shimmer on the ribbon. The gift box was paper pieced with some Eskimo Kisses paper from BasicGrey.

I've used more Eskimo Kisses paper with some Razzleberry, Pink, and Sky colored card stock. The sketch is from this week's Sketch and Stash challenge. My unused stash would be the sticky pearl accents. I've embellished my card with polka dot ribbon, felt snowflakes, pearls, buttons, and snowflake charm.

Here is a side view of the easel card...

I created my sentiment with the Stampin' Up set Short and Sweet along with some punches. I used the scalloped oval, large oval, and modern label punches from SU!. I adorned the sentiment area of the card with more ribbon, pearls, a felt snowflake and a button. This card also fits the challenges at Crazy 4 Challenges and Secret Crafter Saturday who both had easel card challenges.

Now, this is the end of the hop, but the last stop on today's hop is the Whimsy Stamps homepage where you can enter for a chance to win some mystery blog candy which does include all 4 of the new Crissy Armstrong Collection stamps! We hope you enjoyed hopping around for some holiday inspiration! Our hop prize drawing will run from now until Friday, November 13th at noon ET. For your chance to win, please be sure to leave a comment on the Whimsy home page "12 Days of Christmas" blog hop post!

We thank you for joining us today and wish you all a very happy holiday season! Happy stamping! :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

SPCC - GDT Spot 2

Hello Again!

Hope you are having a great Monday! Things could be better here at our house...sick kids! We think our son has the flu, which has made for a lousy night and day. I feel so bad for him and there really isn't much we can do. I think we'll all be taking a nap later today though!

Today I have a card to share for my GDT spot with SPCC, a color challenge blog. I've been really challenged with these color combos...it's nice to be challenged, but boy did I struggle with this one! This week's challenge color combo is...

These are rather bright colors, not ones I would ever think to use on my own. I like cheerful, but I not big on really bright colors. I just have a hard time with bright and matching images to fit that style.

I used both Night of Navy and Melon Mambo card stock and then added pops of yellow and black in my embellishments and image to be sure to have all the colors in the combo present. The papers are BasicGrey June Bug and the image is Whimsy Skunk. I've colored with copics and embellished with Prima flowers, black buttons, some brads, and distressed edges.

Thanks for dropping by today. To see who won my Spread the Love blog hop candy, please scroll down to the next post. We'll be drawing the winners of the prizes from the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog later today.

Have a great day, happy stamping! :)

Spread the Love - My Candy Winner


Morning!

Thanks to all the wonderful people who entered the Spread the Love blog hop and card drive challenge! It was truly amazing to see the outpouring of support and kindness! The blog hop and card drive challenge have now ended, but please continue to send Jaimie love and kindness for as long as you want! We would love to continue to flood her with cards and words of hope and encouragement! Thank you for all you did to help our cause!

I've put all the names of the people who left comments here on my blog with links to their cards for Jaimie in a bucket and had my daughter draw the winner of my personal blog candy prize....

and the winner is...

Cindy! Congrats and thanks for helping! Please contact me with your mailing info and I'll get that goody pack right out to you!

We will be drawing and announcing the winners of the grand prizes over at the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog a little later this morning. Be sure to check later today so see if you were a lucky winner!

Have a great day!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Layers of Color Sneak Peek

Morning!

Hope you're having a nice weekend. It's been chilly here, so I've been inside stamping and doing some house cleaning. Not a bad weekend!

Today I have a card to share, which is a sneak peek at a couple new Layers of Color stamp sets! Layers of Color has a big Autumn release planned for next weekend but in the mean time, the LOC designers will be sharing some artwork using the new stamps as a way to give you a preview. And right now, Layers of Color is celebrating with a big release party complete with awesome prizes and free digi party favors. Head on over to the LOC blog now to enter for your chance to win! And while you're there you can download your free digital image!

Here is my sneak peek using the new stamp sets Rise and Shine and Merci Bouquet. I chose to use these three adorable chick stamps for my main image and then I used the chicken wire stamp to create a background page and I added a couple flowers to soften the chicken wire and add some color.

My images were colored with watercolor crayons and a paintbrush. I was going for a vintage/country feel, so I distressed all the edges with a pair of scissors. The papers are Riding Hood Red and Black cardstock with K and Company printed red paper. I've embellished with Prima flowers, buttons, ribbon, brads, hemp twine, and hand made flowers.

Thanks for dropping by today. I'm off to make a couple more cards. Hope you have a great day! Be sure to check out the rest of the Layers of Color party details and enter for your chance to win some free stamps! Hope to see you at the party next weekend!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Some Christmas Cards

Happy Friday to you!

Hope you had a great week. I know I'm looking forward to the weekend for sure! This has been one busy week that I'm happy to see coming to an end. And with no big plans for the weekend, I'm hoping to squeeze in some craft time and relaxation!

Today I have two cards to share, both for new challenges. I went with some new holiday papers and images on both to get a start on my Christmas card list for this season.


Our challenge at Stamp Something this week is "Recipe for Love Somethings" and we have a set recipe and also have a special request. The challenge is to use 1 ribbon, 2 papers, and 3 embellishments on your card. Your embellishments can be 3 of 1 kind or a multiple amount of 3 different embellishments. And our special request is that you make your card not only to enter our challenge, but also to send to Jaimie Cates, as part of our Spread the Love card drive.

Our sponsor at Stamp Something this week is Mo's Digital Pencil and the design team was able to make their projects using some of Mo's fabulous images. I've used Noelle Bearing Gifts for my card.

I paired this image with some pretty Wassail holiday printed papers from BasicGrey. I love the vintage feel and the perfect Christmas colors of these papers. My layout is from Mojo Monday, which I've rotated. Then I've distressed the edges and embellished with brads, spacers, and felt snowflakes along with glitter and flocking for some texture.


Our challenge for you this week at Just Magnolia is to use a Magnolia image of course and do distressing on your project. There is a great tutorial to show you some fun ways to distress your projects as well. I LOVE to distress personally. I think it's the texture that makes me fond of the look. So have fun and rip it up this week!

I ordered some Magnolias with Erin last week and this one was suppose to be a different stamp! I have no idea of this one's name as I was sent the wrong stamp. I have to say though, that I'm kind of happy they sent the wrong one, as I do really like this one! She's been colored with Copics and the highlighted with a white gel pen.

The layout for this card is from this week's Everybody Art Challenge. And again I've used more Wassail papers and red and green cardstock. I embellished with flowers, spacers and rose centers, and some ribbon a heart charm and a heart piece of chipboard. The sentiment is from SU!'s Short and Sweet set.

Thanks for popping on by today! Be sure to drop by Stamp Something and Just Magnolia to check out my design team mates projects, they always have beautiful eye candy to share! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Happy stamping. :)

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Holiday Card and Ornament

Good Morning!

Happy Thursday to you all. Hope your week is going well. It's getting colder and colder here, so we've been inside most of the week. Perfect stamping weather although I've been so busy I haven't had much time for fun things!

I did squeeze in some time last night, after the kids went to bed, to stamp and make a couple things. First is a card I made and fit to some challenges. It's been a while since I've participated in the challenges, it was nice!

I have lots of new Whimsy Stamps rubber so I wanted to ink up one of them. This is Whimsy Winter Raccoons! I've colored with copics and added some chunky and sparkly glitter for snowy accents. This stamp works for the Scene challenge at Stamp with Fun.

I went with all blues and whites for my paper colors and used some pretty SU! snowflake printed paper. This fits the Blue Christmas challenge at Cute Daisy May. I also used my lace border punch to create some faux lace accents. These are scalloped shaped and fit the so many scallops challenge at My Time to Craft.

I've embellished this card with gel pen faux stitching, a felt snowflake with gem center, and then some sticky gem swirls for added bling. The added touches of silvery bling help to fit the Blue White and Silver color challenge at Colour Create.

Next I have a holiday ornament to share with you. Our assignment for design work this week at Paper Maniac was to continue with create ideas for holiday decor.

I created this ornament to put my kids pictures on and give to the grandparents this year as keepsakes. I haven't added the photos yet, but will do that after we take some holiday shots of the kids.

I used my Labels Nesties and some Eskimo Kiss paper from BasicGrey. Each frame is a coordinating piece of paper and cardstock glued to another coordinating cardstock and paper piece. I've punched eyelets in the top and bottom on the top piece and only in the top on the bottom piece. Then I used silver thread to hang them together. I embellished with pearls and some satin ribbon.

Thanks for dropping by today! I hope to have some time to visit each of you later today too. Sorry I haven't been by all week, there just aren't enough hours in the day lately!

Have a great day, happy stamping! :)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

GDT and Some Exciting News

Happy Wednesday All!

It's been another busy day at our house. We had school drop off and then my daughter's ballet class and then the grocery store. I'm just getting in now! Hope you're having a great day!

I have a card to share and then some rather exciting news to spill as well! First, my card, which is for a guest design spot on Copic Colour Challenge! Not sure how it happened, but I had completely forgotten about my GDT with them, but thankfully Adele was very willing to wait for my card yesterday! Thanks Adele!

The color combo at Copic Colour Challenge this week is:

I ddin't have all of those colors in my Copic collection so I tried to match as well as I could and then added some of these colors with my papers and embellishments.

I've gone with a holiday card for this one and used the new BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses paper and buttons along with this cute Whiff of Joy image. The image was colored with Copics of course and then I added some flocking to her coat, hood, and boots to add some texture. Love that stuff!

I kept the layout simple and used my lace border punch and some satin ribbon across the middle and then framed my image with circle Nesties and an embossed piece of pink cardstock. The image is popped up on foam tape. I also added some faux stitching with a white gel pen.

Now, for my exciting news.....

I've been waiting quite a while to be able to share this wonderful news with you all and today I can finally do just that! Whimsy Stamps has a new illustrator and it's none other than the super duper talented Crissy Armstrong! We are just over the moon to have Crissy as a member of the Whimsy Stamps family, we are very fortunate! She has already created a collection of holiday stamps which will be released early next week! I adore the new images and I know you will too! Stay tuned for more info and our holiday release blog hop next week!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great afternoon! Happy stamping! :)

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

SPCC Guest Design Spot

Spread the Love blog hop....please click HERE

Happy Tuesday All,

Boy what a day yesterday was! Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who joined in our blog hop as participants and readers alike! You are all amazing and so generous and kind! We thank you all for the support you have shown for our cause and for Jaimie! Please click the link above if you want to take part, you have until next Monday!

I was suppose to post this card yesterday, but I never managed to get there! I was asked by Samantha at SPCC to join them for the month of November as a guest designer. Of course I said yes, it's always an honor to guest design and it's fun too! For those that aren't familiar with SPCC, they are a weekly color challenge blog and this week's challenge is....

For my card I went with the Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel in the paper colors and then added some green and oranges as accent colors. I've used a Magnolia image and the sketch was from a challenge, but I have no idea which one now! I embellished with Prima flowers, ribbons, and a charm.

I'd like to thank Samantha for having me! Sorry my post is a bit late! Hope you all have a great day. Cleaning time for me! Happy stamping! :)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Spread The Love Blog Hop

Happy Monday!

Today I have a very special post! Erin and I have organized a Spread the Love blog hop to help bring love and hope to a young New Hampshire girl named Jaimie Cates, who sadly was the victim of random violence in her own home and as a result of this random act, also lost her mother. It was a terrible tragedy that has touched us deeply and so we wanted to do something to help Jaimie.

Here is the story of what happened in the small NH town not very far from where I live myself....
On the night of October 3rd Jaimie and her mom, Kimberly, went to bed with no way of knowing the events that were about to transpire to change their lives forever. Four local teenagers armed with knives, broke into their home and brutally murdered Kim Cates and seriously injured 11 year old Jaimie and left her for dead in the driveway. These boys chose the home for no other reason than its location and for no other purpose than to bring harm to the occupants. It was a senseless, random crime that shook the small town and much of the state.

Erin and I have been overwhelmed with the support and compassion of the stamping/scrapping community and with the help of countless bloggers and many many company sponsors, we are bringing you our "Spread the Love for Jaimie" blog hop and card drive! Each of the members of today's hop will share the card they made for Jaimie and we all hope that you will be inspired by this young girl and want to help her too.

Today's hop started on Katharina's blog and if you are just joining me, you'll want to hop back to Katharina's and start this special hop there. If you are joining me from Jay Jay's blog, then you are in the right place!

This is the card I will be mailing to Jaimie this afternoon. I wanted to use some cheerful colors and papers, but nothing too girly as Jaimie is not a girly girl. She like sports, playing outside, and she is a black belt in Karate too!

My card uses this sweet image from Squigglefly Digital Stamps, illustrated by Crissy Armstrong, both of whom are participating in our blog hop today! I've colored with copics and then embellished with ribbon, Prima flowers, buttons, and metal hardware. My sentiment says "Sending Happy Thoughts Your Way" and is available at Whimsy Stamps, another sponsor in today's hop.

My 6 and 3 year old made the two cards above to send to Jaimie. They each chose their supplies and assembled and colored them by themselves and then drew special pictures inside. I'm very proud of them for wanting to show Jaimie some kindness.

Thank you for visiting my blog today, the next stop on the hop is Cindy's blog. Our hop will end on our new blog, Stamp Something...for Jaimie where we have a special card drive challenge posted with opportunities for participants to win some really terrific prizes donated by our generous sponsors. So be sure you continue to hop to see all the love and hope being spread for Jaimie and then we hope you will make a card and enter it into our challenge!

If you are willing to help spread the word about our cause for Jaimie by creating a post on your blog with links to the Stamp Something...for Jaimie blog as well as posting our badge, you can enter to win my personal blog candy for this event! These are the items in this goody pack: ribbon, black ink spot and hand stamped by stamp, full unmounted rubber stamp set in a baby theme, heart theme acrylic stamp set, package of Prima hydrangea flowers, sticky letters, sticky words, pack of buttons, and some chocolate!

Once you have posted the info and links about our hop on your blog, please come back here and leave a comment. I will draw one winner from the comments left here on my blog on Monday, November 9th.

Have a great day and please, if you have a few moments to spare, make a card and mail it to Jaimie and then let others know about our Spread the Love bog hop and card drive. Thank you and Happy Stamping!

Jaimie Cates
c/o Mont Vernon Fire Station
Main Street
Mont Vernon, NH 03057