Happy New Year!

Well, another year has flown by! I hope it's been a good one for you!

This is a birthday card I made recently for one of our wine lover friends, but it could easily work as a New Year's card, too (with a different sentiment inside, of course)! The small grape cluster is from Rubber Stampede and the wine vine stamp is from Impression Obsession. The patterned papers are from Papertrey Ink. The images were colored with Copic markers.

Here's a peek at the inside of the card. The sentiment is also from Impression Obsession. The scallop border punch is from Stampin' UP.

Thank you all for following my little blog this year. I really appreciate your support and nice comments! Have a wonderful and safe New Year's and I'll see you back here in 2010!!

Happy New Year!

All things grow with love

I made this card for the Mojo Monday 118 sketch challenge. The background paper is from October Afternoon's Report Card collection (Bus Route). The striped paper is its reverse side. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits set. The card stock is PTI's Spring Moss and the buttons and twine are also from PTI. My faux stitching was done using a Mint Copic Spica pen.

Hope you are enjoying the last of the holiday weekend - I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow. We've got a pot of Jambalaya on the stove and will watch a movie after dinner for our last night before heading back to the grind! Thanks for looking!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours - Merry Christmas!

Belli Challenge #81 - tags

Welcome to another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to use Tags in your project.

I had this cute little butterfly box die cut left from a previous challenge that was sponsored by Creative Cuts and More, so I decided to use it for Christmas gift box. The box is Curious Metallics Bronze Ore. The gingerbread man on the front of the box is from Papertrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits set, along with the sentiment on my tag.

The back of the box has the ribbon/bow from the same set. The buttons are all from PTI and the twine they are tied with is from Martha Stewart.

We would love for you to play along with us this week! If you make a tag project, be sure to add a link to it on today's Belli Challenge post. If you upload to Splitcoaststampers or PaperCraft Planet, be sure and use CBC81 as the KEYWORD so we can find your project!

Please be sure to check out what the rest of the Belli girls have done this week, including our newest Belli girl, my good friend, Jenny Gropp!

AND, we are looking for a few more people to join the Belli team. If you're interested in applying, please see the December 8th post over on the Belli Blog for all the details.

Are you ready for the big man in the red suit?? I finally am and now I'm going to enjoy the rest of the week and watch a couple of Christmas movies with my honey!

Happy Holidays!

Snowy Birthday Wishes

I made this card using Mercy's sketch from last week, and it also fits for this week's Our Creative Corner challenge, which is to use snow or snowflakes on your card. Um, I think I've got that covered - on the card AND the envelope!

The papers are from a Christmas paper stack and all the stamps are from Stampin' UP!. The gold snowflake is a clear Heidi Swapp snowflake that I colored with a gold paint pen. The blue one in the upper right corner was also clear and I colored it with a Copic marker. I added a couple of pale green Kaiser Pearls to the centers of the two larger snowflakes. That's about it.

Are you all ready for Christmas?? I'm STILL working on Christmas cards and have one more gift to wrap up and mail (obviously it's going to be late....). Enjoy your week and be sure to check back on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!

Damask Happy Birthday

Let me start off by apologizing for the lousy photo of this card - I couldn't get it focused properly, but I'm desperate for things to post, so here it is!

I decided to give last week's CAS color challenge another go, this time making more of a Clean and Simple card, although I'm still not sure I succeeded in that department. At any rate, the red and white damask paper is from Stampin' UP! and it immediately reminded me of the Papertrey Ink Damask Designs set that I've had for ages and never inked up. They are a perfect match! Then I remembered the Textile Cuttlebug folder and embossed my background paper with that.

The sentiment is also from the Damask Designs set. I stamped it on vellum hoping I could layer it over the middle of the damask image, but it didn't show up well enough, so I layered it on a white ribbon tag instead. I added a couple of buttons, a glittery flower, a few red rhinestones, some faux stitching and some Martha Stewart baker's twine and there you have it! The sketch is from last Friday's Weekend Sketch Challenge 110.

Hope you're having a good week. I'm in full blown panic mode for Christmas, so things will probably be a little quiet here! Thanks for looking!

Winter Happy Birthday

I made this card for two challenges - the JUGS10 sketch challenge and this week's CAS44 Color Challenge which was to use red, brown and white or cream. Of course, this card isn't exactly Clean and Simple....but at least I got the color part right!

The background paper is from a Christmas paper stack and the brown paper is from Stampin' UP!. I stamped my snowflakes (from Stampin' UP!) and the bird image (from Inkadinkado) on the brown paper with PTI's Vintage Cream ink and then added some Stampendous glittery embossing powder and heat embossed. I added the red dots around the scalloped edges with a red Spica pen for a little more sparkle. The velvet ribbon is from Cosmo Cricket and the striped ribbon is from Stampin' UP!

That's about it! Thanks for looking!

Belli Challenge #80 - Flourishes

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is flourishes. I've got this one covered! My patterned paper has flourishes, my chipboard piece is a flourish AND it's stamped with flourishes, my stamped image has flourishes AND my sentiment not only has flourishes, but it's from Flourishes' Flourished Words set! I used Mercy's MTSC50 sketch from last week as my starting point. The patterned papers are Stampin' UP!'s Razzle Dazzle collection and the flower stamp is from the set of the same name. The card stock is all SU's current In Colors.

I colored my stamp with the In Colors markers in Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry and Crushed Curry, plus Old Olive for the stems, and then I went over my flowers with a clear Spica marker and added yellow rhinestones to the center of each one. I used a Fiskars border punch to punch the edge of the Melon Mambo cardstock and then used the little flower pieces up in the right corner, with pink rhinestones added to the centers of both the positive and negative flowers.

BIG news - we are looking for a few new members to add to the Belli Challenge design team! If you're interested in applying, please check out yesterday's post over on the Belli blog. Submissions for the design team are due by January 3, 2010 - we hope you'll apply!

Please be sure to visit the other Belli girls' blogs and see what they have done this week (links to their blogs are over on the left sidebar)! Also be sure to see what our guest designer, my fellow Krafty Kat, Jenny Gropp, has created for this week's challenge.

To play along with us, create a card or project using flourishes, share your link with us using Mr Linky on today's Belli blog post. If you post to SCS or PCP or any other online gallery please use keyword CBC80 so we can find it.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Happy Birthday

Last week I started out planning to make a card for the Impression Obsession challenge, which was to make a white card. Unfortunately, I ended up using a sentiment from Endless Creations, so this card didn't qualify for the challenge, but at least I achieved my primary goal, which was to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law.

The card base is from a DCWV Box of Cards, the card stock is from Stampin' Up and the inks I used were all Versamagic Chalk inks. The Wreaths and Garlands set I used is acrylic, so I was able to shape the main garland image in a circle on my acrylic block and then add the two toned flowers around it. The stamped panel was cut out using a Blossom Nestabilities die, then mounted to a scalloped circle. I added a Swiss Dot embossed panel in the center to tie my pink silk ribbon around, then mounted the stamped image on top of that and added the bow.

Hope you had a Happy Birthday, Melissa! Sorry this was late.

Enjoy your week - thanks for stopping by!

No Place Like Home

I have had this Boards and Beams set from Papertrey Ink for a LONG time, but had never inked it up. A friend recently bought a house after living in an apartment for a long time, so I finally made use of some of these stamps! I also incorporated a few images from the accompanying Home for the Holidays set.

The house, the tree and the lamppost were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copic markers. The front door with the wreath and the swag over the window were stamped and colored separately and adhered to the house. I masked the house to airbrush the grass and the sky. I added some Glossy Accents to the light on the lamppost.

The picket fence was made using a Martha Stewart border punch and popped up with some foam tape. The patterned papers are all from BasicGrey's Boxer collection. The twill is from Stampin' UP!. The card base is PTI Kraft and the mat is PTI's new Terracotta Tile card stock.

For the inside, I repeated the layers of card stock and patterned papers, and added the sentiment.

These sets are a lot of fun to play with and I'm looking forward to combining some of the other elements from them. Hopefully it won't take me so long to make another card using these stamps!

Hope your week is going well - can you believe it's December already?? Where has this year gone?

Thanks for stopping by!

Fantastic Birthday

Happy Monday! This is a really quick card I made for my uncle's 91st birthday. I used Mercy's MTSC49 sketch, turned on its side, as my starting point.

The patterned papers are from BasicGrey's Boxer collection and the ledger paper is Creative Imaginations Narratives that I punched with an EK Success Binding Edge border punch. The stamps are from Gina K. Designs' Many Happy Returns set.

This is the closest I get to the mythical ten minute card... ;-) Thanks for looking!

Life's Uncertain!

Fluffles looks about how I felt after a yummy Thanksgiving dinner yesterday! Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, too!

This is a birthday card I made for a friend who lives by this sentiment! She has ordered dessert first when eating out to be sure she doesn't miss it! The image was colored with Copic markers and I used some Spica pens to add a little sparkle to the frosting, the candle flames and for the doodles around the edge of my image panel. The balloon has Glossy Accents on it.

The patterned paper is from BasicGrey and the ribbons are from Cosmo Cricket Earth Love (striped) and Stampin' UP! (twill). The sketch is from the OCC's November 5th SASSC39 challenge.

Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #79 - Chipboard

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to use chipboard on your project. We also have a new sponsor this week - Stretch 'N Bubbles, who is offering this week's winner a choice of FOUR digital stamps! Alison, the owner, provided the Belli girls with some digital images for us to use for this week's samples.

I chose Earl the Penguin, printed him using my laser printer and colored him using Copic and Spica markers. The patterned papers are from Making Memories Fa La La collection and my mat layers are Stardream Stationery from Marco's Paper. For my chipboard element, I used a Grungeboard snowflake that I covered with Vintage Cream ink and Stampendous Blue Violet Ultra Fine glitter.

This close up shows the glitter on the snowflake and the glitter from the Spica markers on the penguin. I added a few green rhinestones from Memory Box and gold pearls from Michaels. The sentiment was stamped directly on the patterned paper using Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel ink.

This last shot is of the inside, which mimics the layout from the front. I stamped the swirl and ornament from PTI's Christmas Friends set using Versamagic Wheat.

If you would like to play along with us, just add a link to your chipboard project using Mr. Linky on today's Belli Challenge post. If you upload your photo to Splitcoast Stampers, Papercraft Planet or another forum, be sure to use the keyword CBC79.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Bird-day!

Happy Monday! Here's a quick birthday card I made recently using a couple of Memory Box stamps. The image was colored using Koh-I-Noor colored pencils and then blended with Gamsol. The patterned paper is Bo Bunny Harvest Table. The card stock and ribbon are from Stampin' UP! The tag for the sentiment was made using a Fancy Tags die from Spellbinders.

That's about it! Hope you had a nice weekend. Enjoy this short week and please stop back by on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!

You're so very Tweet!

Happy Friday! It's been a long, busy week for me, which explains my silence here in blogland!

I made this card using the OCC's sketch challenge from last week. The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love collection. The bird houses and the sentiment are from Papertrey Ink's Bird Watching set. They were stamped and colored four times using Copic markers, then three were cut out and placed on the cloud patterned paper, and the fourth set was popped up on top of the middle set with foam tape.

The owl was also colored with Copics, cut out and adhered on top of the ribbon. That's about it. Thanks for looking!

Have a great weekend!