SHOPPING OUR STASH #460 - Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

 

Hello crafty friends and welcome!

It's time for the last challenge of this year over at

SHOPPING OUR STASH:

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

I'm pretty sure you've figured out that we want to see a 

snowman or more on your projects.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's the inside:

I broke out some ancient snowman stickers from my stash

for this card, along with some beloved Paper Smooches

sentiment stamps. On the front panel, I added a tiny heart

sticker, and when I was burnishing it with my bone folder,

I discovered it wasn't a heart, but a bird! LOL! 

I hope that you'll join us in our Snowman challenge at

Shopping Our Stash! Your projects don't necessarily need to

be holiday themed. Snowmen are around all winter, and people

do have birthdays in winter. Just sayin'. :)

Also, some news. As of this challenge, I'll be stepping down as a

design team member here. It was a hard decision to make,

but sometimes life gets in the way. I've loved the past

8 years being on this team, and will miss all these

wonderful, amazing, creative ladies. 

(But don't worry, I'll still be stalking the blog

and playing along!)

Thanks for visiting. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas

and a happy New Year!

Supplies:

Stamps: Paper Smooches -All Yule Need, Christmas Sampler

Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black

DP: Lawn Fawn - Snow Day Remix

CS: Taylored Expressions; Cardstock Warehouse

Accessories: Cloud 9 Designs - snowmen stickers; GC; Penny Black - Swirly Rectangle die; MISTI

Adhesives: SA by 3L - tape runner, 3D foam squares 

Merry and Bright

Hello friends and happy 8-days-til-Christmas to you!

I'm still without a car (since Halloween). My hubby hit a deer on

his way to work that day, and his car has been in the shop since then. He's

been using my car all this time. I only get out on the weekend.

I have gifts to send but I'm not stressing about getting

them out in time for Christmas. I'll send them when I'm able to, and

I'll be extending the holiday for the recipients! LOL!

Going to the post office on Saturday is not happening.

I went there last Saturday just to drop off my pile of cards and

the line to mail packages was practically out the door. Nope. No thanks.

I'll wait to go there on a weekday, not so crazy then.

Ok, enough about that. What I really came here for is to show

you a card I've made, and it happens to fit a few challenges. Bonus!

and the inside:

 

These adorable ornaments were colored with my Spectrum Noir markers,

then heavily hit with both diamond Stickles and a Wink of Stella pen.

I've tried to get a close up of all the shimmer and sparkle:

 

 

It's so hard to capture all the shimmer on the ornaments in a photo. 

These twinkle soooo much in real life!

And now I have a head start on my Christmas cards for next year!

That's all for now. I hope that you have a great day!

I'd like to enter this at:

Freshly Made Sketch #367

Just Add Ink #438 - my 3rd color is the light blue

Addicted to Stamps and More #322

Supplies:

Stamps: Magenta - three ornaments; Simon Says Stamp/Kelly Purkey - Oh Deer; Hero Arts - Merry Christmas Message

Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Rose Bud

DP: Cloud 9 Design; scrap

CS: Crafter's Companion; Neenah

Accessories: Spectrum Noir markers; GC; Avery Elle - pierced rectangle die; MISTI; WOS pen; Ranger - Diamond Stickles

Adhesives: SA by 3L - tape runner, thin 3D foam squares

SHOPPING OUR STASH #281 - Pretty Packaging

Good morning friends and welcome! We have a fun challenge starting today at SHOPPING OUR STASH: Pretty Packaging! We'd like to see your gift, or gift card, packaging. Think altered boxes, bags, tags, anything that would hold a gift or gift card. I bought a package of white pillow boxes a couple years ago, and so that's what I used for my project:

Yep, I made two! I used strips of patterned paper and snowman stickers  I've had in my Christmas stash for years. Once I adhered the patterned paper to the pillow box, I die cut two sizes of ovals, and a scalloped frame. Stuck the sticker on the white oval, glued the scalloped frame to it, then that to the black oval. Then used a few foam squares across the back of the oval to adhere to the pillow box. Lastly, I tied on some twine. Super easy and fun to make!

I hope you find some time to play along this week at Shopping Our Stash! Also, since it's a new month, we have a new Guest Designer! Welcome Beth! (a.k.a. Myoriah!) We are thrilled to have you join us this month! 

For more inspiration, do check out what my teammates came up with for this challenge, visit their blogs and leave them some bloggy lovin!

Just a reminder: We are looking for Guest Designers now! If you'd like to be considered for January, simply leave a "DT" after your name when you link up! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a great day!

I'd like to enter this at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Christmas gifts

Supplies:

DP: Colorbok; MME

CS: scraps

Accessories: Bags & Boxes by Deluxe Co. - pillow boxes; GC; Simon Says Stamp - Frames die; SB - Classic Lg & Sm Oval Nesties; Cloud 9 - stickers; Martha Stewart/MME - twine

Adhesives: SA by 3L - tape runner, 3D foam squares

JUST US GIRLS #361 Color Week

Hello and welcome! It's Color Week at JUST US GIRLS, and Nancy is your hostess. She's picked the colors BLACK, RED, and YELLOW for you to play with! Here's the card I made:

I'll admit that I was kind of stumped with these colors, until I saw the second card that Shery Russ made on her post here. (Thanks for the inspiration Shery!) I used an older set of leaf stamps and did the rock and roll technique using red and yellow ink pads. I used my MISTI to get good coverage with the leaves I stamped in black ink, then fussy cut them. I wanted the sentiment to stand out more, so I added a panel of yellow behind it. 

Here's the inside:

I hope you get a chance to play along for this week's color challenge at Just Us Girls! We'd love to see what you create with these colors. For more inspiration, please visit the blogs of my teammates, and our Guest Designer, Kathy Schweinfurth, and leave some bloggy lovin! 

Just a reminder, that if you are picked as Chic of the Week for any of our September challenges, you'll be in the running to be our Guest Designer for the month of November! Good luck and have fun! Thanks for visiting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Cloud 9 Designs - Leaves; Winnie & Walter - Big Bold & Party

Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Lady Bug, Dandelion; Versa Mark

CS: Darice; Bazzill

Accessories: GC; Avery Elle - Pierced Rectangle dies; Simon Says Stamp - Happy Birthday dies; Inkadinkado - black EP; heat gun; MISTI

Adhesives: SA by 3L - tape runner, 3D & Thin 3D foam squares; Ranger - Multi Matte Medium

JUST US GIRLS #304 - Word Week

Hello and a good Saturday to you! It's Word Week at JUST US GIRLS! Maria is your hostess this week, and she's picked the word AUTUMN for you to get creative with. Can you believe it's the first of August today?!!! Where did the summer go?!!! (Ok, so technically it's still summer, but August usually means back to school shopping and leaves start to turn colors.) With turning leaves in mind, that's what I visioned for my card:

 Here's the inside:

I started by stamping my card base with the sentiment in the lower corner, then using Versa Mark ink, I randomly stamped 4 different leaf stamps all around. I die cut two squares: the larger from DP and smaller from beige card stock. Before I took the die cut out of the die, I sponged over the edges with vintage photo DI. I inked up the largest leaf stamp from the set in a yellow ink, then going around the edges with orange and brown inks, before stamping on white card stock and fussy cutting. I went over the veins with crystal Stickles for a bit of sparkle. Once dry it was popped up on foam squares.

I hope you get the chance to play along this week at Just Us Girls! While there, please check out the amazing creations the other gals made to inspire you! Also, a big warm welcome to our August Guest Designer - Karen Bourke! I can't wait to see all the fun stuff you'll be creating with us this month! 

Just a reminder, if you are chosen as Chic of the Week for any of our August challenges, you'll be in the running to be our Guest Designer for the month of October! Good luck and now go forth and get your craft on! LOL! 

Supplies: Stamps: Cloud 9 Designs - Leaves; Paper Smooches - Autumn Groves; Hero Arts - Celebrate Everyday

Ink: Versa Mark; Memento - Tuxedo Black, Cantaloupe, Tangelo, Rich Cocoa; Ranger DI - Vintage Photo

DP: WRMK - Autumn Splendor

CS: Darice

Accessories: GC; MFT - Zig Zag Stitched Squares Die-Namics; Ranger - Crystal Stickles

JUST US GIRLS! #262 - Trend Week!

Hello and good morning, crafty peeps! This week is a trend week at JUST US GIRLS! And the trend is OMBRE!

Ombre has been around a while in our paper crafting world, but it's still a very hot trend right now. Here's what I came up with:

 Here's the inside of my card:

I used shades of blue ink to make my background. Stamping the bramble image first, I made a mask for the moon (Ok, the name of this stamp is Bramble Sunrise, but I made it a moon rise, cuz that's how I roll! LOL!), then inked up the moon with squeezed lemonade and wild honey DI. Then I masked over the moon and inked up the background using tumbled glass & broken china DIs, and Memento Paris dusk. I inked just a smidgen of black soot DI in the top corners. I like how it turned out, but in hindsight, I should have used card stock instead of water color paper, like I did on the inside. (Insert sad trombone sound here) On both web images, I traced over them with diamond Stickles.

 Ooh! Shiny!

Now it's your turn to make a card using ombre! Don't forget to link it up at Just Us Girls! Please be sure to check out what my teammies created to inspire you, and leave them some bloggy love! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Chris

Supplies

Stamps: Memory Box - Bramble Sunrise; Cloud 9 Designs - Halloween; Inkadinkado - All Hallow's Eve

Ink: Memento - Paris Dusk; Ranger DI - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Black Soot; Staz On - Jet Black

CS: Strathmore water color paper; Darice

Accessories: Ranger - Diamond Stickles; painters tape; Faber-Castell - black PITT Artist pen

Adhesives: SA by 3L - MyStik permanent

Spooky....but oh so cute!

* For my SISTERHOOD OF SNARKY STAMPERS post, click HERE, or simply keep scrolling! 


Hello peeps! I have a card to share with you all that I made using sketch #27, the last one (*sniff, sniff*) from Seize the Sketch. Lesley, the creator of the challenge blog, has decided to discontinue the blog. I haz a sad. But not to worry, she has her crafty irons in other fires, so to speak, so you will see her around the blogosphere. ☺  So, onto my card:

 the inside:

I decided to do the faux cracked glass technique on these images. I've done it only once before, and ironically, I used this same Frankie stamp to make it. I literally had just enough clear embossing powder to put 4 coats on each picture. (There's a shopping trip in my near future!)

 (Frankie and his bride are so stinkin' cute!)

(Ooh, shiny!)

For the star element on the sketch, I used a pompom spider sticker. I broke out the ol' Slice machine for the orange label, punched holes in each side, and strung baker's twine through them, taping the ends on the back side of the panel. Both 'picture frames' and the label are popped up using thin 3D foam squares. (They are half the thickness of the regular foam squares, and give just a hint of elevation off the top of the card. Love 'em!)

I hope you get the chance to play along with this last challenge. It's a great sketch!

Ok, that's all for now. Time to start my day, since I finished my tea. ☺ I hope you have a great day today, and thanks for stopping by!

Chris

Supplies:

Stamps: Craft Smart - Frankie and Bride; Cloud 9 Designs - Halloween

Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Ranger DI - Vintage Photo

DP: G45 - An Eerie Tale

CS: Recollections; Copic X-Press It

Accessories: Spectrum Noir markers; Grand Calibur, Deckled Rectangle Nesties; Stampendous - clear EP; Slice die cutting machine & Vintage Findings cartridge; Doodlebug twine; Jolee's Boutique - spider embellie; heat gun

Adhesives: SA by 3L - MyStik permanent, 3D foam squares; Recollections - red tape

Bad to the Gills!.../SBS July Facebook Fan Page challenge

Once again, I'm entering a challenge at the 11th hour. But I couldn't think of what to do until last night! Betty from Simply Betty Stamps has a Facebook Fan Page contest where she generously gives you a digi image for free (I know! Cool Beans!), but there are two catches: 1) you have to be a member of the Facebook Fan Page and 2) you must use the free image for the contest it was designed for. (Seriously, it's a no brainer!) For July's contest, she offered two images to choose from - Roxie the Good Mermaid and Spika the Bad Mermaid. Which one did I pick? Well duh! Spika, of course! LOL! Here's what I came up with:

I made a tag! This, I think, is going to be my new bookmark! HA! Meet Spika, the Bad Mermaid! (She's really not bad, just drawn that way! LOL!) Ok, I know this is not the best coloring job, mainly the tail fins. There are a couple new things I've tried out on this tag. First, I finally bought alcohol based markers! (I have Marvy Uchida markers, which are water based) Thought it would be easy to use my new Spectrum Noir pens - not! They react differently than the M.U's do, especially when using the blender pen. I only have the essentials and pale hues sets, which I used for the skin, tail fin, and hair. The green is M.U. (I strongly hinted to my hubby that I'd like the rest of the sets for my birthday present! We'll see how that flies! HA!) Secondly, I tried the Fran-tage technique for the first time! I sprinkled champagne EP and Gilded & Tarnished Mica flakes at the bottom of the tag, then heated it from underneath. Worked like a charm! Spika is popped up on foam squares. Oh, and before I did ANY of that, I smeared my craft mat with distress inks, spritzed with water and layed my tag into the mess. Once dry, I printed the sentiment from my computer.  OH, OH! Thirdly, I used a water pen for the first time around the tag hole, since it didn't touch the ink at first. Here's a different angle so you can see the shiny EP and Mica flakes better:

I finished with some baker's twine and some rain dots to mimic air bubbles and was done! A cute little underwater scene. Except for the crappy coloring job on the fins, I LURV how this turned out!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for hanging on till the end of my post. For that you deserve an ice cold beverage of the alcoholic kind! LOL! Have a great day!

ETA: I'm also entering this for the CAS on Sunday #14 - Tag it challenge! Thanks Barb!

Chris
Supplies:
Stamps: SBS - Spika digi
Markers: Spectrum Noir; Marvy Uchida
Ink: Ranger DI - Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo
Strathmore water color paper
Adhesives: SA by 3L - foam squares
Accessories: tag from my stash; Cloud 9 Designs - Rain Dots; Doodlebug twine; Stampendous - Champagne EP, Gilded & Tarnished Mica Flakes