Monday, January 18, 2016

Friends Forever

Dear Ones!

Holy COW is it blowy and snowy out. It's been snowing off and on for the past 4-5 days. Expressways are closed because of accidents....I'm staying in!!! Oh, and just a side note, gas was down to $.87 yesterday here in Northern Michigan. WHAT???????

Today's card has been made for the Mod Squad Challenge. My BFF Donna Phelan is the host this week and her challenge is to make a friendship card. She is over-the-top talented. Go check out her BLOG and you will see what I mean.

Here's my card:




I think this little image is so stinkin' cute. I don't know the name of the stamp set because it came with my stamp magazine as a free gift. He was so much fun to color with my Zigs. I stamped him on watercolor paper.




Here are the Ingredients:
GKD White Card Stock
Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler Card Stock
Stamp from my Stash
Flourishes Friendship & Flowers Stamp Set for Greeting
My Mind's Eye Remarkable Patterned Paper Pack
irResistible Pico Embellisher
Zig Clean Color Brush Pens
Papertrey Ink Button Dies
Glossy Accents and Stickles

This card will also be entered in:
Simon Says Wednesday - Create with Critters

So, that's it. I'm so happy to be inside and playing in my craft room. Thanks for stopping by, I adore your comments!! XOXO

Friday, January 8, 2016

Study in Blue

Dear Ones~
Today's offering is for the Mod Squad Challenge, to do the ombre technique. My dear friends Barb Campbell and Lesley Turner are hosting this week, and they are beyond talented. Click on their names to visit their blogs and see what I mean.

Here's my card:
 I chose to do a study in blue today. My ombre is on the background. I sponged 3 colors - Danube Blue, Faded Jeans, and Tumbled Glass, and then ran the piece through an embossing folder. The flourish die cut is from a Spellbinders die, and the background scribble, done in GKD Turquoise Sea, is cut with a die from a Sizzix set called Scribbles and Splatter by Tim Holtz. This set is new and I love it!!




Here is a close up of the scribble......I think it's so fun!!! The little flowers were punched out in Powder Blue card stock and sponged with Danube Blue Ink, then attached to the flourish die cut. Little pearls are added to the middle.



Here are the Ingredients:
GKD Ivory and Turquoise Sea Card Stock
Spellbinders Fantastic Flowers 1 Die
Sizzix Scribbles and Splat Die Set
Darice Basket Weave Embossing Folder
McGill Flower Punch
Distress Inks in Faded Jeans & Tumbled Glass
Memento Danube Blue Ink
Simon Says Stamp Circle Sayings Stamp for Greeting
Stash Pearls and Ribbon

This card will be entered in:
The Mod Squad Challenge - Ombre Technique 
Simon Says Wednesday - Something New (new Sizzix die set)
Double "D"s Challenges - Forget Me Not Inspiration
Scrappy Land - Anything Goes with a Die (dies are from Sizzix and Spellbinder)
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes
Emerald Creek Dares Challenge - Anything New

Thanks for stopping by, I adore your comments. Hope you all have a good weekend, I'm enjoying some time to myself again after the crazy December I had.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Smile

Dear Ones~
Whew - maybe we can finally get back to normal. The holidays are over, and winter has set in. The Princes were here for a few days, but are back home and back to school. Now what??? Haha! Yeah, it's weird, right?

So, I got some time to play! I wanted to enter the Mod Squad Challenge this week, because my good friend Kathy Krug is the host. Her cards are amazing, check them out on her blog HERE. Her challenge is Anything Goes Using at Least One Die. She is the die cut QUEEN I tell ya!!! Go look at her work if you don't believe me.

Here's a card I came up with:

I love the greeting. It's from a Paper Wishes stamp set called Simply Susan. Lots of Zentangle-like images, and this wonderful greeting. It was so nice to just make a card that wasn't Christmas-y or winter-y, or fall-like.

Here are the Ingredients:
GKD White Card Stock
Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette and Pear Pizzazz Card Stock
Paper Wishes Simply Susan Stamp Set
Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Die
Spellbinders Marvelous Squares Die
Other Stash Dies for Flower and Sprigs
DCWV Butterfly Stack Patterned Paper
GKD Gold Embossing Powder

I just heard the house pop and our thermometer says 2 degrees (shiver). Hope you all are staying warm. Thanks for stopping by, I adore your comments.




Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Holiday Lane

Dear Ones~
Well, we got 8" of heavy, wet snow last night. Needless to say Himself has a sore back tonight. That stuff is heavy.

Today I thought I would share a little ornament that I made this year. It was really fun to do, although very labor intensive and time consuming. I made 8 of them.....and that was enough.

Here's the little gem:



It's about 3" high and is square. I used kraft card stock for everything, and stamped with GKD inks. The stamp set is from Papertrey Ink, called Petite Places: Holiday Lane, and has a set of companion dies. The little gazebo style ornament is a die set called Petite Square Ornament, also from PTI. All the little shutters, as well as the door, were die cut separately and glued on, as was the roof. The snow is Liquid Applique.

Here are the Ingredients:
GKD Kraft Card Stock
GKD Pine Green Card Stock
GKD Red Hot Card Stock
Papertrey Ink Holiday Lane Stamp Set
Papertrey Ink Holiday Lane Die Set
Papertrey Ink Petite Square Ornament
GKD Inks~
*Pine Green
*Black Onyx
*Red Hot 
Marvy Liquid Applique

I will be entering this in:

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are staying warm and have power....there have been a lot of outages lately. Oh, and I adore your comments!!

Monday, December 28, 2015

Foiling Fun

Dear Ones`
It's the Holiday Lull.....the time between Christmas and New Year's Day when we all step back and take a deep breath. Maybe even feel a little at sixes and sevens because we have been so busy that now we don't know what to do.  Well I have the solution - go create something.

For Christmas Himself gave me a laser printer. I already have a laminator (not a Minc, unfortunately), so I have been foiling my little heart out.

Here is something I came up with:


 Of course it's difficult to photograph foiling. It's never as pretty in a photo as it is in real life, but there you just are. I did an A2 card with a little curvy die cut border. The inside is lined with Blue Raspberry card stock so that it shows along the bottom. I stamped the image and greeting in black ink, photocopied it with my laser printer and then ran it through my laminator with silver foil. Then I stamped the patterned circles in different colors. I have been having a great time playing with my new toy.

Here are the Ingredients:
GKD White Card Stock
GKD Blue Raspberry Card Stock
GKD Pretty Patterns Stamp Set
HOTP 11 Labels and Trims Stamp Set for Greeting
Spellbinders A2 Bracket Borders
GKD Inks In:
*Grass Green
*Turquoise Sea
*Blue Raspberry
Heidi Swapp Silver Foil

I'm entering this in:
The Mod Squad Challenge - Anything Goes 
Simon Says Wednesday - Make it Sparkle

Hope you all are relaxing and enjoying the quiet of the moment. We are expecting a storm, the first bad one we have had. We will see if it happens. Stay warm, dear readers, and thanks for stopping by. I adore your comments!!

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Solice

Dear Ones~
I am hosting this week over at The Mod Squad Challenge. Come and join me if you can. The challenge is to create anything but a Christmas card....it's about time. I know we are all tired of creating a Christmas ANYTHING!

This week our sponsor is the wonderful stamp company Kitchen Sink Stamps.


 


  These stamps are amazing. Most have a multi-stamp feature that lets you get great detail in your images using several colors. There is real dimension with a 3-D effect! And one of the best features of this stamp company is that there are color recipes for most of the multi-step stamps, so you don't have to guess what colors to use. There are even alternative colors if you don't have the inks that are suggested. Maria from Kitchen Sink Stamps is a member of our Mod Squad Challenge Facebook Group so feel free to say Hi or ask any questions.

THE PRIZE
$25 GIFT CERTIFICATE to the store. 
You can pick your own goodies and there are lots of choices!
 
Here is the sample I created:
I used the stamp set from Kitchen Sink called Multi-Step Pine Trees. This is just a lovely set, with 3 different size trees. The dimension on the final image is amazing. And here's a tip I learned from Frenchie Martin. Take a dark brown marker and color in the trunk of the tree here and there, as I have done here. It makes the trees so much more real. On this card I stamped the largest image using all 4 stamps on a piece of white card. Then I masked the tree and sponged in the sun using a circle mask. After I was done sponging I took the 2nd step stamp for the medium sized tree and only stamped with that. I love the delicate image you get with just the one stamp. Then I stamped the greeting with the Kitchen Sink 3-Step Baseball Stamp Set on vellum and white heat embossed it.
Here are the Ingredients:
GKD White, Dusty Rose and Wild Dandelion Card Stock
KSS 3-Step Base Ball Stamp for Greeting
GKD Inks In:
*Grass Green
*Fresh Asparagus
*Lemon Drop
*Peach Bellini
*Dusty Rose
*Cranberry Tart
Memento New Sprout Ink
SSS Olive Ink
GKD White Embossing Powder
Stash Vellum
Judy Dots

You have until next Tuesday at noon to enter the challenge. Hope I see some of your lovely creations over there. Thanks for stopping by, I adore your comments!!

Friday, December 4, 2015

Angel Sisters

Dear Ones~
Hope your holiday plans and pleasures are coming along. It's a busy time, but I like to still play and do something for myself. This card reflects that.

Here's my card:

This is a stamp that I bought specifically to make my sister a birthday card. It's called Angel Sisters, and it reminded me so much of her and me. Not that we are anywhere near being angels, but I love how they are embracing each other. I think this is meant to be a Christmas stamp, so I have made a Christmas card here, but the card I made for her was completely different. One of my BFF's, Barb Campbell is hosting the Mod Squad Challenge this week, so this will be entered in her challenge. Barb is super talented, go visit her BLOG and see what I mean.

Here are the Ingredients:
Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry Card Stock
GKD White Card Stock
Bo Bunny Altitude Patterned Paper
Stampendous Angel Sisters Stamp
Technique Tuesday Stamp - Believe
Vellum and White Embossing Powder
Impression Obsession Snowflake Dies
Recollections Glitter Paper
Zig Clean Color Pens
Stickles and Stash Gems


This card will be entered in:
The Mod Squad Challenge - Here are the Ingredients, You Make the Card
Simon Says Wednesday - Let It Snow
Work It Wednesday - Make a Holiday Card

Thanks for stopping by, I adore your comments. Don't get so busy you can't enjoy the season!