Our Creative Corner Challenge: Featured Stamper!

This sketch was perfect to use the Ornament Punch and the beautiful Christmas Cocoa Specialty paper. I paired it with the rich Bravo Burgundy cardstock and some White Taffeta ribbon. Of course, last year's sweet Felt Flurries helped to embellish the ornaments and a the clear rhinestone brands add to some Christmas sparkle! My Christmas Punch stamp set created the sentiment stamped in Bravo Burgundy as well. Thank you Our Creative Corner, for this simple, but lovely sketch challenge. Enjoy the Christmas season sweet stampers! It's our time of year!

K.I.S.S. for PPA!

After a week of preparation for Thanksgiving, I finally made it back to my Stampin Studio feeling a little rusty but ready to try the new PPA challenge of Keeping it Simple! I love penquins and this retired set called "Polar Pals" has just been waiting to be stamped! So black glossy cardstock is the background cut out with my Big Note die and a little Real Red and Whisper White cardstock just needed to be stamped with my black stazon. Add a touch of ribbon and this card came together simply for sure. Winter in Ohio is just around the corner. Too bad we didn't get those outdoor Christmas lights up 2 weekends ago:( Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let the Christmas season begin!!! As for me, I am still enjoying family here at home and can't seem to ever brave Black Friday!

Online Holiday Extravganza!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Pals Paper Arts #17 Flower Power

For this PPA sketch I brought out some beloved DSP with my favorite Kiwi Kiss color! Adding some Rose Red cardstock , for the background and the boxes gave me just the bright color palette I was looking for to show off the stamped Kiwi Kiss flowers from the Season of Joy stampset. A bit of Rose Red grograin ribbon ties it all up and my greeting, from Upsy Daisy stampset, makes this card ready to go! Thanks Paper Pal Arts, for the fun sketch!

Our Creative Corner Inspiration Challenge

What's gotten into me? 3 challenges in 2 days...wow! Anyway, Our Creative Corner has this fun inspiration challenge and I will use any excuse to make a fall card! Love the colors of this season! I just could never part with this retired Stampin Up set though and I simply stamped the images with Versamark, and used some shiny black embossing powder. I watercolored the images with More Mustard and Pumpkin and a little Soft Suede. Cutting out the little leaves and mounting them on dimentionals creates a bit more whimsy. Being "grateful" ...for family and friends and so many blessings.

Mojo Monday #112 and Pals Paper Arts

For this Mojo Monday sketch and Pals Paper Arts, I brought out last year's fun Felt Flurries~ I love these things! My beautiful DSP is Christmas Cocoa Specialty with Soft Suede and retired Baja Breeze cardstock. Rub ons creates the greeting and a jumbo eyelet creates a little spot for the Baja Breeze ribbon. Love those clear rhinestones...my abosolute favorite brad. It's all about the bling on this card. Maybe I can brighten someone's day this winter with this one! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! Blessings!

Pals Paper Arts #15 Color Challenge

For this PPA challenge I had to use 3 colors: Taken with Teal, Going Gray and Ruby Red. I opted to use Riding Hood Red instead! My stampset is retired Fabulous Flowers which I inked up in Riding Hood Red and cut her out...I also made a second stamp of the flower and cut out the middle then put Taken With Teal cardstock behind it. Walk in The Park is the background gray, another retired DSP. A little ribbon from the holiday mini, and a strip of Teal pops some more accent color and stamping and cutting the two smaller flowers created the triplet of flowers that balances this card. Do you ever just run out of creativity? I did this past week and just now felt like creating again!!! These colors were a challenge too! As a number of my friends and I are headed into a new age bracket...I am sure this card will find a beautiful friend to encourage! I have had this motto over the last 30 years....fit at forty, foxy at fifty and sexy at sixty!!!
I worked hard at the first two but am wondering if I can live up to the last one!!!

Vintage Mojo

It's Mojo Monday and Wednesday is already here! I also combined this sketch with The Color Throwdown. My colors were to be Dusty Durango, Almost Artichoke, Soft Sky and Kraft. Well, not sure about this one, but usually I can picture the stampset I want to use in a sketch. Thi was tough for me. But I got out a set I havn't used in awhile: Fresh Cuts. I used markers to ink it up...and then cut out the leaft at the bottom and reapplied. I alterd the designer paper a bit and tried to give a little vintage feel. My creative juices need to get going again! Tomorrow is Pals Paper Arts Challenge...if you don't succeed the first time always try try again...and I will!!! Thanks for looking anyway. You know, I started out in this craft with so much more stamping on the cardstock than all these embellishments and specialty papers. Those were the good old days! Blessing to ya!

Think Pink: PPA Challenge

I have been wanting to send my sister Dayna a pink card since she is a breast cancer survivor. The PPA design team had just the perfect challenge! I am so proud of my sister for walking through her cancer diagnosis and treatment with grace and determination. She is truly an inspiration to me. Melon Mambo and Pink Pirouette are my pink colors for this card. I could not find the plain pink M&M's anywhere, so I used pink jelly beans for the fun Sweet Treat Cups set in the heart Sweet Centers stamp. A little Melon Mambo ribbon, a few swirls and my sentiment mounted on a Cricut label says just the way I feel about Dayna. I have several other friends who have battled this disease with faith and determination. I am inspired by them as well.

White Christmas

This card was created for the Mojo Monday #110 sketch and Our Creative Corner which challenged us to create a card using our favorite holiday movie theme. I chose "White Christmas." I've been watching this movie since I was a teenager and always love the ending with the wonderful Christmas tree and the stage opening up to snow coming down in the background. So white and silver cardstock became my two color choices. I embossed the white cardstock with two different Cuttlebug folders. The tree and greeting are from the"Season of Joy" and retired "Star-Studded Season" sets. I embossed the tree and snowflakes in silver. I only wish the beautiful shimmer showed up better! Hope you are having a great week! Blessings to you!

Thanks Be for Thee!

For Mojo Monday #109 I brought out a very retired stamp set that wanted to get out of the box! I guess I just like the salutation!! Plus I wanted to try out my new watermark! (It was a learning curve for me to learn how to apply it!) Anyway...the new In Colors provided my color palette of Dusty Durango textured cardstock, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede and Bermuda Bay for some pop! Rhinestone brads, ribbon, my one and only "Nesti" and some punches did the rest. I used the Blender Pens from my ink pads to color in the pilgrim couple. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy this season of thanks!

Christmas Wreath and PPA #12 Winner!!

For this Pals Paper Arts Challege #12 I just saw a Christmas wreath in the sketch! So I got out the "Autumn Days" stamp set with the pine and pinecone stamp. I used Dusty Durango and Old Olive markers to color the stamp, then, after stamping on Whisper White,cut them out. With my Circle Scissors I cut out the Old Olive circles and made a base for my wreath. I sponged some Old Olive ink on the pine to add some color, and punched out the little berries and glued them on. A bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter adds some wow to the overall effect, though it doesn't show up in the picture. The center salutation is from the Level 1 set, "Holiday Best." I also used markers to color it in, then added a rhinestone for a little bling~ The ribbon is "Mistletoe," from the Holiday Mini. The DSP is "Christmas Cocoa Specialty." This card was fun to make! Thanks PPA for the challenge!

Night and Day!

I wanted to try out the new "Night and Day" specialty paper...just blacks and whites. And I love the "Friends 24-7" stamp set. Add the new In Color "Crushed Curry" and a simple but bold card seemed to come together with the Mojo Monday and My Creative Corner sketch! I am finding the Circle Scissors cutter is turning out to be a wonderful addition to my stampin tool box!!!

A Folk Art Card!

For this PPA and Mojo Monday Challenge, I chose the fun and "folksy" stamp set, Razzle Dazzle. Using the PPA colors: Perfect Plum, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive, I used the respective markers to color the stamp, huffed on it and down it went on Very Vanilla. I colored the flower circles with the Pumpkin Pie marker and punched them out with a 1/2 inch punch, and put an Old Olive brad in the middle of the flower. The mat pad and paper piercer really helped with the spacing of the circles. Some retired DSP helped bring out some pattern interest and a strip of Old Olive ribbon topped off my strip going down the middle of the card. I left off a sentiment so I could use this one for the future!

Pals Paper Arts: Being Grateful

I am making lots of cards to send to family and friends next month at Thanksgiving time. This challenge helped me add one more! I used my new fall favorite stamp sets, "Gobble, Gobble" and "Autumn Splendor." Using the new In Colors, Dusty Durango and Rich Razzleberry, and a great fall color, More Mustard, I stamped my leaves. I also used Veramark on the More Mustard, hard to see here.
My turkey was colored with my In Color Markers and More Mustard on Very Vanilla. I used my Nestabilities to create a frame for my little Gobbler. The fun Button Sizzix Die created my button and the Rich Razzleberry ribbon pulled this card together. I am thankful for sooo much, but right now I can't get over the fun of having a little grandson..so thankful for his sweet life of 5 months!

For all teachers!

As a substitute teacher, I see the hard work and dedication of so many wonderful educators. When I sub I try to leave an encouraging little stamped note! I loved this sentiment and I use it often. Gifts of the Earth is the only current stamp set on this card. The cardstock is retired Summer Picnic...but I couldn't resist the apple background. Some retired ribbon also embellishes the circle, and Ruby Red is my contrasting color. For any teacher who visits my humble little blog, thank you for all you do to "reach a child's heart!"

Autumn Harvest for Mojo and PPA

For the Mojo Monday sketch and the PPA Inspirational Challenge, I chose the new stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalog, Gifts of the Earth. Old Olive and More Mustard cardstock pulled out the colors for PPA and worked well with the images. I stamped the pumpkin in Basic Brown and used my aqua painter on my stamp pads to bring out the colors, then cut her out and popped her up with some dimentionals. I stamped the large image in Basic Brown as well. You can barely see, but I spritzed both squares with a little Old Olive too! With a few Earth Element brads and some Old Olive ribbon and a strip of retired DSP, this card came together in a simple design. It feels like fall here in the southwest part of Ohio! Bring out the sweatshirts and lets take a trip to the pumpkin farm!!!

Up Up and Away!

I just love the different ways you can use this "Sweet Centers" stamp set! I havn't even worked on the Halloween set...that is next! but for Our Creative Corner challenge I needed to use pink, white and brown. I stamped the base of the hot air balloon in Basic Brown on Whisper White cardstock, then punched out the circle with the new 1 3/4 inch punch. I then punched out a pink polka dot and brown polka dot circle. I mounted the balloon base on my Chocolate Chip cardstock. Folding the pink and brown circles in half, I glued them together and created the dimention to the balloon. They got glued down and after adding some Pretty in Pink brads I adhered the entire balloon image. Embellished with a little circle punch and some scallop edging, I think this card is going to "blow" someone away when they receive it!

Mojo Monday #105 -Thanksgiving

This stamp called "Gobble, Gobble," from the holiday mini catalog, is a steal at $6.95 and becomes the centerpiece for this Mojo Monday sketch! I used markers to color the stamp itself, pulling out the More Mustard, Ruby Red, and Close to Cocoa and after "huffing" on the stamp, layed it down on Very Vanilla. The base of this card is More Mustard cardstock. I cut out the circles with my 1 1/4 inch punch from my favorite paper right now, "Autumn Meadows." The brown background is some retired DSP! The scallop edge punch gave me some more Ruby Red accent and another strip of my "AM's"pulled my color scheme together. The sentiment "give thanks" reminds me I need to be thankful each day for so many blessings. Today I will be thankful for my wonderful husband!

p.s. the first card is my "redo"....I added the brown strip to make the card "flow" better into the scallops...I knew something was missing when I uploaded!!!

Masculine Cards

Masculine cards can be difficult, but not with the new "Autumn Meadows" designer paper from the Holiday Mini! My brother and brother-in-law both have birthdays this week...on the same day! So I brought out my retired "Winds of Grace" stamp set. The lighthouse was stamped on the designer paper which was already shaded in beautifully! Just layering some strips of this paper created the masculine background I was looking for. The sailboat was stamped on Very Vanilla which I had stamped up with the background stamp, "Sanded." I also used "Sanded" on the sentiment and sponged on a bit more Bermuda Bay. The sailboat is colored with the aqua painter with some Bermuda Bay from the lid of my stamp pad. A few brads, and a sentiment created a fast and easy solution for the men in my life! Love the colors and variety of more rustic designs on this paper!